Leisure book reading and purchasing: an analysis of Turkish consumers

Tracking studies all over the world report a decline in time devoted to reading in all age groups. There is a common stereotype indicating that people prefer other leisure activities to reading books. Low levels of book readership and book purchasing has always been a matter of discussion in Turkey. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to develop a better understanding of Turkish people’s involvement with books. To achieve this aim, a research survey via self‐administered questionnaire to collect data about leisure time reading, book purchasing and related attitudes was prepared. The sample represents 601 people from eight cities. It was found that around 80% of the sample had read at least one book within the last 6 months, and 58% had purchased a book for her‐ or himself. In addition, a Likert scale with 26 items was utilized to understand the attitudes of respondents to book reading, purchasing and book marketing activities. A factor analysis was also used to check the possibility of reducing the number of attitude items on the scale. Four factors emerged as a result of the factor analysis, labelled as ‘high involvement in books’, ‘preference towards more visual products’, ‘economy factor’ and ‘books must be heavily promoted’. Furthermore, ANOVA and t‐tests were performed to analyse whether attitudes change with demographic variables. Contrary to common beliefs about book readership, this study has revealed favourable attitudes towards book reading and purchasing.     

The institutional environment and the number of bank relationships: an empirical analysis of European SMEs

This article examines the association between creditor protection, as measured by the nature of legal rules and the quality of law enforcement, and multiple bank relationships using a unique survey sample of SMEs from 19 European countries. We find that the likelihood of multiple banking is the highest for SMEs in French-civil-law countries, next highest for German-civil-law countries, and the lowest in Scandinavian-civil-law and English-common-law countries. We also find that SMEs in countries with low legal efficiency are more likely to establish multiple bank relationships. These results seems to confirm the underlying idea in the law and finance literature that relevant loan risk for banks also arises from low quality of laws and institutions and not just from firm-specific characteristics. Banks in countries where protection of creditor rights is poor may resort to multiple banking to share this additional risk. Policy makers can use our findings to justify the necessity of improving their institutions by reducing legal formalisms and thereby, lowering the enforcement costs in the courts. This would lead to better loan contracting and enhance the flow of debt capital, which is required for a healthy and dynamic economy.     

The impact of the introduction and use of an informational website on offline customer buying behavior

Do customers increase or decrease their spending in response to the introduction of an informational website? To answer this question, this study considers the effects of the introduction and use of an informational website by a large national retailer on offline customer buying behavior. More specifically, we study a website's effects on the number of shopping trips and the amount spent per category per shopping trip. The model is calibrated through the estimation of a Poisson model (shopping trips) and a type-II tobit model (the amount spent per category per shopping trip), with effect parameters that vary across customers. For the focal retailer, an informational website creates more bad than good news; most website visitors engage in fewer shopping trips and spend less in all product categories. The authors also compare the characteristics of shoppers who exhibit negative website effects with those few shoppers who show positive effects and thus derive key implications for research and practice.     

Dimensions of cosmopolitanism and their influence on political consumption: an analysis focused on Spanish consumers

The purpose of this study was to confirm the hypothesis that political consumption – a form of consumerism whose importance has increased during the past few years – can be considered a form of critical action, and that cosmopolitanism contributes to its development. The main objective was, first, to analyse an unexplored dimension of political consumption and, second, to obtain a measurement proposal for what some authors have called ordinary cosmopolitanism. The study, based on a survey, was divided into three sections. The first section offers a theoretical introduction to the study proposal. The second describes the hypothesis and the data analysis strategy, and proposes an operationalization of cosmopolitanism in three dimensions – symbolic cosmopolitanism, experiential cosmopolitanism and moral cosmopolitanism – which have been obtained by means of the application of categorical principal components analysis. By applying one‐way analysis of variance and Tukey's test, the third section shows the existence of significantly higher scores in these three dimensions for those individuals who have bought or boycotted products for ethical, political or environmental reasons. Finally, an ordinary least squares regression analysis was performed to test the association between cosmopolitanism and political consumerism, controlling the effect of the main socio‐demographic variables. The study confirms the initial hypothesis; therefore, political consumption could be considered a type of consumerism that is clearly related to cosmopolitanism.     

Liberalisation,privatisation and the productivity of Egyptian banks: a non-parametric approach

This paper evaluates the performance of Egyptian banks during a period characterised by changes in economic policies. The Egyptian government's liberalisation policies in the early 1990s have had a positive or negative impact on the performance of the Egyptian banks. In addition, whether the liberalisation impact has influenced different forms of banks' ownership and sizes with consistent magnitude is examined. Another objective of this paper is to examine the impact of the privatisation process at the end of 1995 on the efficiency and productivity performance of the overall banking sector and on joint-venture banks in particular. The data envelopment analysis Malmquist methodology is employed to estimate the productivity of Egyptian banks.     

