The Fall 2007 edition of the A.C. Nielsen Center's newsletter, Focal Point, is now online!
Read all of the stories here.

Well, yesterday we wrapped up our last final putting an end to our first semester. I'd be lying if I said it was easy, but the challenge and experience this first semester provided was amazing. These last few weeks were especially intense as we were working on our Integrated Company Analysis projects. These team projects consisted of analyzing a company of our choice from a financial, accounting, marketing and operations perspective and to provide recommendations to improve the company. We then presented the reports to an audience of professors, center directors and other MBA faculty. Meanwhile, we were all finishing up other projects for other classes during this time.

The Nielsen students also finished up our research projects we were working on in our Marketing Research course. We finished the analysis of the questionnaire results and presented the findings and recommendations to our clients. This was a great project and especially rewarding when our clients let us know they will be using the results in their business strategy.

So, after a hectic last few weeks, everyone was very relieved when finals were over with yesterday afternoon. After finals, there were a lot of proud faces celebrating and congratulating one another. If there is one thing that sums up my first semester it was that everyone was just as happy and excited for their classmates as they were for themselves - and that's truly the U of Wisconsin way.

Kersi D. Antia, Mark Bergen and Shantanu Dutta

ABSTRACT

In recent years, a growing problem has become the bane of brand owners and
the scourge of successful supply chains. In fact, gray markets -- in which a
firm's products are sold or resold through unauthorized dealers -- have become
so prevalent that one trade publication called them a "disease to be eradicated."1
In response to this increasing threat, manufacturers in a variety of industries
have been waging a pitched battle against gray market sales around the world.

Download the PDF for this paper.

Kersi D. Antia, Mark E. Bergen, Shantanu Dutta, & Robert J. Fisher

ABSTRACT

Gray market activity has become increasingly prevalent. The prevailing wisdom in marketing is to use more severe enforcement to deter gray marketing. However, the certainty and speed of enforcement may also have a bearing on the incidence of violations. This article examines whether and how enforcement deters gray marketing. The results from a field survey of manufacturers and an experimental design suggest that, by itself, enforcement severity has no impact. Deterrence results only when the multiple facets of enforcement are used in combination.

Download the PDF for this paper.

SUDHA MANI, KERSI D. ANTIA, and ARIC RINDFLEISCH

ABSTRACT

Over the last two decades, strategy researchers have sought to understand the ownership
structure of firms' foreign direct investments (FDI) as reflected in entry mode and equity level.
However, prior FDI research has ignored the interrelated nature of these key FDI decisions. In
addition, prior research does not fully account for the fact that individual ownership structure
decisions occur within the context of a firm's broader FDI portfolio, and thus reflect a wide
and frequently unobserved range of parent firm and host nation effects. Our research seeks to
address both of these limitations. Using a rich dataset of 4,459 subsidiaries established by 858
Japanese firms across 38 countries over a 9-year period, we specify a conditional bivariate, crossclassified
multilevel model of FDI ownership structure. Our model enables the joint estimation of
entry mode and equity level, accounts for the portfolio nature of FDI, and compares the relative
predictive power of transaction cost- and experience-based explanatory variables across both
facets of ownership structure. Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Download the PDF for this paper.

ROBERT J. FISHER, MARK VANDENBOSCH, KERSI D. ANTIA

ABSTRACT

The research examines viewers' actual responses to four televised fundraising drives by a public television station over a two-year period. The 584 pledge breaks we studied contain 4,868 individual appeals that were decomposed into two underlying dimensions based on the empathy-helping hypothesis: the appeal beneficiary (self versus other) and emotional valence (positive versus negative). We find that the most effective fundraising appeals communicate the benefits to others rather than to the self, and evoke negative rather than positive emotions. Appeals that emphasize benefits to the self significantly reduce the number of calls to the station, particularly when they have a positive emotional valence.

Download the PDF for this paper.

