PRICE EFFECTS OF WOOL MARKETING INNOVATIONS: SOME EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE

Conflicting claims are often made about the price effects of specific wool marketing innovations. In this paper, a regression model is used to estimate the price effects of two innovations, namely, computerised selling by separation and pre-sale, dense packaging of wool. The results are indicative of aggregate price differentials between wool sold via the 'normal' system and via an innovative system for the particular wool types and sale dates analysed. The extent to which price effects may be offset by differences in selling charges is also considered. In addition, some underlying reasons for price differences, where they exist, are proposed.     

Working Towards Empirically-Based Continuous Improvements in Service Learning

This empirical study reports the implementation and assessment of service learning in management education. Principles of Management students worked in teams to support Campus Kitchens, a national program affiliated with colleges and universities, in recovering surplus food and delivering it to community members. Student perceptions regarding civic engagement and social responsibility, application of skills, and professional development were assessed. Two complete cycles of implementation and assessment are chronicled. The sample size for Cycle 1 was 123 students and for Cycle 2 the sample size was 91 students. The authors describe how empirical as well as anecdotal data drove the changes made to improve the service-learning experience.     

Character-Infused Ethical Decision Making

Journal of Business Ethics - Despite a growing body of research by management scholars to understand and explain failures in ethical decision making (EDM), misconduct prevails. Scholars have...     

Consumer complaint channel choice in online and offline purchases

This research explored the influence of the purchase environment on the choice of complaint channel. The study was based on responses from 480 undergraduate students who participated in a 2 (purchase environment: offline vs. online) × 2 (the degree of dissatisfaction: weak vs. strong) online experiment. Consumers who purchased online were more likely to complain online than those who made their purchase offline. Online complaining among online purchasers increased with the degree of dissatisfaction. The research suggests that future researchers should include consumer complaint channel choices when examining consumer complaining behaviour.     

Guanxi practice and Chinese buyer-supplier relationships: The buyer's perspective

This study explores the different effects of guanxi practice on Chinese buyer-supplier relationships in the initiation and the maintenance stages during the buyer-supplier relationship lifecycle. Using survey data collected from the retail industry in China, we find that retailers perceive varying buyer-supplier relationship behaviors in these two relationship stages and, accordingly, guanxi practice exerts opposite effects on retailer satisfaction. Specifically, during the relationship initiation stage, guanxi practice is negatively related to retailer social satisfaction and commitment. However, during the relationship maintenance stage, guanxi practice is positively related to retailer economic satisfaction. The results from this study provide suppliers with managerial implications on when to and when not to practice guanxi in China.     

“Travel Tales”: an interpretive analysis of constraints and negotiations to pleasure travel as experienced by persons with physical disabilities

Travel personnel and tourism site managers are often ill prepared to assist travelers with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to expand the understanding of constraints to pleasure travel experienced and negotiation strategies employed by persons with physical disabilities. Comparative pattern analysis was used to systematically analyze narratives written by travelers with disabilities, resulting in the emergence of six intrapersonal, six interpersonal, and eight structural themes. Further examination suggested an interactive, rather than hierarchical, relationship between the themes. Including persons with disabilities at every stage of the travel provision process can help ensure improved services for all travelers.     

Successful U.S. Entrepreneurs: Identifying Ethical Decision-making and Social Responsibility Behaviors

This two-part study analyzed some of the ethical choices made by founding entrepreneurs during the creation and development of their ventures in order to identify the areas in which founding entrepreneurs must make decisions related to ethics or social responsibility during venture creation and development. Content analysis was used to identify decisions with ethical components and/or implications from in-depth interviews with 10 successful business founders. The research for part one of the study was guided by the following research question: In what areas must entrepreneurs make decisions with ethical and/or social responsibility implications during new venture creation and development? The authors identified four distinct categories of decisions where ethical or social responsibility components exist: (1) individual entrepreneurial values-related decisions, (2) organizational culture/employee well-being decisions, (3) customer satisfaction and quality decisions, and (4) external accountability decisions. In the second part of the study, the decisions identified in part one were analyzed using a framework derived from prior research in ethics. This framework was developed from the work of Kant (1964) who theorized about human morals and Rawls (1971) who developed theories about justice. Part two of the study was guided by the following research questions: Do entrepreneurs have values and ethics similar to those held by society in general? If they don’t, how do their values and ethics differ? The comparison revealed that the ethics and/or values that the entrepreneurs either explicitly or implicitly acknowledged were in fact similar to those of society in general.     

Retailer-buyer supplier relationships: The Japanese difference

The purpose of this study, which draws data from a national survey of Japanese retail buyers, is to provide insight into how culture influences channel relationships and to suggest how non-Japanese partners can facilitate long-term relationships. Results indicate that Japanese retailer long-term orientation with a supplier is an antecedent to trust, economic dependence and satisfaction with the supplier rather than an outcome of these constructs. This study implies that Japanese retailers are expected to look out for the best interests of their partners, rather than continuously seek new partners, and, further, partners learn to negotiate differences rather than seek dissolution of the relationship.