From Decision Support to Decision Automation: A 2020 Vision

The authors discuss the long-run future of decision support systems in marketing. They argue that a growing proportion of marketing decisions can not only be supported but may also be automated. From a standpoint of both efficiency (e.g., management productivity) and effectiveness (e.g., resource allocation decisions), such automation is highly desirable. The authors describe how model-based automated decision-making is likely to penetrate various marketing decision-making environments and how such models can incorporate competitive dynamics. For example, the authors foresee that close to full automation can ultimately take place for many decisions about existing products in stable markets. Partial automation could characterize decision making for new products in stable markets and existing products in unstable markets.     

Adolescents’ perceived brand deprivation stress and its implications for corporate and consumer well‐being

Stress can impact various aspects of a person's well‐being. While some researchers have suggested that consumption‐related activities may cause stress, no research has yet explored such stress among vulnerable, younger consumers. To better understand this phenomenon, the concept of adolescents’ perceived brand deprivation stress (BDS) is introduced as a state of tension perceived negatively by a young consumer when he or she does not have specific brands from a particular product category. In a series of three studies with adolescents aged 11–17 years, a reliable and valid measure of BDS is developed and a framework encompassing antecedents and consequences of it is tested. This research demonstrates that an adolescent's peer group compared to the media exerts the strongest influence on BDS which is also affected by product involvement and age. In turn, stress influences both brand purchase intentions and psychosomatic illnesses, with the latter being reduced by consumer self‐confidence. The studies show that BDS is real, but seemingly problematic for only a small portion of vulnerable adolescents. The findings suggest that marketers should be cautious when targeting young consumers and that educational programs aimed at developing consumer skills and confidence in adolescents are advisable.     

Sichere Stromversorgung bei hohen Anteilen volatiler erneuerbarer Energien

Recently, concerns have been rising that the energy transition may impair the security of power supply in Germany by increasing the risk of shortages and black-outs in the long run. While power generation from volatile wind and solar energy has grown rapidly, incentives to invest in conventional back-up capacity have diminished. To respond to these concerns, the German government has adopted an energy policy reform package to strengthen the regulatory framework for the power market. But is this package appropriate to sustainably safeguard the German power supply?     

Betriebliche Bündnisse sichern Beschäftigung

Wirtschaftsdienst - Zu den betrieblichen Bündnissen liefert dieser Beitrag einige empirische Ergebnisse aus einer repräsentativen Befragung von Betriebsräten. Dabei werden die...     

The Impact of Capital Market Integration on Educational Choice and the Consequences for Economic Growth

This paper examines the impact of capital market integration on higher education and the link to economic growth. The analysis takes into account that participation in higher education is non‐compulsory and depends on individual choice. Due to capital–skill complementarity, integration increases (reduces) the incentives to participate in higher education in capital‐importing (‐exporting) economies, all other things equal. From a national policy point of view, public education expenditure should increase after integration of similar economies in order to attract mobile capital. Using foreign direct investment as a measure of capital flows, we present empirical evidence which largely confirms our main hypothesis: an increase in net capital inflows in response to capital market integration raises participation in higher education. In addition, we show that the adjustment in educational attainment is an empirically relevant channel through which capital inflows foster economic growth.     

Organizational Learning and CRM Success: A Model for Linking Organizational Practices,Customer Data Quality,and Performance

A high quality customer database is a cornerstone of successful interactive marketing strategies and tactics. Based on the notion that customer data quality is not only a technical but also an organizational problem, this study develops and tests an organizational learning framework of the relationship between organizational processes, customer data quality and firm performance. The findings show that high quality customer data impact both customer and business performance and that the most important driver of customer data quality comes from the executive suite. A large portion of the impact of organizational culture on performance is mediated by customer data quality and data sharing. The results support the presence of a hierarchy of effects for enhancing data quality that runs from organizational learning (committed to a shared vision for CRM data), to cross-functional learning (marketing/IT cooperation, marketing/IT integration) to functional learning (data sharing).     

Redistributing Gains from Globalisation*

This paper analyses the effects of redistribution in a model of international trade with heterogeneous firms in which a fair‐wage effort mechanism leads to firm‐specific wage payments and involuntary unemployment. The redistribution scheme is financed by profit taxes and gives the same absolute lump‐sum transfer to all workers. International trade increases aggregate income and income inequality, ceteris paribus. If, however, trade is accompanied by a suitably chosen increase in the profit tax rate, it is possible to achieve higher aggregate income and a more equal income distribution than in autarky, provided that the share of exporters is sufficiently high.     

Schlafstörungen im Alter

Herausforderung für Pflege und Therapie - Gesunder Schlaf ist ein wesentliches Gesundheitsgut, das es zu bewahren und zu f?rdern gilt. Da ein gest?rter Schlaf weitreichende Folgen hat, sollten Pflegende Einflussfaktoren kennen, die die Schlafprobleme verursachen und verst?rken, um darauf in ihrem berufspraktischen Alltag reagieren zu k?nnen.     

Sustainable Design: Beyond the Innovation‐Driven Business Model

This essay discusses an evolving business model, the sustainability‐driven business model, that designers are especially well suited to implement and promote. Designers have a responsibility to connect and coordinate human needs and dreams with new opportunities and inspirations from science, technology, and business in order for products and their usage to be culturally relevant, economically productive, politically beneficial, and ecologically sustainable.