Presumed Influence of Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Prescription Drug Advertising on Patients: The Physician's Perspective

This study explored the influence of the presumed influence model in the context of DTC (direct-to-consumer) advertising. A survey of 404 physicians studied presumed effects of DTC advertising on patients and whether the presumed effects influenced physicians' support for regulation and response to patient requests. Results partially supported the proposed model. Physicians perceived the highest degree of DTC advertising influence on patients' inquiries with their doctors and requests for advertised drugs and the lowest degree for beneficial influence of DTC ads. Physicians tend to support government regulation of DTC advertising, and their support is consistent across different demographic and perceptual variables. While physicians' responses to patients' requests for an advertised drug is mixed, greater presumed detrimental effects predicted refusal of patient requests, even after controlling for physicians' demographic and attitudinal characteristics. However, acceptance of patients' requests and recommendation of other drugs are found to be unrelated to presumed DTC advertising influence. The results are discussed in relation to existing theoretical work and DTC advertising literature. Future research recommendations are also provided.     

Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing and Its Marketing: Emergent Ethical and Public Policy Implications

Journal of Business Ethics - This paper provides a marketing ethics analysis that addresses the practice of selling genetic tests (GT) directly to the consumer (DTC). It details the...     

Consumer Believability of Information in Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Advertising of Prescription Drugs

Direct to consumer (DTC) advertising has attracted significant research attention, yet none has focused on empirical assessments of its overall impact on U.S. consumers nationally, and tying assessment to relevant behavioral outcomes. This paper addresses the ethical issue of DTC advertising providing a balance of product and risk information that is both understandable and believable, and contributes direction to those exploring this phenomenon. Richard F. Beltramini is currently Professor of Marketing in the School of Business Administration at Wayne State University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin, and served on the faculty of Arizona State University for fifteen years. His teaching interests include advertising and marketing management, research, and strategy. His primary research focus is on the believability of marketing communications information, and he has published in the Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, and a variety of other journals, conference proceedings, and books as well as co-editing Gift Giving: A Research Anthology. Dr. Beltramini has served on the Editorial Review Boards of a number of academic journals, as guest editor of special issues of the Journal of Business Ethics and the International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, as international president of the American Academy of Advertising, as a member of the American Advertising Federation's National Academic Committee and several other professional and business organizations, and is active as a consultant to several international organizations. He is the recipient of several national competitive grants and awards for his teaching and research, including the National Science Foundation, is the only faculty recipient of both his school’s Excellence in Research and Excellence in Teaching awards, and is currently the first Board of Visitors Faculty Fellow. Prior to academe, Dr. Beltramini worked for Texas Instruments, Inc. and The Drawing Board, Inc., both in Dallas, and he has also worked as a Visiting Research Professor for J. Walter Thompson Advertising in Chicago, Honeywell Information Systems in Phoenix, and the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C.     

The Effects Of Information Sources On Consumer Reactions To Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Prescription Drug Advertising: A Consumer Socialization Approach

This study examines the process by which, and the extent to which, consumers' reliance on mass media and interpersonal channels for health information is associated with consumer responses to direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising. By analyzing nationally representative survey data collected among a U.S. adult population, this study finds that those who rely more on mass media and interpersonal channels for health information form more positive attitudes toward DTC advertising. In addition, reliance on interpersonal channels for health information leads consumers to have more active discussions with their health professionals about the drug advertised. Implications for pharmaceutical marketing practitioners and DTC advertising researchers are discussed with reference to the heated debate surrounding DTC advertising in the wake of the recent Vioxx recall incident.     

Diffusing the Cloud: Cloud Computing and Implications for Public Policy

Cloud Computing is rapidly emerging as the new information technology platform. It is, however, much more than simply a new set of technologies and business models. Cloud Computing is transforming how consumers, companies, and governments store information, how they process that information, and how they utilize computing power. It can be an engine of innovation, a platform for entrepreneurship, and driver of corporate efficiency. While an increasingly commonly term, confusion remains over what exactly constitutes Cloud Computing, how the markets are unfolding, and what forces will drive their evolution and diffusion. This paper provides an overview and conceptual tools for business leaders, policymakers, and non-specialist scholars to identify, distill, and easily understand the core aspects of how Cloud Computing service markets are developing, and how an array of policy issues will influence how this new computing platform unfolds across the world.     

