Managing Quality under Heterogeneous Consumer Demand and Product Quality, October 2005

Based on accepted advances in the marketing, economics, consumer behavior, and satisfaction literatures, we develop a micro-foundations model of a firm that needs to manage the quality of a product that is inherently heterogeneous in the presence of varying customer tastes or expectations for quality. Our model blends elements of the returns to quality, customer lifetime value, and service profit chain approaches to marketing. The model is then used to explain several empirical results pertaining to the marketing literature by explicitly articulating the trade-offs between customer satisfaction and costs (including opportunity costs) of quality. In this environment firms will find it optimal to allow some customers to go unsatisfied. We show that the relationship between the expected number of repeated purchases by an individual customer is endogenous to the choice of quality by the firm, indicating that the number of purchases cannot be chosen freely to estimate a customer’s lifetime value

The Mediation Effect of Trusting Beliefs on the Relationship Between Expectation-Confirmation and Satisfaction with the Usage of Online Product Recommendation

Online Product Recommendations (OPRs) are increasingly available to onlinecustomers as a value-added self-service in evaluating and choosing a product.Research has highlighted several advantages that customers can gain from usingOPRs. However, the realization of these advantages depends on whether and towhat extent customers embrace and fully utilise them. The relatively low OPR USAgerate indicates that customers have not yet developed trust in OPRs’ performance.Past studies also have established that satisfaction is a valid measure of systemperformance and a consistent significant determinant of users’ continuous systemusage. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the mediation effect of trustingbeliefs on the relationship between expectation-confirmation and satisfaction. Theproposed research model is tested using data collected via an online survey from626 existing users of OPRs. The empirical results revealed that social-psychologicalbeliefs (perceived confirmation and trust) are significant contributors to customersatisfaction with OPRs. Additionally, trusting beliefs partially mediate the impactof perceived confirmation on customer satisfaction. Moreover, this study validatesthe extensions of the interpersonal trust construct to trust in OPRs and examinesthe nomological validity of trust in terms of competence, benevolence, andintegrity. The findings provide a number of theoretical and practical implications.&nbsp

Perceived Justice and Email Service Recovery

This study adds to the limited research of email service recovery. It is perhaps the first non-US study of email service recovery as well as the first study to apply a theoretical perspective ¬– perceived justice – to email service recovery. The results of three annual studies using Australian data resemble US results and support extending perceived justice to service recovery via email. The distributive elements of replying and offering compensation, the procedural element of answering completely and the interactional element of thanking the customer showed significant positive relationships with customer satisfaction, positive word-of-mouth and repurchase intent. Perhaps most importantly for practitioners, the results of a stepwise regression showed that incorporating the simple phrase "thank-you" in the email reply was a strong predictor of successful email service recovery. Finally, this study found that response time might be less critical than previously thought

Auctioning Rough Diamonds: A Competitive Sales Process for BHP Billiton’s Ekati Diamonds

We describe a new approach for selling rough diamonds through competitive auctions. The classical approach of De Beers—giving each customer a bag of stones and a take-it-or-leave-it price—worked well in near monopoly circumstances, but is ill-suited for competitive producers. Competitive producers, like BHP Billiton, benefit from getting the diamonds to those who value them the most. Beginning in 2008, BHP Billiton introduced a simple auction process to assign its Ekati diamonds to the highest bidders at competitive market prices. A Spot auction, ten times per year, is used to establish prices for each of nineteen deals of diamonds grouped by size, color, and quality. A Term auction allows customers to lock in a long-term supply commitment at prices indexed to future Spot auctions. A Specials auction, two or three times per year, prices large stones. The auctions use an ascending-clock format in which prices increase for each product until there is no excess demand. This approach allows customers to discover market prices, while managing portfolio and budget constraints. The approach has proven remarkably successful in pricing and allocating the mine’s output even in the face of the global financial crisis.diamond auctions, market design

From post-consumption experience evaluation to online generated content and intensification

