Marketing Commons^™

Firm-Specific Assets, Multinationality, And Financial Performance: A Meta-Analytic Review And Theoretical Integration, Ahmet H. Kirca, G. Tomas M. Hult, Kendall Roth, S. Tamer Cavusgill, Morys Z. Perryy, M. Billure Akdeniz, Seyda Z. Deligonul, Jeannette A. Mena, Wesley A. Pollitte, Jessica J. Hoppner, Joseph C. Miller, Ryan C. White

Faculty Publications

Through a meta-analysis of 120 independent samples reported in 111 studies, we test the predictions of internalization theory in the context of the multinationality-performance relationship. Findings indicate that multinationality provides an efficient organizational form that enables firms to transfer their firm-specific assets to generate higher returns in international markets. In addition, the results delineate the conditions under which firm-specific assets have the strongest impact on the multinationality-performance relationship. Meta-analytic evidence also suggests that multinationality has intrinsic value above and beyond the intangible assets that firms possess, given analyses controlling for firms' international experience, age, size, and product diversification.

A Servperf Model Of The Vietnamese Banking Industry, Quoc Cuong Nguyen, Sirion Chaipoopirutana, Howard W. Combs

Faculty Publications

Customer loyalty is an important factor which has a significant effect on the profitability of the firm. The cost of keeping an existing customer to stay with the firm is much lower than the cost of acquiring a new customer. The purpose of this research is to build and test a model of factors effecting customer loyalty in Vietnamese banking industry. The data was obtained by distributing questionnaire to 400 bank customers in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and analyzed by structural equation modeling (SEM). The results indicated that customer loyalty is positively and significantly influenced by perceived service quality …

Effective Customer Relationship Management Of Health Care: A Study Of Hospitals In Thailand, Howard W. Combs, B. Laohasirichaikul, S. Chaipoopirutana

Faculty Publications

This article investigates the effects and the relative importance of the four perceived service quality dimensions on corporate image, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty. To obtain results, factor analysis and multiple regression techniques are applied to data collected from 500 Thai outpatients of the five largest private hospitals in Bangkok. The findings indicate that the four dimensions significantly affect corporate image, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty. More specifically, the doctor concern dimension is the most important factor affecting customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The tangibles dimension is the most important factor affecting corporate image.

Creating Online Brand Value Through Online Discussion Site, David Czerwinski, M Merz, U Herbst

Faculty Publications

This paper discusses the implications of the new evolving Service-Dominant (S-D) logic in marketing on brand value creation. Furthermore, it introduces the concept of online brand value and examines whether online discussion sites constitute a means for firms to co-create, together with a firm's customers, online brand value. Moreover, a conceptual framework of online discussion sites is proposed. Finally, the results of an exploratory empirical analysis of two discussion sites are presented. The findings provide initial support for the hypothesis that online discussion sites can be used to create online brand value. Moreover, the findings suggest that firm-generated discussion sites …

Adaptive Appointment Systems With Patient Preferences, Wen-Ya Wang, D. Gupta

Faculty Publications

Patients' satisfaction with an appointment system when they attempt to book a nonurgent appointment is affected by their ability to book with a doctor of choice and to book an appointment at a convenient time of day. For medical conditions requiring urgent attention, patients want quick access to a familiar physician. For such instances, it is important for clinics to have open slots that allow same-day (urgent) access. A major challenge when designing outpatient appointment systems is the difficulty of matching randomly arriving patients' booking requests with physicians' available slots in a manner that maximizes patients' satisfaction as well as …

Hospitality And Destination Marketing's Role In Medical Tourism: A Call For Research, Dan Cormany

Faculty Publications

Like business travel, where the primary focus is on business and travel is the simply the conduit by which it is performed, medical tourism is a growing trend in which individuals journey to foreign countries primarily to secure specific medical procedures or health benefits. The medical tourist is a newly defined segment of the travel industry, and while still small in numbers, is growing rapidly. This paper seeks to identify research questions related to the hospitality elements that contribute to the medical tourism experience. The answers to these may aid hoteliers, tourism operations, and visitor bureaus better understand, service and …

