The present paper is an addition to the relevance debate in marketing literature. Research is said to be ‘relevant,’ if it leads to change, alteration or validation of how managers think, talk or act. However, the majority of the literature on relevance debate talks about the decline in relevance, yet no study has scientifically measured it. The present study uses content analysis to analyze the trends in different types of relevance across three different eras of marketing eras (i.e., commoditization, generalization and post-debate era). We also conducted a second study to check the relative importance of different types of relevance to the managers using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The results reveal a U-shaped curve of the relevance across these different eras. They also reveal the influence of the relevance debate on the research conducted by academicians. Out of the eight types of managerial relevance identified, “Forecasts” was ranked the highest, followed by “Rhetoric devices” and “Uncovering causal relationships.” Finally, the study also presents a view for an academician to shape his/her research concerning the current needs of the industry.

The present work aims to extend Meyer, Shankar, & Berry (2017)’s work on antecedents of consumer willingness to pay (WTP). This research paper investigates the role of antecedents such as autonomy, quality variability, complementarity, overall quality and bundle quality, for the traditional bundles (i.e., bundles consisting of either goods or services). The paper uses the choice-based conjoint methodology to measure consumer’s WTP for the traditional bundles in an experimental vignette set-up. The study uses four different types of traditional bundles as consumer stimuli to analyze the factors mentioned above. The results indicate that autonomy, overall bundle quality, and quality variability were significant in influencing the consumer’s WTP. Consumer WTP has been widely used as a factor to derive the optimal prices of the bundles in the literature. For a retailer selling a traditional bundle, it is imperative to have an understanding of consumer WTP and also make an attempt to increase it by offering high customer value. By knowing the factors determining the antecedents of consumer WTP, one can reap higher benefits monetarily as well as in the form of increased customer satisfaction. The paper also challenges the view that it is difficult to influence the consumer’s WTP. It advances the understanding of the factors which influence the consumer WTP for the widely used traditional bundles.