Fashion consumers and fashion problem recognition style

Consumer spending over the life span of today's 18‐ to 25‐year‐old emerging adults will reach into the $10 trillion range. Emerging adults are a powerful force in shaping demand for consumer products. The problem recognition styles associated with emerging adults can help marketers understand this group of consumers and provide insight into what kinds of products, services, and messages will appeal to them as lifelong consumers. The purpose of this study was to examine differences between men and women and among fashion consumer groups in fashion problem recognition style. Participants were a convenience sample of emerging adult consumers from one Midwestern university in the US, 136 men and 158 women who completed the Measure of Fashion Innovativeness and Opinion Leadership, Fashion Problem Recognition Style Scale, and provided demographic information. Both fashion followers and men reflected a need‐based approach to problem recognition. Both fashion change agents and women reflected a want‐based approach to problem recognition. Male fashion followers differed from all other groups in indicating a need‐based approach to problem recognition. This study built on previous work by examining differences in problem recognition style owing to fashion consumer group and gender. The basic premise behind problem recognition style was validated; that is, actual state (need‐based) vs. ideal state (want‐based) approaches to fashion problem recognition did relate to fashion consumer group membership and gender.     

The Use of Policies for Competition in the Promotion of Structural Change in Transforming Economies

This article takes as its central theme the idea that competition policy is merely one among many policies which can and should be used to promote competition in an economy. After having considered the importance of competition for any healthy economy, the article examines the inextricable links between competition and transition, in particular marketisation and liberalisation, and discusses in detail the scope for the use of various policies for competition in the transformation process. Within this discussion, particular attention is paid to the importance of the legal and institutional framework, the process of privatisation, macroeconomic stability, ease of entry, supply side policies, the role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and trade policy in contributing to the development of a market economy. The article concludes by noting the extreme care that must be taken not only in the content of such policies but also in their implementation, something which is easily demonstrated by the experience of developed capitalist economies in the West.     

Comparing variations in labor costs for two vs. one full-time nurse manager

Labor costs for two versus one full-time nurse manager were compared. Results revealed reductions in nursing costs per patient day. These results suggest that innovative models may hold promise as organizations struggle to retain nurses and decrease costs.     

Quality of life improvements after sports injury

Traffic accidents and their health consequences are a major public health problem in industrialized countries. In addition to being the first cause of death of children up to the age of 14 years, they are also responsible for considerable morbidity. Persistent lesions and more or less disabling sequelae are the lot of a certain number of causalities. In this study, we took stock of all of the information about functional impairment following injuries sustained in traffic accidents that is available in Belgium. We described the ‘itineraries’ of traffic accident patients and identified the potential sources of data. We then analyzed the available and accessible data. Our study shows that we do not have any directly usable data in Belgium that can yield a measure of the public health impact of traffic accidents in terms of temporary and permanent disabilities. Very partial information exists in the country's various institutions and insurance companies, but this information is not suitable for use in a public health approach aimed at quantifying the importance of a health problem and its course over time. We do not feel that the country's main disability measurement tool (BOBI), which is used notably by the insurance companies, attuned to the everyday reality that is experienced by people whose functional abilities have been reduced in the wake of a traffic accident. Given this lack of data, priority should be given to initiating the routine collection of such information or at least to quantifying post-traffic accident disabilities by following up a cohort of traffic accident victims.     

Betwixt and Between: The Dilemma of Employee References

Concerns have arisen over employers' collection and sharing of information about employees, especially employment references. As a result of the dramatic growth in the number of lawsuits brought by employees, many employers have seriously curtailed the information they release concerning current and former employees. However, even the refusal to release information carries a legal risk. Employers who do not obtain information concerning applicants can be liable for negligent hiring, and those who knowingly withhold negative information regarding their former employees may be liable for negligent referral. This paper explores these expanding liabilities and suggests strategies to allow employers to manage the risk of communicating employee references.     

Choice and the Internet: From Clickstream to Research Stream

The authors discuss research progress and future opportunities for modeling consumer choice on the Internet using clickstream data (the electronic records of Internet usage recorded by company web servers and syndicated data services). The authors compare the nature of Internet choice (as captured by clickstream data) with supermarket choice (as captured by UPC scanner panel data), highlighting the differences relevant to choice modelers. Though the application of choice models to clickstream data is relatively new, the authors review existing early work and provide a two-by-two categorization of the applications studied to date (delineating search versus purchase on the one hand and within-site versus across-site choices on the other). The paper offers directions for further research in these areas and discusses additional opportunities afforded by clickstream information, including personalization, data mining, automation, and customer valuation. Notwithstanding the numerous challenges associated with clickstream data research, the authors conclude that the detailed nature of the information tracked about Internet usage and e-commerce transactions presents an enormous opportunity for empirical modelers to enhance the understanding and prediction of choice behavior.