巴布森学院

This paper examines how firms’ emphasis on different areas of marketing strategy contributes to firm value in the face of increasing product market similarity. We argue that tangible and intangible strategic differentiators of marketing play asymmetrical roles. Intangible differentiators (i.e., promotion and customer relationship management (CRM) features) are primarily non-transactional and more difficult for rivals to replicate. In contrast, tangible differentiators (i.e., product, price, and place features) are largely transactional and may not provide a sustainable competitive advantage in markets with high product similarity. To test these predictions, we develop and validate textual measures of each marketing strategy area. Consistent with the predictions of the contingency framework, the results show that greater emphasis on promotion and CRM has a stronger value-enhancing effect when the firm’s product space is characterized by high versus low similarity, whereas no such effect is observed for product, price, and place features. However, an important boundary condition exists: the stronger value-enhancing effect of intangible differentiation in high-similarity industries is attenuated when firms face high financial distress, which tends to increase uncertainty about the future benefits of these differentiators. Our findings provide new insights into the complex and dynamic nature of investors’ valuation of firms’ marketing strategies amid accelerating commoditization.

This study examined how religious and secular social entrepreneurs' (SEs) social and perceived role identities shape their prosocial motivations and resource mobilization strategies. The findings revealed that religious SEs were motivated by strong in-group commitment, viewing their role as a sacred calling and seeing God as an active, transcendent stakeholder. They employed a communal-personal others orientation, characterized by a community-driven logic. Conversely, secular SEs were motivated by universal social justice values and a self-chosen calling. They employed a communal-impersonal others orientation, with a strong emphasis on mission-driven logic. These findings clarify theoretical links between SE identities, prosocial motivations, and behaviors.

The world’s population is aging rapidly, creating profound implications for businesses operating in the emerging “silver economy,” which encompasses economic activities of consumers over 50 years of age. Although older adults hold significant wealth and purchasing power, they are often underserved by marketing strategies that rely on stereotypes or overemphasize youth segments. This paper highlights the need for more nuanced, culturally informed strategies and approaches to engaging senior consumers. We argue for gerontographic segmentation—based on needs and socioeconomic characteristics rather than chronological age—and propose the 5As of silver marketing: Awareness, Accessibility, Affordability, Affect, and Advocacy. These principles provide a framework for designing inclusive products, communications, and services that resonate with diverse senior populations across global markets. We also explore cross-cultural distinctions, such as wellness-oriented appeals in Western countries, family-centered approaches in China, and safety-focused marketing in Japan. In turn, this paper sets out a research agenda to integrate insights from gerontology, psychology, and cross-cultural studies into marketing theory. For practitioners, we emphasize opportunities to create value through age-friendly innovations, universal design, and authentic engagement. Ultimately, we encourage both academics and managers to recognize the silver economy as a driver of growth and innovation, rather than as a challenge to be managed. We hope the research agenda that we have provided will help stimulate a better understanding of the Silver Segment.

Customer safety is a fundamental need, so for customer-centric omnichannel retailers operating in competitive and technologically intensive markets, a critical question arises: do customers’ perceptions of a safe customer experience determine their sense of well-being, as well as the retailers’ performance? To offer insights into these questions, the current research relies on mixed methods across five studies in six phases to develop a multidimensional scale for safe customer experiences (SafeCX). The formative SafeCX scale, which can be adopted as either a full 48-item or a condensed 12-item version, contains 12 critical safety dimensions that constitute essential considerations for managers, as well as key concepts for researchers dedicated to customer safety considerations. Among these dimensions, several directly capture in-store technologies, such as payment systems, surveillance cameras, and technology-mediated order fulfillment processes. Other dimensions reflect online technologies, such as data protection, social media safety, and practices that bridge physical and digital channels, offering a comprehensive perspective on customer safety. Complementing SafeCX, we also develop a two-dimensional, 8-item customer well-being scale: individual well-being, reflecting effects on one’s own mental, emotional, social, and physical life; and community well-being, reflecting effects on family, friends, and the broader community. This scale enables researchers and retail managers to assess how safety perceptions translate into personal and societal value in omnichannel contexts. In turn, this research establishes that customers who indicate positive appraisals on the SafeCX scale also exhibit a higher share of wallet and stronger intentions to influence others, effects that are mediated by their well-being appraisal.

We exhibit a configuration of five point charges in Euclidean space whose electrostatic potential admits at least 24 critical points all of which are non-degenerate. Maxwell's conjecture that the field of n point charges has at most (n-1)^2 critical points which are all non-degenerate is therefore false.