Examining Medical Decision Making from a Marketing Perspective

This paper explores how consideration of the medical context can add newelements to marketing thought. Differences between the medical context andother consumer contexts are reviewed. The effects that the medical contexthas on the way traditional constructs such as involvement, affect andstress, uncertainty and satisfaction affect choice are discussed. Finally,emerging research in medical contexts where future discoveries could enhanceconsumer choice theory are presented.     

Kathleen M. Barry. Femininity in Flight: A History of Flight Attendants

One of the pleasures of Kathleen Barry's book, Femininity inFlight, is the many photographs that illustrate her argumentsabout how stewardesses worked to project a particular type offemininity, which she calls glamour. On page 183, for example,she includes a photograph of a youthful brunette stewardessfor the fledgling airline, Southwest. The date is 1972 and thestewardess is clad in "hot pants" and high-heeled lace-up boots,leaning playfully on the seat in front     

An examination of factors impacting athlete alumni donations to their alma mater: a case study of a U.S. university

• It has been suggested that athlete alumni do not give as generously as they could to their alma maters. Athlete alumni may feel they have given enough to their schools by playing sports, and they may feel greater loyalty to their former sports teams than their alma maters. Drawing on social exchange theory, this study investigated whether such attitudes among athlete alumni at a U.S. university were related to lifetime donations. Results indicate:
  • the quality of alumni's athletic experience and the perception that they have already given to their school by playing sports are predictive of giving amount.
  • similar to the general alumni donor, the variables of age, income, and geography were also found to be related to giving level.
• Universities and colleges may need to develop specialized marketing communications programs to mitigate athlete alumni's perceptions of not needing to donate because they competed for their school. Implications for universities and other nonprofit organizations are offered.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mothers’ Milk and Measures of Economic Output

Thoughtful economists have long been aware of the limitations of national accounting and GDP in measuring economic activity and material well-being. Feminist economists criticize the failure to count women's unpaid and reproductive work in measures of economic production. This paper examines the treatment of human milk production in national accounting guidelines. Human milk is an important resource produced by women. Significant maternal and child health costs result from children's premature weaning onto formula or solid food. While human milk production meets the standard national accounting criteria for inclusion in GDP, current practice is to ignore its significant economic value and the substantial private and public health costs of commercial breastmilk substitutes. Economic output measures such as GDP thus are incomplete and biased estimates of national food production and overall economic output, and they distort policy priorities to the disadvantage of women and children.     

Creditor rights and the outcome model of dividends

Using a sample of 22,374 firms from 35 countries, we examine the role of creditor rights, shareholder rights, and corporate governance in determining corporate dividend policy. We find that, while all three variables play a significant role in determining both the likelihood and the dividend amount, the effect of country-level creditor rights dominate. In subsequent analysis, we show that the outcome model is most effective in countries with strong creditor rights. When creditor rights are weak, creditors demand, and firms consent to lower dividends. These findings show that creditors, and not shareholders, exert the greatest influence over corporate dividend policy.     

AE Briefings — Statement of Intent

This paper seeks to address the perceived failure of university teaching to foster critical understanding of audit practice and to identify a potential remedy. It contributes to the debate (Maltby, 2001, “Second thoughts about ‘Cases in Auditing’,” Accounting Education: an international journal, 10(4), 421–428) by investigating the double-faceted nature of auditing: as a sub-set of the academic discipline of accounting and as professional practice. Although case studies are helpful for students of auditing, they tend to be artificial, or at best, retrospective. This paper introduces a different type of case study for audit education using corporate failure stories from the media as an example, proposing and explaining the notion of the ‘living case’ in order to foster critical appraisal of audit practice. It contributes to the literature on audit education by describing how this different type of case can address both the technical activities and the social practice of audit through Kolb's (1984, Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall) experiential learning theory and thus concludes that there is a place for the practical nature of auditing in academic study, in order to fully appreciate the social aspects.     

Community-Based Destination Governance in a Developing Economy: The Jamaican Experience

Utilizing a destination governance and social capital conceptual framework, the research examines opinions concerning goals and outcomes in regards to the Jamaican Ministry of Tourism's Ten-Year Master Plan to enhance tourism and increase shared governance. In addition to secondary sources of information, researchers use primary data obtained through an email survey sent to 540 Jamaican managers and executives, 18.3% of whom (n?=?99) completed the survey. Study findings may be deemed contrary to destination governance theory and best practices. However, upon closer examination, they are wholly consistent with theory and models that examine governance issues in developing nations. Arguably, Jamaica tourism may not be ready to fully embrace a network-based model of destination governance, but instead is in the process of evolving toward that model. The findings should be useful for the Jamaican and other developing nation's tourism industries. Further, it should spark discussion regarding governance differences between developing versus developed destinations.     

A study in international marketing: The development of a consumer database marketing capability

This paper examines the reasons why Seagram Europe & Africa (SE&A) decided to develop their database marketing capability in Europe. The paper describes the environmental changes, external and internal, that led SE&A to re‐evaluate their marketing communications strategy and examine sponsorship and direct marketing opportunities for Europe. The paper focuses on the major issues SE&A addressed when weighing up the strategic role of database marketing. Finally, the key considerations in the development and implementation of an European‐wide database marketing discipline for the division are discussed.