CONSUMER REPRESENTATIVES ON THE BOARDS OF NATIONALIZED INDUSTRIES

The paper examines the nature and role of the boards of nationalized industries and arguments for consumer representatives to serve on them. It concludes in favour of consumer representation and argues that consumer councils should develop and publish consumer audits for their industry as this would both support the work of consumer board members and enhance the role of the councils as defenders of the consumer interest.     

A Representative Committee by Approval Balloting

A new voting rule for electing committees is described. Specifically, we use approval balloting and propose a new voting procedure that guarantees that if there is a committee that represents (with a given proportion of representatives) all of the existing voters, then the selected committee has to represent all of voters in at least the same proportion. This property is a way of selecting a committee that represents completely all of voters when such a committee exists. The usual voting rules in this context do not satisfy this condition.     

The drivers of consumer value in the ECR Category Management model

This paper critically evaluates the proposed structure and contents of a frequently discussed Category Management (CM) model in the Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) context. Based on this we present an extensive empirical study where the data from a survey of 202 household representatives are merged with their actual purchasing data taken from a consumer purchase panel (>30,000 purchase observations). The results from an exploratory factor analysis and subsequent multiple regression analyses show that the investigated CM model needs to be amended by personnel and point-of-sale aspects as they affect Consumer Value significantly. The investigated differences between the drivers of Consumers' Value call for including both survey and consumer purchase data and consequently incorporating attitudinal and behavioural aspects into Category Management.     

Consumer input in standardization: a case study of toy safety

Abstract

Ever since the ‘new approach’ to the achievement of the Internal Market was adopted, the importance of European Standardization has increased. The standardization institutes are now responsible for the technical elaboration of requirements touching upon health and safety of consumers. Therefore, it is of major importance for consumer movements to have an input in the process. In this study, the consumer interest articulation in the ‘new approach’ policy-making process is looked into. The role consumer organizations play in both the pre-standardization and the actual standardization stage are dealt with. Toy safety is taken as a case-study, and the information for the research was mainly gathered from interviews with about 30 representatives of European and national consumer movements, government agencies and industry involved in this field

The study shows that the influence of consumers in the pre-standardization stage, when a directive is drafted and a mandate negotiated between the European Commission and the standardization institutes, is limited

As concerns the standardization stage, consumers have representation in technical committees and working groups of the European standardization institutes. The participation of European and national representatives is compared

The main findings of this research are that consumer input in the actual standardization process is crucial, since their input in the pre-standardization phase is limited. In addition to this, the European and the national consumer representatives are not equally successful in assuring consumer input in this particular policy area. The causes for this difference are considered.     

Double Standards: The Role of Techniques of Neutralization

Despite the growing number of studies examining consumers?? perceptions of unethical corporate and consumer practices, research examining the apparent double standard existing between what consumers perceive as acceptable corporate behaviour and what they believe are acceptable consumer practices remains scarce. Contradictory, double standards are often quoted by other researchers as a major stream in ethical literature. The few studies dealing with this topic as well as this study indicate that people rate corporate unethical actions as less admissible compared to similar consumer misactions. However, little is known about the processes underlying these double standards. This research investigates whether the techniques of neutralization could provide a meaningful way of approaching this phenomenon. Findings indicate that the higher the extent to which people agree with arguments explaining away the misbehaviour instigated by consumers or business, the more they tolerate these questionable consumer and corporate practices. Furthermore and more importantly, these techniques give an answer on the question why people judge business (representatives) more harshly than consumers. More specifically, results show that the same respondents who justify questionable consumer actions to a certain degree, condone the same misbehaviours instigated by business (representatives) to a much lesser extent. In this way, the techniques of neutralization concern a process explaining the double standard phenomenon.     

Consumer policy in Co-op Denmark as perceived by the member representatives

One important prerequisite for consumer cooperatives to function as consumer welfare organizations must be that the member representatives wish to direct the whole organization towards consumer welfare by means of an active consumer policy. They must perceive themselves as so-called central partners in the organization, and they should use the consumer programme as a parameter of strategic consumer action. However, analysis of the present consumer programme in Co-op Denmark and the works leading up to it indicates that this might not really hold true. An interview study was therefore carried out among selected member representatives in order to throw light on the attitudes to an active co-operative consumer policy. This study shows that the present consumer programme does not aim at establishing or maintaining consumer welfare as the ultimate yardstick for co-operative action, and that member representatives do not want to direct Co-op Denmark towards any precise goals. Cooperative consumer policy should by no means restrict the freedom of choice of its business administration in achieving primarily economic goals.

