Marketing

Social commerce is an emerging trend in which sellers are connected in online social networks, and where sellers are individuals instead of firms. This paper examines the economic value implications of a social network between sellers in a large online social commerce marketplace. In this marketplace each seller creates his or her own shop, and network ties between sellers are directed hyperlinks between their shops.

Because of its evolutionary roots, the affective system of evaluation is inherently more ordinal in its architecture than the cognitive system. That is, the affective system focuses more on the relative ranking of target objects on the evaluative dimension than on their absolute values on the same dimension.

This article explains how the metric, Customer Value Added (CVA), can be applied to develop effective marketing and branding strategies. Strategies that are successful against competitors should focus on creating CVA that is greater than those produced by competitors. To do so, one must first regularly measure and monitor CVA by examining its components, perceived value and variable costs per unit. Next, one must develop strategies and tactics to increase CVA effectively and efficiently. In the long run, the organization that succeeds in achieving and maintaining the highest CVA wins.

Why companies have had difficulties determining marketing ROI and how they should approach evaluating marketing ROI. (Reprinted from Columbia Ideas at Work, "Many Happy Returns on Marketing," 8/31/2009, pp. 1-2.)