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

Much fascination and speculation surrounds the impact of the World Wide Web on consumer shopping behavior. At the same time, there is little empirical evidence underlying all this speculation. This article provides one such data set. It reports on factors that consumers found salient as they browsed through selected electronic malls on the World Wide Web. We gathered consumers' reactions via an open-ended survey using a sample of 220 shoppers. We related the reactions to the factors of product perceptions, shopping experience, customer service, and perceived consumer risk, which we had identified from the existing literature on retail patronage behavior. This study translated these factors to the World Wide Web context and explored their relative salience.With respect to product perceptions, consumers were impressed by the breadth of stores on the World Wide Web but disappointed with the depth of a merchant's offerings. The shopping experience was reported to be generally enjoyable, but at the same time frustrating. Consumers also reported that they could perceive the potential for time savings and reduced effort compared with traditional forms of shopping, but that, at present, goal-directed shopping was difficult. Nearly everyone in the sample had something negative to say about customer service on the World Wide Web, judging that the sites were not designed to be responsive to their needs and that the presentation of goods and services seemed intangible. Risk was cited as a barrier to shopping on the World Wide Web, but was not as salient to our sample as product perceptions, shopping experience, and customer service. Overall, the results suggest that World Wide Web merchants need to think more about how they perform on the factors known to affect consumer behavior; namely, product perceptions, shopping experience, and customer service. We offer advice for enhancing the design of World Wide Web retail sites.

Consumer reactions to electronic shopping on the world wide web

Is innovation always beneficial? A meta-analysis of the relationship between innovation and performance in SMEs

Based on literature from the domains of organization science, marketing, accounting, and management information systems, this review article examines the theoretical basis of the information overload discourse and presents an overview of the main definitions, situations, causes, effects, and countermeasures. It analyzes the contributions from the last 30 years to consolidate the existing research in a conceptual framework and to identify future research directions.

The Concept of Information Overload: A Review of Literature from Organization Science, Accounting, Marketing, MIS, and Related Disciplines

We examined the extent to which organizations’ reputations encompass different types of stakeholders’ perceptions, which may have differential effects on economic outcomes. Specifically, we propose...

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Being good or being known: An empirical examination of the dimensions, antecedents, and consequences of organizational reputation

Considers the importance of a firms′ reputation to the success or failure of its brands; the effect on the firm′s brand when a firm′s reputation decays; how important it is for a firm to maintain or advance I reputation; how a brand′s reputation can be transferred to other products. Addresses and discusses these issues in detail and emphasises the importance of reputation to the ultimate success of a product and company and warns against ignoring its fragility.

The relationship of reputation and credibility to brand success

A model of reputation building and destruction

Explores the relationship between culture and innovation. Discusses culture at some length, noting some differences between national behaviours – such as the relative importance of a group versus an individual. Infers that existing cultural conditions determine the way in which innovations are adopted. Indicates that cultures which value creativity, technical ability and higher education are more successful at adopting innovations. Identifies a relationship between innovation and the status given to entrepreneurial efforts. Suggests that cultures emphasizing individualism and freedom are more likely to be creative and, therefore, to benefit more from innovative ideas. Refers to previous studies on culture and innovation (mentioning Hofstede’s work). Investigates the role religion plays, in particular the cultural bias against technology that is prevalent in traditionalist religious countries. Concludes that strongly religious countries are not receptive to innovation.

Culture and innovation

Confucianism is dead! Confucianism is obsolete! Confucianism is passe! For at least the past 30 years the government of China has taken a strong stand against Confucianism. Yet it is impossible to do business in China and not feel the effects of Confucian philosophy. For example, strong feelings of a social hierarchy are still present in China. The Confucian ethical structure, with its lack of civil law, still influences current thinking. A strong sense of family as the basic unit of production, with its rights of inheritance and views of the extended family, still pervades much of Chinese thought. If Confucianism is officially gone, its influence is still strong. Identifies the aspects of Confucianism which are relevant to those seeking to understand the Chinese business environment.

Confucian roots in China: a force for today′s business

Can a brand′s reputation be transferred successfully to other products? What is the importance of a firm′s reputation to the success or failure of its brands? What is the effect on the firm′s brands when a firm′s reputation, through either acquisition or restructuring, decays. How important is it for a firm to maintain or enhance its reputation? Describe a model of reputation creation and destruction and shows how the brand extension decision can be addressed using the model.

Paul Herbig

Papers

The relationship of reputation and credibility to brand success

A model of reputation building and destruction

Culture and innovation

Confucian roots in China: a force for today′s business

Evaluating the Brand Extension Decision Using a Model of Reputation Building