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Recent evidence about the central role played by perceptual constructs in driving performance outcomes has produced a renewed interest in studying customer mindset metrics (CMMs; e.g., satisfaction, service quality, and loyalty intentions). However, we still lack a proper understanding of how (i.e., process) and to what extent (i.e., magnitude) these CMMs ultimately translate into profitability at the customer level. In this study, we integrate CMMs into an individual-level framework of customer behavior and profitability and provide a conceptual understanding of the process through which these metrics influence customer profitability. Specifically, we propose three mechanisms through which CMMs affect customer behavior and profitability: behavioral effect, marketing effectiveness effect, and marketing efficiency effect. We empirically test this framework across two distinct contexts, a B2B high-tech firm and a B2C telecommunications firm. The results demonstrate that these unobservable CMMs have a significant and multi-dimensional impact on customer behavior and customer profitability. Furthermore, we compute the increases in customer behavior and customer profitability that each firm can expect due to increases in CMMs to help firms improve resource allocation and make better decisions about how much (and when) to invest in CMMs., Author(s): J. Andrew Petersen [sup.1] , V. Kumar [sup.2] [sup.3] [sup.4] [sup.5] , Yolanda Polo [sup.6] , F. Javier Sese [sup.6] Author Affiliations: (Aff1) 0000 0001 2097 4281, grid.29857.31, Smeal [...]

This paper analyses the design of control systems and compensation plans in the marketing area of the firm, using the framework proposed by agency theory. Recent research suggests the need to focus the research agenda on compensation policies in particular functional areas and jobs. Following this recommendation, our purpose is to isolate the marketing an sales area in order to concentrate our attention on the specificity of its compensation policies. The central idea is that, in a context where it is easy to supervise workers' or managers' effort, remuneration will be based on employee behaviour and will take the form of a fixed salary. However, if the effort is difficult to control, the firm will establish a compensation system based on the results obtained by the agent. Our results show that the probability of receiving a variable salary decreases with the size of the firm (because of the scale economies associated with the control process) and job tenure (the asymmetry of information is reduced). However, it increases with the complexity of the task and the foreign ownership of the firm (which makes supervision more difficult). The results also confirm some differences in the remuneration systems adopted in the marketing and sales area, as well as between small and large firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic groups analysis (SGA) is argued to be a convenient method for formulating strategic marketing plans and an effective business management tool. Empirical research studies have revealed that SGA can be effective in analyzing cost structure, formal organization and diversification. Furthermore, SGA also allows the possibility of a simultaneous consideration of the adopted strategy due to its great synthesizing capacity. The benefits of SGA are studied in the context of the Spanish retail grocery sector.

Building long-term, profitable, customer relationships has become a strategic mandate for service firms. In this research, the authors present a modeling framework for understanding the decision of a noncontractual customer to strengthen the relationship with the firm by migrating to a contractual relationship. Drawing upon expected utility theory, the customer migration decision is modeled as a function of expected gains (actual expectations of service usage) and losses (price of the noncontractual service). In addition, the authors investigate the direct and indirect effects of the age of the noncontractual relationship and propose a model to understand the process of expectations formation. The framework is tested empirically in a business-to-consumer context in mobile communications services. The findings provide strong support for the proposed model and they reveal that actual expected service usage and noncontractual price increase the probability of the customer migrating to a contract, and that relationship age has both direct (positive) and indirect (through expected service usage) effects on the studied behavior. The present study also provides new theoretical and empirical insights into the formation of actual customer usage expectations. Finally, the study findings have several important implications for service managers to strengthen their relationships with their current noncontractual customers. For example, they need to proactively manage customers’ actual expectations about future service usage in order to increase a customer’s probability to migrate to a contract. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Presents information on an analysis on global evolution experienced by the retail food sector in Spain, taken as a model of a Southern European country. Observation of the strategies behavior patterns among main firms operating in Spain; Methodology used to carry out the study; Findings from the study.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are everywhere, even in productivity statistics. This assertion, formulated as an antithesis of Solow's famous proposition, constitutes the starting point of this article. Our work fits inside a new research trend witch has received a growing interest during the last years, whose main purpose is to analyze the key drivers of the link between ICT investment and total factor productivity improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]