Discusses the results of content analysis of the Web sites of Fortune 100 companies, carried out to identify the mix of promotional activities on their Web sites. Specifically, we performed a content analysis of Web sites utilizing categories representing a range of marketing communications, including: communicating product, pricing and dealer/retail location information, related and unrelated advertisements, sales promotion, direct marketing, basic company information and public relations. We also identified differences between and among industries based on standard industrial classification (SIC) codes. We found considerable variability in how members of the Fortune 100 used their Web sites. The Web sites ranged from very simple ones that focused on basic company information, such as company history, to quite complex Web sites that incorporated a mix of promotional elements, such as press releases, advertisements, games, free gifts and pricing information.
Co-production has been traditionally studied in the context of industrial and service markets. This study investigates the consumer's search for meaning and fulfillment via one type of co-production, collective co-production. The case study method was utilized to examine knife making from kits. The findings unpack a three-part co-production process (design, production, and consumption) that results in significant identity ramifications for consumers. During the design stage of knife making, the informants shaped their self-concept through social inspiration, creative self-expression, and identification with the primal sense of self. The production stage provided internal validation of the self-concept through a pseudochallenge that was achieved through learning activities. The consumption stage provided external validation of the self-concept as the informants shared their co-production experience with others. Theoretical implications are discussed.
Many believe that colleges of business have a role to play in improving the level of marketing ethics practiced in the business world, while others believe that by the time students reach the level of university education, their ethical beliefs are so ingrained as to be virtually unalterable. The purpose of this study is to add to the literature regarding university students’ ethical value judgments. It utilizes scenario studies to assess base line ethical values of junior level undergraduate business administration students, then techniques are employed to influence students’ perceptions of the ethics of various marketing practices, and students’ values are reassessed. A total of 667 junior and senior level students majoring in business administration (52% female; 48% male; 72% 22-years old or younger) participated in the pre-tests and 525 students (47% female; 53% male; 70% 22-years-old or younger) participated in the post-tests. The results of the before/after studies indicate that some experimental techniques are more effective than others in affecting change, but it is difficult to affect long-run change in those predisposed to unethical behavior. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2007ethical dilemmas, judgments, perceptions, sales force behavior, unethical decision behavior,
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