Marketing Freight Transport: The Need for Customer-orientation

The use of marketing is relatively new in most areas of freight transport operations. The idea that the industry has a ‘product’ to offer is discussed. Why freight transport companies adopt the marketing concept is reviewed. To help this the techniques used in promotion and market segmentation are explained.     

Truth in Investing: The Need for Legislation

This paper shows that a wide variety of techniques are used to calculate yields on consumer investment instruments. No regulation comparable to the Federal Reserve System's Truth in Lending statute (Regulation Z) exists to standardize yields on consumer investments, and thus the consumer is not given the information necessary to make proper comparisons among alternative investments. The paper reviews yield calculation methods and reinvestment assumptions; it also examines the potentially deceptive use of Treasury bill yields as the ceiling for bank and thrift accounts. In order to reduce confusion and standardize reported yields, it is proposed that disclosure be required of both the simple yield and the annualized effective yield, assuming reinvestment at the initial rate of return.     

A Need for Quality Services in the 1990s:

All service organizations need to be concerned about globalization and successful growth in the ever changing economic environment. Service companies in the midwest part of the United States were surveyed to determine how managers and their subordinates actually felt about the concept of "innovation through total quality." A discrepancy between the perception of total quality as a means to achieve sustainable advantage and the actual implementation of such a strategy was perceived. Some conclusions posed were that managers need to invest more in promoting quality by increasing training, measuring the efforts of individuals within the organization more effectively, and rewarding these individuals with higher compensation for superior performance.     

消费者独特性需求对独特产品/品牌偏好影响的研究

本文采用实证研究方法，对有关消费者独特性需求的相关研究作出了比较完整的理论综述，在此基础上就该需求对消费者独特产品／品牌偏好之间的作用关系进行了分析。通过分析了解到本土消费者在对独特性需求的理解上具有一定的特殊性，这种特殊性的产生与中国文化的集体导向特点和当前社会发展处于转型阶段具有一定的联系，这种特殊性的存在一定程度上影响了消费者对独特产品／品牌的偏好。     

一个最佳融资结构的理论模型

Jensen的研究注意到了融资结构会通过约束自由现金流量对公司代理成本产生影响.其见解非常独到,但他并没有用数学模型作出严格的推证.本文的工作在于综合了Jensen和其他一些学者的成果,构建了一个数学模型,严格分析融资结构是如何约束经理可以用于相机处理的现金流量,以降低经理们的控制租并进而影响公司价值大小的.此外,本文还指出了应该进一步研究的方向,以及该模型在我国现实制度条件下的适用性.     

Globalization and the Good Corporation: A Need for Proactive Co-existence

Large corporations are coming under intense pressure to act in a socially responsible manner. Corporations have accepted this notion provided that it is exercised voluntarily. It has also been argued that corporations can do well by doing good, and that good ethics is good business. This paper presents an alternative viewpoint by demonstrating that while voluntary socially responsible conduct is desirable, it plays a rather small role in inspiring good corporate conduct. Instead, (a) it is the external economic-competitive conditions that define the parameters and opportunities for good corporate conduct; and (b) the values and traditions of the corporations, and their perceived risk in exploiting those opportunities, that influence the extent of a corporation's socially responsible conduct. The framework presented here analyzes certain market-competitive conditions, which determine the scope and direction of socially responsible corporate conduct, and the instruments available to society to enhance ethical corporate conduct. It suggests that from society's perspective, we should move away from the notion of corporate social responsibility and toward corporate social accountability. Most modern economies operate under conditions of imperfect competition where corporations gain above-normal profits, i.e., market rent, from market imperfections. Therefore, corporations should be held accountable for a more equitable distribution of these above-normal profits with other groups, e.g., customers, employees, etc., who were deprived of their market-based gains because of market imperfections and corporate power. Three approaches are suggested for measuring corporate accountability through corrections. These are: information imbalance, bargaining power imbalance, and, adjudication, remedy and relief imbalance.     

The Cost of War: A Comment and a Reply

Intereconomics - In the July/August issue of Intereconomics, Ilona Sologoub argued that increasing the cost of war would limit the ability of an authoritarian state to wage a war. Here, Charles D....     

Coping with Consumer Fraud: The Need for a Paradigm Shift

A review of recent informational initiatives to help consumers avoid being defrauded revealed that advice offered draws heavily on past fraud cases in which swindlers were successful in victimizing consumers. This article draws upon behavioral theory to argue that such case studies are limited in usefulness. It is further argued that a paradigm shift is needed to focus on unsuccessful efforts by swindlers to defraud consumers. An investigation that surveyed such case studies is summarized with illustrations presented of how its findings could be used to help consumers cope more effectively with threats posed by swindlers.     

The Need for a European Fiscal Policy

In the debate about the Stability and Growth Pact the focus is mainly on the stability part of the Pact. However, in many European economies, economic growth is a far more important issue. How can economic growth be stimulated by a coordinated European fiscal policy?      

