Marketing in the Nonprofit Sector–The Unique Case of Art Museums

ABSTRACT

Art museums face the problem of survival while endeavoring to maintain their sometimes lofty intellectual and educational missions. Threats abound in the external environments from reductions in funding from national, state, and local agencies to threats from competition, which may be any form of entertainment, leisure activity, or educational effort. A study was conducted to examine the marketing practices in art museums in the southeastern United States to identify the museums' responses to these threats. The findings describe the marketing practices deemed successful and used most frequently by most museums and the marketing practices that appear to be the least helpful and least used.     

Still Silent – Political Market Segmentation and the Case of Ethnic Women

This paper considers not only the nature of segmentation, but in particular political segmentation. It suggests that currently political parties utilise a simplistic type of segmentation and that they need to be more aware of the complexities of the electorate. In particular, the political parties need to be aware of the preferences of those who make up 52% of the population – women. The literature on attracting women voters is explored indicating that women have different perceptions of politics and politicians. To illustrate the point a discussion group with black and Asian women is presented. The campaigns and the results of the 2005 election are also explored to further illustrate the point. The paper concludes that the issues of importance to politicians are not in line with the aspirations and requirements of the female voters.     

Political Marketing: The Cause of an Emerging Democratic Deficit in Britain?

SUMMARY

Political marketing, as a set of techniques for policy design and development, was welcomed as a route towards a more participatory form of democracy. However, as New Labour attempted to rebrand itself to suit key segments of the electorate, we find that voters are not participating to any greater extent. In fact sections of the electorate are rejecting the democratic process, feeling that parties have little care for those outside their target segment. This paper questions the way New Labour employed marketing and, drawing on primary data, relates this to the dramatic fall in turnout in 2001.     

The Marketing of an Assisted Living Facility–An Exploratory Study

ABSTRACT

Because of the aging population, demand for retirement and medical care services will continue to escalate during the next century. One of the fastest growing areas in terms of elderly care are assisted-living facilities. However, there is a scarcity of empirical research related to assisted-living facilities (ALF). The objectives of this exploratory study were to determine the factors that impact the purchase decision of an assisted living facility and the relationships among those variables. The study indicated that individuals were more likely to utilize an assisted living facility if they had visited an ALF in the past, had developed a positive attitude toward ALFs and if the elderly person needing health care had experienced major medical problems within the last five years. Differences were found between respondents 55 and over and respondents under 55. The impacts of these findings are discussed with managerial implications of the research.     

Local Government and Big Business in the People's Republic of China – Case Study Evidence from Shandong Province

China has implemented comprehensive industrial policies that originally had their origins in the command economy. It is argued in this case study that one characteristic of industrial policies in China involves government intervention at all levels, namely central, provincial, municipal, county, township and village. This article presents an in-depth examination of the role of provincial government in pursuing industrial polices and in constructing big businesses during the reform period. It draws the conclusion that even in the World Trade Organization (WTO) era, it is still feasible for provincial governments to manage the local economy and promote big businesses by allowing local firms to enjoy both economies of scale and subsidies.     

Undergraduate Education: The Implications of Cross-Functional,Relationships in Business Marketing–The Skills of High-Performing Managers

ABSTRACT

Like other specialty areas in the business school curriculum, marketing management classes emphasize an analytical perspective and provide students with a valuable set of strategy tools, but fail to come to grips with other facets of the managerial work of marketing-namely, the relational skills that are required for managing across functions, reconciling diverse interests, and creating integrated strategies and customer solutions. By serving as an advocate for the customer at various levels of the organizational hierarchy and across functions, the business marketer must initiate, develop, nurture, and sustain a rich network of relationships with multiple constituencies within the firm and within customer organizations. To effectively perform this challenging interdisciplinary role, a unique set of relationship management skills are required. This article explores the collaborative skills that high-performing managers have mastered and examines the resulting implications for the business marketing course. Recent research is examined that reveals the characteristics of reputationally effective managers, isolates the factors that define effective cross-functional exchange episodes, and details the specific behavior that top-performing account managers employ. By exploring the relational competencies that are instrumental to the work of marketing managers, the business marketing course can fill an important gap in the marketing curriculum.     

Rational Thinking of the Debt of Local Government Financing Vehicle （LGFV）

2009年10月以后,有关地方政府融资平台债务的论题充斥于学界和媒体,但其中有着太多的不清之处。“地方政府融资平台”不是一个科学范畴,从各项文件的界定看,它在内容和范围上并不一致;对地方政府融资平台的作用认识存在严重分歧;在全国各地方并不存在一家挂着“地方政府融资平台”的机构。地方政府融资平台“债务风险”的种种依据并不可靠,其中,债务风险、对银行贷款风险的评估并不确实,对偿还贷款的估算缺乏财务常识,债务特性不清;“土地财政”是个错误用语,地方政府担保含义不清。要真正解决各地方政府拓展城镇化建设资金不足的问题,需要从改革财政体制入手,处理好相关关系。     

The strategic stages of China–UK educational alliances: an empirical study

Driven by globalization, strategic alliances have emerged in a wide range of industries; higher education is not excluded, although we still lack sufficient understanding of this emerging field. By empirically investigating 10 China–UK educational alliances, this paper reveals the specific characteristics and different conditions that prevail in strategies in educational alliances. In particular it identifies the choice of forms of educational alliances in the formation stage, localization of the alliances in the operation stage, and the direction of development in the evolution stage. Hence, it hopes to enrich existing theories and provide some clear insights of the attitudes and actions that need to be taken by practitioners for them to succeed.     

