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The article presents an editorial that discusses research going into marketing and the findings done in the field. Readers and researchers are asked to present their views on various topics relating to marketing. A "Viewpoint" article is presented that asks why there is a lack of journal-standard papers on market research and makes the case for such papers as a way to help the industry. The importance of having a website has also shown to be a downfall for many companies and has a direct connection with a corporation's brand equity.

Although there is a large body of research on brand equity, little in terms of a literature review has been published on this since Feldwick's (1996) paper. To address this gap, this paper brings together the scattered literature on consumer-based brand equity's conceptualisation and measurement. Measures of consumer-based brand equity are classified as either direct or indirect. Indirect measures assess consumer-based brand equity through its demonstrable dimensions and are superior from a diagnostic level. The paper concludes with directions for future research and managerial pointers for setting up a brand equity measurement system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The internet has been credited as an important advertising and direct marketing channel, which has the potential to revolutionise the branding of products and services. Yet, several studies have been forecasting the end of traditional brand management in today's e-markets. At the same time, there is ongoing discussion about the move towards corporate branding and brand equity. Brand equity is a long-established construct, which refers to the tangible and intangible value of brands and emphasises the strategic goals of branding, such as the creation of brand knowledge in consumers' minds from the firm's investment in various marketing and corporate communication programmes. With most of the world's greatest brands now being corporate names and investing in their own corporate websites as an alternative way to reach consumers, brand equity becomes relevant in any website development and evaluation process. This paper develops a series of propositions to demonstrate how corporate brand entities may manage their brand equity at their corporate website interface. Building on existing conceptual and empirical data we present a theoretical framework and research agenda of such a relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary is written in response to the paper ‘Brand Relationship and Personality Theory: Metaphor or Consumer Perceptual Reality?’ This paper raises two issues regarding brand personality:Do consumers see brands as having human traits, as per the ‘brand as human’ idea?Is there a consistent consumer vision of brands that provides a distinct ‘personality’ which distinguishes it from other brands, as per the idea of brand personality as a metaphor?Based on our own empirical evidence, we would answer ‘no’ to both of these questions. Despite the popularity of the personality concept, respondents rarely attribute personality-based traits to a brand (e.g. Charming or Helpful). Further there is little evidence of distinct brand personalities for competing brands. This leads us to question the value of brand personality to consumers when choosing brands, and therefore to marketers when designing brand strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Although forecasting electric vehicles' growth in China was frequently reported in the literature, predicting electric vehicles market penetration as well as corresponding energy saving and carbon dioxide mitigation potential in a more suitable method is not well understood. Methods: This study chose the double species model to predict electric vehicles' growth trajectory under mutually competitive conditions between electric vehicles and internal combustion engine vehicles. For comparison, it set two scenarios: with 200 and 300 vehicles per thousand persons at 2050. To give details on energy saving and carbon dioxide mitigation potential induced by electric vehicles' market penetration, it further divided electric vehicles into five subgroups and internal combustion engine vehicles into seven subgroups, therein forming respective measurement formulas. Results: This paper solved the double species model and thus got its analytical formula. Then it employed the analytical formula to conduct an empirical study on electric vehicles market penetration in China from year 2010 to 2050. Under scenario 300, electric vehicles growth trajectory will emerge a quick growth stage during 2021–2035, thereafter keeping near invariant till 2050. Meanwhile, current internal combustion engine vehicles' quick growth will continue up to 2027, then holding constant during 2028–2040, afterwards following a 10-year slowdown period. Scenario 200 has similar features, but a 2-year delay for electric vehicles and a 5-year lead time for internal combustion engine vehicles were found. On average, scenario 300 will save 114.4 Mt oil and 111.5 Mt carbon dioxide emissions, and scenario 200 will save 77.1 Mt oil and 73.4 Mt carbon dioxide emissions each year. Beyond 2032, annual 50.0% of road transport consumed oil and 18.6% of carbon dioxide emissions from this sector will be saved under scenario 300. Discussion: Compared with scenario 200, scenario 300 was more suitable to predict electric vehicle market penetration in China. In the short-term electric vehicle penetration only brings about trivial effects, while in the long-term it will contribute a lot to both energy security and carbon dioxide mitigation. The contribution of this article provided a more suitable methodology for predicting electric vehicle market penetration, simulated two coupled trajectories of electric vehicles and internal combustion engine vehicles, and discussed relative energy-saving and climate effects from 2010 to 2050. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Although forecasting electric vehicles' growth in China was frequently reported in the literature, predicting electric vehicles market penetration as well as corresponding energy saving and carbon dioxide mitigation potential in a more suitable method is not well understood. Methods: This study chose the double species model to predict electric vehicles' growth trajectory under mutually competitive conditions between electric vehicles and internal combustion engine vehicles. For comparison, it set two scenarios: with 200 and 300 vehicles per thousand persons at 2050. To give details on energy saving and carbon dioxide mitigation potential induced by electric vehicles' market penetration, it further divided electric vehicles into five subgroups and internal combustion engine vehicles into seven subgroups, therein forming respective measurement formulas. Results: This paper solved the double species model and thus got its analytical formula. Then it employed the analytical formula to conduct an empirical study on electric vehicles market penetration in China from year 2010 to 2050. Under scenario 300, electric vehicles growth trajectory will emerge a quick growth stage during 2021-2035, thereafter keeping near invariant till 2050. Meanwhile, current internal combustion engine vehicles' quick growth will continue up to 2027, then holding constant during 2028-2040, afterwards following a 10-year slowdown period. Scenario 200 has similar features, but a 2-year delay for electric vehicles and a 5-year lead time for internal combustion engine vehicles were found. On average, scenario 300 will save 114.4 Mt oil and 111.5 Mt carbon dioxide emissions, and scenario 200 will save 77.1 Mt oil and 73.4 Mt carbon dioxide emissions each year. Beyond 2032, annual 50.0% of road transport consumed oil and 18.6% of carbon dioxide emissions from this sector will be saved under scenario 300. Discussion: Compared with scenario 200, scenario 300 was more suitable to predict electric vehicle market penetration in China. In the short-term electric vehicle penetration only brings about trivial effects, while in the long-term it will contribute a lot to both energy security and carbon dioxide mitigation. The contribution of this article provided a more suitable methodology for predicting electric vehicle market penetration, simulated two coupled trajectories of electric vehicles and internal combustion engine vehicles, and discussed relative energy-saving and climate effects from 2010 to 2050. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful market penetration of textile-based strain sensors requires long-term reliability which in turn relies on the washability of the sensor. First, this paper presents an evaluation of the effect of 5 washing cycles on the electrical performance of a knitted conductive transducer, over 1500 cycles of repetitive elongation. The promising behaviour of the textile sensor in this study showed that it might be possible to make a smart garment, capable of quantifying elbow flexion-extension motion, by integrating it into an elbow sleeve. Second, a prototype sleeve, incorporating a knitted sensor (the so-called smart sleeve), was tested in a simulated training/clinical setting by performing 50 flexion-extension cycles after 1, 5, 15, 25, 50 and 75 washes. In both studies, the electrical resistance of the sensor increased with the number of washes in a predictable manner and exhibited a repeatable, reliable and prompt response to elongation. In particular, the electrical pattern representing flexion-extension motion measured using the sleeve was clear and distinguishable up to the 75th wash. Moreover, resistance measurements within the same trial were repeatable at maximum flexion (≤2% variation) and at maximum extension (≤3% variation) and predictable with increasing washes (R2 = 0.992 at maximum flexion and R2 = 0.989 at maximum extension). The good washability of the smart sleeve, evidenced by its ability to detect, distinguish and measure parameters of flexion-extension motion up to 75 washes, makes it a suitable and sustainable choice for applications, such as strength conditioning or rehabilitation, where repetition count and speed are useful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in the sociology of markets finds that shared meanings facilitate valuation and exchange by providing frameworks for perceiving and evaluating products and producers. Whereas studies of local sensemaking explain how meanings emerge in market interaction, and macro sociological accounts explain how meanings embodied in conventions, structures, and institutions are used in markets, understanding of the links between these two levels of analysis remains underdeveloped. In this paper, we propose a theory of how engagement and influence at the micro level gives rise to conventional labels and categories. Our theory proposes three processes through which audiences in markets come to share meanings: (i) through interaction among the audience; (ii) through influence of vanguard audience members on lay audiences; and (iii) through vanguard influence on authorities. We investigate some of the propositions on label use and category differentiation in 23 product categories on eBay. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper applies Jean Baudrillard’s order of simulacra to further investigate the paradigm of relationship marketing (RM). A brief overview of RM is given, followed by a summary of the main critical perspectives taken towards the approach. We argue that Baudrillard’s theories of simulation and post-industrial culture provide a useful analytical approach through which to resolve some of these critiques. Relationships are simultaneously ‘real’ and ‘imagined’. In the culture of simulation all cultural forms, including relationships, are open to critical analysis and interrogation. They are a construct that results from the complex interplay between signs, code and programme, which for our purposes are manifest as the market, marketing institutions and marketing technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1970s, there began to be a realization that parks, monuments, and other recreational areas were not visited by people from minority racial and ethnic groups in proportion to their representation in the U.S. population. Parks personnel realized that the demographic trends in the U.S. would accentuate the problem in the decades to come. They worried that, as traditional white, middle-class visitors became less dominant in the population, support for parks would