The Theoretical Ground for Public Relations Practice and Ethics: A Koehnian Analysis

Public relations literature laments the lack of a theoretical base for the practice and ethics of public relations. Drawing primarily upon Koehn (The Ground of Professional Ethics, 1994) and Hutton (Public Relations Review, 1999), this paper proposes such a theoretical ground.The paper adopts Hutton's assertion that "the central organizing theme of public relations theory and practice" is relationships(Hutton, 1999, p. 209). It also relies upon Koehn (1994) to provide a theoretical discussion of the nature of professions, and the ground upon which professional ethics and public trust in the professions are based. It concludes, from a Koehnian perspective, that for public relations to move from the expertise and contractual models of practice into a covenantal model as a profession worthy of public trust, the field must devote itself to a defined human good (relationships), and must be grounded in a public pledge to serve this good.     

The Theoretical Domains of Retailing Research: A Retrospective

In a previous review article [Brown, James R. and Dant, Rajiv P. (2008a), “Scientific Method and Retailing Research: A Retrospective,” Journal of Retailing, 84 (April), 1-13], we had discussed the substantive domains, the methodological approaches, and the inferential tools that researchers used to test their conceptual frameworks in 164 articles published in the Journal of Retailing during 2002-2007. In this article, we continue this introspective process, by reviewing the theories used in 173 articles published in the Journal of Retailing in the 2004-2009 (to Issue 2) time period, and classifying those theories according to their application to various substantive issues. A total of 119 different theories were used across these 173 articles, which we sub-grouped into twelve broad-based theoretical categories: (1) marketing theories, (2) microeconomic theory, (3) consumer choice theory, (4) social exchange theory, (5) information processing theory, (6) satisfaction theory, (7) reference price theory, (8) competitive theory, (9) attribution theory, (10) other psychological theories for individuals, (11) other social psychological/sociological theories, and (12) other theories. We also examine the methodological approaches and tools used to test those theories. A number of research gaps are identified for future retailing scholarship.     

独特化需求对虚拟代言人说服效果影响研究

虚拟代言人在营销沟通中担任重要角色,但以往研究多关注各项拟人化特征对广告效果的影响,鲜有对消费者的独特化需求特质如何影响虚拟代言人沟通效果的研究。通过三个实验研究,考察两类代言人（虚拟代言人与真人）与消费者独特化需求水平（从低到高）交互作用下的广告说服效果。研究一表明：不同代言人类型的广告说服效果受消费者独特化需求水平的调节,其中高独特化需求的消费者对虚拟代言人的反应更积极。研究二进一步发现：独特化需求和代言人类型的交互作用是通过积极情绪作为中介路径,进而提升广告说服力。研究三加入品牌类型（奢侈品牌与大众品牌）作三阶调节效应检验,结果显示：虚拟代言人在大众品牌广告中,对高独特化需求的消费者说服力要比真人代言人的说服力更强;然而这种调节效应在奢侈品牌广告中差异不显著。     

The Relevance of Social Audit for Oxfam GB

This paper examines what social auditing has to offer Oxfam and similar organisations involved in the collection of charitable donations for international development and relief operations in terms of improving the quality of their work, increasing their accountability to stakeholders, and their capacity to achieve impact in terms of their institutional goals. In looking at the particular case of Oxfam, it discusses issues in relation to the establishment of social auditing with relevance for similar organisations. The paper points out that since Oxfam is not a profit-making organisation, but one based on a humanitarian impulse, there are many ways in which it already lives up to the ideals of social audit. The paper lists areas of governance and systems where Oxfam is currently responding to the major principles of social audit, and some of the issues encountered in doing so. These principles have been defined by Zadek (1997) as follows: Inclusivity, Comparability, Completeness, Evolutionary, Systems Integration (Embeddedness), External Verification, Communication and Continuous Improvement. Each principle is examined to see what it offers Oxfam in terms of its principal concern — to improve the quality and impact of its work, and legitimacy, and what difficulties their application entail. The main aspects lacking at present are: a) a systematic consultation with stakeholders b) independent verification c) the publication of results To some extent, Oxfam's Trustees perform the second function, together with external consultants employed to carry out evaluations of its international development programme. The organisation's Annual Review provides public information regarding its work. Nevertheless, the wider publication of negative results, except to the professional and academic audience reached through such publications as "Development in Practice", would certainly be new to Oxfam, as would the setting up of interagency standards or benchmarks. The paper argues that rather than adopting social audit as a new cycle, a costly and time-consuming exercise, ways should be sought to ensure existing systems live up to its principles. Even this could become costly, and ways of doing this in a cost-effective manner need to be developed. The other major issue for Oxfam is the enormity and diversity of its major stakeholders, ie those people it tries to benefit by means of its international development programme, and the contradictions which exist within them as a group, let alone between them and the other stakeholders of the organisation. Ways in which this could be overcome are suggested, such as consulting them within the remits set by organisational strategic plans, and continually developing greater clarity with regard to the kind of assistance the organisations offers, and taking decisions regarding the weighting to be given to different groups. The issue of the publication of negative results in ways which reach the general public is more difficult. It could be resolved by careful decision-making regarding and management of the context in which information is disclosed. It is conceivable that the organisation would gain in its reputation by being seen to be honest even in the most difficult cases, and conversely lose if it were discovered to be hiding negative information. It is already relatively open at the professional and academic level, but needs to consider carefully if it is too cautious in relation to the general public.