Business Commons^™

Marketing Ethics And The Marketing Mix: Managerial Issues, Russell Abratt

HCBE Faculty Articles

Marketing, more so than any other business discipline, has been criticized by people for hurting consumers, society as a whole, and other business firms. Deceptive prices, high advertising and distribution costs, high pressure selling and unsafe products are common complaints. This article reviews some of the issues involved. It deals with marketing ethics and its problems and then discusses the role of ethics in the marketing mix. The article calls for marketers to adhere to ethical standards of conduct or face the consequences.

Bemarking is al in die verlede daarvoor gekritiseer dat dit in 'n groter mate as die ander …

Logic-Based Knowledge Representation., Johannes "Han" Reichgelt, Peter Jackson, Frank Van Harmelon

Faculty Books

This book explores the building of expert systems using logic for knowledge representation and meta-level inference for control. It presents research done by members of the expert systems group of the Department of Artificial Intelligence in Edinburgh, often in collaboration with others, based on two hypotheses: that logic is a suitable knowledge representation language, and that an explicit representation of the control regime of the theorem prover has many advantages. The editors introduce these hypotheses and present the arguments in their favor They then describe Socrates' a tool for the construction of expert systems that is based on these assumptions. …

Promotion Mix Practices Of Market Leaders: A Cross-Sector Analysis, Russell Abratt, N. Chorn, B.I.C. Van Der Westhuizen

HCBE Faculty Articles

Models which describe promotions practice in various situations have tended to be widely accepted without much attempt at empirical validation. Many approaches rely on the popular dichotomy which separates ·consumer' and 'industrial' marketing. It is argued that this separation is not entirely justified as far as the promotional activities of advertising and selling are concerned, and that the traditional models do not adequately describe promotions strategy in South African companies. The objective of this article is to review some of these approaches and to compare them with current findings of leading South African companies. A study of 25 leading companies …

Coordination In A Franchise Channel, Russell Abratt, M. H. Lindenberg

HCBE Faculty Articles

This study aimed to replicate in South Africa a survey by Guiltinan et al (1980) on the effect on coordination in a franchise channel of: Franchise authority; franchise influence; helpfulness of communications; automony; and uncertainty. The results will be of value to both franchisors and franchisees. In addition the results in South Africa are very similar to the United States study. This has important implications for United States companies wanting to expand their operations to South Africa.

Hierdie studie was gerig op die replikasie van 'n opname deur Guiltinan et al (1980) oor die effek op koordinasie in 'n agentskapskanaal …

The Marketing Orientation Of South African Industrial Companies, Russell Abratt

HCBE Faculty Articles

The main objective of this article is to establish whether the top industrial companies in South Africa have become marketing orientated during the last ten years or so. A study was undertaken amongst 44 of the top hundred companies in South Africa during 1983. The study found that South African industrial companies certainly have become more marketing orientated. The 'average' Industrial company has a marketing department. It's marketing executive sits on the board of directors. He/she has a bachelors degree and over ten years experience. He/she has a limited financial role in the organization but has a large production planning …

The Evolution Of Distribution Channels, Russell Abratt, M. H. Lindenburg

HCBE Faculty Articles

This article deals with the evolution of the theory concerning channels of distribution. Although distribution strategy is an important element of the marketing mix, one can argue that it is the element least thought or written about. The reasons for this are not clear. Perhaps distribution channel is the least glamorous part of marketing theory and yet the most problematic. The authors deal with the evolution of distribution channels in this article as well as co-operation and conflict in the channel of distribution. It is hoped that some research will be stimulated as a result of some of the issues …

The Interrelationship Between Human Resource Management And Corporate Strategy, Russell Abratt

HCBE Faculty Articles

The involvement of personnel executives in the strategic planning of the enterprise is a controversial issue. Personnel has been considered a staff function which deals with day-to-day administration issues and as such has often been regarded with some contempt by the top management team. Concomitantly many firms are viewing the personnel function in an entirely different light; It now participates in the decision making of the company. The objectives of this paper are two fold: firstly to find a link between corporate strategy and human resource management and secondly, to find out whether personnel managers of quoted South African companies …

The Job Description And The Marketing Manager - An Aid Or A Hindrance, Russell Abratt

HCBE Faculty Articles

This paper explores the feasibility of applying a standard job description to the chief of the marketing department of the firm. This implies that the traditional job description theory may not be adequate for describing the job of the marketing manager or conversely, that marketing theory is not applied to job description. This paper discusses some aspects of job descriptions, the task of the marketing manager and then looks at the five actual job descriptions of marketing managers in five major companies in different industries. Conclusions are drawn from these findings.

Hierdie artikel ondersoek die moontllkheid om 'n standaardwerksbeskrywing toe …

Industry Self-Regulation: An Economic, Organizational, And Political Analysis, Lawrence J. Lad, Anil K. Gupta

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Researchers generally have viewed nonmarket regulation of firm behavior as synonymous with direct regulation by the government. This paper highlights industry self-regulation as an alternative form of nonmarket regulation that, depending on the context, may supplement or complement direct regulation by the government. Further, on the basis of exploratory economic, organizational, and political analysis, it advances, for possible future research, propositions relating to the existence, operation, and out-come of industry self-regulation.

Industrial Marketing Research - Theory And Practice, Russell Abratt

HCBE Faculty Articles

Industrial marketing research is generally speaking a low priority item for industrial companies in South Africa. However, marketing research should form the basis of most marketing planning. Marketing research budgets in industrial companies are usually small because management feels that most projects are either too expensive or too time consuming. The objective of this article is to show that industrial marketing research need not be expensive or time consuming. Industrial marketing research has failed to receive much attention in standard marketing books and journals, in spite of the fact that the size of the industrial market is larger than the …

Marketing Control In Retailing, Russell Abratt

HCBE Faculty Articles

Control has long been recognized as one of the tasks a manager must perform. The objective of this paper is to detail the steps involved for marketing control from a retail managers point of view. There is an abundance of literature that deals with control and especially marketing control. Yet there is very little specific information for retail managers to follow. This paper discusses why marketing control is necessary in the retail firm and then gives an in-depth view of the marketing control process. It also attempts to show how effective marketing control in retailing may help the retailer to …

The Rise Of Embedded Analytics: Empowering Manufacturing And Service Industry With Big Data, Mohsen Attaran, Sharmin Attaran

Marketing Department Faculty Journal Articles

This article describes how in today's hyper-competitive environment, business leaders around the world are using analytics technologies to create business values, and to gain a better understanding of their customer's needs and wants. However, traditional business analytics are undergoing major changes. The Internet revolution, cloud computing, and the evolution to self-service analytics have all contributed to the changing dimensions of business intelligence. To compete effectively in a digitally driven world, business leaders must understand and address the critical shifts taking place in the field of analytics, and how these shifts impact their overall strategy. The key objective of this article …