ompany follows a repetitive course of action:
1) Accurate and predictive product buying;
2) Sophisticated inventory control;
4) Measurement by market and consumer research,
5) Brand analysis including brand awareness, response rates.
8) Measure and monitor activity of individuals;
10) Target customers and promote the products;
11) Track behavior responses and changes;
12) Adjust marketing decisions (Abramo, 1997, 32).
Mr. Walton held office hours from Thursday through Saturday noon and when asked how he could possibly run Wal-Mart when he was out of the office over half the time, Thompson reports that Walton answered "this was the only way to run a customer-focused organization. He spent Monday through Wednesday in the field interacting directly with customers and employees and seeing what the competition was up to. The competitor's latest innovation might well be something Wal-Mart could adapt and do better" (Thompson, 1998, 22).
Rice points out that the new reality of the marketplace is that
Any marketer or manufacturer who wants to succeed in the Nineties has to understand these new intelligent customers, be they downshifters or professional customers or something called cross-shoppers -- or a combination of the three. What these consumers really want is top quality at the lowest possible price. They are no longer willing to pay for brand names if they cannot distinguish a qualitative difference between branded items and private label goods (Rice, 1992, 56).
The theory of "confidence," as a form goal within a unified organization, is organically related to trust, so much so that it is hard to separate the two. Confidence, as part of a marketing strategy, requires that a great deal of attention must be paid to the details of the operation. For instance, "confidence" in a firm can be judged by such seemingly trivial events such as the way an operator answers the phone.
Compa...