Investing Public Pensions in the Stock Market: Implications for Risk Sharing,Capital Formation and Public Policy in the Developed and Developing World

Concerns that existing public pension systems will be unable to pay benefits to a rapidly ageing population without sharp tax increases, and the prospect of higher average returns on stocks than on government securities, are drawing the attention of policy–makers worldwide to the option of investing public pension assets in stocks. Including stock market investments in public pension plans could improve risk sharing within and between generations, and could perhaps lead to faster market development in some countries. It could also result in excessive risk–taking, higher transactions costs and a false sense of increased financial security. This paper assesses these issues, with an emphasis on the considerations that are of special importance to developing markets. A contrast is drawn between the demographic outlook in East Asia and the major industrialized countries. Some lessons are drawn from the reform experience in Chile and elsewhere in Latin America.     

Examining the Covert Nature of Product Placement: Implications for Public Policy

As consumers become better educated and more skeptical of traditional advertising, alternate forms of marketing communication have emerged that aim to influence audiences unobtrusively. One such example is product placement. Product placement has attracted ongoing debate as to whether it is covert, unethical, and influences consumption. The current article examines the nature and practice of product placement in this light. This taxonomy of product placement attributes is based on current marketing practice and examines whether this is, indeed, a covert marketing strategy. Further, it presents a conceptualization of the influence of product placement on consumer welfare. We highlight that the many forms of product placement necessitate independent evaluation to determine ethical and regulatory standards. Operational solutions for developing public policy are offered.     

Export Policy and Strategy Implications for Small-to-Medium Sized Firms

This article reports on a study of the export efforts of 223 small-to-medium sized companies. The research tried to identify the factors that are considered to be critical to the export success of such companies. The study also investigated the use of both subjective and objective measures of export success with a view to determining the suitability of subjective performance measures in the event of non-availabity of objective data. The findings suggest that export knowledge, committment, and the technological intensity of the exported product have positive relationships with one measure of export success and that external support programs are viewed as a negative influence. The relationship of these factors to export success is different depending on whether objective or subjective measures of success are used. Public policy implications are also discussed.     

Smoking Behavior,Information Sources,and Consumption Values of Teenagers: Implications for Public Policy and Other Intervention Failures

This paper uses a hierarchical decision process model, uses of information, and a theory of consumption values as a strategic framework for evaluating the general failure of intervention strategies for teenage smoking initiation. Extremely high smoking consideration-to-trial rates and rapid cessation by occasional smokers provide narrow but unused strategic opportunities for intervention. Use of information sources varies by stage of model with interpersonal sources dominating consideration, trial, and cessation stages and mass media showing only a slightly increasing use in cessation compared to the earlier stages. The decision process model and consumption values are necessary for planning strategic interventions. Existing intervention programs are not appropriately targeted in the decision process. Programs should be developed to reduce the smoking consideration to trial rates in younger children and to encourage rapid cessation in older teenagers. The use of either print or broadcast mass media intervention programs is not supported.     

气候影响海关政策

各国政府可能要求海关以边境程序或海关执法方式实施气候变化减缓政策,例如征收进口碳税（尤其是边境调节税）、实施针对低碳能源技术的贸易便利化（尤其是商品归类的运用）、针对违规的排放许可交易进行执法活动等。另外,海关还须制定相应政策处理气候变化的影响,例如对人道主义救援物资实施快速清关、促进贸易复苏、对气候变化引发的国际贸易紧缩及其进而导致的福利损失加以应对。     

An International Perspective of Online Disclosure Presentation: A Comparison of Banner Ad Disclosures from United States, United Kingdom, and Singapore Web Sites

Effective online disclosure presentation is an important feature in banner advertising worldwide. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is viewed as the leader in providing guidance for making disclosures clear and conspicuous. This study examines the extent to which banner ads in the top 100 web sites in three countries with a shared language and intertwining legal and self-regulatory systems—the United States, United Kingdom, and Singapore—adhere to FTC guidance. The lack of systematic differences across countries suggests the need for disclosure research from a global perspective that takes cultural and linguistic differences into account.     

