The effect of detergents on fabric handle

The effect of detergent products on fabric handle was investigated by means of consumer responses. The use of a semantic differential grid enabled responses to be compared to an ‘Ideal’ handle. Differences were obtained between the products and evidence was obtained which suggests that the judgements on the semantic differential grid provide a valid estimate of the way people make judgements about the overall handle of towels.     

Trade and Innovation in Services: Evidence from a Developing Economy

Studies on innovation and international trade have traditionally focused on manufacturing because neither was seen as important for services. Moreover, the few existing studies on services focus only on industrial countries, even though in many developing countries services are already the largest sector in the economy and an important determinant of overall productivity growth. Using a recent firm‐level innovation survey for Chile to compare the manufacturing and ‘tradable’ services sector, this paper reveals some novel patterns. First, even though services firms have on average a much lower propensity to export than manufacturing firms, services exports are less dominated by large firms and tend to be more skill intensive than manufacturing exports. Second, services firms appear to be as innovative as – and in some cases more innovative than – manufacturing firms, in terms of both inputs and outputs of ‘technological’ innovative activity, even though services innovations more often take a ‘non‐technological’ form. Third, services exporters (like manufacturing exporters) tend to be significantly more innovative than non‐exporters, with a wider gap for innovations close to the global technological frontier. These findings suggest that the growing faith in services as a source of both trade and innovative dynamism may not be misplaced.     

“真有之情”与“应有之情”：内部人身份感知对员工创新行为的双重影响机制

“内部人”或“自己人”是本土组织中较为常见的一种非正式身份划定。然而,“内部人”这种特殊身份往往因为其所蕴含的角色期待,而面临如何行使这一角色的尴尬。一方面,“内部人”跟组织和领导有了不同于“外部人”的关系,而对这一身份倍加珍视,并对组织形成了较为强烈的情感依附;另一方面,本土组织对“内部人”的角色要求达成了长久的共识,内部人必须付出更多以维护这一特殊身份,内部人的责任更大。针对上述现象,文章从角色认同和自我归类理论出发分析,内部人所表现出的员工创新行为究竟是“真有之情”还是“应有之情”在驱使,或是二者兼而有之。文章的基本假设是,“内部人”做出创新行为一个可能的选择不是简单地依靠情感,而是同时“无奈地”通过承担义务的方式来进行创新行为,这一组合机制是其面对自身身份以及身份本身蕴含的角色期望而构建的一种行为选择。这一研究从过去主要关注员工创新行为如何激发,转向对员工情感动机和义务动机组合与员工创新行为关系的研究。这一研究模型将内部人身份、情感承诺、感知义务与员工创新行为结合起来,拓展和深化了员工创新行为的研究。     

Global retailers and logalization: ‘thinking locally and acting globally’

Abstract

This research provides theoretical rationale to explain how global retailers are able to harvest multiple ideas from diverse host-markets and add relevant new ideas into a standardized retail mix that is rolled out globally. To capture this bottom-up harvesting of local information embedded in host-markets, this study adopted the term ‘logalization’ from the economics literature and applied the absorptive capacity framework. Under the activation of absorptive capacity, host-market subsidiaries play a critical role in acquiring and assimilating relevant knowledge from the host market and disseminating it to headquarters. The home-country headquarters (HQ) then transforms relevant knowledge into an innovative standardized retail mix to exploit at the global level. The concept of ‘logalization’ differs from ‘glocalization’ found in the literature; glocalization incorporates the local context to establish a strategy at the local level, while logalization uses local information as a resource to develop a standardized strategy at the global level. The development of propositions is informed by semi-structured interviews with 10 managers employed by global retailers. By illustrating the logalization orientation, this research describes how global retailers can create an innovative retail mix by exploiting heterogeneous information from various host-markets to create and sustain a competitive advantage in the global market.     

eCCIq: The quality of electronic customer-to-customer interaction

Electronic customer-to-customer interaction (eCCI) becomes crucial in innovative business models (e.g., Ebay, Facebook) that are either intentionally built on such eCCI occurring completely on purpose or for providers that are embedding web 2.0 and social media techniques in their service offering. To enable a more active application and purposeful management of eCCI, it is essential to conceptualize its quality (eCCIq) as a start. In doing so we identify seven factors that constitute the domain of eCCIq: ‘Content’, ‘Security’, ‘Hedonic’, ‘Quantity’, ‘Atmosphere’, ‘Convenience’ and ‘Social’. Construct development is based on existing literature on CCI and various closely-related constructs as well as on an empirical study assessing eCCIq in a qualitative and quantitative manner. Our results enable firms to more selectively influence and control eCCIq and provide the basis to conduct any further research on the impact of eCCI and its quality.     

