Coordinating static and dynamic supply chains with advertising through two-part tariffs

Zaccour (2008) analyses a marketing channel where firms invest in advertising to increase brand equity, showing that an exogenous two-part tariff cannot replicate the vertically integrated performance. I revisit the model proving that a multiplicity of efficient franchising contracts exists. I characterise an optimal two-part tariff specified as a linear function of the upstream firm’s advertising effort, performing this task both in the static and in the dynamic games. An analogous result emerges both in the static game, writing the fixed component of the two-part tariff as a non-linear function of the manufacturer’s advertising effort, and in the dynamic game, using a contract which is linear in the brand equity.     

Finding an optimal dynamic advertising policy

In this paper a solution is presented to an important marketing problem : the timing of advertising expenditure. Using a differential equation to model the relationship between the sales and advertising rates and using profit as a criterion, a synthesis of the optimal dynamic advertising policy as a function of the current sales level and length of the campaign is derived. In addition, using profit as a criterion, the profitability under an optimal dynamic advertising policy is compared with the profits obtained using an optimal static policy. It is shown that a significant increase in profits can result from employing the optimal dynamic policy.     

The effect of EDI on market channel relationships in retailing

Many of the economic advantages of using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) result from improved relationships between business trading partners. This study develops and tests a model explaining the effects of EDI on three structural variables of inter-organizational relationships: channel intensity, formalization and information quality. The model also includes the effects of these structural variables on cooperation and conflict between trading partners, and on satisfaction and performance in a marketing channel. The model is based on Van de Ven and Ferry's theory of inter-organizational relations and the literature on marketing channels. Responses from 97 retail companies to a mail survey indicated support for the effects of EDI use on channel intensity and formalization but not on channel information quality. Moreover, intensity and formalization were positively related to channel cooperation but not to conflict. Channel performance was positively related to channel cooperation and negatively related to channel conflict. These findings suggest that EDI use improves cooperation between trading partners and leads to greater satisfaction and performance in electronically-mediated business transactions.     

Marketing on the Internet — who can benefit from an online marketing approach?

The research builds upon the literature in electronic commerce and past research in marketing with the objective of understanding factors that impact a product's adaptability to online marketing. A review of marketing channel choice literature reveals a set of factors and channel choice functions that are considered important in making channel decisions. Using this as a basis, four major channel functions, namely, product customization, availability, logistics, and transaction complexity are considered relevant in understanding the implications for Internet marketing. By building upon previous research in the area of channel selection, we provide a means of classifying Internet marketing initiatives based on product characteristics. The classification scheme based on product characteristics can help analyze the significance of each factor on the success of a firm's online marketing approach. Further, the classification scheme is used to discuss decision support implications.     

A result on output feedback linear quadratic control

In this note we consider the static output feedback linear quadratic control problem. We present both necessary and sufficient conditions under which this problem has a solution in case the involved cost depends only on the output and control variables.This result is used to present both necessary and sufficient conditions under which the corresponding linear quadratic differential game has a Nash equilibrium in case the players use static output feedback control.Another consequence of this result is that the conditions also provide sufficient conditions for the static output stabilizability problem. Of course, in case these conditions are not met this does not mean that the system is not stabilizable via static output feedback.     

A differential game of retailer promotions

The paper identifies equilibrium marketing strategies over time in a marketing channel of distribution. A number of retailers promote locally a manufacturer's brand in order to increase their sales. However, sustained and substantial retailer promotions will damage the image of the manufacturer's brand. The manufacturer advertises nationally to improve the brand image. Demand at the retail outlets increase both by the local promotions and by the strength of brand image. First, we identify a noncooperative equilibrium of a differential game played with Markovian strategies. Next, we study a cooperative game where the players make coordinated marketing decisions and address the question whether the manufacturer can design an incentive strategy such that the retailers will stick to their parts of the agreed solution.     

Quantifying the indirect effects of a marketing contact

The Internet banner advertising has become an important marketing channel in recent years. There is a strong demand in the industry to quantify the expected return from a marketing contact. Contacts have both direct effects, such as a banner ad prompting the viewer to click and buy, and indirect effects, such as building awareness so that future exposures are more likely to result in a sale. While it is usually straightforward to track and model direct effects, models that fail to account for indirect effects produce inaccurate estimates of the contact value and allocate marketing resources inefficiently. Our research is based on a relational database for banner ads from a major American internet service provider, which records the complete information about the exposures, the clicks and the transactions. The indirect effect of marketing contacts is modeled with a decaying function of the time since the prospect gets into the system. Discrete survival analysis is used to estimate the marginal effects of each additional exposure. The approach is illustrated with a pedagogical example based on the estimates from the internet banner ad model.     

