Marketing ethics and education: Some empirical findings

This study explores possible links between educational background and ethics among marketing professionals. Data from two surveys of members of the American Marketing Association suggest that marketing professionals with master's degrees and higher are similar to their less educated counterparts in both their ethical standards and their intended ethical behaviors. Marketers with business degrees, however, have lower ethical standards than do graduates of non-business programs, though they report behavior as ethical as that of their non-business educated peers. Business schools may be producing cynics likely to accept marginal behaviors of colleagues though not likely to engage in such behaviors themselves.Sharyne Merritt is Professor of Marketing at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and a consultant in the areas of marketing and survey research. She has a Ph. D. in Political Science and was a Visiting Scholar at UCLA's Graduate School of Management. She has lectured and published widely in the fields of marketing and social issues.     

The Impact of Trade Liberalization on the International Oilseed Complex

One approach to trade liberalization is the zero-for-zero sectoral approach which involves agreements to eliminate export subsidies, import tariffs, and export taxes in a sector. This article provides an assessment of the impact of border trade liberalization on oilseeds and oilseed products trade. The analysis suggests that under all of the scenarios examined, North American oilseed crushers and oilseed producers gain from trade liberalization. The exact size and the distribution of these gains depends on the number of countries that participate in trade liberalization. The results suggest that the United States and Canada would gain from the adoption of the zero-for-zero proposal.     

Water-Based Recreational Benefits of Conservation Programs: The Case of Conservation Tillage on U.S. Cropland

Conservation programs are a significant part of farm legislation. The recent farm bill increases funding of conservation programs. One result will likely be the increased adoption of basic environmentally benign farming practices, such as conservation tillage. This would lead to improvements in surface water quality. In this paper, we examine the magnitude of the nonmarket use value benefits of these improvements. The findings indicate that moderate to widespread adoption of practices such as conservation tillage would result in significant nonmarket benefits.     

Food,food prices and price/earning ratios

The book value of assets employed on U.S. farms is approximately six times the farm value of products shipped. Consequently, even at present price levels the return on assets in farming averages only three or four per cent. As farmers become more businesslike managers and as inherited assets decline in relative importance such a low rate of return will become intolerable. Accommodation will require either a collapse in farm land prices or a continued substantial increase in farm product prices. In the face of persistent excess world demand for food it is unlikely that land prices will decline appreciably. Therefore, farm product prices can be expected to continue to rise sharply throughout the foreseeable future.     

High‐Frequency Trading and the New Stock Market: Sense And Nonsense

The stock market has been transformed during the last 25 years. Human suppliers of liquidity like the NASDAQ dealers and NYSE specialists have been replaced by algorithmic market making; stocks that once traded on a single venue now trade across twelve exchanges and a multitude of alternative trading systems. New venues like dark pools, and new participants like high‐frequency traders, have emerged to take on prominent roles. This new market has had more than its share of controversy and regulatory scrutiny, particularly in the wake of Michael Lewis’s bestseller Flash Boys. In this article, the authors analyze five of the most controversial new market practices, including various high‐frequency trading strategies and dark pool activities. They set out a simple conceptual framework based on adverse selection and agency problems, and apply that framework to assess the welfare effects of each of the five practices. While much that is criticized is indeed objectionable, other controversial practices are much more complex than popularly imagined and may in fact be socially desirable. They conclude by evaluating a range of potential reforms to equity market structure.     

Embodiment--the Aesthetics of Incorporation

This paper examines contemporary developments in 3D immersive data and experience as a method of information and organizational design. With particular attention to its historic forbearers, contemporary theorists and current graphical tools, this paper anticipates specific concerns and possible technological developments in virtual organizational design. As artists, new developments in technology present opportunities to restructure organizational life both virtually and materially. Computer animation industry growth leaped 30% in fiscal year 1998 topping $20 billion in annual revenues. As the animation and 3D immersive industry expands platforms and applications shift. The most successful of these adapt while others dissipate. Nonetheless current management and organizational structures are challenged to engage a world that increasingly visualizes and communicates in 3D.     

EM into SME won't go? Attitudes,awareness and practices in the London Borough of Croydon

This paper provides an account of a questionnaire-based survey of businesses (all except one being SMEs) in the London Borough of Croydon. The main findings reported are that (i) most managers profess a high level of environmental concern, but (ii) they have little knowledge of developments in the field of environmental management and (iii) they have not introduced formal practices to manage the environmental performance of their businesses. The research also indicates that market forces (as supply chain pressure) and intervention strategies (the provision of environmental management services) have, as yet, had little or no significant impact on SME behaviour. It is suggested that both of these potential ‘drivers’ are limited in the extent to which they are likely to influence future practice in SMEs. Following from this, it is also suggested that attempts to promote environmental management in SMEs are only likely to succeed if they are grounded in a thorough understanding of the heterogeneous natures of SMEs and the diverse socio-economic contexts within which they operate. Relating to this, a number of areas for further research are proposed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Are microcomputers replacing mainframes in marketing research firms?

Recent research, on the computerization of marketing has emphasized the advantages, adoption, and diffusion of microcomputers, largely as compared to mainframe computers. This note compares microcomputer and mainframe usage in marketing research over several activities and suggests that microcomputers have not replaced mainframes to the extent implied by previous articles. In a study of marketing research firms, high microcomputer ownership and increased usage is revealed, not only for word-processing types of activities, but also for data analysis. While a smaller proportion of research firms use mainframes, larger firms are continuing and predominantly increasing their use of mainframes. Further, relatively high rates of mainframe usage are reported for data analysis, data collection, and data base management by firms with access to both types of computers.