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Introduction: Fast food consumption is associated with excessive intake of energy‐dense foods; a major determinant of childhood obesity. The lack of data on the marketing strategies used to promote fast food to adolescents in low and middle‐income countries (LMICs) acts as a barrier to global efforts to reduce the marketing of unhealthy foods to young people around the world. Objectives: This systematic review aimed to identify the adolescent‐directed marketing strategies of transnational fast food corporations in LMICs. Methods: A systematic search of eight scientific databases (PubMed, CINAHL, Medline, Embase, ProQuest, PsycInfo, Scopus and Google Scholar) was conducted. Following PRISMA guidelines, primary research articles written in English were included if they were published between 1 January 2010 and 30 December 2022, and reported any adolescent‐directed marketing activity undertaken by a transnational fast food company operating in a LMIC. Articles were excluded if they were not peer reviewed. The quality of the included articles was assessed using a condensed version of the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research tool. Results: Twelve articles met the eligibility criteria and were included in this review. A narrative synthesis of these articles revealed that the most documented strategies used to promote fast food to adolescents in LMICs were the use of incentives or premium offers, product appeals, promotional characters and brand familiarity. These strategies were mostly observed on social media, suggesting that there are serious concerns about adolescent exposure to fast food via social media in developing settings, especially as contextual differences in the nature of such marketing were identified. Discussion: The promotion of fast food to adolescents in LMICs is contextual in nature, with the nature of marketing strategies employed by transnational fast food corporations varying greatly across cultural and socio‐economic contexts. These findings are crucial for the development of guidelines and regulations restricting the marketing of fast food to adolescents in lower income settings, contributing to global efforts to reduce adolescent exposure to unhealthy food promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Augmented reality (AR) integrates virtual content into a consumer's perception of the real world. While academic interest in AR is growing, most prior research has focused on consumer evaluations of AR content and neglected the physical context in which AR content is consumed. Addressing this research gap, two experimental studies showed that context (e.g., experiencing a virtual sofa at home vs. in a university classroom) impacts consumer judgments and evaluations. The results reveal two primary effects of context. First, contexts in which virtual objects meet users' personal and cultural expectations associated with a specific location (e.g., a sofa in a living room) increase plausibility. However, such functionally appropriate contexts (counterintuitively) decrease local presence (i.e., the perception that the virtual product is "here"). Study 2 extends this model by showing that plausibility (a rational and deliberate assessment of AR content) and local presence both impact utilitarian benefits, whereas local presence has a stronger effect on perceived physical tangibility. The findings extend prior theory on the psychological mechanisms impacting judgment and presence in AR, and they provide managers with important insights regarding the influence of context on downstream variables in their AR and metaverse marketing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This experiential marketing study examines the effects of body position and embodiment in shaping consumer intentions mediated by immersion and enjoyment during a virtual reality experience. After a qualitative study (n = 13) aimed at understanding what, in a virtual reality experience, motivates individuals to want to consume the promoted offer, we conducted a quantitative study (n = 300), using a partial least squares structural equation model. Our experimental context placed the users in the role of a kayaker discovering Antarctica via a virtual reality head‐mounted device. The results confirm the positive relationships implied by the conceptual model underpinning the research. The embodiment felt by the users has positive effects on immersion and enjoyment, which in turn positively shape the user‐consumer's intention to discover the destination for real. This study brings theoretical contributions that provide a clearer definition of embodiment in an experiential context. This study also provides professionals with guidance on the choice of virtual reality system contexts and experiential factors to stimulate positive behavioral intentions, in this case to discover a place for real. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early 2000s, Prahalad and Hart presented the possibility of serving the poor profitably and alleviating poverty. They introduced the concept of BoP (Bottom/Base of the Pyramid). Recent scholarly work also justifies that BoP is a significant market, and it deserves attention from profit‐oriented businesses. An analysis of the existing BoP literature in the marketing domain reveals that the literature is scattered without a classification of themes, which can help researchers to understand the breadth of the area and depth of coverage in each of them. Intending to bridge this gap, this study synthesizes research on marketing in the context of BoP. The review uses a structured literature review method and classifies the various marketing studies on the BoP into relevant themes. This analysis of 88 articles published from 2000 to 2021 (October) includes a thematic literature review. It presents a comprehensive view of marketing literature on BoP, classifying it into five main themes: Conceptualizing Poverty, Market Assessment, Marketing Strategy, Consumer Behavior, and Role of Technology. The study also identifies major thrust areas within each of these themes. It concludes by offering suggestions for further research on the identified thrust areas, geographical contexts, and methodologies adopted. The study also assimilates insightful theoretical and practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Half a century of research on celebrity endorsement has led to the advancement of four grand celebrity endorsement theories. Most scholars have adopted the meaning transfer model, proposed 30 years ago by Grant McCracken, as the most appropriate theory to explain effective celebrity endorsements. In this conceptual study, we present a literature search and analysis that finds strong support for the validity of all four grand endorsement theories (source credibility, source attractiveness, match‐up hypothesis, and meaning transfer model) and thus show that each theory constitutes an effective construct for a particular set of endorsements. We argue that, contrary to the assertion in the literature, no single theory is able to holistically explain celebrity endorsements. Only a comprehensive framework comprising all theories can explain the great variety of different celebrity endorsements executed