Introduction to the Special Issue on the Impact of Network Ethics on Business Practices

Modern public relations practices have been dominated by appeals to impulses, desires, and images that affect publics defined predominantly in demographic terms. This paper argues that abandoning basic rhetorical assumptions about the ability of ordinary people to engage in practical reason has serious ethical implications for the marketplace as well as for society in general. The study applies recent rhetorical scholarship on issues of public discourse and rhetorical culture to public relations practices, considering how rhetoric can contribute to more effective and ethical public discourse in our dominant modes of marketplace communication.     

Joint oligopsony-oligopoly in the U.S. leaf tobacco market, 1924–39

The leaf tobacco marketplace is highly organized. Prior to 1940, the few large tobacco companies controlled that organization explicitly. The question is whether this organization set oligopsonistic leaf prices or minimized production and transaction costs. A model of joint oligopsonyoligopoly shows that pricing of cigarettes and leaf tobacco was unified: oligopolistic cigarette pricing was sufficient to curtail both cigarette production and leaf purchases. The companies could just bid in the market for the leaf necessary for that cigarette production rate.Prima facie, the organization was not for oligopsony coordination. The implied econometric model of pricing fits observed behavior well.Malcolm Boyd, Dennis Carlton, John Garen, Stephen Karlson, Li Way Lee, An-loh Lin, Robert Miller, Stephen Spurr and the referee have given me thoughtful, perceptive and useful comments. I am pleased to acknowledge their involvement without implicating them in whatever errors remain.     

The theme park: Hey,Mickey, whistle on this!

The theme park, some say, is the quintessence of consumer society and roller-coasters, others maintain, are its foremost symbol and signifier. True or not, exaggerated or otherwise, there is no doubting theme parks’ iconicity – Disneyland above all – nor their continuing ability to “amuse the million”, academicians among them. Although the scholarly literature on theming in general and Disney in particular is nothing less than prodigious, it misses much of what makes the icon iconic. Extrapolating from ample personal experience of the often meretricious theme machine, the present essay strives to set the record straight.     

Extreme exclusion and relative deprivation in subsistence marketplaces: A study in a refugee settlement in Nakivale,Uganda

We study how refugees in a settlement face extreme marketplace exclusion through three phases of qualitative research. Overlaying the context of subsistence marketplaces, such exclusion is accentuated by refugee status, fleeing from unimaginable suffering. We interpret our findings in terms of relative deprivation, or the state of feeling deprived relative to some social reference, often used to understand how consumers feel deprived in terms of their relative financial status. We extend relative deprivation theory in research, introducing extreme marketplace deprivation. Whereas most relative deprivation research emphasizes social comparisons to other people, our study of the refugee settlement demonstrates the adverse effects of intrapersonal relative deprivation, that is, feeling deprived relative to one's past. We develop a theoretical framework to demarcate types of extreme marketplace deprivation, classifying these experiences in terms of consumption and livelihood along three facets (material, social, and psychological). We derive implications for consumer affairs.     

Retailer selection compulsion in the subsistence markets

Although enduring relationships between buyers and sellers encourage subsistence market consumers to shop at a particular retailer, these relationships have a negative side. This study focuses on the issue of ‘retailer selection compulsion’ existing in the subsistence market, which refers to the negative side of these relationships. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors driving the retailer selection compulsion in the subsistence market. This study adopted a qualitative phenomenological approach. Sixty interviews were conducted with subsistence consumers in two areas: Kolkata and Kharagpur, in the Indian state of West Bengal. The findings have demonstrated that subsistence consumers are compelled to stick to their neighbourhood retailers due to convenience, social capital, and obligations, as well as social identities resulting from a sense of social compulsion, and the value-added services provided by retailers that help overcome the consumers' financial and cognitive constraints. This study contributes to the literature on customer behaviour and retailing. These findings deepen the current understanding of the social capital theory, social identity theory, and bounded rationality theory in the context of subsistence marketplaces. Practically, the findings of this study will contribute to the practice of marketers who target subsistence markets. The findings will also help further entrepreneurial activities in subsistence areas, improve the retailing operations of subsistence retailers, and address exploitative practices of subsistence retailers on poor customers.     

二氯乙烷和氯乙烯单体的生产技术与市场分析

本文评述了二氯乙烷(EDC)和氯乙烯单体(VCM)生产技术的国内外进展,并剖析了EDC和VCM在世界和中国的市场发展现状和前景.     

反倾销调查中的会计问题

反倾销调查涉及到许多会计问题,解决这些会计问题应对相关会计术语进行解释。文章对反倾销调查中的"生产成本"、"公允价值计量属性"、"市场经济地位的会计标准"以及"反倾销调查中的会计系统"进行了内容的界定及分析,为完善反倾销应诉会计理论提供依据。     

六氟化硫的性质、制备和市场分析

本文主要针对六氟化硫的主要性质和制备方法以及目前国内、国外生产及市场情况做简要分析,并提出新形势下其发展前景。     

E-marketing services and e-marketing performance: the roles of innovation,knowledge complexity and environmental turbulence in influencing the relationship

The business-to-business electronic marketplace (e-marketplace) is becoming critical for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, which e-marketing services determine a firm’s e-marketing performance and how innovation, knowledge complexity and environmental turbulence influence the relationship between e-marketing services and e-marketing performance are under-researched topics in the field. We first empirically tested 176 SMEs from China to evaluate which e-marketing services are significantly related to e-marketing performance and how these services collectively influence the performance. Then, we used an NK model to examine how innovation, knowledge complexity and environmental turbulence mediate/moderate the relationship. The results show that five e-marketing services (e-CRM, e-SCM, e-competitiveness, IS/IT integration and information transparency) can greatly influence e-marketing performance; innovation positively mediates the relationship between e-marketing services and performance; and knowledge complexity and environmental turbulence positively moderate the relationship.     

粤东出口开拓新兴市场和发展中国家市场的策略

受国际金融危机的影响,粤东传统的出口市场需求萎缩。要保持对外贸易的稳定增长,在巩固粤东传统出口市场的同时,应大力开拓新兴市场和发展中国家市场。文章通过对当前外贸形势和金融危机影响下粤东出口状况的分析,提出开拓新兴市场和发展中国家市场的策略。