Purpose: Retailers often challenge manufacturers through aggressive
store brand policies and severe listing constraints. This study investigates manufacturer innovativeness as a managerial lever to shift the power balance between manufacturers and retailers.
Methodology/approach: Using data from 277 senior managers of Swiss and German consumer goods manufacturers and analyzing these data with structural equation modelling, the authors test hypotheses about the impact of manufacturer innovativeness on manufacturer–retailer relationship characteristics (i.e., retailer dependency, store brand aggressiveness, and listing constraints.
Findings: The study demonstrates that manufacturer innovativeness enhances retailer dependency, which in turn positively affects overall manufacturer performance. This relationship can be explained further: By increasing retailer dependency,manufacturers suppress retailers’ store brand aggressiveness and attenuate retailers’
listing constraints. Store brand aggressiveness affects overall manufacturer Performance through listing constraints. Research implications: Identifying levers such as innovativeness that assist manufacturers
in fostering their power over retailers provides a new mode for understanding how manufacturers can influence the balance of power between manufacturers and retailers. The study provides support for the approach/inhibition theory of power on the inter-organizational level. Organizations with increased power are assumed to have approach-related tendencies and act in goal-consistent manner, whereas
organizations with reduced power are assumed to develop the tendency to pursue inhibition-related actions, e.g., attending to threats. Furthermore, this study identifies channel relationship characteristics such as retailer dependency as a mediating path between manufacturer innovativeness and performance. Practical implications: Managers need to strengthen the firm’s innovative capacity to enhance the performance of their companies. By developing the capability to provide radical innovations, manufacturers are able to enhance their performance not only directly but also indirectly by strengthening the manufacturer’s position with regard to retailers. This study underscores the relevance of innovativeness for strengthening the manufacturer’s position in its relationship with retailers that avoids problems with aggressive store brands and constrained listing conditions.
Häufig präsentieren Anbieter ihren Nachfragern die zur Auswahl stehenden Produkte in Listen. Beispiele hierfür bilden Online-Shops (z. B. für Nahrungsmittel, Elektroartikel oder Kleider), die ihre Erzeugnisse zumeist unter Berücksichtigung der vom Kunden gewünschten Auswahlkriterien in einer Rangfolge darbieten. Auch Auktionsportale, Suchmaschinen sowie Wohnungs-, Partner- oder Pkw-Börsen zeigen die für den Kunden als relevant erachteten Erzeugnisse bzw. Treffer in einer Liste. Aus theoretischen Ansätzen, die vor allem aus der deskriptiven Entscheidungstheorie stammen, lässt sich die Vermutung ableiten, dass der Rangplatz eines Produkts in einer Liste einen Effekt auf die Präferenz des Kunden für dieses Gut ausübt. Im Rahmen einer empirischen Studie im Markt für gebrauchte Fahrzeuge kann dieser Zusammenhang bestätigt werden. Bestimmte Rangplätze sind unabhängig von der Beschaffenheit der an diesen Stellen präsentierten Erzeugnisse bei den Individuen beliebter als andere. Für Hersteller und Händler (etwa Online-Shops) liefert die Studie Hinweise über den Zusammenhang zwischen der Art und Weise der Gestaltung von Listen (z. B. geordnet nach einem Kriterium oder randomisiert) und der Neigung von Individuen, sich für das erste, das mittlere etc. Produkt zu entscheiden. Wissenschaftler erlangen ein tieferes Verständnis über individuelles Verhalten bei der Wahl eines Produkts aus einer Liste und der dieses Verhalten determinierenden Faktoren.
Existing research on categorical ambiguity has mostly examined how consumers assimilate new products into familiar product categories. Extending these findings, this research investigates whether and under what circumstances consumers either create new mental categories for hybrid products or integrate them into existing categories. Specifically, we propose that this effect is influenced by the degree of product ambiguity and the availability of a new category label. We find that as ambiguity increases, the probability of new category creation augments, but product evaluation deteriorates. However, we also find that a new category label can reduce the effects of ambiguity and can improve product evaluation. Thus, the results fill the existing gap in research on the cognitive integration of hybrid products and shed light on how managers may position these products successfully.
