Social Media Index Valuation: Impact of Technological,Social, Economic,and Ethical Dimensions

Marketing practitioners have recognized a growing need to measure consumer-generated social media in a standard way since there are numerous social media indicators in use, making intra- and inter-company comparisons difficult. This paper identifies four social media dimensions for measurement and evaluation: technological, social, economic, and ethical; and, subsequently, measures social media. The study makes a contribution to social media literature by using analytic hierarchy process of developing a mathematical model for social media index valuation. The “social media composite index number” will serve as an industry benchmark signifying the organization's share and commitment to social media.     

Positive versus negative comparative advertising

Two studies examined cognitive responses to comparative advertising that was valenced, i.e., was either negative or positive. Negative comparative advertising featured the advertised brand derogating the comparison brand (I'm OK, you're not OK). Positive comparative advertising claimed superiority over the comparison brand in a nonderogatory manner (You're OK, I'm more OK). Subjects were exposed to either a negative comparative ad or a positive comparative ad. In study 1, the ad featured either a high or low share advertised brand and either a high or low share comparison brand while in study 2, the ad featured advertised and comparison brands with either a strong or a weak reputation. Across both studies, it was found that negative comparative advertising evoked significantly higher counterargumentation and lower claim acceptance than its positive counterpart. Also, when the advertised brand had a high share relative to the comparison brand, counterargumentation was lower and claim acceptance was higher vis-a-vis when the advertised brand had a low share relative to the comparison brand. Findings pertaining to brand reputation were mixed. Managerial and future research implications of the findings are discussed.     

Virtual Reality and Innovation Potential

This article examines how companies can harness virtual reality (VR) technology to help make themselves more innovative. VR has some unique characteristics which, taken together, can help companies to develop three features common to many innovative organisations: a capacity to experiment in depth; involvement of all in the innovation process; and an ability to capture ideas generated in the innovation process. However, some obstacles need to be overcome before VR fulfils this potential.     

Formal Rehabilitation Procedures and Insolvent Firms: Empirical Evidence on the British Company Voluntary Arrangement Procedure

The British Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) is a relatively new debtor rehabilitation process intended to help financially troubled companies, particularly SMEs, resolve their difficulties without being forced into liquidation by secured creditors anxious to recover their funds. This paper is based on a survey conducted by Milman and Chittenden for the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants that is the largest and most comprehensive on the subject of British CVAs. It has three principal objectives: (i) to outline the defining characteristics of CVAs; (ii) to analyse the relationships between CVA performance and contextual factors; (iii) to provide policy recommendations based on those findings. Among other things we find that CVA success is most closely associated with sound fundamental prospects for recovery and supportive creditors. Our principal recommendation is that ways should be found of lowering the fixed costs of CVAs to make the procedure feasible for a larger number of small firms.     

Mobile banking in a developing economy: A customer-centric model for policy formulation

India needs inclusive growth to pull millions out of poverty. Despite the best efforts of mainstream financial institutions, financial exclusion is depriving millions of poor any chance to attain adequate standard of living. Telecommunication infrastructure growth especially mobile phone penetration has created an opportunity for providing financial inclusion. The current state of mobile banking is characterized by a top-down approach. This paper presents a bottom-up approach of designing mobile banking service which would be acceptable and accessible to the poor customers. The results point to clear preference of the urban poor for a joint bank–telecom led mobile banking model. Conjoint analysis of the data points to preference for attributes related to security/safety of a bank along with the coverage, accessibility and nimbleness of a telecom service provider with minimal documentation. The paper in its conclusion exhorts the regulators, telecom service providers and financial institutions to involve end-users in order to create a sustainable mobile banking service for financial inclusion.     

Locally Most Powerful and Other Rank Tests for Independence – with a Contaminated Weighted Alternative

Several authors in the literature have attempted the quantification of the concept of stochastic dependence for bivariate distribution. Two weighted rank tests for testing independence against a weighted contamination alternative is proposed and their distributional properties are studied. We also derived a locally most powerful rank test for the alternative setting. The rank tests proposed are shown to be asymptotic locally most powerful for specific distributions.     

Balance of Payments and Related Issues in the Uruguay Round of Trade Negotiations

Little attention has been paid to the balance of payments provisionsof the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), despitethe fact that they directly influence the trade policies ofthe developing countries. This article suggests that there isa need to reconsider these provisions in the context of theongoing Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations. Thearticle traces the historical evolution of GATT practices ontrade restrictions for balance of payments purposes. With thegeneral introduction of more flexible exchange rate arrangements,the original rationale for temporary barriers to safeguard acountry's external financial position appears to have lost itsforce. Recent theoretical and empirical work has demonstratedthat neutral or export promoting trade strategies are more effectivefor development than the import substitution frequently advocatedby economists in the 1950s and 1960s. The current debt problemsof developing countries strengthen the argument for a relativelyopen trade and payments regime to attain balance of paymentsviability. The article suggests that stronger internationaldiscipline over trade restrictions for balance of payments purposeswould contribute to and presuppose other necessary improvementsin the multilateral trading system which are already on theagenda of the Uruguay Round.     

Price impact of block trades: the curious case of downstairs trading in the EU emissions futures market

Using high-frequency data from the European Climate Exchange (ECX), we examine the determinants of price impact of €21 billion worth of block trades during 2008–2011 in the European carbon market. We find that wider bid-ask spreads and volatility are characterised by a smaller price impact. Larger levels of price impact are more likely to occur during the middle of the trading day, specifically the four-hour period between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., than during the first or final hours. Purchase block trades induce a relatively smaller price impact on price run-up, while sell block trades exhibit a larger price impact on price run-up. We conclude that block trades on the ECX induce less price impact than in equity or conventional futures markets, and that a significant proportion of the effects contradict findings on block trades in those markets; thus, we provide the first evidence of the curious bent to block trading in the European Union emissions trading scheme.     

An empirical study of the dimensionality of organizational justice and its relationship with organizational citizenship behaviour in the Indian context

Cross-cultural research shows that while the concerns about organizational justice may be universal, operationalization of justice standards is highly particularistic (Greenberg 2001). The present study explores the dimensionality of organizational justice in the Indian context. Apart from procedural justice, interpersonal justice and informational justice, another justice dimension, labelled as empowerment justice, emerged during the study. Next, the study tests the relationships between justice dimensions and Organ's (1988) 5-factor conceptualization of organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB), namely helping, compliance, sportsmanship, courtesy and civic virtue behaviours. The perception of empowerment justice influences helping, compliance, sportsmanship, and civic virtue dimensions of OCB. Interpersonal justice significantly predicts courtesy behaviour. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.