A review of brand-loyalty measures in marketing.

Marketing; Brand loyalty;

A review of brand-loyalty measures in marketing.

Brand loyalty represents an important asset to the firm. While considerable agreement exists on its conceptual definition, no unified approach to operationalize the concept has yet emerged in the marketing literature. We provide a conceptual framework to classify existing management approaches, discuss their relative advantages/disadvantages and provide some managerial recommendations.Brand loyalty; Marketing; Loyalty; Management;

Die teologiese gerigtheid van die Departement Kerkgeskiedenis 1957-1992

The theological character of the Department of Church History 1957-1992The theological character of the Department of Church History at the Theological Faculty (Sec A) of the University of Pretoria is closely connected to the life andwork of prof dr A D Pont. He accepted the call to the chair as a commission of the Church. His thought represents an extract of biblical and reformational theologyenriched by a wide spectrum of theological thinking from the past and the present by great theologians like Kohlbrugge, Hoedemaker, Barth, Cullmann and Noordmans. The theology of the Reformation, however, is taken as the criterion of comparison for the history of the church before and since. With regard to South African Church History, Pont laid the foundations for a typical theology of the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika, emphasising the close relationship between the Church and the Afrikaner

PROPERTIUS 2.31: WHAT THE POET SAYS HE SAW

Not only has Propertius 2.31 been used as a kind of artefact to reconstruct the Temple of Apollo on the Palatine, but it has also been used to show both that the poet was supporting the new ruler of Rome by eulogising his building projects and to show that the poet was anti-Augustan and expressed his opinions through subtly embedded allusions in the poem. This paper re-examines the artworks described in the poem, recent archaeological evidence and some of the poet’s earlier work in order to understand to what extent the temple described in the poem corresponded to the physical temple in Rome; what kind of political message or social commentary the poem delivers, if any; and what this message says about the world of the poet. The paper concludes that it is impossible to say how closely the description of the Temple of Apollo in the poem corresponded to the actual temple, partly because the poet could and probably did exploit the fact that his audience were familiar with the temple, such as emphasising certain features by omitting them. The poem does have a political message suggested by the detail of the artworks it describes, but this message is not anti-Augustan per se. Compared to the author’s other early work, the poem professes strong pacifist sentiments, as is common to Roman elegy, but at no stage blames the princeps for the loss of human life which Propertius’ poems deplores

Competitive reactions and the cross-sales effects of advertising and promotion.

Abstract: How do competitors react to each other's price-promotion and advertising actions? How do these reactions influence the net sales impact we observe? We answer these questions by performing a large-scale empirical study of the short-run and long-run reactions to promotion and advertising shocks in over 400 consumer product categories, over a four-year time span.Competitive reaction can be passive, accommodating or retaliatory. We first develop a series of expectations on the type and intensity of reaction behavior, and on the moderators of this behavior. These expectations are assessed in two ways. First, vector-autoregressive models quantify the short-run and long-run effect of a promotion or advertising action on competitive sales and on competitive reactions. By cataloging the numerical results, we are able to formulate empirical generalizations of reaction behavior ('how do they react?'). Second, we estimate structural models of reaction intensity, in function of various market and competitive characteristics ('what are the drivers of reaction?'). Finally, by comparing our findings on reaction behavior with those on promotion and advertising effectiveness, we are able to evaluate competitive reaction behavior ('are they reacting as they should?').A major finding is that competitive reaction is predominantly passive. When it is present, it is usually retaliatory in the same instrument, but accommodating or retaliatory in a different instrument. There are very few long-run consequences of any type of reaction behavior. We also report on several moderating effects that are in line with expectations, and that support the presence of a certain amount of rationality in competitive reaction behavior.The net impact of the over-time effects of advertising and price-promotion attacks, competitive reactions and the sales effectiveness of each, is that competitors' sales are generally not affected, and especially not in the long run. We weigh the evidence that this sales neutrality is 'natural' (i.e., due to the nature of consumer response) versus 'managed' (i.e., due to the vigilance and effectiveness of competitors), and conclude in favor of the former.

Mixture model analysis of complex samples

This paper investigates asymmetric effects of monetary policy over the business cycle. A two-state Markov Switching Model is employed to model both recessions and expansions. For the United States and Germany, strong evidence is found that monetary policy is more effective in a recession than during a boom. Also some evidence is found for asymmetry in the United Kingdom and Belgium. In the Netherlands, monetary policy is not very effective in either regime.

The impact of business-cycle fluctuations on private-label share.

This study investigates the cyclical dependence of private-label success in four countries. The results show that private-label share behaves countercyclically. Moreover, asymmetries are present in both the extent and speed of up- and down-ward movements in private-label share over the business cycle. Finally, part of private-labels' share gain during contractions is found to be permanent.Business; Country; Dependence; Studies; Success;

Competitive Reactions and the Cross-Sales Effects of Advertising and Promotion

How do competitors react to each other's price-promotion and advertising actions? How do these reactions influence the net sales impact we observe? We answer these questions by performing a large-scale empirical study of the short-run and long-run reactions to promotion and advertising shocks in over 400 consumer product categories, over a four-year time span. Competitive reaction can be passive, accommodating or retaliatory. We first develop a series of expectations on the type and intensity of reaction behavior, and on the moderators of this behavior. These expectations are assessed in two ways. First, vector-autoregressive models quantify the short-run and long-run effect of a promotion or advertising action on competitive sales and on competitive reactions. By cataloging the numerical results, we are able to formulate empirical generalizations of reaction behavior ("how do they react?"). Second, we estimate structural models of reaction intensity, in function of various market and competitive characteristics ("what are the drivers of reaction?"). Finally, by comparing our findings on reaction behavior with those on promotion and advertising effectiveness, we are able to evaluate competitive reaction behavior ("are they reacting as they should?"). A major finding is that competitive reaction is predominantly passive. When it is present, it is usually retaliatory in the same instrument, but accommodating or retaliatory in a different instrument. There are very few long-run consequences of any type of reaction behavior. We also report on several moderating effects that are in line with expectations, and that support the presence of a certain amount of rationality in competitive reaction behavior. The net impact of the over-time effects of advertising and price-promotion attacks, competitive reactions and the sales effectiveness of each, is that competitors' sales are generally not affected, and especially not in the long run. We weigh the evidence that this sales neutrality is "natural" (i.e., due to the nature of consumer response) versus "managed" (i.e., due to the vigilance and effectiveness of competitors), and conclude in favor of the former.advertising;competitive reactions;impulse response functions;price promotions