On automated e‐business negotiations: Goal,policy, strategy,and plans of decision and action

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in automated e‐business negotiations. The automation of negotiation requires a decision model to capture the negotiation knowledge of policymakers and negotiation experts so that the decision‐making process can be carried out automatically. Current research on automated e‐business negotiations has focused on defining low‐level tactics (or negotiation rules) so that automated negotiation systems can carry out automated negotiation processes. These low‐level tactics are usually defined from a technical perspective, not from a business perspective. There is a gap between high‐level business negotiation goals and low‐level tactics. In this article, we distinguish the concepts of negotiation context, negotiation goals, negotiation strategy, and negotiation tactics and introduce a formal decision model to show the relations among these concepts. We show how high‐level negotiation goals can be formally mapped to low‐level tactics that can be used to affect the behavior of a negotiation system during the negotiation process. In business, a business organization faces different negotiation situations (or contexts) and determines different sets of goals for different negotiation contexts. In our decision model, a business policymaker sets negotiation goals from different perspectives, which are called goal dimensions. A negotiation policy is a functional mapping from a negotiation context to some quantitative measures (or goal values) for the goal dimensions to express how competitive the policymaker wants to reach that set of goals. A negotiation expert who has the experience and expertise to conduct negotiations would define the negotiation strategies needed for reaching the negotiation goals. Formally, a negotiation strategy is a functional mapping from a set of goal values to a set of decision‐action rules that implement negotiation tactics. The selected decision‐action rules can then be used to control the execution of an automated negotiation system, which conducts a negotiation on behalf of a business organization.     

Mental health of UK university business students: Relationship with shame,motivation and self-compassion

There is growing awareness of mental health problems among UK business students, which appears to be exacerbated by students’ attitudes of shame toward mental health. This study recruited 138 UK business students and examined the relationship between mental health and shame, and mental health and potential protective factors such as self-compassion and motivation. A significant correlation between each of the constructs was observed and self-compassion was identified as an explanatory variable for mental health. Shame moderated the relationship between self-compassion and mental health. Integrating self-compassion training into business study programs may help to improve the mental health of this student group.     

Determinants and consequences of service experience toward small retailer platform business model: Stimulus–organism–response perspective

This study attempts to understand the determinants and consequences of service experience toward retailers’ digital transformation by comparing empirical results from entrepreneurs and consumers. For entrepreneurs, the critical antecedents of service experience include entertainment, tangibility, reliability, and empathy. For customers, the critical antecedents include entertainment, interactivity, tangibility, and empathy. Meanwhile, regarding the consequences of service experience, service experience directly affects both continuous use intention and satisfaction. However, satisfaction mediates the relationship between service experience and continuous use intention for entrepreneurs. In addition, no direct effect is found. Overall, service experience has a meditating effect between stimulus and response variables. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs and customers have different perceptions of the proposed topic.     

Influence of country and company characteristics on international business decisions: A review,conceptual model,and propositions

This research advances four propositions and a conceptual model of country and company characteristics influencing key International Business Decisions (IBDs). The IBDs in this study are country selection and evaluation, entry mode, segmentation-targeting-positioning, and the marketing mix – the first two in the international business domain, and the latter two in the international marketing field. The conceptual model and related four propositions are advanced, based on an extensive literature review and subsequent in-depth review of 169 published research papers on major IBDs and their determinants, namely, country characteristics, including opportunities, risks, and various distances between the host country and home country, and company characteristics, which include international business experience, assets/resources, and expansion/growth strategies. Managerial implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

网络营销创新定位、运行模型及案例分析

网络营销的创新性质包括创新程度和创新效益两个方面。创新程度反映网络营销创新的影响力度,是过程性指标;创新效益反映网络营销的经济效应,是结果性指标。将创新度和效益度垂直相交构成一个二维平面,并将其分别划分为高低两个级别段,可形成四个定位模块,即触网型创新、网络实验型创新、网络营销专家和运营网络型创新。一般情况下,企业网络营销创新往往从触网型创新出发。进而上升到运营网络型创新阶段,但在网络营销实践中,某些创新运动并不是严格地起于触网型创新,而止于运营网络模型,更有逆向运行的情况存在。     

Processing contradictory brand information from advertising and social media: an application of the multiple-motive heuristic-systematic model

This study tested two major theoretical assumptions of the heuristic-systematic model – (1) concurrent information processing and (2) multiple processing motives – in a common advertising situation where contradictory brand information from different sources (e.g. a positive advertising claim [a persuasive argument] vs. negative consensus information from a third-party source [a persuasion cue]) was available to consumers with varying motivation (accuracy and defense motivation). Results showed that individuals employed different information processing strategies, depending on motivation type. Accuracy-motivated individuals engaged in concurrent (both cue- and argument-based) processing when involvement was high. Defense-motivated individuals sought positive valence, regardless of the level of involvement and type of information.     

Pakistan's agricultural exports,determinants and its potential: an application of stochastic frontier gravity model

The most important and imperative objective of the developing nations is rapid economic growth and exports are generally considered as an engine for economic growth. Being an agro-based economy, agriculture exports play pivotal role not only in economic growth but also in socioeconomic uplifting. This study aims at evaluating main determinants of agricultural exports of Pakistan by applying stochastic frontier gravity model over the period of 1995–2014 for a sample of 63 countries. In addition, the study also analyzes whether there is any untapped export potential between Pakistan and the trading partners in agriculture sector. The results confirm the consistency of gravity model for agriculture exports of Pakistan. Likewise, the estimates also point out that bilateral exchange as well as tariff rates also effect agriculture exports. The study has also incorporated the effect of common border, common culture, colonial history and preferential trading agreements by including their respective dummies. The study confirms the significance of each factor, except common language, with their respective magnitude. Moreover, technical efficiency estimates reveal that Pakistan has great export potential with neighboring, Middle Eastern and European countries.     

KIS 集聚、空间溢出与制造业创新——基于中国 283 个城市面板数据的实证研究简

基于已有调研观察及案例分析文献,文章按照空间经济学规范范式理出了两个关于KIS集聚影响制造业创新的重要实证命题,并根据命题特性提出了相应的实证模型,进而引入2005-2007年间中国283个城市KIS产业及工业企业数据,在考虑空间互动的基础上,对相关命题予以检验。研究显示：KIS空间集聚能够显著地改善中国本土制造企业的创新效率,以两类代表性KIS产业数据为例的回归分析表明,KIS产业集聚不仅对所在地区本土制造企业的创新产出增长具有显著的正效应,通过空间关联性,KIS集聚还能产生跨区域创新效应。进一步基于企业分组比对的检验揭示,KIS集聚-创新效应因企业的规模以及企业所在行业技术水平不同而异。其中：小企业的创新对本地区KIS产业集聚不甚敏感,但对其他地区KIS集聚的关联效应较为敏感;大中型企业的创新则同时得益于其所在地区以及其他地区的KIS集聚;中高技术企业较之低技术企业更多地获益于KIS空间集聚。     

Target Costing,Business Model Innovation,and Firm Performance: An Empirical Analysis of Chinese Firms

Market orientation theory was used to relate the implementation of target costing systems and business model innovation to firm performance using a sample of 189 electronics and information industry manufacturers in China. As expected, the implementation of target costing was positively associated with both business model innovations and firm performance. Further, the diversity of product development teams was also crucial. It positively moderated the association between target costing and business model innovation. Finally, the business model innovation was positively related to firm performance. Copyright © 2012 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.