Price adjustment strategy under conditions of high inflation: An empirical examination

Price adjustment strategy is a central problem to businesses operating under conditions of high inflation. Three different approaches to the problem are presented and some of their implications tested empirically by means of a unique data set. The empirical observations do not support any of the three traditional approaches.     

Competition in consumption as viewed by Jewish law

Competition is the most basic force traditionally regarded by Western economists as governing both society's resources allocation and income distribution. No wonder, then, that many legal systems have been concerned with various aspects of competitive activity, and formulated laws and rulings to keep market behavior within limits of ethical conduct. Jewish law has not been an exception. The focus of this paper is on competition in consumption. Its underlying assumption is that lawmakers' decisions approximate optimality in resource allocation. The validity of the ‘optimality’ assumption is assessed in light of the special moral features unique to Jewish law. Yehoshua Lieberman is Senior Lecturer in Business and Economics at the Department of Economics and Business Administration of Bar-Ilan University, Israel. Previously he was Visiting Associate Professor at the Department of Marketing of the University of Washington at Seattle. His most important publications areElements of Talmudic Monetary Thought andThe Coase Theorem in Jewish Law.     

A Test of the Advertising Life-cycle Theory

New evidence is presented that lends support to Steiner's advertising life-cycle theory.     

Economic aspects of diffusion models

This paper presents possible effects of economic and marketing variables on the diffusion process of new products. The variables examined are price, advertising, and consumer's income. It is shown that under certain conditions the diffusion process depends on the income elasticity of the new product introduced.     

The role of economic analysis in media-planning

One of the most important problems in advertising strategy is the allocation of overall advertising budgets among alternative media. This paper shows how economic analysis can be applied to offer an improved solution to this problem. In particular, the present study claims that income-elasticity is one of the variables that should be considered when making media-mix decisions.     

Effects of inflation on consumer choice

Possible effects of a nonhomogeneous inflation on consumer choice among brands of energy-using durables are considered. For this purpose price differentials among brands are regarded as “investments,” while operating costs differentials are viewed as “returns.” Using a life cycle-cost approach, it is shown how inflation may affect consumers' critical implicit rates of return and ultimately their brand choice. Empirical observations which support the theoretical results are provided.     

The impact of practical relevance on training transfer: evidence from a service quality training program for German bank clerks

The management literature provides a variety of recommendations as to how workers’ customer orientation might be improved, including through training. Crucial factors in the process of transferring the contents of service quality training programs to practice, however, have not yet been sufficiently analysed. This study proposes and tests a model of transfer motivation and training transfer via structural equation modelling, validating Baldwin and Ford's framework and Kirkpatrick's levels of evaluation. Following the recommendation of Alliger et al., the present study analyses the relationship between Kirkpatrick's levels of evaluation, paying attention to the specificity of the measures at each level. The survey collects data from 213 German bank employees who attended a training program aimed at improving service quality. As hypothesized, the perceived practical relevance of the training was found to exert a strong influence on the reaction of the participants and had a substantial total effect on the motivation to transfer and on actual transfer. Subject to the limitations of the research methodology employed here, it is concluded that trainee satisfaction needs to be conceptually distinguished from perceived practical relevance and that the latter is the main driving force for transfer motivation and transfer.     

Determinants of online shopping: Examination of an early-stage online market

A conceptual framework intended to predict the number of online purchases made by Internet users in an early stage market is presented and examined using data collected in Israel. Those more likely to report buying online saw low costs and substantial benefits associated with e-shopping. They were experienced Internet users who valued online information searching. They were also more likely to shop over the phone, but did not especially like to go shopping. Finally, they tended to be the primary purchaser in the household. Our framework enhances understanding of the factors affecting consumers' online shopping behaviour, aides in profiling typical electronic shoppers, and may help practitioners develop more personalized marketing programs to increase e-commerce sales. Copyright © 2009 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Real‐Time Nowcasting of GDP: A Factor Model vs. Professional Forecasters

We perform a fully real‐time nowcasting (forecasting) exercise of US GDP growth using Giannone et al.'s (2008) factor model framework. To this end, we have constructed a real‐time database of vintages from 1997 to 2010 for a panel of variables, enabling us to reproduce, for any given day in that range, the exact information that was available to a real‐time forecaster. We track the daily evolution of the model performance along the real‐time data flow and find that the precision of the nowcasts increases with information releases and the model fares well relative to the Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF).     

Ads for Mature Consumers: The Importance of Addressing the Changing Self-View Between the Age Groups 50+ and 60+

This paper investigates how to address mature consumers in advertisements in an appropriate, appreciating, and effective way. A 2 × 2–experiment with 125 consumers suggests that the more the advertisement model reflects the self-concept of the respondent on the dimensions of activity and modesty, the more positive is the attitude toward the ad. The study reveals differences between different age groups within the over-50s, which reflect a shift of values from modesty to activity. Although all mature consumers tend to prefer advertisement models that represent the concept of activity, this effect is stronger for the group 50+ than for the group 60+.