Do innovation spillovers impact employment and skill upgrading?

So far, the research on impact of innovation on employment and skills focused on effects within firms and sectors. Little attention was paid to the influence of interlinkages between sectors as a source of employment change. The main contribution of this paper to the field refers to broadening the analysis of innovation impacts to innovation spillovers from vertically linked sectors on firms' employment and skill change in user industries. The empirical analysis conclusively demonstrates an important role of innovation spillovers in the economy. Firms' employment growth is shown to benefit significantly from spillovers of product innovations in manufacturing and knowledge-intensive services. Similarly, firms that are subject to increased spillovers of product innovations as well as marketing and organisational innovations are more likely to upgrade their skill composition. Conversely, employment growth and skill composition of firms seem to be negatively affected by spillovers of process innovations in vertically linked sectors.     

Towards a new definition of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)

Since the inception and formal conceptualisation of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) in the late 1980s, the concept continues to gain widespread attention and interest among academics and practitioners around the world. However, a review of the literature on IMC over the past decade suggests that contentions on definitional and theoretical issues still remain unsettled. IMC proponents acknowledge and recommend that more extensive research in the field is needed to further consolidate its theoretical foundations. In this article, some IMC definitions are reviewed and analysed by examining their merits as well as inadequacies. A new definition of the concept is then proposed, suggesting three distinctive attributes, or pillars, of IMC as a contribution to the theory building on IMC.     

Putting Meta-Analysis to Work: Accountants' Organizational-Professional Conflict

Commentators on empirical research in business ethics have recommended that use should be made of meta-analysis – the quantitative analysis of a group of research studies. This paper elaborates upon those recommendations by conducting, as a "case study" for further reflection, a meta-analysis of studies of accountants' organizational-professional conflict (OPC) previously published in accounting and psychology journals. Of five variables capable of analysis, only the population correlation coefficient between OPC and organizational tenure is identified. It was not possible to find the population correlation coefficient of the other four variables, for which several possible reasons are suggested. The paper then shows how meta-analysis can make a valuable contribution, even when the substantive findings are limited, by providing guidance for future research and a safeguard against the drawing of unjustified conclusions, to which the more usual narrative reviews of literature are prone.     

What affects shopper’s choices of carrying devices in grocery retailing and what difference does it make? A literature review and conceptual model

Shopping carts, dating back at least to 1936, are not only used as an aid for shoppers to increase sales but are now being further developed and tested in relation to healthy food selection. To improve retailers’ ability to discover, generate, and capture the value related to both current practice and future innovations; such as consumers using smart carts when shopping, we systematically go through the empirical literature on carrying equipment in in-store shopping. We expose how limited the literature is by revealing the scarce number of studies on the effectiveness of baskets and carts on consumer behavior and especially when classified into different research themes. The contribution is a systematic literature review and a conceptual framework covering the most important factors affecting the choice of in-store carrying equipment, as well as the consequences of these choices in terms of in-store behaviors and transactional outcomes.     

Perceived agency politics and conflicts of interest as potential barriers to IMC orientation

While the concept of integrated marketing communications (IMC) is widely acknowledged in the literature, research on potential barriers to its implementation is relatively scarce. In particular, the possible significance of interagency politics and conflicts of interest has received little empirical consideration. This is perhaps somewhat surprising given the generally acknowledged proposition that marketing budgeting is largely a political process. This paper describes an exploratory study of leading Australian public companies and investigates the relationships between perceived agency politics, conflicts of interest and IMC orientation. The findings suggest that the salient conflict of interest is between advertising and public relations firms. The limitations are discussed and directions for future research offered.     

International human resource management policies and practices of South Korean MNEs: a review of the literature

This paper systematically reviews the literature on international human resource management (IHRM) policies and practices of South Korean multinational enterprises (MNEs). It reveals that South Korean MNEs adopt an ethnocentric staffing approach, but are increasingly using more host-country nationals (HCNs). Korean MNEs pay great attention to language training for expatriates, and there is an emphasis on international experience when selecting expatriates. South Korean MNEs tend to adopt home-oriented selection procedures and criteria, performance appraisal and reward-and-compensation schemes for HCNs. A range of training and development programmes are provided to HCNs in order to develop more local managers. However, studies concerning IHRM of South Korean MNEs are scarce and only a few expatriate-related IHRM issues have been empirically examined. As a result, how South Korean MNEs manage IHRM and what is the rationale of their IHRM policies and practices remain largely unknown. This review paper calls for more empirical research and discusses the implications for future research.     

