Institutional positioning: A dynamic concept for retailing strategy

The importance of retail image, i.e., consumers' perceptions of retail institutions, is well known to retailers and to marketers alike. The popularity of the issues surrounding the actual measurement of consumer perceptions of various stores is evidenced by the large number of studies published during the last 15 years. A review of the published research, however, teveals that this increased interest in retail image research has not been matched with an increase in methodological sophistication. The indication is that, with few exceptions, retail image research has not progressed very far in the past 10 years. The major weaknesses of the current retail image studies are discussed, and suggestions for improving the quality and usefulness of image research are outlined.     

Managerial perspectives of the shorter workweek in Georgia manufacturing firms

Conclusions At present, great opposition exists among Georgia's 50 largest manufacturing firms toward the adoption of the shorter workweek. More than twice as many (61 percent) of the managers opposed it as favored it (26.7 percent), with a representative number (12.3 percent) indifferent to the idea. This opposition appears to be based upon anticipated problems in the areas of scheduling, communication difficulties, costs, and employee considerations. Employee acceptance of the shorter workweek (as perceived by the managers surveyed) already exists in approximately two-thirds of the firms surveyed. This perceived acceptance is reflected in the potential shorter workweek advantages as reported by the same surveyed managers, namely decreased absenteeism and turnover and the ease of recruiting employees. While the probability of the modified workweek gaining wide acceptance in Georgia seems at best small, the shorter workweek movement cannot be ingnored. Its advocates promise to provide the key to greater productivity, increased efficiency and improved employee relations. This study has served to determine the attitudes of Georgia's largest manufacturing firms toward what may be the accepted work schedule of the future.     

Saving for Life-time Risks

The welfare state, and especially the state pension system, has lessened the British people's prudential urge to save. The free market would have ensured that competition invigorated traditional methods of saving and introduced new ones.     

Employee attitudes toward drug testing: Effects of individual characteristics and employment setting

Testing for the presence of drug continues to gain popularity as a method for controlling drug use in the workplace. It is important that employers understand how potential applicants and current employees will react to the various types and purposes of drug testing. Employees (n = 529) were interviewed to investigate the role of attitudes toward drugs and work setting characteristics in explaining acceptance or rejection of drug testing. Individuals believing users should be held responsible for becoming dependent on cocaine, who felt the primary cause of cocaine addiction was weak moral character, and those who felt cocaine users should be treated as criminals were more supportive of drug screening and the testing of current employees.     

Characteristics of minority members of the American Economic Association

Evidence from the data tape for the 1985 Directory of the American Economic Association indicates that blacks and women remain underrepresented compared to their numbers in the general population. Although we present some limited evidence of increased representation of these minorities, the finding of underrepresentation is robust when we look at other measures of career status such as rank achieved or status of institution of employment. A fuller understanding of the determinants of minority participation within the economics profession will require that the data presented here be combined with data from other sources on productivity, salaries, and labor market alternatives.     

Buying into Europe

Danger may lurk for the U.S. companies that simply think, “Well, here comes 1992. I guess we had better get a foothold somewhere in Europe.” A company that doesn't make sound choices based on the many complex factors involved will find only trouble—not more profits.