ALBERT

Notes: Discusses the profile of a learning organization as described bySenge. Describes the current organizational status of Brooksby College,Leicestershire, UK, in relation to a college-devised quality assuranceprogramme (QAP). Then applies the results of this research to Senge'sprofile of a learning organization to show that Brooksby College has theattributes, and means, of becoming a learning organization. Furthershows that the vehicle for this development is the QAP.

Notes: This paper examines the effects of resource dependency and contract exclusivity on the attitudes and intentions of consumers in brand alliances. Findings indicate that attitudes of the brands before the alliance (pre-attitudes) have a positive effect on the attitude toward the alliance, which has a positive effect on perceived quality of the alliance, willingness to pay a premium price and purchase intention. Further, attitudes toward the brands after the alliance (post-attitudes) reveal a positive spillover effect for both the host and ally brands. Interestingly, the moderating effects of dependency and exclusivity differ based on whether the brand serves as the host or the ally brand in the alliance. Analyses conducted after controlling for the effects of familiarity of the ally brands revealed consistent results.

Notes: Building brand loyalty has become more important, yet more difficult to achieve in today's marketplace. This research investigates a possible avenue for building brand loyalty that is not directly related to the marketing of the product - attracting individual investors in the brand's corporate parent. A survey of over 500 individual investors revealed that individual investors do tend to buy brands from companies in which they hold stock, and investors may buy stock in a company because they have experience with the brand. In contrast with brand loyalty, where consumers will not buy competitive offerings, individual investors indicated they would buy competitive offerings, suggesting that stock ownership is more likely to lead to repeat purchase behavior, but not brand loyalty.

Notes: The study examines the effects of e-mail marketing on brand loyalty and also reveals the kinds of e-mail content valued by consumers. Data were gathered from 890 consumers, who were users of a multinational cosmetics brand and had received regular permission-based e-mail messages from the marketer. Results reveal that regular e-mail marketing has positive effects on brand loyalty. E-mail-activated consumers visited retail stores. Consumers exposed to e-mail marketing recommended the brand to their friends. Loyal customers appreciated regular communication and various other information content from the brand more than mere offers. These results encourage marketers to keep in frequent contact with customers via e-mail with the aim of enhancing brand loyalty.

Notes: A novel method for evaluating the benefits of a potential brand association is presented. The uniqueness of the method is considering brand association as just another product attribute, subject to the usual analysis used to determine the attributes desired by consumers in a new product. The method was illustrated using automobile tires as the product, and designation of the tire as the "Official" tire of NASCAR as the brand association. A set of tire profiles was created, describing hypothetical tires as combinations of levels of five attributes. Subjects ranked these profiles for preference, and this preference was decomposed through conjoint analysis to yield part-worths for each attribute level for each subject. Association with NASCAR had an average impact of 14.8 percent on consumer preference, comparable with that of speed rating (13.8 percent), and not much below that of brand (20.5 percent). Rudimentary market simulation suggested that associating the underdog tire brand with NASCAR would result in dramatically improved market share. Evaluating potential brand associations by their simulated effects on market share may be a useful managerial tool.

Notes: Although it has been proposed that recall processes play a role in the retail sales effects of 9-ending pricing, substantial effects of price endings on the level of recalled prices has not been demonstrated. With an improved testing procedure, it is found that the level of a set of prices with low ending digits (such as 1 or 2 in the dollars place) is more likely to be overestimated in recall than the level of equivalent sets of prices with high ending digits (such as 6, 7, or 9 in the dollars place). The results of the study support the role of left-to-right processing of price information and point out some consequences for retailers of the use of low numbers in price-ending digits.

Notes: Purpose - This UK-based research aims to build on the US-based work of Keller and Aaker, which found a significant association between "company credibility" (via a brand's "expertise" and "trustworthiness") and brand extension acceptance, hypothesising that brand trust, measured via two correlate dimensions, is significantly related to brand extension acceptance. Design/methodology/approach - Discusses brand extension and various prior, validated influences on its success. Focuses on the construct of trust and develops hypotheses about the relationship of brand trust with brand extension acceptance. The hypotheses are then tested on data collected from consumers in the UK. Findings - This paper, using 368 consumer responses to nine, real, low involvement UK product and service brands, finds support for a significant association between the variables, comparable in strength with that between media weight and brand share, and greater than that delivered by the perceived quality level of the parent brand. Originality/value - The research findings, which develop a sparse literature in this linkage area, are of significance to marketing practitioners, since brand trust, already associated with brand equity and brand loyalty, and now with brand extension, needs to be managed and monitored with care. The paper prompts further investigation of the relationship between brand trust and brand extension acceptance in other geographic markets and with other higher involvement categories.

