A Cross-Category Analysis of Shelf-Space Allocation,Product Variety,and Retail Margins

Retailers' allocation of shelf space as well as the breadth of varietyoffered varies across categories. Many researchers have developedheuristics for determining what retailers should do with regard tothese decisions. We explore how these constructs are actually relatedin practice. We utilize data obtained from Marsh Supermarkets, a largeIndianapolis-based grocery retailer, to explore the relationshipsbetween these variables. The results of this analysis are a set of rawfacts concerning the relationship between some of grocery retailers'more important category-level decisions.     

Neuromarketing and Consumer Free Will

This article examines the impact of discoveries and methods of neuroscience on marketing practices as they relate to the exercise of individual free will. Thus, our focus centers on ethical questions involving consumers’ awareness, consent, and understanding to what may be viewed as invasion of their privacy rights. After a brief introduction, the article turns to scientific literature on the brain, followed by discussion of marketing persuasion models. Ethical dilemmas within the free will paradigm and Rawlsian justice developed in moral philosophy are delineated next. The article closes with policy implications and a revised consideration of consumer privacy.     

Legal Penalties and Audit Quality: An Experimental Investigation*

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of legal penalties on audit quality under different legal regimes. We investigate whether audit quality is affected differentially due to the complexity inherent in legal regimes and the frequency of imposing legal penalties. Economic theory predicts that players adopt equilibrium strategies that reflect the expectation that a penalty will be incurred, but the actual occurrences of penalties, if consistent with this expectation, should not prompt an individual to modify his or her strategy. However, learning theory suggests that players' choices will be repeated in the future based on outcomes. We found that penalties triggered both increases and decreases in effort, and seemed to introduce a “shock” that increased the variability of effort. We also observed a “funnel” effect — that is. greater changes in effort closer to the imposition of penalties, and smaller changes as more periods go by without a penalty.     

Altering Perceptions Through Repositioning: An Exercise in Framing

This research was conducted to examine the efficacy of repositioning public parks and recreation services in the public mind. Respondents were recruited at various venues throughout a large Canadian city and randomly assigned to one of five groups. After reading hypothetical newspaper format articles, respondents completed questionnaires investigating their beliefs, attitudes, and behavioral intentions regarding a local recreation agency's efforts to reduce youth crime. Four treatment messages contained various combinations of real, psychological, and competitive repositioning messages, while a control group received no information. All types of repositioning messages were effective in improving beliefs and behavioral intentions, but not attitudes. There was no significant evidence that numerical treatment messages were more effective than non-numerical messages or that the cumulative effects of various repositioning messages were more effective than a single type of message. Discussion focuses on efficacy of various framing messages, on suggestions for future research related to repositioning, and on considerations related to social marketing efforts of this nature.     

Family‐Controlled Firms and Informed Trading: Evidence from Short Sales

We investigate the relation between organization structure and the information content of short sales, focusing on founder‐ and heir‐controlled firms. Our analysis indicates that family‐controlled firms experience substantially higher abnormal short sales prior to negative earnings shocks than nonfamily firms. Supplementary testing indicates that family control characteristics intensify informed short selling. Further analysis suggests that daily short‐sale interest in family firms contains useful information in forecasting stock returns; however, we find no discernable effect for nonfamily firms. This analysis provides compelling evidence that informed trading via short sales occurs more readily in family firms than in nonfamily firms.