In-store Marketing as a Mode of Discipline

Although the idea of the self-governing consumer has been widely disputed, modern shopping spaces and supermarkets are considered as the key arenas of the sovereign and empowered consumer. Yet, purchasing patterns, which seem predictable over time, can be explained as resulting from consumer routines and habits. Inspired by Foucault’s general thesis that the emergence of individual freedom coincides with new techniques of discipline, this paper explores consumer routines as an outcome of governance structures embedded in modern retail marketing techniques. First, the term embodiment of consumer choice is introduced to describe how shopping in modern supermarkets hinges on various techniques of bodily discipline. Second, by relying on a study of in-store marketing in Norwegian retailing, these promotional activities are examined as techniques normalizing purchasing behaviour. We conclude by saying that power and discipline are underestimated as explanations to the formation of shopping behaviour and consumer routines.     

Closed-form valuation of American call options on stocks paying multiple dividends

An American call option on a stock paying a single known dividend can be valued using the Roll–Geske–Whaley formula. This paper extends the Roll–Geske–Whaley model to the n dividends case by using the generalized n-fold compound option model. In this way this paper offers a closed-form solution for American options on stocks paying n known discrete dividends. Moreover, the model also offers the critical values of the early exercise boundaries at each ex-dividend date instant, making it easy to define an early exercise strategy. Numerical examples are included to illustrate this approach.     

A Real Case Application of Game Theoretical Concepts in a Complex Decision-Making Process: Case Study ERTMS

Group Decision and Negotiation - Engineering systems are complex, amongst others due to the interdependencies between actor and technical aspects. This complexity has consequences for the way of...     

A Norwegian fixation: explaining cheap money in Norway, 1945–1986

In a number of European countries, credit markets were characterised by heavy regulations of quantities and prices, in terms of interest rates, in the post war years. In Norway, the regulations became more vigorous and lasted much longer, than most other countries. This article seeks to explain the extent and persistence of the policy by tracing the role of leading economists, of financial sector, and political considerations in relation to growths policies and the housing markets. Whereas a number of factors are highlighted in the emergence of the system, the role of political considerations in relation to cheap funding for the housing sector appears as a fundamental cause and condition in explaining the persistence of the cheap money policies into the mid-1980s.     

Island futures—Does a participatory scenario process capture the common view of local residents?

Scenarios are often developed by small groups of motivated individuals, but how representative are they of community views of desirable futures? A scenario process in the coastal community of Vega in central Norway was complemented by a survey among 200 community residents in which respondents rated a preferred development option from a series of future choices and dilemmas. While the scenario process produced novelty and diversity in thinking about the future, the common community view reflects a more traditionalistic view of the future. Tourism was identified as a key economic opportunity in the scenario process, but the larger island community has little faith in tourism as a future cornerstone of economic development and would rather rely on traditional sectors like agriculture and fisheries. The scenarios brought out richness in future development options, highlighted place identity and support for heritage conservation based on wise use of natural resources. The scenarios were less suited for making decisions about economic investments, but produced salient information about opportunities, uncertainties and complexities of the future. Findings show the need to compliment scenario processes where a small group explores “possible futures” with surveys to explore the wider populations’ views about “preferred futures”.     

Domestic tourism expenditures: The non-linear effects of length of stay and travel party size

The independent variables length of stay and travel party size are recurrent determinants of expenditures in micro level tourism studies. In most of this research it has been tacitly assumed that these variables have linear effects on tourism spending. This study, situated in a Norwegian setting, questions this approach by explicitly scrutinizing the possible non-linearities in the relationships between tourism expenditures on the one hand and length of stay and travel party size on the other. The empirical results suggest a positive but diminishing relationship between length of stay and tourism expenditures and a convex (i.e. U) relationship between travel party size and tourism expenditures. The study also considers how a number of other key independent variables affect tourism expenditures. Finally, some managerial and scholarly implications are discussed.     

Perceptions and performances of experienced incident commanders

Rescue operations have been organized in accordance with strict hierarchical management structures for decades. There seem to be minor differences between emergency response units within and between countries with respect to formalized routines and command structure. This presupposes that the incident commander is important for the emergency response performance and the actual outcome of the crisis. This paper presents findings from a study carried out in Norway, Sweden and Bosnia‐Herzegovina, designed to reveal the assessments carried out by incident commanders and other professional leaders of emergency response units, the police, paramedics and fire brigade. The study encompasses aspects of naturalistic decision making in the different accident response phases. On call‐out, the leaders constructed their mental maps of the situations from a combination of information from the call center, knowledge of standard procedures, their expectation of available resources and personal knowledge of the site. Typical management strategies involved incremental problem solving within narrow time horizons. The incident commanders were more concerned with details than with evaluating the overall situation. In general, the commanders expected normal situations, i.e. typical accidents they were trained to cope with and in response to which their preparations and strategies were standard. Our study shows that these incident command strategies are more reactive than proactive, and that the commanders rarely command. Risk management is limited to evaluations of the response units' safety.     

Regulation of sex discrimination in advertising: An empirical inquiry into the Norwegian case

Norway is one of the few countries in the world which expressly prohibits sex discrimination in advertising. In this article, particular attention is paid to the experiences of the Norwegian Consumer Ombud, and to how advertisements, which have given rise to complaints of sex discrimination, are assessed by both the Ombud itself and the Norwegian population. Article 1.2 of the Norwegian Marketing Control Act, which regulates sex-discriminatory advertising, appears to have had some success. Certain kinds of portrayals of women have disappeared from Norwegian advertisements. There seems, however, to be a disagreement between the Ombud and the general population when it comes to the assessment of whether certain advertisements have a sex-discriminatory content. The Ombud takes a more radical stance than the population at large.     

Introducing the concept of environmental policy integration into the discourse on sustainable tourism: a way to improve policy-making and implementation?

Many studies have explored how the tourism sector and tourism policies understand and relate to the concept of sustainable development. A common conclusion is that tourism concentrates on economic and social viability at the expense of environmental sustainable development. This paper considers if and how the concept of environmental policy integration (EPI) could improve sustainable tourism policy implementation. It defines EPI, and explores both the three-level (co-ordination, harmonization and prioritization) and four-level (inclusion, consistency, priorities and reporting) EPI approaches. It notes that there is both strong and weak EPI, and both political systems and policy analysis approaches. The paper then describes Norway's post-2007 adoption of sustainable tourism as a central part of its national tourism development strategy, with 10 defined principles, and suggested defined development standards, and assesses the implementation of the national strategy through the lens of the EPI concept. While there are now 18 pilot sustainable tourism destinations, with 44 criteria and 108 indicators, there remain many difficult issues to address. A series of suggestions are made, the chief of which is the need for a politically strong central authority that has been entrusted with having environmental concerns within the tourism sector as its key mandate.     

Disentangling supply and demand shifts: the impacts on world salmon price

To understand price changes, one must determine the relative impact of supply and demand shifts on price. Conditional on predetermined supply and demand elasticities, we retrieve yearly shifts in regional supply and demand. The relative impact on price from each supply and demand shift is determined through an equilibrium displacement model (EDM). This procedure is applied on a yearly basis for the world salmon market in the period 2002 to 2011. The results indicate a large variation in demand and supply growth both over time and between regions. While average annual price impacts from supply or demand shifts from most regions are not statistically significant, price impacts from supply or demand shifts for specific periods are detected in all but one region. This indicates that the use of smooth trend indicators is likely to be inappropriate for measuring supply and demand shifts and their impacts on price. The procedure presented in this article can be a useful instrument for determining the relative impacts of supply and demand shifts on price in any market with unstable price behaviour.