Cross-correlation based performance measures for characterizing the influence of in-vehicle interfaces on driving and cognitive workload

Driving is a cognitively loading task which requires drivers\u27 full attention and coordination of both mind and body. However, drivers often engage in side activities which can negatively impact safety. A typical approach for analyzing the influences of side activities on driving is to conduct experiments in which various driving performance measures are collected, such as steering wheel angle and lane position. Those measures are then transformed, typically using means and variances, before being analyzed statistically. However, the problem is that those transformations perform averaging of the acquired data, which can result in missing short, but important events (such as glances directed off-road). As a consequence, statistically significant differences may not be observed between the tested conditions. Nevertheless, just because the influences of in-vehicle interactions do not show in the averages, it does not mean that they do not exist or should be neglected, especially if the nature of the interactions is such that they can be performed frequently (for example, with an infotainment system). This can create a false conclusion about the lack of influence of the tested side activity on driving. The main contribution of this research is in developing two new performance measures inspired by the mathematical function of cross-correlation: one which evaluates the cumulative effect and the other which evaluates the effects of individual instances of in-vehicle interactions on driving and cognitive load. The results from three driving simulator studies demonstrate that our cumulative measure provides more sensitivity to the effects of in-vehicle interactions, even when they are not detected through average-based measures. Additionally, our instance-based measure provides a low-level insight into the nature of the influence of individual in-vehicle interactions. Both measures produce results that can be ranked, which allows determining the relative size of the effect that various in-vehicle interactions have on driving. Finally, we demonstrate a set of variables which can be used for predicting the cumulative and instance-based results. This predictive ability is important, because it may allow obtaining quick simulation results without performing actual experiments, which can be used in the early stages of an interface or experiment design process

Experiential marketing: bridging the gap between value creation to customers and value capture by firms

An already voluminous literature addressing the value of marketing to the firm has, until now, fallen short of expectations. In a context in which marketers have increasingly been challenged to prove their worth, the scholarly attempts to demonstrate the value of marketing to the firm have stumbled to reach unquestionable results. Part of the problem may lie in the lengthy and twisted chain of effects from marketing actions to marketing performance outcomes. Between inputs and outputs lie numerous uncontrollable and often confounding external factors, such as the actions of customers, competitors, and other market agents. The problematic operationalization of such complex market structures impelled researchers to analyze fractions of this web of effects rather than attempting to study overarching conceptual models in full. Prior empirical research has typically considered either the impact of marketing actions in the marketplace or the consequences to the firm of the behaviors of customers and rivals. There is still a gap in the literature of an all-encompassing end-to-end demonstration of how specific marketing inputs can drive specific marketing outputs unequivocally contributing to organizational performance. This thesis addresses the issue of marketing as a value-capturing corporate function through its determinant role in managing value-creating exchanges with customers in the marketplace while hindering competitors from appropriating it. Our research suggests that experiential marketing may bridge the gap between value creation to the customer and value capture by the firm. In particular, our findings show that marketing-crafted valuecreating online shopping experiences may predict value-capturing marketing performance outcomes with the mediation of superior customer-level marketing performance. Thus, our results suggest that experiential marketing may offer an opportunity to bridge the gap between "give and take," value creation and value capture, and demonstrate how relevant the contribution of marketing to the firm's value rising can be.Uma já volumosa literatura abordando o valor do marketing para a empresa tem até agora ficado aquém das expectativas. As tentativas para demonstrar a valia do marketing para a empresa não têm conseguido alcançar inequívocas demonstrações de como o marketing pode ter uma contribuição relevante para a apropriação de valor pela empresa. Parte do problema reside na longa e sinuosa cadeia de efeitos ligando os estímulos de marketing aos resultados do desempenho. Entre uns e outros existem inúmeros fatores externos, incontroláveis e perturbadores, tais como as ações de outros participantes no mercado. A investigação empírica anterior tem tipicamente estudado ou os efeitos the ações de marketing no mercado, sobretudo nos clientes, mas também nos concorrentes, ou então as consequências para a empresa dos comportamentos dos clientes e rivais. Consequentemente, há uma lacuna na literatura de uma demonstração abrangente de como determinados estímulos de marketing podem conduzir a efeitos específicos precursores do desempenho da organização. Esta tese equaciona o marketing como função de captura de valor para a empresa através do seu papel determinante na gestão de trocas de valor com clientes, em paralelo com o impedimento aos concorrentes de se apropriarem do valor criado. A nossa investigação sugere que o marketing experiencial pode estabelecer a ligação entre criação de valor para o cliente e captura de valor para a empresa. Em particular, os nossos resultados mostram que experiências de compra criadoras de valor para os clientes em ambientes digitais podem conduzir à captura de valor para a empresa através da mediação de desempenho de marketing a nível de cliente. Portanto, os nossos resultados sugerem que o marketing experiencial pode ser uma grande oportunidade para preencher a lacuna entre “dar e receber”, criação e captura de valor, e mostram quão relevante pode ser a contribuição do marketing para o valor da empresa