The Rise of the Mass Market and Modern Retailers in Japan

The Japanese distribution system was established in the mid-eighteenth century, when the current stratified structure of whole-salers, brokers or middle merchants, and retailers was already evident. As a result, the mass manufacturers of consumer goods, including electric appliances and automobiles, began to market their own products in the 1950s, the traditional distribution system being unsuited to their requirements. Supermarkets and discounters emerged in the following decade. They had to compete against small retailers and the chain stores owned by large manufacturers, and their share of total consumer sales was limited even in the 1970s. Because of its history and fact of rapid post-war growth, retailing and marketing in Japan has retained unique features.     

Reciprocal Effects of the Corporate Reputation and Store Equity of Retailers

Retailers aim to strengthen their ability to influence consumer behavior by building corporate reputation and store equity: for instance, by making promotional investments. However, little is known about the directionality of consumers’ corporate and store associations, that is, how reciprocal relationships between consumers’ perceptions of corporate reputation and store equity affect store loyalty. To illuminate this issue, we draw upon a study with a cross-sectional design and two studies with longitudinal designs. We find that retail store equity interacts with corporate reputation and is a more important driver of increased loyalty than corporate reputation. We conclude that retailers should pay attention to reciprocal effects, especially in determining the relative allocation of investments across corporate and store levels.     

From "Ward of the State" to "Revolutionary Without a Movement": The Political Development of William C. Norris and Control Data Corporation, 1957-1986

This article traces the political development of the ControlData Corporation (CDC) and its founder and chief executive officer,William C. Norris, from the firm’s formation in 1957 untilhis departure from its leadership in 1986. Norris was entrepreneurialin his political strategy, taking large risks to pursue whathe perceived to be large opportunities in such areas as antitrust,trade policy, and poverty alleviation. Indeed, his perceptionsof these opportunities often diverged substantially from thoseof others in the computer industry and the broader corporateand policy communities. The article links these differencesto Norris’s personal circumstances, the business situationof CDC, and the broader politicalcurrents of the times. Theexperiences of Norris and CDC suggest that business historiansneed a more expansive and flexible conception of the politicalattitudes and behavior of business leadersand of the business-governmentrelationship in the United States.     

"Business Responsibilities in a Divided World": The Cold War Roots of the Corporate Social Responsibility Movement

Both business executives and management scholars have, in recentyears, focused a great deal of attention on the theme of corporatesocial responsibility (CSR). Calls for business leaders to expendresources on behalf of "social good" tend to downplay, if notignore, what is fundamentally an ideological question: justwhat is a "good" society and who defines "goodness"? The ideologicalunderpinnings of social responsibility and its relationshipto the "good" society can be explored through an historicalperspective. The roots of the CSR movement trace back to theearly years of the Cold War. Led by Donald K David, Dean ofthe Harvard Business School and supported by other academicsand executives given voice on the pages of the Harvard BusinessReview, advocates urged expanded business social responsibilityas a means of aligning business interests with the defense offree-market capitalism against what was depicted as the clear-and-presentdanger of Soviet Communism. Today's enthusiastic calls for businessto "do well by doing good" could benefit from a similar criticalanalysis not just of the goals of CSR but also the ideologicalassumptions, often unacknowledged, that underlie those goals.     

From Artisans to "Factories": The Interpenetration of Craft and Industry in English Cheese-Making, 1650-1950

This article traces the uneven development of English cheese-makingfrom its early commercialization to the eventual triumph ofthe "cheese factory." The narrative shows how contemporary actorsinitiated and adapted to changes in technology, distribution,consumption, and regulation. It indicates that artisanal practiceshave both borrowed from and become integrated with industriallogics and strategies, exemplifying a process that Charles F.Sabel and Jonathan Zeitlin termed the "recombinablility andinterpenetration" of different forms of economic organization[World of Possibilities: Flexibility and Mass Production inWestern Industrialization (Cambridge, U.K., 1997), 2–3].International comparisons are introduced to clarify the reasonsfor England’s halting and idiosyncratic transition toindustrial-scale cheese-making.     

