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Distribution Channel (distribution + channel)
Selected AbstractsDecomposing Product Innovativeness and Its Effects on New Product SuccessTHE JOURNAL OF PRODUCT INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 5 2006Roger J. Calantone Does product innovativeness affect new product success? The current research proposes that the ambiguity in findings may be due to an overly holistic conceptualization of product innovativeness that has erroneously included the concepts of product advantage and customer familiarity. This article illustrates how the same measures have often been used to assess product advantage with product innovativeness and product innovativeness with customer familiarity. These paired overlaps in measurement use are clarified in this research, which decomposes dimensions of product innovativeness along conceptual lines into distinct product innovativeness, product advantage, and customer familiarity constructs. To further support this decomposition, structural equation modeling is used to empirically test the distinctions. The measurement model supports the conceptual separation, and the path model reveals contingent effects of product innovativeness. Although product innovativeness enhances product advantage, a high level of innovativeness reduces customer familiarity, indicating that product innovativeness can be detrimental to new product success if customers are not sufficiently familiar with the nature of the new product and if innovativeness fails to improve product advantage. This exercise in metric development also reveals that after controlling for product advantage and customer familiarity, product innovativeness has no direct effect on new product profitability. This finding has strong implications for firms that mistakenly pursue innovation for its own sake. Consideration of both distribution and technical synergy as driving antecedents demonstrates how firms can still enhance new product success even if an inappropriate level of innovativeness is present. This leads to a simple but powerful two-step approach to bringing highly innovative products to market. First, firms should only emphasize product innovativeness when it relates to the market relevant concepts of product advantage and customer familiarity. Second, existing technical and distribution abilities can be used to enhance product quality and customer understanding. Distribution channels in particular should be exploited to counter customer uncertainty toward newly introduced products. [source] Viability of Auction-Based Revenue Management in Sequential MarketsDECISION SCIENCES, Issue 2 2005Tim Baker ABSTRACT The Internet is providing an opportunity to revenue management practitioners to exploit the potential of auctions as a new price distribution channel. We develop a stochastic model for a high-level abstraction of a revenue management system (RMS) that allows us to understand the potential of incorporating auctions in revenue management in the presence of forecast errors associated with key parameters. Our abstraction is for an environment where two market segments book in sequence and revenue management approaches consider auctions in none, one, or both segments. Key insights from our robust results are (i) limited auctions are best employed closest to the final sale date, (ii) counterbalancing forecast errors associated with overall traffic intensity and the proportion of customer arrivals in a segment is more important if an auction is adopted in that segment, and (iii) it is critically important not to err on the side of overestimating market willingness to pay. [source] Reconceptualizing risk perception: perceiving Majority World citizens at risk from ,Northern' consumptionINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONSUMER STUDIES, Issue 3 2006Sue L.T. McGregorArticle first published online: 3 APR 200 Abstract The premise of this paper is that the consumption behaviour of ,Northern' citizens places Majority World citizens at great risk. A theoretical evolution suggested in this paper is the extension of the notion of risky consumption to include the impact of consumption on the human security of others. Until people can envision that their consumption behaviour places others at risk of exposure to harm, they will not see the need to perceive, assess and manage the risk. The paper tenders a preliminary reconceptualization of risk perception, using the conventional consumer behaviour model constructs of personal, distribution channel and situational factors. From this new perspective, instead of judging whether the good or service is risky for a ,Northern' citizen to consume, risk perception scholars would examine people's perceptions of whether their consumption places fellow citizens at risk, the people labouring and producing the goods and services. [source] Financial Intermediary Versus Production Approach to Efficiency of Marketing Distribution Systems and Organizational Structure of Insurance CompaniesJOURNAL OF RISK AND INSURANCE, Issue 3 2005Patrick L. Brockett An examination of the efficiency of the marketing distribution channel and organizational structure for insurance companies is presented from a framework that views the insurer as a financial intermediary rather than as a "production entity" which produces "value added" through loss payments. Within this financial intermediary approach, solvency can be a primary concern for regulators of insurance companies, claims-paying ability can be a primary concern for policyholders, and return on investment can be a primary concern for investors. These three variables (solvency, financial return, and claims-paying ability) are considered as outputs of the insurance firm. The financial intermediary approach acknowledges that interests potentially conflict, and the strategic decision makers for the firm must balance one concern versus another when managing the insurance company. Accordingly, we investigate the efficiency of insurance companies using data envelopment analysis (DEA) having as insurer output an appropriately selected (for the firm under investigation) combination of solvency, claims-paying ability, and return on investment as outputs. These efficiency evaluations are further examined to study stock versus mutual form of organizational structure and agency versus direct marketing arrangements, which are examined separately and in combination. Comparisons with the "value-added" or "production" approach to insurer efficiency are presented. A new DEA approach and interpretation is also presented. [source] Supply contracts in manufacturer-retailer interactions with manufacturer-quality and retailer effort-induced demandNAVAL RESEARCH LOGISTICS: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 3 2008Haresh Gurnani Abstract We consider a decentralized distribution channel where demand depends on the manufacturer-chosen quality of the product and the selling effort chosen by the retailer. The cost of selling effort is private information for the retailer. We consider three different types of supply contracts in this article: price-only contract where the manufacturer sets a wholesale price; fixed-fee contract where manufacturer sells at marginal cost but charges a fixed (transfer) fee; and, general franchise contract where manufacturer sets a wholesale price and charges a fixed fee as well. The fixed-fee and general franchise contracts are referred to as two-part tariff contracts. For each contract type, we study different contract forms including individual, menu, and pooling contracts. In the analysis of the different types and forms of contracts, we show that the price only contract is dominated by the general franchise menu contract. However, the manufacturer may prefer to offer the fixed-fee individual contract as compared to the general franchise contract when the retailer's reservation utility and degree of information asymmetry in costs are high. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2008 [source] Selling adventure tourism: a distribution channels perspectiveINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM RESEARCH, Issue 4 2007Christian Schott Abstract This paper examines the distribution channels structure as well as the underlying factors influencing the most prominent channel choices within the adventure tourism industry. It is based on in-depth interviews with adventure tourism operators in Queenstown, New Zealand. The findings suggest that the distribution structure is similar to other attraction sectors and that business size has some bearing on the ,length' of the distribution chains. However, regardless of business size, the sector places a clear priority on ,at destination' distribution, and the factors underlying this choice were found to be varied and reflective of both sector-specific demand and supply characteristics. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The UK air inclusive-tour industry: a reassessment of the competitive positioning of the ,independent' sectorINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM RESEARCH, Issue 6 2001Nigel G. Evans Abstract This paper investigates the increasing concentration in the UK air inclusive-tour (AIT) market and the behaviour of the dominant companies (Thomson, Airtours, First Choice and Thomas Cook) operating in the sector. Arguments relating to the theoretical organisational structure of the industry are explored and regulatory investigations that have taken place are discussed. Research evidence as to the competitive position of independent tour operators in the overall UK AIT market is provided. The research indicates that a key area of difficulty for the independent sector relates to the provision of charter airline capacity although access to distribution channels and the ability to contract accommodation are viewed as further concerns. The paper concludes that regulatory authorities are faced with trying to ensure that diversity is maintained while at the same time ensuring any economies of scale derived from consolidation of the sector are passed on to consumers. In order to properly understand the true effects of industrial concentration the assembled package must be dissembled into its component parts and an increasingly a pan-European perspective is necessary. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Bringing High Technology to Market: Successful Strategies Employed in the Worldwide Software IndustryTHE JOURNAL OF PRODUCT INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 6 2006Chris Easingwood The launch stage can be critical for many new products, but particularly so for technology-intensive ones. This study examines this key stage in a high-tech sector: the worldwide computer software industry. Using a research instrument developed across a number of high-tech sectors, but adapted to the targeted sector, it describes a worldwide telephone-based survey of 300 organizations, resulting in 190 interviews, a response rate of 63%. It shows that five distinct and interpretable strategies are employed: (1) alliance strategy involves forming early strategic alliances as well as tactical alliances at the execution stage together with the development of unique distribution channels; (2) targeted low risk attempts to reduce the risk of adoption among identified segments by producing versions of the product specifically customized to the segments; (3) low-price original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is the only price-driven strategy and combines low price with channel building to OEMs who are looking for attractive price-to-performance ratios; (4) broadly based market preparation is an early-stage strategy that concentrates on educating the market vis-à-vis the technology and developing channels; and (5) niche-based technological superiority uses a technologically superior product to dominate a niche and corresponds closely to the chasm-crossing strategy expounded by Moore and others. Regarding superior product performance, successful software companies first of all engage in a broadly based preparation of the market but switch to a targeted strategy at the following stages of positioning and execution, built around superior technological performance and reduced risk. A somewhat different mix of strategies is adopted when the objective is superior market development, namely opening up new markets, reaching new customers, and developing new product platforms. Again the mix includes broadly based market preparation, this time along with alliances. This strategy is very much about working with partners. The broadly based market preparation strategy is key for both objectives, is long term in nature, and avoids narrowly defined niches. It seems that starting broad based and narrowing down, perhaps to a niche, only at a later stage when this is clearly the appropriate thing to do, pays dividends. [source] | ||||||||||