Del I. Hawkins

New business entrepreneurship in the Japanese economy

Abstract This article presents the results of a study focused on the role of new business entrepreneurship in the Japanese economy. Particular attention is paid to the activities of various government agencies in relation to new business entrepreneurship and to the barriers to this activity in Japan. New business entrepreneurship was defined as the formation and rapid growth of a business enterprise through unique approaches to the firms activities. In contrast to the American stereotype of Japan as an economy of a few large, interconnected firms, it is, in fact, characterized by small- and medium-sized enterprises. Over 99% of all Japanese enterprises are categorized as small or medium and over 80% of all employed Japanese are employed by such firms. However, very few of these firms are entrepreneurial in nature. The vast majority are small firms that are either subcontractors to a single larger firm or small retail, wholesale, or restaurant establishments. The start-up rate for all types of businesses in Japan has been declining for the past 10 to 15 years. More importantly, the rate of start-up s for independent firms, as opposed to firms started by a larger firm to serve primarily as a subcontractor, declined even more sharply. This indicates a significant weakness in Japans otherwise strong economy. The low and declining rate of new business entrepreneurship in Japan is a function of structural, governmental, and cultural barriers. Structural barriers include an acute, long-term labor shortage, high financial start-up costs due in large part to high land prices, and a shortage of venture capital funding. Government barriers include “red tape,” financial and other support for small firms that is withdrawn as they enter rapid growth, and the persistent protection of inefficient industry structures. Cultural barriers involve Japans strong group/collective orientation, the traditional career path in Japan, bounds on creativity, and the fact that entrepreneurship is not assigned a high social value. While the government provides an extensive, well-developed network of services for small- and medium-sized firms, these programs are not designed to facilitate rapid growth into the large firm phase. The Japanese experiences and programs offer useful insights for policy and tactics by other governments.

Peer group influences on children’s product preferences

In contrast to earlier studies using adult subjects, this experiment with first graders did not f’md a high degree of brand loyalty development in response to a minimally differentiated product. In fact, while some brand preferences did develop, most subjects appeared to seek some degree of variety in their choices. It is interesting to speculate that children have a “greater need for novelty” than adults and are thus less likely to develop brand loyalty. However, extensive research will be required to remove this proposition from the realm of speculation.

The nature and measurement of marketing productivity in consumer durables industries: A firm level analysis

Improving productivity is a major concern in American industry. Efforts to enhance marketing productivity have been hampered by a lack of a clear conception of what constitutes productivity in the marketing area and an associated absence of standards or benchmarks with which to compare a firm’s performance and costs. In this paper a concept of marketing productivity is presented. The PIMS data base is then used to develop situation specific benchmarks for the consumer durables industries. Reliability and validity tests of the benchmarks are presented and the managerial implications of this approach are discussed.

Continuous vs Discrete Semantic Differential Rating Scales

This study examined the equivalence of information obtained from a five-category semantic differential rating scale and a continuous scale of the same length. Data from 176 university students showed that equivalent information was obtained for comparisons of scale means, variances, and shapes of the response distributions. Because continuous rating scales can provide the same aggregate information yet provide greater discrimination at an individual level of measurement, continuous semantic differential rating scales have an advantage in studies where individual differences are important.

The impact of monetary inducement on uninformed response error

Response quality (accuracy) is replacing response quantity (response rate and nonresponse error) as the major issue in survey research methodology. Using a survey of 500 members of the general public from four cities, the authors examine an important aspect of response quality: uniformed response error. By asking respondents to evaluate the past performance of a fictitious public agency, the authors examine the effect that using a monetary inducement to increase the response rate to a mail survey has on uniformed response error. In addition, the ability of a “Don’t know” option to reduce uninformed response error is analyzed. The important impact that uniformed responses can have on response quality is documented.

Managerial bias in anticipated images of competing shopping areas

Abstract Several dimensions of consumer retail patronage decisions that affect the firms marketing program are investigated. In particular, the focus of the research extends previous research in the area to investigate the images held by consumers of shopping malls rather than individual stores. Second, the ability of store managers to accurately predict the image held by consumers both of their own shopping area and of a competitors shopping area is investigated. This is designed to evaluate the ability of managers to predict consumer perceptions irrespective of their own beliefs. Finally, differences in the perceptions of two potential market segments are compared. Manager ability to differentiate between segments is noted. The implications for marketing programming decisions and the contribution the research makes to the body of literature on image measurement are discussed.

Differences in retail store images within husband-wife dyads

Aggregate measures of purchasing influence generally produce similar results whether husbands or wives serve as the respondents. However, this study indicates that wives should not be used as surrogates for husbands in studies measuring retail store images. The findings of this study indicate that developing marketing strategies based on the images held by wives may not be successful in dealing with the male segment of the market. There is substantial within-couple variation in the evaluation of specific aspects of specific retail stores. However, both groups do appear to use similar evaluative criteria. The differences are in the evaluation of the store characteristics, not in the underlying criteria.

Geographic Mobility and Demographic and Socioeconomic Market Segmentation

A change in geographic location is a common occurrence in American society and it tends to initiate a series of consumption decisions. Past research indicates that those who move tend to differ in demographic and socioeconomic characteristics from those who do not move. Likewise, local movers have been found to differ from long-distance movers. This study analyzes the extent to which intercounty movers differ from intracounty movers on socioeconomic and demographic variables. The results suggest that these two groups are not unique market segments.

Retailing strategy for customer growth and new customer attraction

Abstract The image that current and potential customers have of a retail store affects the magnitude of patronage at that store. In attempting to increase store patronage, management of a retail store must look to people who already are customers, as well as to people who are not current customers. The appropriate strategy depends upon the dimensions used by people in their evaluation of the store. The hypothesis is tested that the strategy used for gaining increased patronage from customers may have to differ from that used to gain patronage from noncustomers. Field survey techniques were used to collect data from 225 adult females. Respondents evaluated three large retail department stores, which were believed to have distinct images in the minds of female shoppers, on the basis of a set of 12 semantic scales that represented various store attributes. Each respondent indicated frequency of shopping at each store. The data were analyzed by two different multiple discriminant analyses. For the customer growth strategy, the semantic scale measures were used to develop a discriminant model for each store to determine which attributes would be the best predictors of shopping frequency. The analysis relevant to the strategy of new customer attraction differed. First, shoppers were classified as loyal to one store on the basis of their rates of shopping at each store. Second, the 36 attribute measurements (12 scales for 3 stores) were factor analyzed, and three factors were extracted. Those attributes which loaded highest on each of the factors for each store were used as predictor variables in the discriminant analysis. The results of this study indicate that different marketing strategies may be required for increasing sales to existing customers and attracting new customers. In addition, consumers do not necessarily differentiate similar type retail stores on the same dimension.

Factors Affecting Industrial Marketing Performance

This paper develops a conceptual definition of industrial marketing performance. Controllable and uncontrollable variables are related to marketing performance via regression analysis using the PIMS data base.