A three country comparison of internet marketing

This paper provides information on business use of the Internet (Net) and World Wide Web (Web) across three countries viz Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom (UK), and explores reasons for observed differences in use. The study reports that UK firms are more likely to use the Internet in relationship management than are Australasian firms. The conclusion drawn is that while there is less sophisticated business use of the Internet by Australasian companies relative to UK companies, this is but one reason for lower household penetration of the Internet and lower online purchasing levels.

Experiential dimensions in internet marketing : an exploratory investigation

This paper examines the dimensions of an experience in product marketing conceptualised by Pine II and Gilmore (1998) – customer participation and customer connection – by extending the study of the dimensions to the online context. In online marketing, the business aim is to hold attention, have visitors more deeply penetrate a Website, purchase, and return to the site, among other objectives. The paper analyses and synthesises findings from a three-part study of Internet use, the WebQUAL Audit, and presents the proposition that the dimensions suggested by Pine II and Gilmore as attractors to many experiential offerings in the physical world, may not be applicable in the online environment populated by commercial Websites. The paper also suggests a future research agenda to reconcile the requirements of users and the perspective of Web designers and other contributors to commercial Websites as discussed in the literature review presented.

Relationship orientation : towards an antecedent model of trust in marketing relationships

With the advent and the increasing use of the concept of Relationship Marketing as a basis for marketing strategy, it has become evident that a lack of empirical knowledge exists as to the operational basis of the concept. Information regarding the conceptual basis of Relationship Marketing and a possible new orientation toward the concept may be of substantial value to both practitioners and scholars of relationship marketing. This paper considers the emergence of a Relationship Orientation within the marketing literature and proposes an antecedent model of Trust as a basis. The role of Ethics as a possible antecedent to Trust is emphasised and identified as a gap within the relationship marketing literature. Based on previous exploratory work and a review of the literature of relationship marketing, exchange theory, general marketing theory, marketing ethics and sales management, four key antecedent dimensions of Trust are identified: Ethics, Bonding, Empathy and Reciprocity. Additional possible antecedents are suggested. Future empirical research is proposed in order to validate the model.

Extending social marketing to emergency services organisations

Social marketing theory is examined in relation to an organisational context which has received little attention. This paper examines the development of an integrated social marketing campaign for a State Emergency Service, and focusses on a particularly serious scenario where the penalty for miscommunication may be death, widespead injury or substantial property damage. The researchers take an action research approach, identifying community perceptions of risk to determine appropriate communication message development. The study identifies the factors contributing to risk perception beyond traditional concepts of involvement which are common in studies of consumer behaviour. Additionally, this paper provides an investigation of some of the issues that affect communication effectiveness, such as the influence of stakeholders, the poor performance of traditional communications methods, the utility of social marketing principles, and segmentation requirements, as well as influential ideas from the general risk communication literature.

Consumer complaint behaviour and relationship marketing: a research agenda

A void identified within the Relationship Marketing literature is the lack of research on dissatisfactory or problem relationships, so the utilisation of work that has been conducted in the area of Consumer Complaint Behaviour (CCB) is appropriate. Therefore, this paper identifies ways in which the CCB literature may be used to advance knowledge in the field of Relationship Marketing. As the context of this paper is consumer - service provider relationships, an assessment is made of some of the implications of technology-infusion in service encounters, at two levels, namely at the broad relationship marketing level, that is, the likely impact of technology infusion on consumer - service provider relationships, and then more specifically regarding implications for CCB.

Relationship marketing and pay TV: satisfaction, complaining behavior, service recovery, and repurchase

The aims of this research included demonstrating the detenninants of Pay TV subscriber satisfaction, and displaying the relationships between key aspects of relationship marketing, such as perceptions of value, satisfaction, customer complaint behavior and service recovery, and the intention to repurchase. A survey of 171 Australian respondents suggested that the perceived quality of the variety of the programs available and the perceived quality of the monthly program guide were major contributors to value, and that value was the main driver of overall satisfaction, which in tum was the main driver of the likelihood of disconnection from the Pay TV service. Those respondents who reported having a problem but not complaining directly about it were significantly more likely to have the intention to disconnect in the future, but they were not significantly different in tenns of their value perceptions or overall satisfaction.

Intra-organisational attitudes to marketing and the Implementation of the marketing concept in nonprofit organisations

This paper explores the market orientation and marketing culture of all staff within a nonprofit organisation to ascertain the extent to which members of the organisation support or create barriers to the implementation of the marketing concept. Of particular interest in this research is the role of nonprofit organisations, which are often thought of as having a production, rather than marketing focus. Consequently, there may be cultural and behavioural conflicts between, for example, marketing personnel and production personnel. This paper provides a brief overview of the existing literature in the field of market orientation and marketing culture. After detailing the general research design, a summary of the results of 11 initial focus groups, consisting of all staff in one nonprofit organisation, is presented. The findings indicate that while all areas within this organisation are committed to marketing, there are various interpretations of marketing and how it should be implemented.

Modelling the marketing of place by local government in Australia

Much of Regional Australia is suffering from an overall decline in population with a specific loss of young adults (16-30 year olds). A decline in population, linked with the Australia-wide problems of ageing populations and diminishing birth rates, is leading to a social and economic malaise in many regional cities and towns that threatens their long-term sustainability due to the lack of skilled workers and professionals. This paper examines the concept of “place” marketing, and the approach of local government to market regions, cities, and towns to attract targeted population to help maintain the sustainability of Regional Australia.

Developing and testing a model of knowledge utilisation through marketing research

Little research has examined the return on marketing research, be that financial or knowledge acquisition. Furthermore, there has been insufficient research into the factors affecting the conduct of marketing research. This paper investigates and reports on a conceptual model proposed by Yaman (2000), which explores knowledge acquisition, dissemination, and utilisation through marketing research. The study specifically explores and attempts to replicate the model’s conceptual structure. The data were collected electronically via emails and an HTML web-form questionnaire, with a sample of 182 being obtained. Using structural equation modelling, the results obtained indicated an adequate fit for a modified Yaman model to the data from this particular sample.

Marketing position taxonomies : an empirical analysis

Despite the continuing need for an empirically validated classification of marketing positions, for theoretical and practical purposes, it appears that no such schema exists. This study contributes to the development of such a taxonomy through an empirical examination of marketing positions. Specifically, the research extends an existing taxonomy by empirically investigating personal selling marketing activities. Based on the taxonomy developed by Darmon (1998), data were collected about the information load, information complexity, and time and relationship management activities of marketers. Various analytical techniques were used to investigate specific features of the instrument and the taxonomy, as well as to provide convergence for the conclusions drawn by the researchers. It was established that sales positions can be more meaningfully identified, and, therefore, better categorised, by six dimensions than by job title or job role. Further, it appears that marketers in the same selling position vary significantly on these dimensions. These findings have important implications for marketing theory, applied research and management. However, future research should refine the instrument used in this study, since some anomalies emerged in the findings, and extend the study by investigating a wider range of marketing positions. Such research may also explore whether the dimensions identified in this study influence the performance and job satisfaction of marketers, and the extent to which marketing managers account for these variations.