Continuous measurement of self-report of emotional response

There has been substantial recent interest in measurement of emotional responses to advertising. One of the promising methods recently introduced has been the continuous measurement of specific feelings through a “warmth monitor” introduced by Aaker, Stayman, and Hagerty (1986). This article reports research extending the work of Aaker, Stayman, and Hagerty (1986) in two ways. First, it tests whether the warmth monitor method distinguishes feelings from the global reactions that are more commonly measured with continuous self-report measures. Second, it tests the extension of the method to a general emotion monitor that measures feelings other than warmth. Support is found for discrimination between feelings and overall liking and for the validity of a humor, but possibly not irritation, monitor. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Mobility barriers and strategic groups

A procedure for identifying strategic groups based on mobility barriers is recommended and illustrated. The strategic groups identified were observed to exhibit group membership stability and differences in profitability.     

Should you take your brand to where the action is?

When markets turn hostile, it's no surprise that managers are tempted to extend their brands vertically--that is, to take their brands into a seemingly attractive market above or below their current positions. And for companies chasing growth, the urge to move into booming premium or value segments also can be hard to resist. The draw is indeed strong; and in some instances, a vertical move is not merely justified but actually essential to survival--even for top brands, which have the advantages of economies of scale, brand equity, and retail clout. But beware: leveraging a brand to access upscale or downscale markets is more dangerous than it first appears. Before making a move, then, managers should ascertain whether the rewards will be worth the risks. In general, David Aaker recommends that managers avoid vertical extensions whenever possible. There is an inherent contradiction in the very concept because brand equity is built in large part on image and perceived worth, and a vertical move can easily distort those qualities. Still, certain situations demand vertical extensions, and Aaker examines both the winners and the losers in the game. Managers may find themselves facing a situation that presents both an emerging opportunity and a strategic threat, and alternatives to vertical extensions may have even higher risks and costs. Furthermore, a number of brands have been extended vertically with complete success. If after assessing the risks and rewards you conclude that a vertical extension is on the horizon, proceed with caution. And keep in mind that your challenge will be to leverage and protect the original brand while taking advantage of the new opportunity.     

The perils of high-growth markets

The conventional wisdom that businesses should invest in growth markets is based upon the assumptions that, in the early phase of a growth market, share gains are easier and worth more, the experience curve will lead to advantage, price pressure will be low, needed access to the technology will result and future entries will be deterred. These assumptions are examined and six major types of growth market risks are discussed. Finally, conditions which should be present if an early entry into a growth market is attempted are identified.     

Implementing the concept of transformational advertising

The concept of the transformational effects of advertising is described and refined to provide a definition possibly more useful in empirically studying the construct. Methodological difficulties in testing and using the concept are discussed before proposing projective techniques as an approach which might overcome some of the problems. Finally, a study is reported that illustrates how projective techniques may be used to study transformational advertising.     

Strategy over the business cycle

This article develops an analytical and empirical framework for examining strategy over the business cycle. Firms were observed to adjust their strategies significantly and asymmetrically over business cycle stages. There was no consistency in performance between up markets and down markets. A variable-parameter profitability model of strategy in a cyclical industry suggested the importance of a strategy's contemporaneous and inter-temporal relationships with performance. Discrepancies were observed between actual strategies and optimal strategies over business cycle stages.     

The sophistication of ‘naive’ modeling

The relatively high predictive power of a naive market share model is due to (1) its similarity to the reduced form representation of the underlying model and (2) the comparison with forecasts generated from structural models that are likely to be misspecified.