The Impact of Pension Age Changes — The Case of Malta

After remaining unchanged for several decades, the pension age in Malta started to rise in 2012. This process, which will continue until 2026, was introduced to help boost the workforce and partially countervail the impact of the country’s demographic transition. The scope of this article is to review evidence on the impact to date of these changes and to use this to try to understand the potential impact of remaining pension age changes.     

The Diffusion of Voluntary Environmental Programs: The Case of ISO 14001 in Korea, 1996–2011

Small family businesses have generally been shown to exhibit significant concern for social responsibility, especially at the community level. Despite the reported heterogeneity of family firms in their preferences for and participation in social responsibility, the drivers of such differences are not agreed upon in the literature. We draw from enlightened self-interest and social capital theories by exploring their complementary and competing implications for the effect of duration and community satisfaction on participation in community-oriented social responsibility (CSR). Additionally, drawing on the association between gender and self-construal and evidence that gender shapes helping and giving behaviors, we assess the moderating role of the gender of the firm manager in these relationships. We test our hypotheses on a sample of 279 family businesses and find support that gender moderates the relationship between community duration and satisfaction and measures of CSR.     

Local or Global Image? The Role of Consumers' Local–Global Identity in Code-Switched Ad Effectiveness Among Monolinguals

Local and global brands alike have increasingly used code-switching to enhance advertising persuasion. Although this tactic is widely used, previous studies have focused on bilinguals but not monolinguals. Because of the emerging use of code-switching in advertisements in monolingual markets, more research efforts are required to understand its effectiveness and boundaries among monolinguals. This study investigated whether the consumers' local–global identity plays a moderating role in the effectiveness of code-switched advertisements among monolinguals. The consumers' local–global identity refers to the combination of local and global identities possessed by individuals that affect how they define themselves in relation to the social environment. Study 1 (manipulating consumers' local–global identity) demonstrated that the local–global identity moderated the effect of code-switched advertisements. The results indicated that the congruence between code-switching and the consumers' local–global identity enhanced persuasiveness, and that advertising involvement mediated this effect. Study 2 replicated the findings of Study 1 by using a local–global identity measure. These findings provide implications for branding and advertising strategies.     

Just How Prepared Are You? An Application of Marketing Segmentation and Theory of Planned Behavior for Disaster Preparation

The threat of a disaster is very real for many, and preparation is vital. To identify differences in how people respond to disaster preparation, a segmentation approach may be useful. Based on a survey, cluster analysis and application of the theory of planned behavior, this study finds four segments in the population. The unprepared and uninterested segment may be encouraged by associating preparation tasks with benefits other than disaster resilience. Willing but could do more may respond to information highlighting that government support may not be enough in a disaster. For it’s just too difficult, barriers need to be addressed, lowering costs of preparation and changing perceptions of difficulty. Those in knowing, interested, and prepared could be encouraged to help spread the word of the importance of preparation. Further recommendations are made for the wider public policy context, including a call for more segmentation approaches to build understanding and resilience.     

A Commentary on “Undergraduate Education: The Implications of Cross-Functional Relationships in Business Marketing–The Skills of High-Performing Managers”

ABSTRACT

This commentary reinforces the importance and need for developing the student's knowledge, abilities, and understanding of what is required to collaborate with the firm's internal and external constituencies, in the context of B2B marketing environment. It is an important goal to be achieved in the B2B marketing course. The new era of business marketing is built around achieving “collaborative advantage” with the new breed of customers who demand relatively more complex product and services arrangements as well as nature of relationships from their vendors. Today's customers also expect intellectual input and consultative selling approaches from group of diverse and independent marketing entities, whom they expect to work together to meet their requirements. The firm's success or failure in the market place may indeed be predicated on their ability to achieve this “collaborative advantage”. The commentary also expands the authors' suggestions in the areas of course pedagogy and design for building the student's know-how and capability for practicing the art-of-collaboration.     

Marketing in the Second Industrial Revolution: A Case Study of the Ferranti Computer Group, 1949–63

In the early 1950s the UK emerged as a world leader in the design and construction of electronic digital computers, a fact illustrated by Ferranti Ltd., the Manchester electronics firm. Ferranti achieved its dominant position with a blend of innovative technology and government support, but eventually found the computer business unprofitable. Marketing failures were partly responsible, particularly an obsession with technology and a failure to target the most profitable sectors of the industry. But paramount in the factors leading to Ferranti's sale of its computer interests were: firstly, the greater resources and market opportunities of the Americans; and secondly, the conservation of the Ferranti family, who found the manufacture of defence computers a safer and more profitable alternative than the highly competitive data-processing market.     

