Fairness and Consumer Decision Making under the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive

This article analyses the unfairness concept from the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD). It considers why the nature and level of protection is particularly important given the range of coverage of the regime and the Europeanisation agenda. It argues that the UCPD concept provides the potential for a relatively protective approach to consumer decision making. At the same time, it emphasizes that realisation of this potential is partly dependent on recognizing the limits of transparency as a protective tool and in understanding the “professional diligence” and “average consumer” concepts in particular ways. It is further suggested that the protective potential of the regime is not necessarily undermined by the “average consumer” concept or by the “informed decision-making” paradigm of the general unfairness clause. Indeed, the general clause may be capable of extending the protective effects to some extent. Finally, it is suggested that regulators may have a key role to play in maximizing both the level of protection and the prospects for a genuinely common European approach.     

Early Experiences of the Enforcement of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive in Scotland

This exploratory study examines the early impact of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive 2005/29/EC on enforcers in Scotland within the context of current policy developments regarding the use of civil and criminal enforcement mechanisms within the UK. The Directive has been implemented in the UK by means of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 SI 1277 and the duty to enforce the Regulations falls primarily to local authority trading standards services. Twenty-one in-depth interviews were conducted with a range of officers employed within the trading standards service based in eight local authorities in Scotland on their perceptions of the new Regulations. The main findings were that officers’ views of the new Regulations and the civil and criminal enforcement routes available to them was affected by structural, operational, and cultural issues which varied from one authority to another. A number of officers were finding the Regulations a challenge to old ways and there was evidence that many felt unprepared for the Regulations. A number of positive views were expressed regarding the flexibility of the new Regulations and the advantages of the provisions relating to misleading omissions. Overall officers’ experiences of the Regulations were heavily influenced by the complaints received by their particular local authority service.     

Rocking the Boat: Loot Boxes in Online Digital Games,the Regulatory Challenge,and the EU’s Unfair Commercial Practices Directive

Journal of Consumer Policy - The loot box, a feature of online video games, contains randomised virtual items of importance to gameplay. Comparisons are drawn between chance-based loot boxes and...     

Health as a Means Towards Profitable Ends: mHealth Apps,User Autonomy,and Unfair Commercial Practices

In this article, we discuss mHealth apps and their potential to influence the user’s behaviour in increasingly persuasive ways. More specifically, we call attention to the fact that mHealth apps often seek to not only influence the health behaviour of users but also their economic behaviour by merging health and commercial content in ways that are hard to detect. We argue that (1) such merging of health and commercial content raises specific questions concerning the autonomy of mHealth app users, and (2) consumer law offers a promising legal lens to address questions concerning user protection in this context. Based on an empirically informed ethical analysis of autonomy, we develop a fine-grained framework that incorporates three different requirements for autonomy that we call “independence,” “authenticity,” and “options.” This framework also differentiates between three different stages of mHealth app use, namely installing, starting to use, and continuing to use an app. As a result, user autonomy can be analysed in a nuanced and precise manner. Since the concept of autonomy plays a prominent, yet poorly understood role in unfair commercial practice law, we utilize the ethical analysis of autonomy to guide our legal analysis of the proper application of unfair commercial practice law in the mHealth app domain.     

浅析指令类言语行为中的认知转喻——以话剧《雷雨》为例

帕瑟和桑伯格在脚本理论中首次从认知转喻的角度解释了间接言语行为中的转喻思维机制。以话剧《雷雨》为例,通过对该理论的进一步研究表明,在指令类言语行为中,交际者在现实生活中对转喻行为脚本的使用及转喻概念的行使并非一成不变,受到个人语用因素、认知因素、现时语境及指令类言语行为次分类等多重因素的影响。     

财富管理 ——以商业银行私人银行业务为例

改革开放以来,中国经济迅猛发展,社会财富不断积累,并且高净值人群的比例不断提升,高净值人群对财富管理的需求也不断增强,这无疑给中国的金融机构巨大的发展机会。传统的商业银行必须解决自身的发展战略转型问题,这关乎其能否获取市场份额,否则将会逐渐被市场抛弃,并且渐渐的失去自己原有的市场。在此严峻的形势下,商业银行应该结合高净值人群,制定相应的转型战略,中国商业银行的私人银行业务应运而生。高净值客户群的需求分析为基础,探讨私人银行业务在国内发展的机遇与创新。     

