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The way firms and marketers promote their products is being shaped by consumer needs and trends alongside the evolution of the marketplace. As web technologies and consumers’ online behavior improve, influencers are becoming increasingly significant in social media marketing strategies. This research intends to investigate a particular digital phenomenon observed in the field of books, namely, marketing books on Instagram. Therefore, the study aims to highlight the key aspects of book influencers' Instagram activity, namely by examining the literature, but also the evolution of the bookstagram phenomenon in a dual perspective in both Romania and the United States. Furthermore, the purpose of this research is to draw attention to the similarities and differences among the existing communities in the two countries pointed out by a quantitative research. On that account, the data analyzed was collected in two different ways, first we retrieved information from Statista online database about the phenomenon in the United States of America and then, we conducted a questionnaire to bookstagram community members in Romania. Accordingly, the paper will contribute to the expansion of the literature on #bookstagram communities in various cultures around the world by providing useful information and a more diverse view of this market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smartphones and high-speed network connections allow businesses to deliver information to customers faster and more efficiently than ever before. This study analyses the most-cited articles on smartphone online marketing. A bibliometric mapping analysis was used to search for articles related to smartphone online marketing between 2010 and 2020, retrieved from the Scopus database. The title, a number of citations, publishing year, journal, country, subject area, and authors were all recorded and evaluated. VOSviewer was used for the bibliometric study. The search yielded a total of 120 articles, with citation counts ranging from 17 to 225. All of the articles were authored in English. The United States was the region with the most articles published. The highest publication source is the Journal of Business Research. Management, accounting, and business dominated the articles. This study benefits the company and marketers with the marketing strategies used in online marketing with smartphones. In terms of marketing activities and research areas, this study suggests future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The narrative remains unchanged. The racial and ethnic demographics of the United States are changing, yet the agencies that manage our protected areas have not figured out how to prepare for these changes. Researchers and agencies working within protected areas are concerned with one simple question: How do we increase visitation and participation among communities of color? Several studies have focused on issues of constraints and barriers. Initiatives have centered on marketing strategies. Agencies have conducted surveys to examine their hiring practices. Sadly, these have not led to the desired outcomes. So, what are we missing, what ideas have we not explored, what are the appropriate next steps towards closing the perceived gap? It is the position of this paper that researchers have prioritized research questions and methodologies with which they are most familiar and comfortable. Collectively, we have failed to take on the hard questions and processes that are necessary to truly unpack the meaning and impact of Race within the United States. Overcoming the difficulties associated with investigating Race and recreation in protected areas requires courage on the part of researchers. Courage to challenge the research findings and practices of their colleagues, expectations/goals of funders, and, specifically for White researchers, the recreation preferences of their peer groups. Through personal stories and analogies, this paper presents three areas in which researchers need to practice the virtue of courage if we are truly to create safe spaces within our protected areas for Racially Marginalized Communities (RMCs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Events are crucial to the industry's growth and economic benefits. Nearly 1.5 billion people visit corporate events each year across the world. Even though the event was formerly regarded as the industry's fastest-growing segment, it is currently undergoing a significant transformation and shift because of the COVID-19 epidemic. Businesses are embracing digital marketing to communicate with their customers during this pandemic catastrophe. As a result, the pandemic has an impact on core ideas and marketing innovations. The objective of the research is to look at the effects of digital marketing in the event industry in Malaysia and the United States (USA) during covid-19. Samples of the study were consumers who attended virtual events in Malaysia and the United States (USA) for a period of two years following the pandemic Covid-19 from 2019 to 2021. This study used a survey questionnaire to obtain the primary data. The study's findings revealed that digital marketing had an impact on attitude, brand awareness, and trust. Whereas trust is the most critical factor for Malaysian participants, attitude is the most important factor for American participants in generating an intention to attend the event. This study recommends that event planners to develop digital marketing strategies that keep up with new technology developments and shifting customer expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the role of marketing in the context of initial public offerings (IPOs), a neglected issue in the extant literature. The results from a large-scale, cross-industry study indicate that firms' pre-IPO marketing spendings help reduce IPO underpricing and boost IPO trading in the stock market. The econometric models also suggest that these effects are heterogeneous; that is, they are more salient for firms with higher cost reduction efficiency and in markets with a smaller number of historical IPOs.With regard to theory, this research ushers in a greenfield of IPOs, helping build more powerful theories of market-based assets and customer