Strategy

In this chapter, we provide a survey of analytical models which can be used to assess the benefits and costs associated with delayed product differentiation in a large variety of settings.

This paper addresses the simultaneous determination of pricing and inventory replenishment strategies in the face of demand uncertainty. More specifically, we analyze the following single item, periodic review model. Demands in consecutive periods are independent, but their distributions depend on the item's price in accordance with general stochastic demand functions. The price charged in any given period can be specified dynamically as a function of the state of the system. A replenishment order may be placed at the beginning of some or all of the periods. Stockouts are fully backlogged.

This chapter goes beyond the now well-documented failures of the Washington consensus to begin providing the foundations of an alternative paradigm, especially relevant to the least developing country.

It has been suggested that evaluations may be based on a "How-do-I-feel-about-it?" heuristic, which involves holding a representation of the target in mind and inspect feelings that this representation may elicit. Previous studies have shown that reliance on such feelings depends on whether they are believed to be representative of the target. This paper argues that it also depends on whether feelings toward the target are regarded as relevant.

The authors discuss the long-run future of decision support systems in marketing. They argue that a growing proportion of marketing decisions can not only be supported but may also be automated. From a standpoint of both efficiency (e.g., management productivity) and effectiveness (e.g., resource allocation decisions), such automation is highly desirable. The authors describe how model-based automated decision-making is likely to penetrate various marketing decision-making environments and how such models can incorporate competitive dynamics.

This study investigates factors influencing causal attributions in managerial decision making. Three categories of factors are identified: (i) prior beliefs (ii) background frequencies, and (iii) covariation cues. The impact of factors in each of the above categories on causal attribution are studied in a marketing decision making context. Subjects demonstrated a bias toward assigning causality to variables that occurred infrequently or were controllable. Also, subjects were particularly influenced by the joint-occurrences of cause and effect variables.

Why has the service factory model failed to live up to its original promise? To answer this question, we start with a basic concept: service is doing the work of your customer. As a result, it requires a high level of contact, communication and coordination with your customers. To deliver truly excellent service, therefore, requires a level of customer intimacy. That is, a service provider needs to know individual customers being served in order to deliver service that, in addition to being efficient, is also personal and effective in fulfilling their total service requirements.

Two and three-dimensional variants of Hotelling's (1929) model of differentiated products are analyzed. In the setup, consumers can place different importances on each product attribute; these are measured by weights on the disutility of distance in each dimension. Two firms play a two-stage game; they choose locations in stage 1 and prices in stage 2. Subgame-perfect equilibria are sought. It is found that all such equilibria have maximal differentiation in one dimension only; in all other dimensions they have minimum differentiation.

The paper develops a simple model of corporate ownership structure in which costs and benefits of ownership concentration are analyzed. The model compares the liquidity benefits obtained through dispersed corporate ownership with the benefits from efficient management control achieved by sonic degree of ownership concentration. The paper reexamines the free-rider problem in corporate control in the presence of liquidity trading, derives predictions for the trade and pricing of blocks, and provides criteria for the optimal choice of ownership structure.