The authors examine preannouncements as strategic marketing communications aimed at influencing the perceptions and attitudes of industry stakeholders. The growth of the Internet points to the expanded importance of preannouncements. With an investigation of 265 chief executive officers (CEOs) and presidents from manufacturers of new products, the authors examine the effects of three firm-specific factors (first-mover predisposition, firm information interactivity, and competitive equity building) and one environmental construct (industry dynamism) on a firm's propensity to preannounce its future intended actions. The results indicate that competitive equity building, defined as a firm's tendency to pursue a high-profile leadership position within its industry, is the main driver of a firm's propensity to preannounce. Future directions for research include the development of a normative preannouncement framework and investigation of the role of preannouncements within the context of CEO marketing activities.Roger Calantone is the Eli Broad Professor of Marketing & Product Innovation, Michigan State University. Kim Schatzel is at the Department of Marketing, Boston College. Both authors contributed equally to the manuscript and are listed alphabetically. The authors thank Cornelia Droge and an anonymous JM reviewer for comments on a previous draft of this article.
Preannouncements are strategic marketing communications directed at market participants including investors, suppliers, distributors, and buyers. Most empirical literature focuses on antecedents influencing a firm's preannouncement behavior and on outcomes related to deleterious responses by competitors. This study differs and follows the large body of extant research that examines preannouncing behavior as a deliberate marketing communication process aimed at influencing market participants in the firm's favor. The authors develop and test a model of preannouncement behavior that affects the success of a new product launch through market anticipation, competitive equity, and new product development resources. The findings indicate that preannouncement behavior engenders new product success through its positive effect on market anticipation—a favorable industry-wide bias in advance of new product introduction—and emphasizes the use of preannouncements as business-to-business marketing communications aimed at influencing current and prospective supply chain partners in the firm's favor.
An estimated 21% of 25-34-year-olds in the United States, about eight million individuals, have attended college and quit before completing a degree. These non-traditional students may or may not return to college. Those who return to college are referred to as stopouts, whereas those who do not return are referred to as stayouts. In the face of declining pools of traditional students, colleges and universities have attempted to induce these students to return to higher education. Regrettably, little is known about the intentions and attitudes of these young adults after they have left higher education. This paper uses segmentation and targeting to identify those students who intend to return to college and those who do not. Using demographic and psychographic variables, five unique segments are identified. The study recommends strategies for reaching those segments which are most likely to return to higher education.
IntroductionAs two-year and four-year institutions of higher learning face shrinking numbers of their largest pool of potential students, demographic projections indicate that the number of high school graduates will not equal its 2008 peak until after 2018 (College Board, 2008). At the same time, in the United States, about eight million individuals between the ages of 25 and 34 have attended college but left before completing degree requirements (US Census Bureau, 2007). Some of these students will never return to college, whereas others will reenroll. Those who withdraw for a semester or more and then reenroll in college are referred to as stopouts (Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, 1973). O'Toole, Stratton, and Wetzel (2003), estimate that during the first year of college, stopouts represent about 40% of all students who withdraw. Overall, Stratton, O'Toole, and Wetzel (2008) report that more than 30% of all college students stopout from college for at least a semester. For institutions of higher learning, stopouts represent a large and unique pool of potential students:
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