equity.With regard to practice, it builds the case for not cutting marketing before an IPO. Prudent investors may be better able to pick “star” IPOs if they can track pre-IPO marketing spendings and model firm cost reduction efficiency simultaneously. Overall, this article offers fresh implications for the marketing–finance interface, uncovering brand-new IPO-based reasons that marketing can help create shareholder value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radical product innovations are often agents of creative destruction. They threaten to destroy existing market positions, and yet they often yield vast new market opportunities. This article examines how competitors respond to the introduction of radical product innovations. The authors argue that competitive response to radical product innovations is inherently different from response to the incremental innovations that are typically studied in existing research. They introduce the dual concepts of market expansion and entry thresholds to develop new hypotheses about competitive response. Some of these hypotheses contradict prior literature. Using objective data from the U.S. pharmaceutical industry between 1997 and 2001, they estimate a shared-frailty hazard model to explain the competitive response to radical product innovations. The results show that the likelihood of competitive response is substantially higher when the introducing firm is large or market dependent. Moreover, the response is highest when the innovation is introduced in a small market by a large firm. These results contradict those from much prior research on competitive response to product innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contribution of this research lies in the use of real-world data to test several hypotheses about the role of two signals--sequels and advertising expenditures--in the motion picture industry. The authors analyze the data with a dynamic simultaneous-equations model of the drivers and the interrelationships of the behaviors of movie audiences, studios, and exhibitors. Specifically, the authors test for the attenuating role of third-party information sources, such as critics' review consensus and cumulative word of mouth, on the strength of the two aforementioned signals. The authors find evidence of such an effect both at the release phase across movies and over the postrelease phase for any movie. Notably, they hypothesize and show that sequels and advertising expenditures have a positive interaction effect on box office revenues. This is an important finding because though most firms use multiple signals for their products, empirical work on the interaction of two or more signals is rare. This study offers several new and interesting empirical insights into the market dynamics of the motion picture industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reports the results of a survey of executives of subsidiaries of Japanese and U.S. firms operating in the European Union (EU). The fundamental issues addressed are the degree to which firms perceive EU national markets as similar, the degree to which firms use standardized advertising across the EU, and firms' reasons for standardizing advertising. Global marketing strategy theory contends that firms are more likely to follow a strategy if the environment is conducive to that strategy, suggesting that greater convergence of EU markets would lead to greater standardization of advertising. The findings of this study indicate that both Japanese and U.S. managers still note obstacles to the standardization of advertising in the EU. Consistent with global marketing strategy theory, overall levels of standardization of advertising are somewhat moderate. Firms in the United States are slightly more likely than Japanese firms to use a standardized advertising strategy in the EU. In addition, U.S. firms tend to put greater emphasis on the creation of a uniform brand image, whereas managers from both countries value cost savings. Japanese firms value the higher level of central control that can emanate from standardization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, scholars and practitioners have discussed several challenges related to the fresh-food supply chains (SCs). One of these challenges is the lack of availability of curated, clean, and processed market information for the SC participants to use to aid in their decision-making process. For example, small growers often feel uncertain because they have little insight into which crops to plant so they will have a market to sell them to. Consequently, some growers are only able to sell parts of their harvest or decide not to harvest at all which causes food waste. This work aims to create a centralized market intelligence platform to acquire market information, curate it, analyze it, and connect this platform to the rest of an emerging intelligent supply chain. It is essential to take into consideration market intelligence to reduce losses related to market prices and demands, avoid scarcity events in which food availability and affordability decrease, and aid small growers by alerting them of future market opportunities A market intelligence layered system framework is developed in this work to collect relevant market indicator data including non-traditional data sources, monitor them, diagnose the market's state, and provide recommendations to the SC participants such as which crops and markets will be most promising in the future. A case study based on the 2019 market event in which celery prices increased across the United States terminal markets is provided. Through the case study, the proposed market intelligence framework is illustrated with focus on the first three layers: data collection, processing, and monitoring. Furthermore, the case study illustrates the usefulness of monitoring non-traditional data to identify market events with greater anticipation. Results indicate that the monitoring of non-traditional data was able to capture the anomalous event with greater time of anticipation than another traditional data source. • Development of a market intelligence layered framework to identify market opportunities in agricultural markets. • Extracting, processing, and monitoring market leading indicators to identify disruptive events in the