Marketing Commons^™

The Washington Redskins: A Brand In Crisis, Jonathan Benson

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Even though it is not new, the debate over the use of the brand and logo by the Washington Redskins has come to the forefront of the collective consciousness. With this debate in mind, I completed a study to answer two questions. Should the Redskins change its brand and logo? And must the Redskins change their brand and logo? In order to complete the study, a survey was conducted with undergraduate students that gathered more than 300 complete responses. After gathering and analyzing the data, I was able to draw conclusions. The first conclusion being that the Washington Redskins should …

Digital Word Of Mouth: Motivating And Engaging Millennials With Shareable Content, Amelia Ashton Adams

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

After conducting a thirty-sixquestion survey among 260 Millennials and holding in-depth interviews with two local business owners, I have explored the aforementioned ideas. Throughout this report I will examine the following themes from the perspective of both the consumer and the brand as they relate to my topic: (1) brand engagement through social media and online platforms, (2) motivation as a means of participation in WOM marketing campaigns, (3) the potential for shareability to propel WOM.

The Effectiveness Of Modern Advertising At Achieving Brand Remembrance, Connor P. Robertson

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

The relationship between aspects of modern commercial advertising, such as use of storytelling, positive and negative emotional factors, and message content, and their effect on achieving correct brand remembrance with the commercial’s viewers was studied. One hundred sixty subjects completed a survey that prompted them to remember the brands associated with five different commercials shown during the 2015 Super Bowl, as well as asked other questions about each commercial and the subjects’ television viewing habits. Results showed that a very small percentage of viewers correctly remembered the brand associated with commercials they had seen, and that this correct brand remembrance …

The Future Of Shrimp: Why Indoor Tank Farming Could Revolutionize The Industry, Nicole M. Daniels

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

“The United States is currently importing 1.2 billion pounds of shrimp a year from Asia. It is cheap to U.S. consumers, but it’s being produced in an unsustainable way. It will stop…and when it does stop there has to be an alternative way to produce seafood” (Hourigan, 2013, p.1). Because the shrimp supply crisis is growing exponentially, it is the job of countries like the United States, who have resources and technology that less economically developed countries do not, to find a sustainable alternative to the current destructive farming practices that are rapidly damaging ecosystems and endangering human health. In …

Student Organization Success: Developing A Business Plan For The University Of Arkansas American Marketing Association Collegiate Chapter, Candace Brooke Gooding

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper explores best practices and original research to develop suggestions for the University of Arkansas American Marketing Association Collegiate Chapter in order to face an upcoming change in officer structure. Previously relying on a class structure for officers, University of Arkansas AMA is transitioning to leadership completely outside the classroom. College students involved in various organizations across the country were surveyed in order to find commonalities between organizations and perceptions of organizations. Similarities, combined with previous literature, were used as a basis for developing recommendations.

Zipcar: Unlocking The Keys To Alternative Mobility For Aarhus University Students And Professionals Of The Community, Natascha D. Bunner

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Zipcar is a company which has revolutionized the mobility of its users and is currently the world leader of car-sharing networks (Zipcar, 2015). A member of the industry powerhouse, Avis Budget Group, Inc., with operations currently in the United States, Canada, UK, France, Spain, and Austria, Zipcar is looking to expand its market share and total sales internationally. This report sets forth to analyze the potential market of Aarhus, Denmark for Zipcar. The report is essentially a marketing plan for Zipcar to enter the community of Aarhus, Denmark which contains competent cultural, economic, industry analyses for the intended product and …

The Appeal Of The "Shop Local" Initiative To The Millennial Generation, Elisha Cummins

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

Understanding the changing values and beliefs of consumers is crucial to surviving and flourishing as a retailer, supplier, or manufacturer today. It is important for businesses to adjust their focuses and strategies to meet the needs and wants of the current consumer. New generations of consumers create different trends, shopping behaviors, and concerns. Today, the shop local initiative is growing. With this in mind, I seek to determine the reasons why consumers shop locally and how millennials respond to the initiative. The goal of this research is to determine the extent to which millennials’ values align with the shop local …

Consumer Perceptions Of Apparel Fit Satisfaction And Sizing Based Upon 3d Body Scanning And Block Garment Assessment, Nicole Lee Coury

