Search results

The launch of a new product into the marketplace involves substantial risk and management planning. Information and tools are required to efficiently test‐market the product price, segment‐based price, and competitive price benchmark. The traditional approach to pricing such products has been on a cost‐plus basis with subsequent adjustments as sales develop. This paper aims to look at a more rigorous method using statistical analyses of survey data and is based on a case study of a company which seeks to differentiate itself by providing fresh cut fresh fruit of exceptional quality.

The empirical research conducted involved surveys of sampling consumers in a regional centre (Rockhampton) and a capital city (Brisbane) in Queensland, Australia. The surveys involved a taste test, feedback on the product, questions on appearance and pricing options, and collection of socio‐economic data. Further statistical tests were conducted to establish the price range for market launch in the two regions.

The findings identify the key demographics of the sample, the price and the main product offering. The price for the cut fresh fruit should be set in the range $2.50 to $2.95 in order to maximise both volume sales and profitability.

The study makes significant theoretical contributions to the literature and also identifies implications for managers. It provides good information for developing an appropriate marketing plan, identifying key demographics, reducing the risk of product failure and implementing strategies effectively, particularly with reference to the critical decision of a launch price.

In New Zealand (NZ) there are plans afoot to create an e‐government that will automate government‐to‐government and government‐to‐citizen interactions and allow anyone, anywhere to go online any time to obtain information, to complete transactions, and to communicate with their elected representatives, cheaply, quickly, and efficiently. A total of 16 key issues, which various authors argue are critical to the success of USA e‐government initiatives, are described and evaluated in light of the NZ e‐government environment. The significance afforded to these issues by NZ local authority e‐government policymakers when they implement their own e‐government initiatives suggests that eight of the issues are considered significant, four are not considered significant, and four remain inconclusive at this time. Of the key issues, six are not well understood. It is also concluded that NZ local authorities are at an early evolutionary stage of e‐government development.

This study aims to address how and why do formal key account management (KAM) programmes hinder effective KAM management, and how can the problems of formalization in KAM be overcome. Recent empirical studies have reported an unexpected negative relationship between KAM formalization and performance.

An 18-month (340 days) ethnographic investigation was undertaken in the UK-based subsidiary of a major US sports goods manufacturer. This ethnographic evidence was triangulated with 113 in-depth interviews.

This study identifies how and why managerial reflexivity allows a more effectively combining of formal and post-bureaucratic KAM practices. While formal KAM programmes provide a means to initiate, implement and control KAM, they have an unintended consequence of increasing organizational bureaucracy, which may in the long-run hinder the KAM effectiveness. Heightened reflexivity, including “wayfinding”, is identified as a means to overcome many of these challenges, allowing for reflexively combining formal with post-bureaucratic KAM practices.

The thesis of this paper starts a new line of reflexive KAM research, which draws theoretical influences from the post-bureaucratic turn in management studies.

This study seeks to increase KAM implementation success rates and long-term effectiveness of KAM by conceptualizing the new possibilities offered by reflexive KAM. This study demonstrates how reflexive skills (conceptualized as “KAM wayfinding”) can be deployed during KAM implementation and for its continual improvement. Further, the study identifies how KAM programmes can be used to train organizational learning regarding KAM. Furthermore, this study identifies how and why post-bureaucratic KAM can offer additional benefits after an organization has learned key KAM capabilities.

A new line of enquiry is identified: the reflexive-turn in KAM. This theoretical position allows us to identify existing weakness in the extant KAM literature, and to show a practical means to improve the effectiveness of KAM. This concerns, in particular, the importance of managerial reflexivity and KAM wayfinding as a means to balance the strengths and weaknesses of formal and post-bureaucratic KAM.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of key demographics (i.e. gender, age, education and income) on the rich Muslim consumers’ Domains of Living (DoL). DoL were broken down into being, belonging and becoming domains. Relationship between the DoL and luxury consumption behavior (LCB) was analyzed as well. Being domain included elements that indicated who one is and how one defines the self; belonging domain linked an individual to his/her environment; and becoming domain referred to the set of social activities that an individual performed.

