Marketing Commons^™

Strategies For Insurance Agency Managers To Retain Customers And Improve Revenue, Daniel Lee Jackson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The cost of creating new property and casualty insurance accounts is much greater than the costs associated with sustaining current accounts. Property and casualty insurance agency managers lack strategies to retain customers, the retention of whom has been found to improve revenue. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore strategies for insurance agency managers to retain customers and improve revenue. The population used for the study was 4 insurance agency managers in the Northeastern United States. The conceptual framework was customer relationship management, which is a technological and organizational mechanism for buffering market instability by understanding customer …

Good Game, Greyory Blake

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis and its corresponding art installation, Lessons from Ziggy, attempts to deconstruct the variables prevalent within several complex systems, analyze their transformations, and propose a methodology for reasserting the soap box within the display pedestal. In this text, there are several key and specific examples of the transformation of various signifiers (i.e. media-bred fear’s transformation into a political tactic of surveillance, contemporary freneticism’s transformation into complacency, and community’s transformation into nationalism as a state weapon). In this essay, all of these concepts are contextualized within the exponential growth of new technologies. That is to say, all of these semiotic …

Hormonal Influence On Female Consumption Of Revealing And Sexy Fashion Products, Ngoc B. Pham

Theses and Dissertations

This doctoral dissertation addresses the biological and psychological components of consumers’ decision-making processes. Particularly, it investigates the impact of female sex hormones on women’s consumption behaviors regarding fashion products. These hormones reach peak level when women are near ovulation, and this research examines how these hormones, when at peak level, influence women’s attitudes and purchase intention towards sexy and revealing fashion products.

The research is based on two theoretical frameworks: ovulatory shift hypothesis (OSH) and theory of reasoned action (TRA). Specifically, the OSH, based on the female ovulatory cycle postulates that women change their sexual preferences for men with perceived …

Considerations For Small Businesses Implementing Marketing Technology, Matthew Stallings

Selected Honors Theses

Small businesses are crucial components for not only the US economy but for economies around the world. Many of the firms struggle to stay in business and do not perform effectively and profitably, especially in the marketing aspects of business. The marketing strategies that larger organizations use do not necessarily work the best for small businesses. Therefore, small businesses are mostly conducting basic marketing principles by practicing customer relationship management (CRM). However, many of them are not unlocking their full potential by utilizing the Internet, E-mail, database software, and other marketing technologies. Thus, this paper offers research evidence to provide …

Imsa360: Fall 2017, Imsa Fund

IMSA Fund Reports

Welcome to the 2017-2018 school year! It’s a special academic year in that we begin the school year with a full budget! Over the past three years, our colleagues in public schools (K-12), who are under the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), began their school year with a full budget while IMSA and the rest of the universities, which are under the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE), began and operated most of the past two years without a full budget.

Excerpt: From the President

Market Analysis, Management Consulting, And Miscommunication, Brian W. Stout

Marriott Student Review

This article attempts to inform the audience of the importance of market analysis in management consulting. The article states that consulting firms can utilize the power of market analysis as they commit to understand technology, collaborate with researchers to conduct action research, and align market strategies within the consulting firm. This article concludes that by doing these steps consulting firms will lead in their market.

Western Australian Arable Crops Industry - Overview For Potential Investors And Other Stakeholders, Virginia Wilkinson, Tim Morris, Nicki Hall, David Hughes Professor

Farm Systems and Economics published reports

When looking at opportunities for investment in the Western Australian arable crop production system, one must consider by whom? If you were to judge purely from the popular press, you would believe Western Australia agriculture was totally controlled by billionaires and foreign speculators. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The largest farmer, the largest farmland owner, the largest investor, the largest employer and the largest agrifood research funder in Western Australia (WA) is the government. The government is also the largest builder of the infrastructure used by the industry. At the same time, the government invests in food safety …

Restaurant Formality And Customer Service Dimensions In The Restaurant Industry: An Empirical Study, George Kurian, Prathamesh M. Muzumdar

Atlantic Marketing Journal

The purpose of the study was to examine the different customer service dimensions in the restaurant industry. Survey-based data collected from customers that dined regularly in restaurants classified as fast food, casual dining, and fine dining was used. Our study makes an imperative contribution by applying Resource-based view theory in the field of services marketing. The results show that restaurant formality has an adverse impact on customer loyalty, but this impact is positive when restaurant formality interacts with customer gratification. There are other important findings that lead to repeat sales and improved profits for restaurants. We conclude by discussing some …