The Role of Local Context in Headquarters–Subsidiaries Relationships: A Global Analysis of the Literature

This study reviews the literature on multinational corporations’ headquarters–subsidiaries relationships, focusing on the role of the local context and its influence on subsidiaries in developed and emerging markets or countries. The author searched the literature using several terms directly related to these issues. The findings demonstrate that subsidiaries can only operate successfully in foreign locations by adjusting their policies to fit into the local environment because there are multiple contexts. Multinational corporations manage the local context by integrating their home behavior and that of the subsidiaries’ operating environments. A framework for identifying and managing different local contexts is proposed.     

The managing of competition: Government and industry relationships in the jute industry 1957–63

This paper examines the development of the 1963 court case brought by the Board of Trade's Restrictive Trading Agreements Office against jute manufacturers, in order to examine the impact of the newly introduced competition policy for government–business relationships. Government's active enforcement of competition marked an important change in the direction of industrial policy in the UK and the jute industry was one of the cases to be examined.     

Corporate Autonomy and Buyer–Supplier Relationships: The Case of Unsafe Mattel Toys

This article analyses supplier–buyer relationships where the suppliers adapt to the buyers’ needs and expectations to gain mutual advantages. In some cases, such closely knit relationships lead to violations of the autonomy of one or both partners. A concept of corporate autonomy (CA) is developed to analyze this problem. Three different facets can be distinguished: rule autonomy, executive autonomy, and control autonomy. A case study of Mattel’s problems with lead-contaminated toys produced in China shows that the CA of buyer and supplier can be restricted as a result of a dysfunctional partnership involving a moral dilemma.     

The Automobile Industry in Paraná: The Case of Renault

SUMMARY

The development process of Paraná has traditionally been closely linked to agriculture. However, given the state's proximity to São Paulo, there have always been attempts to promote industrial development. This occurred initially in the 1970s and became more intensive in the 1990s with the development of fiscal wars between the states to attract investments, especially in the automobile industry. The paper concentrates on an analysis of how the Renault assembly plant was attracted to Paraná, its impact on the state's industrial product and on employment, and on the attempt to attract component producers.

RESUMEN. Tradicionalmente, el proceso de desarrollo del estado de Paraná siempre se mantuvo estrechamente vinculado a la agricultura. Sin embargo, debido a su proximidad al estado de São Paulo, se realizaron constantes esfuerzos para promover su desarrollo industrial. El paso inicial se remonta a los años 70, que evolucionó considerablemente en los 90 con el surgimiento de guerras fiscales entre los estados instigadas para atraer inversiones, especialmente de la industria automotriz. El estudio se concentra en el análisis de cómo se atrajo la instalación de la fábrica Renault al estado de Paraná, su impacto sobre el producto industrial del estado y el empleo, y la tentativa de atraer fabricantes de componentes.

RESUMO. O processo de desenvolvimento do Paraná esteve intimamente ligado à agricultura. Mas dado sua proximidade com São Paulo, sempre se procurou dar um impulso ao desenvolvimento industrial. O primeiro passo para isto ocorreu na década de 70. No entanto, foi a partir de década de 90 que se observa uma maior evolução do desenvolvimento industrial. Parte desse processo foi conseqüência da guerra fiscal travada entre os estados brasileiros para atração de investimentos, principalmente da indústria automobilística. O objetivo desse artigo é de apresentar o processo de atração da montadora francesa Renault para o estado do Paraná, analisar os investimentos realizados e seus impactos, principalmente na geração de emprego e na tentativa de atrair fabricantes ligados ao setor de autopeças.     

The growth of UK companies and their contribution to job generation, 1985–1987

Theories of firm growth are reviewed and various models examined. The firm growth and job generation process in the UK over the period 1985–87, is examined empirically, by using the very large data files of the Dun and Bradstreet credit rating organisation. In the analysis, four computer processes were carried out; the sorting and matching of files, the cleaning of the data, the validation of the cleaned data, and the scaling up the results. The final adjusted data were grossed-up to provide an overview of the growth and job generation potential of UK firms. This is compared with past results for the periods 1971–81, and 1982–84. Small firms performed well, providing 48% of all new jobs, although consisting of only 21% of all employment in 1985. The 1000+ employee range provided only 13% of all new jobs over the period, although consisting of 37% of all employment in 1985. An overall trend of positive performance in smaller firms, and negative in larger firms was apparent. The 20–49 employee cohort performed unusually poorly in firm and job creation, against the expected pattern. The effect of takeovers, mergers and rationalisations on employment was examined. As expected, there was negligible restructuring of small firms, but over 5% of employees in the largest 1000+ cohort were involved in some form of reorganisation.In this and the two previous studies for 1971–81 and 1982–84, we found a consistent pattern of small firms as net generators of jobs, and large firms as net losers. This overall net behaviour is essential for the overall stability of the population, and can not be seen in good or bad terms. Bolton in 1971 found that the UK had an unduly small and weak small-firm sector. That trend to concentration is being reversed.This research was supported by the Department of Employment, Small Firms Division.