Regulating Unfair Trade Practices: an Analysis of the Past and Present Indian Legislative Models

The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969 (MRTP Act) which for the first time incorporated detailed provisions as to unfair trade practices (UTPs) in India has now been repealed and succeeded by the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 which has included the same substantive definition of UTPs. This article analyses the law as to UTPs under the repealed MRTP Act including the cases decided thereunder and compares it with the structure of the Consumer Protection Act with the objective of evaluating whether the present Consumer Dispute Redressal Agencies under the Consumer Protection Act have adequate substantive provisions and effective procedural competence to ward off UTPs. Our analysis of legislative provisions and decided cases shows that the present system of protection against UTPs under the Consumer Protection Act is blighted by a strict and restrictive definition of consumer; lack of in-house enquiry and investigation system, incompetency of traders and trade associations to pursue cases, and lack of inherent power of the Consumer Dispute Redressal Agencies to suo motu take up matters. The article uses analytical and statistical methods to quantify, in terms of actual effect, these drawbacks which significantly hamper the present system and suggests various means to improve the functioning of the system so as to effectively deal with UTPs.     

Determinants of Successful IT-Enabled Business Innovation： A Case Study from the Perspective of Institutional Entrepreneurship Theory

As the role of information technology （IT） in business innovation becomes increasingly important, an increasing number of organizations have started to consider how to promote IT-enabled business innovation. Although extant studies have identified organization, environment, and innovation＇s characteristics as substantial determinants of IT innovation, they do not emphasize the accompanying innovation in processes, products or services, which distinguish IT-enabled business innovation from general IT innovation. Therefore, the reason why few companies succeed in realizing IT-enabled business innovation remains obscure. Anchored on the institutional entrepreneurship theory, this paper examines determinants of the success of IT-enabled business innovation in a fast-growing company using the case study approach. Our findings indicate that IT-business coordination competency, degree of institutionalization, participation of business managers, top management team＇s （TMT） attitude towards the innovation, and the innovation＇s relative strength, have significant impacts on the success of IT-enabled business innovation. Our findings also contribute to IT innovation research by identifying special determinants of IT-enabled business innovation and redirecting research ranging from innovation in IT itself to IT-enabled innovation in business processes, products or services.     

To B2C or Not to B2C. Some Reflections on the Regulation of Unfair Commercial Practices from a Polish Perspective

The article addresses the issue of whether EU consumer law and national implementing laws require the distinction between business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) relationships. The Polish experiences with the implementation of the Unfair Commercial Practice Directive supply this well-known discussion with new arguments. In Poland, the near copy–paste implementation of this directive was done in nearly timely fashion. The outcome, however, is far from being nearly unproblematic, as the new act is disconnected from the old system in a simplistic way. Subsequently, the institutional choice for enforcement creates both an inconsistency with EU law and enforcement deficiencies that undermine the directive's policy aimed at achieving a high level of consumer protection. Notwithstanding the imperfect Polish law-making and law enforcement, a success story may have been unlikely in any event. While in its inception it was announced as a consumer law instrument, the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive operates in a field dominated by competitors. Therefore, the correct transposition of this peculiar directive into national law, as well as its application, was and still is a challenging task. It is questionable if it is feasible at all. Ultimately, the tangible incoherencies and the existing desynchronization of protection against unfair commercial practices, both at the EU and national level, raise fundamental questions not only about the necessity of separate B2C and B2B regulations but also about the interplay between the laws of the EU and the Member States, in particular the new Member States, and about the way they mutually affect and interfere with each other.     

