Markerting

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We explore the phenomenon of gift registry as a specific ritual within a larger set of wedding rituals to understand interactions between consumers and retailers. We find that roles for retailers in family based rituals are expanding, given how consumers employ brands to negotiate meaning, experiences of identity, and the dispersion of social systems. These changes allow retailers, as ritual orchestrators, an opportunity to participate more fully in the gift registry ritual by shaping the experience for each type of ritual participant-bride, groom, and gift-giver. Our research contributes an interpretation of how consumers negotiate brand meaning within a temporary gift system, as they perform gift giving rituals situated squarely within the marketplace. We explore the implications these rituals have for the construction of identity, consumer-to-consumer and consumer-to-brand relationships. We provide suggestions for managers and directions for future research.

The experiences of African American expatriates in South Africa are explored to explain how acculturation in circumstances of hyperfiliation influences cross-cultural consumption for the purposes of performing cultural citizenship. The acculturation sub-processes of revision, restoration, and retroversion are analyzed to examine the ways in which social capital is mobilized in citizenship projects. These aspects of expatriate experiences are unpacked, theoretical implications are identified, and managerial implications are discussed.

In presenting this dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree from Georgia State University, I agree that the Library of the University shall make it available for inspection and circulation in accordance with its regulations governing materials of this type. I agree that permission to quote from, to copy from, or publish this dissertation may be granted by the author or, in his/her absence, the professor under whose direction it was written or, in his absence, by the Dean of the Robinson College of Business. Such quoting, copying, or publishing must be solely for the scholarly purposes and does not involve potential financial gain. It is understood that any copying from or publication of this dissertation which involves potential gain will not be

In presenting this dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree from Georgia State University, I agree that the Library of the University shall make it available for inspection and circulation in accordance with its regulations governing materials of this type. I agree that permission to quote from, to copy from, or publish this dissertation may be granted by the author or, in his/her absence, the professor under whose direction it was written or, in his absence, by the Dean of the Robinson College of Business. Such quoting, copying, or publishing must be solely for the scholarly purposes and does not involve potential financial gain. It is understood that any copying from or publication of this dissertation which involves potential gain will not be allowed without written permission of the author. All dissertations deposited in the Georgia State University Library must be used only in accordance with the stipulations prescribed by the author in t...

Each customer varies in his/her lifetime value to a firm. A firm would like to estimate the lifetime value of each customer and use this information in planning differential marketing initiatives targeted at each customer. Customer lifetime value computations require different approaches depending on the business application that a firm is looking at. The authors present two approaches of computing customer lifetime value and offer some best practice applications. The authors also address challenges that firms typically face in implementing the customer lifetime value approach to marketing.

The terms relationship marketing (RM) and loyalty have been extensively promoted in marketing literature. Advocates of RM and loyalty have argued that RM leads to loyalty and loyalty leads to profitability. However, currently available evidence questions these arguments. We propose a term relationship intention. Relationship intention is willingness of a customer to develop a relationship with a firm while buying a product or a service attributed to a firm, a brand, and a channel. We build a multi-item scale for measuring relationship intention. We propose a framework, wherein we argue that the relationship intention is influenced by the customers' perceived firm equity, perceived brand equity, and perceived channel equity. We propose the consequences of relationship intention as being low cost to serve, price premium, word-ofmouth promotion, and company advertisement. We also argue that relationship intention moderates the association between lifetime duration and profitability. Finally, we discuss the managerial implications of relationship intention in terms of transaction and RM.

This study addresses significant challenges that practitioners face when using customer lifetime value (CLV) for customer selection. First, the authors propose a Bayesian decision theory–based customer selection framework that accommodates the uncertainty inherent in predicting customer behavior. They develop a joint model of purchase timing and quantity that is amenable for selecting customers using CLV. Second, the authors compare performance of the proposed customer selection framework (1) with the current customer selection procedure in the collaborating firm and (2) with different customer-level cost allocation rules that are necessary for computing CLV. The study finds that given a budget constraint, customers selected by means of a Bayesian decision theory–based framework (i.e., using the maximized expected CLV of a customer and the corresponding optimal marketing costs as an estimate of future costs) provide the highest profits. The study provides guidelines for implementati...

C ustomer management activities at firms involve making consistent decisions over time, about: (a) which customers to select for targeting, (b) determining the level of resources to be allocated to the selected customers, and (c) selecting customers to be nurtured to increase future profitability. Measurement of customer profitability and a deep understanding of the link between firm actions and customer profitability are critical for ensuring the success of the above decisions. We present the case study of how IBM used customer lifetime value (CLV) as an indicator of customer profitability and allocated marketing resources based on CLV. CLV was used as a criterion for determining the level of marketing contacts through direct mail, telesales, e-mail, and catalogs for each customer. In a pilot study implemented for about 35,000 customers, this approach led to reallocation of resources for about 14% of the customers as compared to the allocation rules used previously (which were based on past spending history). The CLV-based resource reallocation led to an increase in revenue of about $20 million (a tenfold increase) without any changes in the level of marketing investment. Overall, the successful implementation of the CLV-based approach resulted in increased productivity from marketing investments. We also discuss the organizational and implementation challenges that surrounded the adoption of CLV in this firm.

C loud computing is a radically innovative information technology (IT) that has been widely commercialized, but understanding its adoption by a firm has been a mystery. Cloud computing offerings include servers, storage and data product services, and desktop cloud solutions for small businesses. Because prior knowledge about cloud computing adoption is quite limited, this paper attempts to fill the gap in the adoption-provider framework by identifying the drivers that help a firm adopt a radical innovation in a business-to-business scenario. We developed an integrated model that links the purchase timing, product choice, and purchase amount decisions of the different types of cloud computing services. The theory of relationship marketing consisting of "commitment" and "trust" constructs has been extended to include the "need" construct to explain the adoption behavior of the cloud computing services. We empirically tested the proposed framework using data from a large IT company. Results indicate that the proposed model predicts the purchase timing with an accuracy of 78%, type of choice with an accuracy of 81%, and purchase amount with a mean absolute percentage error of 28% for the cloud computing services. The paper highlights the contribution, limitations, and future research for both researchers and practitioners.