A comparison of attitudes among purchasers of imported fruit in Guangzhou and Urumqi, China

Research on Chinese consumer behavior is dominated by studies of Chinese consumers as a whole, or studies of consumers in a single city or region. Comparative studies that take into account the cultural, economic and demographic differences between contrasting markets within China are poorly represented in the literature. The widening economic gap between rapidly developing coastal cities and less developed cities in more remote regions provides an opportunity for comparative consumer studies. In this research we compared the responses of buyers of imported fruit in two very different cites, Guangzhou (highly developed) and Urumqi (relatively undeveloped). Results revealed that buyers' beliefs and their evaluation of those beliefs towards the attributes of imported fruit were distinctly different. Factors such as the city's background, consumers' education level and the intended uses explained most of these differences. Results will help to broaden our understanding of Chinese consumer behavior and provide valuable information when formulating marketing strategies. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Does industry matter? Examining the role of industry structure and organizational learning in innovation and brand performance

A manager's perception of industry structure (dynamism) has the potential to impact various organizational strategies and behaviors. This may be particularly so with regard to perceptions driving organizational learning orientations and innovation based marketing strategy. The position taken here suggests that firms operating within a competitive industry tend to pursue innovative ways of performing value-creating activities, which requires the development of learning capabilities. The results of a study of SMEs suggest that market focused learning, relative to other learning capabilities plays a key role in the relationships between industry structure, innovation and brand performance. The findings also show that market focused learning and internally focused learning influence innovation and that innovation influences a brand's performance. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The effect of service evaluations on behavioral intentions and quality of life

Understanding the contribution of marketing to economic and social outcomes is fundamental to broadening the focus of marketing. The authors develop a comprehensive model that integrates the impact of service quality and service satisfaction on both economic and societal outcomes. The model is validated using two random samples involving intensive health services. The results indicate that service quality and service satisfaction significantly enhance quality of life and behavioral intentions, highlighting that customer service has social as well as economic outcomes. This is an important finding given the movement toward recognizing social and environmental outcomes, such as emphasized through triple bottom-line reporting. The findings have important implications for managing service processes, for improving the quality of life of customers, and for enhancing customers' behavioral intentions toward the organization.

Exploring the usefulness of a consumer activity index in the sponsorship-linked marketing context

Despite the now well developed use of sponsorship-linked marketing, there have been few methodological advances in the measurement of sponsorship constructs and outcomes. This paper offers a preliminary development of an activity index for use in the sponsorship marketing context. The activity index seeks to capture the consumer's extended experience with sport (rugby) and considers the relationship of this overall experience to sponsorship-related outcomes of interest. Initial development of the index, based on a convenience sample of 108 people visiting a sports centre, shows promise.

Healthy waterways: Healthy catchments - An integrated research/management program to understand and reduce impacts of sediments and nutrients on waterways in Queensland, Australia

The Moreton Bay Waterways and Catchments Partnership, now branded the Healthy Waterways Partnership, has built on the experience of the past 15 years here in South East Queensland (SEQ). It focuses on water quality and the ecosystem health of our freshwater, estuarine and marine systems through the implementation of actions by individual partners and the collective oversight of a regional work program that assists partners to prioritise their investments and address emerging issues. This regional program includes monitoring, reporting, marketing and communication, development of decision support tools, research that is directed to problem solving, and maintaining extensive consultative and engagement arrangements. The Partnership has produced information-based outcomes which have led to significant cost savings in the protection of water quality and ecosystem resources by its stakeholders. This has been achieved by: – providing a clear focus for management actions that has ownership of governments, industry and community; – targeted scientific research to address issues requiring appropriate management actions; – management actions based on a sound understanding of the waterways and rigorous public consultation; and, – development and implementation of a strategy that incorporates commitments from all levels of stakeholders. While focusing on our waterways, the Partnership’s approach includes addressing catchment management issues particularly relating to the management of diffuse pollution sources in both urban and rural landscapes as well as point source loads. We are now working with other stakeholders to develop a framework for integrated water management that will link water quality and water quantity goals and priorities.

Product warranty and reliability

Product warranty is an important part of new product marketing and sales. Offering warranty implies additional costs in the form of warranty servicing cost. Product reliability has a serious impact on the warranty servicing cost. As such, effective management of product reliability must take into account the link between warranty and reliability. This paper deals with this topic and develops a framework needed for effective management of product reliability. It reviews the relevant literature and defines topics for future research.

Sponsorship-linked marketing: The role of articulation in memory

Corporate sponsorship of events contributes significantly to marketing aims, including brand awareness as measured by recall and recognition of sponsor-event pairings. Unfortunately, resultant advantages accrue disproportionately to brands having a natural or congruent fit with the available sponsorship properties. In three cued-recall experiments, the effect of articulation of sponsorship fit on memory for sponsor-event pairings is examined. While congruent sponsors have a natural memory advantage, results demonstrate that memory improvements via articulation are possible for incongruent sponsor-event pairings. These improvements are, however, affected by the presence of competitor brands and the way in which memory is accessed.