Informal Communication in Industrial Markets
01 May 1970-Journal of Marketing Research (SAGE PublicationsSage CA: Los Angeles, CA)-Vol. 7, Iss: 2, pp 186-189
TL;DR: The authors found that industrial buyers failed to identify a significant amount of word-of-mouth communication in industrial markets and suggested a key role for manufacturers' salesmen, and found that salesmen played an important role in salesperson recruitment.
Abstract: Interviews with industrial buyers failed to identify a significant amount of word-of-mouth communication in industrial markets and suggested a key role for manufacturers’ salesmen.
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TL;DR: A simple three-stage analysis of flows to, from, and within the firm was used to facilitate comparisons, and a central problem for further research on innovation will be to devise an operational model to account for interfirm and interindustry differences.
Abstract: The varied definitions used in the sources that have been discussed make any aggregate analysis difficult. A simple three-stage analysis of flows to, from, and within the firm was used to facilitate comparisons. Even so, each of the generalizations is drawn from relatively small and unrepresentative samples. Case studies may continue to be a source of ideas and hypotheses for further research, but do not appear to offer a means for deeper understanding of the innovation process. The retrospective nature of nearly all of the sources discussed probably means that the process has been viewed as much more rational and well-ordered than it is in fact. This failing is partially overcome in firsthand accounts such as those of Suites and Bueche (63) and Frey and Goldman (64). Each of these accounts involves a successful innovation according to technical or commercial criteria, or both. However, many of the characteristics of innovations that have failed commercially (10) appear to be similar to those of successful cases. The few longitudinal studies, and studies comparing more and less successful cases, do support the main conclusions drawn above (10, 32, 38). More serious problems are raised by the distinctly nonrepresentative nature of the samples used. There are few cases (17, 33, 65) in which the contributions of more than one organization, or details of interactions over a significant period of time, are discussed. There is a wide variation in the importance of the innovations included, ranging from those affecting the economy as a whole to cases involving production in a single firm, albeit with significant commercial results (66). In addition to questions of comparability and sampling, a central problem for further research on innovation will be to devise an operational model to account for interfirm and interindustry differences. Polar definitions used in past studies, "high technology" and "mature industry," for example, are insufficient. One possibility is to use the strategy for growth or competition evident in a firm or an industry, such as sales maximization (automotive), cost minimization (transportation, communications), performance maximization (aircraft, chemicals), or control of materials resources (mining, petroleum), as a basis for drawing distinctions (67). For example, in an industry that seeks to maximize sales, one would expect innovations that would be highly visible to consumers to be developed rapidly (68). In a cost-minimizing situation, production, as opposed to product technology, would be a major source of uncertainty, while the reverse might be the case in a performance-maximizing situation. Greater uncertainty arising from technical sources would imply greater sophistication in effective firms' product planning approaches, while a more stable technology would imply greater sophistication in market research and market-oriented strategies for innovation, and so forth. Much more work is needed along these lines if outcomes of interventions in the innovative process are to be predicted with any accuracy. Some implications for providing incentives and reducing barriers do seem clear from the work to date. Effective directions for federal action lie in strategies such as creating new markets through purchases or procurement policies; aggregating or focusing markets through regulation and other means; providing for market entry by contracts to smaller firms, venture capital, stronger patent protection, and so on; and providing for mobility and informal contacts within the technical community. Technology "push" strategies (such as tax incentives) to increase most research spending, prizes for new technology, and documentation and information retrieval systems would probably be less important in stimulating innovation. Definitive answers will require the most difficult kind of research-experiments in the field. Since the interventions required are difficult and expensive in most cases, they will not be under the researcher's control. Nor will the effect of policy changes be visible over a short period. Thus it seems imperative to take advantage of interventions that occur fortuitously to construct "quasi-experiments" (69) with as great a degree of control over other factors as possible. For example, have recent changes in policy regarding federally held patents increased the commercial use of these patents? Have changes in the capital gains laws retarded the development and growth of "spin-off" enterprises? Has the identification of technology gaps (3) and competitive opportunities stimulated innovation? The effects of such actions on technical innovation could be carefully observed with a modest but sustained research effort, which promises to yield valuable information beyond that available from largely historical sources.