Push-based brand awareness: the role of product availability and in-store merchandising

This study introduces a new brand awareness conceptualization; ‘push-based brand awareness’ in the light of available retailing, distribution, and branding literature. Previously, push-based awareness merely defined brand/product availability. This study extends that definition by including available brand awareness created by in-store merchandising. While out-of-stock (OOS) literature extensively interprets product availability and consumers' responses to OOS brands, a brand's effect on consumer awareness remains unexamined. Because such brand awareness may be one of the major reasons behind frequently purchased product success, such consumer awareness deserves closer attention. This study introduces the push-based brand awareness concept with a proposed model including possible managerial implications.     

Consumer Information and Discrimination: Does the Internet Affect the Pricing of New Cars to Women and Minorities?

Using a large dataset of automobile transaction prices, we find that offline African-American and Hispanic consumers pay approximately 2% more than do other offline consumers; however, we can explain 65% of this price premium with differences in observable traits such as income, education, and search costs. Our estimates of unexplained race premia are smaller than previous estimates in the literature. Online, we find that minority buyers pay nearly the same prices as do whites controlling for consumers' income, education, and neighborhood characteristics. These results are consistent with the Internet facilitating information search and removing cues to a consumer's willingness to pay. Our results imply that the Internet is particularly beneficial to those whose characteristics disadvantage them in negotiating.     

科技工作者的职业发展需求现状及政策建议——基于安徽省的调查

本文以安徽省科技工作者为调查对象,基于4024份安徽省科技工作者的调查问卷数据和33位科技工作者的座谈调研记录,从人才培养支持、人才评价发现、开展学术合作交流、服务科技经济融合、开展科普和科技志愿活动、科研环境和学风作风建设六个方面系统了解了科技工作者的职业发展关切需求。研究发现,科技工作者对知识更新、长期稳定的科研经费支持和更加自主的科研环境需求强烈;在人才分类评价、非公组织人才社会化评审、青年科技人才宽松考评环境方面呼声较高;期望建立高水平、跨学科学术交流渠道和平台;对建立优化产学研合作机制、科技成果转化专业化服务需求迫切;呼吁搭建科普能力培训、科普产品供需对接和服务等平台;期望更加自由民主的学术氛围和有效的维权渠道。基于此,对于更好地满足科技工作者职业发展需求提出针对性的政策建议。     

Leveraging the co-evolution of offline and online video games: an empirical study

Considerable research has been carried out on online shopping and the implications of this purchasing format for consumers and retailers. Most of these studies have focused on consumer attitudes towards online shopping, and how these can be useful predictors of online shopping adoption. Notwithstanding these insights from adoption theory, existing research has yet to distil the most effective means of understanding consumers’ attitudes towards online video game purchases. Based on a qualitative study, our study contributes to literature on adoption theory by presenting some explanations involving online video games purchases by identifying salient perceptions of online and offline motivations and advances ideas on the facilitating role of incentives in making purchase decisions.     

Applying multiple regression analysis to the forecasting of grocery store sales: an application and critical appraisal

Multiple regression analysis is applied to an analysis of the trading performance of a chain of grocery stores in the north-east of England. The performance of stores outside the conurbations is shown to be related to characteristics of the OPCS ‘urban-areas’ in which the stores are located, and a way is presented of modelling the effect of competition from within and outside these centres.

A high degree of statistical explanation is achieved, and the methodology used is defended against criticisms that can be levelled at many of other multiple regression analyses of store performance. Caution is nevertheless advised against the application of the model to forecasting the performance of new stores, although a range of applications are suggested whereby the implications of changes in the trading circumstances of existing stores might be examined.     

Reasons for implementing certified quality systems and impact on performance: an analysis of the hotel industry

Certifying quality systems has become standard practice in a wide range of companies the world over. However, studies on these systems' underlying motivations and these motivations' effects on performance have focused primarily on industrial firms, leaving the service sector largely unexplored in this regard. In this article structural equation modelling is used to analyse the reasons that underlie certification and the effects of these motivations on performance parameters within the hotel industry. The findings in this study show certain significant differences from the academic findings for industrial companies. The conclusions may help managers of hotel companies to better incorporate quality as a strategic, proactive tool with which to confront changing or adverse economic circumstances.     

Advanced technologies and international business: A multidisciplinary analysis of the literature

Advanced digital technologies, such as the Internet of Things, blockchain, big data analytics and augmented reality, are gradually transforming the way multinational firms do business. Due to the extent of this transformation many scholars argue that the integration of these technologies marks the commencement of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0). However, the question how these advanced technologies impact international business activities needs further attention. To this end, we adopt a multidisciplinary approach to review the related literature in international business (IB), general management, information systems, and operations research. We include the two latter fields, because advanced technologies have received more attention in these bodies of literature. Based on our analysis, we discuss the implications of these technologies for international business. Further, we highlight the drivers of technology utilisation by multinational firms and likely outcomes. We also provide future research avenues.     

