Nicholas Loyd, Gregory Harris, Sampson Gholston and David Berkowitz
Few companies have had the success that Toyota Motor Corporation has experienced over the past 70 years. Many give credit for Toyota's success to the company's famous Toyota…
Abstract
Purpose
Few companies have had the success that Toyota Motor Corporation has experienced over the past 70 years. Many give credit for Toyota's success to the company's famous Toyota Production System. Companies outside of Toyota have tried to implement versions of Toyota's system as Lean production; however, few companies have experienced the success of Toyota, and none have experienced Toyota's sustained success. In 2001, Toyota released a publication entitled The Toyota Way 2001 as a set of globalized standards of the culture that drives the success of the Toyota Production System.
Design/methodology/approach
This research examines the effect of the Toyota Way on the implementation of Lean production outside of Toyota. A survey was developed and a study was performed on a sample of 349 participants with Lean experience. Structural equation modeling was used to test the relationship between the Toyota Way culture, Lean production, and achieving the desired Lean production system results.
Findings
The results of this research discovered that the existence of the Toyota Way culture has a significant and positive mediating effect on a Lean production system achieving the desired Lean results.
Originality/value
This research created a validated survey instrument that can be used to evaluate and understand the status of a Lean implementation initiative based upon employee perception. The results of this study support assertions made by Lean practitioners and previous research stating that culture affects the level of success of Lean production system implementation. While this may not seem like breaking news, prior to this study no statistically validated research supporting such an assertion could be found. Furthermore, this research defines culture very specifically as the Toyota Way culture as outlined in The Toyota Way 2001.
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James T. Simpson, Christine Kollmannsberger, Helmut Schmalen and David Berkowitz
This research tested a model in both Germany and the USA that contained marketing variables known to impact new product development success in high technology firms. We explore…
Abstract
This research tested a model in both Germany and the USA that contained marketing variables known to impact new product development success in high technology firms. We explore the link between national culture and new product development. A multi‐group LISREL analysis revealed that while the model structure is valid for both countries, the impact of certain marketing factors on commercial product success differed. The analysis revealed that the mean values of the marketing factors differed significantly in each country. The most important determinant of new product success in both countries is proficiency in product launch activities. Marketing skills also positively impact product success in both countries. Top management support and involvement was also an important predictor of new product success in Germany, but the impact was negative. The potential impact of culture on the findings is discussed.
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David Berkowitz and John S. Hill
Contends that adapting consumer products to foreign market tastes is one of the more difficult challenges facing international marketers; the stakes are high, with even minor…
Abstract
Contends that adapting consumer products to foreign market tastes is one of the more difficult challenges facing international marketers; the stakes are high, with even minor cultural mistakes resulting in lost sales and corporate embarrassment. Chronicles how one company in the global greeting card industry developed its international marketing strategy. Uses a Delphi panel of company managers to identify key factors in the product adaptation process. Draws on corporate expertise to pinpoint key similarities and differences between the US home market and prospective foreign markets. Concludes that where there were major similarities, prospects were deemed good for global standardized strategies. Where there was great diversity among key indicators, a multinational country‐by‐country approach was followed.
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Brent M. Wren, David Berkowitz and E. Stephen Grant
To contribute to the understanding of how to manage turnover, the purpose of this paper is to determine if sales managers have the ability to predict high levels of propensity to…
Abstract
Purpose
To contribute to the understanding of how to manage turnover, the purpose of this paper is to determine if sales managers have the ability to predict high levels of propensity to leave (PL) from variables readily available in personnel records, and on commonly used employee surveys.
Design/methodology/approach
The data used for the analysis of the study variables were collected from the sales forces of a total of ten firms across a variety of consumer and industrial product categories, resulting in a sample of 604 respondents. Data were analyzed via multiple discriminant analysis.
Findings
The analysis and test results demonstrate that discriminant sets of attitudinal variables, personal characteristics, and aspects of the job can be identified and used to establish meaningful classifications of a salesperson's PL. Organizational commitment, satisfaction with pay, family status, job involvement, level of education, and compensation plan were all found to be significant. Analysis fails to support the existence of several attitudinal variables generally thought to be predictors of PL.
Originality/value
The overarching implication to be drawn is that any effort to address salesperson turnover must be holistic, rather than limited to a narrow set of variables. These findings hold implications for sales management researchers and human resource/personnel managers.
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Philip J. Trocchia and David Berkowitz
Addresses the socialization process among marketing doctoral students. Four modes of doctoral student socialization are provided from depth interviews conducted with 28…
Abstract
Addresses the socialization process among marketing doctoral students. Four modes of doctoral student socialization are provided from depth interviews conducted with 28 purposively selected individuals. These four modes are based upon two characteristics: degree of program structure, or formal socialization; and degree of student‐faculty interaction, or informal socialization. Reveals five factors that informants identified as contributors toward the professional success of a marketing doctoral student: inner desire, communitas, practicality in research, networking, and brand equity.
