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This research proposes to examine how the retirement experience in the USA is cultivated via the appraisal process and reflected in post‐retirement lifestyle postures and consumption changes.

A sample of 298 recent retirees were surveyed to test hypotheses suggested by a proposed model of the retirement experience. The model proposes that the appraisal process is integral in determining how a retiree interprets impact of the event for self‐identity and reflects self‐realignment strategies in post‐retirement consumption patterns.

Findings show that perceptions of resource availability are important predictors of retiree appraisals. Furthermore, appraisals directly impact retirees' adoption of a post‐transition lifestyle posture, whether “new start”, “continuation of life”, “disruption to life”, or “beginning of old age”. Also explored are differences between lifestyle postures and post‐retirement consumption expenditures across a number of product categories. Generally, retirees who adopt the perspective of retirement as a “new start” or as a “disruption” tend to increase expenditures in “experiential” and “outward‐oriented” product categories. Retirees who adopt the perspective of retirement as the beginning of “old age” or as a “continuation” of past selves tend to increase expenditures in “non‐experiential” and “inward‐oriented” product categories.

Retirees are an increasingly important cohort for marketing in many industries. The findings demonstrate that individuals appraise the retirement event very differently and in turn respond to marketing activities very differently, which has implications for marketing segmentation strategies.

This research extends prior research of life transitional events by highlighting the importance of considering individuals' attitudes toward major life transitional events as an important factor in predicting their responses to these events.

This research aims to study how buyers' budget constraints influence buyers' perceptions of discounts presented in a dollars‐off versus percentage‐off format. A comparison of perceptions of discount format under budget constraints is missing from the past literature. The current research aims to fill this gap.

The research is based on two experiments. In the first experiment, a study by Kahneman and Tversky is replicated and extended by including budget constraints. In the second experiment participants are given either a high or a low budget and then asked to compare objectively equivalent discounts that are presented in either dollars‐off or percent‐off terms. Participants' willingness to buy is recorded and used to gauge the efficacy of the discount formats under budget constraints.

The research extends previous findings derived from the psychophysics of pricing. It demonstrates that, although it is believed that the attractiveness of an absolute discount is inversely proportional to the objective price, such evaluations are also influenced by the presence of budget information. Specifically, consumer budget interacts with discount formats such that the $‐off versus percent‐off discounts may not be appropriate for expensive or inexpensive products respectively, as shown in past research. Instead, the value of the discount in proportion to the available budget may play a significant role in deal evaluation. Therefore it is an important issue retailers should consider when deciding what discount presentation format to use.

Although past research views price as a constraint, the findings indicate that price in itself may not be a constraint unless viewed within the context of a budget. Consumers implicitly make this comparison, but past research has not specifically tested for the effects of budgets and, instead, has relied on income as a proxy for a consumer's spending power. The results provide evidence that using income instead of budget may be an oversimplification.

International development agencies claim that commercial applications of information and communication technology (ICT) have great potential to accelerate economic growth in developing nations. This paper investigates this idea and proposes that the Internet expands the potential of marketing activities to help developing countries pursue development goals along a dual path, one that includes activities that are “top‐down” in nature (e.g. infrastructure development), and another that involves “bottom‐up” activities (e.g. entrepreneurship). Both paths involve the expansion of marketing efforts and represent significant opportunities for business development and investment. Attention is given to the Asia‐Pacific region and to the processes and outcomes of development springing from bottom‐up or “grassroots” approaches, and how enhanced marketing activities can help nations reach key development goals. Finally, an interdisciplinary conceptual model is advanced regarding how a blend of top‐down and bottom‐up approaches may be used to encourage the diffusion of online marketing activities and to help foster economic and social development in the emerging economies in the Asia‐Pacific region.

The purpose of this study is to assist practitioners in improving the benefits they receive from trade shows. This study seeks to investigate the behaviour of resource commitment of exhibiting firms and its relationships with market orientation and exhibition performance.

Data were collected at the 2007 Suzhou Circuitex Show, which is held annually in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China. It is one of the largest international shows for the printed circuit board (PCB) industry. A total of 315 questionnaires were handed out and 185 usable questionnaires were returned.

The results advance the theoretical understanding of the market orientation‐resource commitment behaviour – performance framework within the setting of an industrial trade show. This study finds that market orientation is positively associated with an exhibiting firm's resource commitment behaviour, which in turn has varying influences on the different dimensions of trade show performance.

The cross‐sectional study suggests that different facets of exhibition resource commitment may have distinct effects on several dimensions of trade show performance. Future research should adopt a longitudinal survey and extend this study domain to a broader range of industrial contexts.

The research provides a better understanding of the development process of trade show programmes for practitioners in industrial firms to develop effective exhibition strategies.

