Determination of the merchandise assortment is an important decision for retailers since the composition and depth of the product mix greatly impact both unit sales and costs. This paper considers how Probabilistic Selling (PS), an emerging marketing strategy, impacts the type and number of...

This article examines how the perceived quality of extrafunctional information improves the innovation management process and contributes to success with innovations. Data collected from 420 Japanese managers and 270 U.S. managers are used to test hypotheses about the antecedents of satisfaction...

This paper explores the benefits of letting customers escape from pre-purchased service contracts by offering refunds for cancellations. We show that such a policy creates opportunities for multiple selling in a capacity-constrained service - i.e., collecting cancellation fees from advance...

Compared to other markets, those with standards battles exhibit certain fundamental characteristics that make the consumer decision to adopt a new product more risky and complex. This paper examines how standards competition affects consumer behavior, an issue that has been relatively neglected...

Online consumer product review is an emerging market phenomenon that is playing an increasingly important role in consumers' purchase decisions. This paper examines a fundamental issue concerning online consumer review, i.e., the functions such reviews have for an online marketer. We argue that...

The well-documented rating inflation of incentivized reviews (IRs) can mislead consumers into choosing a product that they would otherwise not buy. To protect consumers from this undesirable influence, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission recommends that reviewers conspicuously disclose any...

Managing inventories is difficult for a seller who faces uncertainty about future demand for its products. Unexpectedly low demand for a product leads to wasted investment in inventory and subsequent markdowns. Conversely, unexpectedly high demand leads to stockouts and the resulting opportunity...

Consumers’ purchase decisions can be influenced by others’ opinions, i.e., word-of-mouth (WOM), and/or others’ actions, i.e., observational learning. While information technologies are creating increasing opportunities for firms to facilitate/manage these two types of social interaction,...