The uninvited brand

Brands rushed into social media, viewing social networks, video sharing, online communities, and microblogging sites as the panacea to diminishing returns for traditional brand building routes. But as more branding activity moves to the Web, marketers are confronted with the stark realization that social media was made for people, not for brands. In this article, we explore the emergent cultural landscape of open source branding, and identify marketing strategies directed at the hunt for consumer engagement on the People's Web. These strategies present a paradox, for to gain coveted resonance, the brand must relinquish control. We discuss how Web-based power struggles between marketers and consumer brand authors challenge accepted branding truths and paradigms: where short-term brands can trump long-term icons; where marketing looks more like public relations; where brand building gives way to brand protection; and brand value is driven by risk, not returns.     

Activists and Animal Welfare: Quality Verifications in the Canadian Pork Sector

Animal welfare is an emotive topic. Although most governments legislate against outright animal cruelty, animal welfare organisations have actively lobbied for more stringent farm animal welfare regulations. Food retailers and restaurant chains have faced pressure from animal welfare organisations to implement more stringent animal welfare requirements for their suppliers. Is the demand for more stringent farm animal welfare protocols primarily determined by a subset of consumers with very strong preferences or does it signal a more fundamental underlying change in societal preferences? Given the credence nature of farm animal welfare, whom do consumers trust for credible quality assurances? This article analyses the role of quality verification in a market characterised by consumers with heterogeneous preferences for animal welfare. Of particular interest are the relative strength of preferences for humane animal treatment assurances and the credibility of these quality claims. Using data from a Canadian survey targeted at two distinct samples – a general population group and members of animal welfare organisations – a discrete choice experiment is used to assess consumer attitudes towards animal welfare assurances for pork products. The credibility of quality verification by public sector, private sector and third party agents is assessed. Evidence confirms that consumer preferences for farm animal welfare assurance and the source of verification are indeed heterogeneous. Although a portion of consumers remain largely indifferent to pork products with animal welfare assurances, a group of highly motivated consumers exist with an economic incentive to lobby for tougher animal welfare standards.     

Testing for allocation efficiencies in water quality tenders across catchments,industries and pollutants: a north Queensland case study*

The design of competitive tenders to purchase environmental services requires judgements to be made about the funding scale and tender scope, with the latter incorporating considerations of geographic area, industries involved and the types of environmental outputs required. Increasing the scale and scope of tenders increases the likelihood that a larger range of proposals will be proposed and cost‐effective ones selected. However, the use of larger and more broadly scoped tenders may reduce landholder participation and increase asking bids. In the study reported here, these issues have been tested with a single water quality tender run in north‐eastern Australia in 2007 and 2008. Post hoc tests and workshop exercises show that while larger‐scale and scope tenders can generate efficiency gains, care has to be taken to maintain participation and avoid higher bid levels.     

Exit Planning of Lifestyle and Profit-Oriented Entrepreneurs in Bed and Breakfasts

ABSTRACT

With approximately 17,000 bed and breakfasts (B&Bs) currently in operation in the United States and the majority owned and managed by an entrepreneur, the entrepreneurial process becomes a focus of this sector of the lodging industry. This research examined the engagement in the entrepreneurial process, specifically exit planning among B&B owner/operators according to their entrepreneurial type (lifestyle or profit oriented). In addition, research questions evaluated motivational factors of job satisfaction, work–life balance, and family involvement related to exit planning. This study used a cross-sectional design comprised of B&B owner/operators, innkeepers, and entrepreneurs with geographic representation of the United States. This study concluded that B&B entrepreneurs are aware of and engaged in exit planning and the majority of B&B entrepreneurs are lifestyle entrepreneurs.     

The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2: understanding mobile device use at festivals

ABSTRACT

This research advances understanding of mobile device use in a leisure context by applying and expanding the Unified Theory of the Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) to festival settings. Through on-site surveys at three festivals the UTAUT2 model and an adapted version for mobile device use at a festival were examined using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. Results reveal that the modified UTAUT2 demonstrates good fit, and the main factors affecting device use at festivals are performance expectancy, hedonic motivation, habit and age. The findings suggest that the festival context plays an important role in understanding use and should be included in future research. By knowing factors that affect use, practitioners can design experiences where technology enhances the festival and does not interfere with attendees’ experiences.     

The concept of hospitality and an evaluation of its applicability to the experience of hospital patients

Intuitively, it would seem that there is a good case for seeing hospitality as a desirable attribute in a satisfactory hospital stay. This notion is thoroughly examined through the evaluation of various definitions of the concept of hospitality in the literature. The paper suggests a working definition of hospitality which may be both appropriate to the hospital environment, and amenable to evaluation through patient questionnaire analysis.The results show that the working definition of hospitality was credible and would prove to be a useful management tool for evaluating patient services in NHS hospitals.     

Electoral competition with policy-motivated candidates

In the multi-dimensional spatial model of elections with two policy-motivated candidates, we prove that the candidates must adopt the same policy platform in equilibrium. Moreover, when the number of voters is odd, if the gradients of the candidates' utility functions point in different directions, then they must locate at some voter's ideal point and a strong symmetry condition must be satisfied: in particular, it must be possible to pair some voters so that their gradients point in exactly opposite directions. If the number of dimensions is more than two, then our condition is knife-edge. When the number of voters is even, the situation is worse: such equilibria never exist, regardless of the dimensionality of the policy space.     

Is private social, ethical and environmental reporting mythicizing or demythologizing reality?

There is some evidence that private social, ethical and environmental reporting (SEER) between companies and their core institutional investors has started to evolve over recent years. However, there is little research exploring the private SEER process in detail. This paper seeks to address this evolving area of corporate communication using interviews. The evidence reveals a series of mutual benefits to companies and institutional investors arising from the private SEER process. Companies are gaining from SEE engagement and dialogue, as they are using the process to inform public SEE disclosure. They are using private SEE disclosure to preempt investor surprises. Institutional investors are benefiting from the supplementary SEE information gained in private communications with investee companies. They are also using information on managers’ SEE performance gained from private dialogue, as a proxy for management quality. The private SEE disclosure process appears to be nurturing mutual understanding between companies and their core institutional investors. Drawing from a pedagogic perspective, applied previously to SER and stakeholder engagement, as well as to accounting education, we show that ‘good’ private SEE disclosure should take on the characteristics of a dialogic, problem-posing, educative process. We consider four potential outcomes. Such a process may demythologize SEE issues. However, there is also the possibility that a recreated joint myth may emerge from collaborative dialogue between two such powerful groups. Other possible outcomes are that companies may capture the process in order to perpetuate their own SEE myth or that private SEE disclosure may dwindle as public SEE disclosure improves.     

A Survivor Test of the American Agency System of Distributing Property Liability Insurance

In earlier work byjoskow and by Cummins and VanDerhei, the American Agency system of distribution has been deemed inefficient, i.e. excessively costly. We test this in a natural way by examining whether the system survives in competition with more efficient systems. We find that it survives, but is in steady decline.     

Scope,timing and strategic adjustment in emerging markets: Manufacturer strategies and the case of MRI

This study examines the realized strategies of all domestic manufacturers in a growing, high technology, industrial market characterized by high levels of regulatory, demand, and technological uncertainty. These manufacturers have behaved quite differently and experienced varying levels of success in the market. A typology of entry strategies grounded in an intensive analysis of these data is presented. Specifically, it addresses the timing and scope of a firm's entry into the market, strategic adjustments over time, and the impact of these decisions on the firm's performance. It is proposed that these strategies represent trade-offs between the risks of resource commitment and competitive preemption. Specific, testable hypotheses based on this typology are also provided.