Perceptual differences in corporate philanthropy motives: a South Korean study

We studied what types of motives South Korean consumers and corporate giving officers attributed to corporate philanthropy (CP). Results showed gaps between consumers and corporate giving officers in that consumers more firmly believed corporations conducted CP for profit‐driven motives than did corporate giving officers, whereas the corporate giving officers more strongly perceived that corporations engaged in CP for altruistic motives. Based on these findings, we discuss managerial implications for practitioners. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The testable implications of zero-sum games

We study collective choices from the revealed preference theory viewpoint. For every product set of individual actions, joint choices are called Nash-rationalizable if there exists a preference relation for each player such that the selected joint actions are Nash equilibria of the corresponding game. We characterize Nash-rationalizable joint choice behavior by zero-sum games, or games of conflicting interests. If the joint choice behavior forms a product subset, the behavior is called interchangeable. We prove that interchangeability is the only additional empirical condition which distinguishes zero-sum games from general non-cooperative games.     

National economic disparity and cross-border acquisition resolution

This paper explores the effects of national economic disparity on the completion or abandonment of cross-border acquisitions by combining behavioral perspectives of risky decision making and theories of organizational learning. Using a sample of 2445 cross-border acquisitions announced between 1985 and 2008, we show that an acquisition is less likely to be completed when the acquirer is from a more developed country vis-a-vis the target than when the acquirer is from a less developed country. Furthermore, the higher the economic development level of the acquirer’s country relative to that of the target, the less likely the deal is to be completed. We also find that the time elapsed between the acquisition announcement and completion dates is shorter as the economic development level of the acquirer’s country relative to that of the target is higher.     

The Effect of New Product Preannouncements on the Evaluation of Other Brand Products

Some firms preannounce new products long before they are actually available on the market. Previous research has investigated the effects of such new product preannouncements (NPPs) on consumer and competitor responses. This paper examines how NPPs affect consumers' construal of and preferences for the new product and, in turn, how these evaluations influence their preferences for the brands' other products. Specifically, the paper demonstrates that consumers' construal level of NPPs spills over to their construal of other products in the brand family, causing a positive, biased evaluation of these products. Three experimental studies reveal that the mere information about an NPP can shift evaluation of currently available brand products in a positive direction through construal‐level spillover and increased perceptions of similarity. The studies contrast NPPs to new product announcements (NPAs) and consistently find more positive results for the former. Moreover, the studies find that product newness has a moderating effect on the results, such that the positive spillover effects are more pronounced for really new products than for incrementally new products. The results also show that the effects are contingent on the credibility of the NPP: If consumers do not consider the NPPs credible, no positive spillover effects will materialize. Finally, the studies demonstrate that the positive evaluative spillover is specific to the products in the brand family and does not affect consumers' perceptions or choice of competitor products. Consumers actually rate the competing brand's remaining products lower when the focal brand engages in NPPs. The study has important implications for managers regarding how to use NPPs to influence consumers' construal and evaluations of brand products.     

How different are first-time attendees from repeat attendees in convention evaluation?

This study aimed to identify any distinction between first-time and repeat convention attendees based on their perspectives of convention quality dimensions, multidimensional value, and behavioral intentions. The findings showed that accessibility and extra convention opportunities were not found to affect multidimensional value from first-timers and repeaters. First-timers valued professional education the most, followed by social networking and site environment in evaluating multidimensional value. Repeaters relied on social networking more than on education in assessing value. Site environment positively contributed to multidimensional value for first-timers but not for repeaters. Multidimensional value affected behavioral intentions more positively for repeaters than for first-timers. These findings will enable convention organizers to better understand the distinctions between the two groups and thus gain insight into how to attract first-timers and turn them into repeaters.     

CROSS‐COUNTRY TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER AND POLITICALLY DRIVEN INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS

Grossman and Helpman highlighted a political framework to internalize inefficiency incurred due to unilateral trade policy implementation by sovereign countries. This paper extensively adopts their framework to explore the effects of special interest politics on governments under negotiation to forge international environmental standards to control global emission. Particular attention is given to a case in which negotiation is driven by transferring the abatement technology. Within a specific factor model of international trade, improving the abatement efficiency through technology transfer can give the most mutually beneficial outcome, achieving the lowest level of global pollution compared to other political benchmarks.     

An integrated approach for port selection,ship scheduling and financial analysis

Ship routing and scheduling is an important activity for ship operators at both planning and operation levels. Ship operators, as commercial entities, have to closely monitor routing and scheduling in relation to their financial implications. This paper presents an integrated approach for port selection, ship scheduling and financial analysis. It aims to discuss the architecture and the major features of an integrated intelligent system for liner shipping. Currently many liners still perform ship routing and scheduling manually based on professional knowledge and experience. The proposed system is developed with an international liner company and is flexible to account for user inputs according to the real situation in the port selection module. Also the system provides two modes in the scheduling module: automatic and manual. The automatic mode makes use of an optimisation model to find the optimal proforma schedule (PFS). The manual mode allows manual modifications to be performed to accommodate the existing liners to allow for a smooth implementation. The financial analysis module examines the financial consequences of the PFS which are crucial for making commercial decisions. As a whole, the solution algorithm calls for an integrated approach that can integrate data from various sources with different levels of certainties and accuracies, knowledge gained from practical operations and optimisation routines. The system will be useful for ship operators in liner shipping.     

Estimating the factors determining the demand for induced abortions among married women in Taiwan

This paper purports to estimate the characteristics of women who had experiences of abortion in 1991 based on an economic model of fertility. The study makes use of a national survey on the knowledge of, attitude towards, and practice of family planning and reproductive health among married women in Taiwan. The results show that older women with higher family income and who live in urban areas were more likely to have the pregnancy terminated. In addition, the decision to have an abortion was negatively correlated with prior pregnancy loss, but positively associated with the number of previous live births. On the other hand, the availability of abortion services as measured by the number of legal abortion providers at city and county levels had a negative effect on the demand for abortions. The local female unemployment rate was found to be positively correlated with the woman's decision to have an abortion.