The Influences of Customer Relationship Metrics on Shareholder Value: What Should Be Done and What Has Been Done?

The contribution of customer relationship (CR) metrics to shareholder value is practically unknown in research and practice. Existing studies report rather ambiguous results. We develop a proposal to identify and measure the multidimensional influences in a valid and reliable way. By comparing existing studies to each other and to our framework, we can find possible reasons for their ambiguity: First, the studies are actually not compatible while using various CR metrics and performance measures. Second, several conceptual and methodological differences also place the comparability of their results in question. The application of our framework should explain the inconsistent outcomes of existing studies and indicate a consistent and general influence of CR metrics on shareholder value.     

Commitment and monopoly pricing in durable goods models

This article investigates the issue of commitment by a durable goods monopolist. Two models of the interaction between durability, recycling, and market power are compared. The two differ according to the ability of the seller to credibly commit to a given sales strategy. This article takes the standard durable goods monopoly model, extends it to allow for depreciation, and compares the monopoly markup with Swan's predicted markup for a recycled good. The difference between the two models is shown to reduce to a single parameter in the markup equation.     

Understanding and motivating salesperson resilience

Marketing Letters - Prior research has shown that approximately half of salespeople fail to achieve their targets each year. Not only is the role difficult but also sales jobs are often marked by...     

THE INFLUENCE OF THE GREAT HANSHIN-AWAJI EARTHQUAKE ON THE LOCAL HOUSING MARKET

The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake destroyed a huge number of houses and caused housing problems in the disaster area. This paper investigates the influence of the earthquake on the related housing market, mainly in terms of changes in house prices and housing rents, and analyzes the machanism of the changes. Empirical results by Hedonic analyses indicate the influences are different between house prices and housing rents and also between the disaster district and the surrounding area. Those differences are explained by the factors of the earthquake that would affect the housing market, such as decrease in income, diversity of damage among the districts and others.     

Conceptualization of CSR Among Muslim Consumers in Dubai: Evolving from Philanthropy to Ethical and Economic Orientations

Many existing studies postulate that in developing economies philanthropy tends to dominate in the CSR orientation delivered by organizations and expected by local populations. To assess this in the emerging economy of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, we conducted a preliminary investigation of how locals are responding to the growing number of CSR initiatives that are being implemented in the Emirate. Moreover, given that scholars have argued that Islamic principles of philanthropy should guide CSR initiatives in Muslim countries, we also consider if our Emirati respondents connect CSR with Islamic philanthropy. Results from our survey of 267 local Muslim consumers in Dubai indicate that CSR is not typically equated with philanthropy. In addition, respondents displayed an appreciation of the economic benefits that CSR can generate. The implication is that organizations in Dubai no longer need to base their CSR on the platform of Islamic philanthropy as many scholars have argued. Our findings are significant for the wider Gulf region in that they suggest that in wealthy emerging nations, CSR may not be predominantly interpreted as the corporate philanthropy which is needed in poorer developing economies for the provision of infrastructure, schools, hospitals, and housing, and which in some Muslim contexts is also implemented because of local religious values.     

From transformative outcome based education to blended learning

This paper examines the transformative effects of outcome based education within the process of a music curriculum review. Effective collaborative engagements among team members resulted in strengthened curricula with evidence of a reflective implementation of outcome focused course delivery. The study further identified challenges faced by faculty members in adapting the reviewed curricula to suit online learning. It ascertained the levels of faculty understanding as to what was ‘blended learning’ and their preparedness in modifying various conventional courses to be offered under a blended learning mode. Emergent issues were analysed. A User-Learner Centred Design model was created to facilitate programme transformation and outcome-based scenario planning for future development of quality blended learning curricula.     

Secondary Capital Markets, Long-Run Growth, and the Term Structure of Asset Yields

An endogenous growth model is presented in which production uses a vector of capital inputs. Technologies for creating capital of different types vary by gestation period and productivity. Ownership of gestating capital must be "rolled over" in secondary capital markets in which transactions are costly. We study how reductions in transactions costs affect the equilibrium growth rate, the rate of return on saving, the volume of activity in secondary capital markets, and the term structure of asset yields. We give conditions under which reductions in transactions costs result in higher or lower growth rates.     

Ethical, Legal and Economic Aspects of Employer Monitoring of Employee Electronic Mail

This paper examines ethical, legal and economic dimensions of the decision facing employers regarding whether it is appropriate to monitor the electronic mail (e-mail) communications of its employees. We review the question of whether such monitoring is lawful. Recent e-mail monitoring cases are viewed as a progression from cases involving more established technologies (i.e., phone calls, internal memoranda, faxes and voice mail).The central focus of the paper is on the extent to which employer monitoring of employee e-mail presents a structure of costs and benefits to the employer which are unlikely to make such a practice profitable or practical to the employer. The practice of employer monitoring to detect illicit employee behavior (e.g., fraud, harassment of fellow employees, industrial espionage) is considered.It is argued that not only does such monitoring behavior fall short of the standard imposed by Kant's categorical imperative for ethical behavior, monitoring also fails to meet Aristotle's ethical standard of practical wisdom. Other ethical aspects of employer monitoring are considered.     

The trade-growth nexus in the developing countries: a quantile regression approach

This paper applies quantile regression techniques to investigate how the impact of trade openness on the growth rate of per capita income varies with the conditional distribution of growth. Using formal robustness analyses, we first identify robust variables affecting economic growth (investment, government balance, terms of trade, inflation, and population growth) which we then use as controls in the quantile regression estimations. Our findings suggest a heterogeneous trade-growth nexus: for both the short and the long run, the effect of openness on growth is higher in countries with low growth rates compared to those with high growth rates.