Strategy formulation processes: Differences in perceptions of strength and weaknesses indicators and environmental uncertainty by managerial level

Some literature suggests that managers' perceptions of strengths and weaknesses indicators vary by management level. Differences likely result because of individuals' cognitive schemes, which include their cognitive biases. In turn, systematic errors may occur in managerial decisions. Results from the research reported herein support the notion that managers' perceptions of the indicators of a firm's strengths and weaknesses, and of environmental uncertainty, vary by managerial level. Differences in these perceptions were discovered to be more significant within each firm. Implications of these results are examined, including the impact on the deployment of firms' strategy formulation processes.     

The effect of product positioning in a comparison table on consumers’ evaluation of a sponsor

This paper examines the effect on consumers’ perceptions resulting from the positioning of a sponsor in relation to a competitor or competitors in a comparison table of a print advertisement. We hypothesize when a sponsor places its product in the right-hand panel and the competitor’s product in the left-hand panel, respondents will react with a favorable evaluation for the sponsor as a result of two primary forces. The first is a general preference for an object positioned on the right as opposed to an object positioned on the left. The second is a vastly prevalent left-to-right reading habit. The prevalent left-to-right reading habit can lead consumers to subconsciously perceive this layout as a positive comparative advertisement, and the reversed placement is perceived as a negative comparative advertisement. We confirmed the hypothesis with three laboratory experiments.     

YIELD VOLATILITY OF DISCOUNT COUPON BONDS

In this research, the yield volatility of coupon-taxable discount bonds is analyzed. The relationship of before-tax yield changes on discounts as compared with changes in new, par issue (market) yields is developed in the form of a net yield factor (NYF). Also, the behavior of the NYF as dependent upon parameters such as maturity, coupon, market yield, and tax rates is examined. Then, the incorporation and impact of the NYF on price volatility are shown. Finally, results of empirical tests are reported, which validate the usefulness of NYFs in the measurement of yield volatility for discount bonds.     

Bond returns and betas as dependent upon conditioned Brownian motion

This research uses a conditioned Brownian motion process, the Brownian bridge, to analyze bond return dynamics and systematic risk. The results are contrasted with prior results that assume that yields follow unconditioned Brownian motion and reveal significant differences. Expected returns and the variance of expected returns can be given in much more concise terms that are more easily interpreted. Also, bond betas are demonstrated to depend on returns above an initially stated deterministic yield and shown to fluctuate proportionately with this excess return, which can often be negative. Finally, empirical tests show that bond excess returns do follow a Brownian bridge process or at least do so up to a multiple of the conditioned drift term.     

Systems-thinking social marketing: conceptual extensions and empirical investigations

ABSTRACT

Systems thinking dominated the 2015 World Social Marketing conference with the premise that a more holistic approach takes into account all the issues at play for effective change. Augmenting the broadening social marketing literature, we contend that systems-thinking social marketing enhances the field’s conventional behavioural change with concepts of scale, causation, and iterative co-creating change processes for complex health and environmental problems. The results of our empirical Sea for Society study, a sustainable European marine ecosystem examination of what the barriers to change are and how they are interrelated, find systems-thinking social marketing offers the potential to strategically and critically reinforce, not replace, behavioural change campaigns. With systems-thinking social marketing, a coherent theory of change becomes a possibility. Orchestrating social change may become a reality.