This paper fills a significant gap in the literature and offers evidence for the relationships among market orientation, resource commitment behaviour and trade show performance. Furthermore, the current research identifies three aspects of resource commitment behaviour and creates corresponding measures for them.

The purpose of this article is to explore the possible negative asymmetric effects in the impact of service quality on the satisfaction and retention of different customer segments in a professional business services context. Negative asymmetry means that a lower than average service quality evaluation has a stronger effect on customer satisfaction and retention than a higher than average evaluation.

The article provides a survey of 124 business customers of a Midwestern radio advertising services provider, preceded by nine in‐depth interviews with account reps of the advertising firm and two focus groups with business customers.

Along the service quality dimensions – customer satisfaction – retention chain, there are significant negative asymmetric effects and the mediating role of satisfaction varies widely. There are important differences across customer groups: service outcomes are most important determinants of customer satisfaction for large and relatively newer accounts; functional quality dimensions (empathy) are most important factors for small and relatively mature accounts.

Surveying customers of one organization in one industry reduces the generalizability of the findings. The study employed only two segmentation variables, while many other variables could be investigated. The focus is on the asymmetric effects of service quality; other factors, such as costs, were not considered.

Managers should invest resources in improving low performance in the service quality dimensions with strongest impact on customer satisfaction and highest negative asymmetry. The identified segment differences suggest the need to achieve strong results for large accounts and relatively new accounts. The customer relationship is most important for small accounts and relatively mature accounts. Maintaining service reliability is critical for small and new account retention.

This study is a first effort to explore the differences in effects across service quality dimensions and customer segments in a professional business service context. The findings indicate that aggregating customers and the service quality measurement can offer misleading information to managers.

The purpose of this article is to review the emerging literature of services business markets (SBMs) from 1974 to 2007 and analyse main themes that indicate the development of the literature. It also aims to provide an introduction to the special issue on services business‐to‐business markets by examining the context.

The literature of SBMs from 1974 through 2007 was searched in relevant databases. The articles were analysed using Glaser's grounded theory. The constant comparison method was used with in vivo coding to reveal themes in the literature. These themes were then analysed contextually.

The literature revealed seven themes which followed a trajectory from implicit to explicit consideration of SBMs, as well as to multi‐ and cross‐disciplinary focus with integration of variables from consumer services marketing. The landscape for SBMs has become blurred due to deregulation, globalisation and information technology, particularly the internet and e‐commerce. The complexity and diversity of the literature reflects this new, blurred reality.

This research is limited to indicative literature about SBMs as an introduction to the special issue on services business‐to‐business markets. The literature would benefit from a full critical review and research agenda.

The integration of theories coupled with the focus on specific service sectors and contexts, provide useful, applicable and transferable concepts which may be helpful to managers who are working in new contexts.

This article surveys the emergence of the literature on SBMs and defines its trajectory, themes and characteristics. It provides a useful background for academics and practitioners who would find a guide to the fissiparous literature on SBMs useful.

The Arsenale was the largest medieval industrial enterprise, famous for its assembly line. Management faced extreme variations between peace-time and war-time demands. Satisfying these unpredictable and sudden demands for a large, complex product with a multiple years–long production cycle was challenging. The purpose of this study is to analyze the Arsenale’s operations and supply chain arrangements, and to identify and assess their management policies. We also track its development and investigate its influence on other countries.

The research methodology used is archival research with content analysis of text and graphic representations of production processes.

These reveal that Venice’s supply chain management evolved from simply exploiting woodlands as needs arose, to a managed forest with planned planting, cultivation and harvesting, ending with the active modification of growing trees so their natural growth was artificially shaped to satisfy production requirements. Instead of fabricating components in their factory, the Venetians formed them by shaping the trees while they were still growing. These arboriculture techniques then provided a planned and regular supply of high-quality components that purely natural processes provided only randomly.

There may be undiscovered archival documents despite the authors’ best efforts. The development of this historic supply chain reflects modern managerial concerns.

Modern restorations of historic ships and buildings use some of the fabrication methods identified, although the more intensive techniques would require higher volume production.

This reveals historical forestry practices emphasised long-term needs and sustainable use.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is a unique long-term investigation of an integrated production system and considers its influence on Iberian, French, British and American forestry and ship building. The close integration of production requirements with forestry practices was a novel finding.

The management of children′s literature is a search for value and suitability. Effective policies in library and educational work are based firmly on knowledge of materials, and on the bibliographical and critical frame within which the materials appear and might best be selected. Boundaries, like those between quality and popular books, and between children′s and adult materials, present important challenges for selection, and implicit in this process are professional acumen and judgement. Yet also there are attitudes and systems of values, which can powerfully influence selection on grounds of morality and good taste. To guard against undue subjectivity, the knowledge frame should acknowledge the relevance of social and experiential context for all reading materials, how readers think as well as how they read, and what explicit and implicit agendas the authors have. The good professional takes all these factors on board.