Missed eWOM opportunities: A cross-sector analysis of online monitoring behavior

This paper provides empirical evidence that major sectors of the USA are not listening to pertinent online conversations (electronic word-of-mouth [eWOM]) that occur outside of their own social media portals. Data include cross sector as well as longitudinal research on prominent sectors, including business, not for profits, and academia. The Inc. 500 (fastest-growing US companies), top charities, and colleges and universities all neglect, to some extent, the monitoring of eWOM. Findings indicate that monitoring behavior may be related to how involved an organization is in social media, if they have a written policy governing its use within the organization, if they have specific goals that are related to their social media plan, if they use tracking measures such as page views, numbers of fans or followers, and how they staff the social media function. Charities are most likely to engage in monitoring behavior for their causes. The academic sector often employs part-time (student) assistance with its social media initiatives, ultimately resulting in less monitoring behavior.     

The Power of Emotional Benefits: Examining the Role of Benefit Focus on Donation Behavior

In donation contexts, many advertising appeals focus on the benefits that those in need will receive as the result of donations. Yet little is known about the effect that benefit information has on willingness to give. In this research, we differentiate between two types of benefits typically emphasized in appeals: emotional (which focus on the positive emotions beneficiaries experience as the result of donations) and functional (which focus on the basic needs met as the result of donations). We conduct three experiments and find that appeals focusing on emotional benefits increase willingness to donate relative to appeals that focus on functional benefits. We also provide evidence that visualization of benefits mediates the effect of benefit type on willingness to donate and introduce relevant moderators. In addition to contributing to theoretical understanding of donation behavior, this research also provides managers with practical tools to encourage donations.     

A mathematical programming approach to elementary school facility decisions

Beginning in the early 1970's, school districts throughout the United States were abruptly faced with a dramatic decline in enrollments. These declines required that many administrators adjust their planning procedures to include the effects of unused or under-used facilities. The most prominent of these decisions was the closing of selected schools. Most districts addressed this issue by establishing citizen task forces to analyze the current situation, to recommend how school facilities should be reorganized, and to develop the timing of these activities. These citizen task forces clearly operate in a political environment, and are necessarily concerned with qualitative social issues as well as those issues that are traditionally more quantifiable.

In this paper we develop and investigate the use of quantitative tools that enhance this decision making process. Specifically, we discuss the development of a zero-one integer program designed to assist in facility allocation problems faced by many school districts. The paper includes a demonstration case study using this model with data from the State College, Pennsylvania school district.     

Characteristics of mexican economic growth : Empirical testing of some latin american structuralist hypotheses

This article examines a series of hypotheses about the Latin American industrialization process put forward by the structuralist school of thought, using Mexico as a test case. In particular it examines the relationship between the distribution of income and associated patterns of consumption and industrial structure and its implications on demand-constraints, growth- constraints, employment constraint and multinational control. The results indicate that the modern-traditional dichotomy based on durable versus non-durable consumer goods is not the best way to examine this relationship since the consumption patterns for durable goods do not show a homogeneous behavior when distribution changes. Overall, it was found that growth and employment constraints and multinational control seem to get more exacerbated under greater inequality. With respect to the demand-constraints no definite conclusion can be made because of the mentioned heterogeneity in the response of durable goods to changes in distribution and the lack of information on relative excess capacity and/or dynamic linkages of the different sectors.     

DOES CONSUMPTION ENTAIL INCOME? IMPLICATIONS OF THE DUAL CLASSIFICATION OF CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURE FOR THE INCOME SIDE OF THE HOUSEHOLD SECTOR IN THE NATIONAL ACCOUNTS*

In the future revision of the SNA the dual classification of flows in the national accounts will gain some importance with respect to consumption expenditures. It is likely that outlays of different institutions for consumption are added to form a new aggregate “individual consumption.” The question is whether this development requires an adjustment on the income side of the household accounts. In order to find an answer it is first necessary to scrutinize the concept of disposable income in its standard form, and in its different variations. The result is a distinction between “disposable income in the strict sense” and “income after distribution,” where the standard definition actually realizes the latter concept. It is then shown that the dual structure of the accounts does not permit the adding of individual consumption to saving of households so that the concept of enlarged income defeats its purpose.     

Developing a distinctive consumer marketing organization

Marketing excellence is a key success factor in virtually any industry or company focused on consumer products or services. Defining what marketing excellence really means and how to mobilize the organization to achieve that goal, however, can be extremely challenging. This article examines the changing nature of the relationship between consumer and marketer and identifies the characteristics of excellent consumer marketing companies. While there is clearly no single right answer in designing marketing organizations, a number of companies in a variety of consumer industries have begun experimenting with promising results. While the solutions are different in each case, a number of common themes—including a clear linkage between strategy and marketing skills, seamless integration across the business system, and a clear marketing culture—are beginning to emerge.