Comparative effectiveness and student choice for online and face-to-face classwork

The authors examined learning and task choices made by students when the same interactive course design was used online and face-to-face. A survey was administered in an operations management course covering both conceptual and quantitative topics. Course grades were compared and correlations were measured to determine relevant relationships. Results showed that online students performed equally as well as face-to-face students. The most important task choice for face-to-face success was regular class attendance, whereas for online students it was completion of interactive worksheets. Passive textbook reading was neither chosen as often, nor significant to student success. Minimal uncertainty was important to success, with self-discipline, clarity of instructions, and virtual presence of an instructor most important.     

The Common Agricultural Policy after 2013

In October 2011 the European Commission presented a set of legal proposals designed to make the Common Agricultural Policy more effective. Pending a debate in the European Parliament and the Council, approval is expected by the end of 2013. This Forum aims to identify the proposals?? shortcomings and to offer suggestions for improvement which the Parliament and Council can work to implement. The authors pay particular attention to the future of direct payments, CAP greening and rural development, as well as to the change in the decision-making rules which grants the Parliament more authority over the process.     

Brand positivity and competitive effects on the evaluation of brand extensions

The dominant approach in brand-extension research has focused on the role of fit in the extension evaluation process. Overemphasis on fit has resulted in research designs that involve singular evaluation of the extension without considering how competing brands in the target category might affect the evaluation of brand extensions. Singular evaluations are known to result in brand positivity effects; that is, brand extensions are evaluated more favorably than is warranted. This research finds that singular evaluations do indeed lead to brand positivity effects. However, brand positivity effects are mitigated when respondents were provided with competitive information along with target-category structure and comparative/non-comparative brand positioning statements. Results also suggest that parent brand-extension fit, though an important determinant of an extension's assessment, plays a less critical role in a comparative evaluation context when an extension's brand strength is accounted for in relation to its competition in the target category. Therefore, the findings stress the importance of both competition and parent-brand fit in making informed positioning decisions and more realistic predictions of extension success. The research demonstrates when, how and to what extent comparative evaluations result in lower extension ratings and provides managerial strategies to introduce an extension effectively.     

How Can I Become a Responsible Subject? Towards a Practice-Based Ethics of Responsiveness

Approaches to business ethics can be roughly divided into two streams: ‹codes of behavior’ and ‹forms of subjectification’, with code-oriented approaches clearly dominating the field. Through an elaboration of poststructuralist approaches to moral philosophy, this paper questions the emphasis on codes of behaviour and, thus, the conceptions of the moral and responsible subject that are inherent in rule-based approaches. As a consequence of this critique, the concept of a practice-based ‹ethics of responsiveness’ in which ethics is never final but rather always ‹to come’, is investigated. In such an approach the ethical self is understood as being continuously constituted within power/knowledge relations. Following this line, we ask how one can become a responsible subject while also acknowledging certain limits of full responsibility. We thereby explore responsibility as a considered but unconditional openness in response to the other.     

Demarketing tobacco through governmental policies - The 4Ps revisited

Governments in many developed countries are increasing their efforts to reduce smoking. In line with their commitment for action, governments use anti-smoking advertising to highlight the health risks of smoking and regulatory measures to dissuade consumers from consuming tobacco. In the past, governments tended to take these steps in isolation, now they are more likely to combine these strategies as part of a demarketing mix. However, relatively little is known about the differential impact of these demarketing mix elements in relation to consumers' intention to quit smoking and other important outcome variables. This article presents a conceptual model linking the 4Ps in a demarketing context with three outcome measures: consumers' attitude toward the tobacco industry, consumers' attitude toward smoking, and consumers' intention to quit smoking. The authors use empirical longitudinal data to test the model and the results suggest that the four demarketing mix elements affect smokers' attitudes toward the tobacco industry and smoking, as well as their intention to quit over time. Further, the results from structural equation modeling analysis indicate that not all four demarketing mix elements are equally effective in inducing consumer behavior change.     

Explanations for continued gender discrimination in South Korean workplaces

This paper investigates potential explanations for the continued gender discrimination in South Korean workplaces despite decades of gender policy reforms and improved education for women. Making use of both primary and secondary data sources, the institutional theory, the voluntary compliance regulatory enforcement strategy and the typology of regulatory noncompliance provide a framework from which four explanations regarding the origin and nature of Korean firm equal opportunity (EO) compliance issues are derived. Identified through data analysis, explanations include a lack of legal enforcement, a weak punishment system, a tacit acceptance of the status quo by women, organizational cultural issues stemming from the traditional Korean mind-set that allow gender discrimination and a general lack of knowledge about EO regulations by many companies. Reforms and paradigm changes addressing these gender policy compliance issues could yield considerable social benefits in reducing the scope and quantity of gender discrimination in Korean workplaces.     

Consumer uncertainty,revisited

Uncertainty is an important concept within consumer behavior which to date is under‐theorized, especially in relation to important downstream variables such as information search intention and purchase intention, and can therefore lead to a loss of utility. The authors propose a new multidimensional conceptualization of consumer uncertainty and develop a theoretical model of uncertainty within two consumer behavior contexts, namely avoidance of sweatshop apparel and avoidance of food additives. Drawing on literature‐based insights as well as qualitative research and Expected Utility Theory, the authors develop hypotheses that offer insight into the potential antecedents (ambiguity and credibility) and consequences (search intention and purchase intention) of uncertainty. Using survey data, the authors test the hypotheses, finding strong support for many relationships hypothesized. Research and managerial implications are discussed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The financial crisis and trade—key impacts,interactions, and outcomes

The international financial crisis has been felt acutely in international trade. This article looks at the extent of the fall in trade and its impacts in major world exporters and sectors of industry. The article finds that the effects of the crisis have been far from homogeneous, with certain sectors more heavily impacted than others. In particular, electronics and transport equipment have seen large falls in trade, with base metals and machinery also strongly affected. Furthermore, certain countries have seen greater impacts than others. In particular, China saw relatively lower falls in trade than the other countries covered, contributing to an increase in the emerging world's share of global trade. Finally, the article looks at two key elements hypothesized as motors of the extensive trade fall—the fragmentation of production and the contraction in trade finance. It finds evidence that both were important to the impacts of the crisis on trade, although falls in GDP were the main driver. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

How do US investors perceive the risk of local political corruption? Evidence from acquisition announcement

This study examines the impact of local political corruption on investors’ evaluation of firms’ mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the US. Using the number of corruption convictions of government officials reported by the US Department of Justice, we find that acquirers in more corrupt court districts experience lower acquirer announcement returns, lower combined acquirer and target announcement returns, and are less likely to complete acquisitions. We further find that the relation between local political corruption and acquirer announcement returns is worsened when acquirers operate primarily in the headquarters state. Overall, the results suggest that local political corruption has an adverse impact on investors’ evaluation of a firm’s M&A profitability.