Consumer education in the UK: new developments in policy,strategy and implementation

Consumer education is an integral part of the European Community's consumer policy. It plays a key role in consumer empowerment, helping consumers gain the skills, attitudes and knowledge they need to be able to gear the choices they make as consumers to their economic interests and to protect their health and safety. In its policy statement, the Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection states that the European Community is aware that joint measures at national and Community levels should be more structured, in order to achieve maximum effectiveness. This paper aims to set out the current policy and strategic context for consumer education and empowerment in the UK; review the role of UK government bodies and other agencies concerned with developments; review recent literature; present the results of interviews with an extensive range of key stakeholders and the results of a survey of service heads for trading standards throughout the UK. It will consider implementation, partnership, resources, ideas and opportunities. The research found that the agenda for consumer education in the UK is at an interesting stage of development. The Enterprise Act 2002 gives the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) a statutory power to carry out educational activities. Consumer education is also moving up the agenda in the trading standards service. In addition, the teaching of citizenship in English schools is already stimulating new developments in consumer education. The paper will consider the need for organizations like these to work together to build on these policy developments and ensure that consumer education gains the profile it needs to influence consumer attitudes and behaviour.     

Restaurants and the Bring-Your-Own-Bottle of Wine Paradox: Involvement Influences,Consumption Occasions,and Risk Perception

The current study focuses on differences between high- and low-involvement consumers in terms of the bring-your-own-bottle of wine phenomenon, influence of consumption occasion(s), and how bring-your-own-bottle is used by consumers as purchase risk-reduction strategy. Results show that level of wine involvement determines the importance of bring-your-own-bottle of wine. The consumption situation in which bring-your-own-bottle of wine might occur is a main factor when buying wine. Bring-your-own-bottle of wine is largely the result of risk-reduction strategies where high-involvement wine consumers are more susceptible to perceived risk in the full-service casual restaurant sector and reduce this risk through bring-your-own-bottle.     

贫困人口的健康服务：人口与发展的一个新领域

较系统地阐述了人口、发展及贫困的关系,重点阐述了我国农村地区贫困人口健康服务的状况及问题.应在社会可持续发展框架下全面审视和统筹解决贫困人口健康服务不公平的问题.在目前中国现实国情下,对贫困人口应实施医疗救助计划,改善其健康服务,以促进社会发展,实现公平.展望了贫困人口健康问题研究的前景及其与其它学科在医疗救助领域中的合作问题.     

Fashion consumer profiles in the Portuguese market: involvement,innovativeness, self‐expression and impulsiveness as segmentation criteria

This study identified fashion consumer profiles among Portuguese young adults. The work was based on four constructs: fashion involvement, fashion innovativeness, self‐expression through fashion products and impulsiveness. Another purpose of this study was to test these instruments in this cultural context in order to contribute to the generalizability of the scales. A cluster analysis uncovered three groups: Moderates, Apathetic and Enthusiasts. On the whole, this study proposes a new way of segmenting Portuguese fashion consumers and demonstrates that the four constructs employed can be used in different cultural contexts.     

高职院校新生心理健康状况的调查与教育对策——以安徽商贸职业技术学院为例

采用《大学生人格健康调查表》对安徽商贸职业技术学院2011级新生进行心理健康普查，结果表明：有55．58％的学生目前心理健康状态较好；26．5％的学生存在心理困惑；17．92％的学生可能存在严重的心理问题。这些心理问题集中表现为偏执或强迫状态，人际交往困扰，抑郁状态及情绪和意志问题等。对此，心育工作应采取以下对策：及时干预辅导，保证心育工作的实效性；丰富教育形式，促进心育工作的有效性；夯实师资队伍，提高心育工作的专业性。     

教育与健康水平对农户劳动生产率的影响：对中国农村贫困地区的一项研究

根据中国23个贫困县农户抽样调查数据,分析了不同教育和健康水平农户劳动生产率的差异,探讨了农户劳动生产率的决定因素,确定改进农户教育和健康水平对提高劳动生产率的贡献.研究表明,农户的教育和健康水平的提高对贫困地区农业劳动生产率的提高有非常显著的影响.     

