The Effect of Political Events on Foreign Direct Investment in Marketing

While numerous studies have been conducted on environmental factors in international marketing, few have dealt directly with the effect of political events on foreign direct investment in marketing (FDIM). This paper examines the relationship between political events and FDIM by a pooled time-series (21 Years) and cross-sectional (26 countries) model. The results of this study indicate that both inter-nation and intra-nation conflictive and cooperative political events affect FDIM in a negative and positive way. The study also found a difference in the extent to which the political events affect FDIM in developed countries and in less developed countries.     

CBS Promotion of Future Programming During the 2011 NCAA Tournament

The simple goal of television promotions is to increase viewership of future programming. The promotion of future programming during sports telecasts is valuable primarily because promotions can air during the game. The purpose of this paper is to provide a network perspective of its promotions strategy by identifying how often CBS promoted its future programming, which type of future programs CBS chose to promote (established or non-established), and how CBS implemented the prominent promotional techniques identified in the literature during its coverage of the 2011 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. The findings show that 21% of total promotions were during the game, 42% of total promotions by CBS were for non-established programming, and genre compatibility was the most used technique with the Masters Golf Tournament being the most promoted future program.     

Price competition during and after promotions

We provide a framework for setting regular prices and using promotional discounts in a duopoly where long‐term promotional effects are present and the firms' pricing and promotional strategies are common knowledge (e.g., as in online markets). We show that at equilibrium, the two firms may not promote and instead adopt an Everyday Low Price (EDLP) strategy. Consumers' tendency to stockpile promoted products, the level of brand loyalty and product differentiation, and the possibility of a postpromotional sales increase critically influence regular prices, price discount rates, and profits. Under some conditions consumer stockpiling intensifies promotional competition and reduces firms' profits while the possibility of attracting new consumers reduces the need to heavily promote and ensures better profits. Managerial implications are discussed. Copyright © 2007 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Developing parsimonious retailer equity indexes using partial least squares analysis: a method and applications

The information that a retailer’s name communicates to consumers can be a source of competitive advantage for many retailers. Indeed, retailers develop a kind of brand equity, which we refer to as “retailer equity.” To aid both practitioners and researchers, we outline a method, using partial least squares (PLS) analysis for developing parsimonious measures for retailer equity. In addition, we provide four illustrations of possible ways that the index can be used by retailers: (1) as a benchmarking tool, (2) as an indicator of the success (failure) of marketing strategies and tactics, (3) as a means to evaluate the attractiveness of market segments, and (4) as an instrument to examine the relative importance of the various components of retailer equity for specific retailers. The index also provides a means for marketing researchers to examine potential antecedents and outcomes of retailer equity.     

Private labels and public quality standards: How can consumer trust be restored after the mad cow crisis?

In those sectors faced with questions of food safety (meat, fruit, vegetables), new private labels have been set up in Europe in order to restore consumer trust. In this paper, we perform a theoretical analysis of these private labels. We propose an original model of vertical relationships between producers and retailers which takes into account two supply sources through (i) a competitive spot market on which the retailers buy a minimum quality standard product and (ii) supply contracts aimed at marketing higher quality private labels. We study how producers and retailers could cooperate in setting up these new labels. From a public point of view, we show the complementarity of a moderate increase in public quality standards and the creation of these new private labels. JEL Classification L22. L23. Q13. Q18     

Online Price Search: Impact of Price Comparison Sites on Offline Price Evaluations

Consumers increasingly rely on Internet price comparison sites (PCS) to gain knowledge about the market. The prices generated by a PCS search can act as contextual reference prices and influence the attractiveness of prices encountered later as consumers shop offline at local stores. This paper demonstrates that both PCS retailer ratings and the shape of the PCS price distribution influence the impact of PCS search results on later price evaluations. A favorable PCS retailer rating increases the perceived validity of the price associated with that retailer, enhancing the impact of that PCS price on offline price evaluations (Study 1). The shape of the PCS price distribution can also influence later price evaluations, however this effect depends on the information provided by the PCS retailer ratings. When PCS retailer ratings are similar, implying similar validity for the associated prices, low PCS prices and those appearing more frequently in the PCS price distribution have more impact (Studies 2 and 3). When PCS retailer ratings are variable (some high and some low), the PCS price distribution effect occurs only when the PCS retailer ratings provide congruent information about price validity — that is, the most frequent price is offered by retailers with more favorable ratings. Study 3 shows that price validity inferences do mediate this result. Finally, we depart from the offline shopping context to show that when consumers choose a retailer directly from the PCS search results, the effect of PCS retailer ratings is stronger for high-priced retailers and for consumers who rely less on the retailer price as a heuristic to infer retailer service level. Based on our findings we offer insights for online and offline retailers when considering strategic responses, such as price matching guarantees.     

Improving the Effect of Guarantees: The Role of a Retailer's Reputation

This research examines the interaction of two cues, retailer reputation and guarantees on evaluations. Extending Mandler's (1982) incongruity framework, we illustrate across three studies how moderately incongruent signals can be combined to enhance evaluations. Unique to our application of moderate incongruity, however, is the fact that guarantee cues can be incongruent with the retailer's reputation, in terms of domain (e.g., price matching guarantee (PMG) offered by provider whose reputation is based on service, not pricing) or valence (e.g., PMG offered by retailer known for carrying expensive merchandize). This dual perspective on the source of incongruity (domain or valence) is important and highlights when guarantees enhance evaluations.     

Buyer Attitudes and the Continuity of Manufacturer/Retailer Relationships

Abstract

This research focuses on the delisting (or unbuying) of products and what in the attitude of the buyer might lead to a delisting of all the supplier's products, thereby ending the relationship. A del-isted product is defined here as one which was still being sold by other retailers. The decision to delist therefore involves a purposive action by the retail buyer. Using confirmatory analysis of a model of delisting behaviour, both cognitive and affective components of buyers' attitudes were found to correlate with the ending of the relationship by the retail buyer. Of the antecedent factors, frequency of contact was found to be the most salient. The practical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Endogenous retailer preferences in intermediate good markets

We model strategic interaction in a differentiated input market as a game among two suppliers and n retailers. Each one of the upstream firms chooses the specification of the input which it will offer.Then, retailers choose their type from a continuum of possibilities. The decisions made in these two first stages affect the degree of compatibility between each retailer's ideal input specification and that of the inputs offered by the two upstream firms. In a third stage, upstream firms compete setting input prices. Equilibrium may be of the two-vendor policy or of the technological monopoly type.     

A Review and Evaluation of 2002 State Visitors' Travel Packets: A Fifty State Study

ABSTRACT

Official state visitors' travel packets were collected and analyzed in terms of strategic contributions to marketing communications goals. It was recognized that some states capitalized on the opportunity to obtain useful information and/or to make a favorable first impression during the potential tourist's inquiry phone call, although most did not. The majority of the distributed state visitors' packets were lackluster and collectively homogeneous. Slogans were found to be an underutilized tactic. The sponsorship of back covers was addressed. Noting the importance of the visitors' travel packet in terms of accomplishing marketing communications objectives, a call for accountability from the states was stressed.