Foreign Direct Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa: Motivating Factors and Policy Issues

Sub-Saharan Africa's (SSA) foreign direct investment (FDI) share has persistently averaged 1% of global flows. The location decision and perceptions of investors are therefore instructive for policy making. This article factor analyses a survey of perceptions, operations, and motivations of 758 foreign investors in 10 SSA countries. We find that the provision of transaction cost–reducing information on industries and markets and utility services to investors before and after a firm's FDI decision are significant factors. FDI location decision in SSA is influenced strongly by political economy considerations. Labor and production input variables are not influential.     

围绕本质“立法” 坚持权威“执法”——浅析英国误导性广告的立法与司法实践

作为世界上广告监管最为规范的国家,英国的广告监管经验非常值得借鉴。在英国,广告监管主要通过行业自律机构实施,包括对误导性广告的监管。本文通过对英国误导性广告的现状、＂立法＂和＂执法＂等进行初步的分析和探讨,希望能对中国误导性广告监管有所借鉴。     

Business Regulations and Private Domestic Investment in Africa

In this article, the author seeks to complement the perception-based studies by utilizing the objective measures from the Doing Business project to analyze the relationship between business regulations and private domestic investment in Africa. He reports evidence that reforms in business regulations affecting contract enforcement, tax administration, firm entry, labor markets, and the private sector as a whole positively affect private domestic investment in Africa. These findings are important for assisting policy makers in creating a business regulatory environment that promotes domestic private investment and thereby encourages economic growth in Africa.     

Culture and International Marketing: A Sub-Saharan African Context

ABSTRACT

The authors review and extend the culture literature in international marketing by discussing some of the cultural underpinnings pertaining to the sub-Saharan African context. With the use of inductive reasoning, the authors offer several key normative suggestions for international marketing practices. Marketers should focus not only on the end user but also on those who significantly influence the final decision. Sub-Saharan African culture is characterized by long, drawn-out negotiation processes and by contracts and overall sales targets that likely will be dissimilar to those from countries with a linear view of time. Age is relevant when selecting people for negotiation assignments and hiring sales and managerial staff. Because of the importance of “respect,” messages should focus on an individual's need for belongingness rather than on the individual striving for achievement. The authors advocate that advertising appeals should focus on the society and on the individual as a member of the society and not on individual self-enhancement. Context and nonverbal communications are important in personal selling. It is better to establish social trust first in negotiations, personal selling, and buyer–seller interaction.     

Empirical Generalizations in Search Engine Advertising

This article compares prices per click and search engine advertising (SEA) effectiveness across six countries and 15 industries over four years. We find that prices per click are highest in the United States and United Kingdom, as well as in the financial and Internet services industries, but are lower in retail than in services industries. In highly competitive markets, increases in SEA expenditures may increase prices per click that do not necessarily lead to higher advertising effectiveness, here measured as a higher number of clicks. To analyze and compare advertising effectiveness across industries, we decompose the effect of increases in SEA expenditures on prices per click (price effect) and number of clicks (quantity effect). A cross-country, cross-industry study shows that 44 percent of the increase in SEA expenditures is associated with more clicks and 56 percent with higher prices.     

Advertising Self-Regulation in a Broader Context

Abstract

As the world braces itself for a unified European marketplace, it is critical that we look at the industries likely to be influenced by, and in turn shape, European integration. The advertising industry and its handling of unification are particularly important given that advertising is the voice of the marketplace and a major communications force, shaping cultural norms and values. In order to ensure the free movement of goods, communications about those goods must also move freely. At this time, however, each European country has its own rules and regulations for advertising. One of the major issues facing European advertising as the European Union (EU) comes together is the regulation of cross-border advertising. In 1991 the European Commission issued a call to action for the European advertising industry and almost immediately the industry began work on a trans-border complaints system. Since then the European Advertising Standards Alliance has worked diligently to iron out issues resulting from international advertising disputes. As this article shows, European regulators must determine how advertising will fit into the larger scheme of European law; who will be responsible for controlling advertising; and whether it should be monitored at the national or pan-European level. Certainly the advertising industry is not the only one struggling to determine which controls can remain at the national level and which should be raised to the European rank. But this analysis of how advertising self-regulation fits into the European legal scheme does provide a useful case study of the hurdles ahead. It will be interesting to watch as Europe works to find the proper balance between free trade and national autonomy to control industries.     

Pro-poor trade policy in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper examines the presence of a pro-poor bias in the existing structure of protection of six Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gambia, and Madagascar. We build on a simple agricultural household production model and we propose an extension to include adjustments in labor income. Our approach, which can be implemented without repeated cross-sections of household level data, suits well the data constraints in SSA. It also allows us to capture the heterogeneity in trade protection at the tariff line level. The pro-poor bias indicators suggest that SSA's trade policies tend to be biased in favor of poor households, as these policies redistribute income from rich to poor households. This is because protection increases the agricultural prices of goods that are sold by African households and this effect dominates both the impacts of higher consumption prices and the strong Stolper–Samuelson effects that benefit skilled over unskilled workers.     

