This section is based on a selection of article abstracts from a comprehensive business literature database. Marketing-related abstracts from over 125 journals (both academic and trade) are reviewed by JM staff. Descriptors for each entry are assigned by JM staff. Each issue of this section represents three months of entries into the database. JM thanks UMI for use of the ABI/INFORM business database. Each entry has an identifying number. Cross-references appear immediately under each subject heading. The following article abstracts are available online from the ABI/INFORM database, which is published and copyrighted by UMI. For additional information about access to the database or about obtaining photocopies of the articles abstracted here, please call (800) 626-2823 or write to UMI, 300 N. Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48106.
This section is based on a selection of article abstracts from a comprehensive business literature database. Marketing-related abstracts from over 125 journals (both academic and trade) are reviewed by JM staff. Descriptors for each entry are assigned by JM staff. Each issue of this section represents three months of entries into the database. JM wishes to thank UMI for use of the ABI/INFORM business database. Each entry has an identifying number. Cross-references appear immediately under each subject heading. The following article abstracts are available on-line from the ABI/INFORM database, which is published and copyrighted by UMI. For additional information about access to the database or about obtaining photocopies of the articles abstracted here, please call (800) 626-2823 or write to UMI, 300 N. Zeeb Rd. Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Each article costs $10.75. Customers with deposit accounts of $200 or more pay $8.75 per article.
This section is based on a selection of article abstracts from a comprehensive business literature database. Marketing-related abstracts from over 125 journals (both academic and trade) are reviewed by JM staff. Descriptors for each entry are assigned by JM staff. Each issue of this section represents three months of entries into the database. JM thanks UMI for use of the ABI/INFORM business database. Each entry has an identifying number. Cross-references appear immediately under each subject heading. The following article abstracts are available online from the ABI/INFORM database, which is published and copyrighted by UMI. For additional information about access to the database or about obtaining photocopies of the articles abstracted here, please call (800) 626-2823 or write to UMI, 300 N. Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48106.
This section is based on a selection of article abstracts from a comprehensive business literature database. Marketing-related abstracts from over 125 journals (both academic and trade) are reviewed by JM staff. Descriptors for each entry are assigned by JM staff. Each issue of this section represents three months of entries into the database. JM thanks UMI for use of the ABI/INFORM business database. Each entry has an identifying number. Cross-references appear immediately under each subject heading. The following article abstracts are available online from the ABI/INFORM database, which is published and copyrighted by UMI. For additional information about access to the database or about obtaining photocopies of the articles abstracted here, please call (800) 626-2823 or write to UMI, 300 N. Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48106.
The author responds to a recent article in which Stephen Brown compares the work of Ted Levitt and Morris Holbrook, casts the two into a precursor–ephebe relationship, and concludes that they are “father and son, one and the same.” Although honored by this comparison, the author mentions certain ways in which Brown's interpretations appear to distort his intentions as an author.
Stephen Brown is Professor of Retailing, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland. Some years back, I wrote an article on the hoary “art or science” debate, arguing that it was time to give art a chance (Brown 1996). For some unfathomable reason, this admittedly amateurish overview antagonized an earnest marketing scientist from Australia. In keeping with the objective, rigorous, and dispassionate precepts of proper scientific method, he dashed off a furious letter to the editor, demanding my immediate defenestration, or official denunciation at least. After casting angry aspersions on my publication, professionalism, and parentage, he concluded with the show-stopping pronouncement: “The basic problem with Stephen Brown is that he is just like Shakespeare—the style is more important than the content.” That’s correct, my antagonist was comparing me to Shakespeare, and he thought it was a criticism! I was reminded of this incident when I read the comments of Professors Levitt and Holbrook on my Journal of Marketing article, which argued for a literary approach to the marketing literature (Brown 1999). In it, I singled out their work as the very best that marketing has to offer—in a stylistic sense—and suggested that those of us who toil in thoroughly deserved obscurity have much to learn from their scintillating scholarly prose. What’s more, I offered a comparative reading of their oeuvres in terms of Harold Bloom’s anxiety of influence thesis, a psychoanalytically inflected model of the often uneasy relationship between ambitious poets and their illustrious predecessors. Yet, despite my attempted homage to their superlative academic achievements, both Levitt and Holbrook have taken exception to my contentions, albeit in very different ways. I am grateful for this opportunity to respond to their comments.
The authors examine preannouncements as strategic marketing communications aimed at influencing the perceptions and attitudes of industry stakeholders. The growth of the Internet points to the expanded importance of preannouncements. With an investigation of 265 chief executive officers (CEOs) and presidents from manufacturers of new products, the authors examine the effects of three firm-specific factors (first-mover predisposition, firm information interactivity, and competitive equity building) and one environmental construct (industry dynamism) on a firm's propensity to preannounce its future intended actions. The results indicate that competitive equity building, defined as a firm's tendency to pursue a high-profile leadership position within its industry, is the main driver of a firm's propensity to preannounce. Future directions for research include the development of a normative preannouncement framework and investigation of the role of preannouncements within the context of CEO marketing activities.