Sales and Merchandising Commons^™

Fitting Consumer Needs To Perceived Product Value: The Example Of Apple Versus Samsung Products, Yi-Chia Wu, Arturo Vasquez-Parraga

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

This study explores the fitting of consumer needs to product perceived value using the example of two lines of competitive products in the area of communication electronics, Apple products versus Samsung products. Five types of needs regarding digital communication and three types of related product value are evaluated for these two brands in order to know if product value differences have a distinctive effect on consumer needs.

This study focuses on the impact of perceived product values on certain consumer needs. We use Apple products and Samsung products to accomplish this.

7 Tips To Grow Your Rural Business With Purpose And Meaning, Connie I. Reimers-Hild, Alyssa Dye

Community Vitality Initiative

No one can predict the future; however, rural entrepreneurs and business owners can use a future-focused leadership approach, which includes examining megatrends, to shape the future of their businesses. Megatrends are global shifts that influence society, the economy and the environment. The purpose of this article is to help rural entrepreneurs discover ways to grow their businesses with Living with Purpose and Meaning Megatrend.

Why Empowering Salespeople Is A Double Edge Sword, Lucy Matthews

Doctor of Business Administration Dissertations

Salespeople in business-to-business markets are given autonomy to manage firms’ relationships with their customers. This autonomy implies that salespeople are responsible for making decisions that not only benefit but may also adversely impact customers (e.g., offer an account preferential treatment vs. terminate an established account). While numerous studies establish that autonomy (a critical facet of empowerment) has a positive impact on sales employee’s job outcomes, this study investigates the possibility that salesperson autonomy also has undesirable effects on salesperson job outcomes because it makes them responsible for decisions that have adverse consequences on the customers they are charged with satisfying. …

Dispersion Of Marketing Capabilities: Impact On Marketing’S Influence And Business Unit Outcomes, Michael T Krush, Ravipreet Sohi, Amit Saini

Department of Marketing: Faculty Publications

The marketing function of firms continues to evolve into many configurations, including the dispersion of marketing capabilities. This study evaluates the effects on the marketing function’s influence when marketing capabilities are dispersed across multiple boundaries. Using a sample of marketing executives, we study the effects of two forms of marketing capabilities dispersion: intra-organizational dispersion and inter-organizational dispersion. We examine the impact of these forms on marketing’s perceived influence within the firm. We also investigate marketing’s influence on customer responsiveness, along with three distal outcomes: marketing strategy implementation success, relationship portfolio effectiveness, and business unit performance. Our findings reveal that marketing’s …

A Sound Idea: A Theory-Based Synthesis And Explanadum Supporting The Use Of Music In Marketing Strategy, Anthony H. Kerr, Neel Das

Atlantic Marketing Journal

A review and synthesis of research literature regarding the role and influence of music on advertising effectiveness and in-store shopper moods and behavior is presented. A conceptual model is presented, with strong theoretical support found in classical conditioning, information processing, involvement, and mood states literature. The authors posit that a retailer should use a dual, concomitant music strategy as a component of an overall advertising and in-store marketing promotion plan. This strategy is presented in what the authors refer to as the Music Affect Model. While using the positive affects of music on consumer purchasing behavior as its core source …

The Impact Of Consumer Product Package Quality On Consumption Satisfaction, Brand Perceptions, Consumer Investment And Behavior, Jeffrey S. Hess Phd, Jay Singh, Lynn E. Metcalf, Jeffrey Danes Phd

Journal of Applied Packaging Research

Consumer product packaging can serve a critical role in the consumption experience, but marketing and packaging science researchers focus primarily on pre and post-consumption aspects of consumer product containers. Exhaustive research into packing ergonomics, logistics, safety, sustainability and promotional features are common across marketing and packaging disciplines, but research isolating the role of a packaging in consumption satisfaction and enduring consumer-brand relationships is rare. In addition to an undervalued role in product satisfaction, functional isolation between marketing and packaging scientists limits packaging’s overall impact on the bottom line.

This research examines the role of bottle quality in bottled-water consumption satisfaction …

F.A.C.E.S. (Faculty Academic Community Education Showcase): Professional Growth Experiences In A Career University, Paul J. Colbert, Ph.D.

