“I live with terror inside me”: Exploring customers’ instinctive reactions to terror

Terrorist attacks occur mostly at public service-oriented sites. Consequently, their victims are likely to be customers. The present study explores how customers instinctively react toward the reality of terror in a matrix of 2 × 2 aspects concerning terror circumstances: temporal proximity (brief or long) and physical proximity (close or remote) from the terror event. In qualitative in-depth interviews, customers from France and Israel were requested to share their instinctive reactions and coping strategies when approaching hospitality (hedonistic) and transportation (utilitarian) services. Participants (N = 47) comprised customers having a protracted acquaintance with persistent terror threats. The analysis identified differences in reactions, subject to temporal and physical proximities. When terror attacks are physically close, customers’ emotions, cognitions, and behaviors undergo modification with time. However, when terror attacks occur at a location remote from the customer, customers’ emotions and cognitions, but not their behavior, change with time. These reactions were comparable for the two service contexts. Practical implications were elaborated to enable service establishments (i.e., hospitality and transportation) to design and manage their operations for the short and long term to assist customers in the difficult era of terror.     

Technological proximity and the choice of cooperation partner

This paper provides empirical tests of hypotheses of cooperative behavior provided by evolutionary approaches in the resource-based view of the firm. The influences of “technological proximity”, individual incentives to cooperate and managerial tools to the choice of research partner are analyzed. Using German patent data we can show the positive influence of those three determinants. The results of this paper confirm theories dealing with the path-dependency of research activities.      

出生缺陷地理风险因子的空间分析

出生缺陷是影响人口出生质量最重要的因素。大量研究表明,出生缺陷仅仅靠单纯的生物医学研究还不够,多学科的交叉研究是有效探讨出生缺陷病因和预防的唯一出路。利用北京大学人口环境健康组调查数据,分类了能够在地理空间上归属的出生缺陷风险因素,将这些因素存在的空间相关性进行了传统统计分析方法不适宜的风险因子与出生缺陷统计因果之间的研究。探讨了空间分析技术在出生缺陷的地理风险因子研究的一般步骤与关键技术,为出生缺陷研究提供了新的思路。     

区域发展中地理势能的初步研究

从区域发展的各个主要相关要素，初步探讨区域发展的地理势能。把地理区域作为一个系统，当一个区域相对于其它区域在地理位置、区际差异、区域结构和环境质量等方面，所显示出发展的综合优势即是该区域在这一系统中的地理势能。这种地理势能的大小受自然环境基础的深刻影响，并可随着不同的历史阶段、科学技术的发展而转化。一个地区的地理位置对比优势的态势为地理位置势能。地理位置和区位在自然条件上的势能促使其获得政策上的势能，并直接影响到产业结构的形成。地域间环境条件、生态功能、产业优势的潜在影响力为地理区际势能，如各种环境条件以及这些条件合理匹配的所谓地理地带性规律，决定了传统的农业生产。区际的差异还体现在区域发展的历史过程上，历史悠久的区域往往具有较高的地理区际势能。区域自然环境结构对于区域发展优势的影响力为区域结构势能。环境质量势能是环境质量对于区域发展优势的态势。生态环境脆弱、土地退化、自然灾害、环境污染等，大大减弱了区域环境质量势能。地理势能遵循能量守恒定律，势能转化的动力来源于自然与社会两方面。     

试论强化我国地理标志的法律保护——以法国香槟酒行业委员会与商标评审委员会商标争议纠纷为引

随着经济的发展,人们越来越重视地理标志在市场竞争中的作用。各国均在法律层面对地理标志予以保护,并采用不同的立法模式。我国表现为结合运用《商标法》和《地理标志产品保护规定》来保护地理标志。但从实践来看,此种方式尚存在缺陷。在最新修订的《商标法》中也没有提出将地理标志区分于其他标志而给予针对性的规定。为了进一步发挥其在国际竞争中的经济价值,我国应当给予地理标志更大力度的保护。     

驻马店地名文化品牌的开发与利用

驻马店拥有丰富的地名人文资源,如何对其进行开发和利用一直是当地政府思考的重要问题。受地名与商品或服务结合情况的影响,驻马店在进行地名文化品牌的开发与利用时,应该根据不同地名人文资源的性质,规范地名人文资源的保护与开发工作。     

Local institutional shareholders and corporate hedging policies

This paper examines the effectiveness of monitoring function from institutional investors on corporate hedging strategy in Taiwan over the period from 2005 to 2012. The empirical results show that institutional investors are effective monitors of corporate risk management to enhance the probability and extent of hedging. In addition, the monitoring function from institutional investors is effective for mitigating the risk-shifting problem of high leveraged firms. Moreover, local institutional investors play more important role in monitoring distressed firm's magnitude of hedging than foreign institutional investors. These results are robust to the consideration of endogeneity, selection bias, and industrial difference. This is the first empirical evidence in the literature regarding the monitoring effect of institutional investors on risk management strategy from the angle of monitoring costs.     

The geography of suppliers and retailers

In the last decades, supply chains have increasingly transcended national boundaries developing into global supply chains. Along with the many opportunities arising from international sourcing and the extended commercial presence over the world, the management of a globally dispersed supply chain is highly complex. A key issue to consider when dealing with the global supply chain design is the location of facilities, not only with respect to firms' owned facilities but also the supply and distribution side as factors that affect supply chain complexity and operational performance. This paper sets out a methodological framework to characterize the geographical configuration of a firm's suppliers and retailer networks. Quantitative indexes of network spatial concentration and relative proximity measures based on a nonparametric kernel density estimator are developed to identify both intra- and inter-firm patterns between the supply and point of sales' distributions. The method is first described by means of a series of theoretical-illustrative examples and exemplified by analyzing the geographical dispersion of four practical cases from the fashion-textile industry (i.e., Adidas, Benetton, C&A, and Puma). Subsequently, managerial implications and potential use of the metrics are discussed, showing how the proposed approach can support researchers and practitioners to improve supply chain location decisions and logistic integration, and evaluate changes in either the purchasing or distribution strategy.     

Turning values concrete: the role and ways of business selection in local currency schemes

Alternative consumption schemes require the selection of producers and traders according to criteria and through processes that should make alternative values concrete. The way values turn concrete is crucial for the effectiveness of such projects. This paper investigates the ways criteria and processes are defined and their real meanings and uses through the case of associative local currencies. Drawing on the framework of proximities, it analyses local currency schemes as combining proximities (geographical and non-geographical) and selection processes set up for providers wishing to join. Selection processes may be based on a charter, an approval committee and screening criteria. The objectives of the selection, its measures in principle, the way in which it is applied as well as the practical consequences are discussed. Even when charters and formal participatory schemes for selecting providers are established, proximities appear as the keystone of selection and trust.