Stakeholder Conceptions of Later-Life Consumer Vulnerability in the Financial Services Industry: Beyond Financial Capability?

When the newly re-constituted UK financial services regulator–the Financial Conduct Authority–was launched in 2013, it promised to adopt a new approach to its “consumer protection” objectives. This shift included articulating a new conception of consumer vulnerability, beyond narrow, individualistic, conceptions of vulnerability based on (limited) financial capability, towards a broader conception which takes account of the connection between individual circumstances, situations, and market factors in causing or exacerbating manifestations of consumer vulnerability. Drawing on new empirical research with later-life financial services stakeholders and consumers, this article examines the extent to which equity release stakeholder perceptions of consumer vulnerability align to this new regulatory philosophy, and to the realities of consumer experiences. Our findings indicate that, in contrast to the FCA’s new, broader understanding of consumer vulnerability, the stakeholders in our study tended to understand vulnerability through a narrower lens, focusing predominantly on “information vulnerability,” or on whether or not the consumer “knows what they are doing.” This conception supports the assumption that providing financial advice is sufficient intervention to ensure good consumer outcomes. This assumption is also at odds with our earlier consumer study findings, which revealed a much wider set of vulnerabilities amongst equity release consumers. We reflect on the implications of these findings for the development of the later-life financial services industry, in ways that can more appropriately serve the needs of this consumer population.     

Beyond Europe: The Internet, Regulation, and Multistakeholder Governance—Representing the Consumer Interest?

The “Internet,” as a global self-regulated and interconnected network of institutions driven by educational and subsequently commercial priorities, has evolved into an element within a broader “global information society.” Industry, treated benevolently by market-led governments, has created co- or self-regulatory institutions or compacts, but as consumers have eagerly embraced the broadband Internet the scheme of governance must embrace respect for the social and economic rights and responsibilities of consumers at national, European and global levels. This paper shows how existing divisions between public-sector, private-sector, and civil-society institutions and responsibilities have rapidly become eroded and it portrays the emerging agenda for “multistakeholder governance.” The involvement of the consumer on a more legitimised and consensual level than is permitted under industry-led regulation is as yet a novel approach, but this paper draws on case studies which demonstrate the salience of these issues to consumers as citizens, and it concludes by preparing an agenda for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) companies to adopt more sophisticated patterns of participatory co- and self-regulation.

The Impact of “Encouragement” in the Development of Professionals for the Non-Profit Service Sector

Abstract

This study examines the role of perceived intent in the context of penalty evaluation. Based on prior attribution research, the study proposes that customers' responses to penalties are different depending on their perceptions of the organization's intent of using penalties. Using the data collected across the service industry, the study shows that when customers perceive the organization's intent as defensive rather than offensive, their evaluations of the penalty and the organization (e.g., perceived justice, satisfaction, behavioral intentions) are more positive than when they do not. Managerial implications are offered.     

Who Feels Credit Constrained in Europe? The Role of Social Capital

This paper analyzes the influence of social capital in consumers' perceptions of their borrowing constraints, which affect numerous financial decisions. Social capital is a multidimensional concept that concerns consumers' ability to obtain benefits from their engagement in social activities and social networks. To test the hypotheses, we rely on data from the European Social Survey. The results indicate that the four indicators of social capital (bonding capital, bridging capital, trust in people, and trust in institutions) are negatively associated with perceived borrowing constraints, and that some of these associations are moderated by income. The relationship of bonding capital with perceived borrowing constraints appears to be stronger than that of bridging capital, and trust in people reveals a stronger association with the outcome variable than trust in institutions. These results suggest several implications for practice and theory.     

The Illusion of Merit and the Demons of Economic Meritocracy: Which are the Legitimate Expectations of the Market?

Journal of Business Ethics - Meritocracy is gaining momentum in public discourse, being close to the determinants of people’s demand of social justice (equality of opportunity, social...     

The geography of public services employment in Europe: concentration or dispersion?

