Book Reviews

In-migrants played an important role within port-city merchant communities, but the contribution of German-born merchants to Liverpool's development in the nineteenth century has been largely ignored. This article has four interrelated objectives. First, it establishes the size and composition of the German merchant community in terms of the place of birth, occupational classification, length of residence, and relative wealth of German-born merchants. Secondly, it measures the degree of acculturation and integration based on a range of indicators including choice of bride, child- and house-naming practices, the employment of fellow nationals, and the acquisition of British citizenship. Thirdly, it analyses their role within Liverpool society, focusing on their involvement in the city's associational networks, their participation in voluntary and charitable associations, and their entertainment profile. Finally it assesses how the growth of German nationalism after 1871 and the institutional role of the German Protestant Church reinforced ethnic identity, influenced decisions relating to citizenship and settlement, and affected business networking.     

Book Reviews

Today both Denmark and Sweden are successful fashion exporters due to the re-export of clothing designed in Scandinavia and produced in low-wage countries, while domestic clothing manufacturing has become almost non-existent over the past 20 years. This article compares the strategies of Danish and Swedish trade associations in clothing manufacturing and discusses whether or not the associations encouraged the abandonment of local manufacturing and adoption of global value chains. The analysis is carried out on the basis of interest group theory as developed by Mancur Olson and others, and the findings confirm that interest group influence can entail long-term negative effects, but also that variations in institutional settings are decisive.     

Book Reviews

While fashion piracy has been practised on an industrial scale for at least a century, the levels of intellectual property protection for fashion design have been low in most nations. This article gives a summary of the context of the lack of design protection for the Swedish textile and fashion industries, broadly defined, in the twentieth century, with comparisons to contemporary debates on fashion and creativity and to the historical French and US context. France, the US and Sweden have followed different paths in their approaches to intellectual property protection for fashion design. A study of the Swedish legislative debates 1916–70 shows that the different legislative approaches are connected to the local contexts of production. It is proposed that one way of understanding the levels of protection for fashion design is in terms of the differences in logic between ‘fashion’ and ‘clothing’.     

Book Reviews

Since the Reformation, the established Church had monopolised the English burial trade. In London, in the 1830s, burial conditions posed a serious threat to public health and a number of limited liability companies were licensed by Parliament to provide new facilities for the interment of the dead on the edges of the city, before the main responsibility was then transferred to local government. The paper examines the changes in government thinking that lay behind these policy shifts and explains why private sector capitalists were unable to meet the various expectations of customers in the London burial market, its own stakeholders and society more generally.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: Andrei Schleifer, Inefficient Markets: An Introduction to Behavioral Finance Robert C. Feenstra, The Impact of International Trade on Wages Prema‐Chandra Athukorala and Chris Manning, Structural Change and International Migration in East Asia: Adjusting to Labour Scarcity     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: Arvind Panagariya, Regionalism in Trade Policy: Essays in Preferential Trading Stephen G. Cecchetti, Hans Genberg, John Lipsky and Sushil Wadhwani, Asset Prices and Central Bank Policy Alfonso Gambardella and Franco Malerba, The Organization of Economic Innovation in Europe Catherine L. Mann, Is the US Trade Deficit Sustainable?     

Book Reviews

The history of music in the workplace is a neglected area of study. This article explores the policies towards music in the paternalist Rowntree and Cadbury confectionery factories from the late nineteenth to the late twentieth century. We argue that the two firms were pioneering in their early use of music before becoming key players in the industrial welfare movement following the First World War. The broadcasting of music by Rowntree and Cadbury in the mid to late twentieth century is then placed in the context of a widespread adoption of tannoyed music in factories. We argue that music was employed as a means of easing the monotony of factory work whilst simultaneously aiming to improve productivity levels. However, as we demonstrate through oral history, women workers experienced music in ways not always in tune with management objectives.     

