How storefront displays influence retail store image

The image of retail stores offers an important means for differentiation in highly competitive retail markets. Storefront displays generally function to increase attention to the store or generate unplanned store visits, whereas their impact on store image remains unknown. This study therefore investigates perceived image differences between commonly used types of storefront displays and tests whether an image transfer takes place from the display to the retail store. The results show that more innovative displays achieve better image valuations and that store image benefits from the presence of a storefront display. Spillover effects from the display to the store even occur in the face of some resistance, such as in familiar stores and among consumers who have negative attitudes toward such displays.     

Vertical Foreclosure, Technological Choice, and Entry on the Intermediate Market

This paper analyzes the profitability of vertical integration for an upstream monopoly facing a potential competitor. We show that it depends on the technology used by the firm when it integrates. We distinguish two types of technologies: standard technologies, used by nonintegrated firms, and nonstandard technologies, reserved for integrated firms and implying the complete foreclosure of nonintegrated firms. Vertical integration with the adoption of a nonstandard technology dominates vertical integration with the adoption of a standard technology and is profitable, as long as the degree of competition in the downstream industry is sufficiently low.     

Storage and security of supply in the medium run

This paper analyzes the role of private storage in a market for a commodity (e.g. natural gas) whose supply is subject to the threat of an irreversible disruption. We focus on the medium term in which seasonality of demand and exhaustibility can be neglected. We characterize the price and inventory dynamics (accumulation, drainage and limit stocks) in a competitive equilibrium with rational expectations. We show the robustness of our results to alternative scenarios in which either a disruption has finite duration or the crisis is foreseen. During the crisis consumers may put pressure on the Government to intervene, but too severe antispeculative measures would inefficiently discourage storage. Practical solutions to this dilemma cause welfare losses that we characterize and quantify.     

The Institutionalization of Fair Trade: More than Just a Degraded Form of Social Action

The context of economic globalization has contributed to the emergence of a new form of social action which has spread into the economic sphere in the form of the new social economic movements. The emblematic figure of this new generation of social movements is fair trade, which influences the economy towards political or social ends. Having emerged from multiple alternative trade practices, fair trade has gradually become institutionalized since the professionalization of World Shops, the arrival of fair trade products in the food industry, and the establishment of an official “fair trade” label. With the strength that this institutionalization has generated, fair trade can now be considered a real trade system that questions, as much as it renews, the traditional economic system. In parallel, this transformation has exacerbated the tensions within the movement, which can be characterized as a clash between a “radical, militant” pole and a “softer, more commercial” one. However, it is not the actual institutionalization of fair trade which is being debated among fair trade actors on either side of the fence, but rather the challenges inherent in finding an economic institutionalization acceptable to social economic movements. Therefore the institutionalization process of fair trade should not be seen as mere degradation of social action, but rather as typical of the institutionalization process of new social economic movements. If we need to worry about the highjacking and alteration of the fair trade movement by the dominant economic system, the opposite is no less likely, as new social economic movements contribute to an ethical restructuring of markets.     

Are local market relationships undermining organic fruit and vegetable certification? A bivariate probit analysis

This article investigates how an organic fruit and vegetable farmer's choice to use direct‐to‐consumer market channels impacts his/her decision to be certified organic. First, we model the decision to be certified organic as a conditionally independent decision from the farmer's chosen market channels. Second, we estimate the probability of certifying organic as an endogenously determined marketing decision to the choice of market channels, and use a bivariate probit specification to model this decision. Empirical evidence indicates that the decision to certify is endogenous to the chosen market channels. We show that farmers selling direct to consumers are less likely to certify organic.     

Free market environmentalism and the neoliberal project: The case of the Climate Disclosure Standards Board

In the absence of good social, political, economic and environmental policy, the ecological status of the planet continues to deteriorate. In this paper, we argue that environmental decline has provided scope for new forms of policy-making, yet these emergent policies and policy-making bodies remain poorly understood. Drawing on the work of political geographers and political economists this paper explores the impact of neoliberalism on the development of global environmental regulation. We argue that climate disclosure practices and regulation have provided an opportunity to reinforce the ideological landscape of neoliberalism. In order to anchor this argument, we show that the origins of carbon regulation have emerged almost exclusively from within non-elected coalitions of multinationals operating through private, not-for-profit entities. These organisations continue to shape community expectations and influence government of climate change abatement strategies. To explore the impact neoliberalism has had on the environment, we examine the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB), its role, and its global impact on the regulation of reporting firms.     

Do Goodwill Impairments by European Firms Provide Useful Information to Investors?

