Practicing managers and academicians have described a variety of elements of the just‐in‐time (JIT) implementation process. Reports a survey to determine which of these elements are critical to success in JIT implementation. The survey of 114 JIT users related the importance of these...

A few suppliers to manufacturers are now working to build brand preference or consumer franchise. Discusses the success of NutraSweet in obtaining long‐term supply contracts, despite patent expiration; it can be attributed to building such consumer franchise successfully through an ingredient...

Benchmarking is the process of identifying business practices that lead to superior performance. This is done by searching out those firms which are clearly the best at a particular endeavor. In exporting, the best firms have won the presidentially‐conferred “E” Award. Offers an initial...

Business‐to‐business service marketing has received comparatively less attention in the academic literature than business‐to‐business product marketing; much of the service marketing literature discusses the ways in which services and products are different. Compares service marketing to...

Buyers have been formally evaluating suppliers for many years. Intends to “turn the tables” and suggests three important reasons why vendors should formally evaluate their customers. A straightforward easily applied mechanism is provided to aid business marketers in carrying out customer...

Activity‐based costing (ABC) is widely proclaimed to be revolutionizing the way in which costs are allocated in business. Instead of allocating overhead costs on volume‐related bases ABC allocates costs directly to products based on activity “drivers”. Since it is activities which...

Focusses on the identification of the significant differences in the assessment of the importance of 35 carrier selection variables by both carriers and shippers. The results indicate that significant perceptual differences do exist for those surveyed, and it is quite possible that such...

Soaring health‐care costs, increasing government regulation, and intensifying competition have combined to force hospitals into stricter cost‐containment controls. This quest for efficiency is especially pertinent to the most expensive diagnostic and treatment equipment. Doctors and...

Explains for sales managers the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act 1990, which provides protection for all disabled US citizens. Provides guidelines for industrial sales managers to ensure that they conform with the new legislation, Title I of which protects the disabled from...

Examines the central proposition that the marketing‐purchasing of ew industrial manufacturing technologies involves the development (not ecessarily a planned design) of a new network of relationships within and across enterprises. Presents the results of a detailed case study on the adoption...