in advertising praxis. Moreover, we present a prescriptive framework that allows marketers to identify the most effective celebrity endorsement strategy based on a product's or brand's value proposition, as we believe traditional product categories are no longer an appropriate concept on which to base an effective advertising strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resource-based view of the firm suggests that the timing of market entry by a firm depends on its resources and capabilities, but several important questions remain. First, in a high-velocity market where capabilities change quickly, how does entry timing depend on the capabilities at varying points in time? Second, how much flexibility does a firm have in altering its capabilities to achieve desirable entry timing? To answer these questions, this study sets out to develop a dynamic, refined version of the resource-based view that parameterizes a firm by its time-varying capability relevance with respect to a focal market, and makes predictions on entry timing and future growth of capability relevance. The study develops a novel approach that uses the entrants' product portfolios to infer a potential entrant's capability relevance. The results based on a panel of potential entrants show that the initial and current capability relevance each affect entry timing alone, revealing the persistent effect of the initial condition. However, given the knowledge of the current capability relevance, the initial relevance has no effect on entry timing, suggesting that the initial relevance affects entry timing through its influence on the current relevance. Firms that are in an initially unfavorable position can still achieve early entry, provided that they improve their capability relevance over time. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars' calls for an integrating view of the technical, political, and cultural (TPC) aspects of management lead to examining Tichy's TPC framework as the basis of such a view. Tichy's framework is shown to require modification to include the TPC systems of a firm's customers and competitors, and a modified TPC framework is proposed. This framework's usefulness for pattern matching to identify causes of performance is demonstrated in historical case research into a strategic group marketing IBM-compatible mainframes. A result is four testable hypotheses suggesting how firms' success marketing to organizations depends on effective integration between marketing and general management, and a potential cause of variations in performance within strategic groups and during movement between strategic groups. In addition, a method for testing and developing hypotheses by pattern matching on a modified TPC framework is demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examined the effects of timing, order and the durability of first mover advantages by analyzing the stock market reactions to new product introductions and imitations. The major findings are that both timing and order of moves are important and that rival reactions undermine the durability of first mover advantages. More specifically, (1) early and fast movers achieve greater gains than late and slow movers, and (2) first movers suffer at the time of new product imitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We investigate the bundling and product strategy in a two‐stage supply chain with the channel competition, and analyze the effect of the bundling strategy on the behavior of supply chain members. In this paper, we consider two situations of channel competitions that are from the external or internal of the supply chain, two types of selling strategies (bundling or unbundling), and two types of product strategies (low or high quality). We propose the game models for different competition situations with the bundling strategy and product‐quality strategy to obtain the optimal decisions for supply chain members. We find that the bundling is the retailer's preferred strategy in two channel competitions; the bundling strategy encourages the competitor (i.e., the new supplier of complementary component) outside the supply chain to provide the low‐quality components, while the product strategy of the channel competitor (i.e., the existing supplier of complementary component) in the supply chain is not affected by the bundling strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is 50 years since the AAC (Hebel) technology has been introduced in Japan. During this half century Hebel Haus™ have sold homes using the Hebel AAC in floors, walls, and ceilings. The total number of unit homes sold has now exceeded 250 000, and Hebel Haus homes are constructed in Japan at a rate of about 8 000 units every year. Japan is a country that frequently suffers from natural disasters. To protect customerś lives and properties Hebel Haus has developed a construction method that combines steel‐framed structure with AAC (Hebel) materials. With an integrated system from construction to sales and after‐sale services, renovation, and the second‐hand housing distribution, Hebel Haus has achieved the status of the top urban housing brand in Japan. Here we are going to present an outline of Hebel Haus history, marketing strategy, technologies, designs, and lifestyle proposals in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though the marketing concept is the cornerstone of the marketing discipline, businesses typically describe only limited success in implementing it. An examination of the core pillars of the marketing concept points to limitations in the first pillar, the customer focus. This pillar is directed at the external customer, the person purchasing the firm's products and services with no attention to the internal customer, the employee. Whereas much attention has been directed to human resource practices in total quality management, marketers have overlooked its importance. This article describes an exploratory study based on in-depth interviews with corporate executives from a broad range of American organizations, which phenomenologically assesses the characteristics of the marketing concept and the employee activities that foster its implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When faced with the strategic choice of going direct to market versus the option of using intermediaries, a firm is posited to evaluate the benefits to customers from going direct to market, and the transaction costs involved in using intermediaries. In this paper, we discuss how these evaluations might differ depending upon the microcharacteristics of the exchange domain. Based on these theoretical considerations, specific propositions are offered regarding the conditions under which firms might rely more heavily on direct channels. These propositions are tested by conducting a cross-sectional empirical analysis using a large sample of manufacturing firms operating in diverse exchange domains. We also control for the impact of macrolevel environmental characteristics, as well as firm-level characteristics that may influence the direct to market decision. Our empirical results confirm that customer benefits and transaction costs are important considerations in going direct to market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction and Aims: To examine how alcohol brands use sport in their communication activities on social media. Despite extensive research exploring alcohol advertising and sponsorship through sport, minimal attention has been given to digital platforms.Design and Methods: This study undertakes a qualitative content analysis to examine the social media activity of alcohol brands sponsoring the three largest spectator sports in Australia: Australian rules football, rugby league and cricket.Results: Four sport-related social media strategies are identified through which alcohol brands solicit interaction with consumers, often involving co-creation of content and social activation. These strategies act as 'calls to action' and through the association of sport and alcohol encourage consumers to engage in competition, collaboration, celebration and consumption. These strategies are further strengthened by communications which draw upon themes of identity and camaraderie to resonate with the consumer.Discussion and Conclusions: Sport-linked social media strategies utilised by alcohol brands extend beyond just promoting their product. They seek higher levels of engagement with the consumer to amplify and augment the connection between alcohol and the sport spectator experience. The discussion highlights the powerful combination of sport and social media as a mechanism by which these brands seek to interact with consumers and encourage them to both create and promote content to their social networks. These strategies allow alcohol brands to extend their marketing efforts in a manner which can elude alcohol codes and prove difficult for regulators to identify and control. [Westberg K, Stavros C, Smith ACT, Munro G, Argus K. An examination of how alcohol brands use sport to engage consumers on social media. Drug Alcohol Rev 2018;37:28-35]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different views exist in the literature regarding which adopter group to target with a go-to-market strategy: early market consumers or consumers in the majority market. Particularly when radical innovations are launched, the approach to the market becomes a critical success factor for firms seeking to recoup their significant investments in these innovation endeavors. Four experimental studies investigate whether and how to differentiate the design of go-to-market strategies, represented as bundles of marketing mix elements consisting of brand name, launch price, message content, and distribution intensity, for different consumer groups. Using the concept of consumer innovativeness, this study distinguishes between the early market of innovative consumers and the majority market populated by consumers low in innovativeness. Applying a signaling framework, the results indicate that the early market can be targeted with a go-to-market strategy signaling exclusive innovativeness; the majority market should be approached with a strategy signaling security. Further, at a signal vehicle level using specific marketing mix elements, the study demonstrates the relevance of adapting the go-to-market strategy for a radical innovation with regard to message content, distribution intensity, and launch price in line with consumer innovativeness. The results also indicate that the adaptation of the two signals and their signal vehicles to the targeted consumer markets is generally not necessary for incremental innovations. The authors discuss the implications of their study for future research and provide managers with recipes of go-to-market strategies for radical innovations when targeting consumers in the early versus majority market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Accounting for social network effects in marketing strategies has become an important issue. Taking a step back, we seek to incorporate and analyze social network effects on new product development and then propose a model to engineer product diffusion over a social network. We build upon the share-of-choice (SOC) problem, which is a strategic combinatorial optimization problem used commonly as one of the methods to analyze conjoint analysis data by marketers in order to identify a product with largest market share, and show how to incorporate social network effects in the SOC problem. We construct a genetic algorithm to solve this computationally challenging (NP-Hard) problem and show that ignoring social network effects in the design phase results in a significantly lower market share for a product. In this setting, we introduce the secondary operational problem of determining the least expensive way of influencing individuals and strengthening product diffusion over a social network. This secondary problem is of independent interest, as it addresses contagion models and the issue of intervening in diffusion over a social network, which are of significant interest in marketing and epidemiological settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relationship between investments in marketing innovation, that is, the way in which technologically unchanged products are designed, priced, distributed, and/or promoted, and a firm's new product performance. Marketing innovation, such as calorie-based packaging or unusual distribution channels, may lead to new products. However, it is unclear whether they pay off, particularly when the firm follows a dual strategy, that is, investing in both innovative marketing and R&D at the same time. We draw from theory on competence development as well as diffusion of innovation and argue that pursuing a dual strategy lowers performance, an effect that we attribute to the role of complexity in innovation. Based on a mixed methods study that integrates a data set of 866 firms from a representative set of industries in Germany and extensive interview evidence, we find empirical support for our hypotheses. Our research contributes to the emerging stream of literature that seeks to better understand the role of marketing in firms' innovation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article identifies specific forms of fetishistic enchantments produced by practices culturally specific to modern consumer culture. The authors show that magical practices are constitutive of two fetishistic marketing constructs: the consumer and the human luxury brand. Marketing magic enacts relations between man and the transcendent by bringing consumer personas 'to life' and manifesting ideals of the beautiful in luxury. Marketing magic is a practice of power - non-rationalist strategies for resolving intractable social problems. Consumer 'personas' create the manageable consumer interlocutors for companies. Charismatic creative directors seem to evade the iron logic of commodity relationships via the magical conjuring of their own personas and of artful luxury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the basics, challenges, strategic and operational element of marketing. It mentions that marketing has a strategic element by deciding how, when and where to participate in market opportunities and developing a plan to obtain the goals and objectives. It states that marketing should be the driver of operational performance and driver of business strategy, taking a leading role in steering other functions' activities to obtain value.

