Consumer receptiveness to international retail expansion: a cross-cultural study of perceptions of social and economic influence of foreign retailers

Guided by the work of Samiee (1993 Samiee, S.1993. “Retailing and Channel Considerations in Developing Countries: A Review and Research Propositions.” Journal of Business Research27 (2): 103–129. doi:10.1016/0148-2963(93)90018-K.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. Journal of Business Research, 27 (2): 103–129), Sakarya, Eckman, and Hyllegard (2007 Sakarya, S., M.Eckman, and K.Hyllegard. 2007. “Market Selection for International Expansion.” International Marketing Review24 (2): 208–238. doi:10.1108/02651330710741820.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. International Marketing Review, 24 (2): 208–238), and Alexander et al. (2010 Alexander, N., A. M.Doherty, J. M.Carpenter, and M.Moore. 2010. “Consumer Receptiveness to International Retail Market Entry.” International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management38 (3): 160–172. doi:10.1108/09590551011027104.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 38 (3): 160–172), a cross-cultural analysis was undertaken to examine consumer receptiveness to domestic market entry by foreign apparel specialty retailers. More specifically, this study explored differences in consumers' perceptions of the influence of foreign apparel specialty retailers on social, cultural, and economic development across three countries: Spain, Turkey, and the USA. Consumer receptiveness was measured as beliefs about the social and economic influence of foreign retailers and perceptions of retailers' brand characteristics and offerings. An intercept survey of 1233 apparel shoppers was conducted in major metropolitan shopping areas in all three countries. MANOVA revealed that Spanish consumers were least concerned about urban growth associated with foreign retailers and least likely to perceive positive employment/business opportunities and socio-cultural well-being from the presence of foreign retailers. Turkish consumers held the strongest perceptions regarding the influence of foreign retailers on urban growth. Paired sample t-tests revealed that Turkish consumers, when compared with Spanish consumers, evaluated U.S. retailers' offerings more positively and were more receptive to the entry of U.S. retailers into their domestic markets. Results of regression analyses indicated that Spanish and Turkish consumers' beliefs about retail brand characteristics and the socio-cultural and economic influence of foreign retailers positively predicted consumers' receptiveness, whereas age negatively influenced receptiveness. Differences in perceptions among Spanish, Turkish, and U.S. consumers may be attributed to the varying levels of economic development among the three countries as well as to the countries' differing policies concerning foreign retailers. Findings provide a basis for the development of a measure of consumer receptiveness to international retail expansion.     

Estimating the effect of the Internet on international trade

In this article, we study the effect of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on the responsiveness of Mexican economy to real exchange rate shocks. We argue that, by opening the US and Canadian markets to Mexican goods, NAFTA made it easier for domestic producers to take advantage of the opportunities brought by the depreciation of the real exchange rate. To identify this mechanism, we use plant-level data and compare the behavior of employment, production and investment after two big real exchange rate shocks: the first observed in the mid-1980s, the second the Tequila Crisis of 1994–1995. The evidence indicates that after passage of NAFTA exporting firms exhibited higher growth rates of employment, sales and investment vis-à-vis non-exporters. We confirm our results by analyzing the behavior of a control group of firms, that had complete access to the US market during both devaluations, and we show that they responded in a similar way in both events. Finally, we also provide direct evidence on the relationship between exports and tariff reductions brought by NAFTA. Our results support the view that NAFTA has allowed Mexican producers to respond more quickly to real exchange shocks.     

Developing and testing a global model to explain the adoption of websites by users in rural tourism accommodations

This article analyzes the factors determining the intention to use the websites of the rural tourism accommodations to search for information and to make online reservations. Based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), a model is developed to explain the intention to use the websites, incorporating as explanatory variables the perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use (basic variables of the TAM) and the following key attributes of tourism websites: information, interactivity, and navigability. The results of a sample of 1083 users indicate that (1) the perceived usefulness is the main direct antecedent of the intention to use the websites to search for information and make online reservations, and that (2) information on the accommodation and destination positively influences the perceived usefulness, whereas both the interactivity and navigability have a positive effect on the perceived ease of use of the websites.     

Input cost, capacity utilization and substitution in the short run

This article studies the behavior of input cost shares in an environment where labor is costly to adjust, materials can be adjusted at no cost and capital is fixed. A model relating cost shares with relative prices and adjustment costs is proposed, allowing joint estimation of the elasticity of substitution and the adjustment cost function, which is an unknown function of the capacity utilization. Based on a panel of more than 700 manufacturing firms, we find evidence of strong input share variations according to the degree of capacity utilization. The estimated shapes of adjustment costs curves of labor are in agreement with our theoretical model, and we obtain sensible elasticities of substitution estimates. Based on such estimates, we find evidence of a negative (positive) bias in downturns (recoveries) in conventional productivity growth measures.     

What determines fund performance persistence? International evidence

We study performance persistence across a global sample of equity mutual funds from 27 countries. In contrast to the existing U.S.‐based evidence, we find that net performance persistence is present in the majority of fund industries, suggesting that fund manager skill is commonplace rather than a rarity. Consistent with the intuition that more competition in the mutual fund industry makes remaining a winner fund less likely but keeping a loser fund at the bottom of the performance ranks more probable, we show that competitiveness explains the cross‐sectional variation in performance persistence.     

N-kernel: A review

The package performs estimation and prediction in the context of time-series or cross-section nonparametric models. It is menu-driven and very easy to operate. The manual reads well. This version has some limitations, which can easily be corrected. Nevertheless it provides a useful pedagogical and research tool, even for people not familiar with nonparametric analysis.     

Firm Size and Geographical Aggregation: An Empirical Appraisal in Industrial Location

This paper assesses empirically the importance of size discrimination and disaggregate data for deciding where to locate a start-up concern. We compare three econometric specifications using Catalan data: a multinomial logit with 4 and 41 alternatives (provinces and comarques, respectively) in which firm size is the main covariate; a conditional logit with 4 and 41 alternatives including attributes of the sites as well as size-site interactions; and a Poisson model on the comarques and the full spatial choice set (942 municipalities) with site-specific variables. Our results suggest that if these two issues are ignored, conclusions may be misleading. We provide evidence that large and small firms behave differently and conclude that Catalan firms tend to choose between comarques rather than between municipalities. Moreover, labour-intensive firms seem more likely to be located in the city of Barcelona.     

Unemployment Hysteresis in the US States and the EU: A Panel Approach

This paper applies the panel unit root test proposed by Im, Pesaran and Shin (1997) to test for unemployment hysteresis in the US states and the EU countries against the alternative of a natural rate. The results show that hysteresis for the EU and the natural rate for the US states are the most plausible hypotheses.     

A statistical analysis of seven multipliers for linear congruential random number generators with modulus 231−1

Twelve statistical tests were performed on the sequences produced by seven linear congruential pseudorandom number generators with modulus 2³¹?1. The seven generators had, respectively, the multipliers 742938285, 950706376, 1226874159, 62089911, 1343714438, 397204094 and 16807. The worst results were obtained from the sequences produced by the multipliers 1226874159, 397204094 and 16807, while the best ones corresponded to the sequences produced by 1343714438 and 742938285.