What Do We Really Need? Goals and Values,Security, and the Perception of Consumer Necessity

There is a general trend for consumer goods considered luxuries to become thought of as necessities. Although the luxury/necessity distinction is central to the fields of marketing and economics, little research has examined the perception of necessity as a psychological phenomenon. Three studies examined the relationship of the perceived necessity of a variety of consumer goods to goals, values, and insecurity. In Study 1, the number of goods considered necessities as opposed to luxuries correlated negatively with intrinsic and positively with extrinsic goal pursuit. In Study 2, this pattern generalized to the distinction between needs and wants, the extent to which participants reported needing their possessions, and to materialistic values. In Study 3, the perception of necessity mediated the relationship between anxious attachment and materialism, suggesting that needing consumer products has in part a basis in interpersonal insecurity. In turn, it may facilitate materialistic consumption.     

The Relative Impact of Market Orientation and Entrepreneurship on Export Performance: Do We Really Know Enough?

ABSTRACT

The impact of international corporate entrepreneurship and market orientation on firm performance is well acknowledged in the literature, but their relative influence on the performance of exporting firms remains inconclusive. This study seeks to help clarify the influence of these organizational resources by introducing a third complementary resource, namely commitment to learning. The results, based on data obtained from a survey of exporters in China, show that commitment to learning mediates the relationship between market orientation and entrepreneurship. It was also found that market orientation could be a double-edged sword for exporters in that it can enhance export satisfaction through entrepreneurship, but it can also have negative impact on profit.     

Do Traditional Chinese Cultural Values Nourish a Market for Pirated CDs?

On one hand, Chinese consumers are well known for conspicuous consumption and the adoption of luxury products and named brands. On the other hand, they also have a bad reputation for buying counterfeit products. Their simultaneous preferences for two contrasting types of product present a paradox that has not been addressed in the literature. This study attempts to present an explanation of this paradox by examining the effects of traditional Chinese cultural values and consumer values on consumers’ deontological judgment of pirated CDs and the amount of social benefits they perceive they gain from them. We interviewed 300 Hong Kong Chinese consumers, and found that face consciousness increased materialism and risk aversion, thereby producing a favorable deontological judgment of pirated CDs. Face consciousness also has a direct effect on the amount of social benefits perceived in pirated CDs. Both favorable deontological judgment and perceived social benefits contributed to a strong intention to buy pirated CDs. The results are discussed in a cultural perspective.     

On the Effectiveness of Social Marketing—What Do We Really Know?

Social marketing continues to play an important role, as societies are facing diverse social problems. Therefore, scientific findings on the effectiveness of social marketing are particularly interesting. A rigorously elaborated, structured, state of the art covering two aspects—not only the currently observed restricted focus on health campaigns, but also the whole spectrum of topics and the diversity of applied methodologies—is needed. Accordingly, this article aims to identify and categorize relevant findings on the effectiveness of social marketing in a tentative holistic model, with a main focus on framing determinants. A research agenda, which includes research propositions on framing determinants in social marketing effectiveness, to enhance scientific progress in the field, is deduced from this state of the art.     

Do we need a European lender of last resort?

During a financial crisis, pressure on Central banks to act as a lender of last resort (LLR) and to offer emergency liquidity assistance to troubled banks increases. The European Central Bank, however, has announced that it does not regard it as its principal task to provide emergency liquidity to troubled banks and that it does not wish to disclose the conditions and practicalities of emergency liquidity assistance arrangements. In this paper, we investigate the benefi ts and the costs of centralising the LLR function in a monetary union and ask whether establishing an LLR in Europe could be useful.     

Size, value and liquidity. Do They Really Matter on an Emerging Stock Market?

The paper extends the evidence on factors determining stock prices on emerging markets by focusing on the most advanced stock market in Central and Eastern Europe, the Polish market. Besides market, size and value factors, we investigate whether liquidity is a priced risk factor, addressing the hypothesis of its particular relevance in emerging markets. Our results support existing evidence for developed markets regarding market, size, and value factors. Contrary to the expectation that liquidity is a priced factor on emerging markets, we do not find evidence supporting this hypothesis. Analyzing specific market characteristics, we consider possible explanations behind these findings.     