A lexicon of flavor and texture terms was developed to describe the sensory characteristics of cashew nuts. A highly trained and experienced descriptive analysis panel ( n = 10, ages 22-58 each with at least 60 hr of descriptive work in nuts) was used to create the lexicon for cashews. After initial identification and discussion of terms, 22 flavor terms, 4 texture terms, and 3 feeling factors to describe the sensory attributes of cashews were identified. The lexicon was validated by demonstrating that the panel could detect differences among 18 different cashew samples, including raw, oil-roasted, dry-roasted, skin-on, store-brand, national-brand, and rancid types when using the identified lexicon. The differences in products were analyzed using analysis of variance and principal component analysis. Differences in flavor and texture were observed across all product categories and the lexicon was validated. Practical applications The lexicon is intended for use in cashew research and by the cashew industry as a way for communicating differences in cashew flavor and texture in a common language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sodium reduction remains an important and ongoing initiative for the meat industry, especially for processed meats. Sodium reduction strategies, including the use of commercial salt replacers and flavor enhancers, are currently available to the food industry, however; their application toward processed meats, and subsequent impact on the sensory profile, has yet to be fully understood. In comparison to control and low salt formulations, two salt replacers (OF45, OF60) and one flavor enhancer (savory powder [SP]) were evaluated for their ability to effectively reduce sodium, while maintaining the sensory properties of restructured hams and smoked turkey sausages. Taste, odor, in-mouth aroma, and textural properties were evaluated by trained sensory panelists using a hybrid method combining Quantitative Descriptive Analysis® and Texture Profile Analysis®. Formulations with salt replacers were perceived as less salty and more bitter compared to control, especially for OF45, where an off aroma-induced enhancement of bitterness is postulated. SP elicited lower levels of flavor in restructured ham but may have a flavor enhancing effect in smoked turkey sausages. Processed meat systems with additional flavors may be more optimal for use of salt replacers due to a potential masking effect of bitterness. Practical applications Sodium chloride is required for the functionality, shelf stability, and eating quality of processed meats. While sodium chloride plays an important role in processed meat, reduction strategies remain relevant for the industry as they continue to meet the consumer demand for low sodium foods. Current approaches for sodium reduction in processed meats include the use of salt replacers and/or flavor enhancers. This study shows that these ingredients can impact textural sensory attributes in some processed meat products. This work also demonstrates that salt replacers can potentially substitute sodium chloride in processed meats that have complex flavor profiles (e.g., addition of spices, smoke), while meats with simple flavor profiles may require further flavor optimization; however, further flavor optimization through the application of flavor modifying ingredients may be required to suppress undesirable levels of bitterness or other off flavors elicited by these ingredients. Flavor enhancers can provide additional complexity to the sensory profile, but this may be more apparent in complex flavored meat matrices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims The aims were to: (1) identify, monitor and analyse the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices of the alcohol industry in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and (2) examine whether the alcohol industry is using these actions to market their products and brands. Methods Nine health experts from Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay conducted a content analysis of 218 CSR activities using a standardized protocol. A content rating procedure was used to evaluate the marketing potential of CSR activities as well as their probable population reach and effectiveness. The LEAD procedure (longitudinal, expert and all data) was applied to verify the accuracy of industry-reported descriptions. Results A total of 55.8% of the actions were found to have a marketing potential, based on evidence that they are likely to promote brands and products. Actions with marketing potential were more likely to reach a larger audience than actions classified with no marketing potential. Most actions did not fit into any category recommended by the World Health Organization; 50% of the actions involving classroom and college education for young people were found to have marketing potential; 62.3% were classified as meeting the definition of risk management CSR. Conclusion Alcohol industry Corporate Social Responsibility activities in Latin America and the Caribbean appear to have a strategic marketing role beyond their stated philanthropic and public health purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims This case study identifies the influence and mechanisms that the alcohol industry in Brazil has been able to bring to bear to maintain self-regulation in the marketing of beer and many wines set against a trend of increasing alcohol consumption in Brazil, particularly among young people and women. It identifies the forms of power and strategies used by the alcohol industry in Brazil that may be useful for other countries to consider in seeking to move from self-regulation to state regulation of alcohol marketing. Method A review was conducted of recent legal documents and court cases, as well as the activities of alcoholic beverage industries. Results Because of an exemption, Brazilian law had established that both beer and many wines are not alcoholic beverages for marketing purposes. These beverages are subjected to industry self-regulation codes. Research shows that beer and wine marketing often violates industry codes, with little or no enforcement of penalties for non-compliance. Attempts to include beer and wine in the legal definition of alcohol have been opposed by the alcohol industry, and the courts have delegated responsibility to the legislature. The recent legal activities surrounding alcohol sales during the 2014 World Cup games in Brazil provide evidence of the alcohol industry's influence on the legislative process. Conclusion The alcohol industry in Brazil plays a significant role in the formulation of public policies on alcohol, especially regarding the regulation of marketing. This power is exercised by strong lobbying of government officials responsible for public policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims To identify the nature of visual alcohol references in alcohol advertisements during televised broadcasts of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Tournament matches and to evaluate cross-national differences according to alcohol marketing policy restrictiveness. Design Content analysis using the Delphi method and identification of in-game sponsorships. Setting Television broadcasts of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Mexico, Spain and the United States. Cases Eighty-seven alcohol advertisements; 20 matches. Measurements Quantitative rating scales, combined with the Delphi rating