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objectives of this study were to first, determine whether Walmart, Inc. customers are purchasing the correct size garments for their body measurements, and their perceptions of the fit of Walmart, Inc. clothing prior to trying on the current block garments. The next objective was to determine which factors influence fit satisfaction after the participants have tried on the current block garments. Hypothesis 1 tested participants' perceived size and their actual size, Hypothesis 2 tested participants' pre and post try-on fit satisfaction perceptions, and Hypothesis 3, 4, and 5 tested which factors have a significant effect on garment fit satisfaction. …

Destination Marketing Organizations’ Stakeholders And Best Practices, Bonifacio Lopez Torres, Godwin-Charles Ogbeide

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

As marketing practices continue to advance, the tourism industry is constantly evolving in terms of marketing strategies and in the shifting duties of its stakeholders. Different organizations plan the advancement of their marketing strategies differently, and Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) are no exception. With so many destination options, travelers may find themselves with too many destinations and too much information to easily make the decision on their own. The main role of the DMOs is to sell the destination using different marketing strategies and various incentives to make their destination more appealing, and by working with all of their stakeholders …

European Consumers' Attitudes Towards Cisgenic Rice, Anne-Cécile Delwaide

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The enhancement of existing plant breeding techniques, such as cisgenesis, allows plant breeders to enhance an existing cultivar quicker and with little to no genetic drag. Cisgenesis is the genetic modification of a recipient plant with natural gene(s) from a sexually compatible plant. Unlike transgenesis, which is the genetic modification of a recipient plant with gene(s) from any non‐plant organism, or from a donor plant that is sexually incompatible with the recipient plant, the results of cisgenesis could occur naturally over time. Currently, both cisgenic and transgenic products are classified as genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and are labeled as such …

Marketing Mutuality: Boundary Spanning Approaches To Marketing Strategy, Alexander Scott Rose

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation, arranged in three essays, is grounded firmly in the crossroads of sociology and marketing. Theories of the former inform phenomena of the latter. In particular, the sociological theory of the gift and the rich tradition of anti-utilitarian social science inform contemporary debate regarding the rise of the sharing economy and its much-heralded potential to alter the landscape of the market. Through an ethnography of brand and retail service settings in the particular context of American craft beer festivals, the concept of mutuality is used to provide a line of demarcation between effective and ineffective forms of the sharing …

The Influence Of Collaboration In The New Product Development Process, Laurel Aynne Cook

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Consumers expect greater involvement in the product and service offerings of firms. In response, the integration of collaboration in the new product development (NPD) process has become of interest to researchers across disciplines. Collaboration can be viewed as a "looking glass" technique, which fosters an enhanced sense of shared identity by promoting a "we" versus an "us-them" orientation. Drawing from social identity and exchange theories, the central purpose of this dissertation is understanding ways that collaboration influences perceptions during the NPD process to help shape consumers' identity with the firm.

Essay 1 employs a mixed-method approach across three studies to …

Is Perception Reality? Evaluating The Country-Of-Origin Effect And Its Implications For New Business Ventures In Costa Rica, Alexandra Michelle Somborn

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

“As travelers, business leaders, employees, parents and consumers, we make decisions related to countries every day: how we describe our identity, where we choose to live, who and where we buy our products from, where we educate our children, where we set up our companies and where we go on holiday…Every time we make a decision informed by an association with a place, it creates the future” (Country Brand Index). For the past eight years, FutureBrand has released a Country Brand Index Report that polls thousands of people worldwide to gather their perceptions of countries and rank the countries according …

Successful Marketing Strategies For Promoting Event Destinations, Evease Iniece Tucker

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Travel and tourism has been recognized as being an important driver of jobs, growth and economic recovery in the United States. Meetings, events and incentive travel contribute $98.7 billion of the direct spending, $15.0 billion in taxes and 859,000 jobs. As a result, destination marketing organizations (DMOs) in the United States are taking advantage of this impact for growth in their destinations. As a destination marketing organization's main job responsibility is to promote their destination to attract visitors, which requires superior marketing strategies to achieve these goals.

