Market segmentation and willingness to pay for organic products in Spain

In recent years, consumer concerns on environmental and health issues related to food products have increased and, as a result, the demand for organically grown production has grown. Higher costs of production and retailer margins generate a gap between real prices and those that consumers are willing to pay for organic food. In this article, consumer willingness to pay for organic food in two Spanish regions is analyzed. Markets in both regions are segmented considering consumers lifestyles. Results indicate that consumers concerned about healthy diet and environmental degradation are the most likely to buy organic food, and are willing to pay a high premium. Organic attributes are easily identified in perishable products as the premium consumers would pay for organic meat, fruits, and vegetables is higher.     

Estimating Consumer Exposure to PFOS and PFOA

Perfluorinated compounds have been used for more than 50 years as process aids, surfactants, and for surface protection. This study is a comprehensive assessment of consumer exposure to perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) from a variety of environmental and product-related sources. To identify relevant pathways leading to consumer exposure to PFOS and PFOA a scenario-based approach has been applied. Scenarios represent realistic situations where age- and gender-specific exposure occurs in the everyday life of consumers. We find that North American and European consumers are likely to experience ubiquitous and long-term uptake doses of PFOS and PFOA in the range of 3 to 220 ng per kg body weight per day (ng/kg_bw/day) and 1 to 130 ng/kg_bw/day, respectively. The greatest portion of the chronic exposure to PFOS and PFOA is likely to result from the intake of contaminated foods, including drinking water. Consumer products cause a minor portion of the consumer exposure to PFOS and PFOA. Of these, it is mainly impregnation sprays, treated carpets in homes, and coated food contact materials that may lead to consumer exposure to PFOS and PFOA. Children tend to experience higher total uptake doses (on a body weight basis) than teenagers and adults because of higher relative uptake via food consumption and hand-to-mouth transfer of chemical from treated carpets and ingestion of dust. The uptake estimates based on scenarios are within the range of values derived from blood serum data by applying a one-compartment pharmacokinetic model.     

In-Store Experimental Approach to Pricing and Consumer Behavior

This study assessed how, and to what extent, it is possible to use behavioral experimentation and relative sales analysis to study the effects of price on consumers' brand choices in the store environment. An in-store experiment was performed in four stores to investigate the effects of different prices of a target brand on consumers' relative buying behavior using an alternating treatment design with baseline. The intervention consisted of periodically reducing the target brand's price by 17–26%. Price reductions generally had none or minor effects. However, data for one store showed lower relative sales for the price reduction condition. These are surprising results and they underline the need to examine all of the marketing mix factors, not only price.     

博弈者认知模式与合作意愿度分析

建立了无限合作博弈类型下的合作意愿度(DWC)运算模型,目的是研究博弈者不同的认知模式将会对博弈者的DWC值和收益率产生怎样的影响;突发事件和合作环境如何影响博弈者的DWC值.模拟了2人无限合作博弈的三种模式,得出主要结论:双方都是柔性思维的博弈者比双方都是刚性思维的博弈者获得的收益率较小;如果一方为柔性思维,另一方是刚性思维,则柔性思维博弈者能够获得较高的收益,而刚性思维博弈者却能获得较高的DWC值;如果博弈者都具有柔性思维功能,合作不会稳定与满意;在突发事件起决定作用的情况下,博弈双方的平均收益率和平均DWC值都要减小;博弈一方为柔性思维者,另一方为刚性思维是较好的一种合作模式.     

消费行为中的民族中心与民族淡漠倾向

消费者民族中心主义反映了消费者的国货中心意识。通过测量京、穗、渝三地的消费者民族中心主义倾向,调查三地消费者对三个产品类别中外品牌的态度,运用因子分析和多变量方差分析(MANOVA)研究发现,中国消费者同时存在民族中心和民族淡漠两种复杂或矛盾的心理倾向。文章分析讨论了中国消费者行为中这种矛盾心理的社会经济原因。     

The interplay between psychometric and sociometric data and the willingness to adopt innovations