In 2004 International Accounting Standards Board. (2004). International Accounting Standard (IAS) N°36: Impairment of assets. London: Author. [Google Scholar], the IASB adopted the mandatory annual impairment-test-only of goodwill (IAS 36) instead of amortization of goodwill. We present and discuss the academic literature regarding the association between the goodwill impairment, under this new standard, and the revision of investors’ expectations about a company’s future cash flows. The academic literature highlights that, in some specific cases, IAS 36 may help investors to revise their expectations. More precisely, goodwill impairment seems relevant when: (a) there is strong asymmetry of information between managers and investors, (b) managers disclose detailed information in the notes regarding their own assumptions about future cash flows, and (c) managers do not manage earnings and provide reliable information to investors. In many cases, goodwill impairment is probably useless for investors because they are able to revise their expectations based on public information, or because they cannot trust the accounting numbers and additional information in the notes about the impairment test, which are provided by (undisciplined) managers. More research is, however, needed to understand in which circumstances impairment-test-only is more useful, as well in which cases it is less adequate. Our analysis relates to the current post-implementation review and should be useful to standard-setters. Before any modification, we argue that standard-setters should carefully consider the economic and the institutional contexts when issuing a new accounting standard.     

Between Forestry and Farming: Policy and Environmental Implications of the Barriers to Agroforestry Adoption

Farming and forestry are practices with clearly defined institutions, markets, and policies. These are not as clearly defined for agroforestry, a practice experiencing increased interest in the USA. This study examined the barriers preventing the adoption of agroforestry within a household level theoretical framework informed by transaction costs and multifunctionality, using survey data from 353 Missouri (USA) landowners. Costs of establishing or managing trees, the time required to manage, and the lack of tree management experience are perceived as the most influential barriers limiting implementation of agroforestry on the farm. A principal component factor analysis of the perceived barriers identified two factors: the first, labeled Transaction Costs, related to information access and perceived establishment costs; the second factor, labeled Profitability Concerns, was associated with perceptions of the effects of agroforestry on farm profitability and agricultural production. Overall, Transaction Costs appears to be a greater barrier to implementation of agroforestry. Cluster analysis yielded three types of landowners: environmentalists, agriculturalists, and disengaged, who differ in their perceptions of these barriers. Statistical tests revealed differences among clusters on their farmland attributes, multifunctionality indicators, and their resources for adopting agroforestry. Environmentalists appear as more likely to adopt agroforestry, followed by the agriculturalists. Policy implications are also discussed. Les secteurs de l’agriculture et de la foresterie possèdent des institutions, des marchés et des politiques clairement définis. Ces éléments ne sont pas aussi clairement définis dans le cas du secteur de l’agroforesterie, qui recueille un intérêt croissant aux États‐Unis. Dans la présente étude, nous avons examiné les obstacles à l’adoption de l’agroforesterie à l’aide d’un cadre théorique au niveau des ménages comprenant des données sur les coûts de transaction et la multifonctionnalité issues d’un sondage réalisé auprès de 353 propriétaires fonciers dans l’État du Missouri, aux États‐Unis. Les coûts de plantation, le temps nécessaire à la gestion et le manque d’expérience en gestion arboricole sont perçus comme étant les principaux obstacles à l’implantation de l’agroforesterie sur la ferme. Une analyse en composantes principales a permis de déterminer deux facteurs : le premier, appelé Coûts de transaction (Transaction Costs), était liéà l’accès à l’information et aux coûts de plantation perçus; le deuxième, appelé Inquiétudes sur la rentabilité (Profitability Concerns), était liéà la perception des conséquences de l’agroforesterie sur la rentabilité et la production de la ferme. De manière générale, les Coûts de transaction semblent constituer le plus important obstacle à l’implantation de l’agroforesterie. Une analyse de grappes a fait ressortir trois types de propriétaires fonciers : les environnementalistes, les agriculturalistes et les désengagés, qui ont une perception bien différente de ces obstacles. Des tests statistiques ont révélé des différences parmi les grappes quant aux attributs de leurs terres agricoles, aux indicateurs de multifonctionnalité et à leurs ressources pour adopter l’agroforesterie. Les Environnementalistes semblent plus enclins à adopter l’agroforesterie, suivis des Agriculturalistes. Nous avons aussi abordé l’incidence sur les politiques.     

Small bowel enema and diagnosis of chronic nonischemic disturbance of superior mesenteric venous blood flow

Chronic nonischemic disturbance of mesenteric venous blood flow is reported in 11 patients with a mean age of 19 years. This entity, rarely discussed n the literature, is different from acute thrombosis and chronic thrombotic forms with portal hypertension or hypercoagulopathy. In eight patients this syndrome was secondary to organic lesions of different origin: mesenteric vein squeezed by fibrous bands or an abnormal jejunal artery (four cases), lymphoma involving the distal superior mesenteric veins (three cases), hemangioma causing microthrombi (one case). In three patients no etiology or predisposing factor was found. All patients presented with rectal hemorrhage. Small bowel enema showed a constant pattern in 11 patients: small nodules, modified by compression or peristalsis, involving the mesenteric border of the jejunoileal segment, and associated with thick, straight but regular folds. Mesenteric varices were suspected and led to angiographic studies which were normal in three cases, confirmed varices in eight cases, and thrombosis in four cases. Laparotomy was normal in three cases and established the etiological diagnosis in eight cases. Varices were shown in six cases. Arteriography and laparotomy were unable to reach a complete diagnosis.