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An experiment was conducted in which level of claim (plausible versus implausible), claim type (tensile versus objective), and brand familiarity were manipulated to determine consumer responses to sale ads. Conducted in an Asian setting using percentage instead of dollar value price reductions, the results replicated and extended past findings in the pricing literature. Specifically, implausible claims that purported exaggerated savings led to greater discounting, higher perceived price reduction, higher perceived offer value, and higher shopping intention than those with plausible price reductions. Objective price claims that state the exact amount of reduction generally elicited more favorable responses than tensile claims of the “save up to ____ percent” genre. When the price reductions were implausible, tensile claims resulted in higher discounting, lower perceived price reduction, and lower perceived offer value than did objective claims. Finally, greater brand familiarity resulted in higher claim discounting and lower perceived price reduction when the claims were implausible rather than plausible. Theoretical and managerial implications are furnished together with directions for future research.

Extends the application of a well‐established strategic marketing planning technique (the Importance‐Performance Matrix Approach) to the assessment of a country′s strengths and weaknesses in attracting foreign investments. Following a description of the approach and its rationale, the Importance‐Performance framework is applied in analysing Singapore′s competitiveness along various infrastructural and environmental attributes. Discusses the implications of the findings.

It is well‐accepted that effective strategy is founded on continuous and diagnostic monitoring of one's competitive position. Evidence revealing the skills and resources affording the greatest leverage on future cost and differentiation advantages is particularly critical. Businesses that succeed are those which develop distinctive competences and manage for lowest delivered cost or differentiation through superior customer value.

Examines the effects of extending master brands — brands which so dominate a product category that they are almost synonymous with it. Three factors were experimentally manipulated — category dominance, the success of an extension, and the similarity between the extended and original products. The results indicated that a brand’s association with its original product category was diluted when an extension failed. This effect was moderated by category dominance prior to the extension. Specifically, the dilution effect was less pronounced for master brands than for brands which were less dominant in a product category. However, the similarity between the extended and original product categories did not moderate the dilution effects of master and less dominant brand extensions.

Reports the results of a survey of scientific styles based on a survey of 249 marketing academics. Most respondents did not exhibit personality types associated with analytical scientists, although they most strongly endorsed the research values and attitudes associated with this style. A greater proportion of senior marketing academics had the sensing‐thinking personality type associated with analytical scientists than had junior marketing faculty.

Respondents from five Asian countries were surveyed in terms of their consumer ethnocentrism, animosity, and attribution towards the USA and Japan in the context of the Asian economic crisis. The results indicated that the more severely hit a country was, the more ethnocentric respondents were. In general, animosity towards the USA was higher than towards Japan with regard to the Asian crisis. Koreans held the greatest stable animosity towards the Japanese because of the atrocities experienced during the Second World War. Respondents attributed the blame of the Asian crisis more to themselves. They also felt that they and the Japanese could have controlled the turn of events during the crisis. Implications arising from the findings are discussed.

The authors explore the nature of commitment, job satisfaction and job characteristics, and the nature of the interrelationships among these variables concerning expatriate employees in Saudi Arabia. An examination of a sample of 504 expatriate employees reveals that these employees are, by and large, indifferent with respect to their perceptions of commitment, job satisfaction, and job characteristics. In addition, the results provide strong support for (1) the influence of job satisfaction on commitment, (2) the influence of job variety on commitment, and (3) the influence of job autonomy, identity, and feedback on job satisfaction.

Field survey studies undertaken in Nigeria, Korea, China and India explored the way inner‐age satisfaction is experienced in those culturally diverse societies. Chronologically 20 to 59 year old respondents’ inner‐age satisfaction was gauged as the average difference between feel, look, do, and interest cognitive (self‐perceived) and desired (ideal) inner‐age dimensions. Analyses of covariance (with chronological age factored out) across the four nations showed Nigeria to differ significantly in terms of inner‐age satisfaction from each Asian population, contrary to the Asian societies where no differences were found across samples (except between Korea and India where inner‐age satisfaction differed at a p .05). High levels of satisfaction with inner‐age (coming about when cognitive and desired ages are equal) commonly transpired: 31.4 per cent of Indian, 36.9 per cent of Nigerian, 44.3 per cent of Chinese, and 44.9 per cent of Korean respondents. Age dissatisfaction in an elder direction (ideal age older than self‐perceived age) was atypical and happened most often among Nigerian (23.4 per cent) and least among Korean subjects (10.7 per cent). In contrast, wishing for a younger innerage was a commonplace phenomenon in India (50.6 per cent of the sample), as well as in China where it occurred the least (36.6 per cent). The study’s findings imply the universal nature of the way human beings (irrespective of culture) perceive and feel about inner‐age, as well as the potential of an inner‐age satisfaction psychographic as a relevant consumer behavior segmentation trait for marketing planners of age‐sensitive products and services who seek to standardize their global branding and distribution.

The author describes how he entered the marketing field and describes his contributions in four sections: articles written, books published, students nurtured, and executives consulted and trained. He describes his contributions to the marketing field in nine areas: marketing theory and orientations, improving the role and practice of marketing, analytical marketing, the social and ethical side of marketing, globalization and international marketing competition, marketing in the new economy, creating and managing the product mix, strategic marketing, and broadening the concept and application of marketing.

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a research study that sought to identify the key dimensions of luxury from a UK consumers’ perspective.

The project was empirical in nature and based on a two-stage methodology that involved a series of depth interviews with consumers and a street intercept survey of 131 consumers in the UK.

The project found that UK consumers appear to recognise five dimensions of luxury (affect, characteristics, status, gifting and involvement).

The main limitation was a small sample size and limited statistical significance.

The paper should usefully focus the attention and efforts of managers of luxury brands, managers of ordinary brands who desire to develop them into luxury brands, and managers who are considering creating luxury brands in the UK. The findings should inform management decisions relating to product development, advertising, promotion and distribution of luxury products and services.

The paper makes an original contribution to knowledge by reporting the findings of an empirical study of luxury from the UK consumers’ perspective. It has value to academic researchers who are interested in the concept of luxury as well as those involved in or considering luxury brand management.