SoM Working and Occasional Papers

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Open Access
After sales service in UK manufacturing
(Cranfield School of Management, 1988-04) Clark, Graham
Open Access
The attitude behaviour relationship
(Cranfield School of Management, 1978-01) Mostyn, Barbara
Why should market researchers, advertisers and persuaders be concerned about experiments with a Chinese couple or a coal mining town in the States in the 1930's ? Or, care about the results of distraction, reactance and forced-compliance experiments conducted in psychological world laboratories around the world for the past fifty years? Why ? Because they are integrally bound into a very basic controversy - do attitudes predict behaviour or only mirror behaviour ? Consumer psychologists share with applied psychologists in other fields ¬education, personnel selection, child development, organisational behaviour, learning, social interaction, politics, therapy, interpersonal attraction, law and social work - a preoccupation with attitudes which hold a central position in their theories. Enormous amounts of time, energy and money have been expected in order to investigate the attitude-behaviour relationship.
Open Access
Beyond intrapreneurship : The metamorphosis of large corporations
(Cranfield School of Management, 1985-04) Norburn, David; Manning, Kingsley; Birley, Sue
In the last two decades, companies have experimented upon the axes of centralisation and decentralisation, of formal and informal planning systems, and of 'tight' and 'loose' reins for effecting control. Concurrently academics have commentated upon these phenomena in an attempt to both conceptualise the process and to relate certain paradigms to corporate performance. Yet essentially, much of this commentary assumes models of organisation structures based upon a LINEAR approach to strategy formation which practising managers abandoned as a result of the trading turbulence of the mid-1970s. A mismatch therefore exists between theory and practice. Many companies, having heavily decentralised, are placing emphasis upon intra-company entrepreneurship (intrapreneurship) as a means of implementing ADAPTIVE strategies. However, we consider that intrapreneurship is but one option to larger corporations, and that a new approach to the strategy/structure relationship be considered ¬one which incorporates the third dimension of ownership and trades off corporate sovereignty and direct control within a federal context, for a spectrum of options, many external to existing ownership structures.Our model is essentially metamorphic implying cathartic change, not an incremental adaption more suited to LINEAR strategy. This paper therefore reviews the constraints of traditional strategy/structure relationships, proposes a model related to the anticipated trading conditions of the next decade, and recommends the removal of existing corporate legislation concerned with anti-trust and monopoly law.
Open Access
Cognitive style and consumer innovativeness
(Cranfield School of Management, 1986) Foxall, Gordon R.; Haskins, Christopher
The identification of consumer innovators offers marketing managers the opportunity to tailor new products to the buyers who initiate the diffusion of innovations. Progress has been made in identifying such consumers in economic and social terms, but there are advantages of cost and convenience in isolating the personality profiles of innovators, especially during prelaunch product testing. But innovative consumers' distinctive personality traits have proved elusive. This paper reports an investigation of innovative brand choice in the context of new food product purchasing which employed the Adaption-Innovation Inventory (KAI). This highly reliable test of cognitive style correlates with several personality traits known to be associated with innovativeness; it also has high validity in the prediction of behaviour over a wide range of contexts. The research reported went beyond the common expectation of a simple, direct relationship between personality and brand choice to investigate the predictive validity of the KAI over a range of product continuity/discontinuity. The results are considerably more encouraging than those of earlier research for the identification of personality/consumer choice links. They suggest an operational measure of product continuity/discontinuity and support the use of the KAI as a viable marketing tool.
Open Access
Consumers' intentions and behaviour: A note on research and a challenge to researchers
(Cranfield School of Management, 1983) Foxall, Gordon R.
This paper examines the widespread attempts of market researchers to predict aspects of consumer choice on the basis of survey respondents' verbally-expressed intentions to buy. In particular, it assesses the Fishbein behavioural intentions model which represents the most sophisticated technique available for such work. Theoretical, experimental and practical evidence is advanced to demonstrate the futility of employing models which assume linear continuity between intentions an behaviour in the predications of many managerially-relevant aspects of consumer behaviour,notably brand choice. the major purpose of the paper is the identification of an important source of weakness in theassumptions which underpin current market research practice. the concluding section draws attention to the need for viable altenatives.
