Michael M. Pearson

Development of a Computerized In-Basket Exercise for the Classroom: A Sales Management Example

This article follows the development of a sales management in-basket exercise for use in the classroom. The authors have computerized the exercise and added features to allow for additional and more quantitative input from the students. The exercise has evolved and been tested in numerous classroom situations. The computerized in-basket exercise is shown to provide significant benefits over regular in-baskets when measured against the objectives of the exercise. These benefits include quantitative, immediate, and consistent feedback to students as well as spirited discussions in the classroom as to the role and actions of sales managers.

A study of strength of relationship between music groups and their external service providers: impacts on music group success.

Abstract Very little academic research exists on the marketing and management of musical groups. Music is a service industry, but it has some special characteristics in terms of its relationship with external service providers that make this study particularly critical. What are the relationships between music groups and their external service providers like? Are these service providers doing a good job in the eyes of the musicians? The purpose of this paper is to examine the attitudes of musical groups toward external service providers, and test whether more successful musical groups share the same attitudes with less successful groups.

A Spreadsheet Pricing Model Approach to Teaching Practical Pricing Concepts in the Marketing Classroom

Pricing is a difficult subject area for which to generate classroom interest and excitement. Yet, it is important that students understand and experiment with the practical elements of pricing, including fixed and variable costs, financial goals, sales margins, market potentials and sales goals, and breakeven analysis. Problems in presenting these concepts include classroom time and the complexity of calculations. To address these concepts and overcome these problems, the authors present an exercise to address seven learning objectives using a spreadsheet pricing model to build student learning on key pricing concepts and a written assignment in which the student interprets the spreadsheet he or she has developed. Student evaluation data on perceived learning effectiveness for the seven objectives support the spreadsheet approach and student assignment presented here.

Retail recovery from natural disasters: New Orleans versus eight other United States disaster sites

This study seeks to determine retail recovery patterns after a natural disaster and to provide useful information for areas recovering from a major disaster. The New Orleans metropolitan area serves as the primary area studied in this research due to Hurricane Katrinas status as the most costly natural disaster in the history of the United States. Eight additional cities that were impacted by natural disaster were also investigated in order to compare and contrast the retail recovery rate ofthese cities to New Orleans across 10 retail categories. The Yellow Pages telephone book and the United States Census of Retail Trade were utilized to determine recovery rates and the existence of possible patterns of recovery in each of the 10 retail categories. The analysis also includes a provision for population shifts due to the respective disasters. The results, which demonstrate both consistencies and inconsistencies across the disaster recovery areas, are discussed and future direction for retail recovery research is advanced.

Developing measurements of success for performing musical groups

Purpose – Previous studies of musical group performance have suggested the need for reliable and valid measures of success. This paper aims to investigate this issue.Design/methodology/approach – Using Nunnallys methodology, this study developed 18 items that might indicate relative success of performing musical groups. These items were administered to 338 musical groups from Louisiana.Findings – Significant correlations were found among most of the measures. Factor analysis yielded two distinct success scales, one objective and one subjective scale.Research limitations/implication – While this study sampled only Louisiana‐based musical groups, the formulated scales provide a needed basis for success measurement in research on performing groups, such as musical groups, theater companies, dance and other group performance companies.Practical implications – A musical group could track their objective measures over time to determine the groups continual improvement. Subjective items could be gathered using...

Selecting Foreign Distribution Partners with AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process)

This paper presents the classroom experiences of the authors using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) along with a commercially marketed computer-based decision support system, Expert Choice, in selecting distribution partners. The paper introduces the reader to AHP and Expert Choice, presents the classroom exercise, and discusses the teaching objectives and student reaction to the exercise. The authors also speculate on other possible uses for Expert Choice in the marketing classroom.

The Use of Student Letters of Praise and Complaint as an Introduction to Marketing Activity

Over a three-year period all beginning marketing students at Bowling Green State University were introduced to marketing with an assignment requiring each to write a letter, of either praise or complaint, to a business firm about its product or service. An analysis was made of the 940 student responses to a series of questionnaries and rating forms administered before, during, and after the assignment. This article discusses whether the assignment was viewed as worthwhile from a students point of view, and whether the students experienced an attitude change toward the firm, product, or service in completing this letter writing experience.

Guidelines for a telephone group interview

Group interviews for purposes of marketing research have been around for many years, but when the authors began their research work underlying this article, they believed that no group interview had ever been done by telephone. They learned they were wrong, although the work they did was among the earliest in the field. The article reviews what other work has been done in the field, outlines their work, and provides a preliminary statement of guidelines for conducting group interviews.

Business attributes of successful music groups: an analysis of three measures of success.

Abstract Very little research exists on the marketing and management of musical groups. The purpose of this paper is to examine the business practices of musical groups through exploratory research. Music is a service industry, but it has some special characterisitcs in terms of the standard criteria used to define a service and in its relationship with stakeholders. Success of a musical group was hypothesized to be related to use of outside professionals and using the Internet for promotion, and attitudes towards stakeholders. The questionnaire was distributed through the Louisiana Music Directory. Three items from the questionnaire were used as measures of relative success of the bands: • I (we) sold the following number of units of the last recording I (we) produced (closed choice). • The typical amount of money I or my band makes from a gig per person is (closed choice). • My band has gone on tour within the past year (yes/no). Our exploratory results indicated generally that the success measures were significantly related to outsourcing activities, with mixed results for promotional activities. Additional research is needed to (1) identify other indicators of success, and (2) to explore in more depth what factors may predict success among musical groups.

Direct Product Profit: a Sensitivity Analysis

Direct Product Profit (DPP) is a cost allocation tool that many supermarket retailers and manufacturers are using to study the profitability of products. This paper investigates the use of DPP on selected syrup products and examines the sensitivity of DPP to changes in movement, case pack, cube, and cases per pallet.