The Development of Satellite Television in Western Europe

Within Western Europe there is growing interest in satellite television and some commentators suggest that its successful development could revolutionise television transmission and bring a new dimension to home entertainment during the next decade. This article describes the different ways in which satellite television services are being developed in Western Europe in general and in the United Kingdom in particular. Some of the problems surrounding these developments are also discussed.     

Implementing market segmentation using full-refund and no-refund customer returns policies in a dual-channel supply chain structure

Products returned by customers are common in the retail industry and result in costs to both the supplier and the retailer. In practice, retailers implement returns policies that may give customers a full, partial, or no refund for returned products. In this paper, we examine how a firm that faces customer returns can enhance profit by using different customer returns policies, full-refund and no-returns, as a device to segment its market into a dual-channel structure. We also show the impact of customer returns on the firm's pricing and ordering decisions, as well as on the firm's profit in such a dual-channel structure.     

How to learn new tasks: Shop floor performance effects of knowledge transfer and performance feedback

We investigate how learning and the task performance of individuals are affected by different forms of knowledge transfer. Whereas previous research has proven the positive performance impacts of knowledge transfer, self-observation and feedback mechanisms individually, we explore the cumulative effect of these factors on learning and performance. With the help of two laboratory experimental studies reproducing manufacturing tasks that are typical for industrial production, we show that explicit knowledge transfer is superior to other forms of knowledge transfer. Externally provided performance feedback in the form of cost information and non-financial performance indicators has no effect on the order of different forms of knowledge transfer. Moreover, external feedback does not even have an additional significant performance effect on learning new tasks irrespective of the type of knowledge transfer.     

The role of retentions in how marketing managers change their strategic orientation

This study looks at how a marketing organization changed its strategic orientation in response to environmental factors, and at the influence of retentions on the change effort. Retentions are defined , here as the concepts and mental models used by marketing managers when trying to respond to environmental changes. The influence of retentions on strategic orientation and factors affecting how retentions change are studied in the context of how a bank trust department responded to the deregulation of the financial services industry between 1982 and 1984. The dominant retentions held by managers both before and after deregulation are presented, and the events that contributed to the change of the retentions are examined. The results suggest that retentions prior to deregulation focused on external sources of influence and were associated with a defender strategic orientation. Retentions after deregulation, once the organization's strategic orientation stabilized, focused on critical resources and competitors and were associated with an analyser orientation. The adoption of the new retentions lagged deregulation by several years, and the transition did not match the steps prescribed by the marketing and strategic management literature. Instead, the transition took place through an iterative sequence of behaviours and evaluations more characteristic of the organizing model (Weick 1979). Managers changed their retentions incrementally by enacting small changes, evaluating the outcomes of their behaviour, and letting the outcomes redefine their retentions.     

Marketing and the British chief executive

British chief executives increasingly recognise the need to make their companies more marketing orientated. But boards of directors are still dominated by a financial outlook and most lack a professional approach to strategy and market innovation. Chief executives need to supplement their generally inadequate base with education and development programmes on strategic marketing and to add non‐executive directors with substantial expertise in marketing.     

Supply Chain Management Competency and Firm Financial Success

Supply chain management (SCM) plays a major role in creating (or destroying) shareholder value by influencing the three major drivers of firm financial performance: revenue, operating costs, and working capital. Yet, the relationship between SCM competency and firm financial performance is not well‐established. Drawing on the resource‐based view of the firm, this study assesses this relationship using Delphi‐style opinion data from AMR Research’s Supply Chain Top 25 rankings to assess SCM competency and Altman’s (1968) Z‐score statistic as the measure of financial success. The study findings show that firms recognized by industry experts for SCM competency have significantly higher Z‐scores than their close competitors and industry averages.     

Banking Sector Performance in Latin America: Market Power versus Efficiency

Since the mid‐1990s the banking sector in the Latin American emerging markets has experienced profound changes due to financial liberalization, a significant increase in foreign investments, and greater merger activities often occurring following financial crises. The wave of consolidation and the rapid increase in market concentration that took place in most countries has generated concerns about the rise in banks' market power and its potential effects on consumers. This paper advances the existing literature by testing the market power (Structure–Conduct–Performance and Relative Market Power) and efficient structure (X‐ and scale efficiency) hypotheses for a sample of over 2500 bank observations in nine Latin American countries over 1997–2005. We use the Data Envelopment Analysis technique to obtain reliable efficiency measures. We produce evidence supporting the efficient structure hypotheses. The findings are particularly robust for the largest banking markets in the region, namely Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. Finally, capital ratios and bank size seem to be among the most important factors in explaining higher than normal profits for Latin American banks.     

Challenges for land system science

While considerable progress has been made in understanding land use change, land system science continues to face a number of grand challenges. This paper discusses these challenges with a focus on empirical land system studies, land system modelling and the analysis of future visions of land system change. Contemporary landscapes are contingent outcomes of past and present patterns, processes and decisions. Thus, empirical analysis of past and present land-use change has an important role in providing insights into the socio-economic and ecological processes that shape land use transitions. This is especially important with respect to gradual versus rapid land system dynamics and in understanding changes in land use intensity. Combining the strengths of empirical analysis with multi-scale modelling will lead to new insights into the processes driving land system change. New modelling methods that combine complex systems thinking at a local level with macro-level economic analysis of the land system would reconcile the multi-scale dynamics currently encapsulated in bottom-up and top-down modelling approaches. Developments in land use futures analysis could focus on integrating explorative scenarios that reflect possible outcomes with normative visions that identify desired outcomes. Such an approach would benefit from the broad and in-depth involvement of stakeholders in order to link scientific findings to political and societal decision-making culminating in a set of key choices and consequences. Land system models have an important role in supporting future land use policy, but model outputs require scientific interpretation rather than being presented as predictions. The future of land system science is strongly dependent on the research community's capacity to bring together the elements of research discussed in the paper, via empirical data collection and analysis of observed processes, computer simulation across scale levels and futures analysis of alternative, normative visions through stakeholder engagement.     

A Comparison of EPI Sampling, Probability Sampling, and Compact Segment Sampling Methods for Micro and Small Enterprises

Finding an efficient method for sampling micro- and small-enterprises (MSEs) for research and statistical reporting purposes is a challenge in developing countries, where registries of MSEs are often nonexistent or outdated. This lack of a sampling frame creates an obstacle in finding a representative sample of MSEs. This study uses computer simulations to draw samples from a census of businesses and non-businesses in the Tshwane Municipality of South Africa, using three different sampling methods: the traditional probability sampling method, the compact segment sampling method, and the World Health Organization's Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) sampling method. Three mechanisms by which the methods could differ are tested, the proximity selection of respondents, the at-home selection of respondents, and the use of inaccurate probability weights. The results highlight the importance of revisits and accurate probability weights, but the lesser effect of proximity selection on the samples' statistical properties.