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A host of strategic management and marketing issues, including competitive analysis and strategic decision making, hinges on accurately identifying and representing competitive market structures. It is readily acknowledged that competitive market structures are typically asymmetric; namely, one firm may actively compete with another in a given market but not vice versa. However, empirical efforts to assess these competitive asymmetries have been lacking in the strategy literature. We propose a new spatial methodology to identify and represent asymmetric competitive market structures. Specifically, we devise a new stochastic multidimensional scaling procedure that is calibrated from actual consumer consideration/choice sets to estimate and uncover competitive asymmetries. The proposed methodology can be effectively employed in the analysis of appropriate data from either demand- or supply-side approaches to assess competitive market structure. We illustrate our proposed methodology with survey data collected from two different commercial applications: one from the U.S. luxury automobile market and the other from the U.S. portable telephone market. We contrast the findings of the proposed methodology against traditional symmetric approaches for identifying and representing competitive market structures, and discuss the respective strategic insights. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advertising budgeting theory suggests a number of important components of that decision-making process, many of which are examined in this article from the perspective of leading U.S. consumer advertisers. Sixty marketing, advertising and financial executives provide detailed information concerning the general characteristics of their company's advertising budgeting models, the use of computers and software packages and suppliers, variables and data bases typically analyzed and the perceived performance of their budgeting procedures, among other factors. Although most executives indicate that computers are used in the advertising budgeting process, only about one third of them also analyze advertising-sales response functions. The majority of all executives believe that their company's advertising budgeting procedures need "some" or "much" improvement and many offer recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marketing theorists have long posited that for effective and efficient design and implementation of product sale, and promotion strategies, advertising and sales departments should interface. To date, virtually no published research has explored the extent of the advertising -- personal selling interface in major U.S. companies. This paper reports the results of a survey of Fortune 500 companies that focused on the extent of the advertising -- personal selling interface in consumer and industrial product firms. The findings suggest the degree of input exchange between these departments is more limited than suggested by textbook wisdom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An empirical study of marketing planning decision making has revealed few differences between samples of UK and US companies. Although few companies consider that their decision making is effective, there seems to be a reluctance to use decision making methods that are advocated in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persistent inflation in the American economy has led accounting rule makers to require large firms to report the effects of inflation on certain of their financial statement data. At present, these adjusted data are to be presented as supplementary disclosures under Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 33, "Financial Reporting and Changing Prices." One major result will be significant changes in cost estimates and asset valuations. The changes in financial accounting requirements are likely to be reflected almost immediately in managerial accounting procedures, with specific implications for marketing decisions in such areas as new product introduction, pricing strategy, and the valuation of individual customers and market segments. The authors describe the new accounting data briefly and, using examples, illustrate the implications for marketing managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the consumer behavior of young people has become of increasing interest to marketing practitioners and public policy makers little empirical data are available to be used in effective decision making. This paper presents an analysis of adolescent consumer behavior and provides empirical data useful in understanding differences among teenage consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past 10 years, a new technology has emerged for assisting and improving marketing decision making. We define a marketing decision support system as a coordinated collection of data, models, analytic tools, and computing power by which an organization gathers information from the environment and turns it into a basis for action. Where such systems have taken root, they have grown and become increasingly productive for their organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the role of marketing research in decisions regarding public policy. According to the author, members of the marketing research community may be responsible for alienating public policy makers. The author believes that at the time of publication, regulatory agencies are becoming increasingly receptive to using relevant consumer research in their formulation of public policy. Also included is a potential procedure devised by the author to be used by the United States Federal Trade Commission in creating public policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the organization known as the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and it's influence on the field of marketing. The author focuses on policies and procedures implemented by the CPSC that relate to consumer protection. The author also discusses the decision making process as it relates to the field of product marketing. The results of a study focusing on bicycle manufacturers' interpretations of the product safety standards established by the CPSC are examined. This article is also intended to help marketers react to the standards. The author discusses sampling techniques used by the CPSC to identify dangerous products in the marketplace.

