Understanding Public Concerns About Pesticides: An Empirical Examination

Public concern over pesticides has emerged as a major issue in recent years, but has received relatively little attention from researchers. This paper reports the results of a 1990 telephone survey of a representative sample of residents of the Pacific Northwest concerning a range of pesticide issues. The results indicate a moderately high level of concern over the safety of pesticides, but recognition that some degree of pesticide use is probably necessary. A factor analysis reveals the existence of three underlying dimensions of pesticide attitudes: two very clear dimensions reflecting attitudes toward the “safety” and the “necessity” of pesticide use and a less distinct dimension primarily reflecting “trust” in the food industry's use of pesticides. Although demographic variables are, in general, poor predictors of pesticide attitudes, correlations vary considerably across the dimensions (e.g., women are significantly more concerned about the safety of pesticides, but no more likely to think that pesticide use is unnecessary, than are men). Suggestions for research which could build upon the findings are offered.     

Reporting Concerns About Earnings Quality: An Examination of Corporate Managers

Using an experiment with corporate financial managers (e.g., CFOs, controllers), we find that when red flags are present in the financial statements under their review, managers identify those red flags and, in turn, have greater concerns over earnings quality. In addition, when pressure to meet a financial target is high, managers are more concerned about earnings quality when red flags are present. We also document that when red flags are present, managers are more likely to report both internally to their CEO and, if their concerns are not resolved internally, externally to their auditor. Pressure to meet a financial target increases the likelihood managers report internally, but decreases their likelihood of reporting externally when red flags are present. Additional analyses document reporting differences between CFOs and controllers, and examine the important roles that short-term personal costs, job tenure, and a non-accounting background play in the ethical dilemma managers face when deciding whether to report externally.

     

Mass Media Advertising in a Developing Country

This paper examines mass media advertising in the developing country of Morocco, with a special reference to the relevance of standardized versus localized advertising strategies. The advertising infrastructure is described, highlighting strengths and weaknesses of local advertising agencies. Advertising budgets are discussed according to size and type of company, before presenting a detailed assessment of the advertising media. Five selected campaigns serve to illustrate current advertising practices and problems. The authors conclude that knowledge of the local environment and a willingness to address consumers in their own terms are essential for advertising effectiveness in Morocco, and recommend use of localized rather than standardized marketing strategies.     

An Assessment of the CETSCALE in a Developing Country

Abstract

Researchers have been exhorted to test the psychometric properties of instruments used in cross cultural studies and ascertain their validity and reliability in order to make the results emanating from the use of such instruments generalisable. This study answers such a call for rigorous evaluation of the psychometric properties of cross-national measures that are valid and reliable. The study reports the findings of an assessment of the psychometric properties of the consumer ethnocentric tendencies scale (CETSCALE) in the developing West African country of Ghana. More specifically, the study explores CETSCALE's unidimensionality, internal consistency, and discriminant validity. The findings of our study are both consistent and inconsistent with the extant literature. In particular, while our analysis indicates that the CETSCALE is internally consistent and exhibits discriminant validity, it is not unidimensional as has been reported in earlier studies. Marketing and research implications of the study are suggested.     

Developing a Continuous Improvement Philosophy in a Marketing Organisation: An Examination of Key Events

This paper examines the process of quality improvement in a service and marketing organisation. This commenced with a number of disparate quality initiatives before the strategic business planning process indicated the need for a more structured approach. This two stage approach and the difficulties it caused are described. The company has faced a number of problems in the introduction of TQM, including a lack of senior management understanding of TQM and involvement, departments failing to follow through agreed actions and objectives, lack of support to teamwork and a failure to match up improvement projects to the skills and resources in the project teams.     

我国环境管制出口效应的实证研究

本文分别从出口成本效应和出口创新效应两方面对我国环境管制的出口效应进行了实证检验。结果表明:环境管制相对力度与出口相对竞争力存在着长期协整关系,前者对后者有显著性负向影响,环境管制的出口成本效应成立;我国环境管制力度对出口有显著性正向影响,环境管制的出口创新效应也成立。因此,即使在我国出口由于世界经济衰退而暂时受阻的情况下,我国也不应放松环境管制。     

A Comparative Analysis of Advertising Practices in Unlike Environments

After examining the structure and present characteristics of advertising industry practices, this paper looks at the functions of advertising in developed versus less-developed countries (LDCs) and critically compares the role and functions of advertising agency and client relationships in countries as diverse as Turkey, Sweden and Canada.     