Strategic channel alignment: an analysis of the configuration of physical and virtual marketing channels

Extensive integration of online and offline channels is often described as the most preferable strategy for multi channel retailing. However, empirical findings challenge this assumption by showing that retailers choose a variety of disparate multi channel strategies. Given this variety, we conjecture that there is no single best approach to multi channel retailing, but that, depending on the general marketing strategy, different multi channel strategies can be suitable for retailers. We develop a model of strategic channel alignment and identify four different paths of channel alignment, which we use to reconstruct and interpret multi channel strategies as an alignment of general marketing strategy and online strategy. An application of the model to four prominent and successful cases from the grocery retailing industry shows that although the companies pursue fundamentally different multi channel strategies, they can all be considered as examples of successful alignment and mature multi channel strategies.     

A pause control approach to the value iteration scheme in average Markov decision processes

This work concerns average Markov decision chains with denumerable state space. Assuming that the Lyapunov function condition holds, it is shown that the value iteration scheme yields convergent approximations to the solution of the average cost optimality equation. This result is obtained using a particular implementation of the value iteration procedure involving an artificial control action under which the system remains static.     

Optimal distribution channel strategy for new and remanufactured products

The market for remanufactured products is large and growing rapidly, accelerated by the widespread popularity of internet sales and online auctions. Whereas extant remanufacturing research focuses primarily on such operations management issues in collecting of end-of-life products, remanufacturing technologies, production planning, and inventory control, we consider an operations-marketing interaction issue by identifying the optimal channel structures for marketing new and remanufactured products. Specifically, based on observations from current practice, we consider three channel strategies a dominant manufacturer can adopt: (1) marketing both new and remanufactured products through an independent retailer; (2) marketing the remanufactured products through the independent retailer, while controlling the new product sales by using its own online channel; (3) marketing the remanufactured products through the manufacturer-owned online channel, while selling new products through the independent retailer. Our results show that the manufacturer prefers to differentiate new and remanufactured products by opening a direct online channel, no matter how the system parameters change. However, which type of products (new or remanufactured) the manufacturer should sell through the online channel depends on the cost saving from remanufacturing, the customer’s acceptance of remanufactured products and the online inconvenience cost. Furthermore, this paper shows that, compared with channel strategy I where the manufacturer sells both new and remanufactured products through an independent retailer, this dual channel strategy benefits the end consumers, but might do harm to the retailer and the total supply chain in some situations.     

符合OSEK/VDX规范的操作系统逻辑仿真研究

通过设计规则, 搭建OSEK操作系统逻辑仿真系统平台, 克服了静态代码检测的不完备性, 实现动态检测逻辑错误。通过测试, 证明了基于规则的动态逻辑检测相对于传统静态分析的优越性。为结合标定技术实现系统逻辑监控提供了基础。     

Understanding the substitution effect between online and traditional channels: evidence from product attributes perspective

The substitution effect between online and traditional channel has received considerable attention from academics and practitioners; however, little is known about the relative size of the substitution effect in different contexts. Since product attributes classification has been recognized as a useful way to evaluate the potential influence of the Internet as a marketing channel, the current study explored the extent to which the relative size of the substitution effect is the function of the product attributes. Drawing upon cross-channel dissynergy and status quo bias theory, we proposed and validated a research model on Chinese Internet users utilizing survey methods. The findings revealed a significant substitution effect between online and traditional channels, and this result was robust across different product categories. Moreover, the substitutive effect was more evident for search goods compared to experience goods. This study also found the direct influence of product involvement on purchase channel choice. This study contributes to both research and practice by advancing our understanding of cross-channel dissynergy and, more specifically, it provides insights into the design of cross-channel coordination strategies.     

Adaptive joint bandwidth and power allocation in heterogeneous wireless access environment

Joint bandwidth and power allocation for a multi-radio access(MRA)system in a heterogeneous wireless access environment is studied.Since both the number of users being served by the system and the wireless channel state are time-varying,the optimal resource allocation is no longer a static optimum and will change with the varying network state.Moreover,distributed resource allocation algorithms that require iterative updating and signaling interactions cannot converge in negligible time.Thus,it is unrealistic to assume that the active user number and the wireless channel state remain unchanged during the iterations.In this paper,we propose an adaptive joint bandwidth and power allocation algorithm based on a novel iteration stepsize selection method,which can adapt to the varying network state and accelerate the convergence rate.A distributed solution is also designed for the adaptive joint resource allocation implementation.Numerical results show that the proposed algorithm can not only track the varying optimal resource allocation result much more quickly than a traditional algorithm with fixed iteration stepsize,but can also reduce the data transmission time for users and increase the system throughput.     