En el contexto de los museos, el presente trabajo analiza hasta qué punto la evaluación de la experiencia in situ (satisfacción y valor percibido) que realizan los visitantes refuerza sus comportamientos online a corto plazo (consultar y generar contenido online). Sobre la base de la teoría del equilibrio y de la teoría del nivel óptimo de estimulación, proponemos la existencia de un efecto de la evaluación de la experiencia que adoptará forma de U invertida sobre la intensificación y forma de U sobre la intención de generar contenido online después de la visita. Los resultados indican que la satisfacción fomenta la intención de consumir más contenido, mientras que la percepción de haber alcanzado el máximo valor lo limita (efecto U invertida). Por otro lado, si bien la satisfacción y la percepción de una visita rentable motivan a los visitantes a publicar comentarios, las malas experiencias en los museos no tienen ningún impacto en la generación de contenido online.In the context of museums, this paper analyses to what extent visitor evaluation of the in situ experience (satisfaction and perceived value) drives their short-term online behaviours (visiting online content and generating content in online sites). On the basis of the balance theory and on the optimal stimulation level theory, it proposes that the evaluation of the experience has an inverted U-effect on visit intensification while a U-effect on the intention to generate content after the visit. Findings indicate that satisfaction fosters the intention to consume further content, while the perception of having gained the maximum value limits it (inverted U-effect). On the other hand, while satisfaction and the perception of a profitable visit motivate visitors to post online comments, poor experiences in museums have no impact on the generation of online content

THE IMPACT OF IFRS ON REPORTING FOR BUSINESS COMBINATIONS: AN IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS USING THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY

The mandatory use of IFRS by all publicly listed companies in the European Union created challenges for accounting and reporting of business combinations, goodwill impairment and disclosures for these items. Major issues are allocation of amounts to goodwill and specific intangible assets arising from acquisition. This study presents an in-depth exploration of compliance with IFRS 3 and IAS 36 using content analysis methodology of annual reports of eight European telecommunications that were chose because the industry is well known for significant acquisitions involving intangibles. The results show only partial compliance with little change over the four year period since mandatory IFRS adoption. While results cannot be generalized outside this group, the in-depth analysis yielded important insights for continued research using broader research methods.IFRS, business combinations, goodwill, content analysis, annual reports, listed companies

Customized Employment: Applying Practical Solutions for Employment Success (Volume 1)

[Excerpt] The Customized Employment process is a flexible blend of strategies, services, and supports designed to increase employment options for job seekers with complex needs through voluntary negotiation of the employment relationship with an employer. The job seeker is the primary source of information and drives the process. The Customized Employment process begins with an exploration phase, which lays the foundation for employment planning. Planning results in a blueprint for the job search where an employment relationship is negotiated to meet the needs of both the job seeker and the employer

The effects of loyalty programs on customer satisfaction, trust, and loyalty toward high- and low-end fashion retailers

This study examines the differential effects of the benefits customers receive from a loyalty program (LP) on satisfaction with the LP, trust in the LP, and store loyalty for high- and low-end fashion retailers. With survey data from U.S. LP subscribers, the study tests the relationships using multiple regressions and analysis of covariance. The results show that symbolic benefits are more important for high-end fashion store consumers' satisfaction with the LP; conversely, utilitarian benefits increase consumers' satisfaction with the LP more in low-end fashion retailing, whereas hedonic benefits increase consumers' satisfaction with the LP in both types of retailers. All benefits in both types of retailers affect trust in the LP. Finally, satisfaction with and trust in the LP are important drivers of loyalty to the retailer. The findings have important implications on how managers of high- and low-end fashion retailing can effectively design their LP rewards to maximize loyalty

Retail positioning through customer satisfaction: an alternative explanation to the resource-based view

Through exploring factors influencing effective retail positioning strategies in an emerging market environment, this paper challenges the role of isolation mechanism and heterogeneous idiosyncrasy argued by the resource-based view theory. By drawing on a sample of 11,577 customers from hypermarkets, electronic appliance specialty stores and department stores in major Chinese cities, we set up ten hypotheses and confirm a nine-item model for customeroriented retail positioning (perceived price, store image, product, shopping environment, customer service, payment process, after-sales service, store policies, and shopping convenience). Our results show that different retail formats achieve success through the implementation of similar positioning strategies, in which case, it is not heterogeneity but homogeneity that contributes to retailers' success greatly at the development stage of retail expansion. Our results challenge previously proved effectiveness of inimitability to success by the resource-based view, and support homogenous idiosyncrasy of retailers in the implementation of customer-oriented positioning strategies in an emerging market