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on Marketing |
| By: | Joep P. Cornelissen; Lars Thøger Christensen; Pieter Vijn (Nyenrode Business Universiteit) |
| Abstract: | In recent years, theoretical commentaries and empirical research on the concept of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) have been concerned with its development and specification as a theoretical construct, and its diffusion among academics and practitioner populations across the globe. In this paper, we advance and elaborate upon the argument that the development and diffusion of IMC, including its diverse interpretations and uses, can be understood by seeing and understanding IMC as a metaphor. Particularly, we propose that IMC is understood through three core metaphors or metaphorical projections: discourse, system and practice. Together, these three metaphors account for the diverse interpretations of IMC and its expansive diffusion within the marketing communications literature. The implications of this metaphorical view of IMC for marketing communications theory and practice are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Integrated Marketing Communications, IMC, metaphor, trope, discourse, system, practice |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:nijrep:2006-02&r=mkt |
| By: | Toepoel,Vera; Das,Marcel; Soest,Arthur van (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | This article shows that respondents gain meaning from visual cues in a web survey as well as from verbal cues (words). We manipulated the layout of a five point rating scale using verbal, graphical, numerical, and symbolic language. This paper extends the existing literature in four directions: (1) all languages (verbal, graphical, numeric, and symbolic) are individually manipulated on the same rating scale, (2) a heterogeneous sample is used, (3) in which way personal characteristics and a respondent's need to think and evaluate account for variance in survey responding is analyzed, and (4) a web survey is used. Our experiments show differences due to verbal and graphical language but no effects of numeric or symbolic language are found. Respondents with a high need for cognition and a high need to evaluate are affected more by layout than respondents with a low need to think or evaluate. Furthermore, men, the elderly, and the highly educated are the most sensible for layout effects. |
| Keywords: | web survey;questionnaire lay out;context effects;need for cognition;need to evaluate |
| JEL: | C42 C81 C93 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:kubcen:200630&r=mkt |
| By: | Franz Rothlauf; Daniel Schunk; Jella Pfeiffer (Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging (MEA)) |
| Abstract: | The understanding of human behavior in sequential decision tasks is im- portant for economics and socio-psychological sciences. In search tasks, for example when individuals search for the best price of a product, they are confronted in sequential steps with di®erent situations and they have to decide whether to continue or stop searching. The decision behavior of individuals in such search tasks is described by a search strategy. This paper presents a new approach of ¯nding high-quality search strategies by using genetic algorithms (GAs). Only the structure of the search strategies and the basic building blocks (price thresholds and price patterns) that can be used for the search strategies are pre-speci¯ed. It is the purpose of the GA to construct search strategies that well describe human search behavior. The search strategies found by the GA are able to predict human behavior in search tasks better than traditional search strategies from the literature which are usually based on theoretical as- sumptions about human behavior in search tasks. Furthermore, the found search strategies are reasonable in the sense that they can be well in- terpreted, and generally that means they describe the search behavior of a larger group of individuals and allow some kind of categorization and classi¯cation. The results of this study open a new perspective for future research in developing behavioral strategies. Instead of deriving search strategies from theoretical assumptions about human behavior, researchers can directly analyze human behavior in search tasks and ¯nd appropriate and high- quality search strategies. These can be used for gaining new insights into the motivation behind human search and for developing new theoretical models about human search behavior. |
| Date: | 2005–06–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:xrs:meawpa:05079&r=mkt |
| By: | Frank Verbeeten; Pieter Vijn (Nyenrode Business Universiteit) |
| Abstract: | In this study, we investigate the relation between BrandAsset ™ Valuatorand financial performance measures. More specifically, we investigate whether pillars of the BrandAssetTM Valuatormodel (Brand Vitality and Brand Stature) are associated with accounting performance (return on investment, return on sales and sales over total assets). Brands are generally considered a large part of the intangible assets of companies, yet the economic consequences of brand management are often difficult to establish. Three questions are addressed: (1) Compared to financial data, do the BrandAssetTM Valuatorpillars provide relative or incremental value? (2) Are BrandAssetTM Valuatorpillars leading indicators of accounting performance? And (3) Are there nonlinear relations between BrandAssetTM Valuatorpillars and financial performance? Our results indicate that Brand Vitality (one of the pillars of Brand Asset Valuator©) is positively and significantly associated with financial performance, while Brand Stature does not appear to have a direct relation with financial performance. Second, Brand Vitality and Brand Stature provide some incremental information in addition to previous year financial performance data; however, the relative information content of Brand Vitality and Brand Stature is lower than previous year financial performance. Third, we find some evidence that the relation between brand value and financial performance is non-linear; high Brand Equity companies display superior financial performance. |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:nijrep:2006-03&r=mkt |
| By: | Daniel Nepelski |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how electronic procurement influences the organization of economic transactions. It seeks evidence for ICT-induced changes in how companies organize their activities and whether ICT lead to more competitive and transparent markets. Testing the relationship between the effect of electronic procurement on procurement cost and sourcing strategy, I provide new evidence that electronic procurement leads to more market transactions. This leads to the conclusion that electronic procurement increases market transparency, lowers search and supplier switching costs and improves the management of supply chain and contradicts the predictions that ICT will lead to a dominance of network-like organizational form and an increasing reliance on hybrid forms of organizing economic transactions. Two implications emerge from these results. The first one is relevant for companies engaging in ICT projects. ICT combined with changes in business strategy leads to a reduction of market transaction costs and, as a result, opens up new possibilities in terms of how business activities can be organized and/or how to structure competition in upstream markets. This effect of new technologies is of clear benefit to companies successfully implementing and using new technologies. The second implication is of great importance for companies whose customers implement ICT to intensify competition among suppliers. Changing environment forces them to adapt to new market conditions and look for new ways of maintaining profitability. |
| Keywords: | information technology and firm boundaries, markets vs. hierarchies, sourcing strategy, electronic procurement |
| JEL: | L22 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp587&r=mkt |
| By: | Nooteboom,Bart (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | This paper gives a survey of insights into inter-firm alliances and networks for innovation, from a constructivist, interactionist perspective on knowledge, which leads to the notion of 'cognitive distance'. It looks at both the competence and the governance side of relationships. Given cognitive distance, organizations need to align cognition sufficiently to enable the fast and efficient utilization of opportunities from complementary capabilities. This, I propose, is done by means of a culturally mediated 'organizational cognitive focus'. The problem with that is that it yields a greater or lesser organizational myopia that, for the sake of innovation, needs to be complemented by means of outside relations with other firms, at larger cognitive distance. Hence the importance of networks for innovation. On the governance side, the paper gives a review of relational risks and instruments to manage them. Next to the effects of cognitive distance, the paper analyses the effects of density and strength of ties in innovation networks, concerning both competence and governance. |
| Keywords: | inter-organizational relationships;networks;competence;governance;innovation; cognitive distance |
| JEL: | D23 L14 L22 O31 O32 Z13 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:kubcen:200639&r=mkt |