全媒体时代广告教育新模式建构

为应对全媒体时代广告教育新问题,文章提出构建广告教育新模式的基本路径:确立"三观"统合式培养观,建构大广告教育新模式;根据广告学科新定位,建立跨学科整合的课程体系;建立以能力培养为核心、更富实效的广告实训体系;广告教学要加强新媒体研究,善用新媒体于教学之中。     

Electronic Advertising

Abstract

With the increasing popularity of the internet and online sales as a viable way of doing business, many merchandisers have attempted to do much of their marketing by creating advertising campaigns directed at online customers. However, just as in the physical marketplaces of the real world, there are complexities to promoting online businesses. Although the ideas of prospecting, promotion, and push-pull marketing are the same, the manners in which they are approached are quite different, and different systems have begun to develop to address each of these needs. Several different campaign types have been developed. Branding campaigns, click-through campaigns, and sell-through campaigns are the ones that will be discussed here, as well as basic electronic prospecting and final advertising hosting of the campaign. The purpose of this study is to provide the managers with a systematic method for examining a more comprehensive understanding of electronic advertising, as developing the actual campaign. The implications of such examinations will be addressed, in regards to a few important issues. Costs associated with these systems will be touched on, not only monetary but also in terms of times and opportunity, and specific strategies for maintaining such a system will be discussed. Such information should be helpful in developing and maintaining a successful online advertising strategy, one that will stand the test of time.     

Advertising non-premium products as if they were premium: The impact of advertising up on advertising elasticity and brand equity

Non-premium brands occasionally emulate their premium counterparts by using ads that emphasize premium characteristics such as superior performance and exclusivity. We define this practice as “advertising up” and develop hypotheses about its short- and long-term impact on advertising elasticity and brand equity respectively. We test the hypotheses in two large-scale empirical studies using a comprehensive dataset from the automotive industry that includes, among others, the content of 2317 television ads broadcast over a period of 45?months. The results indicate that advertising up increases (decreases) short-term advertising elasticity for non-premium products with a low (high) market share. The results also show that an intensive use of advertising up over time leads to long-term improvements (reductions) in brand equity for expensive (cheap) non-premium products. Furthermore, an inconsistent use of advertising up leads to reductions in brand equity. The results imply that managers of non-premium products with a low market share can use advertising up to increase advertising effectiveness in the short run. However, advertising up will only generate long-term improvements in brand equity for expensive non-premium products. Finally, to avoid long-term reductions in brand equity, advertising up should be consistently used over time.     

Advertising self-regulation (ASR) in Spain. An analysis of complaints and resolutions

The present work analyses the total of complaints received by the advertising self-regulation (ASR) system in Spain from 2010 to 2015. Based on their processing, a matrix of variables has been developed to study the existence or absence of significant relationships between the type and nature of resolutions and the type of offending advertisers. The variables analysed are: source of complaint, type of offending advertiser, infraction of the law, breach of the code of conduct, complaint resolution, nature of the resolution, source of appeal and appeal resolution. Results show that multinationals are the companies that most often infringe the law and codes of conduct, and also that in many cases the complaints against them are dismissed. The system mainly rejects complaints that are binding, that is, those against members of ASR. This work identifies severe flaws in the self-regulation process and questions its independence to conclude that Spanish ASR tends to protect advertisers rather than defend the rights of consumers. The implications of this work point towards an urgent need to implement structural changes to Spanish ASR, starting with the funding system and the selection of the Advertising Jury, as well as mechanisms that ensure the fulfilment of resolutions.     

Market Research and Advertising Strategy in Portuguese Agencies: Perspectives of Professionals

SUMMARY

The advertising campaign development process is frequently described in manuals and textbooks. Nevertheless, the empirical perspective gives us a better understanding of the real world. In this study, we tried to understand, to systematize, and to describe the process of research and strategy in advertising agencies. To accomplish this objective we conducted 25 in-depth interviews with advertising agency professionals in Portugal. Cross-analysis of the statements allowed us to identify 5 themes: research done by the client before providing the brief to the agency, client's brief, information gathering done by the agency, brief's discussion inside the agency, and creative brief.     

U.S. Advertising Agency Productivity

Advertising agency growth through mergers and ac- quisitions became a common strategy in the 1980s, pdculady among the largest finns in the indusby, yet little research has examined ils effects. In this study, U.S. advertising agency size and mergers and acquisitions are related to agency productivity. Size was found to be a clear advantage for advertising agencies, as larger firms were consis- tently more productive in both b i g s and gross income per em- ployee. The postmerger performance of merging and acquiring ad- vertising agencies was worse for most of those firms than their prior Formance when compared to firms of similar size, indicating that tlus strategy for growth tends to be less successful in the short-run.     