agricultural markets. • Illustration of the proposed framework via a case study of a real market disruption that occurred in 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined how network structure (density overlap and embeddedness) and technology characteristics of a platform (dominance and newness) shaped interorganizational coordination of product launches in the U.S. video game industry. We found that the developers' choices to launch games for particular game consoles were significantly explained by these four factors using multiprobability regression on a primary data set of 2,815 launches between 1995 and 2002. This analysis was complemented with application of a network visualization technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study on consumer choice theory, offers insight for managers in the online financial services industry, and mentions research methods. Discrete choice analysis (DCA) was used to identify determinant attributes or market drivers and the DCA model was the framework for the study. Intercepts in the multinomial logit (MNL) models assess the impact of unobserved attributes and provide an evaluation of switching inertia. The similarities between the estimated MNL models for different segments was calculated by a chi-square test. The authors suggest that customers are willing to pay more for an online service that gives them offline value and online benefits.

This study employed content analysis to examine the use of nutrient content, health, and structure/function claims found in food advertisements of high circulation magazines published between 1998 and 2000. Overall, food marketers made substantial use of nutrient content claims in their ads, but very limited use of health claims, despite a growing number of FDA-authorized categories. Marketers' far greater utilization of similar-sounding, but less-stringent, structure/function claims may be attributable to a more relaxed regulatory environment for structure/function claims and avoidance of potential regulatory risk associated with health claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategists following the resource-based view argue that firms can generate rents through value creation. To create value, firms develop and use resources and capabilities that other firms cannot imitate, trade for, or substitute other assets for. Even a firm that has created value, however, may not capture the potential rents associated with that value. To capture rents, a firm must set the right prices for what it sells. Most views of pricing assume that a firm can readily set appropriate prices. In contrast, we argue that pricing is a capability. To develop the ability to set the right prices, a firm must invest in resources and routines. We base our argument on a study of the pricing process of a large Midwestern manufacturing firm. We show that pricing resources, routines, and skills may help or inhibit a firm in setting the right price—and hence in appropriating value created. Our view of pricing as a capability contributes to the resource- based view because it suggests that strategists should consider the portfolio of value creation and value appropriation capabilities a firm uses to create competitive advantage. Our view also contributes to economics because it suggests that strategic, decisions about pricing capabilities have important implications for a fundamental economic action, determining prices. Managers in firms without effective pricing processes may be unable to set prices that reflect the wishes of its customers, so the customers may misuse their resources. As a result, resources may be used ineffectively. Our view of pricing as a capability therefore takes the resource-based-view straight to the heart of what is perhaps the central economic question: the best use of resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Account planning in the United States is now part of the mainstream agency landscape. The planning field has evolved from the original British conceptualization of the 1960s and 1970s. Now planners are central to client business strategy development and also accountable for the outcomes of the agency's products. In light of increased demands by shareholders, holding companies, and market analysts on agencies for accountability, this study examines how the work of account planners in U.S. agencies is currently and should be evaluated. The study reports results of a national survey of U.S. planners regarding these questions. The study found that there are three general factors that planners say are currently being used to evaluate their work: (1) feedback from creatives, clients, and account teams; (2) traditional advertising campaign measures; and (3) awards and press of the three, the traditional advertising campaign measures factor accounts for most of the variance in responses. Planners rate the feedback factor as most important, however. Overall, awards and press were not a major consideration in evaluating the work of planners. These finding were consistent when planners were asked how they feel their work should be evaluated: For the most part, it appears that planners feel that the way their work is currently being evaluated is the way it should be evaluated. The study concludes with suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-cultural research on advertising has called attention to the important role that core societal values have on advertising production and reception. This study focuses on a core American cultural value, rugged individualism. Drawing on recent scholarship that emphasizes the rhetorical, mythical, and metaphorical bases of advertising imagery, the inquiry identifies seven bipolar tensions underlying the expression of rugged individualism in contemporary print advertisements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two studies address how companies should react when celebrity endorsers with whom they wish to associate are blameless or blameworthy for causing negative events (e.g., accidents). Research findings on stigmas suggest a linear endorser blame-company evaluation relationship, such that companies should associate (disassociate) with endorsers who have low (high) levels of blame for negative events. In contrast, research findings on defensive distortions suggest a