The Impact of Organizational Form on Producer Contracting Decisions

A variable that has not yet been considered in the contracting literature is the impact of agribusiness organizational form on the producer's contracting decision. Contracts with cooperatives are more complicated decisions for producers than a standard marketing contract with noncooperatives because of the requisite membership capital investment in the firm. Contracting with cooperatives requires producers to make a dual supply and investment decision. Individual membership equity holdings in all agricultural cooperatives are increasing, but they are generally most substantial in the value-added, new-generation cooperatives. Portfolio theory is used to analyze the producer's decision to contract with three alternatively structured value-added processing organizations in an uncertain environment: a traditional cooperative, a new-generation cooperative and an investor-oriented firm. In the cooperative cases, the contract requires both supply and equity investment.     

Film Geopolitics in Practice: Marketing The Miracle of Bern

This essay demonstrates how critical geopolitics of film can benefit from attention to behind-the-scenes practices in films' lives by examining “territorial appeals”: invocations of territorial interest or identity to justify a project or win support for a position. By tracing marketing strategies in the emergence of The Miracle of Bern, a 2003 film that celebrates West Germany's World Cup football victory over Hungary in 1954, the essay shows opportunities and limitations of territorial appeals to win production funds, find distributors, and shape discourse at home and abroad. This study of negotiations among a variety of actors and institutions reveals how marketing – in all its forms – is on the “front lines” of national identity construction and perception.     

Developing the Leadership Capacity and Leader Efficacy of College Women in Science,Technology, Engineering,and Math Fields

The current study examined the extent to which college women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) majors demonstrated differential levels of leadership capacity and/or leader efficacy than their non‐STEM, female peers. Data represented 14,698 women from 86 institutions of higher education in the United States. Results indicated similar levels of leadership capacity but significantly lower leader efficacy for women in STEM majors. Implications explore unique predictors of leader efficacy for women in STEM majors along with recommendations for changes to policy and professional practice that might address how the differential organizational contexts shape leadership development.     

Factors affecting the effectiveness and acceptance of electronic selection systems

There has been a rise in the use of electronic selection (e-selection) systems in organizations. Given the widespread use of these systems, this article reviews the factors that affect their effectiveness and acceptance by job applicants (applicant acceptance), and offers directions for future research on the topic. In particular, we examine the effectiveness and acceptance of these systems at each stage of the selection process including (a) job analysis, (b) job application, (c) pre-employment testing, (d) interviewing, (e) selection decision-making, and (f) evaluation and validation. We also consider their potential for adverse impact and invasion of privacy. Finally, we present some implications for e-selection system design and implementation.     

The propagation of U.S. shocks to Canada: Understanding the role of real financial linkages

This paper examines the role of financial frictions in affecting the transmission of U.S. real and financial shocks to Canada using a dynamic stochastic general‐equilibrium model with an active banking sector and financial frictions. We find that the U.S. banking and interbank markets can be a potentially important source of variability of Canadian output and inflation—consistent with the financial crisis. The presence of both the demand and the real supply sides of credit in the model help to capture the stylized facts of both the domestic and the international business cycles.     

Innovativeness in family firms: a family influence perspective

This paper investigates the relationships between family influence and family firm performance. Specifically, we investigate how generational ownership dispersion, family management involvement, and family member reciprocity affect firm performance. We also consider the moderating role of innovativeness. Our findings indicate that family firm influence can have both positive and negative consequences for family firm performance. Implications and areas for future research are discussed.     

A darker side of knowledge transfer following international acquisitions

We consider a knowledge flow that dominates the international acquisition context but can actually harm foreign acquired firms' performance: non–location‐specific knowledge transfer from acquirers to acquired firms (N‐LSKT). Considering its behavioral consequences, we argue that such knowledge transfer often may destabilize existing power structures in foreign acquired firms prompting conflict and power struggles, and as a result negatively affects their performance. We find support for this adverse knowledge transfer effect. Only at very high levels of N‐LSKT, when acquirers are likely to extend their own capabilities and associated power structures more completely, do the performance effects improve. Further, predeal success of acquirers and post‐deal functional integration amplify, while acquirers' strategic control over the acquired firm alleviates the generally negative effects of N‐LSKT. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Commodification of Race in Singapore: The Customer Service Implications of the Other-Race Effect on Tourism and Retailing

This paper examines the phenomenon known as the other-race effect, which is the ability to recognize the faces of those of one race, easier than the faces of those from another race. Typically, the race that is easier to recognize is the individual's own race, and most previous research has focused on this type of comparison. This study, though, analyzes the ability of Chinese Singaporeans to recognize the faces of people of color versus White faces in a customer service context, and compares those results with the ability of White subjects in the United States to recognize the same faces. This approach is particularly applicable to the Asia Pacific region. Tourism accounts for a significant part of the regional economies, and marketers are becoming more sensitive to the changing needs of the multicultural marketplace where inter-racial interactions between customers and service providers in retailing and tourism are on the rise. Results of the research indicate evidence of the other-race effect. Asians who were more exposed to people of color than to Whites, recognized Black faces better than White faces. The results are interpreted based on the theoretical premise that people are better at recognizing faces of races for which there is a higher level of interaction, exposure, and familiarity.     

Can copycat private labels improve the consumer’s shopping experience? A fluency explanation

A top priority among retailers is enhancing the consumer’s shopping experience. With the number of private label products increasing at the same time retailers are shedding slower moving products, understanding how private labels impact the consumer’s experience at the retail shelf becomes critical. While one might think that private labels, in particular those that look similar to their national brand counterparts (i.e., copycat private labels), may hinder the shopping experience by making it more difficult for consumers to choose a product, we find the exact opposite. Adopting a fluency perspective, we show that when copycat private labels are included in a shelf set, consumers with high knowledge of the category experience greater choice ease, and as a result they subsequently evaluate their chosen product more favorably. Importantly, the choice ease and evaluations of novice consumers are found to be unaffected. Consequently, this research provides insights for retailers and manufacturers on how and why copycat private labels positively impact an important aspect of the consumer’s shopping experience (i.e., choice ease).