Adolescent brand consciousness and product placements: awareness,liking and perceived effects on self and others

Product placements in entertainment media are increasing, particularly in content targeted to adolescents. This marketing communication tactic is examined in the context of media socialization and individual differences in brand consciousness. The relative influence of commercial media (TV, radio, movies, online) and perceived peer and parent brand consciousness on US adolescent brand consciousness is assessed, as well as differences in how low and high brand‐conscious adolescents view product placements. Awareness, liking and perceived effects of product placements on self and others (third‐person perception) were measured. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses show that movies and perceived parent and peer brand consciousness were positively related to adolescent brand consciousness. Those adolescents considered to be highly brand‐conscious were also those who were most aware of and favourable towards product placements. All adolescents demonstrated third‐person perception of media effects in that they considered others to be more influenced by product placements than themselves, with peers influenced more than friends. Highly brand‐conscious teens perceived the greatest effects of product placements on their own and others’ buying behaviours, yet low brand‐conscious teens revealed the largest gap in perceptions of impact on self vs. peers. The results are discussed in view of media effects; ramifications for marketers and public policy makers are also appraised.     

Study on Getting Rid of the Strategic Choice of Declining

This paper is on the basis of China declining enterprise cases, according to different declining industry types and characteristics, and puts forward countermeasures to break away from the predicament of managing by choosing industry merger strategy or industry transition strategy, which makes enterprises on the way to evergreen lasting growth.     

知识经济时代中国高等教育发展的战略思考

知识经济时代如何发展高等教育，这将是每一个国家面临的重大选择。我国是一个发展中国家，如何发展高等教育将是本文探讨的主题。     

When time is (not) money: preliminary guidance on the interchangeability of time and money in laboratory-based risk research

The familiar adage that ‘time is money’ may not be entirely accurate according to research involving hypothetical choice: People’s decisions are less sensitive to temporal expenditures and outcomes than monetary ones. We provide a novel examination of whether similar patterns of risky choice are found for time and money when choices are consequential (i.e. monetary outcomes are obtained and temporal outcomes are experienced) – both for one-shot and repeated choices, over gains and losses. On the aggregate, across decision contexts (described and experienced), choices are similar for time and money. However, on the level of the individual, little relationship between risk preferences for time and money are observed. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.     

Robust multivariate portfolio choice with stochastic covariance in the presence of ambiguity

This paper provides the optimal multivariate intertemporal portfolio for an ambiguity averse investor, who has access to stocks and derivative markets, in closed form. The stock prices follow stochastic covariance processes and the investor can have different levels of uncertainty about the diffusion parts of the stocks and the covariance structure. We find strong evidence that the optimal exposures to stock and covariance risks are significantly affected by ambiguity aversion. Welfare analyses show that investors who ignore model uncertainty incur large losses, larger than those suffered under the embedded one-dimensional cases. We further confirm large welfare losses from not trading in derivatives as well as ignoring intertemporal hedging, we study the impact of ambiguity in that regard and justify the importance of including these factors in the scope of portfolio optimization. Conditions are provided for a well-behaved solution in general, together with verification theorems for the incomplete market case.     

Millionaire investors: financial advisors,attribution theory and gender differences

To date little attention has been paid to how social cognitive bias can influence how financial advisors interpret and respond to the needs of millionaire investors, and if this varies depending on the gender of the investor. This research investigates whether experienced professional financial advisors who work with millionaire investors make different attributions for the control and knowledge that investors have of their investments, and if they make different investment portfolio recommendations to equivalent male and female investors. Using methodology novel to finance, this vignette-based study that controls for gender finds evidence that professional financial advisors judge millionaire female investors to have less control over their investment portfolios relative to men. Empirical results also show that female advisors judge women to be less knowledgeable about investments than men. Despite such perceptual differences, advisors recommend equally risky portfolios to male and female investors. These results have implications for wealth management institutions and the monitoring of financial advisors for millionaire individuals.     

Efficiency in public schools: Does competition matter?

The focus of many recent school reforms has been on changing the incentives faced by school administrators, mainly through increased competition. In this study, we assess whether competition amongst public schools influences the efficiency in which these schools operate, using a two-stage estimation procedure and data from the state of Illinois from 1997–1998. We find some evidence that public school districts become more efficient as neighboring districts become more efficient. However, such spillovers only occur if districts operate within a financially flexible environment.     

基于行程费用的城市物流配送通道选择模型

从时间质量的角度出发,指出行程时间最小化和行程时间可靠性最大化是城市物流配送通道选择的两个重要目标。定义行程费用等于行程时间费用和行程时间可靠性费用的加权平均值。在此基础上,建立了基于行程费用的物流配送通道选择模型。最后,对北京市实际路网进行了实例分析。     

基于P2P技术的VOD系统研究

由于流媒体数据流具有严格的前后时序关系,多媒体文件又与一般的数据不同,较大的传输负荷将使得网络丢失和拥塞的概率大大增加,因此如何提高音视频传输的服务质量是流媒体技术所面临的最大挑战。文章主要研究流媒体终端系统的服务质量控制,以求在多个上行带宽受限并存储有媒体的节点上利用终端的一些控制策略进行满足播放速率也就是帧率的点播,使用户尽可能享受到好的服务质量并尽量减轻网络的负担。     

关于我国当前收入分配差距扩大的分析及其影响

中国的经济经过二十多年的改革开放,得到令世界瞩目的成绩的同时,也出现了收入分配差距扩大,贫富分化的令人不安的现象。在经济发展的同时,城乡之间,地区之间,城镇居民之间的收入差距迅速进一步拉大,这显然不利于实现"十六大"全面小康共同富裕的目标,也妨碍了经济的发展潜力。要解决这一问题,必须调整现有的分配格局,配合税收主业等相关政策。