Managing micropolitical risk: A cross‐sector examination

This article stresses the need for today's multinational firms to adopt their own political risk‐assessment and risk‐mitigation strategies. A comparative study of the energy, financial, and automobile sectors illustrates the need for all companies in these sectors to undertake comprehensive risk‐assessment strategies. Risk‐assessment models established by leading multinationals like British Petroleum, Bank of America, and General Motors are examined as examples that other companies in these sectors can build upon. The consistent micropolitical risk variables then lead to a proposed practical framework for examining sector‐specific micropolitical risk. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Localization and Customer Retention for Franchise Service Systems

This is one of the first studies to explore customer retention in reference to the franchisee–customer relationship. A subsequent objective was to examine localization and standardization from a franchise unit and system-level perspective. Data was collected using a self-administered survey based on customers of pet grooming services in Australia. Findings suggest that the addition of a customer retention perspective reveals a greater depth to the franchisee–customer relationship. Importantly, this implies that there are additional factors likely to influence franchisee–customer retention within franchise outlets. We suggest that individual franchise units, in cooperation with local customers, should co-create local marketing initiatives.     

The Application of Activity-based Costing in the United Kingdom's Largest Financial Institutions

Activity-based costing (ABC) has come to prominence in recent years as an attractive alternative to conventional costing systems. Its development has involved many service sector applications and its use throughout the core management accounting areas of decision making, control and performance measurement. This article contains the results of a 1994 survey of the UK's largest financial institutions to ascertain the extent and the nature of the adoption of ABC.     

Agri-tainment: A New Crop for Farmers

Agricultural tourism has allowed farmers to reach new consumers, cultivate new revenue streams, educate the public regarding their work, and to preserve their way of life. Today, many farmers are going beyond the traditional hayride or pick-your-own orchards to include attractions and amusements. They have transformed the category, even prompting a new name, agri-tainment (agricultural entertainment). In the process, the family farm has become a destination itself. The rationale behind their development along with the consumer interest in experiencing such tourism venues is discussed.     

Consumer Purchasing in Foreign Countries: A Perceived Risk Perspective

Increases in tourism and international business mean more non-nationals will be consuming products in foreign countries. No study has yet examined their purchasing behaviour using a perceived risk framework. This article reports the results of an exploratory study of national and non-national consumers who rated loss types and risk relievers for 24 products. In general non-nationals perceived more risk in product purchase and considerably more psychosocial loss than nationals. They also rated all risk relievers as significantly more useful than nationals. For both groups brand loyalty was the most useful risk reliever while celebrity endorsement was the least useful.     

Exploring the international student recruitment industry through the Strategic Orientation Performance Model

Abstract

International education is an important, and expanding, global industry. However, much remains unknown about the international student recruitment (ISR) industry, its key variables, and its performance outcomes. This study addresses this lack of understanding by developing and empirically testing a conceptual model that investigates ISR performance indicators. The Strategic Orientation Performance (SOP) Model is proposed as an investigative framework. The model is a conceptual representation of the relationships proposed to exist between market orientation, learning orientation, innovativeness, perceived external market effects, and perceived organisational performance. The study adopted a quantitative methodology using a self-administered questionnaire delivered to ISR practitioners via e-mail. Analysis, via partial least squares (PLS), provided support for the SOP Model in the ISR context. The SOP Model extends previous orientation-performance models. Additionally, within a discordant body of market orientation literature, this study aligns with one of the dominant paradigms and, thereby, provides a strong impetus for further research. Furthermore, future research will benefit significantly through the use of the SOP Model as a solid foundation for further discovery in this important research domain.     

Pricing, price dispersion, and information: The discount brokerage industry

The paper provides an empirical analysis of the pricing behavior of firms within the discount brokerage industry, with emphasis on testing the role of costly information in affecting prices. Several empirical tests are performed that indicate that prices in this industry respond in ways hypothesized by theoretical models of markets operating under conditions of imperfect information. The industry is characterized by a wide degree of price dispersion that does not appear to simply reflect quality differences among firms. In addition, the variance of prices across geographic markets is associated with variables that theoretically should affect the levels of consumer information in those markets.