Realising opportunities in the premium automotive market via context-oriented new product positioning

Abstract

The increasing variety of car concepts is a key characteristic of today's passenger car markets. Particularly in the premium segment with higher revenue opportunities, competition intensity is rising continuously. Numerous traditional car concepts, as well as new body styles, explicitly address heterogeneous premium customers' expectations. The build-up of body styles, exterior designs, and engine types result in a loss of traditional basing points for new car categorisation. Therefore, new car positioning is no longer the sheer outcome of technical data. Instead, it turns out to be a key issue of successful product management and a trigger of customers' purchasing decisions. Against this background, we investigated two positioning alternatives – ‘high’ versus ‘premium’ – by means of a large-scale customer base generated from an innovative car clinic set-up. The paper illustrates the effects of alternative positioning strategies and corresponding context effects on the willingness to pay, design perception, and purchase intention. The derived revenue mark-ups prove adequate product positioning as a relevant factor for revenue optimisation.     

The Latest Enlargement of the EU and ‘Buy National’ Rules

This paper presents a variety of indicators which reflect the extent of protection of individual manufacturing industries in ten countries of Central and Eastern Europe by the ‘Buy National’ rules in public procurement. Eight countries joined the EU in 2004 and the two remaining countries will become full members in 2007. Combining these data with information on the current international competitiveness of each individual industry, the paper identifies those industries that are likely to be particularly sensitive to the abolition of ‘Buy National’ rules due to their recent accession to the European Union. Two series of indicators are proposed to measure the impact of ‘Buy National’ policies. The first series outlines the behaviour of the public sector vis‐à‐vis domestic production and imports. The second series of indicators sketches the industrial structure of the sectors which, following the above analysis, seem to be protected by preferential public procurement. The interaction of both series of indicators can provide information about the extent of protection in terms of public procurement on a sectoral level and about its impact on domestic production.     

Robertson's model: a framework for exploration of World War II conservation consumption policy influence on fashion in the US

This paper studies pertinent materials related to the conservation of textile apparel and textile‐related natural resources that appeared in poster campaign communications published during the Second World War in the US. An examination of World War II poster campaign communications conveying the need for conservation efforts and rationing as communicated to consumers infers the historical context of the era. These poster campaign communications asked consumers to utilize fully of limited resources while maintaining a sense of individuality and trend‐setting creativity and fashion. World War II shortages and allocations influenced fashion innovations in women's apparel in the US. This paper provides a retrospective examination of innovative trends and the various conservation themes associated with women's fashion identify themes used to influence and to inspire Americans to reuse and recycle in support of the war effort. At no other time in history was voluntary textile conservation as prevalent in mainstream American culture as it was during the 1940s. Content analysis reveals reoccurring themes that appeared in the advertisements developed by the War Advertising Council in the 1940s and used in their poster campaign advertisements. Themes and conservation activities identified in their poster campaign communications included

• ? ‘America's New Role as Fashion Arbiters’;
• ? ‘Conserve Time, Money, Materials for National Defense Program’;
• ? ‘War Production Board General Limitations Order L‐85 – Fabric Conservation on Silhouette Dimensions’;
• ? ‘Fashion for Victory’;
• ? ‘Beauty in Peace and War’;
• ? ‘Fabric Conservation’;
• ? ‘Teaching Consumers How to Conserve’;
• ? ‘You're In the War Too’;
• ? ‘Wearing Clothes More’;
• ? ‘Changing Materials for War [Nylon]’.

In addition, print communications were categorized according to Robertson's adoption process model. This study found evidence that supports that Robertson's adoption process model was a useful tool in studying these poster campaign communications relative to Robertson's decision‐making process.     

Evaluating cultural industries: investigating visitors' satisfaction in theatres

This study investigates visitors' satisfaction with their subjective experience in theatres. Reconciling research on theatre marketing and theatre studies, a model of visitors' satisfaction in theatre is suggested and an instrument to capture visitors' satisfaction and its determinants is developed. Results from a field study (n?=?158) on three performances of ‘Twelfth Night or What You Will’ (Shakespeare) in a German community theatre revealed spectators' perception of stage direction and their emotional response as significant determinants. Comparing experienced to inexperienced visitors' judgements, no differences were found. Conclusions for theatre marketing are drawn.     

