This paper advocates the merits of a holistic qualitative research method and analysis as being the most penetrative method for determining the decision making process of SME owner-managers. This holistic method is refined in use and illustrated in an example of assessing the processes and outcomes of SME decision making in respect of the ‘product’ aspects of marketing activity. The methodology...

Value to Marketing Educators As marketing courses often involve projects and those are usually done in groups, the intersection of creativity with social processes is fortunate. Professors can readily create an active learning environment wherein groups encourage creative collaboration through divergent thinking. The incorporation of these group sessions into regular courses, even if done as se...

This research seeks to temper the enthusiasm surrounding viral marketing by claiming that there is no such thing as a pure viral marketing campaign and that the successes of many campaigns labeled ‘viral’ are due to many factors including traditional mass communication. The article presents a conceptual framework for viral marketing, inspired by epidemic modeling and the theory of branching pro...

First-generation E-commerce applications, such as corporate web sites or electronic catalogs have often been developed from a technological or marketing perspective. Technological features do not fit the customer’s requirements or marketing does not conceive E-commerce as part of their customer relationship program. Disappointing transaction figures or business cases for E-commerce are the most...

This study analyzes the purchase patterns of MPEG Audio Layer-3 Players (MP3) customers in Korea. Factor analysis, clustering, and association rules are used to find the purchase patterns of segmented groups. From our analysis, 7 major factors were identified: technique, business, stylishness, rationale, late adaptor, pragmatic propensity, and music. Based on these factors and demographic data,...

Knowledge-based configurators support customers in preference construction processes related to complex products and services. In this context utility constraints (scoring rules) play an important role. They determine the order in which configurations are presented to customers. In many cases utility constraints are faulty, i.e., calculate configuration rankings which are not expected and accep...

Today process-oriented approaches to solve business challenges are state of the art. However most business process management methods focus on increased performance only from the firm’s perspective and neglect the increasing importance of value co-creation between the firm and the customer. Modern business process management methods not only need to concentrate on the internal performance of pr...

BACKGROUND The authors provide a suggested framework for completing a comprehensive evaluation of practice processes and routines. Their approach focuses on improving the professional image of dentists and the methods they use to market themselves. CONCLUSIONS A practice can benefit by implementing a program to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the practice and how these strengths an...

Platform planning is a strategy that can be effectively used to manage today’s rapidly changing environment. It is the process by which core elements are identified and used as a foundation for future growth. Although platform planning is most often associated with product design, its value is now being acknowledged along other dimensions of marketing strategy such as brands, target markets, ge...

The use of advanced data mining techniques to improve decision making has already taken root in property and casualty insurance as well as in many other industries [1, 2]. However, the application of such techniques for more objective, consistent and optimal decision making in the life insurance industry is still in a nascent stage. This article will describe ways data mining and multivariate a...