Product Placement in Top-Grossing Hollywood Movies: 2001–2012

ABSTRACT

The study examines the nature and characteristics of product placement in U.S. top-grossing movies from a historical approach. Several important findings and trends are identified from the results. First, product placements are found to be prolific in U.S. top-grossing movies. Second, the product categories of automobile, electronic equipment, and media and entertainment enjoy the highest exposure in movies. Third, over years, the embedded brands appear more and more bold and salient in movies. Finally, variations are found among product placements in different types of movies and product categories.     

Should Prices of Consumer Goods Be Better Indicators of Product Quality?

In contrast to the common assumption that prices are good indicators of quality, this note argues that price-quality correlations are typically rather low. Such low coefficients are not surprising since mass-produced goods of high quality may have lower prices than scarce goods of lower quality. In addition, low correlations can be characterized as desirable, since prices are an indicator not of quality but of scarcity.     

Should Business Ethics Be Different in Transitional Economies?

This paper builds on a debate between Velasquez and Fleming: Do multinational enterprises (MNEs) have ethical obligations to their host countries? Velasquez applies Thomas Hobbes' realism approach in arguing that MNEs have no special moral obligations to host countries: (a) obligations do not exist independently in a "state of nature," (b) MNEs exist in a "state of nature" independent of any sovereign authority or power, (c) therefore, MNEs cannot be compelled toward moral or ethical behavior. Fleming counters that the lack of an international authority to compel morality from MNEs is irrelevant. MNEs are for-profit entities making rational economic decisions based on their perceived self-interest. Since they operate in "the goldfish bowl of international media," MNEs are very aware of the stakeholder model. First, the paper supports Fleming's position: Even if a philosophical case cannot be established for MNEs to act ethically &;#x2013; they still should. Being unethical in any arena, but especially in the international arena, is both bad-for-business and bad business. Applying stakeholder theory, if stakeholders perceive the MNE as unethical (which may or may not be true), the firm will ultimately lose business. Next, the paper applies Fleming's position to transitional economies. As economies shift from one system to another, positive perceptions and stakeholder support are required for success. With so many environmental variables in flux, multinationals must promote a sense of normalcy, of regular ethical habits, of familiarity. Finally, the paper concludes by cautioning a sole reliance on stakeholder analysis &;#x2013; especially in turbulent times &;#x2013; and recommends areas for further research.     

How Should International Accounting Be Taught?

In the current competitive environment of the global marketplace, business students must understand the international aspects of business. Both the AACSB and AAA have emphasized adding such a dimension to the business curriculum. Several business schools have already started or have plans to start introducing an international orientation to their programs. In this article, the authors present a balanced and comprehensive curriculum for an internalional accounting course. It is our contention that international accounting be viewed from both an internal and external perspective. An internal orientation provides the specifics for the course and may be seen as the technical component The external perspective, inspired by the international business discipline, provides a more general focus and is useful for acquiring a sensitivity to why accounting processes have to differ across national boundaries. Such a view is consistent with the recommendations of the AAA Committee on Future Structure, Content, and Scope of Accounting Education.     

Managing Services: Should We Be Having Fun?

The encouragement of 'fun' at work has recently received attention in the literature. Fun is said to have many organisational benefits, including improved morale, productivity and bottom line gains. Little, if anything is put forward as potential difficulties faced by a fun strategy. This article reports on a case study of a retail organisation that built fun into the way the business was run. While some evidence is found in support of the potential benefits a number of problems also emerge.     

Should Variable Cost Aid to Attract Foreign Direct Investment be Banned? A European Perspective

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the European Commission’s approach to state aid to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) in a competition policy framework. The Commission considers variable cost aid (VCA) to be more distortive than start-up or fixed cost aid (FCA). This paper addresses that issue and checks whether allowing FCA while banning VCA is an optimal strategy for a supranational Competition Authority maximizing welfare. The model shows that a domestic government maximizing welfare always prefers VCA to FCA if both the incumbent and the entrant are foreign firms and if granting VCA does not cause the incumbent firm to exit the market. The model shows that banning VCA may lead to sub-optimal equilibria where welfare is not maximized.     

