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In the last three years, the number of simulations available to marketing educators has grown from about two to seven. Seven simulations using various criteria are reviewed, including criteria of learning effectiveness previously developed from action learning principles. Directions for development of a future “perfect” marketing simulation are presented.

Israeli entrepreneur and inventor Dov Moran envisioned the creation of a mobile device that was a small, stand-alone, fully functional mobile phone that could be slipped into a variety of enclosures, or “jackets,” that would provide added functionality and better reflect the personalities of its users. As the development of the Modu phone began to take shape, Moran and his team decided that to ensure the success of the new phone's much anticipated launch, Modu would develop and market the accessory jackets itself. The question now was which of the eight jackets to develop and what factors should be considered in making that decision. The case is about how to estimate optimal product-line extensions after accounting for experience curve and cannibalization effects of products that share similar features, cost, and price. This will require quantitative analysis that estimates the effect of the experience curve and cannibalization on cost, revenues, and ultimately, profit. The issue is how to optimize profits by choosing an ideal set of products.

• Understand the importance of quantitative analysis in launching product-line extensions while taking into account demand and cost side interactions

• Combine both qualitative and quantitative data in choosing a targeted segment

• Reflect on the strategic and financial considerations in choosing a segment for a new technology product

• Evaluate the implications of experience curve and cannibalization when introducing product-line extensions and their impact on the decision under consideration

Understand the importance of quantitative analysis in launching product-line extensions while taking into account demand and cost side interactions

Combine both qualitative and quantitative data in choosing a targeted segment

Reflect on the strategic and financial considerations in choosing a segment for a new technology product

Evaluate the implications of experience curve and cannibalization when introducing product-line extensions and their impact on the decision under consideration

There has been little research about incident management decision making within real-life, dynamic emergencies such as urban fire settings. So this research addresses the research problem: how do incident managers make decisions in urban fire settings? These decision behaviours cover five areas: assessment of the fireground situation, selection of a decision strategy, determination of incident objectives, deployment and management of firefighting resources and ongoing review of the incident. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Case research was used to examine management of different types of fires, through in-depth interviews with a range of incident managers.

This research identified five key behavioural elements associated with incident management in urban fire settings such as their application of a mix of recognition-primed, value based, procedural and formal decision strategies throughout the course of an incident rather than a single style.

The in-depth framework of decision making could provide foundations for later research about other emergency settings. And this research is limited to analytic generalisation (Yin, 2009); so quantitative research such as surveys and large scale interviews could be done to further extend the research for statistical generalisation.

The decision procedures uncovered in this research will assist incident managers in many emergencies, assist policy making and foster the development of future incident managers.

The findings expand the knowledge of how incident managers develop situation awareness, make decisions and plans, implement them, and review the incident as it evolves. Another contribution is the comprehensive framework of decision making developed from these findings.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how fund managers in a non-Western country like Malaysia follow investment processes developed in the West and taught in the finance departments of universities.

This convergent interview research investigates how fund managers in Malaysia actually make their decisions, and develops a framework about their investment process.

Understanding the economy was important for the managers but was an ongoing learning process. Their analyses sometimes started bottom-up or top-down, but all followed a four-layer process. The managers did not believe the investment process could be quantified.

Convergent interviewing is meant to be a first step in a complete research program. So, future researchers could consider extending the research to different periods, different research settings in other countries like Singapore, India or Indonesia, different types of investors and different methodologies like surveys.

Practitioners should build on their experience, and understand principles of behavioral finance. Students in business schools should be taught in an experiential way, and school staff should use qualitative methods like convergent interviewing in their research projects.

Contributions centre on the article’s behavioural finance findings that experience and non-quantitative methods are the core of Malaysian investment managers’ decision-making, and on its detailed description of the unusual research methodology in finance of convergent interviewing.

The authors seek to better understand the critical incidents and factors that influence the switching behaviours of back pain sufferers who use mainstream and/or complementary and alternative medicine (Edvardsson, 1998). That is, the purpose of this paper is to uncover how they switch between treatments and treatment providers; in particular, this research investigates two issues: the triggers of their switching and their switching paths, and how their emotions are involved in that switching. The contribution is the first empirical foundation for an understanding of these two issues in the context of back pain.

