Determinants of Long-Term Orientation in Buyer-Seller RelationshipsGanesan, Shankar
1994 Journal of Marketing
doi: 10.1177/002224299405800201
Marketing managers must know the time orientation of a customer to select and use marketing tools that correspond to the time horizons of the customer. Insufficient understanding of a customer's time orientation can lead to problems, such as attempting a relationship marketing when transaction marketing is more appropriate. The author suggests that long-term orientation in a buyer/seller relationship is a function of two main factors: mutual dependence and the extent to which they trust one another. Dependence and trust are related to environmental uncertainty, transaction-specific investments, reputation, and satisfaction in a buyer/seller relationship. The framework presented here is tested with 124 retail buyers and 52 vendors supplying to those retailers. The results indicate that trust and dependence play key roles in determining the long-term orientation of both retail buyers and their vendors. The results also indicate that both similarities and differences exist across retailers and vendors with respect to the effects of several variables on long-term orientation, dependence, and trust.
UPC Scanner Pricing Systems: Are They Accurate?Goodstein, Ronald C.
1994 Journal of Marketing
doi: 10.1177/002224299405800202
The author empirically examines the efficiency of scanner checkout systems by calculating the rates of underrings and overrings occurring in stores employing scanner systems. Actual purchases were used to calculate error rates across three shopping trips to each of 15 stores. The results reveal that both underring and overring rates are significantly higher than retailers’ expectations. Though these rates are equivalent across regular-priced purchases, they systematically favor the retailer for purchases of advertised specials and items on end-of-aisle displays. The author discusses the implications of these findings for retailers, consumers, researchers, and public policymakers.
Managerial Representations of Competitive AdvantageDay, George S.; Nedungadi, Prakash
1994 Journal of Marketing
doi: 10.1177/002224299405800203
Managers use mental models of markets to simplify and impose order on complex and ambiguous competitive environments and isolate points of competitive advantage or deficiency. In this study of senior managers of 190 businesses, the authors found four different types of mental models or representations of competitive advantage, varying in the emphasis placed on customer or management judgments about where and how competitors differ. These representations were influenced equally by pressure points in the environment and choice of strategy. The type of representation was also strongly associated with constrained patterns of information search and usage, raising the possibility that the necessary simplifications and narrowing of perspective may come at the cost of myopia and insensitivity to challenges from unexpected directions. There was also a strong association between the completeness of the managerial representation and relative financial performance, which supports related studies on the profitability of a market orientation.
Competitive Marketing Behavior in Industrial MarketsRamaswamy, Venkatram; Gatignon, Hubert; Reibstein, David J.
1994 Journal of Marketing
doi: 10.1177/002224299405800204
The authors outline a conceptual framework for analyzing differences in competitive marketing behavior of businesses in established industrial markets. They explicitly distinguish between retaliatory and cooperative marketing behavior. The structural characteristics of the served markets and the competitive positions of businesses are postulated to affect the nature and likelihood of retaliatory and cooperative behavior with respect to price and sales force expenditures. The authors specify different models explaining these dimensions of competitive marketing behavior at the strategic business unit level and test their hypotheses by estimating the various competitive behavior models using relevant data obtained from the PIMS (Profit Impact of Market Strategies) Program. The empirical results support several theoretical arguments and provide insights into the determinants of competitive marketing behavior in industrial markets.
Waiting for Service: The Relationship between Delays and Evaluations of ServiceTaylor, Shirley
1994 Journal of Marketing
doi: 10.1177/002224299405800205
Delays in service are becoming increasingly common; yet their effects on service evaluations are relatively unknown. The author presents a model of the wait experience, which assesses the effects of delay duration, attribution for the delay, and degree to which time is filled, on affective and evaluative reactions to the delay. An empirical test of the model with delayed airline passengers reveals that delays do affect service evaluations; however, this impact is mediated by negative affective reactions to the delay. The degree to which the service provider is perceived to have control and the degree to which the delayed customer's time is filled also indirectly affect service evaluations, mediated by the customers’ affective reactions of uncertainty and anger.
The Effect of Effort on Sales Performance and Job SatisfactionBrown, Steven P.; Peterson, Robert A.
1994 Journal of Marketing
doi: 10.1177/002224299405800206
The authors address a fundamental gap in understanding how sales performance and job satisfaction are determined in an investigation of the sales force of a direct-selling organization. Results indicate a direct positive effect of work-related effort on job satisfaction that is not mediated by sales performance. This is inconsistent with commonly accepted theoretical models and suggests that the perspective of work as a “terminal value” (i.e., an end in itself, rather than strictly a means to an end) has been underemphasized in models of work behavior. As such, either (1) measures of sales performance should be broadened to encompass the terminal value perspective on the psychological value of work or (2) conceptual models should be revised to reflect that narrowly defined measures of sales performance do not completely mediate the effect of effort on job satisfaction. The authors conclude with a discussion of managerial implications of these findings.
Marketing Universals: Consumers’ Use of Brand Name, Price, Physical Appearance, and Retailer Reputation as Signals of Product QualityDawar, Niraj; Parker, Philip
1994 Journal of Marketing
doi: 10.1177/002224299405800207
Marketing universals are defined as consumer behaviors within a segment and toward a particular product category that are invariant across cultures. Using several definitions of culture and three different criteria for universality, the authors evaluate whether the use of brand, price, retailer reputation, and physical product appearance as signals of quality are marketing universals for consumer electronics products. Using a sample representing 38 nationalities, they find that there are few differences in the use of quality signals across cultures for a high priority segment of consumers. They draw conclusions for the adaptation versus standardization debate and argue that certain behaviors are likely to be universal, whereas others are not. Understanding such differences is essential to designing international marketing strategies.
Evolving Patterns of Organizational Beliefs in the Formation of StrategyFrankwick, Gary L.; Ward, James C.; Hutt, Michael D.; Reingen, Peter H.
1994 Journal of Marketing
doi: 10.1177/002224299405800208
By examining marketing's strategic role through the lenses of managers operating throughout the organizational structure, researchers and strategists can gain special insights. Adopting a structural-cognitive perspective, the authors employed a longitudinal design, coupled with snowball sampling, to explore the beliefs and changes in beliefs of key actors in a major strategic decision. The results show a dramatic conflict across functions in the interpretation of a proposed new strategy and its consequences. The authors conclude with a discussion of the implications of the results for the study of managerial thought worlds, organizational learning, and strategy development.