Memory,slavery, and plantation museums: the River Road Project

ABSTRACT

Heritage tourism plays an increasingly important yet controversial role in interpreting the emotionally and politically charged memories and legacies of African enslavement. Antebellum plantation museums in the southeastern USA remain relatively underanalyzed by researchers, despite their tradition of ignoring and minimizing the contributions and struggles of the slave community. Yet, this neglect is being challenged somewhat by a growing number of plantations and counter-narrative sites that incorporate slavery into docent-led tours, promotional materials, exhibits, and preserved structures. Responding to a need for scholarship that can ferret out the nuances, complexities, and conflicts of producing and consuming heritage at these tourist sites, this special issue presents the results of a study of four plantations (Laura, Oak Alley, Houmas House, San Francisco) along Louisiana's River Road. The issue's editors and contributing authors address a central question: what factors, social actors, and interactions (social and spatial in nature) shape, facilitate, or even constrain the remembering of slavery at southern plantation museums, including those sites making seemingly significant progress in recovering the enslaved? River Road is a microcosm of the larger politics of reshaping southern and American heritage tourism and demonstrates the value of industry-engaged, multi-method examinations of different plantation landscapes within the same region.     

Customer segmentation in retailing based on retail brand patronage patterns

In this study, we propose an alternative method for customer segmentation based on households’ retail brand portfolios. We suggest blockmodeling, a method that is rooted in social network analysis, to identify homogeneous groups of customers being characterized by similar patronage patterns. In a second step, we combine this method with psychometric analyses to examine group differences based on sociodemographic and purchasing behavior variables. To illustrate our approach, we use a sample of 500 households out of a panel data set of 36,502 German households in the fast-moving consumer goods sector. The findings of our analyses yield support for our assumption that our methodology, taking into account the relationship between households and the different retail brands they patronize, provides a broader understanding of the antecedents of households’ multiple store patronage strategies, leading eventually to a new form of customer segmentation.     

家庭最优化论

一、引言这篇文章的主旨是为了阐述发展家庭最优化理论在如何帮助消费者更加有效地管理家庭资源这个问题上的重要性。最优化是指获得最佳结果。对企业来说,最优化是达到利润的最大化;对家庭来讲,最优化则是达到最大满意度。为了使分析研究切实可行,我们通常会选择一个具体的目标。譬如,对于一个企业来说,存货成本的最小化就是一个合理的最优化目标。从数学角度来看,最优化可以被看成是“到达山顶”。Intriligator(1971)已经描述了几个最优化问题的决定性因素:时间(静态和动态)、约束方式(无约束、等式约束、不等式约束)和决策者人数(一个或…     

Lagging Effects of the Use of Activity‐Based Costing on the Financial Performance of Small Firms*

This paper contributes to the earlier small business literature by investigating the lagging effects of the use of activity‐based costing (ABC) on small firms' performance. Moreover, we examine if the small firms' past financial performance drives the adoption of ABC and explore whether the extent of ABC use leads, in turn, to improvements in firms' financial performance in the immediate future. In sum, the survey results indicate that small firms with adequate financial resources as well as firms experiencing declining growth tend to use ABC and such use facilitates their subsequent growth and profitability. Small firms seem to benefit from using ABC.     

Anticipating Tax Changes: Evidence from the Finnish Corporate Income Tax Reform of 2005*

Using register‐based panel data covering all Finnish firms from 1999 to 2004, we examine how corporations anticipated the 2005 dividend tax increase via changes in their dividend and investment policies. The Finnish capital and corporate income tax reform of 2005 creates a useful opportunity to measure this behaviour, since it involves exogenous variation in the tax treatment of different types of firms. The estimation results reveal that those firms that anticipated a dividend tax hike increased their dividend payouts in a statistically significant way. This increase was not accompanied by a reduction in investment activities, but rather was associated with increased indebtedness in non‐listed firms. The results also suggest that the timing of dividend distributions probably offsets much of the potential for increased dividend tax revenue following the reform.     

Status quo des multi-channel-managements im deutschen einzelhandel

Im Kontext von E-Commerce wurde Multi-Channel-Retailing zu einem der Schlagw?rter im Handel. Es wurde vergleichsweise polarisiert und gleicherma?en emotional diskutiert, ob Multi-Channel-Retailing der „K?nigsweg” oder der „Todessto?” für den Einzelhandel sei. Aus theoretischer Perspektive wird Multi-Channel-Retailing-Systemen das Potenzial zugesprochen, Steigerungen der Kundenbindung, der Kundenpotenzialaussch?pfung und der Neukundengewinnung zu erm?glichen. In dem folgenden Beitrag wird — exemplarisch am Beispiel des Lebensmittel- und Textileinzelhandels — analysiert, inwieweit und in welcher Form sich Multi-Channel-Systeme in Deutschland etabliert haben. Zudem werden Implikationen für die Ausgestaltung und die Optimierung des Multi-Channel-Managements im deutschen Einzelhandel herausgearbeitet.     

