Competing for attention with in-store promotions

Supermarkets typically have an in-store demonstration located near the promotional end-of-aisle (or end-cap) area due to space requirements. Using a field experiment, we examine whether the occurrence of these in-store promotions competing for attention and engagement can disrupt each other, using binary logistic regression to analyse shopper behaviour. Results show the best way to attract attention to the end-of-aisle is not to have an in-store demonstration near it, or if required, a complementary product to the end-of-aisle should be used. Inferences based upon shopper characteristics are also given, providing important nuances in the attention to, and engagement with, in-store promotions.     

Complementarity and sequencing of innovations: new varieties and mechanized processing for cassava in West Africa

Complementarity among inter-related innovations may help explain the location and timing of productivity growth, and may be particularly important in the transformation of semi-subsistence agrarian economies. We study the case of cassava in West Africa, where both mechanized processors and new varieties are more widespread in Nigeria than in neighboring countries. One explanation involves complementarity: mechanization may have induced new variety adoption, or vice-versa. We test the magnitude and significance of these linkages using a system of equations approach. Controlling for other factors, we find that new variety adoption consistently increases the likelihood of subsequent mechanization by an average of 75 percent. Mechanization is less consistently associated with subsequent new variety adoption. Historically, mechanization came first – but the later development of new varieties made mechanization much more profitable, and the two then spread together.     

新技术、企业组织变革与财务管理

新技术的发展促进了经济、政治、社会等宏观领域的发展,微观企业组织也深受其影响,作为企业管理的重要组成部分的财务管理,将在新技术的潮流中发生根本性的变革。新技术虚拟化、场景化、网络化、集成化、链接化、实时化、动态化的特征,将使企业的组织结构从以实体为基础的组织形态向以信息为基础的组织形态进行转变,进而使财务管理的主体、客体、目标、体制、对象、价值创造方式和信息发生相应转变。本文深刻分析了企业组织在新技术环境下的巨大变革和财务管理的根本变化,为财务管理的重新定位提供了相应的经验和启示。     

Managing work–life boundaries with information and communication technologies: the case of independent contractors

In the light of the increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), it is important to gain a better understanding of their influence on work–life boundaries. This study examines how individuals manage their work–life boundaries by using ICTs. The findings of a qualitative study with independent contractors show that individuals actively use multiple ICT‐mediated tactics to shape their temporal, spatial and psychological work–life boundaries. Furthermore, findings suggest that individuals cannot simply be classified as ‘integrators’ or ‘segmentors’, as they may have diverse preferences with regard to both the dimension (temporal, spatial or psychological) and direction (work‐to‐life or life‐to‐work) of boundary permeability. A framework that takes account of these aspects is derived based on the empirical results.     

The determinants of investment in information and communication technologies

In this paper, we assess the determinants of information and communication technology (ICT) investment at the macro-level, for a panel of 10 advanced countries, in the period 1992–2005. We investigate the idea that, since ICTs are general purpose technologies, the decision to invest in these technologies is strongly affected by the general business environment in which the investment takes place. The empirical results are consistent with this idea: facilitating factors such as changes in market regulation, amount of human capital, expenditure on R&D, and the share of the dynamic services sector in the economy, positively influence investment in ICT.     

房地产开发企业低碳发展困境及解决的对策

低碳经济背景下,我国房地产开发企业面临着重大的挑战与机遇。本文在明确国内外房地产开发企业低碳发展实践的基础上,分析我国房地产开发企业低碳发展面临的具体困境,并从四个方面提出摆脱困境的具体对策。     

浅谈先进制造技术与现代装备价值管理

文章通过介绍当今机械先进制造技术以及在先进制造技术基础上生产的现代装备的特征,进而阐述现代装备价值管理的具体思路。     

新材料在建筑节能中的应用及质量问题探析

建筑节能是指在建筑材料生产、房屋建筑和构筑物施工及使用过程中,满足同等需要或达到相同目的的条件下,尽可能降低能耗。建筑节能工程中的新材料、新技术、新工艺在规划、设计、新建、改造和使用过程中,执行节能标准,在保证室内热环境质量的前提下尽可能地节约能源,这就给建筑施工技术创新带来了深刻的影响。文章主要对建筑新材料在节能工程应用中常见的质量问题进行分析,并提出改进方法。     

An application of health-portals to improve electronic listening

Electronic listening (eListening) is an innovation that potentially provides patients and other users with the right answer in the right place at the right time. Thus, eListening can potentially improve service flexibility, adaptability and quality. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which new web-based service delivery channels, which we refer to as health-portals (he-portals), facilitate eListening in the Spanish public healthcare sector. In this paper, we investigate the relative importance and significance of hospital size and three different types of information and communications technologies (Internet, groupware and collective systems) on the use of eListening through an empirical investigation of 300 Spanish public he-portals. Our main conclusion is that the implementation of Internet systems alone does not guarantee the development of effective eListening. In addition, we demonstrate that hospital size does not affect the level of eListening achieved by hospitals.     

Facilitating offshoring with enterprise technologies: Reducing operational friction in the governance and production of services

The development of cheap and robust communications technologies has lowered the cost of conducting business transactions across international boarders and opened up low wage rate global labor markets to firms facing demand for cheap and efficient service delivery. A review of transaction cost theory and operations management models of service process disaggregation reveals parallels between the how firm boundaries are determined and how certain service process elements can be disaggregated from face-to-face customer contact. This theoretical background is used to identify challenges to the effective offshoring of service processes. The competitive capability literature offers suggestions as to how firms might acquire the internal capabilities required to manage offshore service processes. Propositions are developed on how the standardized transactional infrastructure of enterprise technologies (and the organizational competencies developed by successful enterprise system adopters) may help mitigate the challenges of offshore governance.