Robert D. Tamilia

Cross-cultural invariance of measures of satisfaction and service quality

Abstract A dental setting is used to test the measurement equivalence of scales for satisfaction and service quality by using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). A 2×2 experimental design used levels of service quality and performance controlled and manipulated. US, English and French–Canadian subjects were chosen to test invariance of these measures. The sample consisted of 499 respondents from midwestern USA, Ontario and Quebec. Using CFA, findings indicate that some measures of satisfaction and service quality can be nonequivalent across cultures. Cultural differences were noted for invariant measures in assessing perceived quality, mostly in situations with high expectations and performance, with English Canadians perceiving lower service quality than US and French–Canadians subjects. In situations where expectations and performance were lower, English–Canadians perceived higher quality than US and French–Canadian respondents. Differences were found between English and French–Canadians in the four experimental settings.

A twenty-first century guide to Aldersonian marketing thought

Wroe Alderson a Life.- to Part II: Wroe Aldersons Theory of Market Behavior - Selected Writings.- Towards a Theory of Marketing.- The Analytical Framework for Marketing.- Survival and Adjustment in Organized Behavior Systems.- Survival and Growth of Systems.- The Power Principle.- Marketing efficiency and the principle of Postponement.- Competition for Differential Advantage.- Matching and Sorting: The Logic of Exchange.- to Functionalism.- Functionalism: Descriptive and Normative.- The Heterogeneous Market and the Organized Behavior System.- Information Flows in Heterogeneous Markets.- Transactions and Transvections.- Cooperation and conflict in marketing Channels.- to Part III: Wroe Alderson - Writings on Management Practice and Ethical Behavior.- Alderson, Sessions and the 1950s Manager.- A Basic Guide to Market Planning.- Researcher Finds a Void in Freud... Advertisers Urged to Follow Path of Rational Problem Solving Rather than of Instinctive Drives.- Ethics, Ideologies and Sanctions.- The American Economy and Christian Ethics.- Planning and Problem Solving in Marketing: A Book Review.- to Part IV: Aldersons Market Behavior Theory with its Links to Other Theories.- Alderson and Chamberlin.- Aldersons General Theory of Marketing: A Formalization.- Marketing Behaviour and Entrepreneurship: A Synthesis of Alderson and Austrian Economics.- An Alternative Paradigm for Marketing Theory.- Aldersons Transvection and Porters Value System.- to Part V: Original Contributions to This Publication.- The Wroe Alderson I Knew.- Wroe Alderson as Academic Entrepreneur: The Wharton Years.- Toward a General Theory of Marketing: Resource-Advantage Theory as an Extension of Aldersons Theory of Market Processes.- Placing Alderson and His Contributions to Marketing in Historical Perspective.- Wroe Aldersons Vision Renewed and Rehabilitated: Social Structures and Marketing Theories.- To Teach or Not to Teach Alderson? There is No Question.- List of Publications by Wroe Alderson.- A Select List of Authors Who Have Commented on Aldersonian Marketing Thought.

Conventional Channels of Distribution and Electronic Intermediaries

Abstract The paper analyses electronic channel members using functional analysis and examines how such cybermediaries differ in the way they carry out the marketing functions or flows relative to conventional channel participants. Some electronic intermediaries are examined. Micro and macro issues dealing with the economics and politics of channels are also presented. Finally, a plea is made to know more about the business costs of transacting on the Internet. Such cost analyses will help determine the extent to which cybermediaries will supplant or complement traditional channels.

The importance of marketing boards in Canada: a twenty‐first century perspective

Purpose – Marketing boards are an integral part of the farm economy in Canada. Their purposes have been debated for decades but seldom from a marketing perspective. Such an approach makes for an interesting way to study them. The purpose of this paper is to assess the pros and cons of marketing boards, suggesting how they can be made more responsive to market forces.Design/methodology/approach – The paper positions the need for Canada to bring agricultural market reforms. The wave toward freer access to world markets makes the study of supply management that more interesting and relevant in the twenty‐first century. A brief history of marketing boards is presented, followed by a discussion of their economic, social and constitutional impacts on Canadian society. Dairy supply management issues are discussed because they serve as the basis for comparative analysis, given that dairy trade liberation has been the most successful. The impact of marketing boards on consumers is well documented.Findings – The re...

