The impact of functional integration on perceived risk and consumer-based brand equity

Consumers today have access to a wide span of corporate information and are increasingly aware of the degree to which the functional areas of marketing and supply chain activities are becoming more integrated. Functional integration involves coordinating supply- and demand-focused activities and is theorized to create two interrelated benefits for consumers: lower perceived purchase risk and, ultimately, higher consumer-based brand equity. Despite an emphasis on the important role of consumers in the functional integration literature, the consumers’ viewpoint is missing. This research addresses this gap using a survey and an experiment to investigate the impact of functional integration on consumers’ perceptions of risk and consumer-based brand equity. Findings suggest that when functional integration acts as a component of brand association, purchase risk decreases and consumer-based brand equity increases. The results can help scholars and practitioners better understand the role of functional integration by advancing the nomological net of brand associations as part of the standard marketing mix.     

Local Versus Visitor Perceptions of Farmers’ Markets

There has been an increasing focus on the local food movement and farmers’ markets that supply this food. Most studies have focused on profiling the consumer or motivations for purchasing local food; however, few have focused on the differences in those who frequent such tourism offerings. The purpose of this research study, therefore, was to examine differences between visitors and residents regarding motivations and preferences for buying local and organic food at farmers’ markets. There has been an increasing focus on the local food market due to food security awareness, consumer responsibility, and food trends such as the 100-mile diet and preference of local and organic. Using 322 completed surveys, responses were analyzed to examine significant differences. The results show a difference in motivations of visitors and locals in regard to their frequenting of farmers markets, as well as the frequency of their use. Increasingly within tourism there has been a focus on the local or authentic tourism experience; therefore, understanding the differences in visitor preferences may help both destinations and the markets themselves to cater to different preferences among their clientele.     

War Legacies,Welfare and Livelihoods in Rural Areas: The Case of Kosovo

This article examines the effects of war on livelihood choices and welfare outcomes of rural households in Kosovo using the 2000 Kosovo Living Standards Measurement Survey. We analyse the extent of the legacy of war on livelihood activities and welfare. We first identify livelihood portfolio clusters of households pursuing similar combinations of activities. These clusters are comparable to those described in more qualitative studies in the immediate post‐conflict period. We then examine the determinants of livelihood portfolio choice and the consequences of these for welfare outcomes. Our results provide evidence of a relationship between a household’s experience of war and livelihood choice. We also identify significant selection effects on welfare for three out of four livelihood clusters, highlighting the fact that selecting into a specific livelihood portfolio changes welfare relative to expected levels. Our results show that war not only affects livelihood choices but also changes the returns to these activities.     

Measuring the Choice of Environmental Sustainability Strategies in Creating a Competitive Advantage

Environmental sustainability has often been claimed as a means to providing a competitive advantage by encouraging efficiencies, attracting customers and obtaining business. This work critically considers this idea in the context of the hotel industry by comparing the strategic intent and implementation of sustainability initiatives in hotels across North America. Environmental sustainability strategies can employ a low cost, a differentiated or a hybrid (a combination of the two) approach to creating a competitive advantage. Controlling for the type and age of hotel we find that the hotels sampled in this study used a combination of all three approaches but tended to rely on their need to create environmental sustainability legitimacy by placing an emphasis on differentiation through environmental sustainability branding. A lack of recognition by management of the contribution to their future economic success that low cost strategies can provide has implications for hotel owners. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Brand user profiles seldom change and seldom differ

This study tests and extends the discovery that competing brand user profiles are broadly similar, specifically investigating the consistency of this pattern over time. Examining 700 brands in more than 60 consumer packaged goods categories, for more than 160 variables, the authors document not only that brand user profiles seldom differ but also that they seldom change much over 3 to 6 years. These findings have important implications for marketing theory and practice. For example, marketers need to focus mostly on who buys the category and what features they demand as opposed to thinking their brand buyers are very different to those of competitive brands. This paper extends the empirical results of prior brand profile findings, demonstrating their robustness and durability.     

Reputation,Information, and Herding in Credit Ratings: Evidence from CMBS

The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics - We find strong evidence of herding behavior among credit rating agencies (CRAs) in the CMBS market. CRAs are more likely to change their rating if...     

Environmental policy integration as a strategy for sustainable tourism planning: issues in implementation

Both in a national and global context, it is challenging to identify key conditions for the integration of sustainable tourism in public policy. By studying a number of recent planning processes pertaining to tourism development, this article aims to contribute recent insight into how sustainability may be integrated into tourism planning. The study was motivated by a publicized shift in the Norwegian government policy strategy on sustainable tourism, from a sector approach to an integration approach. Through case analysis, the concept of environmental policy integration is applied. Findings show that sustainable tourism is partially integrated in all cases and three key issues are outlined. First, although Norway is characterized by a high degree of sector organization, it has a weak structure for overall tourism policy integration. Second, the integration of sustainable tourism has been stimulated by national horizontal integration, bottom-up integration prepared by institutional changes, public participation, and by active use of the municipal system of planning. Third, this study could not find any evidence for the announced shift from a sector approach to an integrated approach to sustainable tourism.     

The predictive ability of entity-wide geographic sales disclosures: IAS 14R versus IFRS 8

This report examines the predictive value of geographic revenue disclosures under IFRS 8 in forecasting company revenues using four forecast models. The findings show that the predictive accuracy of IFRS 8 entity-wide geographic sales significantly outperform consolidated sales in forecasting consolidated sales one year out. The results indicate that the predictive ability of country specific entity wide geographic sales improves on average by six percent when geographic sales are reported for country of domicile or by each individually material country. The study also finds that geographic sales disclosures by companies located in countries with high and moderate enforcement regimes improve the predictive accuracy of geographic sales by five percent. These results provide evidence that the disclosure of finer geographic sales data is more decision useful and associated with improved predictive accuracy for large listed companies in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.     

Can’t You Count? Public Service Delivery and Standardized Measurement Challenges – The Case of Community Composting

Abstract

Performance measurement is increasingly important for UK third sector organizations (TSOs) driven in part by policymakers’ interest in harnessing them as deliverers of public services. This article examines a developing and little researched constituency of TSOs – community composters – which has become attractive to policymakers facing obligations to reduce, recycle, and reuse waste. The research, which included the first extensive survey of this constituency combined with a purposive case study investigation, found a highly diverse set of organizations. The analysis proposes five types of community composters and explores the challenges to developing a standardized measurement regime.