erode. Further, if the intention is to have Americans be ecologically and historically literate and parks are to be an important part of that effort, the lack of visitation by other racial and ethnic groups will mean a significant part--maybe a majority--of the population will lack that literacy. Social scientists studied the problem throughout the last third of the 20th century. While initial studies worried that racial and ethnic minorities didn't have the same concern for the environment as the dominant white culture, later studies showed the fallacy in those early findings. At the end of the 20th century, Floyd (1999, 2001) wrote about the four major theories in the literature that attempted to explain reasons for low visitation rates to parks and other wild settings among racial and ethnic minorities. The theories explaining such non-use included: 1. the marginality hypothesis (groups lack the resources to participate socially, from past discrimination, and economically); 2. the subcultural hypothesis (racial and ethnic groups have different value systems and socialization practices that preclude some from participation in outdoor recreation, independent of socioeconomic factors); 3. assimilation theory (the degree to which a group is assimilated into the dominant society--acculturated--is reflected in their park use); and 4. discrimination hypothesis (park use is affected by actual or perceived discrimination, past discrimination, and institutional discrimination, both real and perceived). Studies of various sub-groups and cross-cultural studies continued throughout the first decade of the 21st Century. While the marginality hypothesis has gained prominence, all four of the explanatory theories have proven to be explanatory for some groups in some locations at some times. The barriers that prevent many underserved groups from using parks, monuments and other recreation areas have been identified. Roberts summed them up well in her 2007 paper: 1. access limitations (including transportation or lack thereof, costs, and fear of the outdoors); 2. communication challenges (including language barriers of printed materials, signs, etc.); 3. fear of discrimination (cultural, actual verbal and non-verbal messages from other visitors, overwhelming posted park rules, signs and brochures not reflective of their culture/race); 4. lack of knowledge, experience, awareness (what to do, where to go, how to get there, equipment needed, etc.); and 5. lack of diversity on staff (their group is not represented on staff or only in janitorial or maintenance positions). While research is continuing to sort out the reasons, more attention is being paid to solving the problem. Potential solutions remain difficult, but are possible and are suggested by many authors. They include possible solutions that address each of the major barriers above. In sum, they involve beginning the hard work of changing the culture of the parks, monuments, and museums, moving organizations to become a part of the larger community contexts in which they reside, and engaging those communities. While each park, museum, historic site, aquarium, nature center, etc. is unique in its geographical context, all can benefit from introspection, examining their unique strengths, the audiences they serve and don't serve, and how to become relevant and valued by a true cross-section of the communities in which they exist. It involves learning more about the multi-cultural context in which the site exists, valuing that context, forming authentic partnerships, and being open to change. It will cost money to modify the variety of media utilized in these settings and to mentor and change staff. It will mean, no doubt, a great deal of discomfort for many people. Change is like that. In the end, however, parks, monuments, and museums will be better for it, as will the broader spectrum of people who will come to visit. This review includes articles from peer-reviewed journals primarily from the years 2000 through 2010, some non-peer-reviewed journals that interpreters read regularly, some conference proceedings, and some technical reports. Also included are some articles from prior to 2000 to add some historical perspective. Chapters from books relevant to the topic also are reviewed. While this review does not include every relevant article published, it hopefully gives the reader a sense of the current state of the profession with regard to serving underserved racial and ethnic audiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New product and service introductions require careful joint planning of production and marketing campaigns. Consequently, they typically utilize multiple information channels to stimulate customer awareness and resultant word‐of‐mouth (WOM), availing of standard budget allocation tools. By contrast, when enacting strategic allocation decisions—which must align with other management imperatives—dividing expenditures across channels is far more complex. To this end, we formulate a multichannel demand model for new products (or services), amenable to analysis of inter‐ and intrachannel interaction patterns and with the WOM process, without building such interactions directly into the modeling framework. To address the notorious complexity of media planning over time, we propose a novel decomposition of the multichannel dynamic programming problem into two distinct "tiers": the strategic tier addresses how to allocate total expenditure across channels, while the tactical tier studies how to allocate the channel‐specific budgets (determined in the strategic tier) over time periods. This decomposition enables optimal media strategies to sidestep the curse of dimensionality and renders the model pragmatically estimable. Strategic tier analysis suggests a variety of novel insights, primarily that funds should not be allocated based on (relative) channel effectiveness alone but also systematically aligned with WOM generation. Specifically, each channel can face a "chasm‐crossing" threshold, abruptly transitioning the adoption process from lead‐users to mass‐market penetration. Moreover, the model provides actionable managerial insights into when, and which, channel interactions are synergistic versus substitutive. Specifically, a channel's interactions