This research investigates the marketing strategies of DMOs in the United States. The …

Understanding Collaborative Dynamics: A Critical Review And Inductive Investigation, Amydee Mackley Fawcett

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Collaboration has been a topic of discussion for over 20 years. Managers are consistently calling for better collaboration and researchers have argued that managing tightly coupled relationships creates a co-mingling of complementary competencies that establishes distinctive advantages for firms. Even though there have been a few exemplar companies that have been capable of truly developing these complementary competencies, few companies truly understand the dynamics of a collaborative capability. This dissertation reviews the theoretical conceptualization and operationalization of tightly coupled relationships and through an interpretive analysis, begins to provide clarity to the following questions:

* Under what conditions are tightly coupled …

Moving Mission Into Action Through Strategy, Lauren Davenport

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Non-profit organizations across the globe are continuing to increase in numbers. There is a need for these non-profits to develop and utilize strategy in order to thrive in a growing and competitive environment. Although some research exists on non-profit strategy, the research presented here further develops and classifies non-profit strategic typologies through the examination of environmental and human trafficking non-profit organizations. This research focuses on the missions of non-profits organizations and how these respective organizations can see their mission come to fruition through successful strategic implementation. While business strategy centers on profit accumulation, non-profit mission is fixated on the re-installment …

The Legitimation Of Novel Technologies: The Case Of Nanotechnology, Anastasia E. Thyroff

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nanotechnology is the control, manipulation, and application of matter on an atomic and molecular level. The technology is complex and confusing to consumers, and its long-term safety and effect on the human body, as well as the environment, are unknown. However, for the past decade, nanotechnology has been used to develop consumer products and food with novel and attractive attributes.

Since nanotechnology is still not well known, it is not legitimized; that is, it has not been deemed safe and accepted by society. However, the market for nanotechnology is in the legitimation process. It will take an entire network of …

A Roadmap To Mindful Consumption Through Informative Labeling Practices: The Effects Of Sustainability Disclosure Formats On Consumer Product Evaluations, Yoon-Na Cho

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite the interest of consumers in sustainable and environmentally friendly products, only a limited number of studies have focused on sustainability level disclosures for consumer packaged goods. The general overarching purpose of this dissertation is to extend the internal reference point and information processing literatures to better understand how consumers will process sustainability disclosures. Applying the theoretical lens of assimilation bias in conjunction with self-enhancement offers an important extension to prior work. Across two retail lab studies and four online experiments, I demonstrate that the perceived sustainability utility (i.e., the difference between a specific brand's level of sustainability and category-level …

Communicating Product Sustainability: Consumer Responses To Sustainability Labeling In A Retail Laboratory Environment, Siqi Feng

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

In effort to enhance sustainable development, manufacturers and retailers have collaborated to develop a standardized sustainability index based on supply chain life cycle information. However, it is unclear whether this index will help consumers make more sustainable purchases. Research conducted in a retail laboratory addresses consumer attitudes, purchase intentions, and product choices with and without a credible standardized sustainability index, and with or without provision of background sustainability information. Results from a pilot study and two mixed design experiments indicate that, on average, consumers focus more on brand equity than on sustainability levels when they make brand choices. While the …

The Competitive Front-Of-Package Labeling Of Consumer Packaged Goods: Cutting Through The Clutter, Christopher Newman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

At no point in U.S. history have food product packages displayed so many symbols and statements regarding nutrition and health benefits (Nestle 2010). However, despite this explosion of front-of-package (FOP) health communications, obesity and health-related problems of U.S. consumers continue to be a critical concern. Therefore, it is important for marketers, retailers, manufacturers, and public policy makers to develop a more complete understanding of consumers' processing and utilization of health information on food packages, as well as how this information affects product evaluations and choices.

Therefore, this dissertation utilizes a processing fluency theoretical framework (e.g., Zajonc 1968; Jacoby and Dallas …

Social Media: Do Context Limitations Exist?, Richard Fortier

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

Since the inception of popular social networking sites, such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter, millions of people around the world are becoming members of their own virtual communities that continue to grow. Communication barriers flattened with the invention of the internet, and now social networking sites are creating an organized infrastructure within the vast cyberspace. Within my research, I plan to further pursue a research gap concerning the importance of the social context in which ads are displayed. Since it is well documented that social media users are sensitive about the amount of advertising and the kind of information marketers …

Is Differentiation Better?: Consumer Memory For Online Advertisement Selection, Keri Wood

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

The proliferation of internet content has generated a significant online marketing increase in recent years. While there exists a relatively broad base of knowledge regarding the impact of traditional advertisement structures and their effects on consumer behavior, less is known about the impact of the interactive world of online advertising, particularly video advertising. Research has been done to address the question of identifying a more suitable model for the online video format than a standard pre-roll advertisement. The Pool Lane One of VivaKi found that the most effective model was the ad-selector, which allowed consumers to choose their preference from …

Exploring The Differences Of The Grocery Experience Between Spain And The United States: Is It More Than Just Potato, Patata, Tomato, Tomate?, Madison Dowell

