Business Press / Industry publications

"Sibling Rivalry: When Companies Offer Discounts, They too often Ignore the Impact on Other products They Sell". MIT/Sloan Management Review:
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/executive-adviser/articles/2009/3/5137/sibling-rivalry-when-companies-offer-discounts-they-too-often-ignore-the-impact-on-other-products-they-sell/

"You Need More Customers" Marketing Research / Marketing Insights. 2009.


Reports for Government

"Pricing Practices: their Effects on Consumer Behaviour and Welfare" Prepared for the Office of Fair Trading, UK. In conjunction with Gorkan Ahmetoglou, Simon Fried, and Adrian Furnham.

http://www.oft.gov.uk/OFTwork/markets-work/current/advertising-prices

Teaching cases
"Salty Snacks - an Excel Based exercise in understanding market structure". Ivey Publishing, Richard Ivey School of Business. http://cases.ivey.uwo.ca/Cases/Pages/home.aspx?Mode=showproduct&prod=9B10A015

Refereed Journal Articles

"Competition for memory retrieval between private label and national brands". Forthcoming in Journal of Business Research 2010. With Magda Nenyzc-Thiel, Jenni Romaniuk and Byron Sharp. Click for Abstract

"Consideration Sets for Financial Services Brands" Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Vol 14, 3, December 2009. With Kerry Mundt and Byron Sharp. Click for Abstract

"Brand Loyalty in the UK Sportswear Market" International Journal of Market Research, Vol 51, 2, 2009. Click for Abstract

"Do Product Variants Appeal to Different Segments of Buyers within a Category ?" Journal of Product and Brand Management, Vol 18, 2, 2009. With Giang Trinh and Larry Lockshin.

"Generalized Pattern of Competition Across Tourist Destinations" International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, 2009. With Jenni Romaniuk and Annabel Mansfield. Click for Abstract

"The Effect of Service price Increases on Customer Retention: The Moderating Role of Customer Tenure and Relationship Breadth". Journal of Service Research, Vol. 11, 3 2009. Note that due to some issues with copy-editing there are typographical errors relating to the price elasticity estimates. The correct price elasticity estimates are -0.3 and -0.4, not -.03 and -0.4 as shown in a couple of places in the paper. Also on p. 237 there is a figure of 0.03% pertaining to the change in the lapsing rate, this is meant to be 0.3%, again due to requested changes to the penultimate proof being made incorrectly by the publisher. Click for Abstract

"Do data characteristics change according to the number of scale points used ? An experiment using 5 point, 7 point and 10 point scales". International Journal of Market Research, Vol. 50, 1, 2008. Click for Abstract

"Regularities in Buyer Behaviour and Brand Performance - the Case of Australian Beer". Journal of Brand Management, Vol 15, 3, 2008.

"Can A Brand outperform competitors on cross-category loyalty ? An examination of of cross-selling metrics in two financial services markets". Journal of Consumer Marketing Vol 23, 7, 2006. With Kerry Mundt and Byron Sharp.

“Interpretation of Brand Penetration Figures that are reported by sub-groups” Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing Vol 14, 2, 2006.

“Recall of Radio Advertising in low and high advertising clutter formats” International Journal of Advertising Vol 25, 1, 2006. With Erica Riebe.

“Loyalty to Price Tiers in Purchases of Bottled Wine” Journal of Product and Brand Management Vol 14, 1, 2005. With Jenni Romaniuk.

“The Effects of a Massively Successful Promotion on Brand, Competitor and Category Sales”. Journal of Product and Brand Management Vol 13, 5, 2004.

“Price changes and defection levels in a subscription-type market: can an estimation model really predict defection levels ?” Journal of Services Marketing Vol 18 No. 1 2004.

“Interviewer Evaluations of Interview Quality”. Australasian Journal of Market Research, Vol 10, 2 2002. Click here for fulltext.

“A Marketing Economy of Scale – Big Brands Lose Less of their Customer Base”. Marketing Bulletin, Vol 13 2002. With Erica Riebe, Byron Sharp and Nick Danenberg.

“The Impact of Different Scale Anchors on Responses to the Verbal Probability Scale”. Canadian Journal of Marketing Research, Vol 20, No. 1 2002. With Erica Riebe. Click here for fulltext.

“Further Evidence on the Predictive Accuracy of the Verbal Probability Scale: The case of Household Bill Payments in Australia”. Journal of Financial Services Marketing, March 2002.