The Main Determinants Of Bollywood Movie Box Office Sales, Marc Fetscherin

Faculty Publications

The Indian film industry produces more movies and sells more tickets than any other movie industry, with revenues second only to those of the US film industry. We employ a two-by-two research design using a set of multiple regression analyses for two different countries of destination for Bollywood movies for two dependent variables. By examining data and testing our hypotheses on a sample of 330 films, we identify effects related to brand, product, distribution and consumers on opening week as well as total box office sales both individually and collectively. Our results show that the categories of variables affecting Bollywood …

The Determinants And Measurement Of A Country Brand: The Country Brand Strength Index, Marc Fetscherin

Faculty Publications

Purpose: A strong country brand can stimulate exports, attract tourism, investments, and immigration. The purpose of this paper is to construct and present a country brand strength index (CBSI) which assesses the strength of a country brand based on objective secondary data.

Design/methodology/approach: By applying a company-based brand equity approach, we present a standardized country brand strength index.

Findings: Our results show that the countries with the strongest country brand are smaller, developed countries in Europe. Our proposed index leads to results similar to the widely used Anholt GfK Roper Nation Brand Index (NBI), which measures perceptions of a country …

The Effects Of The Country Of Brand And The Country Of Manufacturing Of Automobiles: An Experimental Study Of Consumers' Brand Personality Perceptions, Marc Fetscherin, Mark Toncar

Faculty Publications

Purpose: This paper offers a new perspective of country of origin effects on consumers’ brand personality perceptions of domestic and imported automobiles. It assesses the perceived similarities and differences between automobiles from two countries with respect to the country of origin of the brand (COB) and the country of manufacturing (COM) of that same brand.

Design/methodology/approach: An experimental design was used to investigate developed country consumers’ brand personality perceptions of three cars; a domestic car, a car manufactured in a developing country by a developing country manufacturer, and a car from developing country manufacturer that is manufactured in the developed …

Branding In China: Alternative Brand Strategiesbranding In China: Global Product Strategy Alternatives, Ilan Alon, Romie F. Littrell, Allan K.K. Chan

Faculty Publications

This article reviews and discusses issues in translation of international brand names to Chinese, and provides a framework for international brand managers who want to expand into China. Linguistic differences between Chinese and English are wide and deep, making translation of brand names difficult. Cultural context, pronunciation, written vs. oral language, and meaning of characters are just a few examples of such difficulties. We discuss four global-product-naming strategic alternatives available to country/brand managers, along with their usage, and give examples of brands utilizing the different approaches. The four approaches we discuss include (1) dual extension, (2) brand meaning extension, (3) …

Building Entrepreneurship In Subsistence Markets: Microfranchising As An Employment Incubator, Lisa Jones, Helen Parsons, Jason Fairebourne

Faculty Publications

Scholars indicate significant interest in business models that support entrepreneurial behavior in developing markets [Wankel C., editor. Alleviating Poverty through Business Strategy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2008]—particularly as they relate to job creation. This research introduces microfranchising as a business model adaptation that helps low-income individuals overcome non credit-related barriers to entry in obtaining employment. This study reveals a clear challenge for researchers—to better understand microfranchising and the extent to which the practice creates employment and enables individual business success. Largely unanswered questions concern the profiles of typical microfranchisees as well as the impacts of microfranchising on low-income individuals in …

Unethical Behavior In The Name Of The Company: The Moderating Effect Of Organizational Identification And Positive Reciprocity Beliefs On Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior, Elizabeth E. Umpress, John B. Bingham, Marie S. Mitchell

