Testing for Seasonal Stability in Unemployment Series: International Evidence

Recently, it has been shown that seasonal and business cycles are related and a similar economic mechanism is at work in producing both types of cycles (Miron 1996). Thus, an analysis of seasonal fluctuations sheds light on the nature of the business cycle. This paper uses the classical test developed by Hylleberg et al. and the LM-type tests proposed by Canova and Hansen (1995) to investigate seasonal behavior in the unemployment series of Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the US and a number of OECD countries. The main findings are that the Australian, Austrian and Canadian series are non-stationary at all seasonal frequencies, French, Japan, the NZ and the UK series are stationary at all seasonal frequencies and the USA series is stationary only at the annual frequency. The test results for other series are mixed, suggesting that further analysis is required to reach a definite conclusion. The series, except for France, Japan, New Zealand and the UK, appear to possess unstable seasonal patterns, indicating changing business cycle conditions.     

Competitiveness in the Canadian Food Industry

Concerns about competitiveness in the Canadian food industry have generated a number of studies, inquiries and other initiatives on the subject. This paper examines the concept and measurement of competitiveness, the findings of several studies and some of the methodological issues involved in analyzing this phenomenon. While there is general agreement that the concept has most relevance at the level of the firm where it can be described as “the ability to profitably gain and maintain market share,” it has been applied mostly at the industry and country levels where there is less agreement on measurement and interpretation. This is reflected by a remarkable lack of consensus among studies of the Canadian food industry. The methodological issues most in need of being resolved are those relating to appropriate measurement and the relationship between strategic behaviour of firms and the determinants of competitiveness as found in the environment of firms Plusieurs études ont été réalisées sur la compétitivité de l'industrie agro-alimentaire canadi-ennne. Ce papier a pour but i) d'énumérer et de commenter les définitions et mesures de compétitivité couramment utilisées, ii) de synthétiser les aspects méthodologiques et résultats d'études antérieures, iii) de discuter des implications de la réglementation sur I'inocuité des aliments sur la compétitivité. Il semble y avoir concensus sur la pertinenence du concept de compétitivité au niveau de la firme. Malheureusement, la majorité des études ont analysé la compétitivité aux niveaux des industries ou des pays pour lesquels l'interprétation des résultats et les mesures sont sujet à controverse. Les résultats de ces études sont en général contradic-toires, Il nous apparait primordial d'améliorer les mesures de compétitivité de façon à mieux capturer le comportement stratégique des firmes et les caractéristiques de l'environnement dans lequel elles opérent     

The behavioral responses to perceived scarcity – the case of fast fashion

The literature on scarcity has generally examined consumers’ attitudes towards scarce products and suggested that scarcity messages have a positive effect on the evaluation of and attitude toward the scarce object. However, literature has largely failed to explain consumers’ feelings or reactions to human-controlled scarce environments. This study examines how deliberate product scarcity influences the consumers’ behavioral responses, and provides an understanding of consumers’ reactions to conditions of scarcity that are strategically created by marketers. The context of this study is fast fashion retailers, as they are known to create extreme human-induced scarcity. We conducted 21 face-to-face interviews with fast fashion store managers, consumers, and an industry expert. Further, observational research was also conducted to observe the consumer buying behavior across 10 different fast fashion stores. The objectives were to (1) help the interviewees think about the various strategies adopted to induce scarcity within the stores (from retailer’s perspective), (2) understanding of scarcity in these stores (from consumer’s perspective), and (3) consumers’ responses to such deliberate manipulations. All the interviewees agreed that fast fashion stores were successful in creating perceived scarcity which reflected both limited merchandise supply as well as deliberate manipulation of merchandise availability by the retailer. The findings also suggest that consumers in these perceived scarcity conditions exhibit buying behavior like urgency to buy, which further leads to deviant and competitive behaviors like in-store hoarding and in-store hiding. Though perceived scarcity, urgency to buy, and in-store hoarding was consistent across the interviews with store managers and consumers, surprisingly, the phenomenon of in-store hiding behavior did not emerge from any of the interviews conducted with store managers, but was a consistent theme across most consumer interviews.