Key service innovation drivers in the tourism sector: empirical evidence and managerial implications

This study highlights the importance of market orientation and the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) as determinants of service innovation activity for companies in the tourism sector. In doing so, the study provides a means to classify companies as innovative or not. Using a sample of 100 Spanish firms from different branches of the tourism sector, we confirm and extend prior research. In particular, market orientation??especially a customer orientation??is critical for developing new services that lead to competitive advantages. In addition, ICT have a dual, direct, and indirect influence on service innovation.     

The mix of international banks’ foreign claims: Determinants and implications

We analyze the cross-country determinants and financial stability implications of the mix of international banks’ foreign claims. We distinguish between local claims – extended by host country affiliates – and cross-border claims – booked outside the receiving country. Using data on Italian, Spanish, and US banks’ foreign claims, we find that the share of local claims is driven by restrictions on banking sector openness and by local scale economies/business opportunities. The impact of limits on property rights, entry requirements, start-up and informational costs is less robust. Finally, foreign claim volatility is lower in countries with a larger share of local claims.     

Cause-Brand Community: Toward Consumer Citizenship

Brand communities have been proven to be successful with commercial brands. However, a review of the literature indicated that brand community has not been studied in charity organizations. To shed light on this issue, a qualitative research was conducted among stakeholders of an internationally well-known charity organization using three different techniques: in-depth interviews, netnography, and nonparticipant observation at the charity’s brandfest. The results suggest that cause-brand communities exist, sharing the same elements of commercial-brand communities, but the two have some unique characteristics, such as the existence of different stakeholders and small communities that demonstrate an extreme commitment, the promotion of consumer citizenship among them, and the lack of oppositional brand loyalty. A cause-brand community has important managerial implications as it helps build the charity’s brand equity; at the same time, a well-known brand supports the construction of the brand community.     

Does Nutrition Information Contribute to Grocery Shoppers’ Willingness to Pay?

An experimental auction and the eye-tracking technology are used to detect the relationship between consumers’ understanding of the nutrition information and their willingness to pay for food items. Additional attention is given to health-conscious individuals. Salad mix and apple juice are selected for the experiment. A Tobit model is used for the analysis. The results show that nutrition information has some effect on consumers’ purchasing decision. Shoppers are willing to pay less for fat and mineral information, but more for ingredient, protein, sodium, and carbohydrate information of salad mix. As for apple juice, shoppers care only for energy and other nutrient information, as well as the health claim “vitamin C naturally high.” Further, health-conscious individuals are more responsive to the nutrition claims, such as “high in fiber” (salad mix) and “vitamin C naturally high” (orange juice). A possible limitation of the conclusion exists due to the small sample size.     

Using sublexical priming to enhance brand name phonetic symbolism effects in young children

We examine whether phonetic symbolism effects are conditional on the development of phonological awareness (an ability to recognize sounds in words). Further, we introduce sublexical priming as a means to enhance phonetic symbolism effects. Across four experiments, we demonstrate that product evaluations, consistent with phonetic symbolism theory, are more (less) likely when a child is older (younger). Specifically, older children who can recognize sounds in words perceive back vowel brand names (e.g., Vopoz) as slower, heavier, larger, smoother, creamier, chewier, and thicker than brand names with front vowel sounds (e.g., Vipiz). In addition, we show that phonetic symbolism effects manifest when younger children (low in phonological awareness) are primed to focus on parts of a word/s, which we term sublexical priming. We present embedded tasks and chunking of brand names as strategic communication techniques that can be implemented as sublexical primes to enhance phonetic symbolism effects in younger children.     

Must we choose? European unemployment, American inequality, and the impact of education and labor market institutions

In the last 15 years, two equilibria have arisen in the advanced world. On the one hand, wage dispersion has widened in those countries where unemployment has remained low (with cyclical variations). On the other hand, wherever income inequality has remained unchanged, unemployment has shot upwards. To account for these distinct patterns, we develop a political–economic model showing that, controlling for the skills of the population, the effects of technological and trade shocks (that have affected OECD nations) that are contingent on the institutional rules in place. Economies with generous unemployment allowances adjust through subsidized unemployment. By contrast, low levels of social protection lead to less unemployment but wider wage dispersion. The level of qualifications of the labor force determines the extent of the adjustment for a given institutional arrangement. We derive, in turn, the institutional structure of each country from the political conditions in place at the time of the shock. The empirical part successfully tests the model for the sample of European regions and US states.     

Audit Reports in Australia during the Global Financial Crisis

The Global Financial Crisis reduced economic growth, impacted equity and credit markets, and increased business risk. To the extent that this increased risk translates into greater uncertainty of companies’ ability to continue as going concerns, this should be reflected in audit reports. This paper investigates how the crisis impacted auditor reporting in Australia by examining the period 2005–2009. It finds that the main reason for audit report modification is going concern and that modification rates increased from 12% in 2005–2007 to 18% in 2008 and 22% in 2009. Serious audit report qualification rates remain around 3%.     

International diversification gains and home bias in banking

This paper studies international diversification in banking, exploiting a bank-level dataset that covers the operations of 38 global banks and their subsidiaries overseas during 1995–2004. The paper finds that banks with a larger share of assets allocated to subsidiaries in emerging market countries were able to attain higher risk-adjusted returns. These gains were somewhat reduced by the concentration of bank subsidiaries in specific geographical regions, which is typical of the observed international expansion strategies. The paper also finds a substantial home bias in the international allocation of bank assets relative to the results of a mean–variance portfolio optimization model.     

Industry,management capabilities and firms' competitiveness: An empirical contribution

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the knowledge of strategic factors that explain the competitive position reached by firms in their activity sector. We have used a survey carried out in 1999 on 287 executives that belong to the service sector in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. We have analysed the differential factors that distinguish the strategic performance of competitive vis‐à‐vis non‐competitive firms, by jointly assessing the variables representative of the sector (five competitive forces defined by Porter) and variables of an internal feature. Finally, we have moved the level of analysis from the industry to the firm; specifically, we have focused on managerial capabilities due to the significant role played by managers in the strategic decision‐making process. The use of cluster analysis to classify firms depending on their degree of competitiveness and the application of the See5 induction algorithm of rules and decision trees to determine the differential factors that distinguish competitive from non‐competitive firms, provide a methodological framework for the most significant contributions of this work. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.