Rethinking Marketing Programs for Emerging Markets

This article points to a fundamental inconsistency in the emerging market strategies of multinational firms. On the one hand, they seek billions of new consumers in the emerging markets of China, India, Indonesia, and Latin America—on the other, their marketing programs are scarcely adapted for these markets. The result is low market penetration, disappointing market shares and poor profitability. These multinationals are trapped by their own devices in gilded cages, serving the affluent few but ignoring the potential of the billions of new consumers that attracted them in the first place. In this article we propose that, in order to attract billions of new consumers, the marketing programs of multinationals need to be rethought from the ground up. We identify three key factors that characterize emerging markets: (1) low incomes, (2) variability in consumers and infrastructure, and (3) the relative cheapness of labor, which is often substituted for capital. We draw on numerous case studies from around the world to illustrate how to incorporate these realities into marketing programs. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of such an approach for the multinational’s core strategic assumptions.     

Incentive effects and the income tax treatment of employer-provided workplace benefits

Employers often provide their employees with different kinds of benefits in the workplace to create comfortable working conditions. In order to avoid distortions of the wage-benefit ratio in employee compensation, economic theory suggests that fringe benefits should be subject to income taxation at a value placed on them by employees. This article shows that this approach does not apply to workplace benefits. Since the goal of these benefits is to reduce the employees’ disutility from work, treating them simply as wage substitutes disregards their incentive effects. Therefore, the rules for taxing workplace benefits are derived from an agency model. It is shown that in contrast to the standard economic approach, cost can be a more efficient tax base than willingness to pay, even though this results in higher tax payments. Moreover, with non-distortionary tax rates it is always better to tax the employer rather than the employee.     

Hochschule als Marke

This paper gives an overview of new developments in conceptualizing universities as brands. Brand development in this sense is not an externally-oriented marketing instrument, but an internal strategy. In this internal brand development process, a university sorts out its developmental resources and challenges and structures an identity. Ten steps in this process of brand development are outlined and a concept of brand positioning specific to universities is introduced.     

Gender,power and office politics

Abstract

This interpretative study explores the experiences of Taiwanese female clerical workers as they deal with office politics. A hermeneutical phenomenology is used to describe and interpret the participants' experiences. The study shows that powerlessness and frustration result from: (1) structural barriers; (2) behavioral barriers; and (3) accommodation and rationalization. This study has implications for research and practice in international area of women's studies and for the field of international career development education.     

How business associations use interorganizational networks to achieve workforce development goals: Implications for Human Resource Development

Abstract

This study uses data from a series of comparative case studies to analyse the interorganizational networks of business associations providing workforce development services in the United States. Three aspects of the networks were of particular interest, including (a) the form the partnerships took, (b) the trade-off to involving educational or community vs. business partners in providing workforce development services and (c) the strengths of associations in brokering services to adults or youth. The findings demonstrate that business associations work in intermediary networks or provide their services directly. The conclusions suggest that human resource development professionals should work more actively with local business associations to recruit, train and provide supports for workers in US firms.     

Übertragung und Gegenübertragung im Coaching

The author describes the use of psychoanalytic concepts in coaching work. At first, the classical issue of transference and its modern forms will be discussed, later the classical issue of countertransference and its modern forms. Finally, the author presents two case studies on transference and countertransference in coaching work.     

When Precaution Creates Misunderstandings: The Unintended Effects of Precautionary Information on Perceived Risks,the EMF Case

In the past decade, growing public concern about novel technologies with uncertain potential long‐term impacts on the environment and human health has moved risk policies toward a more precautionary approach. Focusing on mobile telephony, the effects of precautionary information on risk perception were analyzed. A pooled multinational experimental study based on a 5 × 2 × 2 factorial design was conducted in nine countries. The first factor refers to whether or not information on different types of precautionary measures was present, the second factor to the framing of the precautionary information, and the third factor to the order in which cell phones and base stations were rated by the study participants. The data analysis on the country level indicates different effects. The main hypothesis that informing about precautionary measures results in increased risk perceptions found only partial support in the data. The effects are weaker, both in terms of the effect size and the frequency of significant effects, across the various precautionary information formats used in the experiment. Nevertheless, our findings do not support the assumption that informing people about implemented precautionary measures will decrease public concerns.     

Pay-What-You-Want – Praxisrelevanz und Konsumentenverhalten

Pay-What-You-Want (PWYW) is a participative pricing mechanism which is characterized by the fact that consumers have maximum control over the price they pay. We discuss the business relevance of PWYW and extend the findings of Kim et al. (2009) using latent class regression. Two different classes can be identified and transaction prices are explained by psycho- and socio-demographics. The estimation of the parameters shows that the internal reference price is a good predictor for the prices in class 1, whereas in the 2nd class the level of fairness and satisfaction with the product positively affect the final transaction prices.     

Preis-Promotion-Framing – Ein Überblick zum Stand der Forschung

This article reviews published literature and provides an overview on present empirical evidence about the framing of price promotions. Concerning explicit price reductions (discounts, coupons, rebates), the effects of advertised reference prices and different frames of price discounts (relative versus absolute price discount, objective versus tensile price claims) on consumers’ reactions are discussed. Furthermore, the article examines empirical results on implicit price reductions (volume packs, free extra products) as well as on sale signs and restrictions (e.g. purchase limits, time limits) as popular ways of framing a deal. The key findings point out that framing a price promotion in different ways can affect consumers’ perceptions and evaluations of the deal. Based on the reviewed literature, the concluding section provides managerial implications and an agenda for further research.