Search

The perceptions of industrial buyers concerning the costs their firms incurred in procuring products during the four phases of relationship development with key suppliers to whom they are committed as exchange partners are reported. The research shows that managers can better control their procurement and marketing efforts by knowing each component's relative importance to buyers during each relationship phase.

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2004.10.004 Byline: Cindy Claycomb (a), Gary L. Frankwick (b) Keywords: Relationship marketing; Cost; Relationship development; Business-to-business Abstract: This study reports the perceptions of industrial buyers concerning the costs their firms incurred in procuring products during the four phases of relationship development with key suppliers to whom they are now committed as exchange partners. This research fills a gap in the buyer-seller relationship development literature by offering empirical results concerning buyers' perceived costs at different relationship phases. Implications suggest that knowing each cost component's relative importance to buyers during each relationship phase, managers can better control their procurement and marketing efforts. Author Affiliation: (a) W. Frank Barton School of Business, Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship, Wichita State University, 1845 Fairmount, Wichita, KS 67260-0084, United States (b) College of Business Administration, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078-4011, United States Article History: Received 10 October 2003; Accepted 12 October 2004

The Weitz Contingency Model is employed to investigate the effect of the selling situation encountered by a salesperson on the relationship between selling strategy and sales performance. The results suggest that an adaptive selling strategy enhances performance outcomes, and that this relationship is stronger in a modified rebuy and new buy situation.

This research develops and validates a scale to assess products on salient characteristics that influence consumers' decision‐making. The product characteristics (PC) scale assesses products on 12 major dimensions using 34‐items. Next, the paper demonstrates the scale's validity and value in a study of the effects of PC on the consumer information search effort, impulse buying, and word‐of‐mouth behavior, representing different stages of the consumer decision‐making process. The findings highlight the need for a revitalized examination of the consumer decision‐making process with a focus on PC by showing that (1) PC have significant direct effects on a variety of critical marketing outcomes, (2) these effects interact with demographic variables such as age and gender that are currently undergoing major shifts, and (3) these effects vary across offline and online settings. Thus, the findings highlight the value of incorporating PC into models of consumer behavior especially in the current era of shifting demographics and e‐commerce. To this end, this study contributes to the literature by offering a multifaceted, reliable, and valid scale to assess products on a wide range of characteristics that can be used in the study of any marketing‐related phenomena that can be assumed to be product‐contingent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As firms attempt to speed decision making, improve their business processes, and become more market-oriented, they have a number of managerial prescriptions to choose from. Most share a common theme: [...]

Strategic decision processes involve the interplay of individuals who have various plans to achieve success for the business enterprise. The changing picture of strategic decisions is traced by studying how marketing and research and development managers think. Mental maps were developed to capture the changing belief structures of the two functions. Changes in the belief structures of managers are related to the corresponding changes in strategic decision directions.

Byline: Karthik N.S. Iyer, Richard Germain, Gary L. Frankwick The research studies antecedents and consequences of enhanced decision-making capability fostered by advanced analytic software such as warehouse management systems and advanced planning and scheduling. The results show that analytic capability leads to better logistical performance (e.g. inventory turnover rates, length of the order cycle) and better operational stability (e.g. more consistent order cycles and warehouse throughput rates). The environment in the form of process turbulence and demand unpredictability affects analytic capability, logistical performance and operational stability. Process turbulence generally has a positive impact: it associates with greater levels of analytic capability, improved logistical performance, and more consistent operations. On the other hand, demand unpredictability has negative implications: it associates with a lower level of analytic capability, poorer logistical performance and inconsistent operations.