Testing hypotheses of ghetto morphology

Socioeconomic urban policy has generally treated the American black ghetto as a single community or neighborhood. A study of recent literature suggests that the socioeconomic structure of ghetto space may be developing a spatially systematic heterogeneity. The literature has suggested several hypotheses concerning the socioeconomic morphology of ghetto space, but heretofore these hypotheses have not been tested in any rigorous fashion. This is the objective of this study. The results of these tests suggest that the ghetto is indeed developing as a socioeconomically heterogeneous subsystem spatially parallel to the overall urban system. This implies that a multiplicity of communities or neighborhoods are developing over time. In order to be effective, the processes of urban planning and policy development must address this evolving pattern.     

Modelling the Interaction of Fundamental and Portfolio Exchange Rate Behaviour: An Application to Australia and the ASEAN3

This paper explores the interaction of fundamental and portfolio factors in the determination of the exchange rate. The weights on the factors evolve endogenously as a function of relative fundamental and portfolio errors. The model also generates exchange rate mixture distributions that may be skewed, leptokurtic or bimodal and as such can explain small and large changes endogenously. The model is applied to the exchange rates of Australia and the ASEAN3 to examine the role of fundamental and portfolio behaviour, especially over the 1997/98 currency crisis period.     

Comparing factor analytical and circumplex models of brand personality in brand positioning

Competition has never been greater, which means it is more important than ever that organizations assess their brand management strategies, including brand personality management. However, little empirical research addresses the brand personality concept, particularly its role in product evaluation. An exception, which views brand personality as a set of human personality characteristics associated with a brand, has been criticized for its use of a factor analytical approach. An alternative approach posits that the brand represents a relationship partner with which the consumer may choose to engage; it corresponds to the interpersonal circumplex approach to personality modeling. The present study compares these two approaches by developing brand positioning maps and predicting consumer outcomes. The results support the factor approach in a purely quantitative sense, but the circumplex approach offers both a richer qualitative explanation of the findings by encompassing a broad spectrum of traits and a more diagnostic prediction of consumer outcomes. The alternative conceptualization of brand personality contained in these results should be of interest to brand managers. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Differences in managerial discretion across countries: how nation‐level institutions affect the degree to which ceos matter

The concept of managerial discretion provides a theoretical fulcrum for resolving the debate about whether chief executive officers (CEOs) have much influence over company outcomes. In this paper, we operationalize and further develop the construct of managerial discretion at the national level. In an empirical examination of 15 countries, we find that certain informal and formal national institutions—individualism, tolerance of uncertainty, cultural looseness, dispersed firm ownership, a common‐law legal origin, and employer flexibility—are associated with the degree of managerial discretion available to CEOs of public firms in a country. In turn, we show that country‐level managerial discretion is associated with how much impact CEOs have on the performance of their firms. We also find that discretion mediates the relationship between national institutions and CEO effects on firm performance. Finally, we discuss two inductively derived institutional themes: autonomy orientation and risk orientation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The evaluation stage in marketing decision making

Prior to making important decisions, marketing managers go through an evaluation process in which available alternatives are compared. Yet, no systematic discussion of the evaluation process exists in the marketing literature. This article reviews the marketing and behavioral decision theory literature in order to identify factors that may cause errors in the two fundamental elements of the evaluation process—the estimation of probabilities and the determination of the value of outcomes. Propositions are developed that specify circumstances in which marketing management decisions may be influenced by judgmental biases, and procedures are identified for debiasing such judgments.     

Health benefits: employer liability and the need for change

The cost of health care benefits has been rising much faster than overall inflation recently, and employees are increasingly dissatisfied with the programs being offered. This has left many human resources professionals searching for a better way. Against this background, attempts to increase employer liability pose serious threats. While some employers might consider abandoning health benefits to avoid this expanded liability, other alternatives may be more appealing and may be equally effective at limiting liability.     

Competitive balance versus competitive intensity before a match: is one of these two concepts more relevant in explaining attendance? The case of the French football Ligue 1 over the period 2008–2011

The aim of this article is to investigate the determinants of attendance at French football Ligue 1 matches over the period 2008–2011 with an emphasis on examining the effects of both competitive balance and intensity before a match. Competitive balance is measured by the point difference between the two teams concerned by a match in the championship. Competitive intensity is measured by the point difference for the home team in relation to ranks with sporting stakes. Results show that competitive balance has an insignificant impact whereas competitive intensity has a significantly positive impact. Implications are drawn.     

Revisiting the Miles and Snow strategic framework: uncovering interrelationships between strategic types,capabilities, environmental uncertainty,and firm performance

The Miles and Snow strategic type framework is re‐examined with respect to interrelationships with several theoretically relevant batteries of variables, including SBU strategic capabilities, environmental uncertainty, and performance. A newly developed constrained, multi‐objective, classification methodology is modified to empirically derive an alternative quantitative typology using survey data obtained from 709 firms in three countries (China, Japan, United States). We compare the Miles and Snow typology to the classification empirically derived utilizing this combinatorial optimization clustering procedure. With respect to both variable battery associations and objective statistical criteria, we show that the empirically derived solution clearly dominates the traditional P‐A‐D‐R typology of Miles and Snow. Implications and directions for future research are provided. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.