旅游公共服务:国际经验与启示

提供旅游公共服务既是政府发挥其促进与保障本国旅游业健康、持续发展之功能的体现,也是其使旅游业顺应"以人为本"发展趋势的途径之一。旅游业较发达的国家和地区大多非常重视旅游公共服务的建设,并采取一系列措施,从法律、政策、财力投入等方面予以保证,不断提高旅游公共服务的水平和质量。     

Demographic Change and Policy Responses: Implications for the Global Economy

The fertility declines associated with the final phase of the global demographic transition have led to slower population growth and accelerated ageing in developed countries and in several advanced developing countries. A global demographic and economic model is used to assess the implications of these changes for population sizes, age‐gender distributions, labour force growth and their implications for economic performance. A baseline projection that incorporates declining fertility is compared with a hypothetical constant population growth scenario. The results show that slower population growth and ageing reduces average saving rates in industrial regions, yet global investment demand is also slowed and saving rates rise in developing regions, so there is no net tightening of financial markets. Increased aged labour force participation, considered one solution to the resulting rise in aged dependency in advanced regions, is found to redistribute investment in favour of the industrialised regions and hence to accelerate their per capita income growth, while conferring on the other regions compensatory terms of trade improvements. The alternative of replacement migration is found to require inconceivably large population movements. It also impairs real per capita growth in destination regions but by least in Western Europe, where the terms of trade are improved by the immigration.     

Group Development (II): Implications for GSS Research and Practice

This article is the second of a two-part series that examines the issue ofgroup development and its impact on the study and design of group supportsystems. It builds on the ideas developed in the preceding article anddiscusses the implications of group development for group support systems(GSS) research. Specifically, the paper examines the impact of computersupport systems on group development processes. Our previous paper reviewed models of development—based on two competingparadigms, sequential and nonsequential—proposed by various researchers.Despite differences between the two paradigms, individual models share somecommon aspects, from the types of processes experienced to the nature ofoutputs produced, that jointly help describe group development. Commonprocesses displayed in the evolution of a group, distilled from the variousmodels, include cohesiveness, conflict management, balance betweensocioemotional and task needs, effective communication, and involvement ingroup activities. Additionally, the various models also indicate that groupshave critical periods in their developmental path. This paper develops the idea that GSS structures can support groups withtheir developmental processes and help them deal with critical periods. MostGSS provide global structures like anonymity, simultaneity, and the capacityfor enhanced information processing. These structures, if appropriatedeffectively by groups, can influence their developmental paths over time. Inmany cases these structures can help the development of groups by improvingtheir ability to manage conflict, increasing their cohesiveness, developing asense of group identity, and enhancing open communication. This paperdevelops a set of testable propositions that can guide researchers of groupbehavior, organizational users of GSS, and developers of these systems.     

通往幸福之路:全面建成小康社会的结构逻辑与公共政策涵义

文章基于幸福支柱原理,解析全面建成小康社会乃是以身心健康、家庭安康、经济小康、社会正康和生态大康为核心支柱的五康共建的结构逻辑和建设体系.根据五康共建的辩证关系及其存在的现实问题,提出对应的公共政策建议,以提升小康社会政策机制设计的整体性和可持续建设能力;通过由微观到宏观的全面小康社会建设路径解读,补充一种面向幸福的小康社会建设机理和政策涵义,以避免收入有增长,幸福无提高的幸福悖论现象的出现.     

International Trade and Health Policy: Implications of the GATS for US Healthcare Reform

This paper examines the implications of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), the World Trade Organization’s agreement governing trade in health-related services, for health policy and healthcare reform in the United States. The paper describes the nature and scope of US obligations under the GATS, the ways in which the trade agreement intersects with domestic health policy, and the institutional factors that mediate trade-offs between health and trade policy. The analysis suggests that the GATS provisions on market access, national treatment and domestic regulation, which are designed to eliminate ‘regulatory barriers’ to global trade in health services, limit the range of options that state and federal regulators and legislative bodies can employ to regulate the health sector and implement healthcare reforms. As such, the paper identifies the broader social and ethical implications of free trade policy.     

An internet marketing framework for the World Wide Web (WWW)

It is likely that the World Wide Web (WWW) will come to play a significant role in the marketing strategies of many organisations, even when it fails to become the dominant marketing communications channel. A framework is required whereby an organisation can assess the potential of, develop a role for, create and manage a WWW site within its marketing strategy. The WWW is an interactive channel offering a potential for many‐to‐many communications to all players in a market. Existing frameworks either fail to recognise the implications of this or else they ignore it. This paper attempts to develop a framework which invites organisations to fundamentally rethink their marketing strategies through consideration of the opportunities presented by the WWW.