Faculty Publications

We examined the relationship between organizational identification and unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB)—unethical behaviors conducted by employees to potentially benefit the organization. We predicted that organizational identification would be positively related to UPB and that positive reciprocity beliefs would moderate and strengthen this relationship. The results from 2 field studies support the interaction effect and show that individuals who strongly identify with their organization are more likely to engage in UPB when they hold strong positive reciprocity beliefs. Given the nature of reciprocity, our findings may suggest that highly identified employees who hold strong reciprocity beliefs may conduct UPB with an …

A Stakeholder Identity Orientation Approach To Corporate Social Performance In Family Firms, John B. Bingham, W. Gibb Dyer Jr., Isaac Smith, Gregory L. Adams

Faculty Publications

Extending the dialogue on corporate social performance (CSP) as descriptive stakeholder management (Clarkson, Acad Manage Rev 20:92, 1995), we examine differences in CSP activity between family and nonfamily firms. We argue that CSP activity can be explained by the firm’s identity orientation toward stakeholders (Brickson, Admin Sci Quart 50:576, 2005; Acad Manage Rev 32:864, 2007). Specifically, individualistic, relational, or collectivistic identity orientations can describe a firm’s level of CSP activity toward certain stakeholders. Family firms, we suggest, adopt a more relational orientation toward their stakeholders than nonfamily firms, and thus engage in higher levels of CSP. Further, we invoke collectivistic …

Valuating Brand Equity And Product Related Attributes In The Context Of The German Automobile Market, Marc Fetscherin, Mark Toncar

Faculty Publications

The concept of consumer-based brand equity has been discussed widely in the literature and there are a wide variety of both quantitative and qualitative measures used to assess it. For the most part, previous research has studied the way a brand and product attributes are perceived in a consumer’s mind and the empirical data used in most studies is based on self-reported survey data. In this research, objective data from the largest German Automobile Association, including actual prices, objective quality ratings of product attributes and market share of brands are used to estimate their effect on the actual price set …

Enhancing The Communication Competency Of Business Undergraduates: A Consumer Socialization Perspective, K. C. Gehrt, M. O'Brien, David Mease

Faculty Publications

Explaining how individuals acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively participate in society is often accomplished through Socialization Theory. We investigate numerous socialization agents and their relationship with the communication competency of university business majors. Communication competency (reading, writing, and verbal) was measured via both a standardized skill test and self report. Exploratory analysis was conducted upon high and low communication competency groups that were identified via cluster analysis. Our findings generally indicate the most important socialization agents are via personal interactions whereas the least important socialization agents are influencing via primarily electronic or media-based methods.

Enhancing The Communication Competency Of Business Undergraduates: A Consumer Socialization Perspective, Kenneth C. Gehrt, M. O'Brien, D. Mease

Faculty Publications

Explaining how individuals acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively participate in society is often accomplished through Socialization Theory. We investigate numerous socialization agents and their relationship with the communication competency of university business majors. Communication competency (reading, writing, and verbal) was measured via both a standardized skill test and self report. Exploratory analysis was conducted upon high and low communication competency groups that were identified via cluster analysis. Our findings generally indicate the most important socialization agents are via personal interactions whereas the least important socialization agents are influencing via primarily electronic or media-based methods.

An Empirical And Consumer Psychology Analysis Of Trademark Distinctiveness, Thomas R. Lee, Eric D. Derosia, Glenn L. Christensen

Faculty Publications

This article analyzes the taxonomy of trademark distinctiveness that has long been endorsed in the courts and scholarly commentary. This distinctiveness scale is routinely justified on the basis of an assumption about consumer psychology: that consumers perceive suggestive, arbitrary, or fanciful marks as source-indicating, but see descriptive marks as "merely descriptive." Although this core premise of trademark law is a fundamental matter of consumer psychology, it has never been subjected to scrutiny under the light of consumer psychology theory and empirical analysis. We offer a consumer psychology model for questioning the law of distinctiveness (or "source indication") and then test …

The State Of Research On Multinationals And Emerging Markets, Rajesh K. Pillania, Marc Fetscherin