Web挖掘技术在电子商务中的应用

随着互联网的高速发展,Web挖掘由于其独特的优点,在电子商务的应用中扮演了越来越重要的角色。文章主要介绍了Web挖掘的概念和分类,论述了电子商务中Web挖掘的过程和方法,最后阐述了Web挖掘在电子商务中的具体应用。     

Product Marketing and Channel Management in Electronic Commerce

Marketing managers developing strategies to market products on the Internet are faced with important issues. We suggest that the use of Web advertising, virtual store-fronts and virtual communities provides innovative opportunities for marketers to communicate with consumers, understand their preferences and personalize the marketing offers at far lesser costs and far more effectively than through traditional means. The Web can also extend to fulfill the transaction and distribution needs of the consumers through new consumer processes, and thus becomes a new marketing channel. Considering the unique characteristics of the Web and traditional channels, we suggest the use of product and market characteristics in identifying the right channel for the right product. Further, we present a new framework of channel management strategies to help organizations effectively integrate the Web channel into their marketing strategy.     

媒体竞争中的电视频道品牌营销策略研究——以天津卫视为例

当前媒体竞争进入品牌争夺的阶段。如何准确把握市场定位,树立品牌形象是电视频道在市场竞争中取胜的关键。对电视频道进行品牌营销的目的是为了成功塑造和传播品牌的形象,达到提高收视率吸引广告商的目的。文章以天津卫视为例,分析了电视频道品牌营销的作用、营销基础、营销的关键以及品牌营销的策略。     

Electronic word-of-mouth and online reviews in tourism services: the use of twitter by tourists

Lately, the online social media have revolutionized communications and consequently the marketing of tourism destinations and businesses. The area is rapidly evolving and the challenges and opportunities arising from it for tourism industry are already apparent. Electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) and online reviews/recommendations are increasingly used regarding tourism services that are high involvement services. The purpose of the present study is to develop a conceptual framework for understanding the foundations of digital communication and empirically investigate its validity by examining the factors influencing the tourism consumer behavior. This study adopts a conceptual model of e-WOM and explores the use of Twitter by the tourists. Findings revealed the factors affecting tourists’ decision-making and indicated that this social medium is not a panacea; it is another marketing channel to be wisely used in integrated communications marketing of tourism services.     

基于集成赋权的微信营销效果模糊综合评价

为了客观地评价微信营销效果,进而为企业总结营销状况、调整营销策略提供依据,提出了运用熵值集成赋权确定指标权重的微信营销效果模糊多级综合评价模型。首先以层次分析模型为基础对微信营销效果的影响因子进行总结并分层,再运用双基点熵权法改进多级指标权重的处理过程,从而得到客观的赋权值,并与Delphi法结合集成赋权确定最终权重,进而运用改进的模糊多级评价模型对微信营销效果进行综合评价,最后对5家微店的微信营销效果做了实证分析。实证应用结果表明基于熵值理论的集成赋权法,不仅克服了现阶段评价方法存在指标赋权过程受人为因素影响较大的缺点,也体现了专业意见的重要性。改进的模糊综合评价模型结合专家意见和实际数据挖掘,评价结果更符合实际情况。     

The effects of decision timing for pricing and marketing efforts in a supply chain with competing manufacturers

This paper investigates the impact of decision timing for pricing and marketing efforts in a supply chain led by competing manufacturers. We develop and solve six games to consider the scenarios (games) where prices and marketing efforts (ME) are decided simultaneously, and when they are not (i.e., ME is set either before or after prices). We examine these three scenarios for the benchmark case of a bilateral monopolistic channel, then extend the analysis to a supply chain with competing manufacturers. We identify the optimal decision timing by comparing equilibrium profits and strategies across games in each supply chain setup. We find that a monopolistic manufacturer always prefers that prices and ME be decided simultaneously. However, this result does not hold when product competition is taken into account. The optimal decision timing for competing manufacturers depends on the retailer's and manufacturers' ME effectiveness levels as well as on competition intensity. Specifically, when ME are not very effective, a simultaneous decision scenario is preferred because it provides the advantage of higher profit margins or sales. However, for highly effective ME, manufacturers prefer to decouple ME and pricing decisions. The retailer's optimal scenario is either to make all decisions simultaneously or to choose prices prior to ME. This means that supply chain firms can face conflict due to the decision timing for prices and ME.     

The commercial use of segmentation and predictive modeling techniques for database marketing in the Netherlands

Although the application of segmentation and predictive modeling is an important topic in the database marketing (DBM) literature, no study has yet investigated the extent of adoption of these techniques. We present the results of a Dutch survey involving 228 database marketing companies. We find that managers tend to rely on intuition and on the long-standing methods RFM and cross-tabulation. Our results indicate that the application of segmentation and response modeling is positively related to company and database size, frequency of customer contact, and the use of a direct channel of distribution. The respondents indicate that future research should focus on models applicable for Internet marketing, long-term effects of direct marketing, irritation from direct marketing offers, and segmentation and predictive modeling techniques.