nonmonotonic blame-evaluation relationship: Owing to the tendency to downgrade low blame persons so that they seem deserving of bad fate, companies benefit from associating with moderate, rather than low or high, blame celebrities. The current research suggests that the stage of the company-endorser relationship influences the pattern of findings and the type of endorser decisions companies should make. In Study 1 (n=121), consistent with stigma research, companies fared better when dismissing existing endorsers with high blame and keeping those with low blame. In Study 2 (n=108), consistent with research on defensive distortions, when making decisions about potential endorsers, companies fared best when hiring low blame candidates and worst when rejecting moderate blame candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managers operate in a complex, uncertain environment and tend to form simplified models in order to cope with this environment and make competitive strategic decisions (i.e., cost leadership, differentiation, or focus). In this study, we use an experimental design to examine the strategic choice decision-making process in firms located in the United States and Japan. We develop several main-effect propositions regarding managerial selection of competitive strategies, depending on the competitive forces (buyer power, threat of substitutes, threat of new firm entry, and high intensity of rivalry) they are facing. We propose a main effect due to country of origin: Japanese managers prefer a cost-leadership strategy more than American managers do. We also propose several interaction effects regarding cross-national differences in strategy selection between Japanese and U.S. managers. To test our propositions, we collected experimental data from 316 U.S. executives and 459 Japanese executives. We assessed relative impacts of the competitive forces on strategic decision-making using a multilevel regression analysis. The research findings indicated that high buyer power and high substitution threat were associated with a preference for cost-leadership strategies, and Japanese managers were significantly more likely to prefer a cost-leadership strategy than U.S. managers. We also found that, under conditions of high buyer power, U.S. managers were less likely than Japanese managers to enter a market with a differentiation or focus strategy. We found little support for other interaction hypotheses, suggesting points of similarity between U.S. and Japanese managers. We conclude with a discussion of theoretical and managerial implications of our results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors examine 308 firms in the United States and four other Western countries to understand how different types of firms relate to their markets. Comparative analysis shows that though there is some support for consumer and goods firms being more transactional and business and service firms being more relational, there are many exceptions. The results also show that firms can be grouped into those whose marketing practices are predominantly transactional, predominantly relational, or a transactional/relational hybrid. Each group constitutes approximately one-third of the sample and includes all types of firms (consumer goods, consumer services, business-to-business goods, and business-to-business services). This suggests that marketing practices are pluralistic and managerial practice has not shifted from transactional to relational approaches per se. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have highlighted task environmental factors as the sole drivers of a distributor's commitment to its supplier and have found positive consequences of distributor commitment. The authors propose institutional factors as another motive for distributor commitment in channel relationships. Specifically, the authors suggest that long-term orientation is an essential institutional environment to consider for a comparative study of distributor commitment. The authors hypothesize that distributor commitment is driven by both task environmental factors and institutional factors. The authors conduct national surveys of industrial distributors in the United States and Japan to test the hypotheses. The hypothesis test results indicate that task environmental factors are related significantly to distributor commitment regardless of the channel contexts and that the effect of an institutional factor varies across the channel contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of founding and mortality rates of specialist organizations in the U.S. wine industry over the period 1941-80 support Carroll's (1985) location-based resource-partitioning model--crowding of generalists in the market center creates opportunities for specialists. Further, specialists are adversely affected when they violate their organizational form's identity characteristics and also when generalists can assume a robust identity allowing to operate in both specialist and generalist industry segments. The results suggest a prominent role for an organizational form's identity in resource partitioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This ethnographic research examines consumers' cultural production at a cattle trade show and rodeo. Consumers recreate western cultural meanings and memories related to competition, naturalism, freedom/independence, and family tradition in their interactions with ranchers, booth exhibitors, animals, and artifacts of western history. Consumers' cultural production processes are documented at four levels: consumer behavior, situational positioning, subcultural interactions, and market interactions. Implications elaborate the significance of consumers' active, yet constrained production processes; the role of cultural meanings as market mediators; and issues in consuming another culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As previously protected and emerging markets continue to open up for international trade, export firms often have a difficult time developing marketing strategies, particularly pricing strategies. However, few studies focus on the pricing practices of export firms, which makes it difficult to understand whether the same pricing strategies apply across markets, particularly in emerging markets. Using a