Assessing Customer Evaluation and Revenue Consequences of Component Sharing Across Brands in the Vertical Product Line

Component sharing may look great in the boardroom, but not in the showroom. Indeed, savings on R&D and production costs could be offset by a plunge in customer brand attractiveness and willingness to pay. This paper investigates the impact of component sharing on customer evaluation of luxury, volume and economy brands offered in a car manufacturer’s vertical product line and its subsequent revenue consequences. The authors consider both the harm to the higher-end brand and the benefits for the lower end brand, and analyze with a random effects model how the size of these effects depends on the brand combination, the type of component, the source of the components sharing, and customer characteristics. An experimental study shows that the harm for the higher-end brand is largest, when (1) a luxury brand shares components with a volume brand, (2) the source of the components is the higherend brand, and when (3) the customer has a high initial evaluation of the higher-end brand. For the lower-end brand, the positive effect is largest, when (1) a volume brand shares with an economy brand, (2) the lower-end brand is the source of the components, and (3) customers have a high initial evaluation of the higher-end brand. Components that have a strong impact on evaluation are interior, wheels, chassis and the engine. Simulations show that sharing components typically translates in negative revenue consequences for both analyzed manufacturers. An interesting exception emerges for the Japanese manufacturer, which obtains a boost in total revenue when its small luxury brand shares components with its large volume brand

Understanding the Impact of Brand Delistings on Assortment Evaluations and Store Switching and Complaining Intentions

Recently, retailers have begun considering which brands they can delist without reducing customer satisfaction, losing category sales, or increasing store switching behavior. Although several studies have considered assortment reductions, none has explicitly investigated the impact of total brand delistings. Therefore, the authors study the impact of brand delistings on assortment evaluations and store switching and complaining intentions. They execute both a controlled experiment and a survey and find that brand delisting mainly has negative consequences when the delisted brands have high equity, assortment size is limited, the assortment consists of a low proportion of high-equity brands, and the brand delistings take place in categories with high hedonic levels. The authors discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings

Predicting Customer Potential Value: an application in the insurance industry

For effective Customer Relationship Management (CRM), it is essential to have information on the potential value of customers. Based on the interplay between potential value and realized value, managers can devise customer specific strategies. In this article we introduce a model for predicting the potential value of a current customer. Furthermore, we discuss and apply d

Consumer Perception and Evaluation of Waiting Time

Telephone waiting times for a commercial service were varied in two different experiments. In the first experiment, the telephone rate was either zero or fixed at Dfl.1.- (approx. $0.40) per minute. Consumer perceptions of waiting times could be described best by a psychophysical power function. Furthermore, wait evaluations were mainly influenced by the difference between the consumers' acceptable and perceived waiting times. The negative effect of perceived waiting time on wait evaluations was increased by the monetary costs of waiting. In the second experiment, the waiting times were filled in different ways: music, queue information, and information about expected waiting time. Information about the expected waiting time significantly reduced the consumer's overestimation of waiting time, whereas information about wait duration and queue increased the negative effect of perceived waiting time on wait evaluations

The Theoretical Underpinnings of Customer Asset Management

Most research in customer asset management has focused on specific aspects of the value of the customer to the company. The purpose of this article is to propose an integrated framework ? called CUSAMS -- that enables service organizations to comprehensively assess the value of their "customer assets" and to understand the influence of marketing instruments on them. The foundation of the CUSAMS framework is a careful specification of key customer behaviors that reflect the length, depth and breadth of the customer-service provider relationship: duration, usage, and cross-buying. This framework is the starting point for a set of theoretically based propositions regarding how marketing instruments influence customer behavior within the relationship, thereby influencing customer value. Then, building on prior research, we provide two empirical examples of how the CUSAMS framework can be used to conduct financial analyses of the return on investment from marketing expenditures designed to influence behavior and increase the value of the customer base. The framework and propositions provide the impetus for a research agenda that identifies critical issues in customer asset managemen

Explaining Choice and Share of Category Requirements of Biologic Meat

In this paper we examine factors determining choice and consumption of biologic or organic meat. In our model explaining choice and share of category requirements, we consider economic/marketing variables (quality, price, and distribution), emotions (fear, empathy, andguilt), social norms, environmental variables (environmental concern, green behavior, and perceived consumer effectiveness) as main antecedents of the choice and share of categoryrequirements of bio-meat. We also control for the effect of socio-demographics. Using a sample of 269 Dutch consumers we estimate a Tobit (2) model explaining choice and share of category requirements. Our results show that the choice for biologic meat is mainly affected by perceived quality of bio meat, in addition to the price-perception and fear of the health consequences of eating regular meat. Price perceptions and fear are also important determinants of share of category requirements, but beyond these factors empathy and social norms are also determinants of share of category requirements. Theoretical and policy implications of our results are discussed

Onderwijskwaliteit aan Nederlandse universiteiten

In discussies over de onderwijskwaliteit wordt continu beweerd dat deze daalt. In dit onderzoek wordt aangetoond dat er juist een stijging is van de ervaren onderwijskwaliteit. Een verdere stijging kan vooral worden gerealiseerd door het primaire onderwijsproces te verbeteren

On combining revealed and stated preferences to forecast customer behaviour: three case studies

Many companies collect stated preference data (SP) like intentions and satisfaction as well as revealed preference data (RP) like actual purchasing behavior. It seems relevant to examine the predictive usefulness of this information for future revealed preferences, that is, customer behavior. In this paper we address this issue by considering three case studies

Service Processes as a Sequence of Events

In this paper the service process is considered as a sequence of events. Using theory from economics and psychology a model is formulated that explains how the utility of each event affects the overall evaluation of the service process. In this model we especially account for the peak-and-end rule and negative consumer time preference. This model is tested in the context of telephone service calls in the financial service market. Our results show that both the average utility and the positive peak of the events positively affect customer satisfaction with the service call. Surprisingly, the end of the sequence has a negative effect. Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed

Understanding Brand and Dealer Retention in the New Car Market: The Moderating Role of Brand Type

Dealers are assumed to contribute positively to brand retention. We argue that the type of brand moderates the effect of dealer performance on brand retention. Moreover, dealer retention is determined by different drivers for dealers selling different types of brands. To analyze our claims empirically, we collected data on brand retention and dealer retention among consumers who recently purchased a new car. Our findings show that dealers of prestige and economy brands do not contribute to brand retention. Only dealers selling volume brands are in a position to improve brand retention rates. A simulation reveals however that the contribution of volume dealers to brand retention is rather small in comparison to the impact of brand-related variables on brand retention. In line with the notion of brand-dealer fit we also find that the impact of dealer extrinsic quality (e.g., dealer showrooms) and dealer payment equity on dealer retention differs between prestige, volume, and economy brands. Extrinsic dealer quality affects deale