Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | M | Marketing Science

Research perspectives at the interface of marketing and operations: applications to the motion picture industry.

Article Excerpt
In this comment, I discuss some research issues at the interface of marketing and operations particularly relevant to the motion picture industry. The major focus of my comments will be on the exhibition component of the motion picture value chain. Based on research findings and available data, I discuss the following issues: dynamic and interesting characteristics of the motion picture industry, the applicability of management science tools to artistic products, the practitioners' viewpoint, and the possibility of moving from specific to general research problems (and vice versa) in this field. Four promising research areas have been identified for marketing academics and researchers: (i) an integrated scheduling approach, (ii) relationship management and contract design, (iii) the role of forecasting accuracy in movie decision support systems, and (iv) the impact of digital conversion of movies on operations scheduling.

Key words: motion picture industry; operations; scheduling; decision support systems

History: This invited commentary was received September 16, 2005, and was not revised; processed by Steven Shugan.

**********

The review paper by Eliashberg et al. (2006) in this issue of Marketing Science employs a different approach from most review articles, which typically are either methodological (e.g., state of the art in yield-management techniques) or substantive (e.g., short- and long-term effects of advertising) in nature. Eliashberg et al. (2006) focus on what is known about an industry and take the perspective of industry executives in drawing conclusions and raising questions for future research. Not only are the authors to be praised for their timely review, but so is the editor of Marketing Science for inviting such an industry specific article.

My own interest in this research stream falls under the broad paradigm of implementing marketing strategy ("shelf space management") in an operations-dominated environment ("movie scheduling"), as noted by Shugan (2004) in his commentary, "Evolving to a New Dominant Logic in Marketing." Accordingly, I view my comment as discussion of research issues at the interface of marketing and operations in the motion picture industry. The major focus of my comments will be on the exhibition component of the motion picture value chain shown in the Eliashberg et al. (2006) article.

Motion Pictures: A Dynamic and Interesting Industry

Besides the broad indicators of the movie industry's importance as listed in the introduction of the article by Eliashberg et al. (2006), I consider movies one of the most dynamic industries in any country/culture because of the...