technique, were used to determine compliance of the alcohol advertisements with the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking's (IARD) Guiding Principles. Recordings of five matches from four countries were also used to identify the number of in- and out-of-game alcohol brand appearances. Findings A total of 86.2% of all unique alcohol advertisements contained at least one violation of IARD's Guiding Principles, with violation rates ranging from 72.7% (Mexico) to 100% (Brazil). Countries with the least restrictive marketing policies had a higher prevalence of violations in guidelines designed to protect minors. There were 2.76 in-game alcohol brand appearances and 0.83 out-of-game alcohol brand appearances per minute. Brand appearances did not differ across countries or according to a country's marketing policy restrictiveness. Conclusions Self-regulation and statutory policies were ineffective at limiting alcohol advertising during the 2014 FIFA World Cup Tournament television broadcasts. Most advertisements contained content that violated the self-regulation codes, and there were high levels of within-broadcast brand appearances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors reflect on marketing strategies for the alcoholic beverage industries in Latin America and the Caribbean as of 2017, and it mentions cost-effective marketing plans, research on alcohol marketing regulations, and a call to evaluate the promotional strategies used by the alcohol industry. Alcoholic beverage-related product innovations and packaging designs are examined, along with alcohol consumption in the Caribbean and Latin American regions.

One of the fundamental tasks of targeted marketing is to elicit associations between customers and products. Based on the results from information retrieval and utility theory, this article proposes a unified framework of targeted marketing. The customer judgments of products are formally described by preference relations and the connections of customers and products are quantitatively measured by market value functions. Two marketing strategies, known as the customer-oriented and product-oriented marketing strategies, are investigated. Four marketing models are introduced and examined. They represent, respectively, the relationships between a group of customers and a group of products, between a group of customers and a single product, between a single customer and a group of products, and between a single customer and a single product. Linear and bilinear market value functions are suggested and studied. The required parameters of a market value function can be estimated by exploring three types of information, namely, customer profiles, product profiles, and transaction data. Experiments on a real-world data set are performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT In this article, we consider distribution channel strategies for an incumbent manufacturer who produces two complementary products and must determine whether or not to have another company to sell its products. We identify factors that affect the manufacturer's motivation to use dual-channel distribution. Our results show that both complementarity between complements and product substitutability between firms influence the manufacturer's channel strategy. We find that if the potential entrant does not produce the complement of the primary product, a higher complementary effect for the complement will weaken the motivation of the incumbent to add an indirect channel. We also find that the incumbent has a stronger incentive to add the indirect channel when a product's substitutability is high. Furthermore, we show that when the two channels have the same pricing power, the incumbent has a stronger incentive to sell through the indirect channel in a higher pricing power environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT We study cooperative (co-op) advertising strategies in a two-tier distribution channel and extend the popular unilateral participation strategy to bilateral participations. Our research shows that a properly designed bilateral participation has several advantages over unilateral participation. Bilateral participation is capable of coordinating the distribution channel under a very general demand function. In addition, when channel members determine participation parameters endogenously, the bilateral participation improves the channel efficiency and leads to a Pareto improvement over the corresponding unilateral participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term strategy is appearing with great frequency in the political marketing literature. However, the concept of political marketing strategy has been criticized for being unidimensional, ill-defined and neglecting the contingencies of strategy theories. This article argues that a minimal definition and a division of epistemological terms could respond to the outlined critique. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing products and business processes to serve subsistence marketplaces (or the roughly 4 billion poor around the world referred to as the bottom of the pyramid) is a significant challenge for businesses. Despite the importance of subsistence marketplaces, most product development educational curricula have been focused on relatively resource-rich and literate consumers and markets. We teach an innovative year-long product development course which includes an international immersion experience and which covers a broad spectrum of learning from understanding poverty, to consumer behavior, to product development and engineering design specifically for subsistence consumers. This unique course represents a pioneering effort to focus attention and create knowledge about product development, marketing, management, and engineering practices for subsistence marketplaces. Our two-semester course sequence for graduate-level students in a variety of business and engineering disciplines and industrial design combines in-class pedagogy with experiential learning and results in useful and marketable product concepts and prototypes. Working on projects with multinational companies or startups, students identify an opportunity of general need, conduct field market research to better understand subsistence consumer needs and contexts through an international immersion experience, develop a product concept, convert the concept to a workable prototype, and develop a manufacturing plan, marketing strategy, and overall business plan for the product. Overlaying the content found in a typical new product development lab course we develop a contextual understanding of subsistence marketplaces, setting the stage for new product development. A central aspect of the learning experience is travel to subsistence markets for actual immersion in the context and to conduct market research. Our course is at the confluence of two of the most important issues facing humanity, subsistence and sustainability. Lessons learned here can also be extended to other radically different contexts, such as future scenarios involving severe energy shortages or climate change consequences. Such educational initiatives provide challenging learning experiences in preparing students for the unique demands of the 21st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we investigate characteristics and drivers of sustainabihty marketing strategies. Based on an empirical study in the food industry, we identify four sustainability marketing