The Flexible Executive Mindset: How Top Management Should Look at Tomorrow’s Markets

The need for management to better anticipate the future is the urgent message currently being advocated by consultants in strategic market planning. Uses a survey of high-level managers from Fortune 1,000 corporations to illustrate the advantages of cultivating a flexible mindset concerning environmental trends and their strategic marketing implications. Reviews projected developments in the economy, technology, ecology and the social/political environments that are expected to occur by 2005. Discusses appropriate marketing responses to these trends

The Business Environment of 1995 as Seen by Wisconsin Business Executives

Like many states, particularly those in the so-called rust bucket of the industrial north, Wisconsin is concerned about its business climate. A number of different steps with the potential to make Wisconsin\u27s business environment more hospitable have been taken. For example, the state income tax has been reduced; the state has partially funded a business development organization, Forward Wisconsin, to attract new companies to the area; and a state-appointed panel, the Wisconsin Strategic Development Commission, has filed its recommendations concerning the actions that should be considered in revitalizing the region\u27s business community. This article provides another perspective. It reports upon the views held by a sample of Wisconsin business executives concerning the nature of the business environment in 1995. Specifically, this paper reports on the perceptions held by 24 executives (mostly vice presidents of planning or marketing) from Wisconsin corporations. Because vice-presidents of planning and marketing are most responsible for translating environmental trends into strategic actions, we believe their vision of the general business climate in 1995 will be of keen interest to those concerned about the future of Wisconsin\u27s economy

Marketing in 1985: A View from the Ivory Tower: How will the business environment of 1985 affect competitive marketing strategy?

Inflation and recession, resource shortages, a web of ecological problems, changing social values, a proliferation of business regulations, and other developments of recent years have taken their toll on American business. Such changes in the external environment of business have stimulated academicians and writers for the general media to address questions such as: Can Capitalism Survive: ; Can Marketing Survive? ; Will Shortages Bankrupt the Marketing Concept? Others are directing their efforts to forecasting the uncertain future and the burgeoning discipline of futures research. This article reports on the application of one futures research technique-the solicitation of expert opinion-to the field of marketing. Its purpose is to examine the major dimensions of the future of marketing as seen by marketing education leaders

Macroenvironmental Forces, Marketing Strategy and Business Performance: A Futures Research Approach

A method of futures research is used to empirically test a structure-conduct-performance (SCP) model in a marketing setting. It is proposed that within the macroenvironment there exist, varying levels of resource constraints and structural fluctuations which are positively correlated. Increased resource constraints and structural fluctuations, which are characteristics of a turbulent environment, are expected to increase the competititive intensity in an industry. This higher level of competitive intensity is hypothesized to result in increased use of nonprice marketing strategies. Nonprice marketing strategies are also expected to increase business performance because of the contingency relationship be tween conduct (strategy) and performance. The possible role of "blind" luck or stochastic processes in determining suc cess is also discussed.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Does Co-Creation of Service Recovery Create Value for Customers? The Underlying Mechanism of Motivation and the Role of Operant Resources

International audienceThis study focuses on the underlying mechanism that leads to co‐recovery behaviour and favourable co‐created value as response to a service failure. It argues that consumers’ ability to integrate their operant resources (e.g., knowledge and skills) to co‐recover from a service failure motivates them to express higher value co‐recovery in‐role behaviour and hence enjoy higher hedonic and utilitarian values. To test this claim, our study investigates the impact of consumers’ ability to co‐recover on value co‐recovery in‐role behaviour by taking into account extrinsic and intrinsic motivation as mediators. The results reveal that extrinsic motivation only partially mediates the relationship between ability to co‐recover and value co‐recovery in‐role behaviour. Furthermore, the outcomes demonstrate that value co‐recovery in‐role behaviour increases utilitarian value but decreases hedonic valu

Ethical Marketing: Perceptions of Economic Goods and Social Problems

A methodology associated with experimental social psychology was used to ascertain whether there are different ethical overtones perceived in the marketing of different products despite all other aspects of the marketing situation being comparable. The methodology consisted of using four vignettes of marketing strategy with the product utilized being the only element varied across the scenarios. Results indicate that ethical evaluations are product dependent and are more severe for social goods than for traditional economic goods.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Using insights from (public) services management to improve student engagement in higher education

This paper argues that current approaches used to assess and monitor student engagement in UK higher education are failing to fulfil their potential by superficially helping institutions to appear professional and innovative yet failing to accurately measure and improve engagement. Drawing on service management literature including (Public) Service Dominant theory, this paper argues that current strategies are failing to deliver for three main reasons. They do not capture the full value students derive from their engagement experience, they underplay the impact of peers within the ecosystem and they do not effectively engage employees. The paper concludes by exploring the implications of these omissions for further research and practice

Expanding understanding of service exchange and value co-creation: A social construction approach

According to service-dominant logic (S-D logic), all providers are service providers, and service is the fundamental basis of exchange. Value is co-created with customers and assessed on the basis of value-in-context. However, the extensive literature on S-D logic could benefit from paying explicit attention to the fact that both service exchange and value co-creation are influenced by social forces. The aim of this study is to expand understanding of service exchange and value co-creation by complementing these central aspects of S-D logic with key concepts from social construction theories (social structures, social systems, roles, positions, interactions, and reproduction of social structures). The study develops and describes a new framework for understanding how the concepts of service exchange and value co-creation are affected by recognizing that they are embedded in social systems. The study contends that value should be understood as value-in-social-context and that value is a social construction. Value co-creation is shaped by social forces, is reproduced in social structures, and can be asymmetric for the actors involved. Service exchanges are dynamic, and actors learn and change their roles within dynamic service systems