Extending Holt's consuming typology to encompass subject–subject relations in consumption: lessons from pet ownership

This paper adapts Holt's typology of consumption practices to illuminate consumption practices within the context of British consumers and their household pets. The photo-elicitation technique, autodriving, is used to elicit stories from our participants concerning their cats and dogs. Holt's typology provides a strong foundation for illuminating the consumption practices described in these stories. However, in order to capture the cultural meanings and social dynamics that animate these consumption practices more fully, we propose extending Holt's framework so as to incorporate (1) the agency of the animal; (2) the incidence of literal play; and (3) the moral values underlying consuming as classification. This paper concludes with a discussion on the value of our proposed additions in relation to future cultural studies of human–animal relations and to future cultural studies of consumption in general.     

Employment and Skills in Financial Services: A Comparison Of Banks and Insurance Companies in Five OECD Countries

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, financial services remained among the fastest growing sectors in most OECD countries. Since the early 1980s however, the pace of employment growth in financial services has slowed in several countries. In a few of them, such as France, there even have been warnings by industry executives of subsranrial employment losses in the years ahead as result of both market saturation and large productivity increases due to the widespread diffusion of computerised technologies [Le Monde, 1986]. A study recently completed by the authors for the OECD's Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (19871 arrives a conclusions that are at once more optimistic and more complex.     

变换系统双中变关联的改造

利用闲置设备低温变换炉进行改造处理，与原有中温变换炉并联使用，取得了十分显著的效果，不但降低了变换的能耗，而且为扩大产量奠定了基础。     

Determining the Key Factors of Customer–Brand Relationship Investment Dimensions: Insights From Malaysian Mobile Phone Users

This study aims to empirically test a scale to measure the dimensions of relationship investment. An exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis were conducted on a sample of 150 mobile phone customers, whereas a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on a sample of 539 customers. The results identified 2 dimensions each for customer and brand investment and validated the measurement items for each dimension. Thus, this study offers a sound scale for potential use in future studies and a useful tool for companies to use to diagnose and plan for an effective engagement strategy.     

Facebook fan page: the effect of perceived socialness in consumer–brand communication

Facebook has become an important platform for a brand–consumer relationship channel. The current study investigates the influence of perceived socialness and its effect on consumers’ attitude toward brands. Participants (N = 404) were recruited in a large southeast university. A 2 (socialness: high vs. low)?×?2 (feedback control: high vs. low)?×?2 (brand image: high vs. low) between-subject design was conducted. The results of this study identified three important findings. First, high (vs. low) socialness elicited higher perceived relationship commitment, brand trust, and more favorable brand attitude. Second, the effect of socialness on brand attitude was moderated by brand image (positive vs. negative). Third, the mediation analysis showed that the effect of socialness (high vs. low) on brand attitude was fully mediated by perceived relationship commitment and brand trust.     

Dependence concentration and fairness perceptions in asymmetric supplier–buyer relationships

The purpose of this research is to investigate how a supplier manages its relationships with multiple buyers in a market structure of imbalanced power to achieve market success. Drawing on resource dependence theory and social exchange theory, we argue that dependence concentration (the degree of revenue concentration of a supplier’s multiple buyers) and fairness perceptions (distributive and procedural fairness) work together to impact a supplier’s market performance. The authors develop a structural model and empirically test how dependence concentration and fairness perceptions impact supplier performance with survey responses from 92 suppliers in the food supply industry. The findings show that a balanced set of dependence relationships governed by fair business policies and procedures leads to strong and effective relationships; and effective relationships with multiple buyers, rather than with any specific buyer, impact sales and profit growth in a market structure of imbalanced power.     