Open Access
Context analysis - A technique for analysing research in a field, applied to literature on the management of R & D at the section level
(Cranfield School of Management, 1997) Falkingham, Leslie T.; Reeves, Richard
Context Analysis is a new method for surveying a body of publications as a whole. The process consists of creating a database of information about the publications in a field of study and then looking for interesting relationships in the data. This paper presents our findings about one particular research field, Management of R&D at the Section Level. We investigated how the research activity is related to practitioner needs in this field and found evidence to support the views that the literature in this field provides a forum for debate rather than for the reporting of formal research, and that the publications generally conform to a different assumption about the nature of the R&D process than that held by practising R&D managers. We obtained confirmation of our allocation of facts and judgements about papers by sending a questionnaire to the authors of the papers. The paper discusses practical aspects of how to apply the method in other fields, and suggests that the method might be useful in informing the strategies of researchers and funders of research.
Open Access
Contra-indications of science in advertising research
(Cranfield School of Management, 1986) Driver, John C.; Foxall, Gordon R.
Opinions differ about the application of scientific method to advertising research. The nature of scientific enquiry is also frequently disputed. Against this background basic views of science are discussed in connection with advertising research. Apparently the advertising community largely disregards the results of such research and adheres to beliefs which are plausible but unsubtantiated. This is demonstrated in the two cases of cognitive models of consumer response and advertisers' quest for the optimal budget. In this paper these contra-indicators of science are set in the context of advertising management.
Open Access
Corporate Culture: A positive correlate with marketing effectiveness
(Cranfield School of Management, 1984-12) Norburn, David; Birley, Sue; Dunn, Mark G.
This study tests the relationship between the Peters and Waterman cultural criteria of customers closeness and corporate values, to scales of marketing effectiveness as developed by Kotler. Analysis of data collected from 54 mid-American companies suggests a positive association. Marketing effective companies appear to have distinguishing cultural profiles when compared to marketing ineffective companies.
Open Access
'Customer-developed innovation' : Conceptual extension and empirical research
(Cranfield School of Management, 1985) Foxall, Gordon R.
This paper offers a critique of von Hippel's 'customer-active paradigm' of industrial innovation. Whilst acknowledge that this perspective offers a step forward from the previous assumption that manufacturers alone were responsible for product innovation, the paper arques for the conceptual extension of the new paradigm. The possibility of users being directly invovled in product innovation should be unambigiously included in the reconceptualisqation of customer-developed innovation. To the extent of their being entrepreneurially aware of new product oppurtunities, users may initiatethe process of product innovation,not only by producing ideas and designs but by the collection of marketing intelligence to rreduce the uncertainties of the commercial exploitation of innovations. Their doing so is evidence of this active involvement in product innovation and disconfirms the essentially passive role in that process assumed by the customer-active paradigm.
Open Access
"Desperation and inspiration" The motives and competences of older entrepreneurs in the UK
(Cranfield School of Management, 2004) Creagh, Mary
The motives for and moves towards encouraging Europe's ageing population to stay longer in employment are reviewed. The UK-focussed literature on the subject of self-employment as a career option for older people is then critically examined. We find that few researchers have studied the experiences of the UK's older entrepreneurs. We describe the exploratory research which we conducted to address this deficit. We develop a typology of older entrepreneurs and divide them into 3 archetypes; employment creation is more associated with one of the 3 archetypes. We discuss the implications of our findings for public policy and expenditure in this area. More cross-sectoral research is needed if we are to fully understand the phenomenon.
