A New Perspective on Ethics,Ecology, and Economics

This paper introduces the important concept of a biophysical perspective on economics into the business ethics literature. The biophysical perspective recognizes that ecological processes determine what can be done in an economy and how best to do it. A biophysical perspective places the economic system into a larger context of the ecologic system. This changes the perception of ethical issues by identifying a larger scope of management decisions. The paper examines the changing ethical landscape in such issues as biotechnology, planned obsolescence, productivity, and international trade. The paper also examines the shift in mindset associated with the shift in economic framework. It draws on the literature on cognitive structures and moral imagination to show this new perspective can actually raise the bar for ethical decision-making and behavior. The pattern is that the ethical behavior associated with a biophysical economic framework has a greater scope of responsibility with the benefit that the required ethical behavior leads to better long-term decision making.     

Shareholder Engagement on Environmental,Social, and Governance Performance

We study behind-the-scenes investor activism promoting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) improvements by means of a proprietary dataset of a large international, socially responsible activist fund. We examine the activist’s target selection, forms of engagement, impact on ESG performance, drivers of success, and effects on the targets’ operations and value creation. Target firms are typically large and visible, perform well, and have high liquidity (stock turnover) and low ESG performance. Engagement induces ESG rating adjustments: firms with poor ex ante ESG ratings experience a ratings increase after complying with the activist’s demands, whereas firms with high ex ante ESG ratings experience a ratings decrease following the revelation of their ESG problems. Activism that is focused on environmental and social issues is more likely to succeed if targets are ESG-sensitive (i.e., they have a strong ex ante ESG profile). Successful engagements boost targets’ sales. Risk-adjusted excess stock returns (with four-factor adjustment and relative to a matched sample of non-engaged firms) of successful engagements outperform those of unsuccessful engagements by 2.7%. Results are especially strong for firms with low ex ante ESG scores. Specifically, targeted firms in the lowest ex ante ESG quartile outperform matched peers by 7.5% in the year after the end of the engagement. Our results thus suggest that the activism regarding corporate social responsibility generally improves ESG practices and corporate sales and is profitable to the activist. Taken together, we provide direct evidence that ethical investing and strong financial performance, both from the activist’s and the targeted firm’s perspective, can go hand-in-hand together.

     

Size, strategic, and market orientation affects on innovation

Based on a random sample of 500 South Yorkshire non-hi-tech manufacturing small, medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) the quantitative findings support the hypothesis that size, strategic, and market orientation associate with innovation. The results show that prospectors are medium-sized companies and small companies, defenders. Prospectors are more innovative and market-oriented than defenders. The findings reveal that to succeed in an intense competitive environment, non-hi-tech manufacturing SMEs have to be proactive toward market opportunities, receptive to innovation and take the lead in new product innovation. However, their weaknesses include a lack of flexibility, a partial open culture and an organizational structure that impedes sustained innovation. This study addresses a gap in the literature, by linking innovation to the strategic orientation of the firm instead of examining firms' specific characteristics or the effects of external environment and structural factors. The research focuses on non-hi-tech manufacturing SMEs.     

Olfactory priming on consumer categorization,recall, and choice

Consumer choices are mostly regulated by pleasurable experiences that arise outside of the individuals' awareness in response to sensory attributes. This research examines the unconscious mechanism underlying consumers' behavior in response to odors applying the priming approach. Five experiments show that individuals' responses to odors involve two mechanisms, one affective (affective priming) and one associative (semantic priming) that impact consumers' categorization, recall, and choice. We found that when individuals perceive an odor as pleasant, their memory for odor-congruent brand logos (Experiment 1), and categorization of odor-congruent visual objects (Experiment 2) is improved. Unpleasant odors, instead, improve the categorization of odor-congruent visual objects only when they are made salient (Experiments 3 and 4). A pleasant odor diffused in the environment also drives consumers toward odor-congruent choices (Experiment 5), providing evidence that the incidental exposure to odors may induce affective and semantic associations with unrelated objects and behaviors. We also demonstrate that olfactory cues might be more effective than other modality (visual) stimuli to drive consumer responses. An implication for marketing is that odors employed in retail settings not only may induce an experience of pleasure but also promote specific consumer responses, such as categorization, recall, and choice.     

Self-monitoring,norms, and attitudes as influences on consumer complaining

Reactions of consumers to marketplace problems vary widely despite the frequent similarity of sources of dissatisfaction. The results of two studies designed to investigate the determinants of consumer inclinations to complain are presented. Two alternative social-psychological explanations of behavior employing self-monitoring, moral and social norms,and attitudes as predictor variables are examined.     

