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Although many advertisers are reluctant to use Comparative Advertising, it is obviously increasing in popularity. One difficulty with comparative advertising is that the intended buyers may perceive it as threatening their self‐image because they view the comparison as an attack on their presently preferred brand. The purpose in writing this paper is to recognize and discuss this potential problem and to show how comparative advertisements may be structured to support the customers' previous decisions while inducing them to switch.

A major area of customer complaints involves warranty and nonwarranty repairs for industrial durables (capital goods). A customer‐oriented approach is necessary to solve these problems.

Defines the nature and use of specialty advertising. Looks at the perceived value of specialty advertising to industrial company marketers and shows the trends as determined by a nation‐wide (US) survey in actual use in specific categories of sales promotion media. Concludes that manufacturers should actively seek ′the right item′ for each of its target markets.

There is no single, clear, specific definition of business or industrial marketing. Existing definitions are inconsistent and there has been a claim that there is no difference between industrial marketing and consumer marketing. It seems appropriate for the inaugural issue of a journal on business and industrial marketing to examine this problem and to attempt to clear up the confusion.

Recent studies have conceptually explored the interrelation of buying and selling in commercial transactions. This article is an empirical probing of these theoretical constructs. The cruise line industry is the chosen forum to illustrate the interactive nature of industrial buying and selling: on the one hand, how customers' needs affect their purchasing decisions and, on the other hand, how suppliers' selling strategies must complement these needs. Buying and selling are presented in parallel in the discussion and schematically summarized in a ten‐construct framework which is both specific and general. Awareness and application of the principles in the framework enable buyers and/or sellers to achieve maximum potential effectiveness.

This paper aims to examine the factors that influence rural women’s participation in Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) and the savings contribution in the Kassena-Nankana West District of Ghana. The study also analysed the impact of VSLA participation on off-farm income and on poverty.

In total, 120 rural women were selected for this study. The probit and heteroskedasticity linear regression models were used to examine the factors that influence VSLA participation and the savings made by members, respectively. The propensity score matching technique, coupled with Rosenbaum Sensitivity analysis, were used to analyse the impact of VSLA on off-farm income and poverty.

Demographic and livelihood factors such as human, natural, financial, physical and social capitals have different influences on the participation and the savings contribution in the VSLA. Moreover, VSLA has a significant impact on off-farm income; however, it did not affect poverty.

Despite the numerous studies on VSLA, there is little evidence of literature of its impact on off-farm income of rural women in West Africa, specifically, Ghana. Thus, this paper expands the frontiers of the existing literature on VSLA impact assessment and the factors that influence the savings made by women in the association.

OUR various accounts of the Portsmouth Conference, and the official record of it which is now in the hands of readers shows that it may be regarded as a successful one. It was specially notable for the absence of those bickerings and differences which must inevitably come to the surface at times. There may be something in the suggestion of one of our writers that the weather was a main factor. However that may be, there was uniform good temper, and we came away with the belief that a good week's work for librarianship had been done.

In the annals of marketing history and the history of marketing thought, there is a key figure whose influence from the mid‐twentieth century through to the present day is worthy of note, Dr Ernest Dichter. The purpose of this paper is to place Dichter's writings in appropriate context and posit that arguably more insight into this charismatic figure can be discerned by taking greater account of the Cold War (1946‐1991) climate in which he was working and writing.

This paper is best thought of as an example of biographically inflected research. The paper focuses on the “socially progressive” aspect of his writings in order to display Dichter's support for the American economic system in the Cold War climate of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. The author highlights how Dichter came to the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the mid‐1950s. What this paper underscores above and beyond all those that have explored aspects of Dichter's life is that his character was interpreted by respondents to FBI questioning in ways that reflected geopolitical circumstance.

Some of those interviewed by the Bureau praised him highly, whilst others labelled him a Communist, and accused his organisation of employing people with similar leanings. While Dichter may have had some limited associations with socialist doctrines in his early youth, such accusations were misplaced. But, overall, what this paper highlights is a highly malleable practitioner whose practices and writings both contributed to the society in which they were disseminated, but also shifted with the circumstances in which they circulated.

This paper adds an important dimension to the biography of Ernest Dichter which has not previously been explored.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).