The Impact of Academic Research on Business Practice Experiences from Marketing

In the past four decades, academic researchers have developed a variety of concepts they claim are relevant to business practice. This article analyzes the impact of eight of these concepts from a decision-oriented perspective. Four of them – econometric models, diffusion models, causal analysis and mental accounting – have yet to exert a significant influence on business practice. In contrast, concepts like price decisions and structures, conjoint measurement, decision support systems and pricing processes – all developed to solve practical problems – have proven to be highly useful. It seems evident that overly complex methodology, abstract reasoning and the reliance on incidental data substantially hinder the success of concepts in practice. On the other hand, concepts that provide managers with economically valuable insights are well-received in business practice. The impact of practical experience on the definition of research projects has remained limited. This is due less to the reluctance of the parties involved and more to the objective obstacles such as confidentiality and the complexity of problems. Academic researchers are encouraged to more assertively seek out research guidance from business practitioners, and practitioners should more actively provide recommendations needed for relevant research.     

FOCUS: The New Germany A United Germany in the New Europe

Last October the German Ambassador to Britain delivered the annual Gresham Special Lecture in Gresham College in the City of London. The text of His Excellency's lecture is reproduced here with permission.     

Emerging powers as fact and metaphor: Some European ideas

Emerging powers appear to be rather diverse although some of them, like China and India, are mapping the world. They can be countries or regions, social scapes and flows, economic networks or global cities. They emerge after several decades of global flexible capitalism and the rise of regional networks and city-states. In order to meet contemporary challenges, emerging powers need the experience of coherence of older homogeneities as well as the complexities of extended, differentiated societies and social structures. This new step in recent globalization has to be mediated and understood. The European cultural memory of conflict, mediation and negotiation may enable Europeans to let emerging powers grow beyond the world of traditional empires and their global economies, beyond the worlds of nation-states and their international economy, and beyond the world of liberal empires and their global economy. This reflexivity and complexity may enable the social sciences to play an important public role, which they have not had for many decades, if they understand their moment.     

Segmentation in the informal credit markets: the case of the Philippines

This paper explains market segmentation that occurs in the Philippine informal credit markets through the matching of borrowers and lenders by their occupational specializations to internalize transaction costs and facilitate economic activity. The regression results support a predictable pattern of matching farmer lenders with borrowers specialized in non-farm activities and trader lenders with borrowers specialized in farming.     

An experimental approach to valuing new differentiated products

An experimental store was created to evaluate initial demand for locally produced and guaranteed tender steak products as a more realistic alternative to contingent valuation (CV) and dichotomous-choice experimental methods. Strengths of the approach are incentive compatibility, a realistic consumption set, and a familiar choice environment. Consumers selected among USDA Choice, premium quality, lean, guaranteed tender and locaily produced strip steaks. A double-hurdle count data model indicated initial willingness-to-pay (WTP) for locally produced steak comparable to prior CV results, but demand was highly elastic. Demand for premium quality steak crowded out demand for the guaranteed tender product, contrasting with prior dichotomous-choice experimental results.     

当企业面临危机时

我们经常看到一些公司轻轻松松地成功，一帆风顺，也偶尔会目睹某个巨厦的崩塌回天无力。没有人可以随随便便成功，没有哪一个企业能够完全回避危机的发生，动荡的国际政治、经济环境和自身的失误使企业的周遭危机四伏，一不留神就会走上下坡路。但如何采取有效的措施扭转这个趋势？