The price-perceived quality relationship: A meta-analytic review and assessment of its determinants

The authors conducted a meta-analysis of study results on the price-perceived quality relationship published from 1989 to 2006. The findings show that the price effect on perceived quality has decreased. Furthermore, the price–quality relationship is stronger in studies that use a within-subjects design, investigate higher priced products, and use samples from European countries but weaker for services, durable goods, and respondents who are familiar with the product. A striking null result indicates that the number of cues does not affect the price-perceived quality relationship significantly.     

Reform of the EU Sugar Market

After years of negotiations, the European Union finally reformed its sugar market in November 2005. Unilateral trade concessions, ongoing WTO negotiations and internal pressures were pushing the EU for a change. The following short article highlights some of the key features of the reform and the implications for EU member countries, world sugar markets and countries that currently enjoy preferential access to the EU market.      

The Impact Evaluation of Sustainable Consumption Policy Instruments

Putting sustainable consumption into practice is a challenge that requires the effort and coordination of numerous societal domains and actors. The paper deals with the contribution of policy making and policy evaluation. More specifically, it addresses the question of how to evaluate the effectiveness of policy instruments dedicated to rendering household consumption more sustainable. Despite the extensive literature on instrument effectiveness, sustainability assessment, and consumer behaviour, only a few accounts deal with the specific characteristics and impacts of policy instruments for sustainable consumption. Against this backdrop, a framework is suggested for the ex post analysis of effects resulting from such policy instruments. Instrument effects include changes in consumption patterns (“outcomes”), subsequent changes in the state of the environment, society and/or economy (“impacts”), and side effects. Step-by-step guidance is provided through the evaluation process. The approach helps to assess the extent to which sustainable consumption policy instruments have achieved their stated goals, but also encourages a critical reflection of these goals. In addition to evaluating instrument effects, the framework serves to explain these effects. It does so on the basis of theoretically grounded hypotheses that tackle drivers of and barriers to instrument effectiveness, thus exploring this relatively new policy field. Methodologically, a combination of qualitative methods (narrative reconstruction) and quantitative methods (e.g., material flow analysis) is recommended to causally link policies to changes in consumption patterns and impacts on sustainability.     

Inventory Types and Firm Performance: Vector Autoregressive and Vector Error Correction Models

The effects of inventory management on firm performance have been well documented. Most previous research, however, has focused on the performance effects of total inventories and has ignored the potentially differential performance effects of raw materials, work‐in‐process, and finished goods inventories. This research investigates the effects of various inventory types on firm performance. The empirical analyses of data from U.S. manufacturing industries reveal that the magnitude of the inventory–performance relationship varies by type of inventory and across industries. Specifically, raw materials inventories have a greater impact on firm performance than work‐in‐process and finished goods inventories. As a possible explanation, intertemporal interactions among these inventory types are explored using vector autoregressive and vector error correction models. The results suggest that raw materials and finished goods inventories asymmetrically affect each other over time. Implications for research and practice as well as future research opportunities are discussed.     

Flugzeugbau bleibt wichtiges Standbein für den Industriestandort Deutschland

The aviation industry in Germany is one of the growing industry sectors and generates more than half of its revenues abroad. As a high-tech and knowledge-intensive sector, the aviation industry relies on a highly skilled work force as well as technical innovations. Effective research and development are therefore essential for the industry’s international competitiveness. Especially global trends open up positive development prospects for Germany’s aviation industry. To improve the economic conditions of the industry sector, companies as well as political and scientific actors have joined forces in regional sector networks.     

The Impact of Key Retail Accounts on Supplier Performance: A Collaborative Perspective of Resource Dependency Theory

Existing literature suggests that the increasing concentration in the retail industry is allowing powerful retailers to exploit their weaker suppliers, which causes the suppliers’ performance to suffer. This study takes a collaborative perspective of resource dependency theory and suggests that when suppliers engage in supply chain relationships with key retail account (KRA) customers, their performance may improve, depending on the varying levels of the supplier's and KRAs’ market shares. The empirical analysis of data from two large retailers, Wal-Mart and Target, and a broad cross-section of their suppliers provides ample support for most of the hypotheses set forth in this paper: Suppliers that depend on KRAs for a significant share of their total revenues relinquish some of their leverage in the marketplace, but as the KRAs gain market share, their suppliers’ performance tends to increase. Cumulatively, these results provide evidence of collaborative supplier–KRA relationships, such that a supplier's dependency on KRAs may positively affect supplier performance. This finding supports a more positive, symbiotic view of dependency, resulting in important implications for key account management, supply chain management, and retail research and practice.     

Methoden zur Messung individueller Zahlungsbereitschaften: Ein Überblick zum State of the Art

Zusammenfassung Werbeslogans wie z. B. ,,Geiz ist geil“ (Saturn), ,,Preise gut, alles gut“ (C&A) oder ,,Bei diesen Preisen muss man reisen“ (1-2-Fly) verdeutlichen, dass der Preis im Fokus der Marketingstrategie vieler Unternehmen steht. Die im Markt erzielten Preise haben einen wesentlichen Einfluss darauf, ob und in welchem Maße Unternehmen mit dem Verkauf ihrer Produkte Gewinne erzielen. Zur optimalen Gestaltung und Umsetzung preispolitischer Maßnahmen ist die Kenntnis der Zahlungsbereitschaft von Nachfragern essentiell. Der vorliegende Beitrag gibt einen Überblick über die wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisse zur Messung von Zahlungsbereitschaften. Dazu werden die in der wissenschaftlichen Literatur vorgeschlagenen Ansätze zur Ermittlung von individuellen Zahlungsbereitschaften systematisiert, erläutert und ihre Eignung kritisch beurteilt. Der Beitrag zeigt damit, welche Methoden der Zahlungsbereitschaftsmessung zur Verfügung stehen und bietet Hilfestellung bei der Methodenauswahl. JEL classifications C81, D81, D12, M31     

Gamifying employer branding: An integrating framework and research propositions for a new HRM approach in the digitized economy

The digital age calls for digital HRM approaches, as the “digitized” workforce confronts companies with changing requirements regarding their human resource practices. Most importantly, companies need to build strong employer brands to attract, motivate, and retain employees. One promising approach to employer branding in the digital age is to gamify companies' employer branding activities by means of serious games (i.e., digital games with an educational purpose). Both serious games and employer branding share the key characteristic of facilitating learning to create knowledge. Despite existing research on employer branding and serious games in separate streams, virtually no research addresses their relationship, albeit its strong relevance for researchers and practitioners alike. The authors discuss both domains and their relation, propose a conceptual framework building on a novel learning-based extension of the affective events theory, and derive directions for future research to advance the understanding of gamifying employer branding in the digitized economy.