“Five Point vs Eleven Point Scales – Does it Make a Difference to Data Characteristics?” Australasian Journal of Market Research, January 2002. Click here for fulltext.

“What is Differentiation and How Does it Work” Journal of Marketing Management, October 2001. With Byron Sharp.

“Do SERVQUAL dimensions emerge from Mystery Shopping data ? A Test of Convergent Validity” Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, Vol 16 No 2 2001. With Michelle Lowndes. Click here for fulltext.

"The Effect of Mentioning a Scale Mid-point While Administering a Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire Via Telephone" Australasian Journal of Market Research, January, Vol 9 No. 1 2001. Click here for fulltext.

"Market Orientation and Company Profitability: Further Evidence Incorporating Longitudinal Data". Australian Journal of Management, Vol 25 No. 2, 2000.

"The Reliability and Validity of Objective Measures of Customer Service: Mystery Shopping" Australasian Journal of Market Research 2000 January, Vol 8 No. 1. With Byron Sharp. Click here for fulltext.

"The Impact of Question Wording Reversal on Probabilistic Estimates of Defection/Loyalty for a Subscription Product" Marketing Bulletin, Vol 11 2000.

“The Relationship between Subjective and Objective Company Performance Measures in Market Orientation Research: Further Empirical Evidence”, Marketing Bulletin Vol. 10 1999 .

“Case Study - Doing a Market Assessment for an Unfamiliar Product”, Journal of Marketing Practice: Applied Marketing Science, 1998, 4, (No. 8) pp. 221-230.

“Independent Empirical Support for Porter’s Generic Marketing Strategies? A Re-analysis using Correspondence Analysis”, Journal of Empirical Generalisations in Marketing Science 1996, 1, pp. 36-53. With Byron Sharp.


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Refereed Conference Papers

Identifying Brand-Pack Size Cannibalization arising from Temporary Price Promotions. Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference, Monash University, Melbourne 2009. * won best paper in track.

Is Brand Loyalty Declining ? A replication and extension of Dekimpe et al (1998). Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference, University of Western Sydney, Sydney 2008.

Are Long-Tenure Customers Less Price Sensitive ? Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference, University of Otago, Dunedin 2007. * won best paper in track

The Structure of Switching: An Examination Across Brands and Brand Variants. Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference, University of Otago, Dunedin 2007.

Deviations from Double Jeopardy: how many private label and high-share brands exhibit excess loyalty ? Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference, University of Otago, Dunedin 2007.

Segmentation for Private Label and National Brands – an examination of “within demographic market share”. Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 2006. With Rui Hua (Susan) Huang.

Double Jeopardy Deviations for small and medium share brands – how frequent and how persistent ? Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 2006. With Vipul Pare.

An experiment gauging affective responses to hypothetical price changes – extending ‘prospect theory’. Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 2006.

Evaluation Sets in Financial Services. Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference, University of South Australia, Adelaide 2004. With Kerry Mundt & Byron Sharp.

Using the Juster Scale to examine reference price effects, using a new environmentally-friendly consumer product as a test case. Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference, University of South Australia, Adelaide 2004. With Erica Riebe.

Cannibalisation arising from price promotions Wine Colloquium 2003, Wine Marketing Research Centre, University of South Australia Adelaide 2003.

Responses to Scale Categories follow a ‘Double Jeopardy’ pattern. Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference. Deakin University, Melbourne 2002

The Effects of a Big Price Promotion on Brand, Competitor and Category Sales. Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference. Deakin University, Melbourne 2002

The Effect of Ad Clutter on Recall Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference. Deakin University, Melbourne 2002. With Erica Riebe and Byron Sharp.

Comparing Data Gathered Using 5 point versus 11 Point Scales. Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference. Massey University, Albany NZ 2001.

A Marketing Economy of Scale – Big Brands Lose Less of Their Customer Base Than Small Brands. Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference. Massey University, Albany NZ 2001.

"Drivers" of Service Quality: The Effects of Level and Variance (substantially updated from 1999 paper) European Marketing Academy Conference, Norway 2001. With Narelle Page.

Further Evidence on the Predictive Accuracy of the Verbal Probability Scale: The Case of Household Bill Payments Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy 2000 School of Marketing and management, Griffith University, Qld. With Erica Riebe and Amelia Giannopoulos.

