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.     

The effects on stressful organizational conditions on salesperson work motivation

This paper examines how organizational stress may contribute to intrinsic and extrinsic dimensions of salesperson work motivation. Hypotheses generated on the basis of sales management and organizational stress literature are tested using data gathered from an insurance sales population. Results indicate that excessive role stress may produce a significant adverse impact on salespersons' intrinsic and extrinsic work motivation. Research findings are discussed from a managerial perspective. The author expresses his thanks to Thomas R. Wotruba of San Diego State University for his helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.     

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.     

Some people just want to read: The roles of age,interactivity, and perceived usefulness of print in the consumption of digital information products

With the advent of digital technologies, both academic researchers and marketing practitioners alike continually seek a richer understanding of the way information is produced and consumed. Against this backdrop, this study explores the relationship between interactivity, consumer satisfaction and adoption intention in the context of digital information products. Drawing broadly on the services marketing literature, interactivity literature and diffusion theory, the results of our study suggest that in a utilitarian context, consumers are more likely to adopt interactive books than more traditional static e-books. However, satisfaction with interactivity is moderated by the age of the consumer, with older “digital immigrant” participants more satisfied by static e-books and younger “digital native” participants more satisfied by interactive e-books. Also, the less useful consumers find print products, the more likely they will be to adopt interactive digital books, and this effect is also moderated by the age of the consumer. Finally, with the proliferation of digital devices only expected to continue, these findings have important implications for both product development and marketing communication programs.     

Structural Applications of the Discrete Choice Model

A growing body of empirical literature uses structurally-derived economic models to study the nature of competition and to measure explicitly the economic impact of strategic policies. While several approaches have been proposed, the discrete choice demand system has experienced wide usage. The heterogeneous, or mixed, logit in particular has been widely applied due to its parsimonious structure and its ability to capture flexibly substitution patterns for a large number of differentiated products.We outline the derivation of the heterogeneous logit demand system. We then present a number of applications of such models to various data sources. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of directions for future research in this area.     

Corporate Public Issue Advertising

This article presents the results of a study of the attitudes of chief executives regarding issue advertising. The study used a set of four issue advertisements representing varying degrees of self-interest. The results indicate marked differences between business leaders in their perceptions of both the usefulness and favourability of different issue advertising messages.     

Beliefs,attitudes and behaviour towards Web advertising

To examine Web users' beliefs, attitudes and behaviour towards Web advertising, Pollay and Mittal's (1993) belief model is tested via structural equation modelling. The results suggest the model is a robust Web advertising effectiveness measurement tool. Underlying the study are the hypotheses that Web users' attitudes towards Web advertising are a function of several belief factors and influence users' behavioural intention. Results indicate the belief factors—product information, hedonic pleasure, and social role and image—related positively to subjects' attitudes towards Web advertising. Web users' beliefs about materialism, falsity/no sense and value corruption related negatively to their attitudes towards Web advertising. Web advertising attitudes impacted on reported behaviour towards Web advertising such that the more positive Web users' attitudes were towards Web advertising, the greater the likelihood that they would respond favourably to Web ads. In addition, the higher the respondents' income and education, the more negative their reported behaviour towards Web advertising.     

Customer relationship management in competitive environments: The positive implications of a short-term focus

Researchers and business thought leaders have emphasized that firms must think and act with a long-term horizon when managing customer relationships. We demonstrate that, in contrast to this widely held view, profits in competitive environments may be maximized when firms ignore the future and instead maximize period-by-period profits from customers. Intuitively, while a long-term focus yields more loyal customers, it greatly increases short-term price competition to gain and keep customers. Consequently, overall firm profits and customer lifetime value may be lower when firms directly maximize multi-period profits from customers. Specifically, we analyze a model with segment-level pricing where firms in a duopoly can choose between period-by-period and multi-period profit maximization and demonstrate that, in many cases, a symmetric focus on period-by-period profit maximization emerges as the Pareto-dominant Nash equilibrium. We extend the model in two directions. First, we demonstrate that this superiority of the short-term focus endures even when a revenue expansion effect applies—that is, when customer loyalty leads to enhanced revenues. Second, we examine the case where customers are strategic and incorporate the long-term implications of their choices into their decision-making. Here we demonstrate that it may pay for firms to be myopic even when customers are strategic. The focus on multi-period surplus makes customers less price sensitive to price variations at the early stage of the game. Consequently, the focus on maximizing period-by-period profits enables the firms to charge higher upfront prices and leverage this lower price sensitivity into higher profits. Overall, our results highlight the paradox that, when it comes to managing customer relationships in competitive environments, a short-term focus may constitute the optimal long-term strategy.

基于邻近值的HEVC帧内预测优化

高性能视频编码(High Efficiency Video Coding,HEVC)标准中的帧内编码模式利用当前帧中像素点之间的空间相关性作出有效预测。为了解决待编码像素远离参考像素时预测不准确的问题,提出了一种基于邻近值的HEVC帧内预测优化算法。该算法的主要思想是,对于当前像素,先根据传统HEVC帧内编码方法得到其预测值,再使用该像素点左边、左上、上边位置的修正值以及该像素本身的预测值对该预测值进行修正。因为将当前像素与周围像素的相关性进行了有效的数学建模,所以HEVC帧内编码性能得到了提升。实验结果显示,所提算法与HEVC标准相比,最高节省了2.7%的码率,平均节省的码率为1.3%。     

THE COORDINATED REFORM OF TARIFFS AND INDIRECT TAXES

Tariff reduction designed to encourage outward-oriented developmentwill work only if alternative sources can be found to replenishrevenue lost in the cause of reducing protection. Integratedreform of tariffs with taxes would seem to be the answer, butso far analysts have often tended to treat the two instrumentsseparately. This article looks at the tariff and tax instruments used bydeveloping countries to protect their producers and to increasetheir revenues, and then lays out the contours of an integratedstructure for taxes with tariffs. This structure takes intoaccount not only objectives of efficiency and equity but alsoconstrained administrative capacity. The analysis concludeswith an examination of how these ideas may be used to guidethe coordinated reform of tax and tariff structures.