Does self-employment reduce unemployment?

This paper investigates the dynamic relationship between self-employment and unemployment rates. On the one hand, high unemployment rates may lead to start-up activity of self-employed individuals (the “refugee” effect). On the other hand, higher rates of self-employment may indicate increased entrepreneurial activity reducing unemployment in subsequent periods (the “entrepreneurial” effect). This paper introduces a new two-equation vector autoregression model capable of reconciling these ambiguities and estimates it for data from 23 OECD countries between 1974 and 2002. The empirical results confirm the existence of two distinct relationships between unemployment and self-employment: the “refugee” and “entrepreneurial” effects. We also find that the “entrepreneurial” effects are considerably stronger than the “refugee” effects.     

Does XBRL adoption reduce information asymmetry?

This paper examines whether or not XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) adoption reduces information asymmetry in a stock market context. Student t-tests and multiple regression analysis were employed to examine the effect of XBRL adoption on information asymmetry in the capital market. A significant and negative association exists between XBRL adoption and information asymmetry, which implies that the adoption of XBRL may lead to the reduction of the information asymmetry in the Korean stock market. In addition, the effect of XBRL adoption on reducing information asymmetry is stronger for large-sized companies than for medium-sized and small-sized companies. Based on these findings, the demand for XBRL-enabled applications and services in the capital market is expected to grow while governments should promote XBRL adoption for business reporting.     

Does financial liberalization reduce income inequality? Evidence from Africa

This paper investigates the impact of financial liberalization on income inequality by using the country-level panel data from 51 African countries in more than two decades. We find that income inequality increases, rather than decreases, with the level of financial liberalization. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that financial liberalization likely induces banks to allocate the scarce financial resources in African countries more discriminatively to rich clienteles but excludes the poor ones from financial access, which thus widens the income gap.     

Does irritation induced by charitable direct mailings reduce donations?

Charities rely mainly on direct mailings to attract the attention of potential donors. Individuals may feel irritated by these mailings, in particular when they receive many mailings. This might harm the revenues charities receive from their mailing activities. Moreover, target selection by charities likely results in many mailings being sent to the best donors, and hence they might become most irritated. As such, irritation with direct mailings could well be endogenously determined. To ensure exogenous variation in irritation, we performed a unique controlled field experiment in cooperation with five of the largest charities in the Netherlands. Our analysis reveals that direct mailings do result in irritation, but surprisingly, this irritation affects neither stated nor actual donating behavior.     

Does shelf-labeling of organic foods increase sales? Results from a natural experiment

Can a simple point-of-purchase (POP) shelf-label increase sales of organic foods? We use a random-effects׳, random-coefficients׳ model, including a time adjustment variable, to test data from a natural experiment in a hypermarket in Gävle, Sweden. Our model incorporates both product specific heterogeneity in the effects of labeling and consumer adjustment to the labels over time. We find that the introduction of POP displays leads to an increase in sales of organic coffee and olive oil, but a reduction in sales of organic flour. All targeted products became less price-sensitive. The results reveal that product specific differences have to be accounted for, and in some cases consumers adjusted to labeling over time.     

Does Zakat reduce poverty? Evidence from Tunisia using the Fuzzy Approach

Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam; it is compulsory for all the well-off Muslims and is given to the needy. This study examines Zakat's impact on poverty in Tunisia. Using simulated data of individuals from Tunisian household surveys in 2010 and 2015, we measure the effect of Zakat to reduce poverty. This study uses the Fuzzy Approach to conclude that Zakat does reduce poverty. The simulation results display a significant decrease in the poverty index of Tunisia's seven regions.     

How different types of partners influence innovative product sales: Does technological capacity matter?

Extant empirical studies examine the effect of different types of partners on innovative product sales. Although these studies present ambiguous results, little research pays attention to the factors leading to this ambiguity. Therefore, this study investigates how technological capacity affects the relationships between different types of partners and innovative product sales. Based on a sample of manufacturing firms from the technological innovation survey, this study reveals several interesting results. First, for the sales from significantly improved products, technological capacity positively impacts on the links between the sales and collaborations with suppliers and also with customers, but negatively moderates with competitors and with research organization. Second, however, on the sales of marginally changed products, technological capacity negatively affects the collaboration with suppliers, but positively impacts on alliance with research organizations. These results increase understanding of the relationships between different types of partners and innovative product sales.     

