The European Union’s Constitutional Crisis—Causes and Consequences

The rejection of the treaty establishing a European constitution by French and Dutch voters has thrown the EU into a deep crisis. What developments in the EU contributed to these referenda results? What consequences are to be drawn for the continuation of integration and the integration goal, the governance of the EU-25 and the further planned enlargements? What flaws are there in the present draft constitution and how can these be dealt with?     

Retailing strategy for customer growth and new customer attraction

The image that current and potential customers have of a retail store affects the magnitude of patronage at that store. In attempting to increase store patronage, management of a retail store must look to people who already are customers, as well as to people who are not current customers. The appropriate strategy depends upon the dimensions used by people in their evaluation of the store. The hypothesis is tested that the strategy used for gaining increased patronage from customers may have to differ from that used to gain patronage from noncustomers.Field survey techniques were used to collect data from 225 adult females. Respondents evaluated three large retail department stores, which were believed to have distinct images in the minds of female shoppers, on the basis of a set of 12 semantic scales that represented various store attributes. Each respondent indicated frequency of shopping at each store. The data were analyzed by two different multiple discriminant analyses. For the customer growth strategy, the semantic scale measures were used to develop a discriminant model for each store to determine which attributes would be the best predictors of shopping frequency. The analysis relevant to the strategy of new customer attraction differed. First, shoppers were classified as loyal to one store on the basis of their rates of shopping at each store. Second, the 36 attribute measurements (12 scales for 3 stores) were factor analyzed, and three factors were extracted. Those attributes which loaded highest on each of the factors for each store were used as predictor variables in the discriminant analysis.The results of this study indicate that different marketing strategies may be required for increasing sales to existing customers and attracting new customers. In addition, consumers do not necessarily differentiate similar type retail stores on the same dimension.     

Earnings Forecasts and the Information Contained in Spinoff Announcements

This study examines spinoff announcements in conjunction with financial analysts’ forecasts of earnings. The analysis shows that spinoff announcement abnormal returns are significantly related to the firm's information environment as proxieci by financial analysts’ earnings prediction errors. The findings also indicate that analysts significantly increase their short-term earnings forecasts in response to spinoffs, but do not significantly revise their long-term earnings forecasts. However, the earnings revisions are not significantly different across prediction error groups, which confirms that spinoff-related abnormal returns cannot be attributed solely to expected performance gains.     

Mortgage Tax Relief: Subsidy or Sematics?

Tax relief on mortgage interest wsa defended (Economic Affairs, October-November 1985) by Professor John parry Lewis, Formerly at the University, of Manchester; Richard Best, Secretary of the inquiry into British Housing caaired by the Duke of Edinburgh, argues that the Inquiry recommended the obolition of relief as an integral part of a package of reforms intended to reduce housing shortages. Professor Parry Lewis stands his ground.     

The marketing of hamburger buns: An improved model for prediction

The Spring 1974 issue of this Journal published a paper that presented a model for predicting sales of hamburger buns. This article evaluates the model on the bases of statistical reporting, model specification, and implications for production policy. In addition, using the same data used for the original model, an improved model is developed whereby there is a 50% increase in explained variance.     

Edith Penrose: A Feminist Economist?

We re-read a foundational work, The Theory of the Growth of the Firm by Edith Penrose, not to identify the androcentric bias but instead to recover a challenge to such bias. Our purpose is to show in Penrose an alternative view of human "nature" and revulsion from "Cartesian" dualisms. At the same time, Penrose had a deep interest in the real world and used metaphor and story alongside empirical observation in the pursuit of theoretical advance. The Theory of the Growth of the Firm provides an approach to industrial organization that is not only consistent with feminist economics but can be read as a methodological and expositional examplar.