According to W. Edwards Deming, American companies require nothing less than a transformation of management style and of governmental relations with industry. In Out of the Crisis, originally published in 1982, Deming offers a theory of management based on his famous 14 Points for Management. Management's failure to plan for the future, he claims, brings about loss of market, which brings about loss of jobs. Management must be judged not only by the quarterly dividend, but by innovative plans to stay in business, protect investment, ensure future dividends, and provide more jobs through improved product and service. In simple, direct language, he explains the principles of management transformation and how to apply them.

Out of the Crisis

The author systematically examines one of the important issues of information — establishing the market price. He introduces the concept of «search» — where a buyer wanting to get a better price, is forced to question sellers. The article deals with various aspects of finding the necessary information.

Economics of Information

In this study, we consider the online consumer as both a shopper and a computer user. We test constructs from information systems (Technology Acceptance Model), marketing (Consumer Behavior), and psychology (Flow and Environmental Psychology) in an integrated theoretical framework of online consumer behavior. Specifically, we examine how emotional and cognitive responses to visiting a Web-based store for the first time can influence online consumers' intention to return and their likelihood to make unplanned purchases. The instrumentation shows reasonably good measurement properties and the constructs are validated as a nomological network.A questionnaire-based empirical study is used to test this nomological network. Results confirm the double identity of the online consumer as a shopper and a computer user because both shopping enjoyment and perceived usefulness of the site strongly predict intention to return. Our results on unplanned purchases are not conclusive. We also test some individual and Web site factors that can affect the consumer's emotional and cognitive responses. Product involvement, Web skills, challenges, and use of value-added search mechanisms all have a significant impact on the Web consumer. The study provides a more rounded, albeit partial, view of the online consumer and is a significant steptowards a better understanding of consumer behavior on the Web. The validated metrics should be of use to researchers and practitioners alike.

/pdf/applying-the-technology-acceptance-model-and-flow-theory-to-4umxbzanjd.pdf

Applying the Technology Acceptance Model and Flow Theory to Online Consumer Behavior

Understanding customer experience and the customer journey over time is critical for firms. Customers now interact with firms through myriad touch points in multiple channels and media, and customer experiences are more social in nature. These changes require firms to integrate multiple business functions, and even external partners, in creating and delivering positive customer experiences. In this article, the authors aim to develop a stronger understanding of customer experience and the customer journey in this era of increasingly complex customer behavior. To achieve this goal, they examine existing definitions and conceptualizations of customer experience as a construct and provide a historical perspective of the roots of customer experience within marketing. Next, they attempt to bring together what is currently known about customer experience, customer journeys, and customer experience management. Finally, they identify critical areas for future research on this important topic.

/pdf/understanding-customer-experience-throughout-the-customer-52i6qreyzk.pdf

Understanding Customer Experience Throughout the Customer Journey

This article develops and discusses the concept of customer engagement behaviors (CEB), which we define as the customers’ behavioral manifestation toward a brand or firm, beyond purchase, resulting from motivational drivers. CEBs include a vast array of behaviors including word-of-mouth (WOM) activity, recommendations, helping other customers, blogging, writing reviews, and even engaging in legal action. The authors develop a conceptual model of the antecedents and consequences — customer, firm, and societal — of CEBs. The authors suggest that firms can manage CEBs by taking a more integrative and comprehensive approach that acknowledges their evolution and impact over time.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID2340164_code1783641.pdf?abstractid=2340164&mirid=1&type=2

Customer Engagement Behavior: Theoretical Foundations and Research Directions

Abstract Recent research has suggested that consumers have in-store slack for grocery trips—that is, they leave room in their mental budgets to make unplanned purchases. Drawing on this work, this article examines how the impact of promotions depends on whether the shopper still has in-store slack remaining in his or her mental budget. Specifically, the authors evaluate how the effect of promotional savings for both planned and unplanned items on spending varies as a function of whether the item is purchased before or after the shopper's in-store slack is depleted. In addition, they examine how these relationships vary depending on income. To achieve these goals, the authors conducted a field study in which respondents used a handheld scanner to record the order of purchases. The results suggest that savings on planned items lead to stockpiling by higher-income shoppers when the savings occur before the in-store slack has been depleted but lead to increased purchase of unplanned items when they occur afte...

/pdf/spending-on-the-fly-mental-budgets-promotions-and-spending-3v0pyfan5s.pdf

Spending on the Fly: Mental Budgets, Promotions, and Spending Behavior

Recent research suggests that the signal e.g., sign or marker with a point of purchase promotion will stimulate a significant sales increase, regardless of whether or not that signal is accompanied by a price cut. This paper develops a model of retailer profitability that incorporates this "promotion signal sensitivity." In a field test, the profitability of the promotion policy prescribed by this model is compared to the profitability of two other promotion policy-setting paradigms: a model-based policy that does not consider promotion signal sensitivity and one prescribed by industry experts. The test results support the proposed model. Its policy generates 11% more category profit per unit than the model-based policy and 12% more than the industry experts. Implications for retailers and future research are discussed.

A Retailer Promotion Policy Model Considering Promotion Signal Sensitivity

https://www.cba.uh.edu/mark/papers/inman.pdf

Where the rubber meets the road : a model of in-store consumer decision making

We examine the interplay between incidental affect and task-related affect in the context of consumer choice. Specifically, we examine the differential impact of two discrete negative affective states—anger and sadness—vis-a-vis a neutral affective state. We replicate Luce's ([1998][1]) finding that people are more likely to rely on a status quo option when they have to make emotionally difficult trade-offs. However, incidental affect moderates this effect such that angry individuals are more influenced by task-related affect, while sadness is less influenced by it. These findings support our thesis that consumers experiencing different negative emotions display differential reliance on avoidance choice strategies such as choosing the status quo.

 [1]: #ref-13

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/426624

Incidental and Task-Related Affect: A Re-Inquiry and Extension of the Influence of Affect on Choice

Co-branding is often used by managers to reinforce the image of their brands. In this paper, we investigate when a brand's image is reinforced or impaired as a result of co-branding, and which partner is right for a firm that considers co-branding for image reinforcement. We address these issues by examining the effects of co-branding on attribute uncertainty of partner brands. We conceptualize attribute beliefs as two-dimensional constructs. The first dimension reflects the expected value of the attribute, while the second dimension reflects the degree of certainty about the attribute. We argue that these parameters are updated after consumers are exposed to a co-branding activity and develop an analytical model that incorporates these notions. Based on categorization theory, the model describes the updating mechanism of partner brand beliefs that occur as a result of co-branding. An analysis of the model leads to several propositions, which we test in an experiment. Our findings indicate that it is not necessarily in a brand's best interest to choose a partner that is of the highest performance possible. Moreover, we find that while expected values of the brand attributes may improve as a result of co-branding, under certain conditions, uncertainty associated with the brands increases through the alliance, increasing the risk of image impairment.

J. Jeffrey Inman

Papers

Spending on the Fly: Mental Budgets, Promotions, and Spending Behavior

A Retailer Promotion Policy Model Considering Promotion Signal Sensitivity

Where the rubber meets the road : a model of in-store consumer decision making

Incidental and Task-Related Affect: A Re-Inquiry and Extension of the Influence of Affect on Choice

Image Reinforcement or Impairment: The Effects of Co-Branding on Attribute Uncertainty