are governed primarily by its own "leverage" (potential demand impact) and the WOM‐based demand "momentum" (market penetration) it can generate, affording a novel basis for channel typography and firm action. The modeling framework is illustrated by examining camera sales for two media channels (free‐standing inserts and radio) and their effects over 28 months. We use Bayesian machinery to estimate a highly flexible diffusion‐based model, along with forecasts, media plans, and both theoretical and empirically‐based qualitative insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study of the high-end fashion industry in India examines the process of construction of the worth of a new industry. Analyses of data from multiple sources revealed that framing by early entrepreneurs and the socio-cognitive processes that resulted from the transactions of field-constituents with the new industry constructed the worth of the industry. These socio-cognitive processes—curation and certification, commentary and critique, co-presentation, comparison and commensuration—enabled broader audiences to make sense of the industry and comprehend its worth. The findings form the basis of a general model of the social construction of worth through a process of distributed sanctification, contributing to the growing literature on social construction of value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Realizing potential benefits from emerging market penetration requires firms to address inherent supply chain challenges. A major challenge is for firms to manage costly inventories to address demand and supply risks in emerging markets. However, emerging market penetration may offer opportunities for firms to lower inventory levels, reduce costs, and improve operating performance. Using data for 482 manufacturing firms over the 5-year period, 2003-2007, obtained from the COMPUSTAT Industrial and Segment Databases, this article examines the relationships between emerging market penetration, inventory supply, and financial performance. Our results show that a multinational firm's sales penetration into emerging markets is associated with fewer days of inventory supply and improved financial performance. As emerging market penetration may allow firms to operate with lower inventory supply, the positive effect from emerging market penetration, such as labor cost reductions, may be enhanced due to inventory cost savings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigate the supplier's encroachment incentive when it distributes the product through multiple retailers. We show that the number of enrolled downstream retailers plays a pivotal role in determining the supplier's encroachment incentive and the channel members' performances. There exists a threshold value with respect to the number of downstream retailers, below which the bright side of supplier encroachment documented in the existing literature exists; that is, encroachment can benefit not only the encroaching supplier itself but also the retailers. However, when the number of downstream retailers exceeds this threshold value, the further intensified downstream competition dampens the effect of wholesale price reduction arising from supplier encroachment. Supplier encroachment becomes always detrimental to the retailer. Moreover, with the increasing number of retailers, the supplier may become worse off when being endowed with the option of downstream encroachment, even when the supplier does not actually execute this option. We further investigate the supplier's optimal market penetration strategy when it can enroll a new retailer or open a direct channel, or it is costly to establish the indirect channel. We show that the main results remain qualitatively unchanged when the two selling channels are imperfect substitutes or retailers are asymmetric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era of mass customization, many firms continue to expand their product lines to remain competitive. These broader product lines may help to increase market share and may allow higher prices to be charged, but they also cause challenges associated with diseconomies of scope. To investigate this tradeoff, we considered a monopolist who faces demand curves, which for each of its potential products, decline with both price and response time (time to deliver the product). The firm must decide which products to offer, how to price them, whether each should be make-to-stock (MTS) or make-to-order (MTO), and how often to produce them. The offered products share a single manufacturing facility. Setup times introduce disceonomies of scope and setup costs introduce economies of scale. We provide motivating problem scenarios, model the monopolist's problem as a non-linear, integer programming problem, characterize of the optimal policy, develop near-optimal procedures, and discuss managerial insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The significant upscaling of wind turbine size (nameplate capacity, rotor diameter, and tower height) has, to date, been driven primarily by a goal of minimizing the levelized cost of energy. But with wind's levelized cost of energy now comparable with that of other generating resources, other design considerations besides cost-minimization have grown in importance—particularly as wind's increasing market penetration begins to impose challenges on the electric grid. We find that taller towers and larger rotors (relative to nameplate capacity) can enhance the value of wind energy to the electricity system and provide other "hidden" benefits. Specifically, in regions where wind penetration has reached around 20%, we find a boost in wholesale market value of US$2–US$3/MWh. This is augmented by transmission, balancing, and financing benefits that sum to roughly US$2/MWh. The aggregate potential value enhancement of US$4–US$5/MWh is comparable with a 10%–15% reduction in levelized costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large number of studies have focussed on the determinants of the entry of generics in the pharmaceuticals market. Most of them focus on the United States market. Much less evidence is found about heavily regulated pharmaceutical markets, such as the Portuguese market. This study uses data from Portugal, for