Fundamental obstacles to the use of scientific information in public policy making

In contrast to the prevailing view that more effective use can be made of scientific information in public policy formation, several fundamental obstacles to the effective use of science are identified and described. It is argued that any effort to bring scientific information to bear on public policy must show how these obstacles have been removed.     

Attitudes of advertising executives toward the consumer behavior course

What should be taught to marketing students has always been an intriguing question. The marketing curriculum as a whole and specific courses have been the topic of much debate. One of the marketing courses, consumer behavior, was the subject of this research. A survey of advertising executives revealed some interesting perceptions regarding the consumer behavior course. Most executives believed the course was helpful in making decisions in the advertising area. However, the advertising executives ranked the consumer behavior course as only moderately important in usefulness to advertisers when compared with nine other marketing courses. Interestingly, the executives that had completed a consumer behavior course ranked the course lower in importance than the executives who had not taken the course. Generally, advertising executives believed the consumer behavior course was too abstract and theoretical in orientation and could be imporved through the use of case studies and more direct application examples of the consumer behavior theories presented in the course.     

A study of the appropriateness of various means of meeting objections by sales representatives

This study examines the conditions under which various methods of answering objections are most effective. In addition, it inquires into the frequency of use of the various methods.     

WELFARE AND MONETARY PRECOMMITMENT IN AN ECONOMY WITH MENU COSTS AND UNIONIZED WAGE SETTING

The paper shows that monetary precommitment can be advantageous to the government in a macroeconomic policy game where (i) the government's objectives are explicitly derived from those of the citizens, (ii) inflation has a real cost and (iii) the suboptimality of the output level arises from the structure of the private sector rather than from fiscal policy. It suggests that, to this extent, welfare interpretations of game theoretic monetary policy models are coherent.     

Unemployment insurance and redistributive taxation

This paper studies the simultaneous determination of the socially optimal levels of unemployment insurance, income taxation and experience rating. It argues that there is a normative justification for state unemployment insurance. When the government wishes to use redistributive taxes, but cannot enforce lump-sum transfers, it is not socially optimal for there to be full experience rating of unemployment insurance schemes: one distortion should be used to off-set another. The state must then intervene in the provision of insurance for those without jobs.     

Isabella Beeton: Management as "Everything in its Place"

This article describes the precepts set out in one of the most successful books on management ever written, Mrs Beeton's 'Book of Household Management'. It then uses her work to throw light on two modern management debates: the relationship between strategic and operations management; and order/bureaucracy as against adaptability/chaos.     

The importance of importance: Its impact on decision-making in mall retail categories during an economic downturn

The study examines how, during an economic downturn, the perceived importance of the value offering of retail store categories, as identified by a major international mall operator based in Australia, influences the relationship between consumers’ shopping attitudes and likelihood of purchasing in those categories. The findings show variance in the importance pertaining to retail store categories between those that have and those that have not altered their shopping behaviour. Different mediating effects were found in the major, mini-major, leisure, apparel, and mobile phone categories, suggestive of each group having differing levels of self-interest in the value offerings of each category, thus, symptomatic of dissimilar decision-making strategies for each group. Contributions to theory and practice are discussed.     

Visitor Loyalty in Sport Tourism: An Empirical Investigation

This paper reports research regarding the relationship between consumer loyalty, satisfaction, and novelty seeking, including an analysis of these constructs as reflected in the published literature. A telephone survey was conducted of 500 city residents, focusing on their visitation of special events, including sporting events. It was found that satisfaction was somewhat positively related to interest in attending the same sporting event, and the intention to actually visit the sporting event again. However, novelty seeking was virtually unrelated to both interest in attending the same sporting event, and the intention to actually visit the sporting event, and unrelated to satisfaction. Novelty seeking in general, or in relation to special events particularly, performed similarly as a predictor. Further research is needed to clarify the role of other moderating variables, such as the feeling of involvement in sporting events, and to investigate segmentation aspects which might be operating in relation to specific sporting events and tourists.     

The Demand for Food Products: An Analysis of Interpurchase Times and Purchased Quantities

In this paper we study household purchase behaviour of storable food products. An inventory model is developed in which the household chooses an optimal stock level of the product. Storage of the product is costly, there is a fixed cost per purchase occasion, and the market price is sometimes discounted because of price promotions. We show that the optimal purchase policy is an s , S policy. The model is used to derive predictions on the correlations between interpurchase times and purchased quantities on the one hand, and prices on the other. These predictions are empirically verified using consumer panel data.