International advertising: Developmental and implementational issues

This paper reports on a study which investigated the international advertising practices of a sample of major advertising spending multinationals, and the rationales behind their policies. The objective was to obtain insights into the efficacy of international advertising standardization options. When the rationales behind the international advertising practices of the sampled companies were examined, it was found that the executives concerned brought a wide‐ranging agenda to the decision‐making process and that factors beyond the specific benefits of standardization influenced their policies. As regards their actual policies, the practice of some form of standardization was found to be widespread, but the practice of total standardization was rare. As such, the data indicate that standardization is a flexible option, with many possible variants, i.e. it can be adapted to circumstances and is not an either/or policy. The paper concludes that the focus on whether or not multinationals should practice international advertising is misplaced, if only because, just as at the local or national level, there will be good and bad international advertising. Accordingly, more emphasis should be placed on reviewing issues relating to how to improve the quality of international advertising campaigns.     

Conversations during purchase consideration: sales assistants and customers

Conversations among and between our fellow customers and sales personnel provide social and informational exchange to support material exchange in retail settings. A 2 x 2 factorial field experiment (in a ladies' clothing retailing context) was undertaken to compare perceptions of the effects of oral contributions made by sales assistants, and by fellow customers, on levels of satisfaction, purchase intentions and credibility during the service experience. Conversations with other customers are shown to lead to greater perceived satisfaction in the consideration phase than those with sales assistants. Sales assistants are confirmed as less credible, and the notion that spoken interactions with assistants may lead to increased purchase intention is rejected.     

Government spending and economic growth: the G-7 experience

Using ordered probit estimation technique this paper examines the job satisfaction of recent UK graduates. Focussing primarily on explaining job satisfaction in terms of individuals matching to jobs, with the match depending on reservation returns, information sets and job offer rates. Only limited support can be found for the argument that job matching explains higher job satisfaction. In addition, stylizing graduates as a peer group, who form satisfaction levels based on their rankings relative to each other we examine whether or not education quality, which raises peer group status and increases the job offer rate, is systematically related to job satisfaction. The results broadly support the hypothesis that job satisfaction is neutral across graduates of different education qualities. However, our specification tests indicate that ordered probit estimation may not be fully appropriate for identifying the characteristics of those with high job satisfaction.     

Hillary Seizes the Moment

When news of the Bear Stearns firesale hit on Mar. 17, it didn’t take long for reaction to come in from the campaign trail.     

Are Too Many Private Equity Funds Top Quartile?

Assessing investment performance for private equity is inherently difficult due in large part to the nature of illiquid assets. Compounding this problem, investors and researchers alike are bedeviled by the existing lack of comprehensive, high‐quality data. The current state of affairs obscures answers to basic practical questions, leads to lack of standardization, and creates confusion. This paper examines measurements of “top quartile” performance, a status widely prized in the industry, especially in light of past research showing return persistence by funds raised by the same general partner. Using three popular data sources and applying metrics typically adopted in the industry, the authors demonstrate that even modest variations in methods can result in half of all funds being able to claim “top quartile” results. Sources of variation include methods of categorizing funds, definitions of vintage year, choice of the data source, specification of performance metrics, and treatment of geography and currencies.     

Vanity and public self‐consciousness: a comparison of fashion consumer groups and gender

The purpose of this study was to compare vanity and public self‐consciousness between fashion consumer groups (fashion change agents, fashion followers) and genders. Vanity has four dimensions: concern for physical appearance, a positive (perhaps inflated) view of physical appearance, concern for achievement and a positive (perhaps inflated) view of achievement. Participants (284 women; 116 men; mean age = 21.16) completed scales measuring consumer vanity, public self‐consciousness and fashion innovativeness and opinion leadership. Women scored higher on vanity physical concern, vanity achievement concern, vanity achievement view and public self‐consciousness than men. Fashion change agents scored higher on vanity physical concern, vanity physical view and public self‐consciousness than fashion followers.     

Funding Land Redistribution in Developing Countries Maintaining Fiscal Solvency in the Face of Heavy Costs

A PROPERLY CONCEIVED and Well-implemented land reform will serve to improve the escisting sodoeconomic conditions of developing countries. However, a land redistribution program is costly. It is necessary for the country to understand the actual expenses involved, as tbey affect the gov-ernment's normal financial burden.