The Impact of Store-Price Signals on Consumer Search and Store Evaluation

Always low price (ALP) and low price guarantee (LPG) are store-price signals that retailers frequently use to induce favorable store-price image and discourage consumers from comparing prices across stores. Although both policies signal low prices, only LPG is an obligatory promise to beat rival stores’ prices. Results of two shopping simulations show that when consumer search costs are relatively low, ALP may effectively discourage consumer search whereas LPG may trigger more search. Paradoxically, consumers tend to evaluate ALP stores less favorably (as having lower integrity and higher self-serving intention) than LPG stores even when both signals appear to be credible. These findings suggest that LPG is a superior tactic for creating a favorable store image while ALP is more effective for discouraging consumer search. The results also indicate that consumers visit fewer stores when the LPG is not a credible signal of lowest market price than when it is credible. This is because consumers are inclined to either claim discounts or refunds at the non-credible LPG store or to purchase at the competing store with a lower price rather than continue searching.     

"The Right Man": James A. Jackson and the Origins of U.S. Government Interest in Black Business

Despite the widely held notion that U.S. government assistanceto African American entrepreneurs commenced in the late 1960s,the evidence indicates that government interest in promotingblack business actually began in the 1920s. Beginning with theappointment of James A. Jackson in November 1927, the U.S. CommerceDepartment’s agenda, until the mid-1950s, included "NegroAffairs." Jackson’s actions did not generate the directfinancial assistance to black entrepreneurs associated withsuch later government initiatives as Richard Nixon’s "BlackCapitalism." Nevertheless, Jackson’s pioneering efforts,to provide black businesspeople with useful information, helpedto positively reshape contemporary African American entrepreneurs’beliefs about the role of government in their lives.     

消费者需求与实体零售商分销服务策略创新——基于消费者异质性的实证分析

通过构建包括消费者异质性的零售需求模型,利用具有垄断地位的区域连锁零售企业的微观数据,使用贝叶斯估计方法对包含消费者偏好异质性的随机系数模型进行估计,并利用BLP模型对消费者需求模型进行估计。实证研究表明:地理便利性、品类服务、交付服务和环境服务对于消费者选择零售店铺的行为具有显著的影响;对于现有市场的零售商而言,应该将竞争和创新的重点放在交付服务、品类规模、品类选择、采购模式和经营模式等方面;对于即将进入市场的零售商,零售的选址仍然是关键,"小而精"的零售业态将更加有利于企业市场竞争。     

"Rosie the Realtor" and the Re-Gendering of Real Estate Brokerage, 1930-1960

Rapidly increasing numbers of women entered the field of realestate brokerage from the 1930s through the 1950s. "Rosie theRealtor" took advantage of the postwar building boom to createan expanding career niche, capturing residential brokerage asa female domain. In the process, she stretched gendered boundariesin the masculine world of brokerage to the breaking point. Employinga complex and internally antagonistic mix of liberal feministand conservative ideologies, female realtors created their ownprofessional space, expanding career opportunities for womenat the same time that their economic and political practicesreinforced the constraints of domesticity.     

独立不迁,岁岁峥嵘--我与《消费经济》杂志

在主编尹世杰教授的主持下,《消费经济》杂志走过了20年不平凡的历程。艰难困苦,玉汝于成。《消费经济》杂志从创刊时起就一直奋进在马克思主义消费经济理论研究的前沿阵地。经过20年的艰辛磨炼和不断发展,今天她已成为引领消费经济理论研究的一面旗帜,一支号角,一个阵地。作为     

The Alien Past: Consumer Culture in Historical Perspective

The profound transformations in everyday life that have accompanied the advent of a global consumer culture have rendered the past as alien; our own ancestors occupied a realm as foreign as those we encounter when we travel. As virtually everything has become a commodity, modern values – labor-saving, convenience, cleanliness, fashion, and newness itself – have become primary considerations for purchasing. Those values were transmitted in the initial advertising for mass-produced consumer goods. They contributed to the altered relationships with our bodies and with the material world that accompanied the shift from production-driven to consumption-driven cultures. Historicizing these issues – understanding and embracing the concept of change over time – fosters the development of a critical perspective. That perspective is intrinsically complicated, since describing change in these arenas requires acknowledging that new ways have always coexisted with old.     