Controls on Advertising: an Examination of Some Economic Arguments

There is increasing pressure to regulate advertising in Britain, and economic concepts are often advanced to support such a policy. One argument is that advertising is wasteful, but this depends upon a quite arbitrary view of what kinds of product differences are considered important. A second argument is that advertising distorts consumer tastes. This claim reflects a particular psychological view (behaviourism) which is not widely accepted nowadays. Other psychological theories, reflected in the writings of modern economists, see advertising as playing a constructive role in helping to reveal tastes, with consumers playing an active rather than passive role in choice. The proposals to limit advertising thus depend upon particular value judgements or psychological theories for which economics provides no justification.     

Perceived Purposes of Budgets in Organizations in a Developing Country

ABSTRACT

The main objective of this paper is to explore the perceptions which Ghanaian managers have of the purposes which budgets serve in organizations. The paper draws upon previous research concerning the link between budgets and decision-making in the developing world. The findings of these studies suggest that budgets are minimally used and inadequately understood. The data employed in this paper is of a qualitative nature drawn from four large-scale organizations by way of discussions, semi-structured interviews plus documentary evidence. The paradox of the findings is that whilst most managers perceived the major roles of budgets to be planning and control, in fact, budgets are largely ignored. Among the reasons stated for this include the high inflation in the country, lack of money in the organizations, managers' lack of adequate accounting knowledge, and untimely and inappropriate presentation of budget variance reports. The paper concludes with some consideration of the ways in which

the budget can be a more effective management tool.     

新一轮农业谈判中发展中国家的立场分析

中国入世后,农业将是受到影响最大的几个部门之一。多哈谈判启动了新一轮谈判,而农业谈判仍是重要内容之一。本文指出了发展中国家对其在世界农产品贸易中处境的不满,分析了发展中国家对新一轮农业谈判态度冷淡的原因及其主场,以便能对中国在新一轮农业谈判中策略的选择有一定的启示。     

The Nature of Emotional Response to Advertising: A Further Examination

Abstract

We are pleased that our typology of emotional response to advertising (Stout and Leckenby 1986) has generated continuing interest. The comment by Page et al. has raised several important issues. To clarify our point of view, which is in many ways consistent with literature which has appeared since the original article, we first present the fundamental assumptions of our typology. We then address the main points raised by Page et al., questioning the validity of some of their arguments.

In addition, we have discovered during reanalysis that some of the results presented in our original article were based on data sets which were not properly merged. We present the results of the reanalysis, taking the opportunity to incorporate some of the suggestions made by Page et al. The findings are now even more strikingly significant than in the original article, and are even more consistent with other research and theory in the emotional response literature.     

Searching for a New Advertising Agency: A Client Perspective

The recent downturn in economic conditions has motivated many organizations to reevaluate their advertising. Many companies have cut their spending and others have changed agencies in the hope of achieving a better return on their advertising expenditure. This article records information from a survey of ninety-five Australian companies which recently changed their agency, and sixty-one companies which thought they might change in the near future. The findings focus on the reasons for changing agencies, the types of information used to help select a new agency, and characteristics of the group of managers which selected a new agency.     

Articulating a New Framework for Visual Metaphors in Advertising

This study develops and tests a conceptual framework for categorizing visual metaphors in advertising according to whether the pictorial elements in the ad are synthesized or juxtaposed. In this attempt, it subscribes to the view that creative ideas frequently share similar design structures and patterns in devising visual metaphors. This study demonstrates that compared with ad visuals that simply juxtapose metaphorical objects, ad visuals that synthesize conceptually similar metaphorical objects provoke greater elaboration and elicit more favorable consumer attitudes toward both the ad and the brand. These positive effects are not free of comprehension costs, however. Ads that synthesize very dissimilar objects (as compared with ads that juxtapose objects) fail to produce the same benefits and might, in some cases, even risk reducing the persuasiveness of the argument about key product attributes in the advertising message.     

Towards a New Paradigm in the Ethics of Women's Advertising

This paper identifies the ethical issues involved with women's advertising, and argues that ads can be successful in generating sales without portraying women as things or as mere sex objects, and without perpetuating various weakness stereotypes. A paradigm shift in advertising appears to be at hand. This new model replaces images of women as submissive or constantly in a need of alteration, with a move to reinstate beauty as a natural thing, not an unattainable ideal. This paper also reviews general ethical issues of the advertising industry, including: (1) that advertising equates the pursuit of material gain with human happiness; (2) that advertising pushes its own values, artificial or false as they may be, as to what is "good" for the consumer; (3) that advertising plays on physical appetites and the body; (4) that advertising strives to bypass rational thinking, by desensitizing the viewer and playing on group dynamics.     

