Welcome to the AMS Review’s Theories of Sustainability special issue

Welcome to the inaugural issue of the AMS Review! As setforth by the Academy of Marketing Science and noted onthe journal’s website (http://amsr.edmgr.com), the aim andscope of the Review is to:…publishthoughtfulcontributionsthatofferinsightsandperspectives extending knowledge and understanding ofmarketing-related phenomena. The Review is receptiveto different philosophical perspectives and levels ofanalysis that range from micro to macro. Especiallywelcome are manuscripts that integrate research andtheory from non-marketing disciplines such as manage-ment, sociology, economics, psychology, geography,anthropology, or other behavioral sciences. Examples ofsuitable manuscripts include those incorporating con-ceptual and organizing frameworks or models; thoseextending, comparing, or critically evaluating existingtheories or models; and those suggesting new orinnovative theories or models. Comprehensive andintegrative quantitative syntheses of research literatures(i.e., meta-analyses) are appropriate.As such, the AMS Review possesses goals similar to TheAcademy of Management Review and Psychological Reviewand, like these scholarly publications, does not publishempirically based research.The genesis of the Review was the recognition by theAcademy of Marketing Science leadership several yearsago that the marketing discipline was being underserved byexisting journals when it came to contributions that focusedon comprehensive and evaluative literature reviews, con-ceptual models, and theory creation and development.Consequently, the Academy created the AMS Review toproactively address this lacuna.The concern over the lack of conceptual and theoreticaladvancements has been corroborated by a recent Journal ofMarketing article by Yadav (2010). In the article, Yadavprovided a detailed examination of publishing trends inmarketing’s major journals. Based on his analysis, therewere only 818 “conceptual” articles—articles not reportingempirical research—out of a total of 5,520 articlespublished in Journal of Marketing, Journal of MarketingResearch, Journal of Consumer Research, MarketingScience, and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Scienceover a 30 year period from 1978 to 2007. Unfortunately,even with this low ratio of conceptual to empirical articles,the data revealed a declining trend in the publication ofconceptual articles beginning in 1993.Interestingly, the lack of conceptual and theoreticaladvancements might lie in part with the training of doctoralstudents in marketing. Yadav offered informal, anecdotalevidence to suggest that doctoral training in marketingincreasingly emphasizes statistical techniques and empiricalresearch to the detriment of conceptual and theoreticalresearch. This evidence led to a review of doctoral programcourse offerings by the co-editors.Doctoral trainingThe American Marketing Association hosts a websitelisting doctoral programs that allow students to specializein marketing. As of the fall of 2010, there were 184 suchdoctoral programs on the list categorized by geographiclocation:

This paper presents a causal explanation of formative variables that unpacks and clarifies the generally accepted idea that formative indicators are ‘causes’ of the focal formative variable. In doing this, we explore the recent paper by Diamantopoulos and Temme (AMS Review, 3(3), 160-171, 2013) and show that the latter misunderstand the stance of Lee, Cadogan, and Chamberlain (AMS Review, 3(1), 3-17, 2013; see also Cadogan, Lee, and Chamberlain, AMS Review, 3(1), 38-49, 2013). By drawing on the multiple ways that one can interpret the idea of causality within the MIMIC model, we then demonstrate how the continued defense of the MIMIC model as a tool to validate formative indicators and to identify formative variables in structural models is misguided. We also present unambiguous recommendations on how formative variables can be modelled in lieu of the formative MIMIC model.

