Online transaction environment is full of uncertainties. To reduce online uncertainty, the first stage model examines the effect of extrinsic signals on perceived product quality, and the second stage model employs cue-diagnosticity framework to examine the influence of eWOM attributes (eWOM volume and eWOM consensus) on both perceived product quality and purchase intention. Our research questi...

Over the past decade, marketers have been challenged by proponents of individual marketing (e.g., one-to-one marketing, mass customization, personalization) to shift from a focus on market segments to making individually customized offers. Specifically, marketers should develop “learning relationships” with their customers, be able to predict the customers’ wants, and tailor their offerings to ...

Article history: Received 21 September 2012 Received in revised form 3 January 2014 Accepted 19 February 2014

The Internet provides unprecedented ability for marketers to learn about their customers and offer custom products at special prices. The technology, marketing and economics of using the Internet for one-to-one marketing is examined. We find that, under very genera l conditions, a seller can make higher profits by adopting a "mixed" strategy of serving conventional segments with standardized pr...

AIM Disease outbreaks increase the cost of animal production; reduce milk and beef yield, cattle sales, farmers' incomes, and enterprise profitability. The study assessed the economic effects of foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks along the cattle marketing chain in selected study districts in Uganda. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study combined qualitative and quantitative study designs. Resp...

Is a general theory of marketing possible? If so, what would it look like? This article (1) briefly examines the nature of theory in marketing, (2) explores the characteristics of general theories in the philosophy of science, (3) proposes what a general theory of marketing would attempt to explain and predict, (4) delineates the structure of general theories, both in and of marketing, and (5) ...

Tomorrow’s marketing theory is best co-authored with its past, the history of marketing thought. The merits of this co-authoring are deeply rooted in the value this brings to marketing knowledge and the marketing discipline – conceptual, methodological, scientific and pedagogical value. The purpose of this contribution is to demonstrate the relationship between the history of marketing thought ...

Technology is creating customer choice, and choice is altering the marketplace. Gone are the days of the marketer as salesperson. Gone as well is marketing that tries to trick the customer into buying whatever the company makes. There is a new paradigm for marketing, a model that depends on the marketer's knowledge, experience, and ability to integrate the customer and the company. Six principl...

in an inbound hub network: case study in South Africa Honora Smith*, Daniel Cakebread, Maria Battarra, Ben Shelbourne, Naseem Cassim and Lindi Coetzee Mathematical Sciences, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK; School of Management, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK; National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa; and Department of Molecular Medicin...