Any complaints? A review of the framework of self-regulation in the Australian advertising industry

Prior to 1996, the Australian system of advertising self-regulation was regarded as a world model and many Asia-Pacific systems included components adapted from the Australian system. The recent changes to this system, encouraged by the abolition of the media accreditation system, consumer association pressure, criticism from the national advertisers association and the lack of a strong advertising agency presence, present an interesting framework in which to review the foundation concepts of self-regulation in advertising. This paper compares the new code of ethics with its predecessor and an international standard. It examines the performance of the code in terms of the number of complaints upheld and complaint by medium and product type and the voluntary response of advertisers. The findings suggest a weakening in the standard of advertising self-regulation in Australia, with fewer provisions in the Code of Ethics, a significantly fewer number of complaints upheld and no real power of enforcement. Although the case is Australian, it raises universal questions such as the vested interest of advertisers in controlling the process and roles of the consumer association, the media and the advertising agencies in guaranteeing the privilege of self-regulation.     

Pattern and Determinants of United States' Intra-Industry Trade

This study identifies country and industry-level determinants of intra-industry trade and its components, vertical (VIIT) and horizontal (HIIT) intra-industry trade, in bilateral U.S. trade. Unlike studies for other countries, U.S. intra-industry trade is found to be dominated by HIIT rather than VIIT. This finding is important because HIIT tends to have relatively low factor adjustment costs relative to VIIT. Industry specialization takes place within, rather than across, product lines within the same industry. Two new variables contribute to our understanding of intra-industry trade. Country-level product differentiation and the interaction between technological innovation and foreign direct investment are found to be important determinants of both HIIT and VIIT. Distance, foreign direct investment flows, scale economies, and seller concentration affect HIIT but not VIIT. Other influences exert similar influences on components of intra-industry trade.     

Mood and Ethical Decision Making: Positive Affect and Corporate Philanthropy

Journal of Business Ethics - This study examines the influence of mood (‘affect’) on corporate philanthropic giving. Drawing on group emotions theory and affect-infused decision theory,...     

Discovering India's three levels of luxury consumption: An exploratory research to find a conceptual framework

Luxury marketing research has moved from functional product attributes to a ‘democratized’ view in emerging economies. This seems to be based on the development of interactive and digital communications. Luxury research studies have historically focused on the brand's and marketer's perspectives. Thus, little attention has been given to the consumer's view of what we consider to be the individual drivers, i.e., the ‘inner and outer self’ and how that impacts luxury consumption. This paper presents a framework of luxury and self, using concepts such as interdependent or outer, independent or inner, and a new concept of ‘digital self’. These appear as three levels of luxury consumption, i.e., conspicuous, individual, and interactive. The interdependent self is influenced by the external motives and leads to conspicuous luxury behavior. Individual self is affected by internal motives and thus influences individual luxury consumption. Digital self affects the networks of motive and relationships and thereby impacts interactive luxury consumption and behavior.     

How digital platforms influence luxury purchase behavior in India?

In an emerging country such as India, consumers are tech savvy and connect easily with digital media platforms. They use these platforms even for luxury purchases. However, there have been only a few conceptual papers on this process. Therefore, this study aims to explain how digital platforms influence consumers’ decision for luxury brands in India. Two qualitative studies were conducted with young Indian consumers as they are the heaviest users of digital platforms and the most frequent purchasers of luxury brands. The first study consisted of 156 respondents in 15 focus groups in four major Indian cities. The second was made up of 95 on-site customer observations in 18 retail luxury stores and 45 consumers’ interviews. These data were further validated by 32 interviews with luxury brand managers and retail managers We found and developed a cyclical framework that projects digital media influences on Indian consumers at all the phases of purchase, i.e., pre-purchase is digital and hedonic, purchase is experiential and enjoyable while digital media is used and post-purchase is based on aspirations, lifestyles and virtual networks. More importantly, these consumers are always connected to reference groups digitally who significantly affect their purchase behavior and subsequent brand choices.     

The Role of Ethical Standards in the Relationship Between Religious Social Norms and M&A Announcement Returns

Journal of Business Ethics - Prior studies suggest that firms headquartered in areas with strong religious social norms have higher ethical standards. In this study, we examine whether the ethical...     

Co-production of service innovations through dynamic capability enhancement

The main aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of co-production practices with customers on service innovation. Specifically, we sought to determine whether dynamic capabilities (the specific abilities a company has to shape, reshape, configure, and reconfigure idiosyncratic assets to respond to changing technologies and markets) could mediate the effect of co-production on service innovation. In this paper, we examine the factors that could influence co-production practices and determine whether organizational commitment moderates the effect of co-production practice on an organization's dynamic capabilities. Using a survey approach of Taiwanese firms, we showed that dynamic capability fully mediates the effects of co-production practice on service innovation and that market orientation and customer matching have a significant influence on co-production practices. In addition, this study has empirically demonstrated that service firms would be well advised to engage in developing service innovation through enhancing their own dynamic capabilities.     

Work Values Ethic, GNP Per Capita and Country of Birth Relationships

Workplaces around the world have experienced extraordinary changes to the composition of their workforces and the nature of work. Few studies have explored workers from multiple countries of birth, with multiple religious orientations, working together within a single country of residence. Building on and extending the Work Values Ethic (WVE) literature, we examine 1,382 responses from employees working in three manufacturing companies. Differences were found in the mean WVE scores of groups of respondents from 42 countries of birth. Their WVE scores were strongly associated with their birth countries’ per capita Gross National Product (GNP), and the means of these scores did not change with variations in the respondents’ length of residence in a different country. These results have implications for developing cross-cultural management practices and for improving relationships with employees, with opportunities for increased commitment and, potentially, productivity.