Due to high failure rates of new products, marketers are seeking ways to actively manage the diffusion of innovations. It is well accepted that individuals, who exert a remarkably strong influence on others and are usually called opinion leaders, play an important role in the diffusion process. In marketing, such opinion leaders are typically identified by self-designation, which can be biased. A second option to identify opinion leaders is the use of sociometric data which becomes increasingly available. In this paper we examine the effect of social position on the perceived opinion leadership and the resulting behavioral intention in terms of adoption behavior. In an empirical study, we examine the adoption of a new drug called “Byetta” and find that sociometric opinion leadership is an antecedent of the psychometric characteristic. Our results also confirm that such opinion leaders are more likely to adopt innovations. We also find that opinion seekers, individuals who often sought information or opinions from interpersonal sources, can be more easily identified with psychometric data. They are more restrictive in terms of adoption. Interestingly, both types are active as market mavens and thus may either advocate the adoption of the innovation or may be frankly conservative regarding the new product adoption. If opinion seekers can, however, be persuaded to adopt the innovation, they may also serve as an important multiplier. This has several implications for pharmaceutical firms that try to optimize their sales force—influencing opinion leaders may indeed start and fasten the adoption process of innovative products. But it is also necessary to allay opinion seekers’ doubts since they might slow down the adoption process. The identification of opinion leaders might not only be based on difficult to obtain psychometric data, but also on sociometric data from social networks, which is becoming more and more available.     

Consumer and producer surpluses in tourism

The concepts of consumer and producer surpluses are explained; one aspect of a socially and economically desirable project is that surpluses outweigh losses (the two not needing to arise in the same group, and different weightings may be used). For economists, tourism is unusual in that the consumers gaining (or losing) a surplus include non-residents. Restrictive assumptions made at the outset are relaxed in later examples.     

中国情境下消费者CSR反应的行业比较研究

通过预调查研究,将家电、旅游、食品、鞋服、金融和数码6个行业按照产品差异化程度和产品满足需求类型进行分类;在此基础上,进行大样本的消费者问卷调查,探讨中国情境下不同行业的企业社会责任行为所引起的消费者反应及其差异性;运用Amos 7.O和SPSS13.0软件,通过验证性因子分析、描述性统计分析、方差分析和多元线性回归分析,对不同行业的消费者企业社会责任反应的差异性规律进行检验.研究结果表明,消费者企业社会责任态度(包括企业社会责任关注、企业社会责任信任和企业评价)几乎不存在行业差异,但消费者的购买意向以及购买意向与消费者企业社会责任态度之间的相关关系均存在显著的行业差异;在不同的价格水平下(等价VS.溢价),消费者企业社会责任反应在不同行业之间的差异性规律也有所不同.     

Estimating Willingness‐to‐pay with Choice‐based Conjoint Analysis – Can Consumer Characteristics Explain Variations in Accuracy?

Knowing consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) is crucial for making effective pricing decisions. We assess the accuracy of choice‐based conjoint analysis (CBCA), a method strongly supported by behavioural theory, in the context of WTP measurement at the individual level. Furthermore, we analyse whether variations in the accuracy of WTP estimates derived by CBCA can be explained by consumers' involvement, brand awareness and the strength of consumer preferences. The results show that CBCA does not provide accurate WTP estimates and, on average, grossly overestimates the true WTP of consumers. No empirical evidence can be found that consideration of the above‐mentioned consumer characteristics results in more accurate WTP values.     

Consumer Phase Risk Assessment for Listeria monocytogenes in Deli Meats

The foodborne disease risk associated with the pathogen Listeria monocytogenes has been the subject of recent efforts in quantitative microbial risk assessment. Building upon one of these efforts undertaken jointly by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the purpose of this work was to expand on the consumer phase of the risk assessment to focus on handling practices in the home. One-dimensional Monte Carlo simulation was used to model variability in growth and cross-contamination of L. monocytogenes during food storage and preparation of deli meats. Simulations approximated that 0.3% of the servings were contaminated with >10(4) CFU/g of L. monocytogenes at the time of consumption. The estimated mean risk associated with the consumption of deli meats for the intermediate-age population was approximately 7 deaths per 10(11) servings. Food handling in homes increased the estimated mean mortality by 10(6)-fold. Of all the home food-handling practices modeled, inadequate storage, particularly refrigeration temperatures, provided the greatest contribution to increased risk. The impact of cross-contamination in the home was considerably less. Adherence to USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service recommendations for consumer handling of ready-to-eat foods substantially reduces the risk of listeriosis.     