The qualitative technique of convergent interviewing was used. It involved conducting a series of long, initially rather unstructured interviews to converge on the important topic areas to the back pain sufferers and why they engage in their treatment behaviour.

This study investigated the triggers and categories of triggers that impact upon switching behaviours between bio-medical and CAT healthcare. Four main areas of findings were identified. First, although the literature identified four categories of triggers for switching, namely, situational, reactional, influential and personal characteristics, the findings of this research confirmed only two of these: reactional and situational triggers. The influential category of triggers was found to be more of a moderating factor between switching triggers and switching behaviours rather than a trigger factor on its own. Further, no evidence came to light that could confirm or disconfirm the roles of personal characteristics on switching behaviour and so this issue remains unresolved.

The methodology used in this research was an exploratory one and so the findings must be used with caution. Further research, using a more quantitative methodology, is warranted to confirm the findings of this research. Also, this research focused on a subset of switching issues and so might not provide a holistic framework. Future investigations should therefore consider and clarify the role of emotion, time and voice in the switching model devised from this study.

This paper provides new evidence on the reasons for back pain sufferers consuming different treatment modes and the reasons for their switching and includes an exploratory investigation of the role of emotions in this decision making.

The aim of this paper is to apply principles of the realism paradigm within qualitative research projects.

The paper starts by establishing the usefulness of realism research for investigating marketing management phenomena, and then considers the implications of the realism paradigm for research design.

Issues such as the level of prior theory required, the use of replication logic and triangulation are discussed. In addition, guidelines for realism data analysis and reporting are developed.

This paper provides an explicit set of principles for realism research design and data analysis that is different from those in other types of research.

Writing and publishing research is an integral part of any academic's job. It is important for an individual's academic progression and is vital for the development, updating and refinement of teaching materials. This paper aims to focus on the purpose and value of publishing.

Editors, reviewer and authors have different roles to play in the pre‐publishing life of a potential article and so the different perspectives of editors, reviewers and authors in relation to successful journal article publication are discussed.

The paper describes the process of preparing academic papers and a stage by stage approach to writing an article. This includes how to target a suitable journal, taking account of the editor, reviewers and potential readers of an article, how to write an academic article, with an appropriate structure and style, redrafting and sending a paper off for review and carrying out requested revisions.

The views expressed in this paper are based on the authors' combined experience of performing all three roles over a number of years. This experience has been enriched by participation in discussions at “meet the editors” sessions at a variety of academic conferences throughout the world, and from discussions of academic committees, in particular, the Academy of Marketing Research Committee during 2005.

This paper argues that action research is more appropriate than traditional research for improving practice, and professional and organisational learning. Our particular aim is to help postgraduates in the social and human sciences to understand and clarify the difference between core action research and thesis action research; that is, between collaborative, participatory action research in the field (aimed at practical improvement in a learning organisation) and independent action research in preparing the thesis (aimed at making an original contribution to knowledge). We present a model to illustrate the distinction and relationship between thesis research, core research and thesis writing.

Writing articles is a core activity in an academic's career. The aim of this article is to show prospective writers of an article in EJM how to go about getting published. It emphasises that an EJM article is a part of a conversation with the editors, reviewers and readers. First, the concept of joining this conversation is established. Then targeting a journal and other aspects of planning with co‐authors are noted, before an article's structure and style are described. Drafting, submitting and revising the article, and starting again if it is rejected, conclude the paper. This article should be useful for those academics who are not publishing enough, and for doctoral candidates and their supervisors.

This paper examines the impact of culture on inter‐firm network development in international marketing. Three research questions about the influence of culture on network development were developed from the literature to focus case data collection and analysis. The data were collected from in‐depth interviews with network managers/owners of firms networking with other overseas firms entering into Australian and Asian markets. Differences and similarities between how overseas Chinese and Australian cultures impact on network development and strategies for developing and maintaining quality and long‐term relationship in cross‐cultural networks were identified. Implications for practice emphasise the importance of cultural adaptation.