Balance between auditing and marketing: An explorative study

This study explores how auditors’ attitudes toward marketing and their views on the importance of marketing affect how they balance their time spent on auditing and marketing activities. The purpose is to understand how changes in the business environment for auditors affect the relationship between the auditing profession and marketing. The study is based on a survey of 672 auditors in Sweden. Findings suggest that auditors with a positive attitude toward marketing spend significantly more time on marketing activities compared to those with a less positive attitude. Furthermore, auditors who view marketing activities as important spend significantly more time on marketing activities. The study controlled for the number of years as an auditor, age of the auditor, and firm affiliation. The results indicate that the theoretical distance between the auditing profession and marketing does not exist in practice to the same degree as in the past. These findings have implications for international auditing theory and practice in illuminating the relationship of marketing and auditing in a wider business context.     

Contextual marketing--the real business of the Internet

The painful truth is that the Internet has been a letdown for most companies--largely because the dominant model for Internet commerce, the destination Web site, doesn't suit the needs of those companies or their customers. Most consumer product companies don't provide enough value or dynamic information to induce customers to make the repeat visits--and disclose the detailed information--that make such sites profitable. In this article, David Kenny and John F. Marshall suggest that companies discard the notion that a Web site equals an Internet strategy. Instead of trying to create destinations that people will come to, companies need to use the power and reach of the Internet to deliver tailored messages and information to customers. Companies have to become what the authors call "contextual marketers." Delivering the most relevant information possible to consumers in the most timely manner possible will become feasible, the authors say, as access moves beyond the PC to shopping malls, retail stores, airports, bus stations, and even cars. The authors describe how the ubiquitous Internet will hasten the demise of the destination Web site--and open up scads of opportunities to reach customers through marketing "mobilemediaries," such as smart cards, e-wallets, and bar code scanners. The companies that master the complexity of the ubiquitous Internet will gain significant advantages: they'll gain greater intimacy with customers and target market segments more efficiently. The ones that don't will be dismissed as nuisances, the authors conclude. They suggest ways to become welcome additions--not unwelcome intrusions--to customers' lives.     

Effects of demographic factors on bank customers’ attitudes and intention toward Internet banking adoption in a major developing African country

This study provides an African perspective to the global research and literature on retail customer adoption of Internet banking (IB). It empirically examines the influence of seven demographic variables – age, gender, level of education, marital status, employment status, income level and area of residence – on retail banking customers’ behaviours toward IB adoption in a major developing African country – Nigeria. A sample of 500 customers was surveyed, and ANOVA and multiple regression analyses were used in testing the association of the variables with customer attitude and intention toward IB adoption. Although all seven variables were correlated with attitude and intention, only gender, level of education, and employment status showed significant ability to influence Nigerian customers’ attitude and intention toward IB adoption. The study therefore concludes that gender, level of education, and employment status are the major demographic affecters of Nigerian banking customers’ attitudes to IB adoption.     

Effects of demographic factors on bank customers’ attitudes and intention toward Internet banking adoption in a major developing African country

This study provides an African perspective to the global research and literature on retail customer adoption of Internet banking (IB). It empirically examines the influence of seven demographic variables – age, gender, level of education, marital status, employment status, income level and area of residence – on retail banking customers’ behaviours toward IB adoption in a major developing African country – Nigeria. A sample of 500 customers was surveyed, and ANOVA and multiple regression analyses were used in testing the association of the variables with customer attitude and intention toward IB adoption. Although all seven variables were correlated with attitude and intention, only gender, level of education, and employment status showed significant ability to influence Nigerian customers’ attitude and intention toward IB adoption. The study therefore concludes that gender, level of education, and employment status are the major demographic affecters of Nigerian banking customers’ attitudes to IB adoption.     

Implications for brokerage firms’ financial disclosures: From CSR perspectives

Given the importance of transparency in today's financial environment, it is surprising that limited research has examined investors’ attitudes toward brokerage firms’ financial disclosures and how their attitudes toward brokerage firms’ financial disclosures influence subsequent responses such as perceived trust and attitude toward brokerage firms. Research on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices and the Social Contract Theory suggests that investors may put a relatively high value on brokerage firms that practice financial disclosures responsibly. This research probed the relevance of this assumption by testing the relations among investors’ attitudes toward brokerage firms’ financial disclosures, attitudes toward CSR practices, perceived trust toward brokerage firms, attitudes toward brokerage firms and behavioral intentions toward brokerage firms with a survey study. The study used brokerage firms’ financial disclosures in general as the focus of this study's survey questions and a convenience sample consisting of investors. The results suggested that investors’ positive attitudes toward brokerage firms’ financial disclosures positively enhanced their attitudes toward brokerage firms’ CSR practices and perceived trust toward brokerage firms, whereas investors’ attitudes toward brokerage firms’ CSR practices mediated their attitudes toward financial disclosures to enhancing their perceived trust toward brokerage firms. Moreover, investors’ attitudes toward brokerage firms mediated their perceived trust toward brokerage firms on enhancing their behavioral intentions toward brokerage firms.     