Book Reviews

When the Great Northern Telegraph Company in 1913 bought the exclusive rights to exploit the Valdemar Poulsen Arc Transmitter it was not because the company wanted to take advantage of wireless telegraphy. Instead the company decided not to develop or implement the arc transmitter – a decision that has been described as a ‘wasted opportunity’. This article, however, explores the behaviour of Great Northern and argues that there was little else the company could have done because of the structure of international telegraphy. Great Northern reacted as all other cable companies, and in this context the case of the Danish telegraph company is not just about the behaviour of one single firm. Rather, the case reveals important aspects of the business structures of international cable telegraphy and helps us to understand how one of the world's most powerful industries was brought to its knees by a new technology.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: Alan Deardorff and Robert Stern, Social Dimensions of US Trade Policies D. Wellisch, Theory of Public Finance in a Federal State Angela Redish, Bimetallism: An Economic and Historical Analysis John Williamson, Exchange Rate Regimes for Emerging Markets: Reviving the Intermediate Option     

Book Reviews

In a world of limited resources, marketing managers tasked to deliver shareholder value face decisions about how to maximise the returns on their marketing portfolio. Risk is less often considered. In finance the picture is very different; financial portfolio management is concerned with both risk and returns. The central innovation in this paper is the application of modern portfolio theory (MPT) to the management of marketing portfolios in food retailing and in drinks manufacturing. The authors develop a model that calculates an efficient frontier of marketing portfolios that maximise overall return within certain risk constraints, first for a simple two-segment marketing world and then for a more realistic multi-segment portfolio. However, marketing portfolios differ from financial ones in the sense that the allocation of marketing spend affects the returns from the portfolio. Therefore, a second innovation, an extension of MPT to take account of marketing spend allocation decisions, has been developed. Using this model, marketers can determine the risk and the returns of marketing investments, helping them select an optimal portfolio. This would go some way to ensuring that marketing contributes to shareholder value creation, currently one of its major challenges.     

Call for Book Reviews and Review Essays

ABSTRACT

The Journal of Business to Business Marketing, an important thematic journal within the field of marketing, serves as a vital venue for both academicians and practitioners interested in business-to-business marketing phenomena. Articles cover a broad spectrum of topics related to business marketing management.

A subject-based listing classifies these articles into 16 categories according to their key research issues. Those categories are: Advertising and Communication, Brand Management, Buyer-Seller Dyad and Relationships, Channels, Customer Relationships, Education, International Issues, Literature Reviews, Methodology, Networks and Strategic Alliances, Organizational Buying Behavior, Pricing and Value, Product Development, Segmentation, Selling and Salesforce Management, Technology.

After the subject listing, titles and abstracts of all articles appearing in the first ten volumes of JBBM are listed in volume/issue order. We hope that this index will provide a useful tool for academicians and practitioners who are interested in business-to-business marketing research.     

Book review

The existing literature on offshoring neglects the importance of host country conditions in affecting the boundaries of a firm. In this paper, we focus on the role of the host country's human capital in affecting the organization of offshore production. Acknowledging that an input is produced offshore only after training the host labor, we propose that this training cost depends on the human capital gap between the home and the host country. Our model finds that a sourcing firm prefers to offshore production internationally only if the human capital gap between the home and the host country is below a threshold. Secondly, as the human capital gap increases, the probability for international outsourcing vis-à-vis intra-firm trade increases. Finally, as opposed to conventional wisdom, our model shows the possibility of outsourcing inputs of a high-tech good when the human capital gap between the home and the host is high.     

Information Technology Competence and Value Creation in Supplier-Customer Relationships

Abstract

IT has been proven to have revolutionized business reality in its totality. As such, modern information technologies (IT) may also have an impact on business relationships. However, a detailed analysis of the impact of IT on relationships is still missing. This paper, therefore, provides a discussion of the interplay between IT and relationship variables, i.e., relationship functions, trust and relationship value. An analysis of over 100 German supplier-buyer relationships shows that the impact of IT is not as straightforward as all too often postulated. Moderate levels of IT competence are proven to be the worst-case scenario and as such the main managerial conclusion of this paper is to avoid half-hearted utilization of IT in business relationships.     

Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing Part III: JBBM Book Reviews

A total of 143 books were reviewed over the period 1993–2008 in the Book Review section of the Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing. The books encompassed a broad array of topics, including the basic marketing mix elements of business-to-business marketing, purchasing, buyer-seller relationships, global marketing, Internet and e-commerce, organization studies, research methodology, strategy and general management, and education. During this period, five review essays provided thematic and comparative evaluations of a set of books.

This cumulative index is divided into two sections. The first provides a subject listing of books reviewed and the second is a chronological listing. All book reviews are located at the end of each issue of the journal.     

Journal of Business to Business Marketing Part III: JBBM Book Reviews

ABSTRACT

A total of 131 books were reviewed over the period, 1993–2003 in the Book Review Section of the Journal of Business to Business Marketing. The books encompassed a broad array of topics, including the basic marketing mix elements of business-to-business marketing, purchasing, buyer-seller relationships, global marketing, Internet and e-commerce, organization studies, research methodology, strategy and general management and education. During this period, 5 review essays provided thematic and comparative evaluation of a set of books.

This cumulative index is divided into two sections. The first provides a subject listing of books reviewed and the second is a chronological listing. All book reviews are located at the end of each issue of the journal.     

应用型本科市场营销专业人才培养模式研究综述

国内学者对营销人才培养存在的共性问题,人才培养模式的要素系统以及实施途径等,从理论上已经进行了多维度的研究。总体上看,传统的＂学科式＂培养模式已不再适应社会对营销人才的需求。通过对人才培养模式构成要素及其运行机理进行分析,培养应用型人才,高校应以市场需求为导向,对现行的人才培养模式进行有效的整合,采取＂模块化＂培养＂、＂分段式＂与＂模块化＂相结合的培养思路,构建和实施以提高实践能力为重点,以学科为基础的＂模块化＂营销人才培养模式。     

基于供应链管理的制造业与物流业联动发展策略研究——以杭州市为例

文章首先阐述了在供应链管理背景下制造业和物流业联动的意义,然后根据调研数据分析了杭州目前制造业供应链管理现状及其与物流联动中存在的障碍,并在此基础上提出了促进两者有机融合、联动发展的策略。     

智能财务时代下财会人员培养路径分析

随着当前科技产业及人工智能技术的发展,智能财务在不同领域中的应用使其优势被人们承认并熟知。在此发展趋势下,传统财会人员的工作内容随之改变,财会行业对行业人才的要求也更加严格。因此,需要对财会人员的培养方式进行转型升级,使相关从业人员顺应智能财务时代发展的潮流。结合智能财务发展现状对当前我国财会行业的现状情况及困境进行讨论,提出智能财务时代下财会人员的培养路径,以期帮助财务人员适应智能时代,更好的规划职业路径。     

基于行业就业双元驱动下的高职商务英语人才培养研究

随着全球一体化趋势的不断加快,传统商贸模式的革新势在必行。涉外人才作为传统商贸向新型商贸转变的中心,其角色与功能升级对高职商务英语人才培养提出了更高要求。从当前的经济环境与政策倾向来看,外向型发展在很长一段时间内会成为商贸形式的发展主流,这就为高职院校的商务英语专业带来了很大机遇,同时升级型外贸人才的培养也为高职院校商务英语人才的培养提出了挑战。本文就行业与就业两个方面对高职院校商务英语人才培养的现状进行分析,并提出双元驱动高职商务英语人才培养的有效策略。     

我国物流管理人才培训模式建设探讨

物流培训以其周期短,见效快,不影响正常工作等特点,受到物流领域各层次在职人员和非物流专业在校学生的青睐。本文从物流培训培养目标定位、课程体系建设、师资队伍构建等方面对我国物流管理人才培训模式的构建进行了系统的研究。