Personas in action: linking event participation motivation to charitable giving and sports

• Charitable organizations continue to use sport events to raise money for the cause and provide meaningful experiences for participants. This study analyzes the motivation for participating in a charity sport event. Four segments of participants have been distinguished based upon a cluster analysis; for each of them, personas have been constructed on the basis of qualitative research. How to approach these personas with different propositions has been formulated on the basis of their motivation regarding the cause and/or the actual sport activities. The purpose of this study is to contribute to a common understanding and method of creation of personas, a new and largely untested tool. Furthermore, this study demonstrates the value of detecting the most valuable participant segments in order to influence and leverage future and repeat participation as a basis for success of a fundraising event for a charity's cause.

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Integrating business risk into auditor judgment about the risk of material misstatement: The influence of a strategic-systems-audit approach

Auditing standards direct auditors to consider business risk and other risk factors when they evaluate the overall risk of material misstatement during the planning phase of an audit. Large audit firms generally use either a strategic-systems approach (SSA) or a transaction-focused approach (TFA) to evaluate misstatement risk. This study used data from a laboratory experiment to examine whether (1) being trained to use either SSA or TFA and (2) analyzing information organized in an SSA or TFA format influence the extent to which auditors integrate knowledge of business risk into their judgment about the likelihood of financial misstatement. Only auditors trained to use SSA who analyzed information provided in an SSA format effectively integrated business risk assessments with their assessment of the risk of material misstatement.     

Crop Price Indemnified Loans for Farmers: A Pilot Experiment in Rural Ghana

Farmers face a particular set of risks that complicate the decision to borrow. We use a randomized experiment to investigate (1) the role of crop‐price risk in reducing demand for credit among farmers and (2) how risk mitigation changes farmers’ investment decisions. In Ghana, we offer farmers loans with an indemnity component that forgives 50 percent of the loan if crop prices drop below a threshold price. A control group is offered a standard loan product at the same interest rate. Loan uptake is high among all farmers and the indemnity component has little impact on uptake or other outcomes of interest.     

Examining alternative futures: Theoretical considerations

In consequence of world population growth, technological dependence and natural resource depletion, mankind, especially in the developed world, which operates with a free-trade tradition, faces unprecedented challenges to civilised survival. Following the Harrison Brown precedent in assessing the dynamics of social systems' responses to survival pressures, the authors have selected themes of theoretical social science and juxtaposed them for insights into the nature of and paths to our collective future, here characterised in three alternative scenarios.     

Strategic Value Assessment and Explorative Learning Opportunities with Customers

This study recognizes that collaboration with customers for new product development may bring important financial benefits to firms, but at the same time may seriously hamper explorative learning. Many firms are approached by customers with requests to develop new products for them. While such requests may strengthen customer relationships and result in short‐term financial gains, it may force a firm in technologically undesirable directions. As a result, many firms struggle with the dilemma of, on the one hand, responding to customer requests, and on the other hand, safeguarding the long‐term competitive position of the firm. Firms with strong customer ties are particularly prone to this dilemma. Drawing on opportunity recognition literature, capability monitoring literature as well as goal setting theory, the authors have developed a framework arguing that Strategic Value Assessment (SVA) can help resolve this. SVA is defined as an a priori business evaluation of the value of a particular innovation collaboration, based on anticipated long‐term strategic benefits. It helps innovative firms to focus on collaboration with customers with lead user status and to develop intense relationships, allowing for more effective knowledge transfer and learning. The framework is tested using data collected from a sample of 136 business‐to‐business firms in the Netherlands. The sampling frame was a panel of small and medium‐sized high‐tech enterprises. The study finds positive direct and indirect effects of SVA on explorative learning. In addition, the findings show that the intense collaboration/learning relationship is positively moderated by customer lead user status, and negatively moderated by customer dependence. The findings suggest that SVA is a useful heuristic for managers to utilize opportunities for innovation involving collaboration with customers.     

Economische Planning

Praeadvies voor het Congres over Maatschappelijke Planning, dat onder leiding van het Instituut voor Sociaal Onderzoek van het Nederlandse Volk op 11 October 1947 te Amsterdam zal plaats vinden. Teneinde elk misverstand te voorkomen, zij hier opgemerkt dat dit praeadvies slechts de persoonlijke mening weergeeft van schrijver dezes en dus niet die van het Centraal Planbureau of van enigerlei andere offici?le instantie.     

Waar staan wij?

Dit artikel is grotendeels gebaseerd op een door schrijver dezes voor een aantal wetenschappelijke medewerkers van het Centraal Planbureau in December 1946 gehouden lezing.     

The effects of memory set accessibility and relevance on the use of memory information during product choice

The Accessibility-Relevance framework provides a useful perspective to consider the retrieval and use of memory information during product decision making (Alba, Lynch, and Hutchinson, 1990; Lynch, Marmorstein, and Weigold, 1989). However, it considers accessibility on an individual brand basis, while actual product choice often includes information across multiple alternatives. Thus, memory set accessibility (MSA), the relative accessibility across memory brands, is introduced as a potentially important but unexplored issue within the Accessibility-Relevance research stream. This study 1) provides an explanation for how MSA may produce results which significantly expand the current Accessibility-Relevance conceptualization and 2) considers the effects of MSA and relevance on both brand processing and choice.     

Hill Valley University

Hill Valley University is faced with a number of issues in the current year, including a $12 million deficit. You, CPA, are asked to analyze a number of strategic and operational issues to help the Board make important decisions regarding various program growth and cost savings opportunities. You also are asked to assess the impact of various initiatives on the university's strategic plan and its students. Some issues, such as recruiting more international students and increasing class size, may affect the student learning experience. Other issues, such as the building of a new residence and the implementation of a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, may help the university increase its ranking. You, CPA, are also asked to incorporate your recommendations into a five‐year budget.