张瑞敏谈SBU

5年前，张瑞敏称之为“内部模拟市场化”。现在，他们叫SBU(Strategical Business Unit的缩写，即策略事业单位)，通俗地理解，张蹦敏发动的这场“运动”是要把海尔的3万名员工，都变成一个个“小老板”。     

花青素的提取、分离与纯化方法的研究进展

花青素因在天然植物中广泛存在及优异的抗氧化性能而受到研究者的普遍关注,加之近年来人们对从植物中提取分离花青素及纯化技术的研究深入,它在医药保健、化妆品、食品添加剂等领域的应用日益广泛。综述了国内外近几年提取分离花青素的技术及纯化方法,对各种方法的优缺点进行了分析,对花青素的研究现状做出总结并展望,旨在为花青素资源的开发利用和工业化生产提供依据。     

A Note on Quality Choice,Monopoly, and Network Externality

Introducing network externalities into a model of vertically differentiated products, Lambertini and Orsini (2001, 2003) analyze the implications of a monopolist’s quality choice for social optimum. Moreover, they examine how the network externality affects quality, quantity, price, and social surplus. In this note, by looking at the nature of cost functions and the degree of network externalities, we reconsider their results, at least some of which depend upon the specificity of the cost functions.      

浅析劳务输出对民俗旅游业的影响——以安图县万宝镇红旗村为例

红旗村是安图至长白山旅游途中惟一的纯朝鲜族居住村,是国家AAA级旅游景区,民俗旅游业是该村的主导产业。当前的问题是在劳务输出的不断发展,为农民脱贫致富带来机遇的同时,民俗旅游业面临着后继无人的困境。政府部门应采取正确的策略引导出国务工或在外打工的村民返乡,并积极鼓励村民返乡创业,不断发展壮大民俗旅游业。     

The influence of culture,emotions, intangibility,and atmospheric cues on online behavior

This paper examines how emotions and website atmospheric cues influence service tangibility and consumer attitudes. The proposed model was compared across three cultures: North America (Canada and U.S.), China, and the Middle East. The findings support the overall model and demonstrate several non-invariant paths across the groups. Particularly, the results suggest how the influences of two emotional dimensions (pleasure and dominance) on consumer perceptions of site atmospherics vary across cultures. Moreover, the effects of service tangibility dimensions (physical tangibility, specificity, and mental tangibility) on consumers' attitudes toward the website and service vary significantly across the three cultures. Mental tangibility has the greatest influence on North American customers' attitudes, while physical tangibility and specificity have the greatest impact on Chinese and Middle Eastern customers' attitudes, respectively.     

William L. Rivers and William T. Slater,Aspen Handbook on the Media,Aspen Institute Program on Communications and Society,Palo Alto,California, 1975, 182 pp.

Abstract

A study of the use of humor in U.S. and U.K. television advertising was developed by surveying ad agency executives in the two countries and then by conducting a content analysis of television commercials. The survey of executives revealed a more accepting attitude toward the use of humor, and a broader view of the potential uses of humor among the British agencies. The content analysis showed a significant increase in the use of humor in the U.S. since the last major benchmark study, but less humor than in the U.K. sample of advertising. An examination of the content analysis data using the Foote, Cone and Belding (FCB) planning matrix revealed a situational use of humor in both countries, with humor most often used with low involvement/ feeling products and least often used with high involvement/feeling and thinking products. For the most part, the views of agency executives reflect the incidence and use of humor in their respective countries.     

看高清，看奥运，畅享电视新时尚——中央电视台开路高清频道“5·1”正式播出

高清电视（High Definition Television）采用数字信号传输方式，从电视节目的采集、制作到传输以及用户终端的接收全部实现数字化。高清电视是数字电视的最高级形式，是数字电视DTV中最高标准的一种，是电视的发展趋势。     

Effects of Nationality,Gender, and Religiosity on Business-Related Ethicality

Cross-national studies of business-related ethicality frequently have concluded that Americans possess higher ethical standards than non-Americans. These conclusions have generally been based on survey responses of relatively small convenience samples of individuals in a very limited number of countries. This article reports a study of the relationship between nationality and business-related ethicality based on survey responses from more than 6300 business students attending 120 colleges and universities in 36 countries. Two well-documented determinants of business ethics (gender and religiosity) were investigated as moderators of the nationality–business ethicality relationship. The major research finding is that, while statistically significant differences were found between the business-related ethicality of American survey participants and the business-related ethicality of the non-American survey participants, the magnitudes of the differences were not substantial. The results of the study suggest that (i) more empirical cross-cultural/national research is required on business-related ethicality and (ii) previous explanations for cross-cultural/national differences in ethics need to be reconsidered before further generalizations are warranted.     

价格打折品牌也打折?

为了保住影尚在中国市场的顶级服装品牌形象，同时阻击本土高端品牌对影尚市场由下而上的侵蚀，袁立行引入了折扣店业态经营。新的零售业态带来了短期内的销售飙升，却也为公司带来了新的问题。     

Mobile advertising to Digital Natives: preferences on content,style, personalization,and functionality

Digital advertising is the fastest growing form of marketing. Within digital, mobile is the fastest growing medium. Mobile advertising occurs on any mobile device, such as smartphones and tablets. The upcoming generation of Digital Natives is especially prone to viewing mobile advertising. Digital Natives have grown up with digital communications; they use their smartphones to connect with the world and make purchases. Mobile advertising and Digital Natives are both new to the marketplace and, thus, research is scarce on both. This paper investigates the preferences of Digital Natives regarding mobile advertising. Several preferences were found and recommendations are provided.