the period 2000–2015. Based on a sample of 50 reimbursable outpatient drugs, that face potential entry of generics, two econometric models were estimated aiming to identify the determinants of entry and penetration of generics. The active substances included were chosen among those that represent the highest financial burden to the National Health System or are the most sold (in volume). To each of those active substances, the most sold pharmaceutical form, dosage, and package size was chosen. Our results suggest that market size is the main determinant of the generics entry. Concerning market penetration, our results show that it is determined by the number of marketed generics, as well as by price differences between brands and generics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The possibility of using a simple, single measure of brand potential across different markets that is both conceptually meaningful and of value to management is presented. Building on the Dick and Basu grid, the value of establishing whether a brand exhibits brand equity surplus, deficit or balance is described. The insights that can be gleaned from a single source study with the comparison of share of mind (attitude) with market share (behaviour) and the accompanying diagnostic analysis are explored. The approach has supporting validations across North America and Europe. The value to marketers in terms of brand diagnosis, prognosis and recommended "treatment" is described using two case studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roads are a central element of transportation systems, enabling economic and social development, fostering territorial cohesion and facilitating the movement of people and cargo. Governments have devoted significant financial resources to developing and improving their road networks, and are still facing increasing pressure to ensure proper maintenance and payments to those concessionaires that developed roads under public–private partnership arrangements. As in other sectors, digitalization is paving a way towards significant changes in the way we build, operate and finance infrastructure. These changes will have a profound impact on the entire life cycle of an infrastructure, from the design and/or construction stage, to its operation and transfer. This article provides an overall overview of the main technological developments which are, or could impact road infrastructure in the short, medium and long term. For each technological development identified in our research, we analyse the potential impact on Capex, Opex and revenues as well as their level of maturity and expected lifetime for mass adoption, and also the main bottlenecks or barriers to implementation. Additionally, we explore potential savings on investment (capex) and operational costs (opex) and increase in revenues, using data from the Portuguese highway companies. Savings can represent almost 30% of capex and opex. Overall, savings and increases in revenues can represent an impact similar to 20–40% of current revenues. The findings show that digitalization and technological development in the road sector can significantly impact the economic performance of roads, thus enhancing the value of money for the society. The findings also show that there might be some excess capacity of road systems once autonomous vehicles achieve higher market penetration. However, there are still some relevant legal, regulatory, institutional and technological and economic barriers that are slowing down the digitalization process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research note proposes the Bass Model as an empirical tool for analyzing the diffusion of new product and service innovations in Base of the Pyramid (BoP) markets. This approach allows researchers to test whether factors that seem theoretically relevant to the speed and trajectory of adoption actually matter empirically. The authors model the growth of three BoP success stories using the Bass Model: Patrimonio Hoy (PH), e-Choupal, and Grameen’s Village Phone (VP). In two of the three cases considered, the Bass Model estimates confirm Diffusion Theory predictions, but generate additional insight by quantifying the strength of the identified effects. In the case of PH, the Bass Model estimates conflict with the predictions of Diffusion Theory. Sorting out this paradox demonstrates the Bass Model’s potential to identify conflicting influences on consumer adoption, and measure how the relative strength of these competing forces nets out to determine the course of consumer adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this study is to measure and explore the dimensionality of the event image by using the case of 2010 Shanghai World Expo. After literature review, this study used Keller’s framework of brand image as the conceptual base, followed the free associations method to identify the preliminary items, adopted expert opinions to further revise the items, used the exploratory factor analysis to explore the underlying structure of the event image, and adopted the confirmatory factor analysis to further validate the measurement scale. Finally, five dimensions including 17 items were extracted. They are labeled as Benefit, Facility, Service, Theme, and Event Content. The results of the current study were relatively consistent with some conceptual frameworks and to some extent confirmed previous empirical studies, which could provide useful implications for both future research and industry practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Worldwide, people follow global celebrities’ lives almost in real time, while communities create their own celebrities, of great local fame but unknown internationally. Examining the People (USA), Heat (UK), and HLN (Flanders) websites, this article provides a quantitative framing-based content analysis of a sample of online celebrity news and the accompanying audience responses. General results show that media focus on celebrities’ professional and love lives, while audiences cover more superficial topics (appearances). Further, media tend to be less and readers more judgmental in discussing celebrities. Examining global/local distinctions, HLN articles are shown to focus on global celebrities, while readers comment