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Much of the interest and research in services marketing has focussed on the differences that exist between physical goods and services. Outcomes of these efforts have been numerous classification schemes designed to organize services according to common service characteristics. While several service typologies have been proposed, seldom are the service categorizations examined from a consumer's point of view. Furthermore, only a few service classifications have been empirically tested (Bowen, 1990;Hartman and Lindgren, 1993). In the development of these typologies there may have been a tendency to emphasize the differences between goods and services. However, some authors have argued that services are not fundamentally different from goods and that no pure goods or services exist in today's marketplace (Enis and Roering, 1981;McDougall and Snetsinger, 1990;Williams and Mowen, 1990). This stream of thought suggests that the service/good dichotomy is more of a difference in degree and perhaps more variance exists within each category than between categories. These distinctions are further blurred when consumers believe that either a good or service can be purchased to fulfill their needs. For example, when consumers need to have their documents copied they may purchase a personal copy machine (a good) or visit a copy center (a service). In these situations services may compete directly with goods (Dholakia and Venkatraman, 1993). Instead of identifying differences, marketing strategy should be based on the similarities between services and physical goods with respect to the characteristics of the total market offering. Unifying classificationCharacteristics such as intangibility, level of customization, variability, and the importance of employees versus machines have been included in proposed service typologies. As many as 19 different attributes have been used to classify services. With so many different characteristics, it has been difficult to determine what course of action marketing strategy should follow. Additionally, it is not clear who (i.e. the firm or the customer) determines the qualities which the service possesses. Even when consumers are able to distinguish services from goods by degree of tangibility, dimensions that focus on how consumers generally respond to or perceive a service category may be more meaningful. With so many alternatives available in the marketplace, differentiating goods from services may be of limited importance for consumer decision making.It has been suggested that separate classifications are not necessary, as a single classification scheme can be used for all physical goods, services and ideas (Murphy and Enis, 1986). Services, physical goods and ideas would be classified according to the risk and purchase effort which the consumer is willing to exchange to receive the product. Risk is the prepurchase concern that the product may not deliver the expected benefits. Purchase effort is the

The field of sales draws a large number of marketing graduates. Sales curricula used within today's marketing programs should include rigorous discussions of sales ethics. The Personal Selling Ethics Scale (PSE) provides an analytical tool for assessing and discussing students' ethical sales sensitivities. However, since the scale fails to address many ethical issues within the personal selling process, it should be revised. The current research assessed the PSE's content validity via a content analysis of today's university sales texts, popular press sales books, and codes of ethics. Results of the content analysis were used to develop a revised scale (PSE-2) that includes new scenarios suggested by the literature search. A sample of 669 students was used to replicate the original study and test the revised PSE-2 and its new ethical scenarios. The updated scale offers marketing educators an effective tool by which to enhance sales ethics discussions.

This research confirms the empirical test of Hunt and Vitell's (1986) General Theory of Marketing Ethics by Mayo and Marks (1990) across four cultures. Using path analysis, the core relationships of the general theory of marketing ethics, as originally tested by Mayo and Marks (1990) were successfully replicated using over 1500 students from seven universities in the US, Canada, Netherlands, and Australia. "Tomorrow's managers" appear to use a more deontological approach to making ethical judgments about personal selling than the Mayo and Mark's sample of marketing research managers. However, the major premise of the theory that both deontological and teleological philosophies jointly influence ethical judgments was confirmed across all four countries. The original research was extended by confirming the positive relationship between the probability of consequences and the desirability of consequences. The use of social values as deontological norms also appears promising. Although the model was originally intended to explain management ethical decision-making, our study has shown that it may be generalizable to how individuals make ethical decisions in life. APJML 45 __________________________________________________________________________ Cross-Cultural examination of the General Theory of Marketing Ethics

Sales career opportunities are growing, and the number of women in sales is increasing. Educators must adequately prepare both men and women for today's ethical sales dilemmas. Using the Personal Selling Ethics Scale, the current study analyzes the impact of idealism and relativism on the sales ethics evaluations of men and women. Results indicate that women evaluate sales ethics scenarios as less ethical than males and that varying positions on these ethical frameworks partially explain the divergence. Results also imply that today's sales educators should primarily emphasize moral idealism when teaching sales ethics. Ethical codes and situation-based frameworks can aid this effort. When teaching relativistic individuals, educators can supplement idealistic methods via the use of cognitive moral development frameworks.