The employee brand: Is yours an all-star?

In this article, a typology is presented which will help organizations better reflect the brand image they desire. The assisting typology is based on the extent to which employees know and understand the organization's mission, values, and desired brand image, and the degree to which they perceive their psychological contracts with the organization as being honored. Organizations can be classified as all-stars, rookies, injured reserves, or strike-out kings, based on the characteristics of a preponderance of their employees. As categorized, rookie organizations cannot deliver the desired brand image because most of their employees lack the knowledge and understanding to do so. Injured reserve organizations, on the other hand, cannot achieve the same because firm employees perceive their psychological contracts with the organization as having been violated, which renders the individuals unwilling and unmotivated. For their part, strike-out king organizations share rookie and injured reserve organizations' worst characteristics. Finally, and conversely, all-star organizations consistently deliver the desired brand image to others because their employees are both able and motivated to do so. To help firms attain this highly desired status, specific guidelines are presented herein which may help organizations become “all-stars” in their own right.     

Profiling consumers of own brands and national brands using human personality

Traditional methods of market segmentation based on demographic variables have shown mixed results in differentiating between those who are more likely to buy own brand products and those who prefer national brands. Taking advantage of the emerging convergence in human personality research on the Big Five dimensions, we focus on the potential of human personality as a method of identifying different customer segments. Two types of own brands are considered, those labelled with the retailer's corporate name and those labelled with a name independent of the retailer. Two product categories are included, cola as an example of a low-involvement product and cosmetics as an example of a high-involvement product. The personality profiles of buyers of these and the leading national brands in each category are compared. Stepwise regression is used to identify those aspects of shopper personality that predict purchase rates of all products. Individuals who are more ‘open to experience’ report higher purchases of corporately named products, while individuals who are more ‘extrovert’ report higher purchases of national brands. Those reporting higher rates of purchase for own brands with independent names tend to be more ‘agreeable’ and ‘extrovert’. The positioning of the three types of brands against the 5 dimensions of human personality is illustrated using correspondence analysis. The clear potential to use human personality to segment and profile markets for own brands and national brands is discussed.     

Cooperation in environmental policy: a spatial approach

Inefficient competition in emissions taxes for foreign direct investment creates benefits from international cooperation. In the presence of cross-border pollution, proximate (neighboring) countries have greater incentives to cooperate than distant ones as illustrated by a model of tax competition for mobile capital. Spatial econometrics is used to estimate participation in 110 international environmental treaties by 139 countries over 20 years. Empirical evidence of increased cooperation among proximate countries is provided. Furthermore, strategic responses in treaty participation vary across country groups between OECD and non-OECD countries and are most evident in regional agreements.     

New directions in local accountability: Can the people be trusted?

Everyone is talking about accountability but it is a hard concept to pin down. The Audit Commission commends some of the Governments’ reforms, but believes that ultimately it will be people who will determine whether a better system of accountability emerges.     

Trade liberalization in services: Investor responses to NAFTA’s cross-border trucking provisions

ABSTRACT

We investigate the response of US trucking firms to the removal of barriers to cross-border trucking under NAFTA. This was done via a program implemented in 2007, cancelled in 2009, and reinstated in 2011. We use a model of endogenous exporting to show that this can arise from incorrect expectations of import competition. We find that, unsurprisingly, the program’s start resulted in lower stock returns, particularly for border firms. However, later policy changes indicate that investors, and particularly those investing in US multinationals, viewed the pilot as beneficial.     

The International Activities of Japanese Retailers

Despite the upsurge of academic and commercial interest in the changes taking place in the retail sector within Japan, little has been published on the international activities of Japanese retailers. This paper illustrates the range and scale of activities.which have been undertaken by such companies. While Europe and America were favourite destinations up until the mid-1980s, most Japanese retailers have now refocused their expansion plans on Asia as the level of consumers' disposable income has risen and trade barriers have been lowered. At the same time, the early entrants into international markets, the development stores, have been joined by companies operating supermarkets, convenience stores, clothing stores, electrical outlets and so on. The paper considers the nature of these changes and the factors which have driven them.