Assurance of corporate social responsibility reports: Does it reduce decoupling practices?

Recent research shows the existence of a selective corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure strategy that creates a gap between CSR disclosure and actual performance. These CSR decoupling practices compromise the credibility of CSR reports and have triggered a demand for the adoption of credibility enhancement mechanisms, such as adherence to the global reporting initiative (GRI) reporting guidelines, and the external assurance of CSR reports. The effectiveness of such mechanisms is not clear, however. This paper draws on legitimacy theory and addresses the issue of symbolic versus substantive use of assurance, and compliance with GRI reporting standards, by analysing their effect on CSR decoupling using an international sample of 1,939 companies (15,219 observations from 2002 to 2017). Analysis of a sub-sample of 708 firms (3,730 observations from 2011 to 2017) also shows that the application of GRI guidelines and the specific characteristics of the assurance provider—accountant, experience and specialisation—reduce CSR decoupling practices. The results provide researchers, managers, assurance providers, investors, stakeholders and regulators with additional insight into the value of the external assurance of sustainability reports and have important managerial and policy implications.     

Does Taiwan's entry into the WTO truly reduce its agricultural output values?

This study has used the time series data of Australia, China, Denmark, India, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, the Philippines, South Korea, Spain, and the United States from the World Bank to estimate the agricultural economic shock of Taiwan's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). We have adopted the recently developed panel data approach for policy evaluation to construct the annual agricultural growth path of Taiwan, which is mainly based on the cross-sectional correlations between the domestic and international agricultural trade markets in the absence of Taiwan's entry into the WTO. Our results have not only revealed the importance of ex post counterfactual analysis, but also provided empirical evidence that the agricultural economic shock is not as severe as predicted by many ex ante studies. Based on these results, we have concluded that the outcome may have arisen from the slow progress of achieving agricultural trade liberalization under the WTO and the Taiwanese Government's effective adoption of phase-in periods and relative adjustment policies.     

Does financial development reduce income inequality and poverty? Evidence from emerging countries

The objective of this paper is to examine whether bank and stock market development contributes to reducing income inequality and poverty in emerging countries. Using dynamic panel data methods with an updated dataset for the period 1987–2011, we assess the finance–inequality–poverty nexus by taking the separate and simultaneous impacts of banks and stock markets into account. Mixed explanatory findings on panel studies suggest that although financial development promotes economic growth, this does not necessarily benefit those on low-incomes in emerging countries. For the finance–poverty link, we find that neither banks nor stock markets play a significant role in poverty reduction.     

Does managing customer accounts receivable impact customer relationships,and sales performance? An empirical investigation

The impact of accounts receivables on the performance of salespersons is largely ignored in sales literature. However, in many sales contexts, managing customers' accounts receivables is directly managed by the salespeople, and therefore substantially impacts their sales performance. Towards such sales contexts, in this empirical study, we study the effect of customer account receivables and salespersons' customer orientation on their relationship orientation and customer-related performance. We further analyse the direct impact of relationship orientation on customer-related performance. Using survey-based data from 224 salespersons based out of India, we empirically test the proposed model using partial least squares structural equation modelling. Our findings suggest that accounts receivables from customers and salespersons ‘customer orientation strongly impact relationship building and also improves customer-related performance. The salespersons’ relationship orientation also partially mediates the relationship between customer account receivables and customer-related performance. Therefore, this study provides much-required evidence to establish the salience of salesforce appropriately managing customers' account receivables so that its impact on their sales performance customer relationships are not adversely affected.     

Impact of sales Promotion's benefits on perceived value: Does product category moderate the results?

