Consumer shopping orientations,non-store retailers,and consumers' patronage intentions: A multivariate investigation

Over the last few years, nonstore retailing has become an important and integral part of the American retailing scene. However, very little published research exists regarding these new methods of retailing. This study examines the role of consumers' shopping orientations, and type of nonstore method on consumers' patronage intentions of a set of selected products. The results are supportive of the two research hypotheses. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

Models of consumer behavior: The state of the art

Models of consumer behavior have gained much acceptance since the early sixties. The purpose of this article is to examine the state of the art by reviewing the often cited models: Nicosia, Howard-Sheth, and Engel-Blackwell-Kollat. Specifically, a major objective is to consider these models from their practical utility standpoint, i.e., whether the models can be tested and used by marketers. To accomplish this, a set of criteria is developed for evaluation of models in general, and consumer/buyer behavior models in particular. The criteria used for evaluating the state of the art in consumer behavior models are largely derived from model building sources in various fields. The results indicate that although the models are quite impressive in scope, they are inherently weak to be of much help to the marketing practitioner. Indeed, none of the models have been tested as a whole in their original form because they lack specificity and thus are difficult, if not impossible, to operationalize. This article is partially based on a paper which received an award in an Academy of Marketing Science student paper competioion. The Academy encourages scholarly work by various groups through annual competitions and awards.     

Export Potential of Russian Food Industry

The article discusses Russian exports of food and agricultural crops. The main reasons for the decrease in export earnings are identified.     

Problems of food security in Russia

The principal problems of food security in the Russian Federation are reviewed in the article. Significant attention is paid to the analysis of the existing material and technical base of the agriculture, the location and specialization of the regions, energy conservation, and import substitution.     

A pre-diffusion growth model of intentions and purchase

In this paper, we investigate whether information on the history of purchase intentions is useful in predicting actual purchase behavior. The research is motivated by two factors. The first factor is the empirical finding in the literature that measuring intentions just prior to purchase provides better predictions of actual purchase as compared to when these intentions are measured earlier. The second factor is the role of the timing of the formation of intentions prior to purchase. While one stream of literature based on preference fluency predicts that early formation of intentions is more likely to lead to actual purchase, the other stream based on the memory-based “recency” effect predicts that formation of intentions just prior to purchase is more likely to lead to actual purchase. Together, these two factors motivate the potential need to account for the entire history of intentions prior to purchase. A canonical example of a market where intention histories are tracked is the movie industry, where “first choice” movie watching intentions are tracked up to (and in some cases beyond) the time of release. Accommodating the history of intentions in an econometric model that predicts actual box office performance is challenging due to the differing numbers of observations for the movies, the large numbers of observations for certain movies, as well as the role of various time-invariant and time-varying covariates influencing intentions. We propose a two-part model where the first part involves a hierarchical growth model that summarizes the trajectories of intentions via “growth factors.” These growth factors also reflect the role of the various covariates. The second part is a regression of the box office performance on the growth factors and other covariates. The models are simultaneously estimated within a Bayesian framework. Consistent with the previous literature, we find that including information on intentions improves our ability to predict behavior, with the recent intentions being the most informative. Importantly, when the history of intentions is accounted for, our results indicate that the data support the “recency” literature—intentions grow over time leading up to purchase, and this growth has a positive impact on opening box office performance. While a linear growth model performs best for most movies, there exists a subset of movies for which the quadratic growth model better captures the “spike” in intentions just prior to purchase. Further, accounting for information on the history of intentions dramatically improves model fit and forecasting performance relative to when only the intentions at one point in time (e.g., the ones just prior to purchase) are accounted for.     

Online piracy in the context of routine activities and subjective norms

Why do mainstream consumers who would not typically engage in illegal behaviour routinely resort to online piracy of copyrighted software? This paper provides answers to this research query by applying routine activity theory and the theory of reasoned action. The paper’s study analyses consumers’ role as possible offenders that can have the opportunity to engage in online software piracy as part of their routine online activities. Although it is problematic to measure the exact magnitude of the negative impact on the US economy, as stated by the Government Accountability Office it is sizeable. After analysing the conceptual model using a US national consumer sample of over 700 consumers, results show the influence of proximity to motivated offenders, target suitability, and capable guardianship on consumers’ attitudes and perceived subjective norms towards online software piracy, as well as their intentions to engage in this illegal behaviour on the Internet. By integrating routine activity theory, a criminology theory with the theory of reasoned action from psychology and analysing a widespread online software piracy phenomenon, several academic and practical contributions are made.     

Assessing the Value of Collaborations in Tourism Networks: A Case Study of Elkhart County,Indiana

This study explores the determinants of perceived value derived from interorganizational collaborations in a tourism destination. The authors propose a theoretical model of perceived value drawing upon the rich stream of literature related to strategic collaborations and interorganizational networks. The model was tested using a cross section of tourism organizations operating within Elkhart County, Indiana. The results indicate that a significant positive value of collaboration is achieved from dyadic relationships. Importantly, the results suggest that the positive effect achieved from one-to-one partnerships decreases once an organization collaborates with several other organizations. The article discusses various implications for managing strategic tourism partnerships.     

Corporate Governance in India

The Indian corporate governance system has both supported and held back India's ascent to the top ranks of the world's economies. While on paper the country's legal system provides some of the best investor protection in the world, enforcement is a major problem, with overburdened courts and significant corruption. Ownership remains concentrated and family business groups continue to be the dominant business model, with significant pyramiding and evidence of tunneling activity that transfers cash flow and value from minority to controlling shareholders. But for all its shortcomings, Indian corporate governance has taken major steps toward becoming a system capable of inspiring confidence among institutional and, increasingly, foreign investors. The Securities and Exchanges Board of India (SEBI), which was established as part of the comprehensive economic reforms launched in 1991, has made considerable progress in becoming a rigorous regulatory regime that helps ensure transparency and fair practice. And the National Stock Exchange of India, also established as part of the reforms, now functions with enough efficiency and transparency to be generating the third‐largest number of trades in the world, just behind the NASDAQ and NYSE. Among more recent changes, the enactment of Sarbanes—Oxley type measures in 2004—which includes protections for minority shareholders in family‐ or “promoter”‐led businesses—has contributed to recent increases in institutional and foreign stock ownership. And while family‐ and government‐controlled business groups continue to be the rule, India has also seen the rise of successful companies like Infosys that are free of the influence of a dominant family or group and have made the individual shareholder their central governance focus.