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The Profit Impact of Marketing Strategy (PIMS) database was used to test the relationship between production process type (small batch, large batch/assembly, and continuous) and eight organizational policy decisions (new products, new plant and equipment, finished goods inventory, raw materials/work‐in‐process inventory, capacity utilization, fixed capital assets, manufacturing costs, gross margin). In addition, the effect of six broad industry types on the proposed relationships was also investigated. Overall industries, raw materials/work‐in‐progress, capacity utilization, manufacturing costs, fixed assets, and gross margin varied with production process type while new products, new plant and equipment, and finished goods inventory did not vary. Within each industry, the findings showed less support for the relationships between production process type and the eight organizational policy decisions. Further analysis showed that most of the industries are dominated by a production process type. Suggests a movement away from the traditional differentiation of production process technologies and a shift of research emphasis to the differing uses of a particular production process technology within an industry.

This paper aims to examine the impact on firm financial distress by industry of one of the most recent accounting changes in the treatment of operating leases, Financial Accounting Standard Board (FASB) Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2016–02, Leases released February 25, 2016. ASU 2016–02, also known as ASC 842, considerably changed how firms account for operating leases.

The authors use the Black–Scholes–Merton (BSM) option pricing methodology to estimate the change in default likelihood (DL) of nine different industries surrounding the adoption of ASC 842. In addition, the authors use univariate and multivariate analysis to test the statistical significance of firm-related factors.

The authors provide evidence that numerous industry’s DL increased following the FASB’s announcement of the new standard (ASC 842) regarding increased transparency in lease recognition. The effect is especially significant within the energy industry, although it is also shown in the consumer durables, manufacturing, hi-tech equipment, telecom, retail and wholesale and transportation industries. In addition, the authors find the effect is more pronounced for firms with high leverage, low financial slack, low operating return on assets, small market value and accounting for non-balance sheet recorded leases.

By investigating different industries, this study’s findings provide crucial insight to managers seeking lease financing as an operational strategy in a post-implementation environment and help them understand the impact of this new standard on their firm. Furthermore, this study answers the call of policy makers and academics to provide insight into the impact of updated leasing standards.

This is the only empirical study that examines the impact of ASC 842 on the DL of publicly traded firms by industry.

The new product development process comprises a series of information‐gathering phases intended to reduce the uncertainty which surrounds the management of innovation. To the extent that this is a rational process, new product failures can be attributed to a lack of high quality, relevant information for decision making. In view of the particularly high failure rate for consumer non‐durables, it makes sense to look critically at the quality of market research information employed in new product decision making. Concept and product tests, which rely heavily on measures of attitude and intention, are very frequently used to gain such information relatively early in the innovative process, but, while they have sometimes been indicted for their inability to predict managerially‐useful aspects of new brand choice, there appears to have been no attempt at understanding why they are often ineffective. Without this understanding it is impossible to suggest an alternative approach. There is no panacea for the problem of predicting consumer choice in new product development but there is great need to come to grips with this problem. This article attempts to provide the necessary understanding and suggests an alternative means of conceptualising the attitude — intentions — behaviour relationship in marketing.

The importance of the European Union (EU) to international business cannot be stressed too greatly. Recently it has expanded to 25 country markets. Its total population has reached 455 million people, which is the world's largest economic organisation. Previous international marketing standardisation (IMS) studies focused on the EU are mainly descriptive in nature and they have not specifically examined issues related to firms’ operations in two or more EU country markets at one time. The purpose of this study is to examine issues related to the crossmarket standardisation strategy, i.e. whether a standardised marketing programme and process can be used across the country markets in the EU.

Using the pair‐wise comparison method originally developed by Sorenson and Wiechmann this study examines the marketing standardisation strategies selection process of 66 New Zealand firms which were concurrently operating in two or more EU markets. In total these firms were operating in 13 different EU country markets.

The outcomes of this study suggest that, although a complete similarity in the marketing environment is not likely to occur in the EU, it is possible for firms to locate a group of country markets which have shared similar marketing characteristics in the EU region. For instance, country pairs such as UK‐France, UK‐Germany, UK‐Ireland, Germany‐France, Germany‐Italy and Germany‐Sweden could offer some extent of similarity which allows firms to adopt a standardised marketing strategy across these countries.

This study generates a research framework for future studies and firms intending to operate in the EU region. The findings generated contribute to research in the areas of international marketing standardisation and international segmentation.

