Dr. Cudmore Attends Marketing Educators Conference

Two papers written by Dr. B. Andrew Cudmore, assistant professor of marketing, have been accepted by the Association of Collegiate Marketing Educators
(ACME). Dr. Cudmore will present his work at the association’s annual conference in Orlando in March. He will also serve a session chair. Dr. Cudmore’s
first paper is titled “The Benefits of a Copycat strategy and the differences between Store Brands: A Focus on Quality Perceptions.” In the abstract for
his first paper Dr. Cudmore states that more positive consumer judgments are possible for store brands that capitalize on the opportunity to minimize their
perceived quality gap with the leading national brands. Results from Studies One and Two indicate that store image, and store brand package similarity
positively affect consumer store brand judgments, the higher the consumer store brand knowledge. Alternatively, results from Study Three indicate that
store brand price similarity has no effect on quality perceptions, but negatively affects other consumer store brand judgments, the higher the consumer
store brand proneness. The results have important implications for store brand identification, imitation, and pricing strategies. Dr. Cudmore’s second
paper is titled “Motivations: Understanding the many Markets of Ecotourism in Hungary.” In the abstract for that work Dr. Cudmore states that to achieve
the goal of natural resource sustainability, a well-formulated strategy based on the needs of the parties involved must be addressed. A focus on ecotourism
(a subset of nature tourism) is one method of working toward such environment sustainability. With proper planning in place, he said, ecotourism represents
a viable opportunity to both promote knowledge of sustainability and to fund conservationism. In particular, the creation of a birding and wildlife
festival could serve as a pilot program, or specific catalyst, by which the more general concept of ecotourism can take root in Hungary. A general
environmental situation analysis is offered for Hungary, followed by a more detailed discussion of the merits of ecotourism.