framework of price complexity, the authors examine and compare the cost variables that are factored into price (price complexity) by export firms in the United States and Korea. The authors also investigate and compare some important noncost factors that influence pricing decisions for exporters in both their domestic and international markets. The results show that firms from the United States, a developed market, tend to factor more cost variables into price than do firms from an emerging market such as Korea. On the basis of the results of the study, the authors discuss implications for exporters and future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complexity surrounding globalization offers a unique context in which to study the moderating role of uncertainty on top management team (TMT) demographic effects. In a sample of United States-based industrial firms, TMT international experience, educational heterogeneity, and tenure heterogeneity were positively related to firms' global strategic postures, and functional heterogeneity exhibited a negative association. However, when the level of uncertainty facing TMTs was accounted for, these associations were found to be nonlinear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although retail operations traditionally have been considered poor candidates for international expansion, firms in mature retail markets are increasingly turning to international markets as a means for strategic growth. In this study, the authors examine how internal determinants affect the international ventures of large U.S. retail chains, comparing internal characteristics of international and domestic firms. The authors use the behavioral internationalization paradigm to develop a model of international retail involvement, which serves as a conceptual framework for the study. Through a logistic regression model, the results support the relevance of six of eight explanatory determinants of international retail involvement. The findings highlight the powerful influence of the strategic management characteristics, competitive advantages related to retail concept and logistics, and a retailer's size. In contrast, neither previous experience in direct foreign sourcing nor competitive advantages related to retail merchandise were significant in this model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study of 68 recently internationalized U.S. firms, using structural equations, shows that newly internationalizing firms do not on average follow a highly systematic approach. Some firms make use of a systematic sequence of steps, and the more systematic the approach, the better is the performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We test theories of product differentiation and firm capabilities using data from the U.S. automobile industry. We find managers introduce new models close to their existing ones but far from rival models. We also find entrants and foreign manufacturers locate models closer to rival models. These results are consistent with both economic models of product differentiation and theories of firm capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors examine the extent to which cultural orientation influences country of origin effects on product evaluations in two countries (Japan and the United States). Subjects were given attribute information about a mountain bike made in either Japan or the United States. The target product was described as either superior or inferior to competition. Respondents in Japan evaluated the product that originated in the home country (versus foreign country) more favorably regardless of product superiority. In contrast, respondents in the United States evaluated the product that originated in the home country more favorably only when the product was superior to competition. The authors explain these findings on the basis of the cultural psychological principles of individualism and collectivism. Specifically, the authors show that the vertical dimension of individualism and collectivism explains country of origin effects. The authors also discuss implications for global marketing strategies featuring country of origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Target marketing is an increasingly crucial component of marketing strategy, particularly given the expanding cultural diversity of the nation's population. Prior research suggests marketers need to consider the nontarget market (consumers who perceive themselves not to be the target of an advertisement) as well as the target market. Further, researchers have called for a more meaning-based approach to understanding advertising and consumer behavior. The authors therefore explore the meanings created by target and nontarget viewers of advertising targeting black, white, and gay/lesbian cultures. Their results show that asymmetries in cultural expertise, power, distinctiveness, and stigmatization among those cultural groups influence the meanings created by target and nontarget viewers of ads targeting those groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A competent international marketing manager is critical to any firm's international success. In this study, U.S., Japanese, and German executives were asked whether firms should depend on existing domestic personnel to grow their business and what skill sets are important to the success of domestically based international marketing managers and firms. Japanese and German executives preferred local (host-country) talent, whereas U.S. executives believed that domestic marketing resources were at least as significant. Japanese, German, and U.S. selection of the skills required of a domestically based international marketing manager were consistent. Findings can be applied to hiring and training of international marketing managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines the linkages among relationship commitment, cross-cultural adaptation, relational norms, and international joint venture (IJV) interaction frequency. It explores the value of interaction frequency as a performance measure in IJV research and the role of relationship commitment as a key predictor. Cross-cultural adaptation and relational norms are introduced into the commitment—interaction chain because they may reduce cultural dissimilarity and enhance bilateralism, which in turn may promote ongoing interaction. The model is tested empirically using LISREL on U.S.