Does the Accounting Profession Discipline Its Members Differently After Public Scrutiny?

Analyzing a sample of 13,917 US firm–years from 1991 to 2006, we find that more innovative firms demonstrate high corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance subsequent to a successful innovation. These high-CSR innovative firms enjoy significantly higher valuation post-innovation. These findings imply that firms with demonstrated potential growth opportunities, as evident from the number of registered patents and their citations, benefit by strategically investing more in CSR activities; that is, CSR investment entails ‘doing well by [strategically] doing good.’     

Extremely thin models in print ads: The dark sides

To appeal to consumers as social beings, advertisers include social settings and human images in commercial messages. Extant empirical research shows that thin models are perceived as more attractive and that the use of attractive models results in higher ad effectiveness. However, this study offers empirical evidence of ‘dark sides’ of extremely thin models, such that they harm advertising performance. The negative effects of extremely thin models stem from their influence on consumers' psychological well-being, as well as their ethical judgements of the advertisement. Respondents in this study also regard an extremely thin model as less attractive than a more average model. These results suggest that organizations should reconsider the portrayal of extremely thin models in their promotional messages and, more generally, consider consumer ethics when developing marketing communication messages.     

On the New Economic Policies Promoted by the 17th CCP Congress in China

The 17th Chinese Communist Party Congress in October 2007 attracted attention within and outside China for the bold development agenda that was placed before delegates. After 30 years of economic reform that has produced a remarkable improvement in living standards and China's reintegration into the world economy, the Party unveiled a programme that would push China to become a world superpower over the next 30 years. China's ambition is to become a technologically innovative state, to make China a ‘moderately prosperous’ and ‘harmonious society’ with a ‘scientific outlook on development’, and to achieve full industrialisation and sustainable prosperity. Whether China is able to attain its objectives will critically depend on the Party's ability to implement the new economic policies and address the social and political challenges that economic growth has created. The aim of the paper is to examine the policies, motivations and constraints that China faces in achieving the objectives laid out at the Party Congress.     

Bailouts,Monitoring, and Penalties: An Integrated Framework of Government Policies to Manage the Too‐Big‐to‐Fail Problem

This paper discusses optimal government bailout policy where the costs of systemic failures and moral hazard problems are considered. We find that a three‐tiered bailout policy that includes an ex post monitoring and bailout scheme for financial institutions with large systemic impacts (‘too big to fail’) is optimal. The optimal policy also requires a randomized bailout for medium‐impact institutions (‘Constructive Ambiguity’), and no bailout for institutions that have only minimal systemic consequences (‘too small to save’). However, in a volatile, innovative market environment where individual institutions may know more than the government regulator, monitoring error could contribute to risk taking, leaving the government regulator to always play a ‘catch‐up’ role in revising policy. Moreover, the optimal bailout policy may not be time‐consistent: institutions not deemed ‘too big to fail’ may still have an incentive to take excessive risks and expect to be bailed out in case of insolvency, primarily due to the short‐term orientation of the government. Finally, because an institution's systemic cost affects the probability of a bailout, we show that the boundary of an institution may be extended by the government subsidy.     

Forward looking or looking unaffordable? Utilising academic perspectives on corporate social responsibility to assess the factors influencing its adoption by business

The paper demonstrates its ‘CSR at a tipping point’ thesis by juxtaposing views of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as essential for business and societal sustainability against those that see CSR as unaffordable or irrelevant in the current economic climate. Drawing from Kohlberg's seminal theory of moral development, CSR is conceptualised as the development of organisation moral reasoning, and the proposition is illustrated by demonstrating inter‐disciplinary similarities in levels of ethical concern within different approaches to the practice of marketing, human resource management (HRM) and performance management. Levels of concern for CSR are related to environmental and firm‐specific drivers and constraints that influence the CSR dynamic. Environmental influences on organisational CSR stances emanate from a range of stakeholder constituencies, while the importance accorded to CSR is also influenced by firm‐specific factors such as the organisation's stage of development, strategy and leadership. The paper's identification of inter‐disciplinary similarities in the varying levels of concern for CSR and its delineation of CSR drivers and constraints contribute to CSR theory, and these frameworks also represent analytical tools that managers can use to assess or to change an organisation's CSR stance. The multi‐level perspective on CSR adopted by the paper links an organisation's overall or ‘macro’ CSR stance to the ‘meso’ levels of CSR represented by practice within its specialist functions. It proposes that the ‘CSR at a tipping point’ proposition is assessed by utilising the conceptual model in the paper within a case‐study research design to determine whether specific organisations – identified as ‘CSR‐positive’ ones by their relatively high level of concern for stakeholder welfare – are changing the importance they accord to CSR as a result of the new business context, and the extent to which practice in their marketing, HRM and performance management functions are shapers or consequences of this.     