Marketing Strategies and Market Prospects for Environmentally-Friendly Consumer Products1

Recent evidence suggests that the extent of consumer adoption of ‘green’ products is much less than would be indicated by the enthusiastic opinion poll evidence concerning public attitudes towards environmentally-friendly consumption. This paper reports on an empirical analysis of firms' marketing strategies and their influence on consumer demand for green products. In twenty 2–3 hour interviews with senior managers, four representative groups of markets were analysed household detergents, paper (recycled), petrol (unleaded) and automobile technology (focusing on catalytic converters). According to managers, firms' marketing strategies influenced consumer demand by making green technologies available in the fwst instance. However, barriers to supplying green products that show panty with, or better performance than, conventional technologies constrain pricing and communication efforts Managers stressed that, in the absence of clarity of green products' environmental benefits, product performance and other attributes, not green benefits, remain the main determinants of product preference and choice. Promotions focused much more on consumers than distribution channels, yet channel acceptance and support of green innovations are paramount in facilitating sales. Firms see the costs of generating and promoting desirable green technologies as barriers to diffusion in the immediate future. Legislation and/or economic incentives may help, but manufacturers are not optimistic that future green consumption rates will accelerate. The results also highlight several propositions concerning the discrepancy between consumer environmental concerns and purchasing actions which warrant further testing: there is mis-specification of green products in relation to consumers'needs; there are barriers to perceptions of green products' environmental impact and consumers' free ride due to individual self-interest.     

Gender and nationality pay gaps in light of organisational theories

This paper analyses wage inequality with respect to gender and nationality within German establishments. It is a large-scale analysis based on linked employer-employee data from the Institute for Employment Research (LIAB). Wage inequality is measured as the intra-establishment pay gap by gender and nationality, taking into account that human capital may not be equally distributed across the different groups of employees. Consistent with economic theories of discrimination we find significant pay gaps by gender and nationality, even taking into consideration employees’ qualifications. We can show that pay differentials between men and women are much larger on average than those between Germans and non-Germans, and that both pay gaps exhibit a tremendous variation across establishments. Drawing on organisational theories we inquire as to how selected firm characteristics are related to the variation of these intra-firm pay gaps and derive hypotheses about which establishments have a greater incentive and/or are more able to pursue wage equality in their workforces. By use of regression analysis we then investigate whether variables that reflect the firms’ social, institutional and cultural environment and their resource requirements are empirically related to the sizes of the pay gaps. The results are rather ambiguous, suggesting larger, innovating and foreign-owned establishments with a larger share of non-German employees and with a collective bargaining agreement to have smaller gaps, particularly with respect to gender.     

A General Model for Exposure and Uptake from Consumer Products

To assess exposure to and uptake of chemical compounds from consumer products, a general model framework is proposed. The model framework separates exposure into the components contact, potential exposure, and potential uptake rate, and establishes the relation between the three. It adds a contact function and a spatial component to other exposure modeling concepts. Before the model framework can be used, its components need to be specified. A simple diffusional model is built as an example of specifying functions for exposure and uptake. A case study of 1,1,1 trichloroethane in some shoe impregnating product, partly based on the diffusional uptake model, illustrates the inclusion of the contact component. In the latter example, the exposure is calculated for the user and then, by only modifying the contact component, for a nonuser randomly walking in the house.     

Executive pay, tournaments and corporate performance in UK firms

This paper explores the relationship between executive pay and corporate performance. First, we focus on the pay-for-performance sensitivity (PPS), review recent evidence (mainly UK) and outline a methodology for calculating the PPS itself. Secondly, we review the evidence on tournament theory. Tournament models predict that career concerns generate incentives for executives and can explain observed variations in pay outcomes in the boardroom. Thirdly, we provide evidence on the distribution of the PPS for 532 executives within 100 large UK stock market companies for 1997. Unlike prior work, we include non-CEO executives in the analysis. We show that the PPS increases through organizational levels. Also the statistic is not constant across firms. Finally, we consider the relationship between corporate performance and incentives. We show, consistent with prior evidence, that there is a positive relationship between firm performance and the effective ownership of stock-based compensation by management.     

