The Impact of Generic Advertising on U.S. Household Cheese Purchases: A Censored Autocorrelated Regression Approach

The impacts of generic cheese advertising on U.S. household cheese purchases are examined via the use of a unique household panel. Modest gains in overall at-home cheese purchases from generic cheese advertising appear to be largely the result of strong gains in purchases of natural cheese rather than processed cheese. Results indicate that relatively larger gains in household cheese purchases from generic advertising may be realized by targeting infrequent purchasers to increase purchase frequencies, rather than by targeting households in general to increase their conditional purchase levels.     

A Hedonic Analysis of Fresh Tomato Prices among Regional Markets

This study uses the 2004 ACNielsen Homescan panel data to estimate the price premiums and discounts associated with fresh tomatoes among regional markets, focusing on the organic attribute. The results suggest that consumers paid $0.25/lb more for organic fresh tomatoes in the New York–Philadelphia market. The organic premiums are estimated to be $0.14/lb in the Chicago–Baltimore/Washington and Los Angeles–San Francisco markets and $0.29/lb in the Atlanta–San Antonio market. Furthermore, tomato prices consumers paid in 2004 varied by household characteristics, including income, age, and the race and ethnicity of the head of the household.     

The impact of low cost carriers on Korean Island tourism

Given the mixed findings of extant research on the impact of low-cost carriers (hereafter LCC) on aviation markets (with some studies showing stimulation of new demand, other studies showing LCCs encroaching on the turf of full-service carriers), the emergence of LCCs in Korea raised an interesting question as to whether or not they actually contribute to overall growth in domestic air traffic. The literature has paid limited attention to this issue so far. Employing a multivariate regression analysis with monthly data from 2000 to 2009, the impact of LCCs on tourism demand to a popular destination in Korea, Jeju Island, is examined, focusing on two specific questions: Have LCCs generated new tourism demand and brought more tourism revenue into the island’s economy? Have LCCs mitigated tourism seasonality on the island? Controlling for the effects of a number of factors, results showed that LCCs have generated new demand in addition to existing tourist flows to the island. Korean LCCs accounted for 35% of total passengers in 2009, which indicates an average growth rate of 161.7% over the last 4 years, compared to a −0.3% growth rate for all full-service carriers in Korea. However, LCCs seem to have had little impact on reducing seasonal fluctuations in passenger traffic to Jeju Island. The findings of this study will be of interest to researchers, policy makers, and a variety of stakeholders in the tourism industry interested in the relationship between no-frills airlines and island economies.     

Loyalty to Social Ventures in Social Media: The Role of Social Cause Involvement,Identification, and Commitment

Recently, more social organizations are engaging in market transactions to achieve financial self-reliance. In today’s highly competitive market, it is imperative for such social ventures to bolster long-term support from their consumers through every possible point of access, such as social media. Given the importance of social media in enhancing customer relationships, this study examines factors that promote consumers’ loyalty toward social ventures, focusing on intentions to participate in cause-related activities and opinion-sharing behavior via social media. Data obtained from 304 US consumers confirmed that consumer involvement, identification, and commitment were key determinants of consumer loyalty in social media. The results also showed that the effect of involvement was mediated by identification and commitment. The findings suggest that social ventures should not only attract interested segments through social media, but also engage and enhance their sense of belonging and commitment.     

Pollution-related variable input-output model: The Tulsa SMSA as a case study

Regional planners face conflicting goals of promoting regional growth and maintaining a cleaner environment since such growth usually causes polluted air. To help understand this complex relationship, pollution-related variable input-output model is developed. An interesting feature of this model is its ability to respond to both income and substitution effects. The pollution may be created not only by an increase in final demand (income effect) but also by a change in input cost (substitution effect). The conventional pollution related input-output model ([2.]) fails to capture the pollution effect associated with the substitution effect. Using the Tulsa SMSA as a case study, the operational impact of entry of a bicycle industry in the area to observe the development potential of other industries and resulting impact on air quality is simulated. Industrial impact was measured in terms of industrial output, personal income, employment, and regional import and export. The pollution impact was measured in terms of particulates, sulfur oxides, hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides. The simulation analysis of antipollution control measures emphasized the substitution effect of the pollution-related variable input-output model. As input cost is increased due to antipollution control measures, equilibrium prices are increased, and technical coefficients are changed as a result of substituting behavior of firms. A change in technical coefficients affects both the output and the pollutants.     

The nature of substitution between transport modes

Conclusions In this paper, we have derived a non-linear demand function for gasoline by means of a two-stage optimization of the S-2 branch utility function. The demand function was simplified by employment of the Kuhn-Tucker optimization conditions and the Shephard-Samuelson theorem. Two principal conclusions emerge from the empirical work presented in the preceding pages. First, the magnitude of the inter-class elasticity of substitution shows that consumers do not easily substitute among separate branches of the utility function. Second, the value for the intra-class elasticity of substitution suggests that consumers have little inclination to substitute between different modes of transportation. The U.S. household does not readily switch from private to public transportation when the price of gasoline and transportation costs as a whole increase. At the present time when there is little chance for substantial reduction in the price of gasoline, efforts to moderate the demand for gasoline by shifting household transportation from private to public modes will not be fruitful unless gasoline pricing policy is quite drastic or else supplemented by other policy measures.     

The influence of greening the suppliers and green innovation on environmental performance and competitive advantage in Taiwan

Recently, many companies have recognized the concepts of green supply chain management or supply chain environmental management. However, relatively little research attention has been devoted to the consideration of relations between greening the supply chain, green innovation, environmental performance and competitive advantage. Hence, this paper aims to bridge this gap by providing empirical evidence to encourage companies to implement green supply chain and green innovation in order to improve their environmental performance, and to enhance their competitive advantage in the global market. A model is constructed to link the aforementioned constructs. Data were collected through a questionnaire-based survey across 124 companies from eight industry sectors in Taiwan. The data are analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling and the results from the final measurement model are used to evaluate the structural model that verifies the significance of the proposed relationships. A prominent result of this study is that greening the supplier through green innovation contributes significant benefits to the environmental performance and competitive advantage of the firm.