The purpose behind the development of this research article is to assess the impact of sales promotions benefits on consumer perceived value and examine the moderating effect of product categories on the relation between sales promotions, their benefits, and consumer perceived value. The study used a sample of 400 consumers from India and ‘Structure Equation Modelling’ technique is applied to evaluate the research assumption. Finally, the moderating effect of the product category is evaluated by utilizing ‘Multi-Group Analysis' technique. Research findings reveal that the product category moderates the consumer's perceived value for hedonic and utilitarian benefits of sales promotion tools. It is found that utilitarian benefits of sales promotion have more impact on consumer perceived value in the context of personal care product while hedonic benefits are having more impact on consumer perceived value in the context of food products. A sales promotion plan can be made more effective when it is hedonic benefit oriented in the case of food products and utilitarian benefit oriented in the case of personal care products. The findings of this research can be useful for marketers to develop an effective sales promotion strategy considering the category wise differential impact of sales promotions benefits.     

现在就买DVD?

DVD由于具多媒体特征,在未来的PC领域有着广泛的应用前景,它为仔储信息带来了“海量”革命。目前在PC行业,DVD—ROM光驱可以说比DVD播放机更火,这是因为DVD技术是PC与TV融合一体的关键。前不久在日本电子产品展示会上,各大厂商不仅推出了DVD Video和高音质DVD Audio,而且还推出了装有可擦写多次的DVD-RW的家用PC机。可以说,DVD家族的雏型已渐渐形成。不久的将来,当您欲购买一台新电脑,或想进行光驱升级时,您可能要面对最新最流行的CD-ROM光驱与DVD-ROM光驱,您会选择哪一种呢?答案是:这要取决于您对DVD技术发展前景的信心。就目前来说,PC领域中使用DVD-     

Why is my sales force automation system failing?

Sales force automation (SFA) is the use of software to automate sales tasks, including sales activities, order processing, customer management, sales forecasting and analysis, sales force management, and information sharing. An SFA system is often part of an enterprise-wide information system that connects and integrates sales activities with the organization's other operations. Therefore, SFA software is not only a tool critical to the success of today's sales force, but is also vital to the entire organization. SFA has the potential to empower companies to more efficiently manage their sales force and sales processes, to automate and standardize sales activities, and to connect the sales force with the rest of the organization. The value of these potential benefits in terms of lower costs or increased revenues has encouraged businesses to adopt SFA. Once adopted, however, SFA systems often fail to deliver anticipated benefits. The leading cause of SFA failures has been revealed as low user acceptance, which can be attributed to such factors as the disruption of established sales routines, sales force perception of the system as a micromanagement tool, differences in sales force and managerial expectations for the system, and lack of managerial support for the system as perceived by the sales force. Given these circumstances, managers who are aware of the major issues surrounding user acceptance of SFA will be more successful in implementing such systems. This article explores the utilization of SFA, the benefits derived from these systems, and user acceptance issues. Herein, we offer suggestions that will help organizations succeed in adopting SFA systems.     

Acquiring customers through online marketplaces? The effect of marketplace sales on sales in a retailer's own channels

Online retailers are increasingly using third-party online marketplaces (e.g., Amazon, Taobao) as an alternative sales channel to their website. While cross-channel sales elasticities have been established for many sales channel combinations (e.g., adding bricks to clicks), we lack an understanding of whether the use of third-party marketplaces grows or cannibalizes a retailer's sales. Practitioners argue that firms can build their e-commerce business through acquiring customers by selling on the marketplace. Indeed, a marketplace could complement a retailer's offering (e.g., acquiring new customer segments), although inventory effects might mitigate this complementarity. Alternatively, cannibalization might occur from losing customers from one's website to the online marketplace. The present research investigates which of the two opposing forces prevails using a time series of category sales data from one of the largest global marketplace sellers. The authors use vector autoregressive modeling to show that marketplace sales increase sales on a retailer's website (0.014% for every 1% in marketplace sales). This effect is strongest for categories with large choice and low product prices. Acquiring customers through the marketplace might be cheaper than through other sources (estimated at 24% of initial sales). However, online retailers should be aware that this strategy strengthens the marketplace and may have potential negative long-term consequences (e.g., through marketplace control of the customer relationship).     