城市商业银行社区化经营的理论与案例分析

近年来社区银行建设成为国内金融体制改革的一大热点,而城商行＂差异化、特色化、社区化＂发展思路的提出则进一步将城商行推向社区银行建设的前沿。城商行社区化经营既有优势也有不足,当前多家城商行在此领域展开了颇有成效的试验,这也为其他城商行朝此方向发展提供了有益参考。通过理论与案例分析可以更清晰地展示未来国内城商行社区化经营的必要性及可能方向。     

制度环境与民营企业治理结构变迁——基于国美电器的案例分析

本文以班纳德孙-范氏模型为基础,通过对国美电器从"家族经营-家族所有权"到"家族经营-所有权分散",再到"职业经营-所有权分散"的治理结构变迁过程的分析,揭示了微观层面的最佳治理结构选择是由宏观层面的制度环境因素决定的,即公司治理结构会随着制度环境的变化而变化。     

CSR Practices and Corporate Strategy: Evidence from a Longitudinal Case Study

This paper aims to contribute to the present debate about business ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) that the Journal of Business Ethics is hosting. Numerous contributions argued theoretical frameworks and taxonomies of CSR practices. The authors want to ground in this knowledge and provide further evidence about how companies adopt CSR practices to address stakeholders’ claims and consolidate their trust. Evidence was provided by a longitudinal case study about an Italian food company that is one of the largest producers of baby food. This company reshaped its corporate strategy along three decades through the adoption of CSR practices in order to win stakeholders’ trust about food safety and supply chain behaviour. The empirical exercise was informed by a literature review of the relevant contributions in terms of CSR business practices and levels of efforts to adopt them. In light of this review, the authors adopted for the research framework the taxonomy of business practices proposed by Spiller (2000, “Ethical Business and Investment: A Model for Business and Society”, Journal of Business Ethics 27, 149-160) and the levels of commitment towards CSR proposed by Stahl and Grigsby (1997, Strategic Management; Total Quality & Global Competition (Blackwell, Oxford)). The main findings are discussed in order to argue theoretical implications and identify further areas of research and debate.     

农村商业网点变化趋势及原因探究——以湖南省醴陵市为例

随着“万村千乡”市场工程等各项支持农村商业发展政策的实施,我国农村商业得到较大发展,但其发展情况还不尽如人意,农民消费需求仍得不到有效满足。文章采用访谈和问卷调查结合的方式,对湖南省醴陵市农村商业网点进行实地调研,发现镇区商业网点数量大量增加而村级商业网点数量却存在相对减少的趋势。认为人口数量和居住地的变化、镇区和村级商店商品质量和价格的差别、农村家庭收入和支出水平的增加、交通条件的改善是其主要原因,而改善农村流通现状的根本在于大力发展镇区商业,同时注重发展偏远地区村级商业。     

Consumer Perceptions,Concerns, and Purchasing Practices of Rabbit Meat in Hungary

Nationwide consumer research was conducted in 2014 on consumer perceptions, purchasing practices, and consumption of rabbit meat. The questionnaire revealed that respondents basically found rabbit meat healthy; however, better knowledge of positive physiological effects would lead to increased consumption. Transforming public awareness may also include the criticism of housing systems suspected to be “humanitarian.” The experiment-proven conditions, in which—in contrast to human empathy and preconceptions—rabbits indeed feed well and are “happy,” should be presented to the public.     

诱致性变迁中的制度供给滞后及其解决:以中国金融综合化转型为样本

作为诱致性制度变迁的金融综合化转型未能完成由普遍性市场行为到强行性规则体系的程式转换,肇因于分业监管体制下的行政监管者和金融企业基于有限理性的成本—收益考量。在既得利益已达到满意标准的情况下,双方均缺乏推动制度供给的动力,从而形成自生性滞后的默契僵局,酝酿了严重的市场稳定性风险。鉴于次贷危机的教训和美国《蓝皮书》的改革思路,综合化转型的市场稳定性风险应该由回归监管角色的央行负责,并由其主导金融控股公司立法进程,最终实现分业监管体制的整合。     

制度压力下平台型企业合法性获取演化研究——以滴滴出行为例

合法性资源是平台型企业生存和发展的保障，但现有研究并未对平台型企业成长过程中如何获取合法性、合法性的类型进行系统研究。文章采用案例研究的方法，分析滴滴出行的合法性获取演化过程，探析平台型企业在不同阶段的制度压力约束下如何获取发展所需的不同类型合法性资源。研究发现：平台型企业成长的不同阶段所需要的合法性资源的类型不同，初创期需要认知合法性、震荡期需要规范合法性和稳定期需要规制合法性；制度压力是主导合法性获取与选择的决定因素，平台型企业依托“嵌入制度-顺从制度-构建制度”的路径动态获取各类合法性资源，逐步实现合法化的演化。