欧美网络保险的最新发展及对我国的启示

随着互联网的兴起和快速发展,保险业正经历着一次重大变革。欧美国家的保险公司利用互联网等信息技术解决实际业务问题,为代理人、客户、潜在客户、合作伙伴提供各种服务,大幅降低了成本,并提高了业务效益、内部运营效率和合作有效性。本文主要分析了欧美网络保险的发展状况,并找出我国发展网络保险的差距。我国应该借鉴国外经验,结合国内有利环境,重点解决网络安全、风险控制和网上支付等技术瓶颈,全方位发展网络保险,以促进我国民族保险业的高效、快速发展,使之以全新的姿态积极参与国际保险市场的竞争。     

Making the most of on-line recruiting

Ninety percent of large U.S. companies are already recruiting via the Internet. By simply logging on to the Web, company recruiters can locate vast numbers of qualified candidates for jobs at every level, screen them in minutes, and contact the most promising ones immediately. The payoffs can be enormous: it costs substantially less to hire someone on-line, and the time saved is equally great. In this article, Peter Cappelli examines some of the emerging service providers and technologies--matchmakers, job boards, hiring management systems software, and applicant-screening mechanisms that test skills and record interests. He also looks at some of the strategies companies are adopting as they enter on-line labor markets. Recruiting needs to be refashioned to resemble marketing, he stresses. Accordingly, smart companies are designing Web pages, and even product ads, with potential recruits in mind. They're giving line managers authority to hire so that candidates in cyberspace aren't lost. They're building internal on-line job networks to retain talent. Integrating recruiting efforts with overall marketing campaigns, especially through coordination and identification with the company's brand, is the most important thing companies can do to ensure success in on-line hiring. Along the way, Cappelli sounds two cautionary notes. First, a human touch, not electronic contact, is vital in the last steps of a successful hiring process. Second, companies must make sure that on-line testing and hiring criteria do not discriminate against women, disabled people, workers over 40, or members of minority groups. When competition for talent is fierce, companies that master the art and science of on-line recruiting will be the ones that attract and keep the best people.     

An Analysis of the Quality of Internet Life Insurance Advice

This article analyzes the quality of the life insurance recommendations generated by Internet Web sites. The quality of a Web site's recommendations is measured by comparing how closely the recommendations match two benchmarks chosen by the authors. The authors submitted four relatively simple scenarios to 48 Web sites offering advice on how much insurance is appropriate in given circumstances. The article presents several statistical measures of the wide variation in advice offered by these Web sites, and it suggests several explanations for this variation. Statistically, the Web site recommendations differed from the authors’ chosen benchmarks, but did not differ by the type of organization maintaining the Web site.     

Internet,consumer spending,and credit card balance: Evidence from US consumers

Utilizing the 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances data, the present study aims to examine the role of the Internet in carrying a credit card balance among US households. The central question of this study is whether or not households with Internet access have more favorable attitudes toward incurring more credit card balance. This study further investigates whether education, income, gender, age, race, etc., make any differences in carrying credit card debt when households have access to the Internet. Our results with the Tobit model show that having access to the Internet increases the probability of carrying a positive credit card balance by 4% to 5% compared to those who do not have access to the Internet. This result does not apply to older Americans. Our results further indicate that education decreases the probability of carrying a positive credit balance for households that have access to the Internet, while income and liquid assets may have little positive effect on that probability. The results suggest that Internet leads to more debt, but education could alleviate that debt.     

Risiken aus kommerzieller Nutzung des Internet — Möglichkeiten der Schadenverhütung und Versicherung

Due to the increasing importance of the Internet and its commercial use a new risk category has emerged, opening up interesting business opportunities for insurance companies. — Besides insurance, loss prevention measures must be considered key aspects in this context, particularly since without contract clauses regarding loss prevention and extensive assessment of an insured’s activities in this field, insurance may not be available in many cases. After a short classification and explanation of Internet risks, this paper firstly deals with loss prevention, concentrating on the technical measures such as cryptology or firewall concepts, which are specific for the risks in question. These measures allow for a significant increase in the security of data transfer and the security of individual networks’ connections to the Internet. A complete elimination of risk, however, is usually not an economically reasonable goal. The question, to what extent the remaining risk can be covered by insurance, is addressed in the following section of this paper, in which we analyze problems of insurability and how these problems could probably be solved through product design.     