Mapping the evolution of the impact of economic transition on Central and Eastern European enterprises: A co-word analysis

Here we use co-word analysis on extant literature to map the intellectual structure of research addressing the impact of economic transition on Central and Eastern European enterprises during the 1989–2013 period. We collected and analyzed 2053 scholarly papers from the most comprehensive management databases, which were then used to develop. This paper contributes to the economic transition literature by providing an empirically derived framework based on the extant literature. This framework describes the main factors affecting enterprises during the transition process, the relationships among these factors and their evolution.     

我国体制内智库的运行机制研究——以科技智库为例

科技智库建设是我国科技决策咨询制度建设的重要内容,而体制内科技智库在科技智库中占据主导地位。本文从体制内科技智库的内涵出发,挖掘科技智库运行机制的内涵,构建分析框架,并总结我国科技智库运行的典型经验、问题,从提升智库的独立性、加强智库统筹协调、加大智库改革力度、提升对外开放度等方面为我国体制内智库建设提出建议。     

全球化中的中国机电产业国际竞争力培育路径——基于产业内贸易视角的实证分析

产业内贸易是20世纪70年代中期以来出现的一种新的国际贸易模式.文章运用产业内贸易理论,对我国机械电子制造业的产业内贸易的决定因素--规模经济、产品的差异性、国际直接投资及回归模型进行了实证分析,探讨影响我国机电产业国际竞争力的因素及其影响强度,并就我国机电产业发展和机电制造企业有效竞争战略的制定提出若干政策建议.     

基于激光切割技术的科技馆文创产品开发实践研究——以“记里鼓车拼装玩具”为例

科技馆开发文创产品,能够更好地实现自身的社会功能,对于延伸科技馆科普教育功能、满足公众对科普事业的需求具有重要意义。激光切割技术,作为一种加工制作方法,为文创产品研发设计提供了技术支持。本文基于激光切割技术的文创产品（拼插玩具）的开发实践,阐述激光切割技术在文创产品开发中的应用、科普文创产品设计理念与开发策略、自研科普文创产品研发思路与开发流程等,以期对科技馆行业内的文创产品开发工作有所启示。     

科技社团官网改版升级的实施路径初探——以中国科协网为例

科技社团官网如何改版升级？历史内容如何迁移利用？数据资源如何汇聚展示？运维服务如何保障？本文以中国科协网为例,从需求调研、顶层规划、栏目架构、界面设计、功能升级五个方面梳理出科技社团官网改版升级的实施路径,希望对科技社团官网的改版升级建设有所启发帮助。     

Using complex networks analysis to assess the evolution of international economic integration: The cases of East Asia and Latin America

This paper exploits recently-developed indicators based on network analysis to investigate the pattern of international integration followed by East Asian countries and compares it with the Latin American performance. Standard trade openness indicators fall short of portraying the peculiarity of the Asian experience, and of explaining why other emerging markets with similar characteristics have been less successful over the last 25 years. The analysis offers an alternative perspective on the issue regarding international economic integration by taking into account the whole structure of international trade relationships and by determining both the position of countries in the world trade network, and its evolution over time. We find that East Asian countries are more integrated into the world economy, as they have moved from the periphery of the network towards its core. Our results support the idea that the degree of openness matters but it is not enough to characterize economic integration. The number and identity of trade partners, and the specific individual structure of trade for each country, need to be incorporated in order to fully characterize international economic integration. By doing so, it is possible to argue that the integration process of the East Asian countries mirrors their high economic performance, while the lower degree of integration of Latin America can be related to the lack of economic development of the region, even though their degree of openness has increased.     

后疫情背景下金融机构开展服务科技型中小（微）企业融资的探索与实践：以浙江为例

由于新冠肺炎疫情的持续影响，科技型中小（微）企业面临着资金周转和融资难的困境，财务脆弱性风险较为明显。这其中既有企业内部的原因，也有社会经济环境、市场状况和金融服务等外部环境因素。本文将对后疫情背景下金融机构服务和促进科技型中小（微）企业融资问题进行理论溯源，并以浙江为例，分析金融机构服务科技型中小（微）企业融资实践中面临的难题，并提出建立风险偿债基金、构建多层次信息平台、将人力资本作为授信额度担保的重要依据、聚焦创新创业生态体系建设等对策和建议，以期助力科技型中小（微）企业“转危为机”，推动投融资服务转型升级。