Many indebted consumers carry multiple credit cards with significant balances and do not generate enough income to pay off these balances in full at the end of each repayment period. In managing their debt over time, these consumers must decide how to allocate repayments across their debt accounts. This research examines how different monthly repayment allocations, varying from entirely concentrated into one debt account (i.e., a concentrated strategy) to equally dispersed across all debt accounts (i.e., a dispersed strategy), influence consumers’ motivation to repay their debts. Evidence from a field study of indebted consumers with multiple debt accounts and from three experiments shows that concentrated (vs. dispersed) repayment strategies tend to boost consumers’ motivation to become debt free, leading them to repay their debts more aggressively. Importantly, this motivating effect is most pronounced when the repayments are concentrated into consumers’ smallest accounts because consumers tend to infer overall progress in debt repayment from the greatest proportional balance reduction (proportion of starting balance repaid) within any one account. These findings advance our understanding of how consumers repay their debts and help pinpoint the psychological process by which debt repayment strategies affect consumers’ motivation to get out of debt.
In three studies we show that a design’s typicality, clarity, and simplicity differentially contribute to a target’s perceived fluency, with individual design acumen moderating effects of simplicity and clarity but not typicality. When targets (products) are primed by disfluent designs (packages) target contextual fluency traces back entirely to its intrinsic design factors. Increasing the fluency of a prime, however, results in assimilation effects as consumers progressively transfer the fluency of the prime to the target. Downstream effects of contextual fluency on purchase intentions and willingness-to-pay are mediated by attractiveness. Individual need-for-cognition and cognitive load both have detrimental effects on contextual fluency. Implications focus on the advancement of research on fluency and implications for managing design.
Extant research on product design has suggested that a design's typicality is an important determinant of consumers' aesthetic liking. Yet most studies to date have measured consumers' reactions to designs of varied typicality after a single exposure. In reality, however, consumers usually have multiple opportunities to observe a product before making a decision. Against this background, the authors perform three studies in the automobile domain that examine whether the positive effect of design typicality is moderated by the level of exposure. Study 1 indicates that aesthetic liking of typical car designs is greater at lower exposure levels, whereas people like atypical car designs better at higher exposure levels. Study 2 uses real sales data and indicates that the interaction between design typicality and exposure also affects sales, suggesting that atypical cars may be more successful in the long run. Using experimental manipulations of the key constructs, Study 3 provides evidence for the underlying process and finds renewed support for the notion that design typicality and exposure interact to affect aesthetic liking.
Most companies are intent on equipping their brands with a set of strong, symbolic values. Although it is widely accepted that all marketing activities (including the product itself) need to be consistent with a brand's values, a comprehensive and systematic approach for transforming abstract brand values into concrete product design features is still missing. This research addresses this gap in the literature by adapting an approach that was originally developed in perception research to a branding context. In particular, we propose that image morphing and warping techniques can be used to identify and manipulate those design features that drive the perception of a given brand value. Two studies with real consumers focusing on the automotive market confirm the viability and the usefulness of our approach. From a managerial perspective, the approach may increase the effectiveness of design efforts and may facilitate the communication between marketing and design departments.
Although product design is considered as a core determinant of a product's market success, systematic approaches that allow managers to increase a product's visual attractiveness are not available. The present research addresses this gap by adapting an approach that was originally developed in research on human facial attractiveness to a product design context. In particular, we propose that image morphing and warping techniques can be used to identify and manipulate those design features that drive a product's perceived attractiveness. Moreover, we also develop a computer-assisted interface that allows consumers to individually determine their optimal car design. Three studies with real consumers focusing on the automotive market confirm the viability and the usefulness of our approach. From a managerial perspective, the approach may increase the effectiveness of design efforts and may help in integrating consumers' preferences in an early stage of the product design process.
