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Provides a new way to look at competitive brand strategy through analysis of switching, where the only data required are market‐level brand‐switching matrices. The parameters indicate, for each brand, the degree to which it insulates itself from competition. Shows empirically that this insulation is characteristic of both market leaders and market nichers. Compares results across eight data sets which range from consumer packaged goods to services to durables. Suggests that, by applying this method to panel or survey data, managers can better map out long‐term marketing strategies such as product design, segment targeting and advertising campaigns, and gives some examples of how this can be carried out.

Research conducted over the last decade, on the influence of brand inertia or variety seeking on promotional response, has yielded mixed results. Variety seekers have been found to be more price‐sensitive by one set of researchers, while another stream of work finds them to be less sensitive. Reconciling the two findings, the current study empirically addresses the proposition that variety seekers use price promotions strategically, as a way to experiment with different brands over time. Although consumers evaluate price promotions differently according to whether the promoted brand is more or less intrinsically favored than a reference brand, high and low variety seekers respond to brand comparisons differently, leading to differences in evaluation and responsiveness to price promotion offers. The empirical results confirm that high variety seekers are less sensitive to the preference order of considered brands, but only within a limited range of intrinsic brand favorability. Once differences in brand favorability are accounted for, moreover, finds that high variety seekers are more sensitive to promotional effort. This is compatible with the notion that, within an acceptable set of brands, variety seekers use price promotions as a low‐cost strategy for experiencing different brands over time. This understanding of the relationship among promotional offers, specific brands and consumer segments, provides valuable insights to brand managers as they consider their strategic promotional options, and design an effective promotional strategy.

The purpose of this paper is to study the informational role played by an intermediary in the service industry.

The paper used survey and choice data collected from agents and customers, respectively, in the hotel industry.

The paper shows that informational role of agents in choice varies from mere facilitation of the transaction (e.g. making reservation) to a more active role involving accurate predictions about attributes that consumers will perceive important, more realistic performance evaluation of choice options and providing information about experience attributes. The results also show how an agent's role depends on customer's prior knowledge about the choice options, the goal underlying service consumption (e.g. business vs vacation travel), benefits sought by the consumer and the agent's perception about a long term relationship with the consumer. Finally, the results also reveal a unique pattern of differences between agents and consumers in the perceived importance and performance ratings of various features of the service.

This research is limited to agents in the hotel industry. The hypotheses should be tested on other service agent industries such as airlines and restaurants. Future research should consider other alternative sources of information that consumers may use, such as printed material.

The unique nature of the data set – that is, information from the agent as well as the consumer on the same transaction – offers a great opportunity to study the two different points of view and test some hypothesis regarding the degree to which the players understand each other.

The purpose of this paper is to study the motivations of an agent in a service industry to honestly represent the quality of a service provider.

The paper develops a theoretical modeling and derives implications from it, which are then tested using empirical data.

The main finding of the paper is that the agent's propensity to overstate the service provider's true quality level increases as the relative price of the service increases.

The testable implications are tested in the hotel industry. One could extend this to alternative services. It should be noted, however, that since the modeling framework is general, so too will be the implications that arise from it.

The theoretical development in the paper from which the implications arise, gives the results a strong foundation and lends some validity to the work. This is complemented by a unique data set that supplies information from the agent as well as the consumer regarding the same transaction. This offers a unique opportunity to study the two different points of view, and test some propositions regarding the degree to which the players understand each other.

During the last two decennia ‘disability’ increasingly has been considered by various academic disciplines like sociology, literature, social sciences, geography and history as a fresh and innovative analytical category with the transformative potential of race, gender, class and sexuality. At the heart of this development is a comprehensive transformation of what is understood by ‘disability’. Traditionally, ‘disability’ was considered to be nothing more than an objective and invariable part of the human body. Nowadays ‘disability’ is primarily presented as the contingent result of the complex and manifold interactions between an individual’s body and its surrounding multilayered reality. This new meaning of ‘disability’ especially has been put forward by what has come to be known as Disability Studies.

This paper aims to explore the role of structural‐organizational capital (or intelligence) in gathering, producing and transmitting competitive intelligence (CI) to enhance organization competitive advantage.

A questionnaire‐oriented survey covering 200 Iranian companies as samples was conducted to collect data for the study.

The findings indicate that the information systems (as the structural capital) and the content factors (as the organizational capital) of the structural‐organizational intelligence (SOI) are significantly related in attaining CI. The study also provides empirical evidence that attaining CI is positively related to organization competitive advantage.

First, the companies chosen for the study were mainly large companies. Thus, the results may not be applicable to smaller companies; second, this survey was limited to one country (Iran); third, 40 percent of the respondents were from state companies, which because of using state budget and being active at the monopolistic markets inside the country might be a negative effect on the amount of using SOI.

Future studies might be extended to analyzing the relationship among other factors of intellectual capital and CI and should seek to utilize multiple respondents from multinational companies to enhance the research findings.

The paper provides some of the very first insights into development of structural capital concept and its effects on organization. Previous studies were independent of structural‐organizational capital (intelligence). This study aims to fill that gap by studying downstream impact of SOI application on both the admission of CI information and organization competitive advantage.