—Chinese IJVs. The results show that relationship commitment positively predicts IJV interaction frequency and cross-cultural adaptation. Although other hypothesized associations are not found, the results provide important practical implications for international marketers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We integrate the efficiency and competitive effects of product-market scope choice into a comprehensive model of economic performance and empirically test the model in the context of the U.S. airline industry. Efficiency is influenced by a firm's scope economies, but the intensity of rivalry is determined by multimarket contact with rivals and their scope economies. The confluence of strong scope economies with multimarket contact results in superior economic performance. However, strong scope economies may not result in superior performance if rivals can obtain similar economies in nonoverlapping markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors test a model of the relationships among firm resources, firm capabilities, and sustained competitive advantage between 1971 and 1989. Sustained comparative advantage was captured by two variables: therapeutic differentiation and global NCEs. The results show that R&D and salesforce expenditures have indirect and direct effects, respectively, on sustained competitive advantage. Firm capabilities were differentiated into component and integrative capabilities. Component capabilities were captured by the firm's internal R&D efforts and therapeutic market focus, while integrative capabilities were concerned with the firm's ability to obtain FDA approvals and to develop radical new drugs. Findings on each of these four capabilities on therapeutic differentiation and global NCEs are mixed. The direct and indirect effects of these resources and capabilities on therapeutic differentiation and global NCEs suggest important managerial implications in the way firms coordinate and combine their assets so as to achieve sustained competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current research considers how ad claims that are factual may mislead consumers. This possibility is examined in the context of advertisements that present a combination of comparative and noncomparative information. In particular, the authors explore how and when processing of the former type of ad information can cause deceptive beliefs about the latter type of ad information, an outcome referred to as "copy x copy" interactions. The authors examine alternative processes that may underlie copy x copy interactions, as well as when these interactions are most likely to occur by testing their robustness across potential moderators. The authors also provide evidence regarding the magnitude and seriousness of copy x copy interactions and present implications for public policy and directions for additional research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the typical account longevity is short, agencies should anticipate their likelihood of loss, seek to forestall and invest in their client relationships. A model is proposed for examining account lifetimes, which can offer guidance on the likely retention of future accounts. The impact of agency structural characteristics on longevity is also examined, and compared for both U.S. and U.K. markets. Results for both markets indicate that cumulative account dissolution increases at a decreasing rate over time. Greater account longevity is associated with larger agency size (both in terms of agency billings and employees), and agency age but not with stability of billings growth. Evidence suggests that several structural characteristics of agencies reflect the motivation and/or ability to maintain accounts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the consequences of changes in the organization's market position on its market share, testing arguments of inertia and regression toward the mean and taking into account recent methodological critiques of studies on the consequences of organizational change. A study of format change in the U.S. radio industry, 1984-1992, shows that changes cause performance to decline, as inertia theory predicts, but this is moderated by organizational size and performance before the change, so change can be beneficial for low-performing organizations but may be harmful for large and successful organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-U.S. firms cross-listing shares on U.S. exchanges as American Depositary Receipts earn cumulative abnormal returns of 19 percent during the year before listing, and an additional 1.20 percent during the listing week, but incur a loss of 14 percent during the year following listing. We show how these unusual share price changes are robust to changing market risk exposures and are related to an expansion of the shareholder base and to the amount of capital raised at the time of listing. Our tests provide support for the market segmentation hypothesis and Merton's (1987) investor recognition hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The relevance of marketing to explain financial success has been seldom investigated. In this scene, the purpose of this study is to analyze whether the correlations between four marketing strategies and seven financial measures has increased (or not) over time. Design/methodology/approach: To reach these objectives, secondary information about 500 companies operating in the USA was analyzed. This information was listed on the US Standard & Poor's 500-company index (SPX Charts, 2019). Data were collected for eight different periods of time (from year 2009 to year 2016) and for 11 different industries. Multiple regression analysis and ANOVA tests were used. Findings: First, two marketing investment decisions out of four (brand value and price) have displayed a significant and incremental change over time. The other marketing investment decisions (brand rank, communication and service) have not increased their importance with time. Second, in two investment decisions (brand value and price), correlations found with financial measures have strengthened over time. Research limitations/implications: