Relationship marketing effectiveness: The role of involvement

The term relationship marketing has been used to describe a wide range of marketing tactics. In this article, three dimensions that may be used to categorize these tactics are identified: personalization, individualization, and continuity. Research is presented demonstrating that the effectiveness of each type of tactic is influenced by buyer involvement in the product category, although the nature of this influence differs by country and gender. This suggests that managers contemplating relationship marketing programs should consider buyer involvement levels, and that researchers studying relationship marketing effectiveness should control for this variable. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Naïve theories of price: A developmental model

A model of the development of naïve theories of price is presented and tested. The criterion used to account for price variations within a product category is product features at age five, product features and quality at age ten, product quality and buyer utility at age thirteen, and a combination of supply considerations and buyer utility/demand in adulthood. Five-year-olds do not justify their use of product features as a price criterion; however, older respondents all justify their price criterion by referring to a source of value. At age ten, variation in the amount of manufacturing inputs is the source of value which justifies the use of product features as a price criterion; at age thirteen, variations in the quality of manufacturing inputs justify the use of product quality as a price criterion; and in adulthood, relative scarcity and buyer preferences justify the use of cost and demand as price criteria.     

GDP growth,terms-of-trade effects,and total factor productivity

The purpose of this paper is to assess the contribution of each one of the major factors explaining Australian nominal GDP growth: technological change, movements in the terms of trade, increases in the endowments of labour and capital, and changes in domestic output prices. We use an index number technique as well as an econometric approach. Moreover, we look at several methods to decompose total factor productivity growth into secular and unexpected components. All our empirical results have a tight theoretical foundation, being based on the GDP function approach to modelling the production sector of an open economy.     

Make Markets Work

In previous issues leading public figures have indicated the desirable con tent of British economic policy. Roger Fox, an economist, and Kenneth Judge, a sociologist, who advise the SDP, argue, first, that more me should be made of the market, even where it disturbs established interests, and, secondly, that private financing should be used for social services.     

Taste Parameters as Model Residuals: Assessing the "Fit" of an Armington Trade Model

We note that calibration parameters in a multi‐country Armington trade model play a role similar to that of econometric residuals: they allow the model to fit the data exactly. We use this premise to evaluate the “fit” of a standard multi‐country computable general‐equilibrium model. We find that the model relies heavily on these parameters to explain the pattern of trade. In 33 of the 46 commodity groups we assess, modeled economic behavior explains less than 20% of the variation in bilateral trade. In a calibration‐ as‐estimation experiment, we estimate the commodity‐specific elasticities of substitution consistent with a well‐fitting model and find that they are substantially higher than widely accepted estimates.     

Evaluating potential investments in new technologies: Balancing assessments of potential benefits with assessments of potential disbenefits, reliability and utilization

In recent years, the assessment of intangible benefits has become an explicit requirement of investment evaluation techniques. By contrast, assessments of three factors which can prevent the realization of any benefits have not become an explicit requirement. Those three factors are disbenefits, reliability and utilization. The importance of these factors may sometimes be identified prior to investment evaluation when exploratory methods such as contingency planning are used. However, evidence presented in this paper suggests that these three factors are often overlooked. Further, the evidence presented in this paper suggests that investment performance often suffers as a result. Accordingly, it is argued that investment evaluations need to be balanced by making assessments of disbenefits, reliability and utilization an explicit requirement. This argument is supported by reporting of experiences from action research. These experiences indicate that investment evaluations can be balanced by making assessments of disbenefits, reliability and utilization an explicit requirement.     

Why is Assortment Planning so Difficult for Retailers? A Framework and Research Agenda

When retailers conduct product assortment planning (PAP), they determine (1) The variety of merchandise, (2) The depth of merchandise, and (3) Service level or the amount of inventory to allocate to each stock-keeping unit (SKU). Despite longstanding recognition of its importance, no dominant PAP solution exists, and theoretical and decision support models address only some of the factors that complicate assortment planning. This article simultaneously addresses the variety, depth, and service level aspects of PAP to provide a more thorough understanding. A review of current academic literature and best trade practices identifies open questions and directions for further research and applications.