The Credit Default Swap market contagion during recent crises: international evidence

Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting - We test the hypothesis that underwriters set higher gross spreads and deeper offer price discounts in seasoned equity offers of firms exhibiting weak...     

Comment

A Comment on “Marketing Planning and Corporate Culture: A Conceptual Framework Which Examines Management Attitudes in the Context of Marketing Planning” by John W. Leppard and Malcolm H. B. McDonald.     

The changing consumer in the UK

For the UK, the 1980's was Margaret Thatcher's decade; the 1990's may be the decade of Europe. Thatcher's policies and her philosophy still have an impact on social and economic life. An examination is made of demographic changes, economic development, changes in consumption, changes in social attitude and changes in marketing channels that are taking place.Wealth has become more evenly spread throughout society although the bottom is worse off. The UK consumer is becoming more cosmopolitan with increased preference being shown for food and drink from mainland Europe. Another shift is towards increased amounts of both time and money being spent on leisure and in the rapid adoption of new classes of consumer good. There is evidence of the “greening” of the economy but individuals only seem willing to take individual action to “green” their lifestyle for a financial incentive.     

Market segmentation strategies for complex automotive products

ABSTRACT

With the advent of ‘big data’, the purpose of this empirical study was to take the opportunity to rethink conventional market segmentation strategies. This is particularly relevant for the automotive industry which is going through a period of rapid change with advanced technologies such as electric powered and autonomous vehicles, creating increased concerns as to how this complexity is communicated effectively.

A mixed methods approach was utilised to collect data from multiple sources, incorporating in-depth discussion groups, semi-structured interviews, an online survey, and data collection of communication processes through the attendance of new car product launches.

The results suggest that marketing departments should rethink their data capture methods to collect more relevant consumer information, not the contemporary trend of needs, attitude, and motivation variables that are difficult to identify and collect, but basic information on their level of familiarity with products through previous experience and exposure. The basic dimensions identified are characterised by a consumer’s expertise, involvement, and familiarity with a product. The findings are synthesised into a theoretical framework to define differing levels of product complexity, which would enable manufacturers to provide more closely defined market segmentation strategies when communicating new product information.     

The benefits of using reduced item variable scales in marketing segmentation

This study investigated the use of two reduced item constructs in marketing research, Involvement Scale and Consumer Expertise and their relationships. Previous findings suggested that both constructs could use reduced items and that they would be useful as marketing segmentation tools. Response rates to consumer questionnaires are declining; therefore, shorter questionnaires in marketing communications are more likely to be completed. This study establishes the current reliability of using these two reduced item constructs in automotive research and tests their validity using triangulation questions. Data collection used a novel approach in which respondents to a motor show used the new Apple iPad to complete an online questionnaire. Results revealed that the reduced item constructs are reliable and valid and would be useful for research involving large ticket items. They would be particularly useful to researchers where they are used as part of, rather than the main focus of, the research.     

Douglas Brinkley. Wheels for the World: Henry Ford, His Company, and a Century of Progress, 1903-2003. New York: Viking, 2003. xxii + 858 pp. ISBN 0-670-03181-X, $34.95. * Max Wallace. The American Axis: Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, and the Rise of the Third Reich. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2003. 465 pp. ISBN 0-312-29022-5, $27.95

In recent years the line dividing scholarly histories from popularones has grown blurry. Changes in how books are marketed andretailed over the past two decades have whetted the appetiteof general readers for history, and many academic historians,though trained to write for specialists, now seek to tap into this audience more broadly. The commercial success of suchscholars as Joseph Ellis and James M. McPherson has inspiredacademic historians to try to write more readable books. Atthe same time, journalists and other writers are producing ambitiousnarratives based on primary sources. Still, important differencesremain between the kinds of history that academic and popularwriters produce. These differences surface in interesting waysin two new books on Henry Ford. The author of the first, Douglas Brinkley, is a professor anddirector of the Theodore Roosevelt Center for American Civilizationat