This study was conducted on large US public companies. Studying other sectors within the USA such as small capitalization firms or privately owned firms can lead to future discoveries, while looking at similar companies in different countries, could provide compare and contrast opportunities. Second, no qualitative data were obtained in this study, leaving potential for gaps in knowledge that could be remedied by qualitative analysis. Third, given that all marketing investment was considered of equal value in the present paper, future research could be done to avoid this limitation. Practical implications: From a practical approach, the authors want to eliminate the dissonance between marketing and accounts as far as the lack of "marketing accountability" (Webster et al., 2003, p. 27) has lead marketing to "lost its seat at the table" (Kumar and Shah, 2009, p 119). That is, they want to call the attention to the relevance of investing in diverse marketing tools at the same time from an accounting approach, showing how these tools can be used to improve financial results. Kumar (2015) explains how, as companies strive to cut costs, meet annual revenue targets and maximize efficiency, less attention is being placed on the importance of forward-looking marketing strategies. The authors would like to show how favorable financial results are linked to diverse marketing investments. As Arslanagic-Kalajdzic et al. (2018) have underlined, there is a need for building, improving and sustaining marketing accountability within the firm and its relevance for value. Originality/value: From an academic approach, the added value is to adopt a longitudinal perspective to analyze the evolution of marketing investment over time and its interesting results, given that, until now, most of the studies have focused on a specific period (Anderson et al., 2004; Fornell et al., 2006). Previous works have scarcely noticed that by better understanding how marketing investments impact regularly used financial variables, stakeholders can better assess the inner workings of a company (Ambler et al., 2001). Bridging this academic gap from a longitudinal perspective will enable marketing workers and accounting workers to act cohesively to cultivate successful companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study considers the nascent period of industry change when the prevalent business model is being threatened by a new model, but there is significant uncertainty with respect to whether and when the new model will dominate. We focus on the challenge of incumbents pursuing both models simultaneously during the nascent period, and the implications on their firms' valuations. Our theory is premised on the adjustment costs incurred by incumbents associated with the sharing of resources across business models and the conflict between managers vying for limited resources. While firms' assets and competitive environments are key drivers of their value, we argue that they also impact adjustment costs. Evidence from the U.S. electric utility industry, which is undergoing a change from a centralized to a decentralized model, offers strong support for our arguments. The greater the level of incumbents' assets that are specific to the existing model, and the greater the level of competition that they face, the lower are their firms' valuations when investing in the new model relative to when investing in the existing model. Hence, ironically, those incumbents potentially most threatened by the change seem to be least rewarded for their efforts to renew themselves. However, pursuing the new model via alliances can help mitigate adjustment costs. The study uncovers the challenges that incumbents face as they pursue the new model in tandem with the existing dominant model, and helps explain why some incumbents may successfully navigate the changing industry landscape while others may stumble. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses how arms manufacturers have used the Persian Gulf war to promote their weapons systems. U.S. President George Bush has stated his determination to reduce the flow of arms to the Middle East. And the Big Five of arms suppliers--the U.S., Soviet Union, France, Great Britain, and China--duly agreed, on July 9, 1991 to rules of restraint governing arms transfers. But back in the real world, actual weapons sales are booming. The French announced a 70 percent jump in weapons exports in 1990. Since the beginning of the Gulf conflict, U.S. weapons makers have signed agreements to sell 15 billion dollars worth of weapons to Middle Eastern countries. The pace of U.S. weapons exports is accelerating: in July 1991 alone, the Bush administration notified Congress of seven billion dollars in worldwide U.S. military exports. The 1991 Paris Air Show's sales pitch, How Our Systems the Gulf War, led the June 13, 1991 issue of Aviation Week to dub the 10-day event the gathering after the storm. But the Pentagon's most significant contribution to the U.S. presence may have been financial--the Pentagon picked up the cost of bringing 20 aircraft of Desert Storm to Paris, France, complete with pilots and crew. If President Bush was genuinely interested in restraining international arms transfers, the message was lost on his defense secretary, who seemed intent on pursuing every possible avenue for the Pentagon bureaucracy and the military services to work with the arms industry to promote overseas sales.

With passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, businesses became aware of the 43 million disabled consumers as a source of concern and additional expense, but not as a salient market segment. Advertisers have yet to recognize that by learning more about the communication needs of the disabled, they can devise strategies to reach that large and generally ignored population of consumers. The authors report a study comparing mobility-disabled with nondisabled consumers in terms of media usage, attitudes toward advertising, and media needs. The results show several significant differences between the two groups. Implications for advertising practitioners are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A continuing difficulty in regulating corporate advocacy advertising is distinguishing between political and commercial speech. An article by Cutler and Muehling argues that the competitive impact of an advertisement should be a factor in determining whether a corporate advocacy advertisement is commercial or political speech. If a corporate ad primarily benefits the ad sponsor, the ad is likely to be considered commercial speech, Cutler and Muehling say. If the ad benefits a larger industry or society, Cutler and Muehling would call the ad political speech. This comment argues that the Cutler and Muehling proposal helps little to illuminate or modify controlling Supreme Court criteria for distinguishing political and commercial speech. The comment also argues that the vagueness of the Cutler and Muehling proposal would permit the unconstitutional regulation of corporate political speech by misclassifying it as commercial speech. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research on the persuasive impact of comparative advertising has produced inconsistent results. Consequently, researchers have suggested lack of credibility and the need for higher involvement as two problems which might impede the persuasive impact of comparative advertising. However, virtually no empirical evidence comparing the effects of comparative advertising to non-comparative advertising when different levels of involvement are activated exists. In addition, little research has examined whether source credibility enhances the persuasive impact of comparative advertising. Attribution theory provided the framework for the experiment reported in this paper. Experimental results suggest that when higher involvement is activated and a source of higher credibility is included in the advertisements, comparative advertising for a new brand has a more positive effect on purchase intentions than non-comparative advertising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a simple methodology for detecting and measuring deception. Actual impressions of subjects exposed to advertising rather than the opinions of "experts" are used. Newspaper advertising is used as a stimulus and substantial evidence of deception regarding price is found. Further, the results indicate that simple "one price" advertising themes may cause greater deception than complicated pricing structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, attention has been focused on examining the implications of changing women's roles for advertising strategy. The study reported in this paper compares magazine readership habits of two small matched samples of working and non-working wives in the U.S. and France. No major differences emerge in the frequency and type of magazines read by working and non-working wives in either country. Thus emphasis on magazines as the major advertising vehicle does not necessarily imply a lopsided emphasis on non-working wives, as might have been expected, due to potentially greater time pressures as a working wife. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article sheds light on some of the early roots of international marketing thought; it describes some of the earliest university courses offered in international marketing in North America. It presents evidence that international marketing was the subject of academic endeavor early in the twentieth century. It compares and contrasts topics covered in the earliest courses with those used in modern programs of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Should the focus of a brand-extension strategy be on product-category related factors (e.g., the fit between the extension and the core product) or should consumers" attention be drawn to characteristics of the company providing the extension (e.g., company size)? Examining this issue experimentally in Hong Kong and in the United States with samples of students and working professionals, we find that for U.S. consumers, perceived fit is much more important than company size; for Hong Kong consumers, company size does not matter for high fit extensions, but does matter for low fit extensions. We suggest the value of collectivism may explain the relative higher importance of corporate identity for East Asian consumers. East Asian consumers rely on companies as interdependent, collective societal entities to reduce the risk of a low fit extension, whereas U.S. consumers--as individualists--place higher importance on their own judgment regarding the product fit rather than cues such as company size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the mid-1970s, Goodyear's European advertising approach--designed to achieve an optimal balance between standardization and localization--was presented in a Journal of Marketing article. Since that approach was discussed, the interest in the standardize/localize issue has continued to receive extensive attention from both practitioners and academicians. This article reviews Goodyear's 1970s approach in light of today's global marketing environment and outlines how it differs from the firm's current patterned approach in Latin America. The steps followed in developing the current patterned approach are detailed, and the authors discuss the reasons for its success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors examine the issue of determining the market segments to which a new national brand should be targeted. The usual recommendation is that the new brand should be targeted toward those segments that exhibit considerable brand switching. However, a new national brand should also attempt to attract segments that are loyal to existing national brands as well as segments that primarily purchase private labels. These implications follow from an explicit consideration of the changes in pricing and distribution patterns which occur when a new national brand is introduced. The results are illustrated with a set of diary panel data for facial tissue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a unifying framework for the analysis of distribution channels which encompasses both economic and sociopolitical determinants of channel member behavior and provides a suitable departure point for comparative work. The framework integrates present approaches to the study of marketing channels and provides an essential, but heretofore missing, basis for comprehensive empirical research in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]