New challenges in professional cleaning: hygiene quality and monitoring of surfaces in private domestic homes

In many countries, changes in the pattern of working lives and ageing of the population increases the need for professional cleaning in private domestic homes. The objective of this study was to obtain basic knowledge concerning professional home cleaning. The study consisted of two parts. First, cleanability of surfaces contaminated with microbiological and organic soils was examined in the laboratory using cleaning cloths, detergents and rapid detection methods with potential for use in conjunction with professional cleaning in private homes. Second, hygienic conditions in three households were screened using the same rapid detection methods as in the laboratory experiments. According to the laboratory study, the cleaning efficiency of the non‐woven cloth was clearly poorer than that of the cleaning cloths containing microfibers. There were differences between the efficacy of the cleaning agents in removal of protein and microbiological soils. Despite the differences between surface topography observed with scanning electron microscopy, differences between the cleanability of the three examined surface materials (steel and two plastic surfaces) were small. In hygiene monitoring, the highest levels of total aerobic bacterial counts were detected in the plughole of the sink, on the eating table in kitchens and along the edge of the toilet washbowl and the cover of toilet seats. Low amounts of Enterobacteriaceae indicating faecal contamination were detected in the toilet and bathroom after cleaning. Moulds were not detected in any of the three households, and the amounts of yeasts were low. Detection methods, microbiological dipslides and the protein test, were well suited to the laboratory study. Furthermore, they complemented each other in the hygiene monitoring. The information obtained will be used for development of better practices in professional home cleaning. Good quality management in professional home cleaning and the cleanliness of surfaces in homes are important factors affecting comfort and safety.     

The impact of IFRS adoption on the value relevance of book value and earnings

In this study, we investigate the impact of IFRS adoption in Europe and Australia on the relevance of book value and earnings for equity valuation. Using a sample of 3488 firms that initially adopted International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in 2005, we are able to compare the figures originally reported for the 2004 fiscal years to the IFRS figures that were provided in 2005 as the 2004 IFRS comparative figures. As part of the inquiry, we introduce a cross-product term, equal to the product of EPS and BVPS, into the traditional linear pricing models. The estimated coefficient on the cross-product term is statistically significant and negative, as theory suggests in the presence of important nonlinearities. Further, there is increased non-linearity in the data subsequent to IFRS adoption, with the increase being most pronounced for firms in Common Law countries. With non-linear effects controlled for, there is no observed change in price relevance for firms in either Code Law or Common Law countries, contradicting the results from the linear pricing models. The results also suggest that the distribution of measurement errors becomes more similar across Code Law and Common Law countries after the adoption of IFRS, removing one difference between these groups. Thus, IFRS enhances comparability, an inference that would not be possible had we confined the analysis only to linear pricing models.     

Headless: The Role of Gender and Self‐Referencing in Consumer Response to Cropped Pictures of Decorative Models

Product pictures with “headless” decorative models, whose heads have been cropped out of the pictures, are often used in online retailing. This article reports findings from three experiments comparing attitudes for clothing displayed in pictures with cropped and uncropped male and female models, focusing on the moderating effects of consumer and model gender and the mediating effects of product self‐referencing. Results indicate that the effects on product attitudes are moderated by the gender of both models and consumers and mediated by self‐referencing. Pictures with uncropped male models result in more positive product attitudes, irrespective of consumer gender. For product pictures with female models, male consumer attitudes are also more positive for products displayed with uncropped models. In fact, attitudes are only more positive for clothing shown with cropped, “headless” models when both models and consumers are female. Implications of the findings for research and practitioners are discussed.     

Barrier-free outdoor environments: Older peoples’ perceptions before and after implementation of legislative directives

An increased focus on international and national levels of society to meet the transportation needs of older people and people with disabilities is realized through legislation, directives and guidelines on accessibility. This paper examines effects of removing physical barriers according to current Swedish governmental accessibility directives on older peoples’ perceptions of outdoor environments (usability) and on their mobility and perceived safety as pedestrians. This paper also focuses on municipal planners’ views on the implementation of improved accessibility. A before–after study, using both qualitative and quantitative methods, is conducted. The results from the questionnaires show that older peoples’ overall satisfaction with the outdoor environment has increased after implementation; however no differences are found if physical barriers specifically are considered. Older peoples’ mobility is also unchanged; nevertheless, fewer respondents are stating difficulties in walking due to barriers in the outdoor environments as reason to avoid outdoor mobility. Problems do remain after implementation, for example concerning safety/security-related issues and inaccessible entrances and indoor environments.