Plugs versus placements: A comparison of alternatives for within‐program brand exposure

A study is presented that compares two forms of within‐program brand appearances: product placements and celebrity plugs. Evidence suggests that plugs may often have a retention advantage over placements. This advantage is hypothesized to arise from differences in the way plugs and placements are often presented. Specifically, differences in presentation contexts may create differences in how memory for plugs and placements is organized. This, in turn, may allow plugs to receive more frequent rehearsal during subsequent viewing of a show in which a brand has appeared. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The tax subsidy to owner-occupied housing: Who benefits?

This paper reexamines the question of the incidence and effects of the U.S. Federal income tax subsidy of owner-occupied housing. We demonstrate that supply elasticity considerations are crucial in determining the incidence and efficiency effects of the subsidy and that the hitherto neglected problem of the transfer of resources to subsidized owner-occupiers from unsubsidized renters is substantial. We provide estimates of the transfer and deadweight loss effects for the current program.     

Evaluating the Appropriateness of Market Segmentation Solutions Using Artificial Neural Networks and the Membership Clustering Criterion

The appropriateness of a given segmentation solution is a key consideration in all marketing segmentation studies. By appropriate, it is meant that not only has the optimal segmentation solution been identified, but also that the proper number of segments to market to has been correctly specified. This research focuses on the second, and more fundamental, issue of determining the appropriate number of segments in a marketplace. If the appropriate number of segments is over-specified, marketers may over-segment the market and treat audience segments separately that could effectively be treated inclusively. Conversely, if the appropriate number of segments is under-specified, marketers may under-segment the market and fail to identify distinct, viable segments that should be marketed to separately.The issue of market under- and over-segmentation may be addressed with the membership clustering criterion (MCC), an analytical technique based on fuzzy sets derived from artificial neural networks (mathematical models of animal nervous systems). Using artificial and real world data sets, we empirically test the MCC, compare it to existing methods for determining the number of segments in a market, and demonstrate its advantages in evaluating the appropriateness of marketing to different numbers of market segments.     

神奇的数字世界——2004国际消费电子产品展

在刚刚结束不久的2004国际消费电子产品展上,成千上万种产品通过无线技术彼此协同工作,在展会中心的屋檐下创造出了一个神奇的数字世界。     

Commuting and Congestion: A Simulation Model of a Decentralized Metropolitan Area

In this paper, a simulation model of commuting behavior in a metropolitan area with decentralized employment and congestion is developed. The model is used to explore the linkage between the dispersed land use patterns in U.S. cities and long commuting journeys which cause congestion and air pollution. The results show that increasing the number of suburban subcenters in a metropolitan area could reduce commuting by 15% to 50%. However, only about one quarter of total urban travel is for commuting. Therefore the reduction in total urban travel that could be expected to result from even drastic policy measures to decentralize employment would probably be low—perhaps as small as 5%. Data are also presented giving private versus social costs of commuting per mile in central cities and suburbs.     

IPO Market Cycles: Bubbles or Sequential Learning?

Both IPO volume and average initial returns are highly autocorrelated. Further, more companies tend to go public following periods of high initial returns. However, we find that the level of average initial returns at the time of filing contains no information about that company's eventual underpricing. Both the cycles in initial returns and the lead-lag relation between initial returns and IPO volume are predominantly driven by information learned during the registration period. More positive information results in higher initial returns and more companies filing IPOs soon thereafter.     

Shirking in a monetary business cycle model

Abstract .  This paper investigates whether a limited participation model with imperfectly observed effort can reproduce the economy's responses to a monetary policy shock without appealing to high labour supply elasticities or high markups. The results demonstrate that the presence of imperfectly observed effort, in combination with the limited participation assumption, allows the model to account for the presence of involuntary unemployment, nominal wage rigidity, and the observed responses to monetary policy shocks.     

HR Professional Role Tensions: Perceptions and Responses of the Top Management Team

The aims of the research are to explore evidence of professional human resource management (HRM) role tensions, the factors that affect HRM role tension, and to consider the impact on management perceptions when role tensions exist. Using a qualitative approach, 25 interviews were conducted in Australia with senior HRM personnel, top management team (TMT) executives, and a management consultant. Findings reveal that the failure of the HRM profession to attract people with a business focus increases HRM role tensions. Respondents report that tensions were reduced when aspects of the HRM role were devolved or outsourced, there was an acceptance of a changed psychological contract, and clearer attempts were made to communicate an agreed‐upon strategic focus for HRM. HRM role bias led to a reduced willingness among TMT members to respect, and communicate with, HRM professionals. The implications of the negative outcomes of HR role tensions are discussed with reference to the power of the HRM function. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Ordinal scales and fuzzy set systems to measure agreement: An application to the evaluation of teaching activity

Student evaluation of university teaching activity is now compulsory in Italy and a research group of the ItalianMinistry of Instruction, University, and Research proposed a questionnaire with items based on the four-point Likert scale and a traditional item-by-item analysis for the evaluation of classrooms, work load, course organization, lectures, and teaching aids. Three split-ballot experiments were carried out to test the differences between the four-point and five-point Likert scale. The traditional analysis is compared with the results of the fuzzy system set up to achieve the same purposes. The fuzzy system yielded scores that proved to be generally higher but sometimes also lower than those obtained using the five- or four-point Likert scale. Furthermore, an extension of standard procedures of the fuzzy system is suggested to obtain a fuzzy item-by-item analysis, thereby increasing the possibility of their use in social sciences.This study is a part of the project Methods and technology for innovating and re-organising teaching activity supported by the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.