Richard Abel. Americanizing the Movies and "Movie-Mad" Audiences, 1910-1914

Richard Abel argues that in the period from 1910, when the motionpicture "revolution" succeeded and the American film marketwas emancipated from French domination, to 1914, when foreignfilms were nearly eliminated from the U.S. market, the Americanfilm industry was characterized by widespread experimentationand innovation, especially in the areas of promotion practices,distribution strategies, content refinement, and audience development.Six chapters of Abel's Americanizing the Movies bring to theforeground the battle of     

The Impact of Consumer Confidence on Store Satisfaction and Share of Wallet Formation

For retailer managers, it is crucial to understand the relationships between customers’ store attribute evaluations, satisfaction, and share of wallet as well as how these relationships change over time depending on the business cycle. This study investigates this complex relationship using an extensive dataset for all grocery chains in the Netherlands over the period 2009–2012. Our findings indicate that retailers should not overemphasize the importance of a favorable price image in times of low consumer confidence. Instead, our study shows that the relationship between service attributes and customer satisfaction is stronger in periods with low consumer confidence.     

The Effect of Consumer Perceptions of the Ethics of Retailers on Purchase Behavior and Word-of-Mouth: The Moderating Role of Ethical Beliefs

Journal of Business Ethics - This paper explores how consumers perceive retailer ethics. Based on a review of the marketing and consumer research literature, we conceptualize consumer perceptions...     

Red, White, and "Big Blue": IBM and the Business-Government Interface in the United States, 1956-2000

This article describes the evolution of IBM's effort to manageits relationships with the U.S. government from the time thatThomas Watson, Jr. became CEO. While the Watson family controlledthe firm, the family members served as the main bridges betweenIBM and the government. This personalized approach began togive way in the 1960s, as the intensity and scope of pressurefrom the firm's political environment grew beyond the capabilityof any individual to handle. During the 1970s and 1980s, IBMconstructed a managerial hierarchy, with a newly opened Washingtonoffice at its center, which could gather more detailed intelligenceand execute more sophisticated political strategies. The firm'scrisis in the early 1990s provoked a second major restructuringof the interface, as IBM became more of a Washington "specialinterest." Yet, some traces of the Watson imprint remained,even in the Gerstner era. Tracing IBM's evolution helps us tounderstand better the broader interactions between U.S. firmsand their environments in this period. These interactions entailedadaptation by firms to environmental change but also effortsby firms to exert control over external forces, including publicpolicy.     

British Public Policy and Multinationals during the "Dollar Gap" Era, 1945-1960

This article examines the role of British exchange and importcontrols in stimulating the dramatic increase in overseas (particularlyAmerican) multinationals in Britain from the end of the SecondWorld War to the late 1950s, together with the ways in whichthe government used controls to regulate the foreign directinvestment (FDI) inflow. Exchange controls were both an importantstimulus to inward investment and a powerful and flexible meansof regulating its volume and character. Government was relativelysuccessful in using these powers to maximize the dollar balanceand industrial benefits of FDI to Britain, given initially severedollar and capacity constraints, and in liberalizing policyonce these constraints receded and competition from other FDIhosts intensified.     

"Many a Long Day": HSBC and Its Note Issue in Republican China, 1912-1935

This article utilizes the local banknote circulation volumesof HSBC, the largest foreign bank in China, as a gauge withwhich to explore political stability and state-building duringthe Republican era (1912–1935). It will challenge theprevailing view that British banks faced little resistance inChina through the 1920s–1930s, and expose new archivalevidence on the perception of, and mobilization against, foreignbanks.     

文化在徽商兴起中的作用

徽商之所以能在明中叶崛起,文化起到了至关重要的作用.观念的解放是徽人走出深山的重要推动力量;能寒暑,恶衣食的山民品格铸就了徽人的创业精神;宗族文化成为徽商成帮的粘合剂;较高的文化素质助推徽商走向成功.