Donor commitment: An investigation of fundraising strategies in churches and mainstream charities

One of the central questions in relationship fundraising is how to convert someone who makes a small yearly donation into someone who is a major donor covenanting a substantial part of his/her income. Drawing on research among 200 major UK fundraising charities, this paper explores how far the issue, of donor commitment is used in mainstream fundraising strategies, and finds that only a minority of charities place emphasis on this. This finding is compared with an analysis of models of giving in churches. It is argued that while churches may lack sophisticated approaches to fundraising, they may have important experiences in the area of committed giving which are relevant to fundraising strategies in other organisations.     

Do‐it‐yourself DRTV: a practical guide to making direct response television advertising work for charities

Direct response television advertising (DRTV) has been used by charities as a form of promotion for many years; in the case of the UK for over two decades. In that period many charities have tried the medium but only a handful have achieved consistent success. In the process, a layer of mystique has attached itself to DRTV and a number of outright myths have been perpetuated. DRTV should work for many more charities than currently use it. This is in contrast to other media which are in danger of being swamped by overuse by charities. Any charity raising or wishing to raise money from the general public should at least consider this medium. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications     

Integrative retail logistics: An exploratory study

Grocery retail companies have gone through a transformational change in the past by heavily investing in distribution centers of their own and by expanding their logistics activities. As a result, many retailers are now in the process of better adjusting their logistics operations to their specific requirements against the backdrop of raising pressure in a highly competitive environment. In this light, we provide an exploratory study based on semi-structured face-to-face interviews with 28 leading European grocery retailers. First we examine the current strategic designs of grocery retailers’ internal logistics networks. Next, we shift our focus to the resulting interdependencies in tactical supply chain planning between instore operations and upstream logistics processes. We have identified five interdependent planning issues: order packaging unit, store delivery pattern, store replenishment lead time, store delivery arrival times and arrival time windows, as well as roll-cage sequencing and loading carriers. Each of these mid-term planning interdependencies is evaluated with regard to implications in the stores, in transportation and in the distribution centers. The mid-term operations planning issues in the grocery retail industry considered in this paper have remained practically unexplored up to now. The outcome of this empirical research study therefore has substantial relevance for future retail research and practice.     

Methodology in International acquisitions: An exploratory study

There has been relatively little empirical research into international acquisition methodology; this article examines several strategy and methodology issues through an exploratory approach based mainly on seven detailed case studies of UK-based companies. The research suggests, inter alia, that there has been greater concentration not only in terms of product categories but also in geographic markets, that the companies had well-established acquisition and country screening criteria and that for important acquisitions there is concern to achieve a detailed ‘strategic fit’. The article concludes by making tentative recommendations for company management regarding acquisition analysis.     

The paradox of gender voting: An exploratory analysis

Voting studies have documented that white collar workers tend to vote for conservative parties and blue collar workers for parties that advance working class interests. In the United States during the era (1980–1992) of Republican Presidents Reagan and Bush, women who worked in white collar jobs tended to vote for the Democratic party and men for the more conservative Republican party. This shift created the paradox of gender voting, which this article explains. The effect of gender on vote is small but attains statistical significance due to the suppressor effect of occupation. Two interpretations of the gender effect are tested: thematerialist holds that women's occupation and class identification affect this gap; thepost-materialist suggests that affluence is pivotal. The materialist interpretation fits the data from the survey of the national election of 1984 — the middle-most election of the three won by the Republicans— but the post-materialist interpretation may explain the vote of the very affluent.To Morris Rosenberg and Roberta Simmons, fine sociologists who clarified the suppressor effect and causes of self-esteem.     

Business-to-business collaboration through electronic marketplaces: An exploratory study

Many business-to-business electronic marketplaces (EMs) are now offering collaboration functionalities, but the collaboration concept in an EM context has not been studied systematically. This paper is a preliminary effort to explore and categorise the different types of collaboration functionalities that may be offered by EMs. By surveying websites, we identified five types of horizontal collaboration (buying groups) and four kinds of vertical supply chain collaboration in EMs. Our findings suggest that supply chain collaboration tends to be supported more than buying groups by existing EMs, and a high percentage of EMs now offers supply chain coordination and integration. Among online buying groups, the exchange-catalogue model is the most popular, possibly since it puts fewer burdens on members and coordinators.     

Localization of staff in a hostile context: an exploratory investigation in Afghanistan

Abstract

Hostile environments pose a distinct threat to international organizations and their staff and yet they are under researched within the literature on IHRM. Localization of staff may present a means to manage some of the risks and also to provide the resources needed to achieve competitive advantage. Drawing on the resource-based view and institutional theory, we explored resource- and capability-based and institutional influences in relation to the decision of whether to localize professional staff in a hostile environment (Afghanistan). Using in-depth semi-structured interviews with representatives from four organizations in Afghanistan, our investigation identified new influences on localization at the societal and organizational level. These include ongoing security issues as well as influences on localization such as corruption, impartiality and the need for outside experiences as well as perspectives not identified in previous work. In addition, we emphasize the importance of both picking appropriate valuable local human resources and using appropriate internal capabilities to develop and deploy them in such a way to build firm-specific assets which are also rare, inimitable and non-substitutable, thus leading to sustainable competitive advantage.     

UK trading: A guide to charities and the tax implications

Due to the recession, the National Lottery and the increase in numbers of charities seeking funds to satisfy their objectives, charities are moving into new areas of fundraising which undoubtedly are leading towards the increasing role of trading. What this paper hopes to achieve is to define trading, discuss some of the major types of trading and their taxation aspects, and to point out some of the pitfalls and how they might be overcome.     