624 citations
TL;DR: Common features of viral marketing strategies are described and explained and chances and risks associated with using Internet word-of-mouth in consumer settings are outlined.
Abstract: Newcomers to electronic markets are forced to accumulate customers as rapidly as possible. One strategy to fulfil this aim is so called viral marketing, which seems an appropriate term for describing the pattern in which Internet companies spread by making use of customer referrals. The aim of this article is to describe and explain common features of viral marketing strategies and to outline chances and risks associated with using Internet word-of-mouth in consumer settings.
245 citations
Cites background from "Informal Communication in Industria..."
...The main advantages of WOM are generally seen in its credibility (e.g. Assael 1998: 605), and permanent feedback that leads to high flexibility and reciprocity (Webster 1970: 186; Engel et al. 1995: 730)....
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate the sources of information sought by industrial marketers to gain a high degree of synergy among the various elements of their promotional mix, and find that it is important for marketers to exploit the synergy in their marketing mix.
Abstract: It is important for industrial marketers to gain a high degree of synergy among the various elements of their promotional mix. To that end, the authors investigate the sources of information sought...
226 citations
Book•
01 Jan 2006
TL;DR: A lexicon of connected marketing can be found in this paper, where the authors discuss the role of people media in connecting with customers in a networked age, harnessing the power of the people media and how to reach them.
Abstract: Foreword Introduction: connected marketing - harnessing the power of people media The crisis in marketing The people media revolution Influencers: who are they and how to reach them Infectious ideas: what makes an idea contagious Making it happen: word of mouse campaigns that connect Making it happen: infectious word of mouth campaigns Integrating connected marketing into the marketing mix Conclusion: connecting with customers in a networked age Appendix: lexicon of connected marketing Appendix: further reading.
221 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a microanalytic study of the use of word-of-mouth among decision makers in competitive firms in the diffusion of a major technological innovation is presented, which indicates that an act of an act...
Abstract: This article presents a microanalytic study of the use of word-of-mouth among decision makers in competitive firms in the diffusion of a major technological innovation. Results indicate that an act...
201 citations
References
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Book•
01 Jan 1967
197 citations
"Informal Communication in Industria..." refers background in this paper
...Johan Arndt has summarized the literature in this area [1]....
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80 citations
TL;DR: Hanna and Cardwell as discussed by the authors concluded that technical progressiveness is related to the general quality of the firm; and attention to other aspects of its general quality for instance, to management efficiency or to salesmanship and market research helps to create the conditions for technical progress.
Abstract: IN our book Industry and Technical Progress' we gave an analysis of the relation between technical progressiveness and certain other characteristics of firms, which might be summed up by the title general quality. We concluded (p. I90) that 'technical progressiveness is related to the general quality of the firm; and attention to other aspects of its general quality for instance, to management efficiency or to salesmanship and market research helps to create the conditions for technical progress. In other words, the use of science is not an optional extra to be attached to the firm, but an expression of the whole attitude of the firm'. The purpose of this paper is to explain in greater detail our previous analysis, and to invite readers in industry to try their hands at making a similar analysis for their own firms, either for their own interest or (if they are willing to help us in this way) in order to increase our body of data. Although we present this article under our names, as authors of the book, the original work was to a considerable extent due to members of our research staff (Miss M. G. Hanna, Dr. D. L. Cardwell and Miss M. I. Burnikell), and in particular to Mr. W. P. Scott, whose statistical ingenuity was much in demand to deal with the difficulties of the data. It is not easy to say what 'degree of technical progressiveness' a firm has attained. There is no great difficulty in dividing firms into three classes:
73 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a broadly defined communication theory may help to identify, to structure, and to analyze patterns of influence in industrial markets, with appropriate modifications, with the goal of identifying, identifying, and analyzing the influence of companies in an industrial market.
Abstract: Patterns of influence within a given buying organization and among the various companies in an industry make industrial markets complex targets for marketing effort. Efficient marketing strategies build on these patterns of influence or, at least, do not seriously challenge these established relationships. It is therefore surprising that marketing literature has few studies of influence processes in industrial markets. With appropriate modifications, a broadly defined communication theory may help to identify, to structure, and to analyze patterns of influence in industrial markets. This article considers
31 citations