A Comparative Analysis of the Use of Corporate Advertising in the United States and Japan

This article outlines one possible approach that companies can use to identify candidate countries for standardized international advertising campaigns. By clustering countries based on their similarity economically, culturally, and in their media availability and usage, marketers can identify those in which similar campaigns may be successful. In this paper, 40 countries were clustered into six groups within each of which standardization could be attempted. Discriminant analysis provided validation for the appropriateness of this six cluster solution. The implications of these results are discussed and directions for future research based on this approach are suggested.     

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Quantitative Marketing and Economics -     

An exploratory study of reverse causality relationships among sales force turnover variables

This paper explores the directions of causality between selected work-related variables and quitting intentions. Based on the premise that quitting intentions may stem from predispositions that affect work-related variables, longitudinal data collected from a direct sales population were analyzed. When compared with previous literature, the results show the existence of reverse causality, indicating that quitting intentions are more likely to effect the perceptions of such variables as organizational climate, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Hie received his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri. His current research interests involve sales force turnover and organizational stress. His research has appeared in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and others. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is the former editor of theJournal of Personal Selling & Sales Management. He serves on the editorial boards of theJournal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, andJournal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, and has authored numerous books and articles in professional journals.     

DEREGULATION AND THE VOLATILITY OF UK STOCK PRICES

This paper examines the behaviour of the UK stock market for significant changes in volatility over the four years surrounding Big Bang i.e. 27 October, 1986 when the market was substantially deregulated. The main findings are that after Big Bang but prior to Black Monday, the UK stock market was no more volatile than prior to Big Bang, but that after Black Monday, the UK market was more volatile than prior to Big Bang even after adjusting for increases in global volatility.     

Understanding consumers’ social networking site usage

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine consumer motivations to use social networking sites (SNSs) for three distinct activities: (1) general SNS usage, (2) the joining of a business’s SNS page and (3) clicking on an advertisement on a SNS. To assist with this exploration we draw upon the decomposed theory of planned behaviour as a theoretical lens and conduct a mixed-method study that utilises both an empirical investigation as well as qualitative focus group interviews in order to delve deeper into specific reasons why individuals engage in SNS activities. Results show that a number of antecedents such as attitude, compatibility, relative advantage, complexity, normative influences and self-efficacy come into play when determining SNS usage activities. However, specific antecedents may vary according to the explicit activity under investigation. This study’s main contribution involves advancing our understanding of consumer behaviour as it relates to SNS activities by examining not only antecedents to intention but also attitude, subjective norms and behavioural control. Other contributions include additional development of the SNS literature, integrating SNSs into a classical theoretical framework and providing valuable insights and implications for both practitioners and researchers alike.     

PRODUCTIVITY OR UNEXPECTED DEMAND SHOCKS: WHAT DETERMINES FIRMS' INVESTMENT AND EXIT DECISIONS?

We investigate the roles played by unexpected demand shocks, besides productivity, on firms' capital investment and exit decisions. We propose a practical approach to recover unexpected firm‐level demand shocks using inventory data. The recognition of demand shocks and inventory also improves the productivity estimation. The empirical results indicate that although productivity and demand shocks are both significant factors determining firm behavior, the former is more dominant for investment decision and the latter is more salient for firm exit. These findings confirm that unexpected demand shocks, besides persistent productivity, are important factors when analyzing capital investment and firm exit decisions.     

A combined approach using AHP and DEMATEL for evaluating success factors in implementation of green supply chain management in Indian manufacturing industries

The present work aims to evaluate the success factors (SFs) associated with the implementation of green supply chain management (GSCM) from the Indian manufacturing industry perspective. Initially, 24 SFs relevant to GSCM adoption and implementation were identified from the literature and inputs received from relevant experts. Subsequently, a structural model was proposed by means of combining the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) approach to evaluate these SFs at the tactical, operational and strategic levels in GSCM adoption. The AHP method helps in determining the relative importance/priorities of the SFs to GSCM adoption. In addition, the DEMATEL method captures the interactive relationships among the SFs, and analyses them on the basis of causal effect mapping. The model proposed can help industrial managers/practitioners to formulate short-term as well as long-term flexible decision strategies in efficiently managing a green supply chain.     

Assessment of CSR based supply chain performance system using an integrated fuzzy AHP-TOPSIS approach

The objective of this research was to identify Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) criteria as well as propose and prioritise the alternatives to improve the supply chain performance system of an organisation. To meet the objective, firstly, CSR-based criteria, sub-criteria and alternatives were identified based on the literature review and discussion with the field experts, taken from automobile industries located at the Delhi region of India. Then, kappa statistics has been applied to check the internal consistency between identified criteria and sub-criteria. After finding the evidence of internal consistency, a hierarchical-type model has been developed and analysed using a multi-criteria decision-making as an integrated fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and a fuzzy technique for order performance by similarity to the ideal solution (TOPSIS) approach. To make the results more robust and feasible, a sensitivity analysis has also been performed.     

Balancing Profitability and Customer Welfare in a Supermarket Chain

We investigate the impact of price discrimination by a large Chicago supermarket chain. First we measure the impact of the chain's current zone-pricing policy on shelf prices, variable profits and consumer welfare across its stores. Using the chain's database to simulate a finer store-specific micro-pricing policy, we study the implications of this policy on profits and welfare. We show how a store-pricing policy that is constrained to offer consumers at least as much surplus as a uniform chain wide pricing policy still enables the retailer to generate substantial incremental profits.To ensure our pricing problem exhibits a well-defined optimum, we use the parsimonious, mixed-logit demand function that allows for flexible substitution patterns across brands and also retains a link to consumer theory. We discuss the issue of price endogeneity when estimating the demand parameters with weekly store-level data. Standard instrumental variables techniques used to account for such endogeneity also seem to increase the magnitudes of own-price elasticities thereby offsetting the problem encountered by previous researchers of predicted prices from a demand model exceeding those in the actual data.