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Die Verbraucherpolitik von Co-op Dänemark in der Wahrnehmung der Mitgliedsvertreter

Zusammenfassung Wenn Verbrauchergenossenschaften Organisationen zur Hebung der Verbraucherwohlfahrt sein sollen, so besteht eine wichtige Voraussetzung dazu in dem Willen der Mitgliedsvertreter, die gesamte Organisation mit Hilfe einer aktiven Verbraucherpolitik auf die Wohlfahrt der Verbraucher hin auszurichten. Die Mitgliedsvertreter müssen sich selbst als sogenannte zentrale Partner in der Organisation verstehen, und sie sollten das Verbraucherprogramm als einen Parameter für strategische Verbraucheraktionen nutzen.Eine Analyse des gegenwärtigen Verbraucherprogramms von Co-op Dänemark und der vorbereitenden Arbeiten zeigt jedoch, daß diese Voraussetzung in Wirklichkeit nicht erfüllt sein dürfte. Deshalb wurde bei ausgewählten Mitgliedsvertretern eine Interview-Studie durchgeführt, um deren Einstellungen zu einer aktiven genossenschaftlichen Verbraucherpolitik zu ermitteln. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, daß das gegenwärtige Verbraucherprogramm nicht auf die Förderung der Verbraucherwohlfahrt als letztes Ziel abgestellt ist, und daß die Verbrauchervertreter ihre Genossenschaft überhaupt nich auf irgendwelche präzisen Ziele ausrichten möchten. Vielmehr solle genossenschaftliche Verbraucherpolitik eben nicht die Entscheidungsfreiheit des Genossenschaftsmanagements beim Erreichen von in erster Linie ökonomischen Zielen einengen.

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Hans Rask Jensen is Associate Professor of Marketing at the Southern Denmark School of Economics and Business Administration, Grundtvigs Allé 150, DK-6400 Sønderborg, Denmark.     

Consumer empowerment: public policy and insurance regulation

This paper explores consumer advocacy as it applies to insurance regulation based on the literature and on the author's experience as a consumer representative and member of the Board of Trustees for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). The NAIC, founded in 1871, is a non‐profit voluntary organization of the chief insurance regulatory officials of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. One of its key objectives is to facilitate the fair and equitable treatment of consumers. Each year 13–16 consumer representatives are selected to speak for consumers at national meetings in addition to serving as year‐round resources to consumers, attorneys representing consumers, regulators, and other groups. Readers of the paper are encouraged to participate more fully in the public policy process. Although the focus of this paper is on insurance and regulation in the USA, the guiding principles apply to other nations, organizations, and consumer causes.     

Co-operation among groups in developing and delivering programmes to consumers

The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of co-operation among consumer education providers, in developing and delivering education programmes for consumers. Four groups of consumer education providers were identified for this study: business representatives, consumer advocates, government agencies and secondary school educators. Members of each group were presented with a series of 42 objectives which had been grouped into eight categories. They were asked to identify the importance of each objective and providers were compared according to their responses. Similarities and differences among consumer education providers were identified and statistical tests applied. Three objectives identified as most important by participants were: (i) developing guidelines for wise use of credit; (ii) identifying the rights and responsibilities of the consumer in our society; and (iii) establishing the essential factors in the developing of a budget. The median test identified significant differences (P < 0.05) between consumer education suppliers in the importance they assigned to consumer education objectives in three categories. Spearman rank-difference correlation test identified objectives within seven categories of objectives for which consumer educators expressed similar importance. These findings indicate sufficient agreement among consumer educators' importance ranking of objectives to indicate support for co-operative educational programmes.     