Joann Peck & Terry L Childers

ABSTRACT

This research details the development of the "Need for Touch" (NFT) scale designed to measure individual differences in preference for haptic (touch) information. The 12-item NFT scale consists of autotelic and instrumental dimensions. Results are reported that support the scale's hypothesized internal structure as well as its reliability, convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity. Individual differences in chronic accessibility to haptic information across groups varying in NFT were also found in two experiments. Additionally, NFT moderated the relationship between direct experience and confidence in judgment.

Download the PDF for this paper.

Joann Peck & Jennifer Wiggins

ABSTRACT

Prior research has assumed that touch has a persuasive effect only if it provides attribute or structural information about a product. Under this view, the role of touch as a persuasive tool is limited. The main purpose of this research is to investigate the persuasive influence of touch as an affective tool in the absence of useful product-related information. The authors find that for people who are motivated to touch because it is fun or interesting, a communication that incorporates touch leads to increased affective response and increased persuasion, particularly when the touch provides neutral or positive sensory feedback. People who are not motivated to touch for fun will also be persuaded by a communication that incorporates touch when they are able to make sense of how the touch is related to the message. The authors explore the effectiveness of different types of touch in generating an affective response, and they replicate the effects on attitudes and behavior in a real-world setting. This research suggests that the marketing implications of touch are more substantial than previously believed. The authors present research implications for direct marketing, product packaging, point-of-purchase displays, and print advertising.

Download the PDF for this paper.

Praveena Tirumalareddy and Chanchal Tamrakar conducted an economic survey of 544 businesses in Dane County between September and October as part of their PA project with the First Business Bank. The A.C. Nielsen Center sponsored project helped investors and policy makers access the health of Wisconsin businesses.
Their research, and the Center, were mentioned in the Wisconsin State Journal on December 5th. You can read the article online or see the actual survey they used.

The Senior Manager of Consumer Research (SMR) will report to the Global Director of CRM and will have the primary responsibility of consumer research globally for Dell. The SMR will be responsible for developing a world class research organization by working with the marketing and product development organizations, as well as senior management to develop the research roadmap. The SMR will develop a stable of world class global research partners to optimize the research process from new product development to product enhancements to consumer feedback. The SMR will ensure projects are done on time and within budget. It is critical the SMR be a strong leader as part of the team will be located in countries outside United States.

Responsibilities:
Develop and manage the global consumer research roadmap.

Ensure all research projects achieve stated objectives and are completed on time and within budget

Ensure that research methodology being executed for projects are the most appropriate for specific tasks

Develop a world class research organization the effectively supports the product and marketing organizations to make better, smarter and more financially sound decisions.

Develop a clear and effective communication process with the business owners that helps translates research findings into business action.

Develop a robust internal learning agenda for executives that brings them closer to the "voice of the customer"

Actively translate customer insights to specific marcom vehicles ( DM, EM, Retail, Web, Phone)

Manage a global team that is multilingual

Be able to lead through influence and by example

Maintain a solid understanding of the industry best practices

10+ years in the consumer research field

5+ years (can be concurrent with above) experience with new product development

Experience with different forms of data gathering including: online, phone, mail, focus groups, viral, WOM and intelligence gathering.

Experience with both proprietary and syndicated data sources

Able to both manage a team of 7-10 with multi regional locations

Multilingual is a plus -- preferably a romance language and Chinese.

Working knowledge of Microsoft Office products: Excel, PowerPoint and Word.

BS in Business, Psychology, Marketing, MBA preferred in Marketing, Psychology or other social science.

Prior experience in direct Business to Consumer marketing a plus such as a catalog or retail website.

Please apply directly to the position on www.dell.com/careers (07000HUE).
Contact: Mari Rylander marisela_rylander@dell.com

"Workforce diversity is an essential part of Dell's commitment to quality and to the future. We encourage you to apply, whatever your race, gender, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or veteran status. Dell and the Dell logo are trademarks of Dell Inc."