Quality Perceptions of Private Label Brands: Conceptual Framework and Agenda for Research

Private Label brands had seen an impressive growth in past few decades. Though, initially private label brands had a low-priced strategy, retailers made efforts for serious quality improvements in recent years. However, they have continued to suffer from poor quality perceptions. Previous research dealing with quality perceptions of store brands did not adequately examine the ways to improve the quality perceptions of private label brands. The paper examines how retailers can influence the quality perceptions for private label brands by providing additional information cues to the customers. The nature of additional information cues may have differential impact on quality perceptions of private label brands vis-�-vis national brands. The paper proposes extrinsic high scope cues – in form of manufacturer’s name and public quality label – to improve the quality perceptions of private label brands. Furthermore, the familiarity of the product may influence the quality perceptions, consequently influencing the purchase decision. The paper also proposes differential impact of information cues across different product categories on quality perceptions of private label brands.

Salesperson’s Customer Orientation: A Reconceptualization and a New Definition

This study critically examines the existing domains, conceptualizations and operationalizations of the salesperson’s customer orientation constructs present in the literature. The widely used Salesperson orientation-Customer orientation (SOCO) construct (its domain, definition and scale) is examined in detail, and several inconsistencies were found. We also examine other individual-level and organizational-level orientation constructs, including market orientation, in order to appropriately delineate the boundaries of the salesperson’s customer orientation construct. Based on a comprehensive review of literature on the marketing concept, and related literatures on several other relevant orientation constructs, we suggest a new definition of this mid-level construct. Not only is our new definition more encompassing (to include all activities of the salesperson related to customers, and not just their interactions with the customers) but is also more forward-looking (salesperson’s enhanced role not just as need-fulfiller, but more as customers’ value co-creator). We sincerely hope that the new definition suggested by us would encourage scale development efforts from researchers, that would aid in further reducing (if not removing)the several inconsistencies present in the literature related to salespersons’ customer orientation, and its effect on their performance and effectiveness.

An Empirical View of the Different Types of Consumer Promotions in India

The paper provides an empirical view of the range of promotions launched in the Indian market place from 1996 to 2003. The different promotions include free gift offers, price offs, extra product offers, exchange offers, buy-more-and-save offers, contests and sweepstakes. The most frequently launched promotion is the free gift offer followed by the sweepstake offer and extra product offer. Some differences in trends are found across FMCG, Consumer Durable and Service sectors. A detailed description of each type of promotion is provided in order to highlight the different incentives offered by such promotions.

Wheat Marketing and its Efficiency in India

The study examines the marketing of wheat in India, focusing on the private marketing system, the marketing efficiency and quality. Wheat is now a major food staple in India, crucial to India’s food economy and security. With production reaching 70 to 75 million tons and a large demand, India’s wheat economy is the second largest in the world. The efficiency of marketing is crucial to farmer incomes, consumer welfare, as well as government budgets and the economy. Substantial changes are taking place in the marketing of wheat. The study finds that the farmers now almost invariably sell in the nearby primary markets rather than to village traders. The farmer choice of varieties is now becoming market oriented with quality and market acceptance becoming as important as yield. The typically market intermediary provides hardly any special, value adding or developmental services in return for the commissions and margins. The farmers see considerable scope for improvement in the marketing system. The consumer demand for wheat varies considerably across the country. But wheat has made inroads into food consumption in the east and the south. The retailers are increasingly conscious of consumer demand and quality, and keep a varietiy of wheat and wheat products. Direct buying of wheat grain, storing, and own recourse to processing are common in the north and the west, whereas direct purchase of wheat products such as flour is the norm in the east and the south. The trend is towards direct purchase of processed wheat products, and within this from loose to packaged branded wheat products. The estimated average total marketing cost of wheat is found to be of the order of Rs. 266 per quintal, and in this transport has the largest share of 40 percent, commission and taxes make up 25 percent, and wastage another 15 percent. When compared to the consumer-farmer price spread, the marketing costs account for 74 percent of the spread, leaving 26 percent for margins – this is fairly efficient but there is significant scope for improvement. On an average, the farmers receive 66 percent of what the consumer pays. The government channel marketing cost is reported to be Rs. 309 per quintal, but this does not cover the whole chain and is not strictly comparable. Examination of the question of market integration for wheat is difficult due to data and quality difference problems. Co-integration analysis using monthly price data for eight markets for the period April 1997 to June 2004 indicates that nationally the markets are integrated but the LOP (Law of One Price) does not hold, and the presence of six common stochastic trends implies the absence of full pair-wise co-integration.