MBA Faculty Conference Papers & Journal Articles

Institutes of higher education exist for the purpose of developing, fostering, nurturing, and stimulating the intellectual growth and development of students. The core values of a college education provide students conceptual and practical educational opportunities that focus on improving their skills and knowledge. These skills and knowledge translate into purposeful, real-life learning experiences. However, in the academic community, learning is not restricted to students. Faculty, too, must be supported and provided opportunities for personal and professional growth and development. Although professional development is not a novel concept in the education profession, schools often take up the gauntlet, but fall short …

Harley-Davidson, Inc.: A Strategic Audit, Sheila Lenz

Honors Theses

Thesis presents a strategic audit to assess the strategy of Harley-Davidson, Inc. Includes financial information, risks and strategies, and marketing information.

Developing A Culturally Responsive Classroom Collaborative Of Faculty, Students, And Institution, Paul J. Colbert

MBA Faculty Conference Papers & Journal Articles

Culture is integral to the learning process. It is the organization and way of life within the community of students and teachers and directs the way they communicate, interact, and approach teaching and learning. Although founded in particular values and principles, the academy, like most organizations, is impacted day-to-day by its culture. Yet, the traditional higher education institution has not been designed to operate within a racially or ethnically diverse student population. The social, political, economic, and cultural forces that support the institution influence the teaching and learning environments. To better address cultural diversity in the classroom, faculty must first …

What Makes Strategy Making Across The Sales-Marketing Interface More Successful?, Avinash Malshe, Ravipreet S. Sohi

Department of Marketing: Faculty Publications

Extant research on marketing strategy making (MSM) lacks process-based theoretical frameworks that elucidate how marketing strategies are made when sales and marketing functions are involved in the process. Using a grounded theory approach and data collected from (a) 58 depth interviews with sales and marketing professionals and (b) a focus group with 11 marketing professionals, we propose that MSM within the sales-marketing interface is a three-stage, multifaceted process that consists of Groundwork, Transfer and Follow-up stages. Our process-based model explicates the specific activities at each stage that are needed to develop and execute marketing strategies successfully, the sequence in which …

Obesity, Educational Attainment, And State Economic Welfare, Martin W. Sivula Ph.D.

MBA Faculty Conference Papers & Journal Articles

For the first time in history, estimates of the overweight people in the world rival estimates of those malnourished. The World Health Organization (WHO, 2002) ranked obesity among the top 10 risks to human health worldwide. In the early 1960s, nearly half of the Americans were overweight and 13% were obese. Today some 64% of U.S. adults are overweight and 30.5% are obese. Even more alarming, twice as many U.S. children are overweight than were twenty years ago, a 66% increase. Non-communicable diseases impose a heavy economic burden on already strained health systems. Health is a key determinant of development …

Sampling Concepts, Paul Boyd, Ph.D.

MBA Faculty Conference Papers & Journal Articles

The usefulness of any research is dependent upon how well the group studied represents the group about which decisions are to be made or conclusions drawn. That is, it depends upon how well the sample reflects relevant characteristics of the population. When it is possible to study every member of that group there is no problem, for on these occasions we can easily calculate the exact attribute (parameter) of interest for our population.

For example, if we were interested in determining the average number of gallons of gasoline sold to customers at our service station yesterday, we …

Dual Diffusion: Analysis And Implications For Sales Force Management, Madhavan Parthasarathy, Ravipreet S. Sohi, Ronald D. Hampton

Department of Marketing: Faculty Publications

Retail resistance to an innovation can hamper its supply to consumers, thereby influencing product adoption behavior. Given this, a dual diffusion process consisting of both retail and consumer adoption is more appropriate in today's dynamic marketplace. Sales emphasis by manufacturers can strongly influence retail and consumer adoption behaviors, which would be reflected in the shapes of their respective patterns. In this paper, the authors examine the nature of retail adoption and its impact, both positive and negative, on consumer adoption. Following this, they present a strategic framework that lays out the sales management implications of the dual diffusion process.