Notes: Purpose - Aims to explore the factorial structure of automobile brand image in the context of a cross-national study. More specifically, we intend to answer two questions: whether the factor structure of brand image perception differ across countries, and whether these differences are owing to nation's culture and level of economic development. Design/methodology/approach - An existing data set, which consists of data collected from survey research, was employed. Data covering the top 20 automobile markets consisting of 4,320 eligible new car owners. Perception of and attitude towards automobile brand associations were measured using nominal scales. Findings - Provides empirical evidence that supports the applicability of multiple brand image dimensions corresponding to the consumer's sensory, utilitarian, symbolic and economic needs at the global level. The study also suggested that factor structure of brand image differs across nations and these differences might be reflective to a nation's culture and its level of economic development. Research limitations/implications - As with any empirical study, this research inevitably has its limitations, which presents opportunities for further research: extensions of the present framework to other product categories; extensions of the national factors; extensions of the brand associations; and measurement improvement. Practical implications - Understanding the similarities or differences of the factor structure of brand image across the globe facilitates the formation of a successful global image strategy. First of all, by exploring brand image structure at the global level; and the specific interrelationships among the corresponding associations Originality/value - The results derived from the 20 diverse nations in the present study not only enhance our understanding of brand image structure but also provide a strong test of the empirical generalizability of automobile brand image dimensionality and factor structure in a global context.

Notes: Purpose - Innovation launch strategies are usually critical for innovation success. The main objective of this work consists of analysing the influence of the tactical launch decisions on new product performance Design/methodology/approach - Starts with a brief literature review. Then the results obtained in our study are compared with those obtained in other research. The data used in our research describes a new product launch in the Spanish agro-food sector. The method for collecting the information was through a mailed questionnaire. Because most of response variables were categorical, and in order to verify the proposed hypotheses, cross tabulation was used. We used Pearson's chi-squared (?2), likelihood ratio (H2) and the adjusted residuals too. Findings - The results propose a series of recommendations for the executives in charge of marketing new products. Specifically, suggests that it will be more likely to achieve success if, when launching a new product, skimming strategies are used, if intensive distribution is used for selling an innovation and the investment in the communication media is greater than that made by competitors. However, it is more possible to fail if the new product is marketed using an individual brand, penetration prices, push communication strategies and less expenditure on this concept than the competitors. Research limitations/implications - The literature review suggests that some of these tactical decisions seem to be related with other launch decisions (strategic launch decisions). As a result of this, it will be interesting to perform these similar analyses for those as well as to analyse the possible links that may exist between both and their influence on the results. Future research could explore these relationships in other industrial sector or countries. Perhaps, it would be possible provide a common perspective. Originality/value - In spite of the importance of the last phase of new product, there are few empirical works about it. This work tries to explain the transcendence of the tactical launch decisions and the influence of it on the success/failure of an innovation

Notes: Purpose - The paper attempts to answer "Will the shift from the locus of self to locus of others impact the magnitude of loss aversion?" and "Will different prices affect the self-other asymmetry in choice?". Design/methodology/approach - The design is a two (locus: self vs others) by two (anchoring price: $30 vs $90) between-subjects' factorial with both the locus of evaluation and the monthly service plan charges (anchoring prices) as the between-subjects' factors. Findings - The author finds that inertia equity is smaller when consumers evaluate peer customers than when they evaluate themselves to switch brands. It is also found that the locus effect is applicable to brands at various prices. Research limitations/implications - Further research should focus on the validations of the assumptions to support the empirical finding from the theoretical perspective. Practical implications - Price reductions should be made personally relevant to the consumer and price increases should be made relevant to other things. Originality/value - The locus effect expands the assessment of loss aversion from one (self or other) to two dimensions jointly (self and other). It demonstrates the impact of the locus of evaluation on the magnitude of loss aversion.