Reconcilation of the Dichotomies in Marketing Theory and Practice

Although marketing researchers have aimed to discover theories in marketing, the level of theory development within the discipline is low. The paper reviews the knowledge development practices in marketing to identify a set of dichotomies that constrain theory development in the field. These dichotomies include (i) Dichotomy between positivist and relativist research paradigm, (ii) Dischotomy between theory testing and creation and (iii) Dichotomy between academics and practice. The paper then proposes means of reconciling these dichotomies so as to accelerate the level of theory development within the discipline.

Impact of Initial-Trust Image on Shopper Trust and Patronage Intentions

The objective of this study is to examine the role of store image in influencing shopper trust and patronage intentions when 1) the store has never been visited and 2) the store has been visited. This study also identifies three stages through which ‘trust-image’ progresses and uses the first stage to construct and ‘initial-trust-image’ of the store. The experimental study findings provide empirical support that initial-trust-image of the store has significant impact on trust and patronage intentions for some shoppers. Retailers entering the Indian market are advised to be conscious of the symbolic cues that they embed in the store appearance, especially since the initial-trust-image needs to convey more than just competence and expertise. Significantly, the findings also indicate that asymmetric effects of trust operate at the stage of initial-trust – negative initial-image perception causes greater mistrust than positive initial-image causes trust.

The Value-Congruity Relationship Model

Marketers have always aimed at improving quality of relationship with consumers. Recent efforts exploring into brand-consumer relationships indicates that individuals use the interpersonal relationship elements to forge associations with brands and stores. This paper draws from interpersonal literature to develop a value-congruity model of relationship where four district circles are identified. Each circle is associated with a set of values and relationship progression is conceived of as a movement inwards based on value-congruity.

Steady-State Method to Measure the In-Plane Thermal Conductivity of Thin Sheet Materials

A new generation of silicon pixel detectors is required to cope with the unprecedented luminosities at the high-luminosity phase of the Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) in 2025. The HL-LHC provides a high radiation, high interaction rate environment for the innermost detector region of the CMS detector. This can lead to an uncontrolled increase in temperature of the detector that can destroy the silicon pixels. Moreover, too high operating temperature can add noise to the data obtained from the detector and can slow the read out cheap down. Therefore, the Phase II upgrade to the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment requires an improved heat removal scheme. This challenge can be solved by using carbon fiber as one of the materials for silicon detector support structure. This material has relatively high thermal conductivity and structural stability. To properly simulate the behavior of a support structure in the experiment environment, it is crucial to know the thermal conductivity of these materials. The thermal conductivity of carbon fiber is anisotropic, meaning that it is different for different directions through the material. Therefore, we measure the thermal conductivity along and perpendicular to the fibers. To measure the in-plane thermal conductivity of thin sheet carbon fiber, the steady-state method is employed. The validation of the apparatus is done with two materials of known conductivity. In-plane thermal conductivity measurements of several thin carbon fiber sheets are performed. Measurement results show the Carbon Fiber K13D2U thermal conductivity of 515 W/mK in the plane and along the fiber

Sensitivity to endothelin-1 is decreased in isolated livers of endothelial constitutive nitric oxide synthase knockout mice

BACKGROUND: Hepatic sinusoidal resistance is regulated by vasoactive factors including endothelin-1 (ET-1) and nitric oxide (NO). In the absence of NO, vasoconstrictor response to endothelin is expected to predominate. Therefore, we hypothesized sensitivity to endothelin to be increased in mice lacking the endothelial cell NO synthase gene. Response of vascular resistance to endothelin was assessed in the in situ perfused liver of endothelial constitutive nitric oxide synthase (ecNOS) knockout and wild type mice. Livers were also harvested for RNA and protein isolation for quantitative PCR and Western blotting, respectively. The expression of endothelin receptors, isoenzymes of NO synthase, heme-oxygenase and adrenomedullin was quantified. RESULTS: Endothelin increased hepatic vascular resistance in a dose-dependent manner in both strains; however, this increase was significantly less in ecNOS knockout mice at physiologic concentrations. Expression of heme-oxygenases and adrenomedullin was similar in both groups, whereas inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) protein was not detectable in either strain. mRNA levels of pre-pro-endothelin-1 and ET(B )receptor were comparable in both strains, while mRNA for ET(A )receptor was decreased in ecNOS knockouts. CONCLUSION: Livers of ecNOS knockout mice have a decreased sensitivity to endothelin at physiologic concentrations; this is associated with a decreased expression of ET(A )receptors, but not with other factors, such as iNOS, ET(B )receptors, adrenomedullin or heme-oxygenase. Further studies targeting adaptive changes in ET(A )receptor distribution and/or intracellular signaling downstream of the receptor are indicated