BackgroundAntimicrobial stewardship (AMS) in elective surgical settings remains an underexplored domain, particularly in orthopaedics, a specialty with consistently high antimicrobial usage due to the nature of infections. In contrast to acute or high-risk environments, AMS opportunities in elective orthopaedic hospitals are often overlooked due to perceived low complexity and the existence of protocol-driven prophylaxis. However, despite this it still experiences the stewardship challenges of a secondary care facility. This project aimed to address this gap by introducing structured, multidisciplinary AMS ward rounds at a tertiary elective orthopaedic centre to evaluate current antimicrobial use, identify improvement opportunities and assess feasibility for sustainable integration.ObjectivesTo map existing antimicrobial prescribing practices in an elective orthopaedic inpatient setting; to categorize prescribing patterns and identify targets for intervention; to assess the feasibility, scope and clinical value of weekly structured AMS ward rounds; and to promote multidisciplinary collaboration and guideline adherence.MethodsOver a 6 month period (March–August 2025), weekly AMS rounds were conducted across five level-one wards and one high-dependency unit. Patients receiving antimicrobials were prospectively screened using the hospital's electronic prescribing system (PICS) and categorized into four predefined groups: Bone Infection Service—under existing specialist MDT care; excluded from AMS review; AMS—cases with nosocomial/community infections or off-guideline prescribing; Prophylaxis—perioperative antimicrobial use per established protocols; and Other—long-term antimicrobial prophylaxis (e.g. post-splenectomy). Cases in the AMS group were further triaged by the screening pharmacist, with appropriate interventions made or escalated to the AMS round. The AMS team comprised an Infectious Diseases Consultant, Antimicrobial Pharmacist and a Bone Infection Service nurse.ResultsAcross 14 AMS rounds, out of the 955 inpatients, 40% (n=382) were receiving antimicrobials at time of screening. Of these: 30% (n=114) were under Bone Infection Service care and excluded from intervention analysis; 38% (n=144) were receiving surgical prophylaxis, largely guideline compliant; and 22% (n=84) met criteria for AMS review due to complex, non-prophylactic antimicrobial use. Within the AMS cohort, 53 patients were discussed during rounds, resulting in 43 interventions, including de-escalation, initiation of appropriate therapy, or referral to MDT. Key themes included inconsistent documentation (e.g. vague postoperative antibiotic plans), off-guideline prescribing and treatment of clinically insignificant microbiology findings.ConclusionsThis scoping initiative demonstrates that structured AMS rounds are both feasible and impactful in an elective orthopaedic setting. Despite being a low-acuity environment, 40% of inpatients were on antimicrobials, with 13% of patients on antimicrobials warranting targeted stewardship interventions. Pharmacist-led screening, coupled with multidisciplinary review, enabled efficient use of time and resources while fostering improved prescribing culture. The model identified practice variation, gaps in guideline coverage and areas for systemic improvement, laying the foundation for broader AMS integration. Future work will include outcome tracking, expansion of prophylaxis guidance and development of targeted education and guideline refinement strategies. A future focus on the Watch and Reserve categories, unravelling prophylaxis regimes, creating tailored education and training packages such as prescribing for sepsis will be aimed to be rolled out amongst staff.

In today's rapidly advancing technological world, technology-driven innovations comprise a substantial part of global innovation.The success journey of high-tech products such as drones, credit cards, SIRI from Apple depends not only on innovative design but also on strategic market positioning.This paper builds upon the proposed concept of synergy which has been recognized as one of the winners of the AMS Review Sheth Foundation Doctoral Competition for Conceptual Papers in 2024 (AMS Review, 2024).The concept of synergy implies alignment between the inventor's and marketer's perspectives in shaping the success and market longevity of advanced technology products.In this paper we have analyzed notable high-tech products, examining how this synergy influences their market outcomes.Findings shows that while technical advancements create potential, aligning inventor insights with marketer-driven strategies is essential for achieving commercial success and shaping the future of advanced technology products.

'First things first': The AMS Review – Sheth Foundation 2020 annual doctoral competition for conceptual articles

Research Article Health AffairsVol. 30, No. 3: Profiles Of Innovation In Health Care Delivery INNOVATION PROFILERedesigning Acute Care Processes In WisconsinChristina Bielaszka-DuVernay Affiliations Christina Bielaszka-DuVernay ( [email protected] ) is a freelance editor and writer based in Baltimore, Maryland, and is the former editor of Harvard Management Update . PUBLISHED:March 2011No Accesshttps://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2011.0087AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextView PDFPermissions ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions View articleTOPICSNursesNursingPatient carePatient satisfactionInpatient careAcute careHospital qualityCaregiversPatient testingQuality improvement Loading Comments... Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. DetailsExhibitsReferencesRelated Article MetricsCitations: Crossref 10 History Published online 1 March 2011 Information Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This paper was commissioned by Health Affairs and is based partly on a presentation by Kathryn Correia, Appleton Medical Center, Theda Clark Medical Center, and ThedaCare, that was delivered at a Health Affairs conference, Innovations across the Nation in Health Care Delivery, December 16, 2010, in Washington, D.C. For a copy of the agenda and a full list of conference sponsors, please visit http://www.healthaffairs.org/issue_briefings/2010_12_16_innovations_across_the_nation_in_health_care_delivery/2010_12_16_innovations_across_the_nation_in_health_care_delivery.php . PDF downloadCited ByIdentifying and understanding benefits associated with return-on-investment from large-scale healthcare Quality Improvement programmes: an integrative systematic literature review24 August 2022 | BMC Health Services Research, Vol. 22, No. 1Addiction Science & Clinical Practice, Vol. 17, No. 1Service innovation is urgent in healthcare24 May 2019 | AMS Review, Vol. 9, No. 1-2Necrotizing Enterocolitis and Spontaneous Intestinal Perforation: A Spatiotemporal Case Cluster AnalysisPediatric Quality & Safety, Vol. 4, No. 1Improving Reliability in HealthcareJournal of Patient Safety, Vol. 14, No. 4How much of Toyota's philosophy is embedded in health care at the organisational level? A review22 January 2018 | Journal of Nursing Management, Vol. 26, No. 4Implementing a Lean Management System in Primary CareQuality Management in Health Care, Vol. 24, No. 3The Aesthetic Knowledge Problem of Problem-Solving With Design Thinking25 December 2014 | Journal of Management Inquiry, Vol. 24, No. 3Optimizing the Patient-Centered Environment1 January 2015 | HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal, Vol. 8, No. 2The Promise of Lean in Health CareMayo Clinic Proceedings, Vol. 88, No. 1