The Impact of Different Scale Anchors on Responses to the Verbal Probability Scale. Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy 2000 School of Marketing and Management, Griffith University, Qld

"Drivers" of Service Quality: The Effects of Level and Variance. Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy 1999 School of Marketing, University of New South Wales Sydney (ed.) J. Cadeaux.

Market Orientation vs Other Business Approaches, and Their Relationship to Profitability. Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference 1998, Dunedin, New Zealand, 571-586.

Business Orientation Scales: Development and Psychometric Assessment. 27th European Marketing Academy Conference 1998, Stockholm, pp. 461-478. With Margaret Faulkner and Byron Sharp.

Are Some Aspects of Service Quality Assessment More Subjective Than Others? Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference 1998, Dunedin, New Zealand, pp. 545-557. With Michelle Lowndes and Erica Riebe.

The Reliability & Validity of Objective Measures of Customer Service. Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference 1998, Dunedin, New Zealand, pp. 558-570. With Byron Sharp.

An Empirical Investigation of the Relationship Between Three Types of Loyalty. Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference 1998 Dunedin, New Zealand, 2243-2253. With Byron Sharp and Sharyn Rundle-Thiele.

Undertaking a Market Assessment for an Unfamiliar Product - A Case Study. Australian and New Zealand Marketing Educators Conference 1997, Melbourne, pp. 1158-1166.

Developing Business Orientation Scales. Australian and New Zealand Marketing Educators Conference 1997, Melbourne, pp. 985-998. With Byron Sharp and Margaret Faulkner.

Three Conceptualisations of Loyalty. Australian and New Zealand Marketing Educators Conference 1997, Melbourne, pp. 1283-1293. With Byron Sharp and Sharyn Rundle-Thiele.

Measuring Differentiation. Australian and New Zealand Marketing Educators Conference 1996, Auckland, NZ, pp. 837-846. With Byron Sharp.

What is Differentiation and How Does it Work? Australian and New Zealand Marketing Educators Conference 1996, Auckland, NZ pp. 822-836. With Byron Sharp

Toward a Business Orientation Typology. Southern Marketing - Theory and Applications, proceedings of the Australian Marketing Educators' Conference 1996 Adelaide, pp. 521-545. With Byron Sharp.

A Small Empirical Study of Business Orientations and the Performance of Firms. Southern Marketing - Theory and Applications, proceedings of the Australian Marketing Educators' Conference, 1996, Adelaide, 546-565.

Generic Marketing Strategies: A Correspondence Analysis of Hooley Et Als' (1992) Findings. Academy of Marketing Science World Marketing Congress, 1995 Melbourne, pp. 61-72. With Byron Sharp.

A Review of Strategy Typologies. Southern Marketing: Theory and Applications - Australian Marketing Educator's Conference Adelaide, 1994, pp. 547-566. With Byron Sharp.

Does Competitive Strategy Demand Differentiation? A Review of the Deficiencies of Porter's Competitive Strategy Typology. ANZAM Conference, 1994, Wellington, New Zealand. With Byron Sharp.

Non-refereed papers click here
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Abstract for "
Do data characteristics change according to the number of scale points used ? An experiment using 5 point, 7 point and 10 point scales"
This study examined how using Likert-type scales with either 5-point, 7-point or 10-point format affects the resultant data in terms of mean scores, and measures of dispersion and shape. Three groups of respondents were administered a series of eight questions (group n’s = 300, 250, 185). Respondents were randomly selected members of the general public. A different scale format was administered to each group. The 5- and 7-point scales were re-scaled to a comparable mean score out of ten. The study found that the 5- and 7-point scales produced the same mean score as each other, once they were re-scaled. However, the 10-point format tended to produce slightly lower relative means than either the 5- or 7-point scales (after the latter were re-scaled). The overall mean score of the eight questions was 0.3 scale points lower for the 10-point format compared to the re-scaled 5- and 7-point formats. This difference was statistically significant at p=0.04. In terms of the other data characteristics, there was very little difference among the scale formats in terms of variation about the mean, skewness or kurtosis. This study is ‘good news’ for research departments or agencies who ponder whether changing scale format will destroy the comparability of historical data. Five and seven-point scales can easily be re-scaled with the resultant data being quite comparable. In the case of comparing 5- or 7-point data to 10-point data, a straightforward re-scaling and arithmetic adjustment easily facilitates the comparison. The study suggests that indicators of customer sentiment – such as satisfaction surveys – may be partially dependent on the choice of scale format. A 5- or 7-point scale is likely to produce slightly higher mean scores relative to the highest possible attainable score, compared to that produced from a 10-point scale.