Should reputable e-retailers undertake service activities along with sales?

With the growth of e-commerce and the elevated service requirements of consumers, e-retailers should carefully evaluate the profitability of delivering product services themselves that were once provided by suppliers. Within this context, we apply game theory to construct a principal-agent model to study a sales and service choice problem faced by an e-retailer. Three strategies are proposed in our paper, pure platform strategy (as the benchmark), resale strategy, and resale plus service strategy. Through comparison and analysis, we find that the sales and service strategy preferences of the e-retailer are influenced by reputation and service costs. Additionally, highly reputable e-retailers tend to provide superior levels of service and prices rather than excessively pursue market demand under the resale plus service strategy. Furthermore, we define the ratio of quality plus service to price as the consumer's performance ratio. Interestingly, reputable e-retailer may bring bad consumer's performance ratio. Moreover, the win-win situation occurs when the e-retailer provides the resale strategy or when the supplier prefers the resale plus service strategy. Our study suggests that e-retailers should make tradeoff between control over services and service costs, and make full use of the advantage of reputation to adjust their income strategy, avoiding blindly pursuing low prices and ignoring the service. In addition, for the supplier, it is appropriate to transfer the service to the e-retailer according to his own conditions.     

Can sales leaders with humility create adaptive retail salespersons?

Although humility in leadership has been recognized as vital in leading salespeople to cope with unpredictability and unknowability in customers, the role of sales leader humility in promoting sales behaviors has remained underexplored. Our research aims to unfold how and when sales managers’ leadership humility nurtures retail salespersons’ adaptive selling behavior. Grounded on the dataset from managers and employees working in retail shops of a large telecommunication and computer company in Vietnam, the results reveal the role of retail salespersons’ customer knowledge, adaptive self-efficacy, and customer-oriented harmonious passion as the mediation paths for the linkage between sales leader humility and retail salespeople's adaptive selling behavior. The findings further provide evidence for the role of sales managers’ adaptive selling as an enhancer for the impacts of sales leader humility on these mediators.     

Investment in online advertising and return on sales: Does it pay to outsource the services to an advertising agency?

Abstract

The effect of investing in online advertising on a firm’s financial outcomes can depend on whether or not the development and implementation of advertising campaigns are managed by advertising agencies. Agencies may have experienced professionals or workload to perform these jobs, but the costs are greater. This paper aims to investigate the effects of investments in digital marketing on the financial outcome of a company’s services, comparing whether or not it is outsourced to advertising agencies. The secondary data relates to services advertised and marketed by a firm. We tested the possible moderating effect of outsourcing the service in the relationship between investment in online advertising (Google and Facebook) and return on sales (profit margin), by controlling the effect of covariates. Through four regression analyses, the results showed that outsourcing the service moderates the relationship. Specifically, the higher the amount of advertising investment, the more it pays to outsource the service to an advertising agency in order to generate greater profit margin. But with a low investment value, it does not pay to outsource. This study helps to identify situations in which it pays to outsource digital marketing services to an advertising agency.     

VCD、DVD谁主沉浮?

DVD到底意味着什么呢? DVD技术大家都早已耳闻,DVD最突出的优点大概就是“大度”。CD-ROM光碟最大可有650MB,而DVD光碟片最小容是量(DVD-5)也高达4.7GB。说到这里,我们不妨先来了解一下DVD的几种规格。根据盘面规格不同,它可以分为DVD-5(单面单层,4.7GB)、DVD-9(单面双层,8.5GB)、DVD-10(双面单层,9.4GB)和DVD-18(双面双层,17GB)四独。根据应用的不同,它又有家用影像用MOVIE-DVD如DVD播放机、电脑用DVD-ROM、音乐用AUDIO-DVD、可一次写入的DVD-R及可多次写入的DVD-RAM。而我们今天要谈的即是——DVD-ROM。它的一个主要用途是     

谁毁掉了HD DVD?

HD DVD并非死于背叛由于事业环境的激变,我们不得不做出痛苦的决定:从此刻开始,HD DVD正式结束了。"2月19日,东芝株式会社CEO西田厚聪在"HD