A Regression Approach to Conceptualizing and Analyzing Marketing Transactions

Abstract

A conceptual approach is developed in this article using the logic and concepts of statistical regression to analyze marketing phenomena such as: attraction, power, conflict, stability, and competition. Marketing transaction is concep tualized as a perceptual phenomenon in the mind of the marketing agent determined by psychological contiguity be tween perceived benefits and costs. The attraction felt by a marketing organization toward a target market is conceptual ized as the slope of the regression line, power in the intercept of the regression line, stability in the coefficient of determina tion, and conflict in the standard error of the estimate. Com petition is conceptualized in terms of the proportion of variance in benefits extracted by a target market accounted for by costs of one competitor marketing organization relative to the costs of other competitor firms. Marketing transactions can also be similarly analyzed from the perspective of the buying agent in dealing with one or more marketing organi zations. Managerial implications, limitations, and future re search are also discussed.

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