Expectations of Working Relationships in International Buyer–Seller Relationships: Development of a Relationship Continuum Scale

This study is an attempt to develop a scale to measure expectations of buyer–seller working relationships on a cross-cultural basis in the hospitality industry. The focus is on North American and Asian hotel salespeople. The scale development drew from previous research in guanxi relationships, purchasing, and selling strategies. While the results did not support a reliable unidimensional scale that could distinguish between transactional and collaborative working relationships, the methodology did create a framework for further scale development.     

Water meters: an incentive to conserve and a signal to the market

The paper discusses Anglian Water's approach to charging for water services, drawing on its experience of implementing a metering programme for its domestic customers. It highlights the challenges faced, how they were overcome, and summarises the benefits delivered by metering.     

The impact of e-business infusion on channel coordination, conflict and reseller performance

Manufacturer-reseller interactions are becoming more technology-enabled as channels of distribution increasingly utilize e-business tools on the Internet. This research examines the performance consequences for resellers as these technological advances are applied to distribution activities between channel members. Using a sample of 216 resellers of computer products, the research explores the impact of e-business tools in 2 areas of manufacturer-reseller interactions: supply tasks and demand tasks. The results suggest that e-business in supply tasks increases relationship coordination between manufacturer and reseller, whereas e-business in demand tasks increases coordination as well as conflict within the channel dyad. The increase of conflict constitutes a potential “dark side” of e-business in channel relationships that may provide an explanation for e-business implementation failures and negative returns on investment in technology.     

Academic brands and their impact on scientific endeavour: The case of business market research and researchers

This paper examines the significance of the rapid development of so-called “academic brands” in Marketing for the process of academic research and for the work and the careers of researchers: It focuses on the specific case of business market research and researchers. The paper starts by exploring the ideas behind the development of Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) and its impact on the academic community: CCT appears as an emblematic case of branding of an academic community. The paper then discusses the rapid emergence of the Service-Dominant Logic (SDL) as a case of branding which has a direct impact on business market research. The paper then relates the emergence of these two “brands” to developments in business market research and more specifically to the development of IMP as a brand. Finally, the paper draws some conclusions about the role of academic branding and its impact on scientific endeavour with emphasis on the future of business marketing research and researchers.     

The Reallocation of Labour and the Lifecycle of Firms

This paper uses a unique US panel dataset of firms and workers toinvestigate the relationship between the firm's lifecycle and the reallocation of labour. We distinguish labour reallocation associated with job reallocation, and reallocation of workers over a fixed configuration of jobs. We find that firms at the beginning and end of their lifecycles contribute disproportionately to labour market lows, with sorting between firms particularly important among young firms, whereas sorting within firms is moreimportant among mature firms. We also find that high churning lows are associated with a lower probability of a young firm surviving.     

Residual Income Valuation Models and Inflation

Existing empirical evidence suggests that residual income valuation models based on historical cost accounting considerably underestimate equity values. One possible explanation is the use of historical cost accounting under inflationary conditions. In this paper, we use a residual income framework to explore theoretically how historical cost accounting numbers need to be adjusted for inflation in forecasting and valuation. We demonstrate that even in a simple setting where inflation is running at a relatively low level, residual income models are likely to produce severe under-valuations if inflation is not properly taken into account. We use simulated data to reinforce our theoretical findings and to illustrate the difficulties that empirical investigators face working within the confines imposed by real data.