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Abstract for "The Effect of Service Price Increases on Customer Retention: The Moderating Role of Customer Tenure and Relationship Breadth"
This study examines the impact of actual price increases on customer retention in a services context, and how the effect of a price increase is moderated by both tenure and breadth of the customer’s relationship. The study finds that tenure is associated with lowered customer sensitivity to price increases, as well as having a favourable direct effect on customer retention rates. The study also finds that that relationship breadth can exacerbate the adverse effect of price increases on customer retention. Finally, relationship breadth is found to have a favourable direct effect on retention rates only among newer customers. The managerial implication is that marketers must pay extra attention to short-tenure and broad-breadth customers when implementing price increases. The study represents a unique contribution to the services marketing literature, which to date reports little research examining the effect of actual price changes on consumer behaviour.

Keywords: price increases, customer retention, loyalty, relationship, tenure.


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Abstract for "Generalized Pattern in Competition among Tourism Destinations"
Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine competition between tourism destination brands in terms of how they share travelers with each other.

Design/methodology/approach – The study analyzes survey data from four international markets (USA, UK, Japan and Singapore). The study examines the cross-purchasing of travel destinations. It applies an established empirical generalization, the duplication of purchase law (DPL) to frame hypotheses and contextualize results.
Findings – The overall results are consistent with the DPL. Destination brands share tourists with other destinations generally in-line with the popularity of the competing destination. However, there are very noticeable market partitions, most of which take two forms:
destinations that are either geographically close to each other, or close to the point of origin. Destination brands in these partitions share travelers far more than they would be expected to, given their respective size.
Practical implications – Tourism marketers need to appreciate the broad
nature of competition. A specific destination brand competes
with many other travel destinations, sharing customers more with other
broadly popular destinations and less with less popular destinations.
Originality/value – The analytical approach presented in this study provides
a straightforward benchmark for assessing the expected level of
competition between particular tourist destinations, given their
respective overall popularity.



Abstract for "Brand Loyalty in the UK Sportswear Market"
This study investigates brand loyalty and other brand performance metrics in the UK sportswear market. It utilises consumer purchase data kindly provided by Taylor Nelson Sofres. The study finds that empirical regularities discovered by Andrew Ehrenberg and colleagues apply to sportswear brands - including iconic brands such as Nike and Adidas. The main findings are that (1) sportswear brands enjoy polygamous loyalty from their buyers; (2) the market exhibits the classic double jeopardy pattern whereby smaller brands have slightly lower loyalty; (3) consumers switch between sports brands approximately in-line with their market share; and (4) a brand’s performance with respect to any demographic-based consumer sub-group is approximately the same as it is in the population generally. That is, sportswear brands tend not to have markedly different appeal to particular demographic segments. Therefore, even iconic brands and self-expressive, emblematic product categories show predictable patterns in brand performance. These well-documented empirical patterns should be used by research providers and brand managers to contextualise brand performance.


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Abstract for "
Consideration Sets for Financial Services Brands"
This study examines the extent of consumer information search and consideration of financial services brands. It uses data from two surveys of purchasing behaviour. The study finds a surprisingly low level of consumer consideration, either by personal enquiry or via the internet. The most common consideration set comprised only one brand, and this was the case for both high value and low value services. The managerial implication is that services marketers should make brand salience a top priority, with the competitiveness of their offer not being the primary driver of sales. If a financial services brand is salient to a consumer, there is a very high chance they will purchase that brand, without extensive comparison of the merits of alternatives.

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Abstract for "Competition for memory retrieval between private label and national brands"

Perceptions of private label brands (PLBs) reside in consumer memory along with national brands (NBs). When a consumer engages in a choice situation, both PLBs and NBs rely on links to retrieval cues in consumer memory to give them a chance of purchase. This study examines the underlying competition between NBs and PLBs across different retrieval cues. The findings show that PLBs link to the same attributes as NBs and so compete with NBs for retrieval. However, while any brand typically competes most with the brands more commonly associated with any specific cue, the study finds evidence of PLB sub-categorization. That is, if a consumer elicits one PLB for a certain cue, he/she has four times the propensity to elicit other PLBs than elicit a NB for that same cue. This heightened propensity suggests that when a consumer learns that one PLB has a particular quality, the consumer generalizes that quality to other PLBs. Therefore, retailers should realize that the image of competitor retailers' PLBs affects the image of their own PLBs.

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