Australasian Marketing Journal

Achieving sustained business performance is a challenge for many firms. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the food and packaged goods domain where manufacturers are significantly affected by globally aggressive competitors and retailers. Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm this study of 173 food manufacturers finds that the NPD process is a capability enabling the translation of a firm's market orientation and its NPD orientation, both resources, into superior NPD program success, thereby enhancing overall firm performance. The results help clarify the somewhat ambiguous relationship between market orientation, product innovation and firm performance and demonstrate that firms wishing to leverage product innovation must have the cultural and structural foundations of both a market orientation and NPD orientation. Importantly, they must implement a well-executed NPD process in order to translate these broader firm resources into performance outcomes.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the personality traits of Generation Y consumers, their degree of fashion consciousness, and prestige sensitivity in the context of fashion brands. Data were collected using a convenience sampling method involving university students. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed and 251 usable responses were returned with the sample falling between the ages of 18–25. The results revealed that certain personality traits were found to be significantly associated with fashion consciousness and prestige sensitivity. Furthermore, fashion consciousness was found to perform a mediating role in the relationship between personality traits and prestige sensitivity. Personality traits were found to perform an important role in affecting people's attitude towards prestige fashion brands. It is crucial for marketers to understand the significance of certain personality traits on fashion consciousness and prestige sensitivity to enhance the effectiveness of brand appeals. This study has extended the scope of personality research in marketing by utilising the Big Five construct to examine the phenomenon of fashion consciousness and prestige sensitivity among Gen Y consumers.

This study surveys small retail pharmacies to examine the relationship between managers’ perceptions of local market environments, their stated assortment policies, and their reported performance levels for a large product category. Managers report wider assortments when market diversity and market munificence are high. In turn, wider assortments have a positive effect on reported relative category sales and stock. In addition, market uncertainty has a direct negative effect on reported margins. This study controls for both store space as well as the potential direct performance effects of the local market environment faced by small retailers.

This study explores the role and interplay of intrinsic and extrinsic cues when evaluating fish quality and in shaping consumers’ attitudes toward fish consumption. A sensory analysis of nine different fish including five variants of barramundi was conducted to determine how consumers evaluated the fish on intrinsic cues. Focus groups were then conducted to explore the impact of extrinsic cues on attitudes and purchase intentions. While the sensory analysis revealed distinct differences between barramundi variants on intrinsic cues (notably taste), the focus groups revealed that, as a brand, barramundi is perceived much more favourably and consistently. Consumers used extrinsic cues, particularly country of origin, as surrogate indicators of quality. Aquaculture producers need to ensure intrinsic product quality and consistency, as while consumers use the extrinsic cue of “Australian grown” as a surrogate indicator of quality, as their familiarity and confidence with seafood grows, this overreliance on extrinsic cues may diminish.

A common assumption in the literature is that ineffective relationships and conflict between Marketing Managers and Sales Managers and their respective departments is endemic. This article challenges that assumption via an exhaustive review of the large sample quantitative studies of this important working relationship. The analysis reveals that the assumption is unsustainable in the light of the evidence, and that Marketing Manager/Sales Manager relationships are generally effective. This is encouraging news for these managers and their firms, as recent work has established that effective Marketing/Sales relationships are positively associated with superior value creation and market performance.

Increasingly service providers show customers some activities originally in the backstage but few are known about the phenomenon from theoretical viewpoints. The purpose of this study is to conduct an exploratory investigation of positive backstage visibility and the corresponding perceived values. The CIT method was applied to analyze 387 service experiences in Greater China (including Mainland China, Macau, and Taiwan). The categorization of backstage visibility was classified by two dimensions (complexity and attractiveness), and the corresponding perceived values for backstage visibility for each category of backstage visibility was discussed. The main findings of this study include that (1) the visualized backstage could become a differentiated strategy or tangible clue for services, and (2) the contents of dramaturgy theory should be adjusted to be suitable in the business practices today.

This paper reviews extant research in classical conditioning effects in consumer behavior and advertising contexts to determine whether they are real or illusory. The empirical results reveal that in cases where classical conditioning effects were found, they could be countermined by the deficiencies in research methodologies, demand artifacts, the mediating role of contingency awareness, or some alternative mechanisms. In cases where the effects were not observed, the failure could be attributed to violations of the conditions for classical conditioning to occur or absence of contingency and demand awareness. It is concluded that thus far there has been no convincing evidence for classical conditioning effects on consumer behavior. Suggestions for future research in this area are presented.

Much controversy surrounds genetic modification (GM), especially in Australasia, Britain and Europe. In spite of this controversy, there is little research linking GM with relevant anti-consumption topics. This article addresses the gap by using a brand avoidance framework to help understand consumers’ negative attitudes towards GM. Although brand avoidance research typically focuses on the avoidance of specific brands, this article uses the same framework in a different context and analyses the significant role that a negative association, such as GM, plays in anti-consumption. The findings indicate three reasons motivating avoidance of GM: concerns regarding safety, symbolic incongruity, and issues of morality, all of which map onto an existing brand avoidance framework. More importantly, this research concludes that in controversial industries such as GM, where consumers are more likely to be predisposed towards avoidance, a lack of brand awareness, or ‘brandlessness’, may be of short term benefit to companies, but is, nonetheless, a risky strategy.

This paper conceptualised a model of customer trust in buyer–seller relationships in rural India by integrating variables studied in developed counties with the emphasis of social aspects of market exchange by including generalised trust sources. We have applied Fishbein's model of behavioural intention and Fafchamps's (2002) trust theory in developing countries and proposed that the customer trust is not only based on often-studied personalised trust sources only but also through generalised trust sources. In the model, we have included normative and informational social influences as generalised trust sources and product quality, service quality and customer dependence as personalised trust sources. We empirically validated our model with the survey data collected from farmers who buy chemical fertilisers from rural traders in India. We found that the generalised trust sources significantly impact customer trust for traders. Furthermore, we also found that the personalised trust sources impact customer trust for traders in a different way in rural India.