Outcomes of decision speed: an empirical study in product elimination decision-making processes

• Autores: Paraskevas C. Argouslidis, George Baltas, Alexis Mavrommatis
• Localización: European Journal of Marketing, ISSN-e 1758-7123, Vol. 48, Nº. 5-6, 2014, págs. 19-20
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Purpose - This paper considers decision speed�s role in the largely neglected decision area of product elimination.

    Design/methodology/approach - Drawing on an inter-disciplinary theoretical background (e.g. organisational, decision speed and product elimination theories) we develop and test a framework for decision speed�s effects on the market and financial outcomes of a stratified random sample of 175 consumer product eliminations.

    Findings - In contrast to decision speed research that hypothesised (and often failed to confirm) linearity, results show inverted U�shaped decision speed-to-decision outcomes relationships, with curvatures moderated by product importance, environmental complexity and turbulence.

    Research limitations/implications - Findings are suggestive of several implications for the above theories (e.g. contribution to the dialogue about performance-enhancing value of rational vs. incremental decision-making; evidence that excessive decision speed may become too much of a good thing). Certain design limitations (e.g. sampling consumer goods� manufacturers only) point at avenues for future inquiry into the product elimination decision speed-to-outcomes link.

    Practical implications - Managerially, the findings suggest that product eliminations� optimal market and financial outcomes depend on a mix of speed and search in decision-making and that this mix requires adjustments to different levels of product importance, interdependencies with other decision areas of the firm and environmental turbulence.

    Originality/value - The paper makes a two-fold contribution. It enriches decision speed research, by empirically addressing speed�s outcomes in relation to a decision area that is not necessarily strategic and represents the first explicit empirical investigation into outcomes of decision speed in product line pruning decision-making.