more on local stars. Reactions also cover more personal topics when discussing local celebrities, and both HLN articles and reactions judge global celebrities more negatively than locals. Finally, most positive parasocial relationships are maintained with local and most negative with global celebrities. The cultural proximity hypothesis can help explain these differences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Video games have grown in number, variety, and consumer market penetration, encroaching more aggressively into the domestic realm. Within the home therefore, parents whose children play video games have to exercise mediation and supervision. As video games evolve, parental mediation strategies have also had to keep pace, albeit not always successfully. By transposing our appreciation of parental concerns over the historical development of video games, we propose an analytical framework identifying key affordances of video games, elucidating how their evolution has distinct implications for effective parental mediation. These affordances are portability, accessibility, interactivity, identity multiplicity, sociability, and perpetuity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of design thinking or ‘design as a state-of-mind’ and its articulation through design orientation implies that true innovation is a company-wide phenomenon and cannot be left to single individuals as a marginalized function within a company. Many innovative companies try to integrate technical performance with an aesthetic vision – which is not to be confused with style – as the driving force of the organization. Based on our findings and analysis, we put forward theoretical propositions that cover various aspects of design orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to offer a set of propositions to explain why new paradigm announcements in the field of marketing ideas failed to trigger breaks with the dominant approaches. This field is considered a market where Marketing Cognitive Products (MCPs) are competing. Insofar as the quality of an MCP is neither perfectly observable nor fixed, we would argue that whether in the academic or practitioner segment of the cognitive market, its perceived quality is contingent upon processes of qualification. Three strong social processes increase the probability of conformity around dominant MCPs: the consequences of their market share; the network of interaction with mediators within a market segment; and the effects of MCPs' storytelling power. In this stagnant situation, dominant MCPs gradually change and their domination is reinforced through the re-interpretation and co-optation of challengers. In the global cognitive market the dissemination of dominant MCPs is increasing the conformity of practitioners around these ideas, while the proliferation of MCPs is leading to customer confusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the potential of PCTV (watching television on your PC) among consumers. An intercept field study that included product demonstration with a convenience sample of US adults was conducted (N = 309). Expectancy-value theory was used to measure respondents' interest in PCTV. While a majority had heard of the product, expectations of what PCTV could provide remained low and as a result, value and subsequent interest was low. As terrestrial broadcasting, cable, telephone, internet companies and other programming providers explore the potential market for PCTV and promote that market, the possibility exists that value related to PCTV could be developed. In other words, PCTV remains an open field waiting for leadership to manifest its diffusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article compares Indian and American audiences' interpretations of the Hollywood sitcom Friends. The article is guided by Olson's narrative transparency theory, which posits transparency as 'the capability of certain texts to seem familiar regardless of their origin, to seem a part of one's own culture, even though they have been crafted elsewhere'. Thirty-seven regular viewers of Friends in India and 35 from the US were interviewed personally and in focus groups. Indian viewers questioned the truth-value of the content to conclude that Friends portrayed a universal American culture that is completely different from an Indian standpoint. These interpretations made the media text opaque, and the Indian audience members rejected the safe sex message discussed in the episode studied. The American audience found Friends overly exaggerated, but safe sex and sexuality messages somewhat more culturally proximate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present an integrated framework for measuring product development performance. The framework consists of a three stage model for exploring the relationships between metrics used by design, manufacturing, marketing functions, and overall commercial success. Using a cross-sectional survey of 383 product development professionals working on 38 product development projects in the high-tech electronic assembled goods manufacturing sector, we provide empirical evidence of the proposed framework. The findings indicate that in the high-tech manufacturing sector (1) commercial success of new product development projects is primarily determined by market share, (2) gain in market share is primarily driven by lower unit cost and not by technical performance, and (3) reduction in unit cost is primarily driven by the increased speed of new product development and not by the R&D budget. The study failed to identify any significant association between R&D budget and technical performance, and development speed and technical performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the book "Understanding Emotion at Work." Targeting students studying organizations and management, the book aims to offer these audiences an engaging, critical introduction to emotions in work life. For the most part, the text achieves just that. Organized into two main parts: "Organizing With Emotion," and "Emotional Injuries" the text sets out to examine the manifold ways in which emotions permeate all aspects of organizational life, including the exploration of the darker side of work where emotional injuries have been committed.