Role Of Trust And Involvement In The Effectiveness Of Digital Third-Party Organization Endorsement, Liming Guan, Vishal Lala

Atlantic Marketing Journal

In this research, an online experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of the mere presence of digital third-party organization (TPO) endorsement and the quality of information conveyed by a digital TPO, referred to as the endorsement information value effect. Involvement and institution-based trust were tested as moderators of the endorsement information value effect. The results confirm the intuitive belief of managers that the mere presence of a digital TPO endorsement benefits websites by reducing risk perceptions, improving attitudes and increasing choice likelihood. The findings from this research revealed that effectiveness of digital TPO endorsement information value was contingent upon …

Business Model: California Agriculture Marketing Agency, Mary M. Alameda, Emma L. Larson

Agricultural Education and Communication

The importance of creating a marketing agency specializing in agriculture is to bridge the gap between producers and consumers. The lack of transparency from the producer has created a torn industry causing the average consumer to be questioning his or her food, or simply not understanding the agricultural way of life. An agricultural marketing firm in California can represent and advocate for local businesses to start closing the producer to consumer gap.

The American farmer excels at many things, but lacks in public communications. Modern day farmers have been able to produce more food than ever despite fewer resources and …

Lcw Marketing Newsletter Volume 7 Issue 1, Touro College Lander College For Women, Lander College For Women

Yearbooks and Newsletters

No abstract provided.

The Interaction Of Involvement, Message Framing, And Brand-Cause Fit In A Cause-Related Marketing Context, Jessica L. Kosak

Senior Honors Projects

Over the past few years, cause-related marketing has become a prevalent aspect of brand building in many businesses. Cause-related marketing (CRM) can be defined as “a strategic positioning and marketing tool which links a company or brand to a relevant social cause or issue, for mutual benefit” (Pringle & Thompson, 1999, pg.1). The key word in this definition is “strategic” because a brand must think strategically about which cause they want to associate with their brand in order to differentiate their brand and be relevant to consumers. In today’s world, consumers want to have a connection and feel confident in …

Perceived Entitlement Among Amillenials Versus Baby Boomers: A Cross-Generational Examination, Eliza Comer

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

As the Millennial workforce grows, understanding how Millennials are viewed- specifically in terms of entitlement-is an issue that merits attention, since perceived entitlement could negatively impact the extent to which an individual's contributions are valued in the workplace. While prior research suggests that Millennials are entitled (Allen 2015; Fisk 2010; Myers 2010), it neglects how perceptions of entitlement may differ across generations. We aim to address this gap by examining whether Baby Boomers and Millennials differ in their perceptions of what constitutes entitled behavior. Specifically, we test whether an individual's age, together with situational factors, may influence the extent to …

Price Prediction: Determining Changes In Stock Pricing Through Sentiment Analysis Of Online Consumer Reviews, Daryl F. Boykin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The rapid growth of technology has changed the dynamics in which consumers socialize and make their purchasing decisions. The volume of online reviews has grown rapidly over the past decade, leading the peer groups of consumer to carry a disproportionate weight in the purchasing decision process. The sheer volume of reviews can be a daunting task for an operator to attempt to incorporate the reviews in their analysis. Sentiment analysis allows for large volumes of consumer reviews to be processed in a relatively easy, and time sensitive manner. The information contained in these reviews, the sentiment score, is the same …

Organization Restructuring And Leadership Development, Elizabeth Rogers, Danielle Wolf

Senior Honors Projects

The University of Rhode Island’s chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) has progressively grown as a student run organization throughout the past decade. During this period, the leadership team faced the challenge of engaging members and transitioning smoothly from year to year. These two issues were linked to the chapter organizational structure and the leadership transition processes, respectively. In order to improve and become competitive on a national level with other AMA collegiate chapters and marketing degree programs, it is important to continuously reevaluate the chapter’s strategy. This research aims to seek best practices that can be applied for …

#Keepvolunteeringcool - A Marketing Analysis Of The Uri Service Corps, Caroline L. Hacunda