出口与企业生产率:由实证而理论的最新拓展

出口与企业生产率之间关系的研究属于国际贸易研究的最新论题,这原本是个实证论题,后来被提升到理论层面。大量的实证研究文献集中在"自我选择效应"和"出口学习效应"两个命题。理论层面的拓展以对传统理论之企业无差异假定条件的打破为基点。文章在对1995-2006年关于出口与企业生产率关系的实证与理论研究进行归纳、总结的基础上提出了进一步研究的方向。     

Revisiting the IMC construct

This paper re-examines a definition of integrated marketing communications (IMC) previously published in this journal, and proposes a revision to that original definition. It reviews topics of research studies conducted on IMC since its inception to the present, and establishes that the theoretical foundations and definitional issues of IMC continue to be an important area of research for most academics. This paper introduces the four pillars of IMC as an offshoot of the proposed revised definition, and discusses each pillar in detail. The paper concludes by illustrating the interplay between the pillars and levels of IMC.     

Strategic orientations of born globals—Do they really matter?

This paper contributes to the literature on born globals by introducing the concept of strategic orientations into this domain. Only few empirical studies have investigated them in this context. The study extends the existing knowledge on born globals and responds to complaints about lacking empirical research in this as yet infant field. The literature on strategic orientations and born globals was used as a basis for drawing up the hypotheses, which were tested with data from 299 Finnish companies representing several different industrial sectors. The findings indicate that strategic orientations are related to a firm's international performance. This relationship is moderated by its international growth strategy.     

FDI对安徽省国内投资挤出挤入效应研究

通过以安徽省为研究对象,采用实证分析的方法,较为全面而系统的研究了外商直接投资对该省国内投资所产生的影响.研究结果表明:对安徽省来说,FDI对国内投资产生了挤入效应,即FDI在安徽省对国内投资产生了积极的影响,其大小为3.51,有利地促进了安徽省地方经济的发展.在以后的经济发展过程中,安徽省应将招商引资做为地方经济发展的重要手段,采取各种措施吸收和利用外资特别是FDI,以有利于经济发展和繁荣.     

生产者服务业对制造业的贡献和拉动作用——基于合肥市的实证研究

随着经济全球化和国际产业专业化分工的发展,现代服务业特别是生产者服务业逐渐成为现代经济体中增长最为迅速和最具有活力的产业之一,其对制造业的贡献和拉动作用也愈发明显.基于合肥市生产者服务业对制造业贡献和拉动作用的实证分析,提出相应政策建议:合肥市应该大力发展物流服务业,全力发展商务服务业,加快发展金融服务业,进而形成发达的生产者服务业,全力打造中部地区现代制造业基地.     

服务模块化的研究现状及发展趋向

自20世纪90年代以来,模块化思想被西方企业界广泛应用于组织设计之中;在当今服务经济和服务性组织大势兴起的背景下,有关服务模块化的研究逐渐成为学界的前沿和热点。文章运用规范分析和文献研究的方法,梳理、剖析了服务模块化的理论研究成果。研究发现：国内外学者主要围绕着服务模块化的形成、分工、组织及其治理、价值创新四条主线展开;现有的研究方法多为定性经验型和概念型,实证应用型研究不足;把规范研究和实证研究方法结合起来,从宏观产业组织和微观服务系统等多维角度来分析服务模块化是未来研究的大体走向。     

The Physical Attractiveness Phenomena. Patzer,Gordon L. New York: Plenum Press, 1985. 308 Pp. $39.50

This paper presents integrated marketing communication (IMC) and brand identity as critical components of the firm's brand equity strategy. Specifically, the authors provide a brand equity strategy schematic that details (1) the role of IMC in creating and maintaining brand equity, and (2) the role of brand identity in informing, guiding, and helping to develop, nurture, and implement the firm's overall IMC strategy. The authors also present a conceptual framework with testable research propositions toward IMC theory development. Finally, a discussion of implications for academics and practitioners is provided, and opportunities for future qualitative and quantitative research are suggested.     

