Marketing

Most studies of word-of-mouth (WOM) in marketing have concentrated either on aggregate outcomes (e.g., new product diffusion) or on the transmission process (i.e., "talking" or "sending" information). This paper instead focuses on the reception process at the individual level (i.e., "listening" to information), and addresses two questions: what makes people listen to WOM, and what are the drivers of the type and extent of WOM impact on recipients' brand attitudes and purchase intentions?

Much discussion has focused on the economic and financial issues related to the continued growth of China. Of equal importance are the marketing and branding issues. How Chinese managers develop and implement their marketing and branding strategies has enormous implications for the future growth of Chinese organizations.

To optimally allocate its marketing mix across customers, a firm needs to consider the evolution of its customers over time. Changes in the marketing environment, as well as intrinsic changes in preferences or needs, may discretely shift customers into different buying-behavior states. The ability to identify the dynamics in customer behavior and its drivers presents an opportunity for the firm to influence the movement of customers to more favorable states of buying behavior.

Social commerce is an emerging trend in which sellers are connected in online social networks, and where sellers are individuals instead of firms. This paper examines the economic value implications of a social network between sellers in a large online social commerce marketplace. In this marketplace each seller creates his or her own shop, and network ties between sellers are directed hyperlinks between their shops.