Senior Honors Projects

Since 2009, the University of Rhode Island has offered Alternative Spring Break trips to students who are passionate about service and want to become more involved within the community doing meaningful and engaging volunteer work. These trips are completely student planned and fundraised with the guidance of a group of student leaders for each trip. Over the years, this program has exponentially grown, leading to our biggest year yet with two trips staying in Rhode Island and three out of state trips offered in 2017. In the past, the spring break trips were hosted by URI S.A.V.E.S and URI Habitat …

Social Crm Applications And Impact In Small Businesses, Levi Bridge

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The present study explored the effect social customer relationship management (CRM) on. Small businesses typically have limited resources and thus use an informal CRM system causing them to not realize the full sales potential or customer engagement that could occur. The qualitative study consisted of 10 small businesses that utilize social media to engage with customers. The agency theory and resource based view served as the theoretical foundation for the study. One-on-one interviews were conducted with the employee responsible for managing the social media content. From the interviews, three themes emerged that are critical for social CRM success: visibility, interactivity, …

Restaurant Entrepreneurship: Theory And Practice, Margaret Leach

Selected Honors Theses

Mirroring its industry, restaurant entrepreneurship is an expansive, evolving topic. This thesis seeks to answer the question, “How do community-focused restaurants, operated by lifestyle entrepreneurs, launch and scale?” A case study approach is taken and literature regarding restaurant ownership, entrepreneurship, and social enterprise is reviewed. Interviews of ten different non-franchise restaurant owners were obtained and analyzed. The interviewees detailed the processing of launching the venture, scaling and growing the business, and supporting and partnering with the surrounding community.

Developing A Crm Strategy For Small Businesses, Brianna Butler, Megan Carignan

Honors Senior Capstone Projects

In a data-driven world, it is becoming easier than ever for businesses to gain more and more information about their customers and use that to their advantage. This data, gathered from previous business dealings, social media, inbound marketing and click data can be utilized to provide goods and services that are more accurately tailored to the specific consumer, and to provide successful customer service. However, there must be a customer relationship management (CRM) system in place to retain, sort, analyze and pull up information. This can be done using expensive software, which is what large and medium-sized corporations may do, …

Salesperson Networking Behaviors And Creativity: Exploring An Unconventional Relationship, Michael T. Krush, Raj Agnihotri, Gerrard M. Macintosh, Ashish Kalra

Management and Marketing Faculty Publications

A great deal of emerging research explores the antecedents and outcomes of salesperson creativity. However, relatively fewer scholarly endeavors have delved into assessing the social antecedents of salesperson creativity. Addressing this issue, the current research focuses on the link between one critical social antecedent in sales research, namely that of networking behaviors, and creativity among salespeople. Specifically, we include customer and professional networking behaviors and study their direct, interactive, and curvilinear effects on salesperson creativity. Empirical findings show that professional networking as well as customer networking are positively related to salesperson creativity. Further, we demonstrate the non-linear effects of professional …

Straight From The Horse's Mouth: An Examination Of Social Media Usage And Advertising Methodologies In The Sale Of Sporthorses, Michael Willham

Undergraduate Distinction Papers

This study discovered general market conditions as well as buyer and seller behavior in the sporthorse market for the disciplines of Dressage, Show Jumping, and Eventing. The efficient sale of sporthorses in these disciplines is equally as important of a consideration as the marketing and advertising decisions for any other product such as automobiles or electronics. Equids differ from regular products in that they typically have markedly higher inventory costs associated with the maintenance of holding onto a live animal. Therefore, it is arguably more imperative for businesses to determine the quickest and most efficient means to sell them. This …

2017 Ijbe Front Matter, Tamra Connor

International Journal for Business Education

1. Editorial Board
2. President's Letter
3. SIEC-ISBE International

Evaluating The Relative Importance Of Influencing Factors On Cruise Vacations: A Conjoint Analysis, Frida Bahja

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on exploring the relative importance of six influential factors in cruise customers’ decision-making process such as: cruise vacation price, cruise duration, distance from the cruise port, itineraries, environmental friendliness of cruise line and cruise online reviews. The decision on which influencing factors to select was made based on the review of literature.

The complexity of cruise customers’ decision-making process for these six attributes with several levels was examined with Choice-Based Conjoint (CBC) Analysis. CBC was selected due to its realistic approach to purchase decisions, in the form of trade-offs. The online survey collected data anonymously. The survey …

Successful Implementation Of Pharmacy Retail Store Loyalty Reward Programs, Cristina D. Reinert, Jill A. Murray

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

Loyalty reward programs are utilized within various industries as a key marketing strategy. A successfully implemented loyalty reward program benefits both the consumer and the company. The purpose of this multicase study was to explore strategies that pharmacy retail managers use to deliver loyalty reward programs. The theory of planned behavior was used as the conceptual framework to guide the study. Mobile technology, customer involvement, brand management, and tier-based rewards were the themes that emerged during data analysis. The findings are of interest to pharmacy retail managers and marketers because they are instrumental in implementing a successful loyalty reward program.