Understanding the vulnerability of blind consumers: adaptation in the marketplace,personal traits and coping strategies

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to examine the vulnerability perceived by blind consumers in the marketplace. By analysing the narratives of 16 people that have acquired blindness, we develop an understanding of the internal and external factors that affect their degree of vulnerability and identify their coping strategies. Data analysis consisted of content interpretation and a search for the meaning of the particular experiences, events and states reported by the respondents. Results show how emotional well-being, consumption-facilitating social support, acceptance, autonomy and perceptions about marketplace difficulties all relate to coping mechanisms.     

家庭子女的教育投入与亲代的养老回报——来自河北农村的调查发现

利用2008年河北农村家庭生命周期与代际关系调查数据,分析当前河北农村60岁及以上老年人子女的教育投入与老年人获取的来自子女的养老回报的影响因素。河北农村老年人子女的受教育程度多为小学、初中水平,且存在性别、年龄别和地区差异。来自子女教育投入的养老回报主要体现在经济支持方面,子女受教育程度越高,对父母的经济支持越大。父母对子女的教育投入越多得到的回报越高,体现了家庭中亲子抚养与赡养关系具有一定的互惠交换特征。     

广东省能源消费、经济增长与FDI互动关系的研究——基于VAR模型

本文运用格兰杰因果关系检验与脉冲响应方法,分别对广东省能源消费、经济增长与外商直接投资(FDI)之间的因果与动态关系进行了深入研究。研究发现:广东省经济高速增长推动了能源的高消耗,而FDI的大量流入又直接推动着经济高速增长,FDI通过经济增长间接促进了能源高消耗。对于FDI波动,经济增长与能源消费将有较强同向波动,FDI对能源消费具有节约效应,FDI在广东省经济发展中占据重要地位。     

Industry,Organizational Age,and Size as Predictors of Organizational Values in the Context of a Transition Society: The Case of Estonian Organizations

ABSTRACT

Over the past 20 years, China and India have emerged as the fastest growing economies in the world. In this context, the authors review, examine, and list the factors that have contributed to the emergence of China and India (referred to as Chindia). The authors compare the antecedents, characteristics, and consequences of their emergence in the global market. This article provides insights for the researchers and multinational enterprises from rest of the world to carry out studies on country analysis as well as foreign market entry modes. Besides, we posit theoretical and testable propositions for future research.     

Ethics,CSR, and Sustainability Education in the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Financial Times</Emphasis> Top 50 Global Business Schools: Baseline Data and Future Research Directions

This paper investigates how deans and directors at the top 50 global MBA programs (as rated by the Financial Times in their 2006 Global MBA rankings) respond to questions about the inclusion and coverage of the topics of ethics, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability at their respective institutions. This work purposely investigates each of the three topics separately. Our findings reveal that: (1) a majority of the schools require that one or more of these topics be covered in their MBA curriculum and one-third of the schools require coverage of all three topics as part of the MBA curriculum, (2) there is a trend toward the inclusion of sustainability-related courses, (3) there is a higher percentage of student interest in these topics (as measured by the presence of a Net Impact club) in the top 10 schools, and (4) several schools are teaching these topics using experiential learning and immersion techniques. We note a fivefold increase in the number of stand-alone ethics courses since a 1988 investigation on ethics, and we include other findings about institutional support of centers or special programs; as well as a discussion of integration, teaching techniques, and notable practices in relation to all three topics.     

Factors Related to the Cognitive Moral Development of Business Students and Business Professionals in India and the United States: Nationality, Education, Sex and Gender

This research focuses on the similarities and differences in the cognitive moral development of business professionals and graduate business students in two countries, India and the United States. Factors that potentially influence cognitive moral development, namely, culture, education, sex and gender are analyzed and discussed. Implications for ethics education in graduate business schools and professional associations are considered. Future research on the cognitive moral development of graduate business students and business professionals is recommended.