Ethical Judgments: What Do We Know, Where Do We Go?

Investigations into ethical judgments generally seem fuzzy as to the relevant research domain. We first attempted to clarify the construct and determine domain parameters. This attempt required addressing difficulties associated with pinpointing relevant literature, most notably the varied nomenclature used to refer to ethical judgments (individual evaluations of actions’ ethicality). Given this variation in construct nomenclature and the difficulties it presented in identifying pertinent focal studies, we elected to focus on research that cited papers featuring prominent and often-used measures of ethical judgments (primarily, but not exclusively, the Multidimensional Ethics Scale). Our review of these studies indicated a preponderance of inferences and conclusions unwarranted by empirical evidence (likely attributable at least partly to inconsistent nomenclature). Moreover, ethical judgments related consistently to few respondent characteristics or any other variables, emergent relationships may not always be especially meaningful, and much research seems inclined to repetition of already verified findings. Although we concluded that knowledge about ethical judgments seems not to have advanced appreciably after decades of investigation, we suggested a possible path forward that focuses on the content of what is actually being judged as reflected in the myriad of vignettes used in the literature to elicit judgments.     

A European Contract Law,or an EU Contract Law Regulation for Consumers?

The paper informs about initiatives of the EC Commission to create a set of instruments for advancing a European contract law, in particular a “common frame of reference.” It questions the underlying assumptions in the still somewhat unclear and open Commission communications. It doubts whether EU has any competence to harmonise contract law under the internal market jurisdiction of Art. 95 EC. As an alternative, it proposes the elaboration and eventual adoption of an EU consumer contract law regulation (ECCLR) based on Art. 153 (3) b) EC which would take direct effect and be limited to minimal, yet directly applicable rules on consumer protection in contract law. Norbert Reich is Professor of Civil, Commercial, and EC Law at the University of Bremen. Mail address: Andreasstr. 29, D-22301 Hamburg, Germany. e-mail: n.reich1@gmx.net.     

Financial Advice Giving and Taking—Where are the Market’s Self-healing Powers and a Functioning Legal Framework When We Need Them?

German banks tend to emphasize how satisfied their clients are with the financial advice they offer. Empirical evidence, however, suggests that this satisfaction may have little to do with the quality of the information exchange between clients and advisors but rather with substitute factors like the friendliness and appearance of the advisor. Applying the theoretical perspectives of New Institutionalism and Behavioural Finance we explain in this article why the coexistence of information and interest asymmetry between retail clients and advisors must lead to poor advice quality and why the market’s self-healing powers and the actual regulatory framework fail in preventing that. We support our theoretical analysis with some empirical evidence from a recent study we conducted to test the factual quality of the advice German banks give in the retail banking area. The results obtained are very consistent with previous findings of a poor level of quality of the information exchange between client and advisor and predominantly confirm our theoretical conclusions. We finally offer some suggestions that might pave the way out of this dilemma.

Why Do We Buy Traditional Foods?

Consumer behavior toward traditional specialties varies according to the cultural context of consumption. It thus becomes crucial to develop marketing strategies that target segments with different levels of familiarity with food. Our article purposes to analyze the purchase drivers of traditional foods known to consumers because of their reiterated consumption. The importance of the product’s attributes, the purchasing motivations, and the information channels are studied by applying the CUB model, which utilizes a probabilistic structure that simulates the individual’s psychological mechanism in adopting a choice of preference. The case study is that of extra-virgin olive oil in Italy, where this product is a fundamental element of the culinary tradition. The results show that in the ambit of traditional specialties, in contexts of elevated familiarity, the traditional information channels of marketing are less effective and call for strategies based on a more direct connection between consumer and producer.     

Ready for Latin America Market?

