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When firms offer consumers a choice of price‐quality levels – the “good‐better‐best” choice – a challenge for managers is how to set price differentials. This article examines how consumer preferences across such price tiers are influenced by non‐price cues about quality. The results suggest that the pattern of preferences observed across price‐tiers can be influenced by: how quality cues (as well as price levels) are framed; the distribution of various price‐quality tradeoff strategies across potential buyers; and the degree of perceived quality variability within the product category. Specifically, the use of ratio‐scaled cues is most likely to impact “trading‐up” behavior when there are a large number of consumers who exhibit “best value‐seeking” behavior in a market.

Introduction Although the social and economic benefits of recycling are widely recognised, the development of effective recycling programmes has not proceeded at a swift pace. In large measure, this is due to technological problems and to the lack of effective and efficient performance of those distribution functions which are of primary importance in recycling.

States that current pricing strategies used in the service industries are often too simplistic and ineffective in the face of complex environmental conditions. Introduces the Pricing Differentiation Premium Model, which includes in the firm′s pricing strategy its ability to differentiate itself from competitors. Discusses possible strategies for influencing differentiation premiums which can improve the pricing discretion of the service provider.

China’s economy is transforming at a brisk pace. A partially dismantled command economy and introduction of competition have fueled consumer demand for a greater selection of innovative new products in the retail market. The challenge for retail buyers is to adjust their procurement processes to respond to consumer needs in an efficient and effective manner. This study examines factors influencing buyer‐supplier relationships in a transition economy. We present a model to explain the factors driving retail buyer dependence on suppliers. We find that retailer evaluation of supplier credibility mediates the relationship between retailer perceptions of a supplier ability to add value to its business and the ability to achieve its desired goals. In part, this is due to the supplier’s market orientation. Interestingly, guanxi ties have no impact on the retailer perceptions of the supplier credibility, but have a positive affect on retailer dependence on its supplier partners.

The use of various forms of cooperative sales promotions such as intracompany and intercompany multibrand promotions is on the ascendance, particularly among manufacturers and marketers of frequently purchased packaged consumer products. This article provides an overview of various forms of cooperative sales promotions, objectives that firms strive to realize through cooperative sales promotions, and other issues. In addition, from the standpoint of improving marketing productivity, the need for greater focus on the consumer franchise building potential of various sales promotion tools is highlighted.

Illustrates, through both actual and hypothetical examples, the importance to services marketers of recent empirical and theoretical work on decision framing. Suggests that services marketers could have more opportunity than product marketers for affecting the decision frames of consumers. Discusses implications for service marketers, including how decision framing can effect the positioning of service firms in an industry. Considers how the frame can affect the decision of whether or not to purchase, and how changes in the decision frame might encourage consumers to purchase more expensive alternatives.Notes ethical issues raised for marketers by these implications.

Both the Product Life Cycle (PLC) and a new version, the Product Evolutionary Cycle (PEC), are more than just descriptive marketing tools based on historical sales data. Rather, they represent dynamic instruments to enable an entrepreneur‐or coporate manager‐to estimate market development. The S‐curve, the growth part of the PLC and the PEC, makes it possible for an entrepreneur to time capital requirements, labor force recruitment, promotional efforts, distribution channels, target markets, and pricing. In the case of new products, research can be utilized to construct an S‐curve in advance of an innovation's introduction in the market‐place. Such information is invaluable to an entrepreneur, since it serves as a guide to future market development.

Recent studies have conceptually explored the interrelation of buying and selling in commercial transactions. This article is an empirical probing of these theoretical constructs. The cruise line industry is the chosen forum to illustrate the interactive nature of industrial buying and selling: on the one hand, how customers' needs affect their purchasing decisions and, on the other hand, how suppliers' selling strategies must complement these needs. Buying and selling are presented in parallel in the discussion and schematically summarized in a ten‐construct framework which is both specific and general. Awareness and application of the principles in the framework enable buyers and/or sellers to achieve maximum potential effectiveness.

A forecasting method involving construction and interpretation of the business cycle is presented. Definition and development of lead indicators are discussed. These tools provide management with short‐ to medium‐term forecasts of sales activity. Insights into the reasonableness of the forecasts and guidance for appropriate management actions are discussed. Data from an actual company are used to illustrate computation and interpretation procedures.