Ronald L. Coulter

Freight transportation carrier selection criteria: Identification of service dimensions for competitive positioning

Abstract Deregulation has seriously impacted the competitive climate of the transportation industry. Competition for customers has manifested itself in a recognition by transportation providers that they must understand the needs of different types of customers in order to create service attribute bundles tailored to specific customer segments. The research reported here is based on a study of a Midwest freight transportation market. A methodology for segmenting transportation markets on the salient transportation service dimensions utilized in the selection of specific providers of transportation is presented. The findings suggest that six natural groups of transportation service users exist, with the differences among the segments largely explained by five service dimensions.

The VASE scales: Measures of viewpoints about sexual embeds in advertising

A set of six scales was developed for measuring viewpoints toward the use of sexual embeds in print advertisements. Four scales measured attitudinal aspects, including whether or not subjects found the use of such embeds to be (1) objectionable, (2) manipulative, (3) morally harmful, and (4) sufficiently controlled. Psychometric analyses indicate that, except for the morally harmful dimension, the scales were reliable and exhibited convergent validity; furthermore, a finding of discriminant validity was partially supported. Two other scales, which measured beliefs about (1) the economic benefits to a firm of using sexual embeds and (2) how frequently sexual embeds are used. were found to be reliable.

Gatekeepers: Their Views on Community Mental Health Centers

The marketing of health services has gained significant attention in recent years. New organizations and new journals have emerged to productively channel the growing body of information in this field. One interesting segment of this field is the marketing of mental health centers.