John B. Ford

Importance‐performance analysis as a strategic tool for service marketers: the case of service quality perceptions of business students in New Zealand and the USA

Intense competition in higher education in many different countries mandates the need for assessments of customer‐perceived service quality for differentiation purposes. An instrument developed specifically from a business education setting was employed utilizing an importance/performance approach with seven determinant choice criteria groupings. A sample of business students in New Zealand and the mid‐Atlantic region of the USA participated, and some important problems in perceptions were noted. Strategic implications for the universities involved and suggestions for future research are provided

The service recovery paradox: justifiable theory or smoldering myth?

– The purpose of this study is to address the discrepancy between research that supports the service failure recovery and that which does not by examining customer satisfaction in the event of a service failure empirically., – The objective of the study was achieved by conducting role‐play experiments on undergraduate business students., – Analysis showed that a service recovery paradox is most likely to occur when the failure is not considered by the customer to be severe, the customer has had no prior failure with the firm, the cause of the failure was viewed as unstable by the customer, and the customer perceived that the company had little control over the cause of the failure., – This information should benefit service managers since service failures are common and typically trigger heightened customer attention. These findings may stimulate future research because the limitations of this study include the use of undergraduate business students and the examination of only one service setting. Nevertheless, this paper does demonstrate that, under the appropriate conditions, a customer can experience a paradoxical satisfaction increase after a service failure.

Gender Role Portrayals in Japanese Advertising: A Magazine Content Analysis

Abstract The authors report a content analysis that assessed gender role portrayals in advertisements from highest circulation Japanese magazines. They found that, although some indigenous gender stereotyping was evident, several traits previously associated with Japanese women (devoted, obliging, rattle-brained, superstitious, thorough) were associated with men. Also, men were not linked with certain stereotypical male traits (autocratic, blustery, forgiving, generous, severe). Other findings included women being shown in a positive way as often as men. In terms of common international stereotypes, women were not associated with low priced products or portrayed as being more deferential than men. However, women still were portrayed as more concerned with appearance and as younger than men, were not depicted as product authorities, and were shown more often in sexist than in nonsexist depictions.

Contemporary women′s evaluation of female role portrayals in advertising

Uses an upscale female sample to extend previous research on women′s perceptions of their role portrayal in advertising media. Indicates that serious disenchantment with perceived portrayal of women still exists for this important group of consumers. Measures various attitudinal, company image, and purchase intention responses in addition to salient demographic and role orientation variables. Discusses the implications for advertisers using female models in their advertisements.

Service failure recovery in China

In the hotel industry, exceptional service failure recovery is a key determinant of customer satisfaction and loyalty. Western‐based hotel corporations should adapt their failure recovery training programs for their properties in China. Adjustments are necessary because of differences in cognitive processing. Modifications are also required due to various Chinese cultural characteristics.

Are Exporting Firms Modifying Their Product, Pricing and Promotion Policies?

Firms in the electrical, machine tool builders, food processing equipment, and fluid power industries were surveyed concerning their export marketing policies. Except in promotion, most of these industrial firms follow a standardised marketing approach. Their export budgets are smaller than their domestic budgets. Also the firms indicated that they were only lukewarm about their overall export performance; those most satisfied with their export performance tend to be larger, more experienced in exporting, or spend equal or greater amounts on export promotion than on comparable domestic product line promotion.

Charity Brand Personality: The Relationship With Giving Behavior:

Charity brands have been found to assist income generation by enhancing donor understanding of an organization and what it stands for. Despite an increasing interest in this topic, few studies have addressed the dimensions of such brands and sought to explore the link (if any) with donor behavior. The authors report the results of a large-scale postal survey of donors to nine national nonprofits and conclude that traits associated with benevolence, progression, and conservatism are incapable of distinguishing between the studys participating brands. Traits associated with emotional engagement, service, voice, and tradition are capable of serving as the basis for differentiation and are also linked to facets of individual giving behavior.

Does perception matter?: an empirical analysis of donor behaviour

This article provides the first empirically based marketing model of the perceptions of givers and the resulting impact on donations. Within nonprofit marketing there is a considerable amount of extant research to support the view that both extrinsic and intrinsic variables can be used to separate givers and non-givers to charities. However, they are less useful in explaining how individuals select between the charitable alternatives and in understanding how people determine and apportion support. Perceptual factors offer more utility in this regard. Structural equations models are presented based on a survey of over 2,300 active and lapsed donors that link a series of perceptual determinants to four relevant charity performance measures: the total amount given to charity, the number of gifts given, the giving lifetime between the individual and the charity, and the amount given yearly. Marketing management implications are identified.

Perception of marital roles in purchase decision processes: A cross-cultural study

Following the approach of the classic 1974 marital-role influence study of Davis and Rigaux, the present study focuses on differences in decision making (i.e., joint, husband dominated, wife dominated) across 24 product categories as a function of two key factors. These factors are stage of the decision process (i.e., problem recognition, information search, and the final decision) and culture (People’s Republic of China and the United States). The Jacobson Marital-Role Egalitarianism Scale is included to further assess individual differences in husband and wife traditionality-modernism. The major findings are that emphasis on joint, husband-dominated, and wife-dominated decisions vary by stage and by stage-culture interaction. Practical implications are presented with suggestions for future research.

Guidelines for managing an international sales force

Abstract In todays global economy, increasing numbers of companies are entering the international marketplace. For many companies, the role played by the sales manager will ultimately determine the success of the firm. Whereas all sales managers plan, implement, and control activities, these areas of responsibility become far more complex in the global arena. This article examines the principal managerial functions, discusses specific situations, and provides guidelines to assist sales managers with their role in the global marketplace.