Developing a Group Decision Support System for Advertising Media Evaluation: A Case in the Middle East

The importance of advertising media evaluation as a multifaceted problem is well known by both academics and practitioners. Although previous studies tried to optimize media evaluation, there still are some gaps and problems to address, particularly in areas of flexibility of models/frameworks, decision making quality, tension management, and agility of the evaluation process. Most of previous studies are based on inflexible models/frameworks that have limitations on number of criteria/alternatives they can consider and type of data they can process. A great volume of the work used arbitrary decision making; arbitrary decision making regarding criteria and media importance may reduce effectiveness of advertising campaigns. Furthermore, the academic literature offers little guidance on group decision aggregation, and tension management during decision making is neglected. Media evaluation is a time taking process and any acceleration will reduce pre-campaign costs. The main aim of this paper is to illustrate how a group decision support system (GDSS) can assist media planners to overcome mentioned problems more systematically. For this purpose, we developed a GDSS that is an integration of three well-known multi-criteria decision making techniques. With a real world case study, we illustrate the performance of the proposed GDSS. Results of our quantitative assessments indicate that the GDSS is flexible, allows decision makers to express their opinions, reduces tension among decision makers, and saves time.     

An Empirical Investigation of Consumer Concerns About Nutrition,Taste, Price and Chemical Additives During Meat Shopping

Abstract

This study revealed that one third of the consumers considered their meat being free from chemical additives as the most beneficial factor when they shopped for meat, comparing to nutritional value, taste of meat, and price of meat. About 20 percent of the consumers expressed the same concern about nutritional value, taste or price, respectively. Furthermore, consumers' demographic and socioeconomic characteristics influenced their concerns about chemical additives, nutrition, taste and price.     

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Theory and Practice in a Developing Country Context

After providing an overview of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) research in different contexts, and noting the varied methodologies adopted, two robust CSR conceptualizations – one by Carroll (1979, ‘A Three-Dimensional Conceptual Model of Corporate Performance’, The Academy of Management Review 4(4), 497–505) and the other by Wood (1991, ‘Corporate Social Performance Revisited’, The Academy of Management Review 16(4), 691–717) – have been adopted for this research and their integration explored. Using this newly synthesized framework, the research critically examines the CSR approach and philosophy of eight companies that are considered active in CSR in the Lebanese context. The findings suggest the lack of a systematic, focused, and institutionalized approach to CSR and that the understanding and practice of CSR in Lebanon are still grounded in the context of philanthropic action. The findings are qualified within the framework of existing contextual realities and relevant implications drawn accordingly. Dr. Jamali is Assistant Professor of Management at the Olayan School of Business, American University of Beirut. She holds a BA in Public Administartion from the American University of Beirut, and a Ph.D. in Social Policy and Administration, from the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK. Her research interests encompass corporate social responsibility, public private partnerships, learning organizations and women issues. She worked as an expert consultant on projects funded by the World Bank, the US Agency for International Development, NGOs, and other regional and local public and private firms. She is the author of numerous studies and international peer reviewed publications in various international journals, including the Journal of Management Development, the International Journal of Public Sector Management, the International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, Business Process Management Journal, Public Works, Management and Policy and Women in Management Review. Ramez Mirshak Graduated with honors from the American University in Cairo (AUC) with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration in February 2001, then worked for two years in Egypt in the field of marketing and management. In 2004–2005, pursued his Masters of Business Administration at the American University of Beirut (AUB), researching primarily issues relating to change management and corporate social responsibility under the supervision of Dr. Dima Jamali, then joined a leading international financial institution as a regional Management Associate, while maintaining links with AUB and working on several research based projects.     

An Examination of the Relationship Between Professional Investment Recommendations and Stock Prices in a Developing Eastern European Stock Market

No abstract available for this article.     

中国城市化发展:一个新制度经济学的分析框架

尝试性地用新制度经济学的方法来解释当代中国城市化发展.基于新制度经济学的视野,简要阐述了城市化的背景、涵义、发展机制及模式,分析了中国计划经济时代自上而下城市化与市场导向改革时期自下而上城市化的制度安排,就中国未来城市化发展所需要的制度创新提出了对策建议.     

发展中国家企业跨国并购的宏观因素分析

进入21世纪以来,发展中国家企业跨国并购的迅猛发展改变了世界并购格局。从世界经济的宏观视角看,影响发展中国家企业跨国并购的因素主要有经济全球化的牵引作用,世界经济周期的助推与制约,全球产业结构调整为发展中国家企业的"优势产业扩张"与垄断优势的获取提供了机遇,世界经济中的不确定因素带来的冲击,非传统安全壁垒对并购的阻滞。因此,只有充分预估与周全应对这些外部影响,发展中国家的企业在跨国并购中才能实现更好地发展。