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The purpose of the research reported here was to discover what marketing approaches small wineries employ and to what degree they could be attributed to their success. The article describes how the particular issue of measuring ‘success’ and what constituted ‘marketing’ was tackled and reports on the use of this in the subsequent empirical work. Five exploratory hypotheses were derived relating to the way in which ‘success’ could be measured and the contributory factors leading to the use of marketing. For small businesses that are classified at one of three levels of success the article reports what marketing activities were conducted. Data was gathered by personal interview from small wineries in the three main wine producing states and five main regions within these. The study found that: small winery operators are able to very consistently rate themselves and each other on success. Broadly, there were three factors that were used by them to gauge success: (i) wine quality and respect for this by peers, (ii) lifestyle, and (iii) business performance. Wineries at a particular level of success tend to use similar marketing activities and these differ somewhat from level to level. Those at higher levels of success are able to more comprehensively define ‘marketing’ and their customers and engage in marketing activities in a more discriminating way.

This is an exploratory cross‐cultural study. It attempts to measure the differences in cultural values between Australians and Chinese from the People’s Republic of China. This study also seeks to show how the differences in responses by these two groups of people to some marketing stimuli are likely to be associated with the differences in cultural values. This study indicates that there are differences in cultural values and attitudes/ perceptions towards various marketing stimuli between Australians and the Chinese from PRC. Furthermore, the results indicate that the cultural values which influence attitudes and perceptions towards the marketing stimuli are more complex than just the differences in cultural values. One cannot assume that the same set of values will influence two different groups of consumers’ responses for the same marketing stimuli.

Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover specific articles devoted to certain topics. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume III, in addition to the annotated list of articles as the two previous volumes, contains further features to help the reader. Each entry within has been indexed according to the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus and thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid information retrieval. Each article has its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. The first Volume of the Bibliography covered seven journals published by MCB University Press. This Volume now indexes 25 journals, indicating the greater depth, coverage and expansion of the subject areas concerned.

The manager responsible for making advertising budget decisions is assailed with a plethora of advice and aids from specialists. Of necessity, many of the methods advocated by such specialists are not universally applicable, so their use is qualified. Many actual circumstances a manager is faced with do not conform to textbook circumstances, and the skill required is that of appreciating significant differences, and modifying the “best course of action answer” accordingly. There are often several crucial imponderables associated with making an optimum or even appropriate advertising appropriation decision and, faced with this situation, the manager must be pragmatic.

This monograph presents a thorough examination of the phenomena of “threshold” levels of advertising activity and the “wearout’ of advertisements and/or campaigns. These are seen as corresponding to the management questions “How little can we spend/How infrequently can we advertise?” and “How much is too much/How infrequently is too little?” In the first section the relevant literature on, or related to, the two issues is reviewed. Section 2 describes a survey aimed at establishing current beliefs in the existence of the phenomena, the practices resulting from these beliefs, and the data which support them. Finally, Section 3 offers an overview on the managerial issues involved in decisions concerning threshold or wearout risks in advertising. It is suggested that wasted expenditure may be occurring in advertising because the believed levels of threshold and wearout are both too high.

A case study is presented which shows how savings of some 16% in annual running costs were achieved for a large, internal transportation system. The method of analysis and implementation that were used are believed to be applicable to a wide variety of transportation systems. The original system consisted of the total area served being split into separately operating sub‐areas. There was little sharing of jobs and facilities between areas. The new system created larger operating areas so that greater sharing of facilities ensued. The estimation of the ideal operating area size has to balance increased unloaded travel time between jobs against greater potential utilisation of facilities. A simple mathematical model was derived to enable the necessary calculations to be undertaken. This also produced a measure of “service” for judging the performance of alternative systems.

Investigates the use of advertising in marketing and its effectiveness. Suggests the establishment of objectives by setting a market share goal, determining the percentage of the market to be reached and agreeing the necessary budget. Looks into the difficulties of implementing this practice. Presents a list of advantages, main considerations and general areas of objectives and evaluations for this practice. Concludes that the advertising objective can be evaluated for its degree of achievement.

At last it is being recognised that a proper approval to marketing management is needed in the wine industry. So far it would appear that only half‐hearted, “plug‐the‐gap” efforts have been made in this direction with the result that there has been a dearth of qualified personnel. Some confusion over the definition of marketing in the wine industry still exists — it is not about sales and advertising, and changes in strategy should not be allowed to dilute management's appreciation of marketing as a mandatory function. In order to instil the correct approach to marketing in general and wine marketing in particular, emphasis should be placed on formal training procedures, recruitment, reallocation of managerial responsibilities, and the setting of objectives.

Argues that the general area of commercial sponsorship activity, while attracting increasing interest from marketing practitioners as an important strategic option in marketing communications, has not been the subject of sufficiently rigorous and comprehensive investigation by theoreticians. States the purpose is to establish and consolidate the available body of knowledge combining an overview of the standard conceptual approaches to marketing communication with an examination of the recent academic research in sponsorship, while maintaining a focus on current marketplace practice. Argues for a coherent and structured approach to the management of sponsorship expenditure through the application of a ‘management by objectives’ approach. Parameters are established in terms of a working definition of sponsorship, a review of its commercial development and an overview of current activity. Develops a commercially ration framework within which sponsorship activity may be undertaken. Views objective‐setting as the cornerstone of sponsorship management and outlines a classification of sponsorship objectives that subsumes current practice clarifies the range of potential benefits. Examines the criteria that govern rational sponsorship selection and proposes an evaluation strategy based on stated criteria. Methods of evaluating effects of marketing communications (sponsorship particularly) are examined and new evaluation techniques are advanced to facilitate the implementation of this rigorous scientific approach.

It is perhaps unfortunate that the Corporate Report (CR) should have been published almost simultaneously with the publication of the Sandilands Report on Inflation Accounting 1 Insofar as the former is a discussion paper published for comment whereas the latter contains firm proposals, considerably more attention is likely to be paid to Sandilands. There is a danger therefore that the Corporate Report will be pushed into the background and will not receive the full discussion and comment it deserves.