寿险营销渠道创新:直复营销模式在我国的应用

本文着重讨论直复营销这一创新销售模式于我国寿险业运用,并通过和传统营销模式的比较指出其优势,及我国寿险企业开展直复营销的前景与制约条件,旨在为寿险公司的营销渠道创新提供一些新思路.     

College students and credit card companies: Implications of attitudes

More knowledge and understanding is needed regarding the mechanisms influencing college student attitudes toward credit card companies and the behavior that students exhibit using credit cards. Prior literature in the area has been sparse. The current article is an attempt to fill the gap in existing literature. Using survey data, we try to find the determinants of college student attitude toward credit card companies and the responsible use of credit cards. Our findings indicate that a strong positive link exists between student attitude toward credit card companies and responsible credit behavior. Two distinct groups of students are identified – one with a positive attitude toward credit card companies and positive credit use behaviors; the other with the opposing attitude and behavior. Reward cards, payment behavior, number of credit cards, modes of acquisition, awareness about credit card policies, purpose for using credit cards, impulsiveness and certain student characteristics are all indicated as variables that help discriminate between the two different student groups. Our findings have implications for both higher education institutions and credit card firms.     

数字化转型背景下保险科技对财险公司经营效率的影响研究——基于DEA-Tobit面板模型

本文利用2011—2017年58家财险公司的面板数据和中国数字金融发展指数,构建DEA-Tobit面板模型,探究保险科技对财险公司经营效率的影响。研究结论表明:(1)保险科技与财险公司经营效率之间呈U形关系,即在互联网保险阶段,受资源投入不充分、新技术产出滞后性等因素影响,保险科技对财险公司经营效率产生消极影响,而在新技术赋能的保险科技阶段,科技的沉淀开始逐步释放效益,助推了财险公司经营效率的提升;(2)保险科技对中外资财险公司经营效率的影响具有差异性;(3)保险科技发展在长期可通过降低经营成本、增加营销收入和资金运用收益来提高财险公司经营效率。     

The use of the Internet for corporate reporting in the Mercosur (Southern common market): The Argentina case

This study examines disclosure practices on the websites of companies listed on the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange. We perform content analysis to provide evidence on Internet reporting practices by 84 publicly traded firms. We also identify the characteristics of firms that communicate financial and non-financial information on the Internet. We find that companies in the financial and insurance, services and mining industries disclose more financial and non-financial information on their websites than companies in other industries. The average concentration of ownership is 68%, with 27% of the companies being controlled by foreign groups. Those companies with higher concentration disclose more financial and non financial information than companies with less concentration. Companies in the financial and insurance and service industries, utilize their websites for commercial purposes to facilitate access to customers to their accounts and also to sell services. This e-commerce usage of websites is less developed in other industries. About 71% of companies in the financial and insurance industry are included in the Merval25 index and are audited by Big 4. These companies are both larger in size and less profitable than companies in other industries. We find that profitability and leverage do not have significant effect on corporate Internet reporting practices and that growth has negative effect on corporate Internet reporting practices. We also find that companies in the mining sector provide significantly more disclosure about social responsibility indicating a desire to improve the public image of harming the environment. The results documented, herein, extend the literature on voluntary disclosure of financial and non-financial information using the Internet in emerging markets.     

社交网络营销在中国(英文)

随着网络越来越深入中国人的日常生活中,社交网络的崛起,正改变着公司的营销策略与方式。进入Web2.0时代,传统的网络营销手段,诸如搜索引擎竞价排名,门户网站广告等方式所起到的营销效果已经大不如前。随着Facebook、twitter等国外的社交网络媒体在网络营销上的优势日益体现,以及社交网络媒体在中国的蓬勃发展,越来越多的中国企业,看到了SNS营销的潜力,意识到了利用了SNS网站进行营销的重要性。SNS在中国起步较晚,近几年却发展迅速,对于中国企业,如何利用SNS达到期望营销效果,已经成为重要的话题。本文希望,通过参考国内外成功的SNS营销案例,借助菲利普·科特勒的市场营销模型,为中国企业的SNS营销方式提供参考。     