strategy types with distinctive characteristics (performers, followers, indecisives and passives). Consumers are one of the main drivers of sustainability marketing strategies. Depending on the sensitization of consumers to socio-ecological problems, the perceptibility of socio-ecological qualities, the individually perceived net benefits and the availability of sustainable alternatives, we argue that the typology and drivers apply to non-food industries as well. Furthermore, we find that the incorporation of social and ecological aspects into marketing strategies also depends on the market segment in which the company competes: companies that are positioned in the premium or quality segment are more inclined to take an active stance on sustainability marketing than companies that compete in the price segment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the challenges faced by the mobile operator Nawras when entering the Omani telecom market in 2005. The source material consists of auto-ethnographic accounts of two European managers who worked at Nawras during the launch period. The result is a rich and highly personal account of market-entry challenges and managerial efforts to overcome such challenges in a newly deregulated Gulf country. The Nawras story suggests that entrants into a Gulf market such as Oman need a great deal of flexibility and improvisation capabilities in order to become successful. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the need for research on the market-learning efforts of a firm in relation to its new product development is continuously emphasized, the empirical results on this issue reported so far have been mixed. The current study contends that the inconclusive nature of the empirical evidence is mostly due to the existence of different dimensions of organizational market learning—exploratory and exploitative—and to possible different routes by which these learning dimensions are linked to new product performance. More specifically, this study argues that exploratory market learning contributes to the differentiation of the new product because it involves the firm's learning about uncertain and new opportunities through the acquisition of knowledge distant from existing organizational skills and experiences. By contrast, this study posits that exploitative market learning enhances cost efficiency in developing new products as it aims to best use the currently available market information that is closely related to existing organizational experience. This study provides empirical support for this two-dimensional scheme of organizational market learning and its consequent effects on two components of new product advantage: new product differentiation and cost efficiency. Further, given that the effectiveness of firms' strategic efforts is contingent upon the nature of the market environment, the current study examines the moderating effects of environmental dynamism and market competitiveness for this market learning—new product advantage relationship. This study is based on survey data from 157 manufacturing firms in China that encompass various industries. The empirical findings support the two-dimensional market learning efforts that increase new product differentiation and cost efficiency, respectively. The study confirms that exploratory market learning becomes more effective under a turbulent market environment and that exploitative market learning is more contributive when competitive intensity is high. It also suggests that because of their differential direct and moderating effects on new product advantage either exploratory or exploitative market learning may not be used exclusively, but the two should be implemented in parallel. Such learning implementations will help to secure both the feature and cost-based new product advantage components and will consequently lead to the new product success. The current study attempts to contribute to greater clarity and better understanding of how market learning influences new product success as it theoretically identifies and empirically validates the two forms of new product advantage as the conceptual mediator between market learning and new product performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Having the “right” market vision (MV) in new product scenarios involving high degrees of uncertainty has been shown to help firms achieve a significant competitive advantage, which can ultimately lead to superior financial results. Despite today's increased rate of radical innovation, and hence the importance of effective vision, relatively little research has been undertaken to improve our understanding of this phenomenon. The exploratory and empirical investigation undertaken herewith responds to this research gap by focusing on MV and its precursor, market visioning competence (MVC), for radically new, high-tech products. MV is a clear and specific mental model/image that organizational members have of a desired and important product-market for a new advanced technology, and MVC is a set of individual and organizational capabilities that enable the linking of advanced technologies to a future market opportunity. Based on samples of high-tech firms involved in early technology developments, the measurement study indicates that five factors comprise MV (i.e., clarity, magnetism, specificity, form, and scope) and that four factors underlie MVC (i.e., networking, idea driving, proactive market orientation, and market learning tools). Structural equation modeling is used to demonstrate that MVC significantly and positively impacts MV and that each of these constructs significantly and positively influences certain aspects of early performance (EP) in new product development. This is the first empirical study to develop a comprehensive set of scales to measure these constructs and then to combine them in a model by which to examine their interrelationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Drawing from the literature on the analytics of government, the paper discusses marketing as a form of government, elaborating and illustrating the many ways in which consumer choice is shaped, modified and directed in the market through practices and techniques of consumer marketing. The aim is to critically reflect upon and render problematic the individualistic ideas of the green consumer as a powerful market force and to provoke discussion on the conceptualization – and construction – of consumer subjectivity and social problems in marketing. Taking examples particularly from the fashion and clothing industry, the paper discusses the ways in which marketing activities come to shape consumer conduct by operating through the choice of individuals who freely pursue their needs and desires, and by working on the environment within which this freedom of choice is exercised. The paper contributes to the literature on green consumerism by systematically interrogating and elaborating on the modes and practices of marketing thought and expertise through which consumers and consumption are rendered intelligible and actionable in the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we report research results investigating microblogging as a form of electronic word-of-mouth for sharing consumer opinions concerning brands. We analyzed more than 150,000 microblog postings containing branding comments, sentiments, and opinions. We investigated the overall structure of these microblog postings, the types of expressions, and