HSBC Suggests Renminbi Should Be Stable

Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) just released a 48-pages report to suggest Renminbi should be stable. Someone said that if RMB is not going to appreciate to a large scale, Chinese economy will be overheated continuously. Under the system of current rate, in order to keep the exchange rate at the existing level, Chinese central bank must intervene the foreign exchange market, put in a large amount of Renminbi, thus bring pressure of inflation and overheating of economy.     

Federal Reserve Independence in the Aftermath of the Financial Crisis: Should We Be Worried?

The extraordinary circumstances of the past few years have led to extraordinary responses by the Federal Reserve and other central banks. These ventures into uncharted waters have heightened political scrutiny to the point of raising concern about future independence. In discussing independence of the Federal Reserve, it is important to separate its regulatory and supervisory functions from its monetary policy function. It is the latter in which the question of independence is most important. History indicates that independent monetary policy has been a powerful deterrent to inflation. This paper outlines the threats to Federal Reserve independence, particularly as it exists from the unconventional policies that it pursued to mitigate the financial crisis. Economists have an important role in making the case that monetary policy remains independent.     

Where Should the Line Be Drawn on Insider Trading Ethics?

Finance ethics have drawn increasing attention from both government regulators and academic researchers. This paper addresses the issue of insider trading ethics. Previous studies on insider trading ethics have failed to provide convincing arguments and consistent results. In particular, the arguments against insider trading are based primarily on moral and philosophical grounds and lack empirical rigor. This study intends to establish and examine the relationship between the ethical issue and economic issue of insider trading. We argue that the ethics of insider trading is in essence an economic rather than a moral issue. It is so far not clear to what extent insider trading may increase or decrease shareholders wealth. Until then, we must take care to avoid over-regulating insider trading.     

What Should Be the EU’s Approach to Global Trade?

For a global player like the EU, it must adequately respond to US unilateral actions and not give in to threats in order to preserve its credibility. However, it is not in its interest to let trade conflicts escalate and be drawn into trade wars.It is worth noting that through the bilateral rules established in the context of a comprehensive trade agreement, the EU not only influences global norms and standards but that those in turn feed back into the EU’s economic order in a way that traditional trade agreements have not. They can therefore either reinforce the European model or weaken it.     

Seven Issues Should Be Focused on Investment

Under macro-control of the central government, thesuper high-speed investment momentum in the first half of this year was controlled and some overheated industries were becoming normal.     

Can More Information Be Shared in China?

It's a complicated China I find,like all westerners,that most Chinese communication is 'complicated'. I think this comes from the strong Chinese preference for indirect communication. Often in business,the real picture would only become clear after many hours of around-the-houses discussion, which doesn't even stop when the contract is agreed and signed.Patience and cross-checking are vital,but laborious. No requirement is either straight-     

Do Product Components and Their Country-of-Origin Influence Product Evaluations?

ABSTRACT

The country of origin literature suggests that consumers attach pre-conceived notions about countries and their products during pre-purchase evaluations. The present research shows that when consumers are presented with information about the country of origin of motor vehicle components, they are able to differentiate between these and rely on country stereotypes in this evaluation. Based on a judgmental sample of 159 respondents, the findings suggest that consumers are able to discriminate between vehicle component systems from different countries and shows that there is a hierarchy of effects where consumers rank, in order of decreasing quality: German > Japanese > Australian component systems. The results also suggest that summary effects explain consumers' judgements about Australian, Japanese and German components, and halo effects appear to have a weak influence on their assessment of German components.     

Can Western-Style Marketing Be Applied in Transitional Economies?

The authors report on research conducted to assess the marketing of personal banking products by Polish banks and determine whether Western developed marketing can be applied in transitional economies. The study comprised three parts: interviews with senior Polish bankers to identify strategies, a survey of front-line staff to determine whether strategies had been communicated and reinforced in the reward system, and a consumer survey to determine whether the strategies had successful outcomes. It finds that the concepts and tools of Western-style marketing can provide direction to bankers for strategy settings, but that successful implementation will depend on the adaptation of these concepts to the Polish context.