Sustainable Transport,Market Segmentation and Tourism: The Looe Valley Branch Line Railway,Cornwall, UK

This paper uses cluster analysis, a form of a posteriori market segmentation, to understand the attitudes of tourists and the local community towards using the Looe Valley Branch Railway Line. The research revealed five segments of users distinguished by their attitudes towards using the train. Following this, the paper discusses the implications of the survey findings for attracting more people to use the Looe Valley Line. It sets its findings in the context of the sustainable tourism aims of reducing transport congestion and emissions, as well as recent work on assessing the scope for sustainable transport development in the leisure and tourism markets.     

Anatomy of Russia’s market segmentation1

Based on a relationship between price difference and demand difference among locations, the role of various market frictions in causing segmentation of the Russian goods market is analysed. The spatial sample covers most of Russian regions (70 of the 89); the data are annual, spanning 1992 to 2000. Spatial disconnectedness of regions is found to be responsible for about 70 percent of the average price differential, while the rest is caused by ‘artificial’ impediments to market integration such as regional protectionism, organized crime and intra‐region shipping conditions.     

金融危机下加快启动农村消费市场问题的思考

改革开放以来,我国经济迅速增长,但从拉动经济增长的因素消费、投资、净出口三者的关系看,三者对我国经济增长的贡献不平衡,其中消费需求中的农村消费需求尤为不足。启动农村消费市场,将农村消费市场培育成新的消费热点,促进农村消费稳定增长,不仅是诱导当前我国消费快速增长的关键所在,而且是今后国民经济持续、稳定、健康发展的基本保障。     

企业低碳行为与股东价值关系的实证研究

结合我国低碳政策背景，实证检验了我国企业低碳行为与股东价值的关系，研究发现：总体而言我国企业低碳行为有利于股东价值的提升，环境敏感行业的低碳行为与股东价值的关系更显著，但是与被动的低碳行为相比，主动低碳行为并来获得更大的股东价值。这表明我国政府制定的低碳政策取得了一定的效果，但是还需要进一步培育低碳产品需求、明确碳交易或碳税等低碳政策，从而使企业主动低碳行为获得应有的更大市场回报。     

Marketing Metrics Use in a Transition Economy: The Case of Vietnam

ABSTRACT

This article explores the use of marketing metrics by a sample of Vietnamese firms, providing an example of the use of marketing metrics in a “transition” economy as it grows and becomes more market and marketing driven. The analysis reports usage frequency and then develops a set of “correlation chains” linking firm characteristics, metric use, and various indicators of performance. Vietnamese managers generally report that several types of metrics are used. Ownership structure and industry also impact which metrics are utilized. An initial assessment of chains relating metric use to firm performance indicates that the impact is complex and indirect.     

试论运用市场营销理念促进大学毕业生就业

本文针对大学毕业生就业难的问题,通过分析大学毕业生就业市场,总结归纳了影响大学毕业生就业的主要因素,提出运用市场营销理念促进大学毕业生就业。政府、学校、企业要切实转变观念,营造良好的就业环境;高等院校要根据自己的条件明确在就业市场中的战略定位,在细分市场中确立目标市场,进而培养适销对路的人才;积极改进大学毕业生促销方式,拓宽大学毕业生的就业渠道,促进大学毕业生的充分就业。     

Strategic behavior in financial markets

We describe a financial market as a noncooperative game in strategic form. Agents may borrow or deposit money at a central bank and use the cash available to them in order to purchase a commodity for immediate consumption. They derive positive utility from consumption and from having cash reserves at the end of the day, whereas being bankrupt entails negative utility. The bank fixes interest rates. The existence of Nash equilibria (both mixed and pure) of the ensuing game is proved under various assumptions. In particular, no agent is bankrupt at equilibrium. Asymptotic behavior of replica markets is discussed, and it is shown that given appropriate assumptions, the difference between a strategic player and a price taker is negligible in a large economy.     

Longitudinal analysis of self-employment follow-through

The Hungarian economy was based on central planning for several decades and in comparison with the dominance of the great organizations that consisted of many smaller units, the role of small-sized enterprises was marginal. The change in the political climate involved recognition of and belief in entrepreneurship and the new legal system increased the opportunity for setting up new enterprises established on private and joint capital. Nevertheless, the changes in the organizational system of companies within the national economy appear to concentrate in time and territory in Northern Hungary. Increasing unemployment inspires the start of numerous enterprises even when the experience of entrepreneurship is missing and, in addition, the inclination towards it. This may result in difficulties and danger and a study of North Hungarian small businesses is therefore useful.

The aim of this research is to examine the position of SMEs in the North Hungarian industrial area, concentrating on questions that can not be answered by means of traditional statistics. Data were collected by surveying questionnaires. The questions referred to the development of SMEs in North Hungary.

Finally, the elements in the economic environment that may hinder or help successful operation of the enterprises were analysed. With the experience gained by our investigation we would like to help in the reinforcement of SMEs working in Northern Hungary.     

Signalling with official interest rates: the case of the German discount and lombard rate

A major characteristic of the operating procedure of the European Central Bank (ECB) is its reliance on standing facilities. It is intended that the official rates on those facilities also serve the function of signalling. The case of Germany, where the Bundesbank followed a similar signalling strategy, is analysed. In particular the paper investigates whether announcements of official interest rates provide information not already contained in other policy measures and whether the resulting revisions of expectations are efficient. Significant differences are found between signalling in the case of increasing and decreasing interest rates.     

Financial Reporting Quality,Structural Problems and the Informativeness of Mandated Disclosures on Internal Controls

Even before firms report internal control weaknesses under the Sarbanes–Oxley Act (SOX), they are characterized by structural problems, are prone to internal control weaknesses, and have low financial reporting quality. If the stock market incorporates much of this information during the pre‐disclosure years, investors are less surprised when firms subsequently report internal control weaknesses under SOX. We find that for the pre‐disclosure period, firms reporting internal control weaknesses under SOX, (1) had structural problems, (2) were prone to internal control problems, and (3) had low financial reporting quality. Further, we provide direct evidence that stock prices during pre‐disclosure years incorporate much of the information about structural problems, the likelihood of internal control weaknesses, and low reporting quality. Finally, we find that many of these value‐relevant factors are not related to announcement period returns when firms eventually disclose such problems under SOX and that limited new information about structural problems is generated around this date. Our results provide a compelling explanation for the muted stock price reaction around the mandatory disclosure date.