John C. Driver

Developments in airline marketing practice

Discusses how marketing practice is competitively evolving as airlines, in a code‐sharing environment, seek to be more effective, efficient and profitable. It complements changes to airline structures in routeing, staffing levels and technology, and by establishing strong brand presence is a means for customer attraction, retention and network expansion. Distribution channels are changing as travel agencies are affected by airlines’ direct sales and Internet‐based interactive communication. Traditional segmentation tactics directed to business travellers, through frequent flyer programmes and premium services, are threatened by businesses economising, staff reductions and the increasing importance of the leisure traveller. An overview of international practice is taken and points illustrated, where appropriate, by examples of specific airlines.

Managing customer behaviour dynamics in the multi-channel e-business environment: Enhancing customer relationship capital in the global hotel industry

Managing the dynamics of customer behaviour in the rapidly emerging multi-channel e-business environment is complex. Establishing an enduring and profitable dialogue with a customer requires that online relationship management applications can accommodate the channel variety in the customer’s e-communications portfolio, including their buyer behaviour dynamics. With reference to the global hotel industry, this paper considers the impact of Internet multi-channel access on the customer decision-making process; how differences in buyer behaviour and loyalty level influence the relationship management process; and the implications of effectively managing buyer behaviour and the provision of multi-channel customer accessibility for competitive advantage.

New frontiers in cybersegmentation: marketing success in cyberspace depends on IP address

Focuses on the forthcoming next generation Internet’s address system (IPv6) which will potentially redefine the way marketers approach the segmentation of interactive cybermarkets. Explores the ramifications of Internet‐based purchasing systems to buyer behaviour. Differences and similarities of next generation direct marketing compared with classic and neoclassic direct marketing approaches are evaluated. Sensitivity to changes and differences in customer decision‐loyalty type are explored from the perspective of building high value customer relationships, where decision‐loyalty type is considered to be a key resegmentation variable for personalised interactive cybermarketing.

Airline marketing in regulatory context

The regulatory framework affects airlines’ marketing. As liberalisation proceeds marketing activity can be more widely based than under previous regimens, and now includes more possibilities in the product mix and price differentials. Cost issues and competitive pricing practices still prompt regulatory concern where monopolistic features arise. Such is the case with slot restrictions and the formation of alliances that may ultimately restrict consumer choice. Specialisation by sector and segment allows market entry for emergent airlines with lower costs, of which labour predominates. Pressure for cost reduction raises the possibility of the virtual airline but customer orientation suggests an overriding concern for safety and the integrity of the airline brand. The article complements another on developments in airline marketing.

Integrating the enterprise: the role of a language system for a marketing conception

A marketing‐centric view of the connected enterprise implies that qualitative information in its systems and general document structures share a marketing‐based vocabulary – we propose that this should be founded on POSIT. As any system needs to be accessed and understood by people, the basis of its construction and navigation principles should be transparent even though many component processes will be automated. Based on the use of natural language, a user‐defined glossary stems from a selection of primitives and relationships between them. Semantic mapping employing the reciprocal text‐to‐graphical capability of EXPRESS and EXPRESS G is outlined. The significance of XML and related developments is introduced in the context of qualitative information search and extraction from documents. Consensual language also aids connectivity of intranets and extranets to the Internet.

POSIT‐ively soft systems methodology for marketing

Soft systems methodology (SSM) is a procedure for achieving improvement in human activity systems which has been applied in a wide variety of practical instances. POSIT ‐ a marketing mnemonic ‐ is a conceptual approach to marketing and its components, which also has been employed to analyse both practical situations and the subject of marketing itself. SSM and POSIT, although distinct, have features in common which are explored in this paper. A reader‐friendly simulation of SSM is taken as an example to show the relationships of the two methodologies in the analysis of marketing as an indicative human activity system.

Avoiding buyer behaviour myopia in hotel eCommerce.

ABSTRACT This paper considers how differences in buyer behaviour and relationship stage make for important differences in the cybermarketing of the hotel product. Consideration is given to how web-based IT applications, interface devices, emerging technological and industry standards may be deployed to support the customer decision making process and service differentiation for hotels in the new order. Establishing an effective and profitable “dialogue” with the customer requires that hotel firms are sensitive to the dynamics of buyer behaviour and changes in loyalty level throughout the relationship. Moreover, a standards-based approach is necessary, not only to the development of seamless connectivity and dialogue, but to avoiding buyer behaviour myopia in hotel eCommerce.

Modelling with Linear Learning

Various explanations are possible for the observation of similar outcomes from repeated choices, for example, both cognitive psychologists and behaviourists find support for their viewpoints in such patterns. Pattern recognition and interpretation are necessarily model‐bound activities as, indeed, are attempts to analyse such data in terms of probabilities. In the face of many alternative procedures with their associated rationales relative simplicity of screening is important in assessing new data in terms of their structure and conformity to a model. This article outlines in a non‐technical way one such procedure which is appropriate to analyse data, particularly brand choice observations, expressed in dichotomous fashion. The recognition of such patterns and a formalisation of an underlying rationale are necessary steps in the improvement of both data‐handling technique and the furtherance of our understanding of consumer behaviour.