Downside risk of international stock returns

This paper investigates the downside risk exposure of international stock returns in 14 major industrialized economies around the world. For the period 1975–2010, we find that differences in returns on value and growth portfolios can be rationalized by assets’ reagibilities to market’s downside shocks. International value stocks are particularly sensitive to market’s permanent downside shocks, while international growth stocks are particularly sensitive to market’s temporary downside shocks. In line with recent evidence for the US, risk associated with unfavorable changes in market’s cash-flow innovations carries a premium which is pervasive and statistically significant.     

How far, and how fast? Population, culture, and carrying capacity in Aruba

Our paper outlines the preparation of a Framework for Sustainable Tourism on the Caribbean Island of Aruba from the standpoint of futurists involved in public policy. Despite remarkable success with tourism over nearly half-a century, Arubans have become periodically concerned about the long-run sustainability of their major industry, their culture, and their Island. The paper explains the historic industrial epochs that have led to the demographic layering and cultural division of labor, the development of tourism from its beginnings in the 1950s, and to present-day concerns about over-development and migration behind the setting up of a National Tourism Council (NTC) in 2001. The basic issues confronted by the NTC were set within the overarching question of “how far and how fast” tourism in Aruba could or should expand. Following on from three exploratory scenarios, the Framework prepared by the authors makes proposals for expansion of tourism in distinctive culture regions and corresponding tourism products over the next two generations of Arubans at a pace that matches emerging needs, but below the carrying capacity of the Island. The paper explains the historic context, pragmatic assumptions made, empirical evidence used, and connects the approach to other papers in this issue.     

It's Not Black and White: Advertising and Race in Cultural Context

ABSTRACT

Studies in the United States have found that matching an advertising model's race to the target audience is an effective marketing strategy. However, race is a cultural construct and little research has been conducted on race and advertising effectiveness outside of the United States. This study, conducted with female consumers in Brazil, found that advertisements were not more effective when the subject and the model were of the same race. To better understand the psychological processes triggered by race, this study explored two related but distinct conditions of identification: similarity and liking. It found that in conditions of boundary permeability between groups, liking is more important than similarity in determining advertising effectiveness in the target sample. A general model is proposed.     

Strategic management in Latin America

This paper presents conclusions about the kind of strategic management research being done in and about Latin America. The conclusions are based on a selection of papers presented during the conference. The fifteen works that this volume includes were selected from 63 conference presentations through a rigorous double blind review process. The 63 conference presentations were selected from among more that 100 initial proposals.     

Marksist Management: Sophisticated Human Relations in a High Street Retail Store

Large non-union firms such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Marks & Spencer are frequently cited as ‘role models’ for ‘soft HRM’. The key elements of sophisticated human relations practised by these firms are well-known, but there is little evidence of employees’ perceptions or experience of this particular management style. Data from a high street retail store which follows the Marksist version of sophisticated human relations reveals a significant gap between aspirations (rhetoric) and outcomes (reality).     

Ethics and Marketing on this Internet: Practitioners' Perceptions of Societal, Industry and Company Concerns

The astonishing growth of the Internet coupled with its unique capabilities has captured the attention of the marketing community. Although many businesses are acknowledging the importance of a Web site, to date, little attention has been given to the business community'sperceptions of the ethicality of this new medium. A national sample of marketing executives was surveyed regarding their perceptions of: (1) regulation of the Internet, (2) the potential ethical issues via Internet marketing facing their industry, and (3) the role of ethics and Internet marketing in their organization. Results and recommendations for incorporating Internet ethical guidelines into organizations are discussed.     

Advances in specification testing

Testing the specification of econometric models has come a long way from the t tests and F tests of the classical normal linear model. In this paper, we trace the broad outlines of the development of specification testing, along the way discussing the role of structural versus purely statistical models. Inferential procedures have had to advance in tandem with techniques of estimation, and so we discuss the generalized method of moments, non parametric inference, empirical likelihood and estimating functions. Mention is made of some recent literature, in particular, of weak instruments, non parametric identification and the bootstrap.