Imsa360: Winter 2017, Imsa Fund

IMSA Fund Reports

IMSA is nurturing a strong and diverse pipeline of innovative leaders for Illinois and the world, preparing them to solve the most complex social problems of our time.

Innovation is part of IMSA’s legacy. In fact, IMSA alumni have been driving the technology sector over the past decade. Andrew Baptist ‘94, Greg Dhuse ‘99, Dusty Hendrickson ‘01 and Ethan Wozniak ‘99 are responsible for 212 of 350 patents generated by data storage leader, Cleversafe. Sam Yagan ‘95 relocated his tech company, ShopRunner, to Illinois and also co-founded OkCupid, SparkNotes, Techstars Chicago and Corazon Capital. Jessica Droste Yagan ‘95, CEO of …

Strategies To Teach Customer Service Skills, James Francis Ortman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Business managers' failure to retain dissatisfied customers leads to millions of dollars in lost revenue. The purpose of this single case study was to explore managers' training strategies to teach sales associates customer service skills. The sample included 3 training managers from the mobile phone industry in Michigan who recorded a 25 % increase in customer retention after implementing customer service training. The conceptual framework for this study was human capital theory. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and training documents. Data analysis entailed using coding techniques and cluster analysis. Member checking applied to clarify the interpretation of participants' responses …

Millennials On The Move, But To Where?, Zach Kisor, Shelby Hoge, Ashley Cosher, Bethany Gump, Derek Carson, Kristi Mitchell

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The following reports discuss the geographical preferences of Millennials in relation to job selection preferences. Our team analyzed the moving trends of Millennials in both Ohio and the United States to determine what factors influence this decision. Collectively, our team concluded that in order to successfully recruit Millennials, companies must offer benefit packages that center around work-life balance. This entails not just highlighting what a job requires technically, but opportunities for leadership development, social activities outside of work, and more. To recruit this upcoming talent, companies need a holistic approach that convinces Millennials that working for their company creates a …

The Gojo Smartlink Observation System: Research For Adoption, Robert Cuenot, Austin Reich, Joseph Tuck, Sarah Dick, Sean Poholski

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This research project sought to provide GOJO Industries, Inc. with strategic recommendations for improving sales of their SMARTLINK Observation (OBV) hand hygiene compliance monitoring mobile application. The two required steps for building recommendations were to analyze the status of the hand hygiene compliance monitoring market (as of 2017) and gain insight on the needs of nurses, doctors, and other healthcare directors in hospitals and urgent care facilities. In conjunction with GOJO Industries, Inc., the viability of a subscription-based mobile application for monitoring was tested. Employees of several different healthcare facilities were interviewed about their current methods and practices for compliance …

Integrating Consumer Feedback Into Business Marketing Strategies, Elijah G. Clark

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Consumer feedback and reviews are critical to the success of businesses because 49% of consumers trust online reviews more than other sources. The purpose of this multicase study was to explore marketing managers' strategies for using consumer reviews to improve marketing success, brand awareness, and their clients' profitability. The conceptual framework for this study was built upon organizational theory and disruptive innovation theory. The participants were recruited through local events, social media, and e-mail. Data were collected from public online records and semistructured telephone interviews using 1 marketing manager from each of 5 marketing agencies in North Texas. Thematic analysis …

Strategies For Crisis Preparedness Of Tourist Destinations, Carrine V. M. Todman-Lewis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Billion-dollar disasters are projected to increase at a statistically significant rate of 5% annually. Crises affect the viability and lucrativeness of tourism business and implicate destinations in the process. Crisis preparedness is vital to improving outcomes and reducing consequential effects in the tourism industry-a key contributor to socioeconomic progress and infrastructural development worldwide. The study was an exploration of the strategies used for crisis preparedness to reduce business interruptions and improve the image of destinations affected by large-scale natural disasters and human-induced crises. A multiple case study was conducted based on the cycle of preparedness framework. Data were gathered from …