The UK Food Standards Agency: putting the consumer first

The Food Standards Agency was set up in April 2000 to protect the health of the public and the interests of consumers in relation to food. Its principal purpose is to put the consumer first. But what does this mean in practice? The Agency is finding ways to help consumer organizations and consumer representatives contribute more effectively to its work. However, consumer organizations cannot hope to represent the full range of consumer perspectives, and so the Agency is keen to reach out to individual consumers using a variety of innovative mechanisms. This article will describe why the Agency was established and how it achieves its main objective of putting the consumer first. It will discuss how the Agency is developing and testing new ways of working to ensure that the consumer perspective is fully accounted for when developing and evaluating policies, including setting up an influential new Consumer Committee. It will go on to highlight a number of recent innovative consumer consultations and structures that have been established to involve consumers in Agency policy making. It will discuss these processes and how the lessons that have been learnt are informing future Agency strategies. The article will then describe how the Agency protects consumers through effective risk communication strategies and how its Annual Consumer Attitudes Survey will help it measure success so that it can continue to set new stand‐ards in putting consumers first in relation to food.     

Care labelling for upholstered furniture: consumers’expressed needs and preferences

The issue of care labelling for upholstered furniture has been debated by U.S. government officials and furniture manufacturers since 1974. While the Federal Trade Commission in 1982 voted not to include upholstered furniture in a move to extend coverage to products other than apparel, they did order a continuing investigation into this area. FTC officials solicited an opinion from industry representatives on the necessity of providing care labels for upholstered furniture at this time; however, they did not seek consumer input. An investigation into consumer preferences for care labelling on upholstered furniture was needed. This study was designed in two phases. Phase 1 consisted of a market survey to assess the availability of written care information on upholstered furniture at a local level. The second phase was a mail survey of consumers that collected data on expressed needs and preferences for upholstered furniture care labelling.     

Managing customer experiences in online product communities

Many companies have established online product communities or forums as a vehicle to extend product support services to their customers. Customers' interactions in such online forums with peer customers and vendor representatives resolve their product-related queries as well as inform on their product purchase decisions. Despite the significance of such interactions, there has been limited theoretical attention so far on how companies can manage customer experiences in online product communities. Drawing on theories and concepts from diverse areas including computer-mediated communication, consumer psychology, and online communities, this study proposes a four dimensional construct - Online Community Experience (OCE) - to capture customer experiences in such online product communities, and examines its impact on customer attitudes regarding the product, the company, and the quality of service. Data collected from customers in online product forums offered by four companies is used to test the study hypotheses. Implications for research on online consumer behavior and marketing are discussed.     

Driving In-Role and Extra-Role Brand Performance among Retail Frontline Salespeople: Antecedents and the Moderating Role of Customer Orientation

The organizational frontline in retail represents the frontline for an entire supply chain. This channel structure distances the branded supplier from the end consumer and makes the supplier dependent on a retail frontline salesperson that (1) it does not control and (2) also represents competing brands. This study reveals mechanisms that the supplier may use to influence retail frontline salespeople. We demonstrate the importance of consumer marketing programs and supplier representatives in building brand identification between the manufacturer’s brand and the retail frontline employee that translates into increased brand sales, while also revealing the role of rewards programs in stimulating brand-specific extra-role behaviors. Interestingly, retail frontline customer orientation, built by the retailer, diminishes the effect of brand extra-role behaviors toward the focal brand on the focal brand’s sales, providing an informal control mechanism for retailers to protect its objectives. The results of this study have powerful ramifications for both retailers and suppliers in achieving both their mutual, and sometimes differing, objectives related to the retail frontline.     

Consumer Acumen: Augmenting Consumer Literacy

Appreciating that some consumer scholars are expressing frustration with the limitations of consumer literacy, this article offers the additional construct of consumer acumen (i.e., an astute, penetrating mind and intellect). After discussing consumer confidence in a global recession and emergent post‐recession consumer segments (reflecting the recession's psychological toll), consumer acumen, modeled after the emergent literature on business acumen, is defined, including six proposed dimensions. Consumer acumen augments consumer literacy with keen, penetrating consumer intelligence that informs quick perception and discernment of changing economic contexts. Consumer acumen is a foundational competency for the future, enabling people to better function in the post‐recession economy.     

THE LANGUAGE OF POSSESSIONS AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR CONSUMER STUDIES

In this paper the author considers the way in which consumers regard their possessions and how this can influence consumer behaviour. The need for change in consumer education and consumer protection is considered and the idea of consumer responsibility is proposed.     