It is widely known that the location of public services generates, directly and indirectly, important economic effects. The objective of this article is to examine the spatial distribution of employment in public services in 124 European regions in order to detect the existence of some pattern of spatial location. To do so we employ various exploratory spatial analysis techniques, such as the calculation of the Moran's I and the Geary's C statistics. The results obtained highlight the existence of remarkable differences among the European regions, and more concretely between the Scandinavian and the Mediterranean regions, differences that deserve further study.     

Service Sector Development in the Netherlands: A Vision of the Post-Industrial Future?

With the decline in manufacturing employment the term ‘post- industrial society’, although not exactly entering the everyday vernacular, is one that is increasingly used widely to describe economically developed nations such as The Netherlands. This article looks at the framework for the post-industrial society developed by the American social theorist Daniel Bell and applies it to service sector developments in The Netherlands, with a particular concentration on the public sector. It is found that service sector developments in The Netherlands may not be in accord with Bell's vision of our post-industrial future.     

What's Behind CRM Research? A Bibliometric Analysis of Publications in the CRM Research Field

The diversity of approaches to customer relationship management (CRM) brings about the need for systematic reviews. The objective of this article is to identify and categorize the most used publications in the CRM field. We conducted a bibliometric analysis using the Web of Science database. To identify and categorize the subfields, we conducted an exploratory factor analysis. The most used publications were categorized into: (1) methodology in the CRM research field; (2) relationship marketing; (3) service quality and customer loyalty; (4) implications of market-oriented strategy; (5) CRM theory and its practical implications; (6) strategic management; and (7) customer value.     

The Role of Local Context in Headquarters–Subsidiaries Relationships: A Global Analysis of the Literature

This study reviews the literature on multinational corporations’ headquarters–subsidiaries relationships, focusing on the role of the local context and its influence on subsidiaries in developed and emerging markets or countries. The author searched the literature using several terms directly related to these issues. The findings demonstrate that subsidiaries can only operate successfully in foreign locations by adjusting their policies to fit into the local environment because there are multiple contexts. Multinational corporations manage the local context by integrating their home behavior and that of the subsidiaries’ operating environments. A framework for identifying and managing different local contexts is proposed.     

Consumer Bankruptcy: A Right or a Privilege? The Role of the Courts in Establishing Moral Standards of Economic Conduct

The Norwegian Consumer Bankruptcy Act was passed 17 July 1992 to give persons with "serious debt problems (. . .) the possibility to gain control over their economy." The Act contains provisions for negotiations between the debtor and the creditors, for court rulings on repayment plans, and for a discharge of the debts not covered by the plan. The origin of the Act was a social welfare approach to the problem of overindebtedness. However, the Act embodies an inherent contradiction in that it also includes moral elements in order to prevent it from exerting a negative influence on the perceived obligation to pay one's debts. This contradiction has given the courts a wide scope of discretion in the application of the Act. As a result, cases are treated differently in different jurisdictions. Some judges put more emphasis on moral evaluations than others. This situation also gives room for strategic action from creditor groups who typically are repeat players in cases of consumer bankruptcy. In this way the more objective, social welfare approach of the Act is undermined.     

The Internationalization of the Small Firm in Developing Countries—Exploratory Research from Pakistan

Abstract

Based on case studies of six small exporting Pakistani enterprises, this preliminary study considers the relevance of models of internationalization to small scale enterprises from developing economies. The results show little support for most existing models, although the importance of contacts and connections in all aspects of internationalization is supportive of network theory. The stability of exporting relationships involving agents/wholesalers/importers is linked to the production orientation of the enterprises. Policy implications concern the need for greater marketing awareness and training in small firms; and for improved links with overseas distributors and with ethnic Pakistani communities abroad.     

