Unplanned buying and in-store stimuli in supermarkets

Manufacturers and retailers in industrialized countries spend large sums on advertising and/or in-store promotion in the hope of increasing sales of their merchandise through ‘impulse’ buying. Results are reported in this paper of the unplanned buying behaviour of 450 consumers in 15 major supermarkets in South Africa compared with similar studies in the United States and the United Kingdom. The findings indicate that unplanned buying is higher in the United States than in South Africa, but that the importance of in-store stimuli holds true across cultures. Analysis of other variables such as brand loyalty, specific outlet, and presence of a shopping list is also reported on a cross-cultural basis.     

ON THE SHAREHOLDER WEALTH EFFECTS OF DEPOSIT INSURANCE PREMIUM REVISIONS ON LARGE,PUBLICLY TRADED COMMERCIAL BANKS

Evidence is provided from changes in deposit insurance premiums in the early 1990s on the validity of the premium absorption hypothesis and the premium shifting hypothesis. Analysis of abnormal market returns associated with deposit insurance events using a market‐model event‐study methodology suggests that reductions in deposit insurance premiums are associated with increases in the market value of banking organizations; conversely, increases in deposit insurance premiums are associated with decreases in market wealth. The largest banks in the sample and banks with low equity capital (and low risk‐based capital ratios) appear to be most affected. These results are generally consistent with the premium absorption hypothesis but inconsistent with the premium shifting hypothesis.     

Using “Rapid Response” as a competitive tool

New technology allows companies to respond quickly to customer demands that differ from country to country. In the international arena, time and flexibility are competitive weapons.     

Counter-intuitive results in game theory

General comparative game statics results are derived in order to provide testable hypotheses in game-like situations. These results run counter to ordinary economic intuition. It becomes necessary to initially define whether a situation represents perfect competition or monopoly on the one hand or a game-like situation on the other hand because these different assumptions lead to greatly differing results. Several empirical applications of the theory are suggested.     

Learning and fatigue during choice experiments: a comparison of online and mail survey modes

This study investigates the effect of survey mode on respondent learning and fatigue during repeated choice experiments. Stated preference data are obtained from an experiment concerning high‐speed Internet service conducted on samples of mail respondents and online respondents. We identify and estimate aspects of the error components for different subsets of the choice questions, for both mail and online respondents. Results show mail respondents answer questions consistently throughout a series of choice experiments, but the quality of the online respondents' answers declines. Therefore, while the online survey provides lower survey administration costs and reduced time between implementation and data analysis, such benefits come at the cost of less precise responses. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Incentive effects and overcrowding in tournaments: An experimental analysis

This study reports experiments that examine outcomes when agents choose between a payment scheme that rewards based on absolute performance (i.e., piece rate) and a scheme that rewards based on relative performance (i.e., a tournament). Holding total payments in the tournament constant, performance is higher when the tournament option is winner-take-all compared to a graduated tournament (i.e., second and third-place performers also receive a payment). Performance is higher in the winner-take all tournaments even among participants that choose the piece-rate option. While there is a modest amount of overcrowding, there are no significant differences in overcrowding across conditions. Entry rates into the tournament and the relative ability of tournament entrants (compared to non-entrants in the same condition) are higher in the graduated tournament condition than the winner-take-all conditions. Consequently, the winner-take-all tournament is more efficient than the graduated tournament (incentive effects are stronger and the overcrowding is about the same), but the graduated tournament provides a more effective mechanism to identify the most capable performer in a talent pool. Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at . JEL Classification D8 · J3 · L2     

Recycling consumer solid waste: A commentary on selected channel alternatives

The recycling of consumer solid waste presents special problems for reverse marketing channels. Specifically, the accumulation of bulk quantities of homogenous materials from consumer-generated sources that are highly heterogenous in nature represents a major functional problem that must be overcome through the development of appropriate reverse marketing channels. In this article, factors influencing reverse channels development are outlined, and specific marketing implications concerning the three basic channel types that primarily handle consumer solid waste are discussed.