Addressing strategic marketing's identity problem, several highly complementary works have clarified the field's theoretical foundations, nature, and scope by (1) specifying its domain, (2) defining its central concept, "marketing strategy," (3) proposing the field's foundational premises, and (4) positing its fundamental explananda. Furthermore, the works have shown how resource-advantage (R-A) theory (5) grounds major theories of marketing strategy, (6) illuminates, informs, extends, and grounds the field's foundational premises, (7) identifies three fundamental strategies ("superior value," "lower cost," and "synchronal"), and (8) explains how the three fundamental strategies promote societal welfare. However, a major unresolved issue concerns the second fundamental explanandum of strategic marketing. Specifically, Varadarajan (AMS Review, 5, 78-90, 2015) expands his second fundamental explanandum from "marketplace and financial performance" to explaining triple bottom line (TBL) performance. That is, strategic marketing theory and research should answer: "What explains differences in [social, environmental, and financial] performance of competing brands/product lines/businesses?" This article provides a background discussion on how "sustainability" and the TBL relate to marketing in general and strategic marketing, in particular. Next, it (1) examines the nature of the TBL, (2) shows how the TBL concept and certain issues regarding its measurement parallel those in the "corporate social responsibility" literature, (3) re-examines the value of the TBL framework, (4) makes clear how R-A theory accommodates the TBL, and (5) shows how R-A theory provides seven potential explanations of differences in firms' TBL performance.

El-Ansary et al. (AMS Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13162-017-0102-y , 2017) provide a 100-year historical review of the concepts and paradigms that have led to an identity crisis in marketing. This commentary is a retrospective review, contributing to the understanding of the evolution of concepts and changes in the marketing discipline which have precipitated this identity crisis. In addition, progress in the development of marketing theory is examined to determine if there are major theories or frameworks that can assist in resolving the identity crisis. Concerns about the current narrow focus on consumer behavior, modeling, and methodological sophistication have resulted from the failure of the marketing discipline to determine appropriate research agenda and topics important in marketing education. A marketing systems paradigm is considered for resolving this identity crisis in academia and industry.

We capture the theoretical and practical essence of the thoughts by Key, Clark, Ferrell, Stewart, and Pitt (AMS Review, 2020) on marketing’s value propositions by creating an integrative satisfaction-focused exit-voice-loyalty theory. The potpourri of thoughts by Key et al. (2020) in this issue of AMS Review–centered mainly on marketing’s value propositions within the broader business academy (and practice)–lend themselves to a focus on the value propositions, dynamics, and relationships between customers and firms. With the customer-firm exchange as the lens, marketing’s value propositions are effectively brought out via the development of the satisfaction-focused exit-voice-loyalty theory (SEVL theory).

Over the last decade, the marketing domain's acceptance of qualitative research as a publishable research methodology has grown materially, as has the understanding of what constitutes "good" (publishable) qualitative research. Overall, somewhere around 15% of the articles published in the business-to-business academic journals use qualitative research methodologies. In addition, all articles in AMS Review are conceptual or theoretical and include BtoB topics. Furthermore, in the last five years, both the Journal of Marketing and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, marketing journals on the Financial Times 50 list, have published business to business research using these methods. This chapter reviews when to use qualitative methods, the breadth of methods that constitute qualitative research, how qualitative research proceeds, and how to execute and demonstrate quality and rigor in using these methods to increase the probability of publication success for qualitative research.

AMS Review: Progress toward a world-class journal dedicated to theory development

The number of people with chronic or long-term physical and mental illnesses has increased and will continue to do so. Many must learn to live with one or more diseases throughout their lives. Healthcare service must therefore support, to a greater extent, individuals living with illness. An important part of this transition is to improve the use of patients’ knowledge and resources to organize treatment in accordance with their own needs and values. Patient-centered healthcare can provide better patient experiences, better professional quality, and the possibility of slowing down resource consumption. Therefore, patient-centered initiatives have taken center stage in discussions on how to improve quality in healthcare service as discussed by Berry (2019) in this issue of the AMS Review. A cornerstone of patient-centered care is shared decision making, where healthcare professionals and patients work together to reach a shared healthcare choice.

This article is a response to the March, 2013, special issue of the AMS Review, which was purportedly about “scientific progress in marketing” but in fact was about measurement in marketing. Even narrower than that, the special issue was about “formative measurement” in marketing. The present article contends that the problems raised by the special issue’s authors were solved earlier by Rossiter’s C-OAR-SE measurement theory. Four key references on C-OAR-SE theory (Rossiter in Int J Res Mark 19(4):305–335, 2002; Bergkvist and Rossiter in J Mark Res 44(2):175–184, 2007; Rossiter’s 2011a book; Rossiter in Eur J Market 45(11/12):1589–1600, 2011b) are revisited to explain how continued ignorance of C-OAR-SE principles has stifled progress in measurement in all the social sciences.

The AMS review: year 2

Building on and galvanizing AMS Review’s progress