Faculty Publications

Emerging markets are increasingly becoming the growth drivers of the global economy and there is increased scrutiny and interest in emerging markets since the 1990s. The interest can be viewed from a demand and supply perspective. With a huge population and increasing income, emerging economies provide a big market for goods and services. Also, with talented manpower and low costs, emerging economies are supplying more and more goods and services to the world (Pillania, 2009). Multinational corporations (MNCs) play a very important role in global business and economy. There is an increased interest in research and explanation for emerging markets …

An Exploration Of A Model Of Social Networks And Multilateral Negotiations, Bruce Money, Chad R. Allred

Faculty Publications

Multilateral (many‐party) negotiations are much more complex than traditional two‐party negotiations. In this article, we explore a model of social network activity, especially clique formation, among parties engaged in multilateral negotiation and the implications that such networks might have on the negotiation process and outcome. Using data collected from 375 subjects participating in a negotiation simulation, our results reveal that, primarily, the negotiator’s perspectives of clique formation (coalition building) — both his or her own and the other party’s — have unique effects on the integrative, problem‐solving approaches used in the process and on the negotiator’s satisfaction with outcomes. Secondarily, …

Engaging Embedded Information: Toward A Holistic Theory Of Knowledge Transfer In Organizations, Michael P. Thompson, Robert J. Jensen, Kristen Detienne

Faculty Publications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a model of knowledge transfer that takes into account both the perspective of the sender and the perspective of the receiver, with an emphasis on the latter. The contention is that, although externalizing knowledge residing in an individual or group and making it accessible to others either through direct communication or embedding information in the organizational system is a necessary component of knowledge transfer, it is not the only component. An equal, but understudied, share of the knowledge transfer effort takes place when the receiver of the knowledge engages with …

Blind Insights: A New Technique For Testing A Priori Hypotheses With Qualitative Methods, Eric D. Derosia, Glenn L. Christensen

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this paper is to propose and illustrate blind qualitative hypothesis testing, which is a qualitative research technique that further generalizes the well-known notion of “blindness” in research to include a qualitative researcher. The technique introduces a method to test a priori hypotheses using qualitative, emergent observation and analysis without the biasing influence of prior knowledge of the hypotheses being tested.

A Sense Of Things To Come: Future Research Directions In Sensory Marketing, Ryan S. Elder, Nilufer Z. Aydinoglu, Victor A. Barger, Cindy Caldara, Helen Haeeun Chun, Chan Jean Lee, Gina Mohr, Antonios Stamatogiannakis

Faculty Publications

The exciting exploration on sensory marketing presented in this book is just the foundation upon which to build future research. There are myriad unexplored questions and innumerable directions in which to take this research. Our goal in this chapter is not to provide an exhaustive array of these future directions, but rather to stimulate the reader into exploring new ideas. We present possible future directions for each sense individually (vision, audition, smell, touch, taste), and conclude with ideas for future research addressing the interplay among multiple senses within consumer behavior.

The Influence Of Distributive Justice On Lying For And Stealing From A Supervisor, Elizabeth E. Umpress, Lily Run Ren, John B. Bingham, Celile Itir Gogus

Faculty Publications

In a controlled laboratory experiment, we found evidence for our predictions that participants who received fair distributive treatment were more likely to lie to give a supervisor a good performance evaluation than those treated unfairly, and those who received unfair distributive treatment were more likely to steal money from a supervisor than those treated fairly. We further proposed that the presence of an ethical code of conduct would moderate these relationships such that when the code was present these relationships would be weaker than when the code was absent, but we failed to find support for these moderating effects. Our …

Psychographics And Patronage Behavior Of Mature Consumers In Thailand, Howard W. Combs, A. Anken, S. Chaipoopirutana

Faculty Publications

The elderly market is critically important to many businesses due to its growing size and expanding economic potential. Lifestyles or psychographics have emerged as a viable means of determining market segments for this market. This research examined the relationship between lifestyle segments and retail patronage behavior of mature consumers in Thailand. Three lifestyle or psychographic segments of mature consumers, family oriented, young and secure, and quiet introverts demonstrated a low positive relationship with patronage behavior. Two additional lifestyle segments, active retiree and self reliant, demonstrated norelationship.

