Acceso usuarios
Paraskevas C. Argouslidis, George Baltas, Alexis Mavrommatis
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.