Open Access
An empirical test of upper-echelon theory
(Cranfield School of Management, 1986-01) Norburn, David; Birley, Sue
This research tested the validity of Hambrick and Mason's (1985)upper-echelon theory which posits that the characteristics of top executives will explain, partially, finanical performance variations within industries. Data was obtained from 953 top managers, the dominant coalition of the largest 150 companies within five US industries - Dairy, Footwear, Tyres, Mobile Homes and Machine Tools. Results were generally supportive: managerial characteristics not only predicted performance variations within industries - the top performers having significantly different managerial profiles than poorly performing companies - but also that the characteristics of managers within high performing companies were similar across the five industries. This greatly increases confidence in prediciting superior organisations, and enables the management development function to improve the chances of commerical success of future top managers.
Open Access
European boardrooms and the American Law Institute proposals
(Cranfield School of Management, 1985-10) Norburn, David
In May 1982, the highly prestigious American Law Institute (A.L.I.) proposed new rules to regulate the governance of large corporations. Although the furore of opposition from the world of business has still delayed the vote to accept these proposals, the interest aroused in both political and commercial arenas in an international context has been considerable. Not only would the proposals change contemporary strategic decision-making for most U.S. multi¬national corporations, but, if replicated in other countries would revolutionize the Boardroom. This paper analyses the implications of the A.L.I. proposals if implemented in a European environment. It argues that, if left to the business world, the proposals would be rejected on the criterion that companies would reduce their commitment to any risky project, particularly international ventures. In the academic sense, companies would sub-optimize their profile of strategic risk. Corporate economic performance would deteriorate in the medium-term. Conversely, since corporate law is made statute by politicians, not directors, the attraction of appearing to be societally empathetic makes it likely that many of the A.L.I. proposals will be the subject of international debate. Subject to this, it is vital for international corporations to put their own house in order, rather than encourage further political intervention. The paper concludes by proposing means to effect this proactive transition.
Open Access
The evaulation of advertising objectives: Draft for discussion
(Cranfield School of Management, 1974-11) Corkindale, David; Kennedy, Sherril
This report is a sequel to that prepared earier by the MCRC on 'Setting Advertising Objectives' (Report no. 6). In this earlier work the need for setting clear advertising objectives was recommended as a necessary precursor for any measurement of advertising achievement. the different types of advertising objectives that can be set, and the circumstances in which they are set, was examined by the MCRC through in-depth analyses of some 27 product case histories. A clear distinction was drawn between marketing objectives.
Open Access
Evidence for attitudinal-behaviour consistency:Implications for consumer research paradigms
(Cranfield School of Management, 1983-10-20) Foxall, Gordon R.
Evidence is presented in this paper to show that the view ofmarketing communications effects promulgated by numerous marketing, advertising and consumer behaviour texts and journals should be questioned. This is the portrayal of advertising, in particular, as strongly persuasive, a pre-purchase influence which acts upon purchase behaviour by first operating upon and modifying mental attitudes. The latent process conception of attitude upon which this perspective is founded lacks convincing empirical support. Situational rather than inner-state variables appear to mediate behaviour and may require prior importance in explicative and predictive accounts of consumer choice. Recognitive of this would require a probability conception of the attitude construct which would have profound implications for consumer research and marketing management. Above all, it suggests that an alternative psychological paradigm might be accorded a more central place investigations of consumer behaviour.
Open Access
Ex-offenders and enterprise
(Cranfield School of Management, 1992-06) Harper, Malcolm; Rieple, Alison
Offenders are by their nature potentially greater risk-takers than the general population, as are entrepreneurs. For this and reasons such as difficulty in finding employment, many offenders are likely to work in their own businesses. The provision of training in running a small business or self-employment can improve the chances of success. Offenders, as a group of people with special needs, may benefit from the provision of this type of training. This paper describes the results of a pilot study which examined the potential of offenders for running small businesses and the current provision of small business training in prisons and probation services in the UK.
Open Access
Fashion Dynamics Research Unit: A study of male fashion
(Cranfield School of Management, 1973-07) Midgley, David F.
Report No. 6 outlines the methodology to be used in the manipulation of the large amounts of sales and style data available to the research team. Details are included of both the coding scheme used to convert verbal information into quantitative data, and of the principal computer programs to be used in analysing this data. Throughout attention is directed to the prime practical aim of the research - the improvement of sales forecasting - and to that end various proposals are made. The most important of these is contained in Section 10, where some tentative suggestions for a "model" management information system are put forward.