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Arthur W. Allaway, Richard M. Gooner, David Berkowitz and Lenita Davis
Despite the proliferation of retail loyalty programs, little is known about differences in the behavior patterns of the consumers within them. There may be several unique segments…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the proliferation of retail loyalty programs, little is known about differences in the behavior patterns of the consumers within them. There may be several unique segments within a loyalty program, and significant managerial implications may accrue from identification of these segments and analysis of differences among them. This paper aims to investigate the potential for deriving meaningful, managerially relevant customer segments within a retail loyalty‐type program.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from the one‐year test of a retail loyalty card program by a major US retailer were used to derive patronage‐based segments and explore determinants of segment differences and strategy implications. A numerical taxonomy process was used to group 57,650 loyalty‐card program members into distinct segments. Cluster analysis was used to generate a range of potential market structures on a set of managerially relevant variables. The most appropriate market structure was selected using scree testing and discriminant analysis. Each of the resulting six segments was named profiled. Finally, a set of patronage‐related variables was regressed on to the clusters using multinomial logistic regression.
Findings
The results indicate that, at least for this card program, clearly defined segments with unique patronage profiles do exist both descriptively and statistically; only a small percentage of loyalty card program members demonstrate behaviors that can be considered truly loyal; and different marketing strategies appear appropriate to try and increase patronage among the segments based on their profile characteristics.
Originality/value
This study should prove valuable to academic researchers as well as managers. It is the first effort to generate meaningful, rigorously derived segments within a large loyalty program. It shows that behavioral variables can yield managerially relevant segments, and that the segments appear to call for individualized strategy initiatives.
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In recent years an emerging global trend of introducing legislation to use civil procedures against criminal assets can be detected. However, these civil forfeiture models, which…
Abstract
Purpose
In recent years an emerging global trend of introducing legislation to use civil procedures against criminal assets can be detected. However, these civil forfeiture models, which exist vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. This paper seeks to identify issues which need to be considered when such a scheme is being designed and examines the options which have been adopted.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper examines the legislative provisions in a number of jurisdictions setting out the common issues which have arisen and the range of options which have attempted as potential solutions.
Findings
The paper concludes that jurisdictions which seek to introduce civil forfeiture legislations now have various examples from which to learn but that these models will likely evolve in the face of litigation and experience as legislatures and policymakers attempt to produce fair but effective procedures for the civil recovery of criminal proceeds.
Originality/value
As further jurisdictions respond to this emerging trend and draft their own legislation, there is much to be leant from the issues which others have considered necessary to address and the way in which these issues have been dealt with.
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John M. Johnson and Andrew Melnikov
Ukraine regained its independence in 1991, following over 7 decades of soviet domination, and about 300 years of Russian domination. Democracy and stable institutional development…
Abstract
Ukraine regained its independence in 1991, following over 7 decades of soviet domination, and about 300 years of Russian domination. Democracy and stable institutional development have proven problematic for Ukraine since 1991, arguably more so than any of the other Eastern European countries. Unlike the increasing economic development in the other countries, for example, per capita GNP in Ukraine has decreased by approximately 50% in the last decade. President Viktor Yushchenko's “Orange Revolution” has promised certain westernized economic reforms, but political opposition has forced a new election scheduled for September 30, 2007.
Nils Böckler, Thorsten Seeger and Peter Sitzer
Purpose – The relationship of media influences and school shootings is analyzed on the background of an integrating metatheoretical framework, derived from socialization theory…
Abstract
Purpose – The relationship of media influences and school shootings is analyzed on the background of an integrating metatheoretical framework, derived from socialization theory and a media appropriation model grounded in action theory.
Design/approach – Empirical findings and dynamic models of the significance of the media in the genesis of school shootings are integrated into the framework based on a review of the literature. Special focus is placed on the subjective functionality of the perpetrators’ prior media use, which is examined for its dependence on individual, cultural/societal, and interpersonal factors.
Findings – School shootings are a form of extreme violence where monocausal explanations fall short and cannot adequately account for the complex multifactorial causes of the phenomenon. However, we come to the conclusion that particular media do play a special role in the origination of school shootings, but in a way that can only be adequately comprehended if they are examined in connection with specific individual, socio-cultural, and interpersonal dynamics.
Originality/value – The chapter presents a conceptual frame within which possible relationships between media influence and school shootings are identified in the socialization contexts of the adolescent perpetrators.