Issues of standardization of products and marketing programs, and the degree of centralization of marketing decision making and planning, are of vital interest to multinational corporations as they increasingly compete in world markets. Previous research has established the need for some degree of standardization and, therefore, for some degree of centralized decision making. The present study was designed to assess the implications that the creation of the Single Market in the European Community will have on the standardization/centralization issue. Specifically, the role of the European central offices of major U.S. multinational corporations is emphasized. The results of the in-depth study of 22 Fortune 500 U.S. corporations with European central offices located in the United Kingdom indicate a trend toward overall strategic planning at the European central office level. More centralization of the distribution and pricing decisions is also noted for fairly uniform products but, in general, the product part of the marketing mix seems more standardized than the pricing, promotion, and distribution aspects. The paper concludes with some suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The glowing involvement of American business in international production and marketing has raised the question: Does international management really differ from management of domestic operations? This article uncovers the features which are unique to foreign marketing operations and describes processes for dealing with differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faced with the prospect of more and larger claims resulting from the use of their products, firms will be forced to alter their perceptions of marketing's role in product liability. The authors suggest that societal pressures will result in new demands in the area of product liability, and identify some of the implications for marketers. INSET: Marketing Memo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of the systems approach to marketing management promises to breathe new life into marketing research. In this article the authors present their views of the relationship between decision-information flows and the management process in marketing, and state the case for expanding traditional marketing research into marketing information systems." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a real need for sound, operational models which provide for improved product line evaluation and decision making. This article critically examines one such model, which was presented in the April 1972 issue of the JOURNAL OF MARKETING. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than $50 billion are spent annually by the United States Government for defense purposes. The author of this article takes a brief look at vital factors influencing a decision of whether or not an industrial firm should attempt to find a niche in the Government procurement system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We find that in the presence of the 'flight to quality' during the 2007-2008 financial crisis, firms that depended less on external financing (or internal finance dependent (IFD) firms) prior to the crisis were able to secure additional financing and increased investments, while external finance dependent (EFD) firms significantly contracted their external financing and investments. IFD firms' increased investments during the crisis were associated with higher market share growth, while EFD competitors lost their market share. The results indicate that firms' financial decisions during the financial crisis are interrelated with their product market dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an interview with Eric Berkowitz, a marketing professor at the University of Massachusetts, who discusses the perspectives of marketing experts on the emergence of marketing in healthcare in the U.S. The author also interviews Steven Hillestad, a professor at the University of Minnesota School of Business, and Anne Fyfe, vice president of business development at El Camino hospital in Mountain View, California. INSETS: A CLOSER LOOK: Ann Fyfe;A CLOSER LOOK: Steven Hillestad;A CLOSER LOOK: Eric Berkowitz;A CLOSER LOOK: Scott MacStravic

The authors report the findings from an exploratory investigation of the use of UPC scanner data in the consumer packaged goods industry in the U.S. The study examines the practitioner community's view of the use of scanner data and compares these views with academic research. Forty-one executives from ten data suppliers, packaged goods manufacturers, and consulting firms participated in wide-ranging, in-person, interviews conducted by the authors. The interviews sought lo uncover key questions practitioners would like to answer with scanner data, how scanner data is applied to these questions, and the industry's perspective regarding the success that the use of scanner data has had in each area. The authors then compare and contrast practitioners' views regarding the resolution of each issue with academic research, This produces a 2 × 2 classification of each question as "resolved" or "unresolved" from the perspectives of industry and academia. Along the diagonal of the 2 × 2, issues viewed as unresolved by both groups are important topics for future research. Issues deemed resolved by both groups are, correspondingly, of lower priority. In the off-diagonal cells, industry and academics disagree. These topics should he given priority for discussion, information exchange, and possible further research. Practitioners reported that scanner data analysis has had the most success and been most widely adopted for decision making in consumer promotions (i.e., coupons), trade promotions, and pricing For example, logit and regression models applied to scanner data have revealed very low average consumer response to coupons which has directly led to reduced couponing activity. Managers also reported high levels of comfort with and impact from analyses of trade promotions and price elasticities. While industry views most of the issues in these areas to be resolved, academic research raises concerns about a number of practices in common commercial use. These include price threshold analysis and trade promotion evaluation using baseline and incremental sales. In product strategy, advertising, and distribution management, practitioners reported that the use of scanner data has bad more limited development, success, and impact. In the case of new product decisions, scanner data use has been slow to develop due to the inherent limitations of historical data for these decisions and a heavy reliance on traditional primary research methods. In advertising, scanner data is widely analyzed with models, but confusion among practitioners is very high due to controversies about methods (e.g., what level of data aggregation is best) and conflicting results. In distribution and retail management, scanner data use has tremendous potential hut a mixed track record to date. Thus, Practitioners view the use of scanner data as unresolved for most issues in product strategy, advertising, and distribution. This view is largely, though not entirely, consistent with academic research, which has only begun to address many of the key questions raised by practitioners. In light of the large number of unresolved issues and mixed record of scanner data use to date, the authors offer a series of specific recommendations for immediate and long- term research priorities that are likely to have the greatest impact on commercial utilization of UPC scanner data. Topics of immediate priority include price thresholds and gaps, baseline and incremental sales, base price elasticity, competitive reactions, measurement of advertising effects, management of brand equity, rationalization of product assortments, and category management. Long-term priorities include a greater emphasis on profitability versus sales or market share, developing prescriptive models versus descriptive models, and the need for industry standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a managerial framework to assist hospital administrators in conducting a competitive analysis to determine their strengths and weaknesses. The article presents the challenges facing hospitals and suggests that it is increasing utilization that will save hospitals, not operational efficiencies. The authors discuss the process of importance-performance analysis, originally introduced to the health care field by Jon Hawes and C.P Rao. The article discusses the methodology, the framework, a sample test of the framework using a hospital in the Southeast U.S., the research results, and the management implications.

The article focuses on the life and career of Thomas A. Staudt, a leader in the field of marketing. Born in Akron, Ohio in 1923, Staudt served in the United States Navy and attended Indiana University upon his discharge. Details related to his membership in the American Marketing Association and the National Marketing Advisory Committee of the Department of Commerce. Dr. Staudt's contributions to the field and philosophy of marketing are highlighted, including his work in new product development, executive development programs, and the field of physical distribution.