Open Access
The four schools of thought in research and development management and the relationship of the literature to practitioners' needs
(Cranfield School of Management, 1997) Falkingham, Leslie T.; Reeves, Richard
Abstract We have found that publications in the literature on R&D management can be classified according to four different forms of reasoning about the R&D process, which we call schools of thought. We have also found that managers of research subscribe to the same four forms of reasoning. The fact that managers unconsciously think in one of four different ways about R&D management explains some of the problems that occur in practice. A preponderance of publications favour one school of thought, whereas a preponderance of practical managers favour a different one. This raises a doubt about the degree to which the published papers meet practitioners' perceived needs.
Open Access
Gogos, yoyos and dodos; Company directors and industry performance
(Cranfield School of Management, 1984-02) Norburn, David
This research investigates the characteristics of 354 directors of Britain's largest companies. Three sections of independent variables were analysed: those relating to the economic environ; those relating to the domestic environ--family background and educational experiences; those relating to self concept. Directors were categorised according to the economic performance of their industries--GOGOs (industries in growth); YOYOs (industries in turbulence); and DODOs (industries in decline). Several differences emerged between the characteristics of directors and the economic success of their industries for which they were strategically influential.
Open Access
The growth and decline of response to advertisements - A look at the importance of thresholds and wearout
(Cranfield School of Management, 1975-11) Newall, John; Corkindale, David
This paper attempts to introduce and define the concepts of threshold and wearout and to review the existing state of knowledge surrounding these topics. The problem is first introduced in Section II, not explicitly in terms of threshold and wearout, but in terms of how these phenomena affect the decision of how many times a campaign or advertising theme should be run In Section III formal definitions of these terms, such as they exist, are provided and discussed within the context of the stimulus-response approach. It is suggested that the conception of how advertising works significantly determines the way in which thresholds and wearout are defined and assumed to operate. As such, problems of definition are discussed in Section IV together with the need to specify advertising in a time dimension and the need to specify the measure of response. The value of the stimulus-response ideology is brought into question in Section V and an alternative conception, illustrated for the case of direct response advertising, is proposed. This alternative is based on the need to consider the role of interest or involvement in the advertising when seeking to interpret different forms of response within the context of thresholds and wearout. This viewpoint is further developed in Section VI with reference to the available work on the effects of advertising repetition. Characteristics of the advertising appeal and format, the product or brand, the media and the schedule are discussed in terms of how they influence the level of response. A number of valuable insights are gained from extending these findings to derive implications for thresholds and wearout. Finally, Section VII provides an interim summary and conclusions. This report represents the first.in a three part study. A questionnaire is being circulated to many advertising decision makers from which further information and observations on thresholds and wearout can be established. The results of this exercise will be published in part two of this report. A final report will summarise the study's overall findings and.spell out what precautions can be taken to avoid high thresholds and low wearout in advertising and how these can be detected.
Open Access
How we believe sponsor companies can usefully improve their advertising effectiveness as a result of the study we have conducted
(Cranfield School of Management, 1975-01) Corkindale, David; Kennedy, Sherril
In this report we set out a compendium of topics upon which we believe management can take action to improve their advertising efficiency. Eact topic is dealt with on one page of the report: it has been reduced to a set of Issues, Examples and Recommendations. The main points on each topic are shown on the right hand page, while the page opposite either summarises the key points or further illustrates the main conclusions where appropriate. The topics presented here are those that have emerged from the NMC's three year empiric study of advertising and the management of its effectiveness. Many of the topics are condensations of reports that have been previously issued by the MCRC during the course of the study. In the text the use of the words 'product' or 'brand' are all-embracing and refer to any item being advertised, be it a generic product category, indi¬vidual brand, service or public propaganda. We believe the topics raised in this report have a relevance to the management of advertising for all purposes. No summary of this report is given: we commend that each topic-page be read and evaluated in its own right.