Simulated Attention-Tracking Methodologies: An Examination of Measurement Efficacy

This study introduces and examines a simulated attention-tracking methodology as an emerging technique to improve the study of in-store shopper behavior and decision making. To assess the viability of this new methodology, we examine its efficacy in producing consumer behavior data consistent with results predicted by the marketing literature. Empirical data across five grocery categories are used to examine the influence of personal, product, and situational differences on external information search. Findings show that the attention-tracking methodology is able to demonstrate expected results in almost all cases. The methodology is also able to provide a more complete view of external information search through tracing the observed search behavior preceding decision making. This proof of methodology responds directly to calls in the marketing and retailing literature to test new and emerging methodologies in support of research on in-store marketing and shopper behavior. Findings also provide managers with a methodology to examine the actual impact of marketing actions intended to capture shoppers’ attention at the retail shelf and to influence behavior.     

The first export order: a marketing innovation revisited

This study reports on an investigation into what lies behind a firm's first export order and revisits the questions posed in the classic article by Simmonds and Smith [(1968). British Journal of Marketing, 2, 93–100]. It concentrates on risk/reward considerations in decision-making. Interviews were undertaken with owner/managers who were the key decision-makers in 10 newly internationalising UK start-up firms, that is, in their first year of operation, in order to avoid recollections in respect of hindsight. The findings highlight that a variety of factors can affect the decision of owner/managers in small firms to start their internationalisation path. Decisions are made in the context of perceived risk/reward considerations regarding exploiting various opportunities; for example, what are considered to be affordable losses against respective owner/manager's objectives and experience. The contribution of the study is that it employs an effectuation lens in respect of the first export decision.     

The Hukou and Land Tenure Systems as Two Middle Income Traps--The Case of Modern China

China＇s prevailing hukou （household registration） system and land tenure system seem to be very different in their applications. In fact, they both function to deny the exit right of rural residents from a rural community. Under these systems, rural residents are not allowed to freely exit from collectives if they do not want to lose their entitlements, such as their rights to using collectively owned land and their land-based properties. Farmers are neither allowed to sell their houses to outsiders, nor allowed to sell to outsiders their rights to contracting a piece of land from the collective where their households are registered. For migrant workers from rural areas, it is extremely difficult for them to obtain an urban hukou with all its associated entitlements at an urban locality where they currently work and live. The combined effect of the two systems leads to serious distortions in labor and land markets, resulting in discrimination against migrant workers, sprawling yet exclusive urbanization, housing bubbles, and depressed domestic demand. These distortions further entrench the existing and much widened urban/rural divide. Unless these two systems are thoroughly reformed, the rural residents in Chinese mainland will be trapped in their comparatively much lower income and remain unable to share the gains from the agglomeration effects of urbanization.     

Rational plunging and the option value of sequential investment: The case of petroleum exploration

The potential to invest sequentially in related assets creates a tradeoff between diversification and concentration. Loading a portfolio with correlated assets has the potential to inflate variance, but also creates information spillovers and real options that may augment total return and mitigate variance. We examine this tradeoff in the context of petroleum exploration. Using a simple model of geological dependence, we show that the value of learning options creates incentives for investors to plunge into dependence; i.e., to assemble portfolios of highly correlated exploration prospects. Risk-neutral and risk-averse investors are distinguished not by the plunging phenomenon, but by the threshold level of dependence that triggers such behavior. Aversion to risk does not imply aversion to dependence. Indeed the potential to plunge should be larger for risk-averse investors than for risk-neutral investors. We test the empirical validity of our theory by examining bidding activity in petroleum lease sales. We find significant plunging behavior across a broad sample of oil companies. We also find that privately-held firms pursue even more concentrated (less diversified) prospect portfolios than publicly-held firms—which we attribute to risk aversion rather than size.     

The positive effects of relationship learning and absorptive capacity on innovation performance and competitive advantage in industrial markets

This study utilized structural equations modeling (SEM) to explore the positive effects of relationship learning and absorptive capacity on competitive advantages of companies through their innovation performances in Taiwanese manufacturing industry. The results of this study showed that relationship learning and absorptive capacity positively influence upon innovation performances of companies, and further have positive effects on competitive advantages of companies. In addition, this study divided the sample into three groups by the levels of relationship learning and absorptive capacity and found that there was a significant difference of innovation performance among these three groups: ‘Highly Capable Companies’, ‘Medially Capable Companies’, and ‘Lowly Capable Companies’. It is important for ‘Lowly Capable Companies’ to increase both of their relationship learning and absorptive capacity to enhance their innovation performances.     

Developing a sustainability ethic in leaders

The triple bottom line of fiscal, social, and environmental success considerably alters how organizations (and stakeholders) measure sustainable success. More important, however, is the conceptual shift required to understand and successfully lead organizations within this increasingly accepted paradigm. This article uses a mixed‐methods approach to explore the conceptual development of a sustainability ethic in aspiring leaders. More specifically, the authors report research examining the curriculum and pedagogy of a leadership education effort, in this case a college‐level course, aimed at effecting change in both individual aspiring leaders and their immediate community. The article describes the philosophical and research base for the curriculum and specific activities with their pedagogical approach. Results show evidence of increased awareness, importance, and commitment to sustainability as well as changes in how students conceptualize sustainability leadership. Findings offer insights for further developing leadership education for sustainability.     

Option and non-use values and rail project appraisal

Option values and non-use values are well-known concepts in environmental economics, but so far there been few attempts to apply the concepts to the transportation field. This paper therefore firstly reviews empirical studies on transport option and non-use values, and secondly examines the inclusion of option and non-use values in five rail scheme appraisals in the UK. We find that whilst the evidence base is small, the importance of option and non-use values is large where user benefits are low and for projects involving the provision (or loss) of commuting opportunities (including station openings/closures).     

Capital-tax financing and scale economies in public-input production

Contrary to the dominant view of inefficient tax competition, Oates and Schwab (1991) show that capital-tax financing of public inputs leads to efficiency when the supply of these inputs is conditioned on business investment (Oates, W.E., Schwab, R.M., 1991. The allocative and distributive implications of local fiscal competition). This paper demonstrates that the cost structure of public-input production is relevant to their proposition on efficient capital-tax financing. That proposition holds if the per-unit cost of public inputs is exogenously fixed; however, it does not hold if public-input production exhibits scale economies. Also, this paper compares our analysis with the Zodrow-Mieszkowski model. That comparison illustrates the importance of the way public inputs are rationed to private firms.     

Comparing IV with structural models: What simple IV can and cannot identify

This paper compares the economic questions addressed by instrumental variables estimators with those addressed by structural approaches. We discuss Marschak’s Maxim: estimators should be selected on the basis of their ability to answer well-posed economic problems with minimal assumptions. A key identifying assumption that allows structural methods to be more informative than IV can be tested with data and does not have to be imposed.