Investment in the development of biogenerics is frequently seen as a means to escape the intense price competition that characterises the generics market. As the costs of goods sold are much higher for biopharmaceuticals than for synthetic, small molecule drugs, however, and successful market penetration may be more difficult to achieve, economic profitability is not guaranteed. One way to avoid unpleasant surprises is to invest early in the development of economic models that allow decision makers to understand the risks, rewards and sensitivities of the biogenerics business before significant investments are committed. As pricing will be decisive for commercial success or failure, careful pricing studies, such as conjoint analyses, are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effects of news frames and schemas on audiences' issue interpretations and attitudes. An experiment was conducted whereby two political issues, systematically manipulated by value or consequence frames, were presented to participants in a controlled issue-framing environment. Results indicated that, toile news frames could activate frame-related issue interpretations and affect attitudes, such effects were moderated by individuals' issue schemas. Individuals were more likely to activate frame-relevant thoughts and change attitudes even news frames resonated with their issue schemas. These findings suggested that indixnduals' existing issue schemas and predispositions are important factors to consider in framing research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article defines the domain of strategy content research as embracing decisions about the goals, scope, and/or competitive strategies of a corporation or one of its business units. It reviews and evaluates several important streams of strategy content research (goals, diversification, strategic groups, market share, competitive strategy taxonomies, and stages of market evolution) in terms of the relationships among environmental conditions, strategic decisions, and performance results. It also makes recommendations for future research.
Much has been accomplished in the last decade and a hall. If researchers of strategy content design and execute their studies with care, the body of substantive knowledge about strategy content will be significantly enhanced. Some of this research will appropriately extend the research streams which to date have received relatively more emphasis. The field will be further enhanced if researchers also address those areas which have received relatively little or no attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the strategic production competence. The research in this article examines the convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity of the strategic production competence construct. The respondents assessed business performance relative to each of these measures on a seven-point scale with endpoints labeled "Worst in Industry" (=1) and "Best in Industry" (=7). Overall, two things stand out from the analysis. First. STRATEGIC-PC is most significantly related to measures that focus on financial returns (i.e., ROl and ROl Growth) and growth in general (i.e., ROJ Growth. Market Share Growth, and Sales Growth) and less related to absolute measures of market share (i.e., Market Share). This demonstrates the importance of multiple performance measurements in any study that purports to explain overall company performance. Second, the results confirm the predictive validity of STRATEGIC-PC for a variety of overall performance measures, including those most often seen in the manufacturing literature. The results also demonstrate that STRATEGIC-PC is significantly related to a variety of financial and market-related measures, thus confirming its predictive validity.

Recent studies of collective political violence have overlooked international causal factors. This cross-national study of 46-51 nations (including analyses of influential cases) expends on earlier analyses by simultaneously examining both the "external" (international) and the "internal" (intranational) determinants of collective political violence. Regression analysis suggests that transnational corporate penetration, an international factor, contributes to increased political violence both directly and indirectly, through its effect on income inequality. We conclude that theoretical and empirical integration of intra- and international factors yields the most comprehensive explanation of the causes of collective political violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]