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

With the increasing globalization of the world economy, companies looking to take part in this trend must pay attention to the differences between aspects of their home country and the country in which they are trying to sell products. Being well informed on criteria that could affect the purchase decision of foreign consumers is essential to avoiding self reference criterion and ethnocentrism, or the unconscious referral to and focus on one’s own culture rather than the targeted culture. “Sociologic differences around the world largely outweigh the similarities. People in the global community are influenced and driven by different things. Lack …

The Observing Public's Perception On Individual's Behavior When Pressured With Unethical Decisions, Amanda Hancock

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study examines how public perception of individuals pressured with unethical decisions can be dependent on perceived personality traits of the individual. An observer's perception is analyzed through two perspective behaviors: normative (desired) and expected. The two personality traits examined are perceived ambition and perceived individual power distance. Data was obtained for this study from a sample of 152 undergraduate students through a survey where respondents were randomly given one of four manipulated scenarios. The survey measured the respondent's beliefs on what an individual in the scenario should (normative) and would (expected) do when faced with an unethical decision. The …

On Shelf Availability: A Literature Review & Conceptual Framework, Kristie Spielmaker

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

On-Shelf Availability (OSA) is a key performance indicator for the retail industry, greatly impacting profit and customer loyalty. Strong competition in the industry causes retailers and suppliers to put heavy emphasis on improving performance in an effort to satisfy consumers and keep them coming back to their store or product. Over 40 years of research has been done on OSA and its complement, out-of stock (OOS), however very little progress has been made in improving performance in these areas, leading to the belief that gaps in extant research exist. In order to solve the OOS problem, the key drivers of …

The Recession Of 2008: For Better Or For Worse, Kelsy Litchenburg

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

With nonstop discussion about the current recession in the government, news, classroom, social media, and any other type of communication outlet, there is seldom a minute that Americans are not impacted by our current economic condition. Constantly, we are faced with pitfalls of the recession, like job loss and a declining house market, but who is to say that the motion of our economy doesn't follow Newton's third law stating that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction? Meaning that for each negative this recession brings, might there also be a positive social effect as well? After …

Drivers Of The Cash Conversion Cycle In Retail: A Test Of Resource Dependency Theory, Katie Mcclellan

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study analyzes the role of resource dependency theory in the supply chain, specifically investigating the supplier-retailer relationship. Resource dependency theory attempts to summarize the power-seeking behavior found in interorganizational relationships, as firms attempt to increase their own independence while increasing other firms’ dependence on them. The interdependent nature of a supply chain provides an ideal environment to analyze this type of relationship. In order to assess a firm’s influence over other members, the cash conversion cycle was used as it considers the interlocking nature of the supply chain, since each action taken to constrict one firm’s cycle affects that …

Business And Cultural Implications For Walmart In Spain, Ariel Spencer

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Technological advances in the modern era have led to the incredible phenomenon of world collaboration, more commonly known as globalization. The whole of the world is behaving increasingly as a single market. Within this massively intertwined economy, companies are facing new challenges of communication, management and adaptation as their reach of business extends across the world. An integral part of conducting business on a global scale is gaining an accurate and well-developed understanding of each area into which the business extends. Therefore, one of the most important factors when entering a new environment is learning to adapt to the cultural …

Advertising And The Influence On Self-Destructive Behaviors With An Emphasis On Childhood Obesity, Kimberly Moffat

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

As self-destructive behaviors are on the rise across society, research is being completed in order to determine links and causes. From binge drinking to over-eating, American society in particular is having negative behaviors become more prevalent and accepted by the media and pop culture. Links to marketing campaigns have definitely been made in the past, but the following research takes a closer look at the direct corresponding link between marketing advertisements and the increase in childhood obesity. An exhaustive secondary analysis of multiple studies and literature helps prove there is indeed an issue with how advertisements are influencing bad eating …

On-Shelf Customer Availability Research: The Effects Of The Day-Of-The-Week, Product, And Category Characteristics On Stockouts, Joseph Lum

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper seeks to examine the causes of stockouts and on-shelf customer availability by examining various product and category characteristics, as well as the day-of-the-week to study their effects on stockouts. Over 8 weeks, data was collected by taking tri-weekly photographs of three product categories at a retail store, and then the data was extracted to a spreadsheet before empirical analysis was done. The results of the study indicated that the probability of a stockout increased when planned facings decreased, the unit price increased, proper on-shelf placement decreased, and when other SKU’s of the same category also stocked out.