Evidence Contrary To The Statistical View Of Boosting, David Mease, A. Wyner

Faculty Publications

The statistical perspective on boosting algorithms focuses on optimization, drawing parallels with maximum likelihood estimation for logistic regression. In this paper we present empirical evidence that raises questions about this view. Although the statistical perspective provides a theoretical framework within which it is possible to derive theorems and create new algorithms in general contexts, we show that there remain many unanswered important questions. Furthermore, we provide examples that reveal crucial flaws in the many practical suggestions and new methods that are derived from the statistical view. We perform carefully designed experiments using simple simulation models to illustrate some of these …

Understanding The Effectiveness Of Product Placement: The Roles Of Placement Congruency And Information Processing, Kavita Jayaraman, Jing Zhang

Faculty Publications

This project examined the influence of placement congruency and information processing on the effectiveness of product placement in a TV sitcom. In an experiment, we found that compared to an incongruently placed product, a congruently placed product elicited lower level of product recall, but more favorable product attitudes among respondents. Moreover, this attitudinal effect was more pronounced when the respondents engaged in incidental (vs. deliberate) information processing when they watched the TV program.

Boosted Classification Trees And Class Probability/Quantile Estimation, David Mease, A. Wyner, A. Buja

Faculty Publications

The standard by which binary classifiers are usually judged, misclassification error, assumes equal costs of misclassifying the two classes or, equivalently, classifying at the 1/2 quantile of the conditional class probability function P[y = 1jx]. Boosted classification trees are known to perform quite well for such problems. In this article we consider the use of standard, off-the-shelf boosting for two more general problems: 1) classification with unequal costs or, equivalently, classification at quantiles other than 1/2, and 2) estimation of the conditional class probability function P[y = 1jx]. We first examine whether the latter problem, estimation of P[y = 1jx], …

From The Classroom To The Boardroom: How Understanding 'The Rules' Of Dating Can Help Undergraduate Business Students Practice 'The Rules' Of Effective Career Communication, Marilyn K. Easter, T Clark, M Clark

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Comment: Boosting Algorithms: Regularization, Prediction And Model Fitting, A. Buja, David Mease, A. Wyner

Faculty Publications

The authors are doing the readers of Statistical Science a true service with a well-written and up-to-date overview of boosting that originated with the seminal algorithms of Freund and Schapire. Equally, we are grateful for high-level software that will permit a larger readership to experiment with, or simply apply, boosting-inspired model fitting. The authors show us a world of methodology that illustrates how a fundamental innovation can penetrate every nook and cranny of statistical thinking and practice. They introduce the reader to one particular interpretation of boosting and then give a display of its potential with extensions from classification (where …

Vendor-Owned Inventory Management Arrangements In Retail: An Agency Theory Perspective, Manus Rungtusanatham, Elliot Rabinovich, Bryan Ashenbaum, Cynthia Wallin Blair

Faculty Publications

This paper undertakes two related tasks to augment current understanding regarding vendor-owned inventory management (VOIM) arrangements implemented in the retail industry. The first task formally juxtaposes three prevalent forms of VOIM arrangements (i.e., Consignment, Pay-On-Scan, and Scan-Based Trading) to one another and identifies three dimensions (i.e., Relevant Data Visibility, Timeliness of Information Release, and Shrink Responsibility) that serve to discriminate among them. The second task applies an Agency Theory lens to uncover differing profiles of characteristics underlying the retailer-vendor relationship across the Consignment, Pay-On-Scan, and Scan-Based Trading arrangements. These conceptual results contribute to and have implications for the science and …