The Consumer and Advertising Regulation in the Television without Frontiers and Audiovisual Media Services Directives

This paper aims to assess the balance between the commercial interests of broadcaster and advertiser and the interests of the viewer, as well as programme makers. The new Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) seeks to clarify and to simplify whilst maintaining the traditional European broadcasting landscape. The recurrent theme of the debate about legislative revision has been based in the vocabulary of consumer choice empowered by technology. The use of this vocabulary then leads to assumptions about the ability of the consumer to make choices. Insofar as those choices existed, they have been limited by developments in the AVMSD and in the broadcasting environment. Despite the claims of the AVMSD about viewer choice, it seems likely that the viewer will have no choice whether to receive commercial communications or not.

Trade Integration and Revealed Comparative Advantages of Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America & Caribbean Merchandise Export

This study examined the revealed comparative advantage (RCA) of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and Latin America & Caribbean (LAC) on the export of five merchandise subsectors (during 1995 to 2010) using the World Development Indicators database. Despite improvements observed, SSA’s and LAC’s trade share and economic integration are low. LAC has stronger RCA than SSA in export of food items though the gap in their competitiveness is not wide. The SSA region has higher RCA in export of agricultural raw materials, fuel, and ores and metals than LAC. Both regions have revealed comparative disadvantage in the export of manufactures, though lesser in LAC.     

Financial development and private investment in Sub-Saharan Africa

This study examines the relationship between financial sector development and private investment in Sub-Saharan Africa. It uses panel data covering the period 1991-2004 from 18 countries in Africa. The main findings of the study are as follows: there is a negative relationship between interest rate and private investment, signaling large interest rate spreads in African economies. It is also found that both the credit to the private sector and the turnover ratio have significant relationships with private investment. However, the effect of turnover ratio on investment is insignificant. The insignificance of the stock market indicator reflects the low stage of stock market development in most of the African economies. In addition, it is found that the informal sector is still large and has positive effects on private investment and that institutional variables play a key role in determining the level of private investment in Africa.     

The Current Impact and Carryover of Advertising on Sales in the Restaurant Industry

ABSTRACT

A common source of conflict in the relationship between restaurant franchise and franchisee involves advertising fees. Conflict arises when the franchisee feels that he or she has not received an adequate return on his or her advertising investment. This paper reports the results of a study conducted on both the short-term and long-term effectiveness (duration) of advertising among restaurant chains. The findings suggest that only a small proportion of restaurant chains enjoy immediate, positive returns to their advertising fees. However, over half of all chains examined realized a significant carryover effect of advertising. Several explanations are offered as to why these results are found and recommendations are made as to how restaurant chains should react to these findings.     

Foreign direct investment and civil violence in Sub-Saharan Africa

Despite the steady growth in foreign direct investment (FDI) flow into Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), which is facilitated by the United Nations "2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development", economic development in SSA countries remains relatively weak, due in part to frequent incidents of civil violence. The critics of FDI inflow into SSA posit that the cross-border capital flow fuels civil conflict and unrest, whilst the proponents maintain that FDI inflow helps developing countries raise their economies. To reconcile these two views, this paper considers the impact of FDI on civil violence in SSA by distinguishing recipient industries of FDI. The results from a new general equilibrium theory suggest that an increase in resource-directed FDI inflow to countries where the resource sector is skilled labour (unskilled labour) intensive reduces (increases, respectively) the risk of violence. Using a panel data consisting of 34 SSA countries for 1972–2013, the dynamic panel estimates provide support for our theoretical findings. In particular, an increase in FDI inflow reduces the risk of civil violence for skilled labour intensive fuel-resource-rich SSA countries. However, the likelihood of violence can increase in FDI inflow for countries that are rich in unskilled labour intensive non-fuel, ore and other mineral resources.     

Power and responsibility: Advertising self-regulation and consumer protection in a digital world

While advertising self-regulation is generally considered effective in a closed, largely country-based system, the digital world in which we now live is an open and global system. This raises challenges for consumer protection from national regulators trying to enforce compliance from global media platforms, advertisers, and consumers. Applying the power-responsibility equilibrium, this study explores who has the power and who has the responsibility for advertising self-regulation in a digital world. In doing so, it takes an ethnographic approach, eliciting insights from 18 key stakeholders in the self-regulatory process, across the three geographical areas of Europe, United States, and Asia-Pacific. The findings highlight the need for more collaboration and alignment of self-regulatory systems and build a framework for action through embedding responsibility, aligning standards, initiating processes, and improving outcomes. Six recommendations are offered to restore the balance of power and responsibility.     

Advertising value and advertising processing

Advertising value research is rooted in the view that advertising messages are potential communications exchanges between advertisers and consumers. Since some level of processing effort on the part of receivers is necessary for successful exchanges to occur, it is proposed that advertising processing decisions are based on initial, spontaneous, categorical evaluations that combine to form an expected advertising value (EAV) assessment. If sufficiently positive, individuals devote additional processing effort to the advertisement and more detailed ad-related factors become the focus. Once processing ends after some or all of an advert has been taken in, an evaluation of whether or not the effort was actually worthwhile - designated as outcome advertising value (OAV) - should be a measurable outcome. Factors that account for OAV and its relationship to attitude-toward-the-advertisement (A ad ) are also discussed.