Small and medium-sized charities need a strong brand too: Crisis' experience

This paper looks at the benefits and constraints for smaller charities of developing a strong brand image and identity. It focuses on Crisis' own example as a medium-sized charity of defining, creating and building its brand over the past 18 months and seeks to summarise the lessons it learnt. The paper is based on a presentation given by the author at the Henry Stewart Conference Studies' conference ‘Creating a brand image and identity for charities’.     

Retailer-manufacturer price and profit relationships along the advertising life cycle: An empirical examination

Competitive intra-channel forces are an important factor to the success (or failure) of newly introduced brands. The present study offers an extended theoretical framework of the advertising life-cycle concept, which illuminates the changes in the manufacturer-retailer balance of power within the marketing channel along the development path of new brands. The theoretical conclusions are then tested against a unique data set. The empirical findings confirm the prediction that dynamic competitive elements will change the intra-channel pricing balance.     

Gender differences within early stage and established small enterprises: An exploratory study

This paper examines 2 years of data from GEM Canada in order to develop new insights into the factors that contribute to the performance outcomes of female enterprises and how these factors are affected by the firm’s stage of development. The analysis encompasses both personal and organizational characteristics and assesses their association with selected performance measures at the early stage as well as at the established phase of development. The findings indicate that the greater propensity of men to pursue business growth and earnings can be attributed to marital status (live with a partner) and the expected depth of the ownership team. Moreover, the performance outcomes for male entrepreneurs are influenced by a relatively wide range of variables, with business demographics being more prominent than for the female enterprises. For both genders, the mix of relevant underlying factors varies as the venture progresses along the ‘nascent-new-established’ continuum.     

Hollowing out of middle-pay jobs in Ohio: An exploratory analysis

Hollowing out is a term that refers to the decline in the share of middle-pay and middle-skilled jobs relative to low-pay and high-pay jobs. This study employs county-level occupational data at the place of employment to document hollowing out of middle-pay jobs across regions in Ohio. The county-level data with occupational information allow us to study how regions' economic heterogeneity contributes to the decline of middle-paying jobs in Ohio over the 2001–2019 period. Of 88 counties in Ohio, 77 counties experienced declines in the shares of middle-paying jobs. On average, Appalachian Ohio counties experienced higher hollowing out rates than other counties. We found that the hollowing out of middle-paying jobs in Ohio is associated with the declines in the shares of manufacturing and mining jobs.     

Industry 4.0 and circular economy: An exploratory analysis of academic and practitioners' perspectives

The union between Industry 4.0 and the circular economy (CE) appears relatively recent. In this sense, new trading zones for sharing a common scenario among academics and practitioners are needed. The paper aims to investigate the link between Industry 4.0 and the CE by understanding how Industry 4.0 can foster the impact of the CE on companies. The study proposes a broader perspective that includes thematic and content analysis gathering data on professional documents based on business cases, newspaper articles, press releases and specialised blogs, as well as scientific papers. The joint academic-practitioners view highlights how Industry 4.0 has the potential to impact on the CE through countless actions: increasing waste disposal; promoting remanufacturing; enhancing the efficiency of critical resources such as water, energy, gas and CO₂; and improving business models and the mission of companies. However, barriers still exist in its adoption, stressing the need for holistic and integrated design and a proactive environment of collaboration among stakeholders. Results lead to practical as well as research implications.     

An exploratory study of organizational flexibility in Malaysia: a research note

This note reports on an exploratory study examining the relationships between rules on employee behaviour and on management discretion and other aspects of organizations in Malaysia. Using the data from thirty-five Malaysian organizations, the authors highlight the differences between the implications of the rules for the two groups and their relationships with company performance.     

Job and organizational attitudes in relation to financial performance in Greek retail banking: an exploratory empirical investigation

In an attempt to contribute to satisfaction and commitment research, the current study explores the differential relationships that job attitudes (e.g. job satisfaction) and organizational attitudes (e.g. organizational satisfaction and organizational continuance commitment) may have with financial performance in Greek retail banking. A total of 331 employees completed the standardized questionnaires. Three sets of hypotheses were tested, investigating direct effects, mediation effects, and moderation effects. Findings suggest that financial performance yields increased levels of high-sacrifice continuance commitment, resulting in enhanced employee satisfaction – both with the job and the employing organization. Results are discussed, limitations are considered, and directions for future research are proposed.     

国际货运代理企业法律地位与责任的分析

随着物流经济的快速发展,国际货运代理业务的服务范围不断拓宽,其身份由最初的收发货人代理发展到目前的第三方物流供应商。由于身份的转变,其法律责任也发生了变化。本文就国际货运代理企业在转型中的法律地位与责任问题进行了分析研究。     

The role of market research for charities: Identifying target groups and developing successful relationships

No one can find friends by sitting at home, and no relationship can develop without plenty of interaction between the people involved. However, charities with large numbers of donors and volunteers cannot be expected to have day-to-day contact with more than a handful of their key supporters. This paper illustrates how market research can be used by charities as the conduit between charities and their supporters — not only to show how the relationship between the two sides can be developed to best effect, but also to identify the most appropriate target groups to find new support.     

An exploratory review of global leadership: The example of French and British leadership styles

The emerging global leader must demonstrate specific competencies to succeed in the international marketplace. International leaders must be able to create strategic partnerships with individuals from different cultures. In this article, the author, after reviewing state of the art research in the field, describes the difficulties involved in leading multicultural teams in Franco–British collaborative ventures. Corporate human resource managers at British Petroleum and Vivendi Corporation in the United Kingdom and Eurotunnel Corporation in France revealed that cultural differences impact international leadership styles.