Showing papers by "David Bell published in 2010"

Spatiotemporal Analysis of Imitation Behavior across New Buyers at an Online Grocery Retailer

Abstract: For Internet retailers, demand propagation varies not only through time but also over space. The authors develop a Bayesian spatiotemporal model to study two imitation effects in the evolution of demand at an Internet retailer. Building on previous literature, the authors allow imitation behavior to be reflected both in geographic proximity and in demographic similarity. As these imitation effects can be time varying, the authors specify their dynamics using a “polynomial smoother” embedded within the Bayesian framework. They apply the model to new buyers at Netgrocer.com and calibrate it on 45 months of data that span all 1459 zip codes in Pennsylvania. The authors find that the proximity effect is especially strong in the early phases of demand evolution, whereas the similarity effect becomes more important with time. Over time, new buyers are increasingly likely to emerge from new zip codes beyond the “core set” of zip codes that produce the early new buyers, and spatial concentration declines...

Hospitality, Culture and Regeneration: Urban Decay, Entrepreneurship and the ‘Ruin’ Bars of Budapest:

Abstract: This paper considers the relationships between hospitality, culture and urban regeneration through an examination of rom (ruin) venues, which operate in dilapidated buildings in Budapest, Hungary. The paper reviews previous work on culture and urban regeneration in order to locate the role of hospitality within emerging debates. It subsequently interrogates the evolution of the rom phenomenon and demonstrates how, in this context, hospitality thrives because of social and physical decay in urban locations, how operators and entrepreneurs exploit conflicts among various actors involved in regeneration and how hospitality may be mobilised purposefully in the regeneration process. The paper demonstrates how networked entrepreneurship maintains these operations and how various forms of cultural production are entangled and mobilised in the venues' hospitality propositions.

The cultural economy of small cities

Abstract: This paper contributes to a burgeoning body of literature which seeks to highlight the importance of studying small cities. Dissatisfaction with urban theory dominated by study of ‘the city’ defined in terms of a small number of ‘global’ cities has led theorists to consider what is lost as a consequence of this bias. Although there is long way to go to challenge the orthodoxies of urban theory dominated by study of the ‘biggest and best’, here we focus on an area of small cities research where progress has been made towards developing a more inclusive agenda. This study reviews research into the cultural economy of small cities and highlights a growing body of rich and detailed literature. Despite this progress, however, we argue that a coherent and clear research agenda is yet to emerge. To this end, we signpost ways in which bolder theoretical and empirical questions can be developed that can begin to make more of a significant impact on urban theory.

Behavioral research and empirical modeling of marketing channels: Implications for both fields and a call for future research

Abstract: Game theoretic models of marketing channels typically rely on simplifying assumptions that, from a behavioral perspective, often appear naive However, behavioral researchers have produced such an abundance of behavioral regularities that they are impossible to incorporate into game theoretic models We believe that a focus on three core findings would benefit both fields; these are: first, beliefs that are held by the various players regarding profit consequences of different actions are incomplete and often biased; second, players’ preferences and optimization objectives are not commonly known; and third, players have insufficient cognitive abilities to achieve optimization objectives Embracing these three findings shifts the focus from rational decision making to how decision makers learn to improve their decision-making skills Concluding, we believe that greater convergence of game theoretic modeling and behavioral research in marketing channels would lead to new insights for both fields

Traditional and IS-enabled Customer Acquisition for an Internet Retailer: Why New Buyer Acquisition Varies over Geographies and by Method

Abstract: We provide new insights into the efficacy of offline word-of-mouth (WOM) and magazine advertising (traditional acquisition methods) compared to online WOM and online search (IS-enabled acquisition methods). We study how three key factors—inter-customer proximity, price benefits, and convenience benefits—affect the performance of each acquisition method. We estimate a multivariate NBD model over new buyer counts at all US residential zip codes. All else equal, favorable local conditions for the three factors benefit WOM acquisitions most. WOM acquisitions rely on customer-to-customer communication and respond to factors that facilitate interaction. Second, traditional offline WOM is more effective than IS-enabled online WOM; since offline WOM recipients are co-located with senders they share the same benefits of shopping online. Third, traditional acquisition modes still matter for online retailers and are complementary—WOM acquisitions dominate in high-performing spatially-clustered markets and magazine advertising acquisitions dominate in low-performing spatially-dispersed markets. IS-enabled methods provide a relatively constant percentage contribution to customer acquisition. Lastly, we provide some evidence that using the model-based predictions to target specific markets leads to improvements in actual click-to-order rates, up to a factor of two.