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Interviews with six experts in international business and a survey of 48 international business practitioners indicate that practitioners would like college business students to graduate with more specific skills and characteristics related to actual job experience. The findings provide insights for educators for curriculum development and highlight the importance of internships for international master's in business administration (MBA) programs. (Author/MSE)

The impact of interpersonal communications of African American teenage girls, on word of mouth sports marketing, is examined.

In a majority of firms, marketing managers are evaluated on the basis of improving the productivity or efficiency under their purview. However, in the contemporary highly competitive environment, there is greater demand from consumers as they always are pursuing immediate access to products high in quality but low in price. This puts even greater pressure on efficiency in marketing.

Researchers have found that personal value structures determine how young people respond to AIDS prevention programs. Those college students that score high on the external scale - more apt to allow themselves to be influenced by their environment and more liberal in their attitudes - are less likely to modify their behavior. The goal of preventive health messages, then, is to stress the idea that liberalism does not preclude safe sex.

While mall intercept interviewing is one of the most frequently used data collection methods in marketing research, it is also one of the least studied areas. Little, if any, published [...]

Synthesizes existing knowledge regarding the communication effects of animation and empirically assesses some of these effects. Results of this confirm that animation can be a viable method of advertising. (SRT)

Adolescent purchasing is determined by parents and role models[entertainers and athletes] surprisingly, and it is also influenced by price, another surprise.

Purpose – This paper aims to understand an emerging paradigm for business-to-business selling, Sales 2.0, which connects various enabling technologies within leading sales processes to drive improved business and relational outcomes. In the context of Sales 2.0, this paper addresses the need for buyer–seller dyadic sales research in the literature and highlights the importance of understanding buyer and seller perspectives regarding technology expectations and relationship-building performance. Design/methodology/approach – This research utilizes a dyadic (salesperson–customer) data collection methodology, involving 74 matched salesperson and customer responses (37 dyads) to an online survey. Existing salesperson (self-report) measures of customer technology expectations and relationship-building performance with customers were utilized and adapted to provide dyadic measures to test for buyer–seller perceptual differences. Findings – The dyadic data analysis supports the presence of significant perceptual differences between the salesperson and their customer, respective of customer technology expectations and relationship-building performance measures. In particular, the analysis reveals bidirectional perceptual differences for the two measures, whereas the salesperson underestimates the importance of their customer’s technology expectations, but overestimates their relational performance relative to their customers. Originality/value – As technology continues to transform salesperson interactions with customers, the value of capturing a deeper understanding about those interactions increases. This study uses matched salesperson–customer dyads from a health-care sales organization to provide researchers and practitioners with insightful findings with respect to buyer–seller interactions and perceptual differences. Further, the research uniquely advances dyadic measures of customer technology expectations and relationship-building performance with customers to advance sales research in the context of Sales 2.0. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Undergraduate sales education is somewhat unique in that it prepares students for a career which functions mostly outside of traditional corporate management structures. Concurrently, the demand for well-qualified salespeople has intensified partly due to high turnover. This article contends that there may be a disconnection between student expectations of a sales job when they leave school and what they actually experience on the job. Using salesforce socialization as a theoretical foundation, this study compares students’ versus salespeople’s perceptions of sales jobs in terms of realism and congruence with outcome and behavior-based job performance indicators as well as perceived ethical control. When considering job performance and ethics, the results show that students have a highly idealistic perception of sales when compared to those in the actual field of sales. For marketing educators it is imperative that efforts are focused on helping students form more realistic expectations for a sales career. Such efforts and suggestions are provided in the implications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose – This exploratory research aims to examine the commonalities and differences in how buyers and sellers perceive and characterize an effective sales presentation in an attempt to present issues/themes that may help start a dialogue into the theoretical underpinnings of effective sales presentations. Design/methodology/approach – The paper consists of a qualitative study involving both salespeople and buyers. Findings – The study uncovers three common themes of an effective sales presentation – knowledge, adaptability, and trust – but exposes a gap between buyer and seller expectations and perspectives of these themes. Practical implications – The findings provide insight for business-to-business (B2B) salespeople and managers as to what buyers and sellers consider characteristic of an effective sales presentation. Originality/value – By focusing on how the two main parties to an exchange – the buyer and seller – define what makes an effective sales presentation, this paper adds knowledge to the area of B2B sales research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salespeople are in a unique position of being in very close proximity to customers and thus have the ability to create and maintain long-term relationships with them. Sales force automation systems (SFA) have the ability to help or hinder this relationship building process. This article looks at SFA and its impact on sales force productivity. Much of the current research in the area of SFA seems to focus on efficiency issues within the firm, with particular attention being paid to technology implementation and reasons for high SFA failure rates. The authors review past literature and identify potential areas for future research by creating and presenting a research agenda. Many of the future research areas lie in the realm of effectiveness of SFA rather than the efficiency side of SFA. Although efficiency is still of great importance to SFA researchers and practitioners, the customer or relationship focus of SFA effectiveness is also needed. doi:10.1300/J366v06n02_06 [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Investigates the potential influence of organizational and personal variables on customer-oriented selling. Impact of managerial leadership styles on the level of customer-oriented selling behavior exhibited by salespeople; Concept of customer-oriented selling from an industrial marketing perspective; Variables that influence customer-oriented selling in an industrial setting.

Examines how consumers use information in a purchase situation to establish communication guidelines for service providers. Framework for incomplete information; Details on consumer's information situation; Conclusions.

Analyzes the effect of role model influence on materialism and marketplace knowledge of adolescents. Utilization of the social learning theory; Association of materialism and marketplace knowledge with members of both direct and vicarious role model groups; Impact of athletes and fathers on materialism.

While universities in the U.S. appear to be addressing international business and marketing curriculum, research emphasizing the input of practitioners to this area has been limited. The purpose of this paper is to further identify the particular skills and characteristics perceived by experienced international business practitioners that MBA students need when embarking on an international business career. Data collection consisted of personal interviews and a survey of a sample of international business practitioners. The results indicate that practitioners would like to see students with more specific skills and characteristics related to actual job experience. The findings from this study can provide insights to international business educators for curriculum development and the importance of internships for international MBA programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on demonstrating how importance-performance analysis can serve as an easily applied technique for reducing the difficulties in translating faculty-course performance results into meaningful actions. A specific facultycourse evaluation example which uses an extended version of the technique is offered. Important insights are presented regarding the modified technique's impact on making strategic quality improvement decisions for marketing education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies the effect of animation on perception, comprehension and learning abilities. Ratings for animated advertisements; Effects of the level of animation on the viewers' perceptions of the attention value associated with the advertisement; Effects of animated advertisements on the recall score of the ads.

No abstract available for this article. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

No abstract available for this article. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]