Measuring customer equity and managing the customer asset: an explanatory study in the Australian hotels

Although there are a range of conceptual and theoretical studies about customer equity (CE) measurement and management in the literature, there are few empirical studies where these two concepts are examined together. This paper focuses on the need for a more synthesised approach and addresses calls for more research into this specific area of marketing management. A conceptual framework was developed that synthesises both customer lifetime value and customer relationship management from a customer equity management (CEM) perspective. The framework was used to empirically examine how four CE strategies, together with a firm’s use of the two types of customer data (aggregated and disaggregated), impact on CEM outcomes. Data were collected from 114 hotel managers in Australia and analysed through a decision tree methodology. The results show that hotels are utilising their CE strategies for acquisition purposes more than retention purposes (customer asset management), which overall appears to satisfice more than maximise their hotel’s capacity in achieving effective CE outcomes. The study’s contribution to theory is through empirically testing a framework that combines two discrete theoretical concepts in one study to provide insights to guide future research.     

Impact of industry sector on corporate diversification and firm performance: Evidence from Indian business groups

Prior business group (BG) studies implicitly assume that corporate diversification‐firm performance relationships are uniform across industry sectors. This generalization may lead to research implications that are not equally true for BG‐affiliated manufacturing and service firms. Drawing on strategy and marketing literature, this research addresses this scholarly gap. Our empirical analysis of a large sample of BG‐affiliated Indian firms over a five‐year period (2004‐2008) indicates that the influence of corporate diversification on firm performance is greater for affiliated service firms than affiliated manufacturing firms. Results also indicate that the influence of BG size and diversity on diversification‐firm performance relationship varies significantly depending on whether the focal firm belongs to the manufacturing or service sector. Firm's share ownership does not generate similar influence. Copyright © 2015 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tracing reputation risks in retailing and higher-education services

The study contributes to the literature on reputation risks in presenting a new theoretical framework and new empirical findings that improve both theoretical and practical knowledge, especially in the areas of retailing and higher-education services. A further aim is to compare reputation risks in these service sectors. One way of examining such risks is to categorise them as internal or external, and further as positive or negative. The main contribution of the paper is empirical in terms of identifying the actual reputation risks facing organisations operating in the two service sectors.     

Measuring the impact of teaching ethics to future managers: A review,assessment, and recommendations

This paper takes a critical look at the empirical studies assessing the effectiveness of teaching courses in business and society and business ethics. It is generally found that students' ethical awareness or reasoning skills improve after taking the courses, yet this improvement appears to be short-lived. The generalizability of these findings is limited due to the lack of extensive empirical research and the inconsistencies in research design, empirical measures, and statistical analysis across studies. Thus, recommendations are presented and discussed for improving the generalizability and sophistication of future research efforts in this area.James Weber is currently an Assistant Professor of Management at Marquette University. His research publications have focused upon values, moral reasoning, and ethical behavior on both the individual and organizational levels.     

The Modeling Process for Stage Models

The purpose of this paper is to present and test a modeling procedure because researchers have struggled for decades to develop stages-of-growth models that are both theoretically founded and empirically validated. This article presents the concept and hypothesis of stages, the history of stage models, and a procedure that may serve as a useful tool in modeling stages of growth. Based on previous research and lessons learned from case study experience of the government sector in Norway, a procedure for the stages of growth modeling process is suggested and demonstrated. The procedure is used for developing a stage model for e-government interoperability. This article provides new insight into issues and challenges faced when engaging in stages of growth research. The paper proposes a new approach to stages of growth modeling. The utility of the suggested procedure is to improve theory building and empirical validation. The contribution to academia is the modeling process that can be applied in future developments of stages of growth. The contribution to practice lies in the stage hypothesis of organizational development over time.