Management and Business Research on Commercial Diplomacy: Examining Trends and Themes

This article reviews the literature of commercial diplomacy during the period 1960–2014 from a management angle and is organized around four major themes: (1) government’s export/trade promotion function; (2) institutional/organizational arrangements; (3) managerial roles and activities; and (4) interaction between commercial diplomats and businesses. A complementary quantitative analysis tracing current research trends reveals the emergence of relevant publications at the end of the 1970s and a real increase after 2000. It also confirms the relative scarcity of commercial diplomacy literature focusing on the business and management dimension. Gaps in current literature are identified, and suggestions for further research are presented.     

Promoting Gondwana: presentation of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area in tourist brochures

An 800 km stretch of the Eastern coast of Australia contains some of the last remnant fragments of the sub-tropical rainforests that once covered much of the region. This natural resource – declared as World Heritage in 1986 as the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves of Australia, but now known as the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia – serves as an important drawcard for tourist visitation to the region. Using a content analysis of 343 tourism brochures collected across one section of the Gondwana Rainforests area, this study examined the extent to which ‘rainforest’, ‘World Heritage’ and the ‘Gondwana Rainforests’ are present within text and imagery. Findings reveal a low prevalence of this ‘branding’; indeed only 3% of brochures mention ‘Gondwana’ or ‘Gondwana Rainforests’. As presentation is a key component of World Heritage-listed forests like Gondwana, the study's results reveal the importance of building awareness of the brand in the minds of users and the community.     

职位隔离对高管薪酬性别差异的影响

目前国内对性别工资差异研究很多，但对高管人员薪酬性别差异的分析还较少。本文利用2005-2010年沪深两市A股上市公司数据，在综合考虑不同性别在不同职位层级上的代表性的同时，采用Brown分解法分析了高管人员的性别薪酬差异问题。结果表明我国上市公司女性高管在较高层级的职位上代表性不足，同时也存在着“玻璃天花板效用”。女性高管在职位晋升方面受到了严重的歧视，在每一个职位层级上，女性高管职位晋升的门槛值都显著高于男性高管职位晋升的门槛值。男性高管和女性高管存在明显的性别薪酬差距，其中，超五成的薪酬差异是同一职位内的，四成以上的差异是职位间的；而有超七成的薪酬差异无法用教育程度、工作经验等可观测因素解释。     

日照港煤码头国内环境分析与竞争力提升策略

在经济全球化、一体化时代,随着船运公司和货主的实力增强,港口之间的竞争日趋激烈,港口已不再像过去那样具有较强的自然垄断力。本文以日照港为例,分析我国北方港口煤码头运输现状,从港口文化、港口战略、生产管理、资源整合、硬件设施、政策因素等六个方面研究提升港口综合竞争力的途径。     

An Examination of Sales Promotion Programs in Hong Kong: What the Retailers Offer and What the Consumers Prefer

This study gives an insight into the retailer's capability of managing sales promotion by examining the sales promotion programs offered by Hong Kong cosmetic and toiletry retailers and the consumers’ preferences. The results indicate that instant-reward programs are popular among retailers and preferred by consumers. The results also show that the preferences for sales promotion programs are dependent upon consumers’ demographic and sociocultural characteristics. Implications for advertisers designing and communicating sales promotions are offered.     

把握趋势 促进现代物流立体化发展

文中详细阐述了我国现代物流呈扩张、专业化和社会化两极分化、区域发展不平衡、市场细化与国际化以及网络化和整合化的发展趋势,提出了加快大型配送中心的规划和建设、加快现代物流信息网络化建设步伐、加强与国际的接轨等促进现代物流立体化发展有力措施。     

Role of the Internet Site in the Promotion Management of Sports Teams and Franchise Brands

This study examines the role that a website plays in the development of fan allegiance and as a promotion management tool for a sports team and brand. Research indicates that the combination of sports, media (television in particular), and sponsorships when employed in an integrated manner, can develop consumer connection to brands. This study suggests that the Internet is also an important part of an integration strategy of sports, media, and promotion. By working with a new team in the AIFA indoor football league, the researchers were able to determine what helped make fans allegiant to the team before the franchise's inaugural game. The results show that even before the team played its inaugural home contest, fans had become allegiant to the franchise brand and team by using the team internet site. These results indicate that an internet site can serve as a strong promotional tool in an integrated marketing plan of sports, media, and promotion to move fans toward brand loyalty and toward primary goals of the firm, including increased sales.     

Effects of Consumers’ Efforts on Price and Promotion Fairness Perceptions

This research examines how consumers’ efforts as a nonmonetary sacrifice influence their price and promotion fairness perceptions in the context of price promotions. Multiple studies using different price promotion tactics demonstrate that consumers’ perceived level of effort to obtain a reduced price negatively influences their fairness perceptions when they deny the promoted price. Exploring the underlying mechanisms of this effect, we show that the amount of effort consumers exert to obtain a promoted price leads to their feeling of deservingness and entitlement. When the promoted price is denied, this feeling of entitlement is violated, causing unfairness perceptions to occur. The research demonstrates that, in addition to retailers’ actions such as price changes, consumers’ actions, in the form of their effort input, are also an important determinant of fairness perceptions.     

Innovation and antibiotic use within antibiotic classes: Market incentives and economic instruments

We analyze a monopolist's incentive to innovate a new antibiotic which is connected to the same pool of antibiotic treatment efficacy as is another drug produced by a generic industry. We outline the differences of antibiotic use under market conditions and in the social optimum. A time- and state-dependent tax-subsidy mechanism is proposed to induce the monopolist and generic industry to exploit antibiotic efficacy optimally.     

Types of Word-of-Mouth Messages: Information Search and Credence-Based Services

Word-of-mouth communication (WOMC) has been recognized as a powerful marketing communication medium and a credible information-gathering tool. To date, the various types of WOM messages have not been adequately studied, especially in credence-based services (CBS). Using the individual interview technique, this study fills this gap by describing the three types of WOMC messages in CBS information-gathering. The results contribute to the ongoing development of WOMC theory and also advance management's understandings of the types of WOMC messages in the CBS information-gathering process.