Laurence Jacobs

Developing Global Products and Marketing Strategies: A Construct and a Research Agenda

The U.S. trade deficit brings to question the effectiveness of international marketing strategies of American firms. Multinational corporations must develop better international products and improve their performance in their international marketing efforts. They must know when to globalize or localize their marketing practices. This article incorporates learning, involvement, diffusion/adoption and culture context as dimensions of a global product and marketing strategy development decision model. The model developed is “be global, act local.” The interrelationship of consumer behavior models in the context of a multinational product development decision is emphasized. This article raises research issues which need to be addressed for future success in multinational and/or multicultural markets.

What presale and postsale services do you need to be competitive

Abstract To improve their international competitiveness, industrial marketers must develop more proactive marketing strategies. Such strategies must include services. Industrial marketers must develop their understanding of and sensitivity to customers needs. To achieve this, they must understand that services need to be classified as presale and postsale, and decide which type of service is more important under what circumstances. Organizing and classifying services along the lines suggested in this article will give companies a competitive edge at almost no cost. A model is presented to demostrate these ideas.

Developing Global Products and Marketing Strategies: A Rejoinder

In this issue of JAMS, Dr. Lyn Amine presents a “comment and an extension” to our previously published article. Such efforts are often constructive, and in this spirit, we present a discussion responding to Dr. Amine’s comments. Our response, combined with Dr. Amine’s comments, hopefully will provide constructive research avenues in international product and marketing strategy development.

Brainstorming the Marketing Experience

Brainstorming may have some interesting applications in the marketing classroom. As a methodology, it can provide insight into marketing problems, and the degree of student involvement, commitment, and enthusiasm is of great pedagogical value. This article provides a classroom-tested illustration of the application of brainstorming.

Achieving Congruence between Macro and Micro Generic Strategies: A Framework to Create International Competitive Advantage

In order to achieve the strongest international competitive advantage, there must be cooperation between the public and business sectors. That is, there must be congruence between the macro and micro competitive strategies in a country. It is maintained that nations will optimize their competitive advantage when both government and the firm use competitive advantage or comparative advantages simultaneously. This article expands Porters generic strategies into areas of macro and micro application. It further suggests that Porters three generic strategies can be supported by governmental actions, enabling a country to exercise competitive advantage options for maximum results, and articulates how this can be accomplished.

Using CAD scales for cross-cultural marketing

CAD (compliant, aggressive, detached) scales have been used in marketing research for many years, however, they have not been widely utilized in cross-cultural studies. International marketers can gain additional insight into market differences with this technique. CAD scales share cross-cultural application problems with all other attitudinal tests. While this methodology is far from perfect, it does provide the international marketer with an additional tool to enhance the understanding of cultural differences. To illustrate how this technique can be used, a study was performed. University students in China, Japan, and the United States were surveyed. The results of our comparisons suggest that Chinese students were higher on all three scales while the United States students tended to be more compliant than the Japanese sample, although all three samples were compliant. The United States sample was roughly equal to the Japanese in aggressiveness and detachment.

Go away! Don’t bother me! I don’t want your money!

In 1988, 998 letters of reservation inquiries were sent to hotels with 250 rooms or more requesting information about hosting a business reception for 20 couples. The study was designed to test the responsiveness of hotels to reservation inquiries made by letter and whether the hotels would miss the opportunity to maximize their revenues by failing to respond effectively to these reservation inquiries. Recently, 100 letters of similar content were again sent to a random sample of hotels with 250 rooms or more located in the USA, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. The letters of reservation inquiries were sent to test the responsiveness of hotels again and to assess whether the quality of the responses made by the hotels has changed since 1988. The current study found that the responsiveness of hotels to reservation inquiries made by letter has changed little since 1988. Like 1988, many hotels missed the opportunity to maximize their revenues by failing to respond to reservation inquiries made by letter.

White Space in Newspaper Grocery Advertising: Some New Findings

Abstract This paper analyzes the subject of white space in newspaper grocery advertising. Five supermarket newspaper advertisement mock-ups were produced for varying amounts of white space. A convenience sample of 150 subjects was selected from a population of customers in a large supermarket. Each subject viewed five mock-up ads and answered a three-part questionnaire. Results from the semantic differential and preference tests indicate that ads with less white space are more liked, perceived as being of higher quality, and preferred by customers seeking a store in which to shop. These tests further show that supermarket ads with more white space are perceived as being more expensive. Conclusions from recognition tests indicate that products and store names from ads with more white space have higher retention.

Marketing utilities: A new look

Utility, it is usually agreed among marketers, is not just that which makes an item physically more useful; it is also that which makes a customer conceive of an item as being more useful. This usefulness is generally reflected in a customers willingness to spend extra money to receive this service. Traditionally marketers have associated utility with time, place, possession, and form. While no one will disagree with these four categories, it may be that they are too narrow. This article expands these traditional four utilities to include other activities such as image creation, confidence building, and product customization which may lead to modifying the predisposition and perception of customers. It is with this expanded list that the marketer can better design his total product package so that customer utility can be maximized.

The past 2,000 years of business in Europe and China: why Europe is Europe and China is China

Compares the economic history of china and Europe over the past 2,000 years in an attempt to understand the countries’ present economic positions. Discusses how China’s political and economic system impeded the development of a commodity economy and led to the development of agriculture while Europe’s commodity economy fostered the advancement of science and technology.