企业养老保险参保决策影响因素实证研究——基于湖北省枣阳市企业调查数据分析

文章以湖北省枣阳市为例探索企业养老保险参保决策影响因素及制度。根据实地企业调研分析影响企业及职工参与养老保险的主要制约因素,从收支两条线、企业和职工双重视角进行了全面的分析。实地调研以湖北省枣阳市相关企业为基础,分别涉及对相关企业的问卷调查、主要负责人的访谈以及对调查企业员工的问卷调查,在数据搜集的基础上进行统计分析和计量回归分析,分析结果显示职工学历、婚姻状况、家庭总人口数、家庭老人数、对养老保险了解程度、是否签订合同、单位性质、职业特征等变量均与其是否参与企业养老保险存在显著的关系。最后,通过对枣阳市养老保险风险评估及在微观层面的主要影响因素实证分析的基础上,提出了全面参保缴费基数不宜过高、避免"五保合一"造成小保险拖累大保险、经办机构应进一步科学设置等政策建议和探索。     

Insurance on the Internet

ABSTRACT: The Internet is obviously a force that is here to stay. Every segment of the economy is experiencing dramatic change and is having to respond to shifts in the value chain, enhanced consumer power, and altered competitive cycles. Although the insurance industry has characteristics that should put it at the forefront of Internet adoption, certain cultural and technological factors could continue to limit penetration in the near term.
Four strategic business models emerging from the competitive field are: marketplace/exchange, work-site marketing, transaction processor, and eyeball attractor. This article identifies the factors for success within each model, then provides a competitor analysis to grade insurance e-commerce organizations on various competencies from Web site functionality to insurance capabilities.     

Risk perceptions and risk attitudes among Chinese consumers: the toxic capsule crisis

The toxic capsule crisis (TCC) shocked China in 2012, and seriously harmed consumer confidence. Based on a firsthand survey in 12 provinces with 850 observations, this paper examines Chinese consumers’ risk perceptions and risk attitudes about drugs after the TCC. The empirical results suggest that Chinese consumers’ risk perceptions (attributed likelihood of a drug safety accident occurrence) and risk attitudes (measured as level of concern about drug labeling) are weakly negatively correlated, but that risk perceptions are positively correlated with consumer concern about drug safety problems in general. Risk perception was higher among male consumers and those from rural areas, reporting a religious faith, of higher education, and with a family member who has experienced problems caused by drug safety problems. Those reporting a higher level of concern about drug safety issues, with a higher level of understanding of TCC, who reported less frequent physical examinations, and who searched for information after the TCC also had a higher level of risk perception. Being or having a family member who engaged in the health industry and being more satisfied with the government response to the TCC decreased risk perception. Regarding risk attitude, older consumers, those with a higher level of education and with a self-reported religious faith, and those less prepared including those who did not purchase health insurance, do not have health exams as frequently, and who do not take measures of protection and isolation when ill are more concerned about drug labeling information.     

The ten deadly mistakes of wanna-dots

Increasingly, it seems, there are just two types of companies left in the world: dot-coms, born on the Internet, and "wanna-dots," established organizations that are seeking to incorporate the Internet into their businesses. Some wanna-dots manage the deep mind-shift required to cross the digital divide. These are the pacesetters--the first movers and fast followers that exhibit organizational curiosity and the desire to innovate. But most wanna-dots are laggards; they don't rise to the challenge with the same resolve. In a global research effort involving more than 800 companies, the author uncovered so many wanna-dots making the same kinds of mistakes that it almost seemed they were following a How Not to Change guide. In this article, Kanter creates just such a guide, offering ten pieces of antiadvice that expose the tendency of wanna-dots to make only cosmetic changes when deep transformation is required. Beyond delineating what not to do, Kanter serves up two examples of wanna-dots that got it right. First, Williams-Sonoma, which successfully made up for a slow start to create a strong Web presence. Second, Honeywell, a pacesetter led by e-believers from the start, which still found the road to the Web a challenging one. For companies not born digital, the fundamental problem is change. And the real place to look for change is not on the Internet but inside your company--at your own organizational culture and your attitude toward change.     

农村居民购买商业养老保险意愿的影响因素分析

通过对湖南省112户农村居民的调查,运用 Probit 模型对农村居民购买商业养老保险意愿的影响因素进行实证分析,结果表明：目前我国有超半数以上的农村居民不愿意购买商业养老保险,商业养老保险在农村地区还未充分发挥其保障作用。农村居民年龄、受教育程度、家庭年纯收入、对商业养老保险的了解程度、对养儿防老的态度、政府宣传商业养老保险的影响程度等对农村居民购买商业养老保险的意愿有显著影响。