Firm-hosted online brand communities and new product success

Many firms use online brand communities to support the launch of their new products. This study proposes a typology of firm-hosted online brand communities and examines whether such a classification system can improve predictions of new product success. A cross-industry analysis of 81 firm-hosted online brand communities shows that these communities reflect three archetypes. A subsequent survey of 170 community-hosting firms in the consumer durable goods industry reveals that the three types of communities are not equally important for new product success. Moreover, one archetype generally underperforms the other two as a new product support mechanism. Overall, the results demonstrate that firm-hosted online brand communities can be a predictor of new product success.     

"Proxy Power" and Corporate Democracy:

A bstract . Separation of corporate ownership from control has permitted the rise of a self perpetuating managerial elite , which operates businesses in its own self interest. The attempt of the corporate democracy and corporate responsibility movements to curb unbridled management power through stockholder proxy proposals has been highly publicized. Analysis of stockholder initiated resolutions contained in the proxy statements of 626 corporations indicates that relatively few companies receive even one resolution, that proposers are usually small shareholders operating independently or in loose coalitions with limited resources and divergent interests, that managements use massive resources to oppose virtually all proposals and defeat most overwhelmingly, and that the handful of management concessions to stockholder activists is actually cosmetic mollification. We conclude the proxy power is structurally weak and is not a realistic agent of corporate change, in that management structure and policy-making power remain intact.     

Personal and nonpersonal incentives in mail surveys: Immediate versus delayed inducements

A mail survey was conducted to empirically investigate contributions to charity as a method of stimulating responses to a mail survey. The research design included a control group and four experimental groups with the following treatments: a prepayment of $1.00 enclosed with the questionnaire (immediate personal reward), $1.00 promised upon return of the questionnaire with the respondent identified (delayed personal reward, no anonymity), $1.00 promised upon return of the questionnaire with no identification of the respondent (delayed personal reward, anonymity), and the promise of $1.00 contribution to a respondent-selected charity (delayed non-personal reward). The $1.00 prepayment yielded a statistically significant higher response rate than the $1.00 promised to charity or $1.00 promised upon return of the questionnaire. This study generally supports existing empirical foudnations of equity theory. An immediate personal reward yields a higher response rate than a delayed personal or non-personal reward.     

A measure of alienation from the marketplace

For the purpose of equipping researchers in marketing with a more sophisticated method to measure alienation in a marketing context, the authors have constructed and initially tested an alienation from the marketplace index. Alienation is defined in terms of Melvin Seeman's (1959) five basic variants of alienation: powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, social isolation, and self-estrangement. After pretesting, two questions per variant of alienation remained as the operational measures of alienation from the marketplace. These questions focused specifically on marketing phenomenon. Test-retest reliability was tested with 35 paired observations. Validity was checked with survey data from 140 households. In terms of face or content validity, the questions met the criterion of “looking as if” they should indicate the corresponding dimensions of alienation. Correlations between the marketplace alienation items and a measure of general alienation established concurrent validity. The authors propose that the use of the marketplace alienation index in studies involving those who are affected by our country's business climate may prove useful. For example, one would hypothesize that increasing alienation from the marketplace would be associated with support of consumerist goals, or even of additional government legislation to control problems that the individual feels is uncontrollable by him because of the bigness and indifference of modern day enterprise. Pepsico, Inc.     

Learning, hubris and corporate serial acquisitions

Recent empirical research has shown that, from deal to deal, serial acquirers' cumulative abnormal returns (CAR) are declining. This has been most often attributed to CEOs hubris. We question this interpretation. Our theoretical analysis shows that (i) a declining CAR from deal to deal is not sufficient to reveal the presence of hubris, (ii) if CEOs are learning, economically motivated and rational, a declining CAR from deal to deal should be observed, (iii) predictions can be derived about the impact of learning and hubris on the time between successive deals and, finally, (iv) predictions about the CAR and about the time between successive deal trends lead to testable empirical hypotheses.     

Private Pension Arrangements and Retirement in Britain*

This paper looks at the policy debate surrounding private pensions and retirement patterns in the UK. Recent increases in longevity have led not only to increased pressures in public pensions but also to corresponding increases in the importance of private pensions in the UK and changes in the way in which they are structured. We consider the economic implications of these changes, and in particular the increased importance of defined contribution plans. In addition, we discuss the prospects for future trends in retirement ages.