Examines the phenomenon of “price signalling”, whereby consumer goods manufacturers attempt to signal higher quality via a higher price when objective product quality is, in fact, not demonstrably superior. A study of two similar facial moisturizers showed that higher price alone did not...

Innovation policy has received little attention in the business press. The business press generally focusses on how to play the game of ew products best, rather than considering how the rules of the game might be changed. Might it be possible to stimulate more innovation by reforming...

Patent law is a topic that seems to frighten many managers, who seem to have largely abdicated the topic to engineers and attorneys. Presents an overview and analysis of patents to help educate managers on this topic. Discusses patent application, patent strategy, patents and the marketing mix,...

One potential source of pioneer brand advantage is retail buyers’ preference for pioneer brands. A model of pioneer brand advantage with retailers developed in the USA was tested in Japan, as a replication and cross‐cultural extension. This provides the first empirical study of Japanese...

The Supreme Court has made its first ruling on “trade dress”. Trade dress was defined by the Supreme Court as “...the overall image of the business”. The Court granted protection to a Mexican restaurant in Texas and barred a competitor from duplicating its total image. Summarizes the...

Examines the phenomenon of price signalling whereby consumer goods manufacturers attempt to signal higher quality via a higher price when objective product quality is, in fact, not demonstrably higher. Shows that higher price alone does not succeed in signalling higher quality, but that higher...