Mapping Socioeconomic Exposure for Flood Risk Assessment in Italy

Detailed spatial representation of socioeconomic exposure and the related vulnerability to natural hazards has the potential to improve the quality and reliability of risk assessment outputs. We apply a spatially weighted dasymetric approach based on multiple ancillary data to downscale important socioeconomic variables and produce a grid data set for Italy that contains multilayered information about physical exposure, population, gross domestic product, and social vulnerability. We test the performances of our dasymetric approach compared to other spatial interpolation methods. Next, we combine the grid data set with flood hazard estimates to exemplify an application for the purpose of risk assessment.     

Optimal Pricing,Ordering, and Return Policies for Consumer Goods

Our research addresses a firm that sells a product to consumers who are sensitive to both price and return policy. The operational decisions of interest are the selling price, return policy, and quantity of new product to purchase. We model a single selling season that is split into two periods where the boundary between periods is delineated by the opportunity to recover product returns and resell them. That is, returns in the first period can be recovered and sold in the second period. Returns also arise in the second period, but these may only be salvaged. We first analyze both deterministic and stochastic models, finding that the deterministic results largely carry over to the stochastic case. In addition, our results indicate that the model is quite insensitive to errors in the estimates of the parameter values, except for purchase cost and parameters related to demand. Finally, we perform an analysis on the value of various investments to improve financial performance. Results indicate that investments to reduce the recovery cost of returns or reduce returns uncertainty are minimal, while investments to increase recovery speed, reduce market uncertainty, and reduce the return rate can be quite valuable.     

Incorporating Price and Replacement Purchases in New Product Diffusion Models for Consumer Durables*

The article presents theoretical and empirical research findings which incorporate price and replacement purchases in new product diffusion models. On the theoretical side, this paper characterizes, qualitatively, optimum pricing policies for new products. Possible entry of rivals is not considered, but repeat sales, cost learning dynamics and discounting of future profit streams are allowed. Theoretical research findings suggest that the inclusion of repeat purchases in the diffusion model significantly changes the derived optimal pricing policy even if replacements were not price dependent. On the empirical side, alternative first purchase and repeat purchase models have been estimated and compared using nonlinear procedures. The diffusion data analyzed is related to nine consumer durables. Empirical research findings suggest that, for the considered product categories, diffusion is basically an imitative process, price can affect first and replacement purchases, and unit production cost is a decreasing function of cumulative first purchases. Managerial implications of the research findings are also discussed.     

Social Concertation and Political System in Italy

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the social pact in Italy and its prospects for the future. In order to do this, it first gives an overview of the general political organization in Europe, and looks at neo corporatism and bargaining structures. It then deals with the social pact in Italy and follows its evolvement under non hostile or‘friendly’governments, and examines the objectives of this social pact. It continues by considering the problematics of governing the complex present day society and traces the various phases of the social pact in Italy, and in particular, the 'St. Valentine's Day’crisis and the subsequent continuity of the pact. Finally, it talks about some of the problems the social pact creates for the institutions.     

中国农民消费者决策型态的实证研究

消费心理的作用不仅表现在消费者对购买行为和产品认知等特性方面,还表现为消费者消费心理上的一种规律和定位,这种定位在消费者做出购买决策时具有消费者不能意识到的心理强制作用,这种心理强制作用会在根本上支配消费者的决策行为。本文从农民的消费心理角度运用因子分析研究反映具有消费性生活用品购买和具有投资性生产用品购买行为的二重性购买心理定位与决策型态。研究结果表明,这类农民存在三种决策型态。困惑型决策型态、新潮型决策型态和完美型决策型态的消费者在农村市场交叉存在。同时,当收入水平达到一定程度时,收入对农民耐用品购买决策型态的影响作用不显著,消费者群体型态的分类取决于农民的消费心理个性元素,其消费行为特征取决于所处的消费者心理定位层级和决策型态。