Consumer satisfaction: Concept and measurement

In marketing management, consumer satisfaction may be clustered with such key goals as profitability and social responsibility. However undisputed its importance, its conceptualization and measurement have remained largely backward, severely limiting its value in determining marketing strategy. This article has raised issues and suggested guidelines for research and management thinking.     

Re-examining the Determinants of Non-Performing Loans in Ghana’s Banking Industry: Role of the 2007–2009 Financial Crisis

This paper uses robust econometric methods to estimate the determinants of non-performing loans (NPLs) with a specific focus on the role of the 2007–2009 financial crisis in explaining NPLs in the banking industry of Ghana. Findings suggest that non-performing loans are significantly affected by bank-specific, industry, and macroeconomic variables. We observed heterogeneity in the determinants of NPLs for sub-samples of the data. The effect of the financial crisis on NPLs is observed to be conditional on the level of credit risk in our sub-sample analysis. The results from the impulse response corroborate that of the regression estimation.     

Revisiting Cash Endowment and House Money Effects in an Experimental Auction of a Novel Agri‐food Product in the Philippines

This study explores the effect of varying cash endowments on bidding behavior in auction experiments conducted in a developing country. Our results suggest that cash endowment levels can have different effects on bidding behavior under second price auction and random nth price auction. In contrast to past studies conducted in developed countries, we generally do not see the presence of positive house money effect in our results. If behavior varies significantly as the cash endowment is varied, then care must be taken when designing auction experiments or when comparing results to other experimental results and theoretical predictions.     

The demand for liquid assets and involvement in exports; some empirical results

The hypothesis that the greater a firm's involvement in exports, the greater will be that firm's demand for liquid assets, is empirically tested in this paper. The results are supportive of the hypothesis. In addition it was found that firms owned by labor cooperatives have lower demand for liquid assets than other firms.     

Currency Swaps and International Real Estate Investment

This paper examines the efficacy of currency swaps as a hedging mechanism for the exchange rate risk associated with foreign investment in real estate. Earlier studies have concentrated on short-term hedging instruments such as options and forward contracts. Currency swaps are better suited for use on investments with long-term holding periods such as real estate. The findings indicate that, although hedging United States real estate investments with currency swaps suppresses most of the risk induced by currency instability, the improvements are insufficient to produce diversification gains for foreign investors in the context of mean-variance portfolio performance.     

A new millennium and a new Journal for Injury Control and Safety Promotion

Youth violence continues to be a serious and too prevalent problem in the United States. There is increasingly compelling evidence that the exceptionally high levels of mortality are linked to access to guns by youth. There is also evidence that youth violence occurs in multiple forms and that these differing forms call for different prevention strategies. Some youth violence is situational, some is best understood within its relationship context, some occurs as part of a predatory criminal activity, and some seems to be the result of serious psychopathology. This paper provides a review of the current understanding of the epidemiology of youth violence in the United States, applies a developmental-ecological perspective to risk, reviews the empirical support for differing prevention approaches, and suggests practice, research, and policy implications of this knowledge base.     

Applying Strategic Management Theories in Public Sector Organizations: Developing a typology

This article discusses the utility of two different strategic management theories in different types of public organizations including contemporary New Public Management-based public organizations, namely Porter’s strategic positioning model and the resource-based view of strategy. We argue that possibilities for applying these theories vary depending on the type of public organizations involved, and are less appropriate in traditional settings but more relevant in autonomized and market-like service-delivery organizations. We further propose that their increased applicability depends on three specific conditions: the degree of administrative autonomy, performance-based budgeting and market-like competition. We give empirical examples drawn from public services in the UK and Denmark. We call for more exploration of these (and other) strategic management approaches within contemporary public services organisations but also more exploration of the limitations of these frameworks.