This chapter examines factors that cause violations of regularity conditions and biases in estimates of substitution. In the context of the Fourier demand system, failing to impose curvature restrictions but correcting for serial correlation results in few violations of the curvature conditions. In contrast, imposing curvature restrictions without correcting for serial correlation biases substitution estimates and can cause violations of monotonicity. For serially correlated data, results suggest that correcting for serial correlation may be more important than imposing curvature. Furthermore, the artificially break-adjusted data that are inconsistent with consumer optimization can severely bias estimates. Results from the Bank of England's (BOE) preferred non-break-adjusted data establish that money and goods are substitutes in demand.

Highlights that in spite of the notion generally held, that consumer durables are luxuries, the market displays some inertia comparable to that of non‐durables. Proposes that new analysis of the structure of the consumer‐durable markets leads to the concept that they have basic strengths that can only be temporarily violated. Distinguishes further between individual initial sales and statistical initial sales, also between individual replacement sales and statistical replacement sales. Closes by stating that consumers are not really affected by economic conditions, except in so far as they may postpone their purchases – particularly in the replacement sector.

South African marketing data are recorded by the government's official racial classifications. There is superficial evidence from consumer media statistics that such racially‐based segmentation is no longer valid. Closer inspection shows, however, that media usage is racially segmented. Nevertheless there is a distinct tendency towards homogenisation of purchasing behaviour patterns (of non‐durables) and ownership patterns (of durables) which taken together provide novel information for marketers in multi‐ethnic societies.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how a retailer’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and image influence consumer perceptions regarding the firm’s social responsibility, and how CSR aspects influence consumers buying decisions in store for a specific product.

A qualitative case study method is used, including interviews, document studies and observations. The CSR approach of a Swedish retailer is investigated at corporate level and in the store, and how this interacts with the views of consumers as they make decisions regarding the purchase of a disposable product.

The authors propose the concept CSR identity to capture the internal efforts and positioning that a retailer attempts to achieve. Store activities and external independent stakeholders will have a main influence on whether the identity is regarded as credible by consumers. Furthermore, factors such as self-image and influences from the social network will influence whether a consumer will be committed to prioritize CSR aspects in the store.

Gaps between the retailer and the consumer perspective on CSR, particularly relevant for disposable, low-involvement products are identified. It is critical for retailers to be aware of and address these gaps.

The study captures corporate level, store level and consumer behaviour for a single retailer and is able to reflect upon how specific activities from the retailer interact with consumer attitudes and activities in the store. The authors connect various streams of research on CSR and retailing into one consistent framework.

The Peters and Waterman framework of eight management principles, focused largely on organisational design issues, is used to examine differences between 19 “excellent” and 50 “non‐excellent” firms. Data from large United States manufacturers show that the “excellent” companies earn higher returns on capital, have less variable returns and are more innovative. They also tend to operate businesses which emphasise high value‐adding activities further downstream, closer to the final market. Twenty‐two measured items associated with the eight Peters and Waterman principles differ systematically between the “excellent” and “non‐excellent” firms. In addition, 13 measures associated more directly with strategy also differ systematically. High investment in R&D, a strong international posture, and strong market positions provide an alternative explanation to the Peters and Waterman principles for good profit and innovation performance by the “excellent” firms, thus reinforcing the need to better understand industry and global strategy dynamics – as well as the ingredients of entrepreneurial, open climates.

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a large-sample empirical investigation of how relational capital impacts bullwhip at the supplier.

The study uses mandatory disclosures in regulatory filings of US firms to identify a supplier’s major customers and constructs empirical proxies of supply chain relational capital, i.e., length of the relationship between suppliers and customers and partner interdependence. Multivariate regression analyses are performed to examine the effects of relational capital on bullwhip at the supplier.

The findings show that bullwhip at the supplier is greater when customers are more dependent on their suppliers, but is reduced when suppliers share longer relationships with their customers. The results also provide additional insights on several firm characteristics that impact supplier bullwhip, including shocks in order backlog, selling intensity and variations in profit margins. Furthermore, the authors document that the effect of supply chain relationships on bullwhip tends to vary across industries and over time.

The study employs a novel data set that is constructed using firms’ financial disclosures. This large panel data set consisting of 13,993 observations over 36 years enables thorough and robust analyses to characterize supply chain relationships and gain a deeper understanding of their impact on bullwhip.