FIFO技术在SDH数字交叉连接芯片设计中的应用

交易成本过高是中国企业面临的巨大挑战,努力降低交易成本是中国企业必须解决的问题。本文从实证研究和原因分析两个方面论证了中国企业交易成本过高这一事实。从微观层面来说,诚信缺失是造成中国企业交易成本过高的主要原因,而诸如战略联盟、产业集群、供应链整合等可以扩大企业边界的中间组织是降低中国企业交易成本过高的主要形式,因为这些中间组织的共同特征是, 通过企业间的多种形式的合作,可以减少交易的不确定性和机会主义行为,从而降低交易成本。     

从“储蓄约束”到“消费约束”——虚拟经济下的宏观投资决定

生产力的发展和虚拟经济的演化带来了人们消费内容的变化,引起了产品供给模式的改变,从而改变宏观经济中的投资决定模式。本文在回顾以往投资决定理论的基础上,从消费内容的视角解释虚拟经济以及在虚拟经济下投资决定方式的改变,认为虚拟经济超出实体经济的部分是生产力水平提高的结果,是未计入GDP的精神产品和精神消费品、物质消费品潜在供给能力的“包容器”,宏观投资已经从“储蓄约束型”向“消费约束型”转变。文章通过对我国1978-2003年的宏观数据的计量分析验证了这一结论。     

统一大市场建设背景下的数字贸易驱动消费升级研究

立足于建设全国统一大市场的背景,研究不同市场一体化阶段数字贸易发展对消费升级的驱动作用。从机理上看,数字贸易通过创新供给和创新需求,驱动消费升级。将市场一体化的作用分为市场范围效应和价格稳定效应,通过构建数字贸易发展指标体系和面板门槛模型实证研究发现：数字贸易对消费升级的驱动具有门槛效应和非线性特征。随着市场一体化的市场范围效应提高,数字贸易对消费升级的驱动效应呈现“U” 型变化趋势;随着市场一体化的价格稳定效应提高,数字贸易对消费升级的驱动效应逐渐增强。中西部地区的驱动效应大于东部地区,内陆地区的驱动效应大于沿海地区。只有在市场一体化达到一定水平时,数字贸易对消费升级的驱动作用才能充分发挥。基于此,提出加快发展数字贸易和推进市场一体化建设等建议。     

Simulating in-store lighting and temperature with visual aids: methodological propositions and S–O–R effects

Lighting and temperature are two important stimuli in sensory marketing. However, these stimuli have not yet been studied in controlled retail environments. The objective of this research is twofold: (1) to propose a methodology to infer the effect of different levels of lighting and temperature in a controlled environment with visual aids and (2) to test the impact of these simulated stimuli on environmental perceptions and behavioral intentions, following a Stimulus–Organism–Response model. This model postulates that stimuli should influence internal responses which in turn shall have an impact on behavioral responses. This research is based on the encoding and retrieval literature as well as the literature in physics, ergonomics and environmental psychology. In Study 1, we manipulated lighting and temperature levels in digital photographic images, using relevant cues (illuminance and color temperature for lighting; clothing and activity level for temperature). A between-subjects design experiment was carried out over 387 respondents: two simulated levels of lighting (bright cool light and soft warm light) × two simulated levels of temperature (slightly warm temperature and slightly cool temperature) × three types of stores (jeans store, bookstore, and furniture store). We found that under these simulated conditions, the participants accurately perceived the differences of lighting and temperature levels, as we predicted. In Study 2, the same photographs were used in a within-between subjects design over 110 participants and 330 observations. We tested the impact of these simulated stimuli on environmental perceptions (stimulating and relaxing) and behavioral intentions (intention to buy and intention to spend time in the store). Both a bright cool light and a slightly warm temperature had a stimulating effect on participants’ store perception. Under these conditions, participants also increased their intentions to buy and to spend time in the store. The stimulative perception mediates the relationship between (1) lighting and both intention to spend time in the store and purchase intention and (2) temperature and intention to spend time in the store. These results confirm the benefit of using digitally manipulated stimuli with photographs in controlled environments.     

基于时空相似性的跨域目标关联分析方法

多业务域目标聚合是情报分析的核心问题之一,为解决跨域目标关联分析工程化实现,提出了一种时空相似计算的分析方法。首先,对接收到的目标时空数据进行处理,形成元数据;其次,按照预定义的数据模型,从元数据中抽取目标信息;再次,通过时空相似度计算,对目标间的时空信息进行分析,得到目标间的时空关系;最后,利用先验知识对目标时空关系进行约束,实现从时空关系到语义关系的转换。数值仿真验证了该方法能够简单有效地实现跨域目标关联分析。