THE RISING COST OF TIME OF FEMALES, THE GROWTH OF NATIONAL BRANDS AND THE SUPPLY OF RETAIL SERVICES

A rise in the relative cost of time of women has increased the demand for brand names and reduced the demand for information traditionally supplied by retailers. A theory of the optimal allocation of shopping responsibilities in a two-earner household shows that a rise in the woman's wage increases the demand for brand names by more than an increase in the man's wage. An increase in the relative earnings of women is related to a rise in male shopping, the growth of trademark filings, an increase in manufacturer advertising, and a reduction in retail personal services in several industries.     

Organizational Slack and Corporate Greening: Broadening the Debate

Organizational slack seems to have an ambiguous relationship with corporate greening. On the one hand, excess resources can be used to experiment with new environmental innovations, or potential green market segments. On the other, excess resources can be used to build corporate buffers against pressures for environmental improvement, such as large corporate environmental departments or environmental lobbying activity, and resist changes to the core of the organization. This paper begins to resolve these conflicting arguments by broadening the debate on organizational slack and corporate greening. It builds on recent empirical studies of slack and corporate greening, and recognizes the many potential roles that different types of slack may play in a dynamic decision–making context. Using a theoretical framework suggested by Bourgeois (1981), the paper systematizes and draws lessons from examples of the roles of slack encountered in a recent series of 35 interviews within UK public limited companies. It concludes that future treatments of slack and environmental management should incorporate a more holistic view of slack, which recognizes its dynamic, complex and often contradictory effects on decision–making in organizations.     

A State of Neglect: Public Relations as ‘Corporate Conscience’ or Ethics Counsel

Ryan and Martinson (1983) Ryan, M. and Martinson, D. L. 1983. The PR officer as corporate conscience. Public Relations Quarterly, 28(2): 20–23.  [Google Scholar] and other scholars argued that the corporate conscience role should belong in the public relations function. But, how common is the use of ethics counsel among public relations professionals? This qualitative research found that many public relations practitioners indeed perform the role of ethics counsel or corporate conscience in their organizations. However, a state of neglect of this role exists in terms of education and support—even lacking support among some public relations practitioners! The well-being of both organizations and publics could be enhanced through both academic study and professional attention to public relations managers performing the role of ethics counsel to the dominant coalition.     

Sexual Decision Making for the “Better Than Average” College Student

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the impact of downward social comparison and the “known partner is a safe partner” heuristic on college students’ sexual decisions. Participants: One hundred-eighty heterosexual or bisexual undergraduate college students. Methods: Participants read dating vignettes that varied on perspective and familiarity and then rated the likelihood the couple would engage in sexual intercourse and use a condom. Results: There were no differences in rated likelihood based on familiarity, suggesting that the students did not view the 2 partner types as significantly different. Students rated the likelihood of sexual intercourse lower and condom use higher when the vignette was presented from the second person perspective. Conclusions: The students’ use of downward social comparison is consistent with the “better than average effect,” suggesting that the students perceive their own behavior as safe. The implication is that safer sex messages might be most effective if they focus on what students will gain by practicing safer sex behaviors, not just avoidance of a risk behavior.     

Child-Report Data and Assessment of the Social Environment in Schools

OBJECTIVES: This study tested the quality of data collected with the online ESSP for Children from a diverse sample of 1,172 third through fifth graders. METHODS: Mplus confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) procedures for ordinal and clustered data were used. RESULTS: Of 80 original items, 61 loaded on 13 dimensions in a first-order model that had good fit in three random subsamples. Children in grades 3 through 5 may not be reliable reporters about neighborhood adults' caring. However, 12 statistically sound and independent dimensions related to school, peers, family, and well-being were obtained. CONCLUSIONS: The ESSP for Children provides school staff with quality data to use in conjunction with family and teacher ESSP data to guide intervention choices in schools.     

市场导向内涵与执行随企业成长阶段演变的规律——基于中兴通讯的案例研究

基于中兴通讯在竞争激烈的通信设备行业不断克服管理危机从跟随者成长为全球领先者的案例,从动态角度探讨了市场导向内涵及其执行随企业成长阶段演变的规律。研究结论如下:①随着企业成长阶段的变化,市场导向内涵从市场创新与模仿竞争者导向的市场驱动理念向顾客与竞争平衡导向的驱动市场理念转变;②执行市场导向的组织变革特征受企业不同发展阶段管理危机的影响,而在集权与分权、自主与协调间反复,但组织成熟度呈螺旋式上升;③顾客后向影响供应商的主动创新特征使市场导向内涵中的市场驱动理念包括适应市场和"OEM"协作,驱动市场理念包括引导市场和"共生互动"的内容;④市场不确定性对企业市场导向执行结果产生影响,这也解释了同一行业内企业市场导向与经营绩效之间并非简单的线性关系。     

The effect of community organisations’ participation and existence on self-rated health in China: evidence from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study

Using the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study cross-sectional survey in 2011 with an 80.51% response rate, an endogenous logit model is adopted to account for the relationship between social capital and self-rated health and the heterogeneity from gender, age and marital status on individual self-rated health status. Consequently, social capital at both individual and community levels is found to be positively correlated with better subjective self-rated health status. Furthermore, the social capital’s marginal effect of the male, high-income groups, the married are larger than that of the female, rural residents, low-income groups and the divorced. In addition, interclass correlation value from the partition of the fixed and random effect of social capital is significantly, ranging from 3.0 to 5.49%, indicating a significant proportion of the total variance in self-rated health that can be explained by community-level differences.     

从系统论看当代中国和谐社会的构建

文章从系统论的角度诠释了和谐社会的内涵和外延,提出了“和谐三角”、“价值三角”、“和谐区间”、“和谐价值链”等关键理念和概念范畴。在此基础上论证了中国社会主义和谐社会建设的必然性和重要性,并针对和谐社会建设的关键领域和关键问题提出了相关建设预想。