Customer-Centricity in Emerging Markets: 4A’s and Value Co-Creation

Success cases in emerging markets show firms that have adopted a customer-centric approach, embracing local differences and co-creating solutions with local actors. Meanwhile, failures often involve firms overlooking one of the 4A outcomes that customer’s value (acceptability, affordability, accessibility, and awareness). In this paper, we integrate diverse literatures related to the 4A’s, market separations, and value co-creation into a conceptual framework. This framework allows firms to assess the existing context so as to identify market resource gaps and provides guidelines for developing co-created market solutions, ultimately resulting in financial success and social value

Interventions Targeting Glucocorticoid-Krüppel-like Factor 15-Branched-Chain Amino Acid Signaling Improve Disease Phenotypes in Spinal Muscular Atrophy Mice

The circadian glucocorticoid-Krüppel-like factor 15-branched-chain amino acid (GC-KLF15-BCAA) signaling pathway is a key regulatory axis in muscle, whose imbalance has wide-reaching effects on metabolic homeostasis. Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a neuromuscular disorder also characterized by intrinsic muscle pathologies, metabolic abnormalities and disrupted sleep patterns, which can influence or be influenced by circadian regulatory networks that control behavioral and metabolic rhythms. We therefore set out to investigate the contribution of the GC-KLF15-BCAA pathway in SMA pathophysiology of Taiwanese Smn-/-;SMN2 and Smn2B/- mouse models. We thus uncover substantial dysregulation of GC-KLF15-BCAA diurnal rhythmicity in serum, skeletal muscle and metabolic tissues of SMA mice. Importantly, modulating the components of the GC-KLF15-BCAA pathway via pharmacological (prednisolone), genetic (muscle-specific Klf15 overexpression) and dietary (BCAA supplementation) interventions significantly improves disease phenotypes in SMA mice. Our study highlights the GC-KLF15-BCAA pathway as a contributor to SMA pathogenesis and provides several treatment avenues to alleviate peripheral manifestations of the disease. The therapeutic potential of targeting metabolic perturbations by diet and commercially available drugs could have a broader implementation across other neuromuscular and metabolic disorders characterized by altered GC-KLF15-BCAA signaling

U.S. cereal rye winter cover crop growth database

Winter cover crop performance metrics (i.e., vegetative biomass quantity and quality) affect ecosystem services provisions, but they vary widely due to differences in agronomic practices, soil properties, and climate. Cereal rye (Secale cereale) is the most common winter cover crop in the United States due to its winter hardiness, low seed cost, and high biomass production. We compiled data on cereal rye winter cover crop performance metrics, agronomic practices, and soil properties across the eastern half of the United States. The dataset includes a total of 5,695 cereal rye biomass observations across 208 site-years between 2001–2022 and encompasses a wide range of agronomic, soils, and climate conditions. Cereal rye biomass values had a mean of 3,428 kg ha−1, a median of 2,458 kg ha−1, and a standard deviation of 3,163 kg ha−1. The data can be used for empirical analyses, to calibrate, validate, and evaluate process-based models, and to develop decision support tools for management and policy decisions

The Souvenir Purchase Decision: Effects from Online Availability

PurposePrior to e‐commerce, tourists could only purchase souvenirs at a destination. The goal of this research is to develop and test a theory to explain how adding a retail web site affects tourists' decision‐making for souvenir purchases.Design/methodology/approachThe researcher conducts two experiments using scenarios to simulate a souvenir purchase. The researcher manipulates item type and web site availability, and then measures purchase intent, attitudes toward the souvenir, and regret.FindingsPurchase limitation increases initial purchase intent by increasing the souvenir's reminder value, regardless of item type. Non‐purchase regrets are greater than purchase regrets, which in turn increases purchase intent at a later time.Research limitationsThe stimuli are necklaces, and although the findings do not show gender effects, the stimuli could limit the generalizability to other souvenir types. The research tests hypotheses using scenarios and less‐experienced travelers. Future research should examine different types of souvenirs in a naturalistic setting.Practical implicationsRetailers should not mention web sites until after a tourist decides not to buy in‐store and should do so subtly.Originality/valueThis research contributes to souvenir research by identifying a purchase limitation, available in‐store only, as a new determinant of a souvenir's reminder value. The research also contributes to scarcity research by identifying reminder value as a new and qualitatively different type of valuation affected by scarcity. Lastly, the research extends the regret literature by reversing inaction inertia at a later purchase opportunity while maintaining a regret minimization goal.</jats:sec

Market Resource Gaps: Identifying Resources to Cocreate Solutions that Facilitate Consumption

The needs of low-income consumers in emerging markets often go unfulfilled. In this article, we integrate literature related to cocreation, market separation, and the 4As (acceptability, affordability, accessibility, and awareness) into a new conceptual framework on market resource gaps. The framework allows firms to determine the nature and extent of the gaps between themselves and consumers that limit consumption while simultaneously identifying resources for potential integration into new solutions that can resolve these gaps. The framework also recognizes market dynamics and can be employed iteratively to enable continuous innovation

Honesty is the Best Policy: The Effects of Disclosure in Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Marketers increasingly provide incentives to everyday consumers in exchange for generating buzz about their brand. The problem is that incented agents do not always disclose this relationship, and marketers fear that disclosure will reduce the technique’s effectiveness. This paper examines how disclosure affects consumers’ response to word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing. Compared to seemingly organic WOM, can disclosure of the agent-brand relationship benefit the brand if it occurs concurrently with the recommendation? What are the consequences if an agent fails to disclose and the consumer learns about the subterfuge later? Findings from two experiments suggest that honesty is indeed the best policy regardless of whether the agent is talking to a friend or a stranger

Now or Never: Effects of Limited Purchase Opportunities on Patterns of Regret over Time

Prior research has demonstrated that actions are regretted more than inactions in the short term. We show that, in limited purchase opportunities-situations where the purchase decision cannot be reversed-not purchasing (inaction) is seen as a loss and is associated with greater short-term regret than purchasing, reversing the omission bias. With respect to long-term regret, we use coping and availability mechanisms to suggest that, contrary to prior findings, inaction (nonpurchase) regrets decrease over time. We also argue that action (purchase) regrets should increase over time, but only when long-term utility is low. We support our predictions with a field study and two laboratory experiments. (c) 2006 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..