the movement in positive or negative sentiment. We compared automated methods of classifying sentiment in these microblogs with manual coding. Using a case study approach, we analyzed the range, frequency, timing, and content of tweets in a corporate account. Our research findings show that 19% of microblogs contain mention of a brand. Of the branding microblogs, nearly 20% contained some expression of brand sentiments. Of these, more than 50% were positive and 33% were critical of the company or product. Our comparison of automated and manual coding showed no significant differences between the two approaches. In analyzing microblogs for structure and composition, the linguistic structure of tweets approximate the linguistic patterns of natural language expressions. We find that microblogging is an online tool for customer word of mouth communications and discuss the implications for corporations using microblogging as part of their overall marketing strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spacing effect refers to the advantage in memory for information repeated at separate points in time over information repeated in massed fashion. This phenomenon has been extensively studied in psychology and has a wide scope of application. In spite of its possible applications, particularly related to advertising effectiveness, the spacing effect and its underlying theories have received limited attention in marketing. Evidence suggests that encoding variability theory, the one most frequently cited in marketing to explain the spacing effect, cannot explain existing empirical evidence as well as two other theories, reconstruction theory and study-phase retrieval theory. This paper reviews these theories, as well as extant research, and discusses implications for advertising and directions for future research in marketing. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates factors of marketing communications and consumer characteristics that induce reminder impulse buying behaviour. Study 1 applies the antecedent, process and consequence approach to investigate the essential differences between reminder impulse buying and pure impulse buying. The results of Study 1 reveal that reminder impulse buying significantly differs from pure impulse buying on motivation, buying goal and decision evaluation. Study 2 further examines how sales promotion strategy might affect reminder impulse buying, with product appeal and consumer traits as moderating factors. Both sales promotion strategy and its interaction effects with product appeal are found to have significant influences on reminder impulse buying. Specifically, an instant-reward promotion promotes stronger reminder impulse buying than a delayed-reward promotion. Furthermore, both a utilitarian product appeal with a price discount promotion and a hedonic product appeal with a premium promotion can encourage greater reminder impulse buying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Commercial marketing is a critical but understudied element of the sociocultural environment influencing Americans' food and beverage preferences and purchases. This marketing also likely influences the utilization of goods and services related to physical activity and sedentary behavior. A growing literature documents the targeting of racial/ethnic and income groups in commercial advertisements in magazines, on billboards, and on television that may contribute to sociodemographic disparities in obesity and chronic disease risk and protective behaviors. This article examines whether African Americans, Latinos, and people living in low-income neighborhoods are disproportionately exposed to advertisements for high-calorie, low nutrient–dense foods and beverages and for sedentary entertainment and transportation and are relatively underexposed to advertising for nutritious foods and beverages and goods and services promoting physical activities. Methods: Outdoor advertising density and content were compared in zip code areas selected to offer contrasts by area income and ethnicity in four cities: Los Angeles, Austin, New York City, and Philadelphia. Findings: Large variations were observed in the amount, type, and value of advertising in the selected zip code areas. Living in an upper-income neighborhood, regardless of its residents' predominant ethnicity, is generally protective against exposure to most types of obesity-promoting outdoor advertising (food, fast food, sugary beverages, sedentary entertainment, and transportation). The density of advertising varied by zip code area race/ethnicity, with African American zip code areas having the highest advertising densities, Latino zip code areas having slightly lower densities, and white zip code areas having the lowest densities. Conclusions: The potential health and economic implications of differential exposure to obesity-related advertising are substantial. Although substantive legal questions remain about the government's ability to regulate advertising, the success of limiting tobacco advertising offers lessons for reducing the marketing contribution to the obesigenicity of urban environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Olive oil consumption is growing all around the world as a consequence of the extension of the Mediterranean diet. Because of limited production, pricing, promotions, and consumer-related variables are essential to explain olive oil consumer behavior. As a consequence of this increasing consumption, it is fundamental to analyze the main factors influencing consumers' olive oil choices for both brands and retailers to be able to compete more efficiently and satisfy consumer needs more closely. But, few such studies are concerned with olive oil (although a great many works in the literature analyze the influence of these factors in other product categories). In a sociocultural context like the Spanish market, in which brand awareness is strong and the use of the product is very high, these factors are even more important. Thus, the main objective of this article is to determine and assess how different marketing variables, such as price, price discounts, use of store flyers and loyalty, explain olive oil brand choice. [Econlit citations: M310, Q130]. © 2009 wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many independent veterinary practices have no formal marketing strategy, relying instead on a random series of marketing tactics, but corporate consolidation within the sector is putting pressure on such independents. Paul Green outlines a simple marketing strategy that he suggests can ultimately increase net profitability, making independent businesses more robust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Economics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article examines how institutional identity and branding have become crucial components in market differentiation in higher education. It says that market differentiation in higher education is more on perceptions of difference rather than true difference. Moreover, it recognizes that challenge for higher education administrators in identifying how their institution should be differentiating itself and to communicate those differences to all members of the community. It notes that college rankings help establish academic reputation for many universities. Lastly, it implicates that colleges and universities should advertise whatever tangible evidence is available that indicates their academic reputation.

