Interactive Technologies and Retailing Strategy: A Review,Conceptual Framework and Future Research Directions

During the past decade, a number of interactive technologies, including the Internet, have fundamentally transformed how retailers compete in the marketplace. In a similar vein, emerging interactive technologies can be expected to significantly alter the retailing landscape through their impact on retailing strategy and operations. Furthermore, it is conceivable that certain emerging interactive technologies will be perceived by some retailers as enablers (tools to more effectively compete in the marketplace) and by other retailers as disruptors of the present ways of doing business. Interactive technologies can either be generic, a technology that is readily available from an information technology (IT) vendor and is widely adopted by retailers, or proprietary. An interactive technology that is proprietary can enable a firm to generate economic rents from the innovation for an extended duration of time. Investing in a generic interactive technology, however, may be perceived as a cost of doing business for a retailer, and not a potential source of sustainable competitive advantage. However, a retailer's complementary resource endowments may enable the retailer to more effectively leverage a generic technology relative to its competitors and thereby achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. In this paper, we review the related literature, develop a process model delineating the mechanisms by which an interactive technology can affect and necessitate changes in retailers' strategies and identify directions for future research.     

Effects of offline ad content on online brand search: insights from super bowl advertising

Individuals watch TV shows while simultaneously and/or immediately searching online. Thus, the content of offline TV ads can affect online brand search, a key predictor of sales. Yet there are few insights on the effect of offline ad content on online brand search. We develop hypotheses relating the informational and emotional content of TV ads on online brand search, independently, and in conjunction with two attentional content elements of the ad campaign, prior media publicity and brand website prominence in the TV ad. We test the hypotheses using a quasi-experimental study, the telecast of TV ads on the annual Super Bowl event between 2004 and 2012 (n = 293 observations). We measure online brand search by online brand search lift, i.e., the growth in online brand search following the telecast of the brand’s ad on Super Bowl. The findings indicate that the informational content of the TV ad increases online brand search, while both attentional content elements decrease this effect. We find no support for the effect of emotional content of the TV ad on online brand search. Our findings extend marketing theory on online search and generate managerial implications for designing TV ads to increase online brand search.     

Calculating,creating, and claiming value in business markets: Status and research agenda

A key challenge facing business marketers surrounds developing a deeper understanding of customer needs. We conceptualize that challenge as having three dimensions: calculating, creating, and claiming value. We discuss key problems, new developments and research challenges in each of these three domains and note the desirability for a deeper collaboration between academics and practitioners to address the research challenges.     

Survival of high tech firms: The effects of diversity of product–market portfolios, patents, and trademarks

High tech firms can mitigate potential risks by diversifying their product–market portfolios. A key research question is how such diversification influences firm survival. A firm exits the market in two ways, specifically, dissolution and acquisition. Here, we model how the diversity of a new firm's product–market portfolio influences the times to both types of exits. Specifically, we allow for interaction effects of the competitive intensity of a firm's environment and the diversity of a firm's product–market portfolio with its patents and trademarks. Using a competing risk hazard model, we estimate the effects of various covariates on the time to exit for 1435 US high tech firms.We observed that a more diverse product–market portfolio, in conjunction with a larger number of patents, hastens the time to a firm's exit by dissolution (9% decrease in survival duration), while in conjunction with a larger number of trademarks, portfolio diversity delays the time to exit by dissolution (12% increase). A more competitive firm environment results in a greater effect on the portfolio's diversity in delaying its exit by dissolution (7% increase). On the other hand, a diverse product–market portfolio, combined with either a larger number of patents or trademarks, hastens the firm's exit by acquisition (19% and 11% decrease respectively).     

Disability benefit microsimulation models in the Netherlands

Disability rates in the Netherlands used to be among the highest in the world. In 2002 the number of disability recipients approached one million. However, since then the number of disability cases has dropped remarkably due to a number of policy changes, the last of which being the new 2006 disability insurance scheme. On the other hand, in recent years the number of beneficiaries in the special scheme dedicated to the young handicapped has increased rapidly.     

Stock Price Index and Exchange Rate Nexus in African Markets

This paper examines the relationship between stock price index and exchange rate in six African markets using monthly data for the period January 2007 to October 2015. A quantile regression approach is used. This methodology is shown to perform better than the ordinary least squares estimators, particularly when the conditional distribution is heterogeneous. Our empirical evidence reveals an interesting pattern in the association of these two financial markets in Africa, which shows that the negative relationship between stock and foreign exchange markets is more apparent when exchange rates are extremely low or high. The negative relationship between the two variables is in line with the portfolio balance effect.     

Sources, characteristics and effects of emerging technologies: Research opportunities in innovation

Diverse technological developments across information technology, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and satellite communications technology are dramatically altering industry landscapes, with important economic and policy implications. Not surprisingly, therefore, managers are challenged to develop strategies to cope with the threats posed by emerging technologies and leverage the opportunities posed by them. Indeed, there is growing anecdotal evidence that firms' inabilities to cope with emerging technologies have produced high product and firm failure rates.From an academic perspective, I argue that emerging technologies have important distinctive features that have not been examined in current theory in marketing, and specifically, in organizational innovation. In this article, I identify several research questions that emerge from the sources, characteristics and effects of emergent technologies in the area of organizational innovation. Insights generated from such a line of inquiry have the potential to broaden the canvas of innovation theory and provide valuable insights to managers who confront these onerous challenges on a daily basis.     

Assessing the Effects of Employee Turnover on the Performance of Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises in Nigeria

The significant role small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) plays in growth and development is acknowledged universally. As a group, they generate more new jobs and introduce innovative ideas, products, and business methods. However, this important group is incapacitated by numerous factors militating against their growth, particularly in Third World countries such as Nigeria. In this study the authors identified major factors that affect the productivity of SMEs thereby hindering their growth. Their findings relate factors such as the dearth of skills, absence of managerial talents, and employee turnover to enterprise performance, productivity, and growth ability. Employee turnover is found to have a significant and negative correlation with SME performance. This indicates that the lower the employee turnover, the higher the performance of SMEs, and vice versa.     

刍议跨国并购交易中的几个关注因素

在全球经历了五次并购浪潮后,越来越多的中国公司希望通过跨国并购的形式寻求海外投资机会,实现跨越式发展。有鉴于此．中华咨询与美国波士顿商学院联合进行了跨国并购领域的专项研究,     

Seatbelt and child restraint use among vehicle occupants in Ho Chi Minh City: an observational study in Vietnam

Abstract

This paper presents the trend of seatbelt use, disaggregated by vehicle occupants, in Ho Chi Minh City between 2016 and 2018. We conducted statistical analyses to identify the determinants of seatbelt use, including the effect of a new fine imposed against seatbelt law violation in the rear seats that became effective in January 2018. Seatbelt use was observed in at least half of all vehicle occupants, and drivers were more likely to use seatbelts than passengers. Only 4.4% of children younger than 5-years and 2.5% of 5 to12-year-olds used a child restraint system. Seatbelt use increased among all occupants after the imposed fine, especially among rear-seat passengers. Imposing new or increasing fixed penalties, with enforcement and public education, may increase seatbelt use to prevent road traffic injuries.