Investigating the impact of consumers’ patriotism and ethnocentrism on purchase intention: Moderating role of consumer guilt and animosity

The present study aims to examine how consumer guilt and consumer animosity, as moderators, can impact consumers' purchase intention toward domestic products. A total of 385 responses were used to test the proposed relationship. PROCESS macro was used to examine the mediating and moderating relationships. The present study provides guidance to international marketers on why and how they should do extra efforts to mitigate guilt feeling. The study contributes to the growing body of literature on consumer ethnocentrism by investigating moderating role of consumer guilt and consumer animosity.     

Where there's a will,there's a way! A practitioner's view

This contribution is focused on the gaps which exist between regulation and its practical effects. It does refer to the possible implications of the Maastricht Treaty on future EC consumer policy but is not at all limited to this aspect of the issue. The goal is rather to shed some light on the practical difficulties encountered by consumer representatives in the adoption of EC consumer policy initiatives, in contrast to the more theoretical approach adopted by some other contributors to this issue. It also refers to some of the positive developments which have taken place, as a response to consumer activism, within the EC.

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Wo ein Wille ist, ist auch ein Weg! Eine Meinung aus der Praxis

Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag befa\t sich mit der Lücke, die zwischen Absichten der Regulierung und ihren praktischen Auswirkungen besteht. Er bezieht sich zwar auf die möglichen Implikationen des Vertrages von Maastricht für die künftige Verbraucherpolitik der Gemeinschaft, ist aber keineswegs auf diesen Aspekt beschränkt. Vielmehr werden die praktischen Schwierigkeiten beleuchtet, denen sich Verbraucherrepräsentanten bei der übernahme von verbraucherpolitischen Initiativen der Gemeinschaft gegenübersehen — ein Blickwinkel, der sich von den eher theoretischen Perspektiven mancher anderer Beiträge zu diesem Heft unterscheidet. Behandelt werden auch einige positive Entwicklungen, die als Antwort auf Konsumentenaktivitäten innerhalb der Europäischen Gemeinschaft stattgefunden haben.

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All opinions expressed in this article are personal and do not commit BEUC.     

Irresponsible Lending? A Case Study of a U.K. Credit Industry Reform Initiative

There are major concerns about the level of personal borrowing, particularly sourced from credit cards. This paper charts the progress of an initiative to create a Responsible Lending Index (RLI) for the credit industry. The RLI proposed to voluntarily benchmark lending standards and promote best practice within the credit industry by involving suppliers of credit, customer representatives and regulators. However, despite initial support from some banks, consumer bodies and the Chair of the Treasury Select Committee, it failed to gain sufficient support from financial institutions in its original format. The primary reasons for this were related to the complexity of building such a robust index and the banks trade body’s fear of exposing its members to public scrutiny. A revised alternative, the Responsible Lending Initiative, was proposed which took into account these concerns. However, the Association of Payment Clearing Service (APACS), the trade body of the credit industry, then effectively destroyed the proposal. This article describes an attempt to address the challenges in the credit card industry with the initiation of the RLI, reflected in stakeholder discourse and in the context of a wider concern expressed by the involved stakeholders in terms of the need for greater responsibility in the banking industry’s lending practices.     

HOME ECONOMISTS—THE MISSING LINK WITH CONSUMERS?

The apparent lack of awareness of the potential contribution of graduate home economists to consumer welfare is discussed and exemplified. The concept of a consumer policy based on co-operation, rather than conflict, and the role of home economists within this is proposed.     

Predicting and Explaining Responses to Consumer Environments: An Empirical Test and Theoretical Extension of the Behavioural Perspective Model

The Behavioural Perspective Model (BPM) classifies consumer behaviours based on their utilitarion and informational consequences; it further categorises them by the scope of the settings in which they occur. An empirical study (N = 561) shows these outcomes to predict consumers’ verbal reports of their affective shows that Mehrabian and Russell's [1974] measures of pleasure, arousal and dominance are predicted by the structural features of consumer situations proposed by the BPM: the pattern of reinforcement and behaviour setting scope. Reported pleasure is higher for consumer behaviours defined in terms of relatively high utilitarian reinforcement; reported arousal is higher for consumer behaviours defined in terms of relatively high informational reinforcement; and reported dominance is higher for consumer behaviours enacted in relatively open settings. In light of its neo-Skinnerian derivation, the BPM interpretation currently emphasises a radical behaviourist philosophy of science. However, an alternative interpretation in terms of Staats's [1996] psychological behaviourism is proposed and the capacity of this alternative framework of conceptualisation and analysis to offer theoretical extension to the BPM research programme is explored.