An overview of The History of Marketing Thought

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to be more than a book review essay on the work by Tadajewski and Jones, The History of Marketing Thought. It reviews the literature on marketing history and thought, and includes suggestions for additional research on that topic.Design/methodology/approach – The research relies heavily on previously published articles and on databank searches.Findings – A more complete time line of the history of marketing thought is presented. It is also shown that more biographical historical research is needed, especially on those pioneer practitioners of marketing whose legacy has influenced marketing thought and practice.Practical implications – Knowing more about the history of marketing thought will prove useful both to academics and to practitioners. Biographies are also practical because we learn more about both the scholars and the times that have transformed this discipline.Originality/value – The essay offers a brief but succinct summary of the history of marketing thoug...

Placing Wroe Alderson's contributions to buyer behavior in historical perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the contributions of Wroe Alderson to the buyer behavior literature from an historical perspective. His views of the consumer in the 1950s revolutionized the way we now teach and do research in this domain of marketing.Design/methodology/approach – This research relied heavily on Aldersons own published work and the work of others familiar with his work. The historical research tradition of document interpretation was employed and personal interviews were conducted.Findings – The findings revealed that Alderson contributed much to buyer behavior thought than is generally believed. This eminent theorist – practitioner was ahead of his time in his conceptualization of the consumer/household purchasing agent as an information processor and a problem solver in the behavioral process of buying and consuming.Originality/value – A detailed account of Aldersons contributions to the then emerging science of consumer behavior is unique especially in the context of...

Understanding the History of Marketing Education to Improve Classroom Instruction

This article provides a review of the history of marketing education. Some of the pioneers who developed concepts and pedagogical material used in teaching marketing are identified and some schools of thought are reviewed, namely, the commodity, institutional, and functional schools, as well as marketing management. During the early part of the 20th century, a number of scholars contributed seminal ideas that laid the foundation of marketing thought. Their published texts influenced what was taught in the classroom. What we teach today reflects what previous thought leaders and textbook authors considered to be important for the dissemination of marketing knowledge to students. Educators need a historical background about the concepts they teach and the textbooks they use. This background will help put what we teach today in perspective. This overview should provide an opportunity to think critically about the challenges that marketing educators face in selecting and presenting content in the classroom.

The history of Canadian marketing: from the seventeenth century to World War II

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a briefly annotated bibliography of some 200 items that together constitute a “select list” of the available academic literature on the history of Canadian marketing from the seventeenth century to the beginning of Second World War.Design/methodology/approach – After all the available academic literature on Canadian marketing the authors could uncover was examined, the most relevant, interesting, and accessible material was identified and annotated. In addition, all of the literature considered in any way pertinent was added to a more complete bibliography available on the CHARM web site.Findings – Though existing Canadian business and economic history texts and courses tend to pay far more attention to other topics, there is a rich and varied literature on the history of Canadian marketing.Research limitations/implications – No selections are included from either archival sources or the popular press nor are unpublished theses or dissertations cited.Origi...

The timeless intellectual contributions of Donald F. Dixon

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a review essay of the scholarly work of Donald Dixon, focusing on six of his major contributions to marketing thought and theory.Design/methodology/approach – The research relied heavily on previously published articles, personal interviews and databank searches.Findings – A more complete timeline of the history of marketing thought is presented. The historical work done by Dixon shows us that marketing is not a recent field of human behavior but dates back millennia. His contributions have enriched the marketing discipline and have positioned marketing in its rightful place as a social science studying one aspect of human behavior, which is buying and selling.Practical implications – Knowing more about the history of marketing is useful both to academics and to practitioners. One learn more about the practitioners and intellectual thinkers of the past who have laid the foundation of marketing as a social science.Originality/value – The essay ofers but a s...

Comparing transactional forms in administered, contractual and corporate systems in grocery distribution

Abstract The typology of administered, contractual and corporate vertical marketing systems is tested through transactional form constructs (e.g., centralization and formalization). Our results show significant differences among the three types of organizational modes within the grocery distribution industry.