A questionnaire-based survey was conducted to get insights into the LCB of affluent Muslim consumers and how these insights related to key demographics and DoL. The researched population was Qatari consumers who were buying luxury products and belonged to a high-income bracket. Stratified sampling method was considered appropriate because the key objective of the study was to generalize the results across the affluent Qatari population. Stratification of the population was primarily done through the selected demographic variables. This research survey, conducted in Qatar, resulted in the collection of 213 usable questionnaires. General Linear Model Multivariate Analysis and Multiple Regression Analysis were used to establish the goodness of fit and to test the proposed hypotheses.

Results indicated that there were significant LCB differences between the genders, age groups, income levels and educational background. Furthermore, there was a significant association between the three DOLs and LCB. There were indications that for affluent Qatari Muslims, consumption of luxury products had become a socially accepted norm. Fulfillment of luxury needs did not isolate rich Muslims from their family and friends or made them unhappy about luxury consumption. This behavior could be related to high levels of affluence among Qataris that makes acquisition of luxury products easy and not effort or time intensive.

Islamic luxury markets need to adopt an appropriate balance of global (considering global luxury trends) and local (based on cultural, social and religious forces) marketing strategies to engage rich Muslim consumers.

This paper presents LCB from the perspective of affluent Muslim consumers within the context of DoL and through the lens of key demographic variables.

Smart home (SH) internet of things can promote home safety, health monitoring and independence of older adults to age-in-place. Despite its commercial growth, low adoption rates of the technology among aging consumers remain a major barrier. The purpose of this study is to examine SH technology ownership of older adults and its causal pathways with demographics, health and functioning, home safety and information communication technology (ICT) use.

A survey on technology-mediated aging-in-place was completed by 447 respondents, 65 years and older. Structural equation modeling was used to underscore the causal pathways among demographics, health, independence and home safety, ICT and home automation technology adoption.

The study found that ICT usability, home security and independence have a significant direct effect on SH ownership. Demographics had no significant direct effect, but its influence was mediated through ICT usability. With home safety as mediator, physical impairment, falls and accidents and independence had a significant association with SH ownership. Similarly, increased social support (mediated through home security) decreased the probability of SH automation ownership.

The findings signify the perceived usefulness of SH automation as theorized in technology acceptance models.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the key demographics and social characteristics of Vice‐Chancellors of Australian universities so that an accurate profile of Vice‐Chancellors can be established. At present, there is no contemporary profile of incumbents despite the high level of responsibility associated with these roles.

A qualitative approach was used in the research that required the collation and analysis of public domain material regarding vice‐chancellors. Multiple sources were used in order to ensure depth, breadth and accuracy of data collected. A questionnaire that was used as part of the PhD research allowed new data to be accessed and existing data verified. Finally, interviews with various incumbents allowed pertinent information to be discussed where applicable.

The research outlines the changes in the roles of Vice‐Chancellors that have occurred since 1960. The changes in the role reflect changes in government policy and social trends. Further, the research demonstrates that incumbents are now chief executive officers and require a broader range of business competencies and academic experience compared to their predecessors in order to meet contemporary challenges. These changes are reflected in the demographics and social characteristics of incumbents.

This paper addresses this gap in knowledge and provides information about the people who are appointed vice‐chancellors. The research gives an insight into all incumbents between 1960 and 2000 and where possible, examples of post‐2000 trends have also been given. The creation of this profile will allow further and more in‐depth research to be undertaken.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse key drivers of teleshopping adoption.

The impact of demographics, televiewing behaviour, non‐store shopping previous experience and attitude to teleshopping in present and future teleshopping decisions is analysed in the paper.

Data analysis shows that attitude towards teleshopping and teleshopping genre exposure are the main predictors of teleshopping behaviour, while consumer attitude towards teleshopping and previous experience as user of non‐store shopping channels (catalogue and television) are the most relevant factors influencing future teleshopping intention.