Faith,hope and love: doing family through consuming pilgrimage

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explore the consumption of Lourdes, a Catholic pilgrimage site in France. Based on a three-year ethnography, our findings focus on respondents’ ‘Lourdes stories’. Discussing themes of faith, hope and love, we illustrate the importance of the family in consuming Lourdes. Family members act as influencing agents in the initial and sometimes continuous consumption of Lourdes. Our findings differ from consumer research to date in that rather than furthering discussion of family structure or furthering discussion on family identity we suggest a new focus is the actual building of intimate family bonds and relationships – the ‘doing’ of family or ‘familying’ – with the context of the Lourdes pilgrimage offering consumers a unique setting comprising faith, fun and family.     

Sustainability and tourism development in three Italian destinations: stakeholders' opinions and behaviours

The paper focuses on tourism sustainability and environmental policies. It presents the findings of an empirical research study on environmental awareness in three Italian areas. The aim of the research was to study local stakeholders' environmental awareness so as to verify their willingness to support environmental needs. Institutional stakeholders and local tourism entrepreneurs were interviewed at each site. The areas have been analysed as case studies in order to evaluate the local communities' commitment towards protecting the environment. In addition, the opinions of different stakeholders within each site and across sites have been compared. This work also underlines the importance of endogenous processes of a socio-cultural type, such as primary drivers of innovative eco-compatible behaviours, compared with the role played by market-driven external forces or traditional government regulation. The findings demonstrate that, in lacking shared responsibility, conflicts and tensions inside the local community paralyse innovative environmental behaviours when they ought really to be turned into opportunities for debate so that shared strategies and solutions may be identified.     

Re-incorporating usage situation in choice models: a base for future developments

Abstract

Understanding the consumer’s tendency to adopt new products is an ever-present essential for successful marketing campaigns. This paper presents the findings from two empirical studies that investigate the relationship between consumer innovativeness, price-prestige sensitivity, and need for emotion. A questionnaire survey was used to collect data in both studies from a sample of 668 respondents in two cities in England. The findings show that consumer innovativeness is determined by an individual’s sensitivity to price and their need for emotion. While innovative consumers are sensitive in relating price to prestige, this dispositional relationship varies across products. Furthermore, the findings suggest that enjoyment, which facilitates emotional openness and receptivity, influences innovative consumers to take the emotional route, besides the price-prestige route, to the adoption of new products. These findings have a number of important implications for marketers, particularly for the success of marketing campaigns targeted at innovative consumers who find enjoyment in using new products and are prestigiously sensitive to price.     

INSTITUTIONAL ECONOMICS: SURVEYING THE ‘OLD’ AND THE ‘NEW’

This paper surveys and compares the literature on the ‘new’ institutionalism (North, Williamson, etc.) with that of the ‘old’(Veblen, Commons, Mitchell). A criterion for distinguishing these two schools is suggested, along with criticisms of the limitations of each. The ‘new’ institutionalism is associated with methodological individualism and the idea that the individual should be taken as given. Particular attention is paid to ‘new’ institutionalist treatments of markets and firms. The paper moves on to examine some ‘old’ institutionalist criticisms of ‘economic man’ as well as some negative features of the ‘old’ institutionalism. On the positive side, the latter is seen to have an ‘evolutionary’ dimension, related to modern work in the area of technological change.     

Worldwide Evolution of Channels Policy

Abstract

This article outlines the evolution of marketing channel systems and policies in selected regions around the world, less developed as well as developed countries are covered. It then delineates sectors worth researching, given the influence of globalization and the speed of technological advance. The societal impact of these problem areas cannot be ignored, as they are significant. From the viewpoints of the consumer and society, the decrease in small shops and the concentration of retailing might have negative effects; such as increased unemployment coupled with lower personal service offerings. This article further suggests that policy makers should pay attention to the ‘Digital Divide.’ The technological skills required to work effectively in the ‘Digital Age’ are separating skilled workers from others. It may not be possible to retrain significant numbers of other workers for many of the ‘new economy’ professions. However, society and employment may benefit if many of these non-skilled workers remain in or enter small channel service occupations.