Whither State Ownership? The Persistence of State-Owned Industry in Postsocialist Central and Eastern Europe

After widespread privatization in the 1990s, the early 2000s witnessed the reemergence and consolidation of state owned industries in the postsocialist states of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). To counter views that state owned industries have largely disappeared from postsocialist CEE due to extensive privatization, the paper demonstrates the continued economic significance of state owned industries across the region. The paper then offers a typology of state-firm relations and highlights differences in empirical cases of large state-owned firms that have emerged in the region, distinguishing between market-oriented and politicized firms. Finally, the paper develops a comparative, macro-level processual analysis accounting for the institutional and political factors that explain why some postsocialist states have developed state-owned industries that operate successfully in competitive markets while others have developed highly politicized state-controlled firm. It finds that political factors are what chiefly account for the emergence of successful state sectors in the region.     

The Economic Contribution of High-Growth Firms: Do Policy Implications Depend on the Choice of Growth Indicator?

Prior studies have defined high-growth firms (HGFs) in terms of growth in firm employment or firm sales, and primarily analyzed their contribution to overall employment growth. In this paper we define HGFs using the commonly applied growth indicators (employment and sales), but also add definitions based on growth in value added and productivity. Our results indicate that HGFs in terms of employment are not the same firms as HGFs in terms of productivity, and that their economic contributions differ significantly. Economic policy promoting fast growth in employment may therefore come at the cost of reduced productivity growth. Although HGFs of different definitions may not be the same firms, young firms are more likely to be HGFs irrespective of definition. This suggests that economic policy should focus on the conditions for new firm formation and early growth of firms, rather than target a particular type of HGFs.     

‘The trauma of competition’: The entry of Air Products Inc. into the industrial gases business in Britain and continental Europe, 1947–70

The British Oxygen Company (BOC) had a virtual monopoly on the supply of industrial gases (e.g. oxygen and acetylene) on the British market through the 1950s, when it was finally challenged by an American-based company, Air Products. Air Products Limited (APL) was able to undercut BOC's position, overcoming high barriers to entry to gain significant market share in this sector, which shares some features of network industries. Factors in this success included conditions imposed by the Board of Trade, APL's innovations, BOC's slow response, and favourable market conditions. APL's success had implications for the internationalisation of the industrial gases industry.     

A Dixonian analysis of petrol retailing in the U.K. – 1880-2000

The development of the retail petroleum industry in the U.K. has received only sporadic attention by academics. Whilst the retail petroleum industry in the U.K. is usually thought of as an oligopoly, with a small number of companies controlling the production and movement of products through vertical integration, there is evidence of significant high-level changes in the global industry resulting in the loss of retailing sites belonging to the major companies, and a rise in the number and influence of competitors. These constitute both multiple retailers such as supermarket chains, and at the ‘competitive fringe’, a rise in the number of smaller independents. In this paper, we identify the changes and then analyse the factors underlying them using the Dixonian system model of macromarketing. In contrast to the usual fine-grained approach of the marketing mix, the Dixonian system comprises an hierarchical, systematic view of the product market which suits an analysis of the complexity of the factors in this sector.     

The situation of the UBM in China——The interview with Mr.Philip Chapnick

正Philip Chapnick China Chief Representative of UBM,the former CEO of UBM Think Services DepartmentAs China's largest foreign exhibition organizers,the UBM(the United Business Media Limited)held more than 60 conferences and exhibitions in China annually.As the top of capital     

Do they matter? The role of non-academics in the internationalization of academic spin-offs

Internationalization and academic entrepreneurship have been receiving a lot of attention not only in academic research but also in policy practice. While academic spin-offs suffer from limited resources and lack of entrepreneurial skills, they often penetrate international market through their innovative products and technology since the very early years of their establishment. In the literature, little attention has been paid to explicitly examine the internationalization process of academic spin-offs as well as the role of non-academics. In order to investigate the impact of non-academics on the performance of spin-offs, we carried out an empirical analysis of 126 Spanish spin-offs which were divided into two market categories, international and domestic market. With regard to the percentage of non-academics in founding team, we found that their impact was more relevant to the performance goals than to innovativeness. On the other hand, the size of non-academic networks contributed significantly not only to the performance goals but also to innovation. However, we did not find a significant relationship between the strength of non-academic networks and the performance goals and innovativeness of the international spin-offs. Overall, we concluded that the role of non-academics was crucial for supporting the internationalization of the spin-offs.