Channel Power in Multi-Channel Environments

In the literature, little attention has been paid to instances where companies add an Internet channel to their direct channel portfolio. However, actively managing multiple sales channels requires knowing the customers’ channel preferences and the resulting channel power. Two key components of channel power are (i) the existing customers’ intrinsic loyalty to a channel, and (ii) the channel’s ability to attract new customers. We apply the Colombo and Morrison (1989) model to analyze the channel loyalty and conquesting power of two direct channels operated by a given firm. In addition, we analyze the evolution over time in each channel’s power, and test for differences in channel power among different product categories offered by the firm, and among different customer segments

Institutional Forecasting: The Performance of Thin Virtual Stock Markets

We study the performance of Virtual Stock Markets (VSMs) in an institutional forecasting environment. We compare VSMs to the Combined Judgmental Forecast (CJF) and the Key Informant (KI) approach. We find that VSMs can be effectively applied in an environment with a small number of knowledgeable informants, i.e., in thin markets. Our results show that none of the three approaches differ in forecasting accuracy in a low knowledge-heterogeneity environment. However, where there is high knowledge-heterogeneity, the VSM approach outperforms the CJF approach, which in turn outperforms the KI approach. Hence, our results provide useful insight into when each of the three approaches might be most effectively applied

Biographical notes

This is a preprint of an Article accepted for publication in th