The market orientation-performance link: the role of service reliability

International alliances in retailing are a fairly new phenomenon. A range of relationships is being formed between retailers in order to take advantage of new opportunities and to counter the threats created by the internationalisation of retailing. This paper proposes a taxonomy of the range of alliances being formed between and among retailers, giving evidence from the UK retail sector to support the taxonomy. A comprehensive identification of UK retailer presence in international alliances is presented, along with a discussion on the potential advantages that accrue from membership of an alliance. We conclude by highlighting further issues for discussion.     

Technical Efficiency of the Ghanaian Banking Industry and the Effects of the Entry of Foreign Banks

The effects of the entry of foreign banks and changes in bank concentration on the technical efficiency of domestic banks in Ghana over the period 2000–2008 is analyzed. Technical efficiency scores were obtained by the Data Envelopment Analysis. Then, the Tobit regression was used to analyze the impact of hypothesized explanatory variables on bank efficiency. Foreign bank share of total industry assets was used to proxy the impact of foreign banks. The findings suggest that efficiency of domestic banks has been positively affected by the entry of foreign banks and reduction in concentration. Thus, the central bank's policy of liberalizing the banking sector appears to be well placed.     

Perceived agency politics and conflicts of interest as potential barriers to IMC orientation

While the concept of integrated marketing communications (IMC) is widely acknowledged in the literature, research on potential barriers to its implementation is relatively scarce. In particular, the possible significance of interagency politics and conflicts of interest has received little empirical consideration. This is perhaps somewhat surprising given the generally acknowledged proposition that marketing budgeting is largely a political process. This paper describes an exploratory study of leading Australian public companies and investigates the relationships between perceived agency politics, conflicts of interest and IMC orientation. The findings suggest that the salient conflict of interest is between advertising and public relations firms. The limitations are discussed and directions for future research offered.     

H. Roger Grant. "Follow the Flag": A History of the Wabash Railroad Company. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2004. xii + 291 pp. ISBN 0-87580-328-8, $49.95 (cloth).

"Follow the Flag" reaffirms Roger Grant’s status as oneof the preeminent historians of transportation in the UnitedStates. The book reflects the predilection of many railroadhistorians to focus on a specific firm, rather than addresslarger thematic issues. Far more than being "just another railroad,"however, the Wabash reflected changes in its political, economic,and social milieu, while also playing a leading role in shapingthe very environment that surrounded it. The Wabash rose from the ashes of an 1830s Illinois internal     

Contextual influences on subjective price perceptions

This article explores the effect of contextual or situational influences on buyer's price judgements. After reviewing relevant literature on contextual influences, the article reports on two experiments investigating the effects of use or purpose of a purchase and previous exposure to a set of prices on subsequent price judgements.In the first experiment, the hypothesis that the number of judgmental categories will vary with the length of price series was not confirmed. Subjects did not differ in their judgement of the lowest acceptable prices, but a higher latitude of acceptance occurred for the long price series—an assimilation effect. The second experiment confirmed the hypothesis that the intended use or purpose of the purchase affects how individuals evaluate prices for the product. The context of intended use offers an additional reason why higher prices can be attractive to some buyers.The two experiments were conducted on 104 male and 32 female undergraduate business majors. In the first experiment subjects sorted, arranged, and categorized a set of 50 prices for pants. Immediately following this task, the second experiment asked the subjects to rate the relative expensiveness of five experimenter-determined prices. In the first experiment prices either ranged from $1.00 to $25.50 or $1.00 to $50.00. In the second experiment, each split-half was given either five low prices or five high prices. Finally, each sample quarter was divided and asked to assume a different reason for buying the pants.     

Structural changes in EC trade intensities

The European Economic Community has now been in existence for about 20 years. Five years have elapsed since it was enlarged. What progress have the member countries made in the integration of their foreign trade? What would be the repercussions of a southward extension of the EC to take in Greece, Portugal and Spain?

     

Economic impact of a private sector micro-financing scheme in South Dakota

While poverty rates on Native American Indian reservations are triple the US average. Small business incubation programs, available elsewhere in the US, scarcely exist on the Native American Indian Reservations (NAIRs). Our unique study tests the effects of the Lakota Fund (LF), a private sector small business development initiative on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, on the economic development of the NAIRs. Our objective is to determine whether the SBA-like programs (loans, training, and consulting) can improve economic conditions. The 1980–2006 annual county-level (Shannon Co. is ‘treatment,’and Todd Co. is ‘control’) data are a natural experiment. Results indicate that the LF inception and duration significantly raised real per capita income (RPCI)—suggesting not only the success of the LF, but support for the broader notion that privately funded small business initiatives can be used to support economic development of isolated impoverished groups within the US economy.     

Dairy productivity and climatic conditions: econometric evidence from South‐eastern United States

Climate change and food security have become critical issues in the agricultural policy agenda. Although global warming is expected to increase both the frequency and severity of heat stress on dairy cattle, there are very few economic studies focusing on this issue. This paper contributes to the literature by integrating the frontier methodology, commonly used in applied production economics, with heat stress indexes used by animal scientists but largely ignored by economists. Our econometric models are useful to quantify gross benefits expected from adaptation to climatic conditions represented by the Temperature Humidity Index (THI) and alternatively by the Equivalent Temperature Index (ETI). Stochastic production frontier analysis is used to measure technical efficiency for an unbalanced panel of 103 dairy farms located in Florida and Georgia. Five alternative model specifications are evaluated. The results reveal that both THI and ETI have a significant nonlinear negative effect on milk production. The climatic indexes when incorporated in the frontier specification absorb some of the output shortfall that otherwise would be attributable to inefficiency. The results indicate that using fans combined with sprinklers is an effective adaptation to offset output losses stemming from heat stress conditions.     

Critical Management Studies and Business Ethics: A Synthesis and Three Research Trajectories for the Coming Decade

We present the findings of a worldwide survey that was administered to business ethic scholars to better understand journal quality within the business ethics academic community. Based upon the data from the survey, we provide a ranking of the top 10 business ethics journals. We then provide a comparison of business ethics journals to other mainstream management journals in terms of journal quality. The results of the study suggest that, within the business ethics academic community, many scholars prefer to publish in the top business ethics academic journals over other mainstream management journals. Furthermore, the results of the study suggest that within the business ethics academic field there are two dominant academic communities: one in Europe and one in North America. Each of these academic communities has its own preferred publication outlets, suggesting a potentially problematic bifurcation of business ethics scholarship.