Nobody is moving faster in Chile than the Chinese.At last count,14 different brands of Chinese cars,trucks,and commercial vehicles were on sale in Chile—with more expected to arrive by the end of the year.——Alex TaylorⅢ     

Trade and Labour Market Adjustments: What Role for the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund?

Trade agreements have become a growing source of concern due to the potential job losses that some sectors can incur as a result of increased competition. Although the economic literature shows that the overall results of trade liberalisation are positive, some sectors may be adversely affected, leading to job losses and adjustment costs. In 2006 the European Commission established the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) to help workers who have lost their jobs due to globalisation. Despite the relevance of the EGF as a trade-adjustment mechanism, the existing evidence suggests that its use is still limited compared to its potential. This paper reviews some of the constraining factors identified in the latest mid-term evaluation by the European Commission and suggests several avenues for further improvement.     

Moral Values Fit: Do Applicants Really Care?

This article tests whether applicant-company moralvalues-fit has a significant effect on applicantdecisions to apply for work with the company. Theauthor surveys a large sample of business schoolgraduate students regarding their moral values. Company values are measured using content analysis ofrecruitment materials. Application decisions areactual decisions by the students to interview duringthe school's recruitment period. The results suggestthat the values of the companies and the fit of thosevalues with those of the students are both importantto students decisions to apply.     

Do Keiretsu Really Hinder FDI into Japanese Manufacturing?

This paper examines an issue that has received considerable comment but little analysis. It has often been argued that the presence of the keiretsu in Japan has been instrumental in deterring multinational firms from entering Japan, though evidence for this is patchy. We present some new analysis of this issue, thereby evaluating the effects of keiretsu on inward investment penetration in Japan. In contrast to previous work in this area, our results suggest that there is little relationship between inward FDI and keiretsu networks, once one controls for endogeneity and unobservable heterogeneity. The results illustrate some important interaction effects between keiretsu and other explanatory variables that explain differences in inward investment penetration.     

Conflicts and Conflict Resolution in International Anti‐trust: Do We Need International Competition Rules?

Anti‐trust issues increasingly reach beyond national borders. This paper addresses the question whether such issues can reasonably be solved by an extraterritorial application of national competition law or whether they call for an international competition policy of its own. The analysis is based upon 20 case studies which are examined with regard to the suitability of the effects doctrine and the principles of comity as conflict resolution mechanisms. The case studies demonstrate that conflicts in international anti‐trust are more likely to arise where national competition laws differ from each other or where national authorities are pursuing selfish national policy objectives.     

Appliance Warranties as a Market Signal?

Appliance warranties can be considered to provide a market signal of appliance reliability. However, the cost to consumers of obtaining enough information to interpret the signal causes the dispersion of warranty provisions to be limited. The more complicated the laws surrounding warranties, the greater the cost to consumers of warranty information. This makes warranties less effective as a market signal and reduces the variation in warranty provisions. Upon examination, appliance warranties for refrigerators, air conditioners, ranges, clothes washing machines, and television sets were found, consistent with this view, to vary relatively little.     

Do Financial Constraints Matter for Foreign Market Entry? A Firm‐level Examination

Recent theoretical and empirical contributions stress the importance of financial development for international trade. This paper investigates whether financial constraints matter for foreign market entry at the firm level using dynamic panel data techniques. Dynamic Probit and Tobit models that account for state dependence and unobserved heterogeneity are used to analyse the effect of financial indicators on export activities. The empirical framework tests for heterogeneous effects among different quartiles of the size and productivity distribution, across previous exporters and potential starters, and across different types of industries as those are predicted by theoretical models. The empirical analysis is applied to a large panel dataset of French manufacturing firms over the years 1998–2005. The data contain a high share of small firms that are usually the most likely to be financially constrained. Although financial indicators are significantly correlated with export status and export share, there is no evidence that financial constraints have a direct impact on foreign market participation or sales in foreign markets once observed and unobserved firm heterogeneity is controlled for. This result is robust to using alternative estimation techniques and also holds for subgroups of firms that are more likely to face financial constraints and industries that are more dependent on financial factors.