This research enables companies to know the key drivers influencing teleshopping adoption and, therefore, what aspects to highlight in their marketing strategies. Companies that use television as a shopping channel must increase their presence on the television market and improve televiewers' opinion of the teleshopping system as it would allow televiewers to maintain a relation with the teleshopping genre and to increase their probability of purchase. The significant influence that non‐store previous experience exerts on willingness to teleshop shows managers that the complementary use of other non‐store shopping systems becomes a key tool to increase teleshopping in the future.

Despite dramatic differences being discovered between non‐store shoppers, very limited research has been conducted to examine them. There are still not enough studies that examine the demographic, behavioural and attitudinal differences among televiewers and teleshoppers. This paper analyses the background of teleshopping and key drivers of future teleshopping decisions among Spanish consumers.

This study aims to develop and test a service‐based demographic framework for studying service quality perceptions. Specifically, the effect of level of service contact and key demographic variables of age, gender and income on service quality perceptions is examined.

A total of 224 customers of high‐ and low‐contact passenger transport services were surveyed using a self‐administered questionnaire.

The findings indicated that service quality perceptions differed according to the level of contact inherent to the service. Consumer age was also found to affect service quality perceptions; however, no differences in service quality perceptions on the basis of gender or income were found.

The results of the study enhance the understanding of service quality perceptions and provide useful insight for the management and delivery of service quality. Overall, the results suggest that managers in the train travel industry need to take the level of contact as well as the views of certain demographic segments into account if they want to maximize perceived service. Demographics provide managers with a means of determining which segments of the market are feasible in terms of achieving greater market penetration. The findings of this study show the importance of considering variables relating to individual characteristic or the service itself when investigating service quality.

Prior research has not examined empirically whether service quality dimensions vary on the basis of service type; thus, this paper contributes to knowledge in this field.

This study examines the influence of demographic variables and dimensions of motivational factors of two types of consumer Web use: percentage of weekly Web surfing time spent searching for product and service‐related information and online shopping and transactions. It combines data from two sources: a self‐administered survey of 59 undergraduates in an introductory communication course at Cornell University; and a mail/Web survey of 59 New York State residents who had reported subscribing to an online service in a previous mail survey. We found distinctively different patterns of relationships among demographics and motivational factors for the two types of dependent variables. Most importantly, transactional privacy concerns were found to be negatively related to percentage of time spent on product searches and online shopping, while economic motivations had a positive influence. In addition, online shopping was found to be predicted by information motivations, interactive control motivations, and socialization motivations. Implications for Web‐based commerce and advertising are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to assess factors that influence Chinese police supervisors’ attitudes toward police roles, community policing, and job satisfaction.

Survey data were collected from police supervisors in a major Chinese city. Multivariate regression was used to assess the effects of officers’ background characteristics and assignments on their occupational attitudes.

Ethnic minority supervisors were more likely to have a broader order maintenance orientation, a narrower crime fighting orientation, and supportive attitudes toward quality of life activities. Less experienced supervisors were more inclined to favor the order maintenance role. Supervisors with a stronger order maintenance orientation tended to support problem solving activities and have a greater level of job satisfaction. Officers with military service experience also expressed a higher degree of job satisfaction.

Survey data collected from a single Chinese city may not be generalizable to officers in other regions and departments.

Police administrators should screen all applicants on attitudes that reflect departmental work priorities and styles of policing during the initial selection process. Desirable attitudes can be further molded into officers during their academic training, field officer training, and in-service training. Police administrators should continue their recruiting efforts targeting former military personnel. With adequate training in fulfilling civilian tasks and displaying proper outlooks, these individuals could become effective members of the forces.

Despite a growing number of studies on crime and justice in China, empirical research on policing in general and on officers’ occupational attitudes in particular remains very limited. This study represents one of the first attempts to assess factors related to police occupational outlooks in China.