The article explores the difficulties that come with marketing an intangible product such as higher education and proposes that the practice of branding is crucial to image construction. It says that the basic marketing goal for colleges and universities is to make the intangible tangible and to find areas of market differentiation. Moreover, it discusses many characteristics that shape and influence institutional image for higher education and these include perceived academic reputation, one's familiarity with the institution, cost, alumni employability, and athletics. It also considers various components of branding among colleges and universities.

Aims To assess the extent to which point-of purchase (POP) cigarette displays stimulate impulse purchases. Design Telephone-administered population survey. Setting Victoria, Australia. Participants A total of 2996 adults, among whom 526 smoked factory-made cigarettes and 67 were recent quitters (quit in the past 12 months). Measurements Reported cigarette purchase behaviour; perceived effect on smoking of removing cigarettes from view in retail outlets; reported urges to buy cigarettes as a result of seeing the cigarette display. Findings When shopping for items other than cigarettes, 25.2% of smokers purchased cigarettes at least sometimes on impulse as a result of seeing the cigarette display. Thirty-eight per cent of smokers who had tried to quit in the past 12 months and 33.9% of recent quitters experienced an urge to buy cigarettes as a result of seeing the retail cigarette display. One in five smokers trying to quit and one in eight recent quitters avoided stores where they usually bought cigarettes in case they might be tempted to purchase them. Many smokers (31.4%) thought the removal of cigarette displays from stores would make it easier for them to quit. Conclusions POP cigarette displays act as cues to smoke, even among those not explicitly intending to buy cigarettes, and those trying to avoid smoking. Effective POP marketing restrictions should encompass cigarette displays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes and analyses the relationship between design strategy and design management. Design strategy involves the long long-term planning and direction of brand and product development, whilest design management focuses on the implementation of design strategy through planning, operational delivery, and resource management. The positional forces of design strategy refer to branding, culture, costs, technology, and services, all of which have an important role in strategic design decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has found that men trade stocks more frequently than women and receive a lower price as a result. The behavioral finance literature attributes this greater trading activity to men's overconfidence. Women's lack of overconfidence and past agricultural economics research suggest the possibility that women may be better at marketing grain than men. This article uses actual transactions of farmers marketing wheat and also finds that men trade more often than women. Women also sell two weeks later in the marketing year. There is no direct effect of gender on price received, but by storing longer women receive 1.4 cents/bushel less than men, on average. In contrast to the arguments in previous research, we argue that men's greater number of trades can be better explained by men enjoying trading rather than by overconfidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present microeconomic evidence on US pricing dynamics pre and post-establishment of the Bretton Woods (BW) monetary regime. We track prices of 49 goods (1172 observations) in 1938–1951 Sears, Roebuck catalogs. The average length between (nominal) price changes was over 2 years. The average was higher (2.05 years) in the pre-BW period than in the later (2.01 years). We find that prices of brand name goods were relatively rigid; three never changed price. Price changes were larger during the 1945–1951 period than pre-BW by between 0.60 and 1.83%. Price changes displayed a higher correlation with inflation pre-BW. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article develops measures of marketing style for advisory programs in corn and soybeans and estimates the relationship between style characteristics and pricing performance. Style is measured by the intensity of futures and options use, degree of activeness in marketing, and seasonality of sales. The data set consists of advisory programs tracked by the AgMAS project at the University of Illinois between 1995 and 2004. Results indicate that active programs making large bets on price movements obtain a higher average price than more conservative programs. This is consistent with active advisors possessing superior information and/or analytical skills rather than being overconfident. However, estimates of the relationship between pricing performance and activeness are sensitive to the inclusion of a single high-performing program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]