Marketing Communication Intensity Across Industries

Marketing communication intensity (i.e., the ratio of advertising and promotional expenditures to sales) has been an important topic for both business managers and academics. Here, we investigate cross-sectional and time-series variation of communication intensity due to: type of offering (product versus service) and type of market (consumer versus industrial). Overall, we find that both of these factors affect variation of communication intensity across industries and over time. However, the effect of market type is much more dramatic than the effect of offering type. Such knowledge about patterns in communication intensity levels helps managers make decisions about how much to spend on advertising and promotion.     

符号学视野下体育与少数民族的国家认同构建

体育与少数民族国家认同问题是一个重要的研究课题,学界目前主要就体育现象本身进行对比或论证少数民族国家认同,而缺乏符号学这一简约方法的深层次解读。国家认同是各种象征符号的集合。体育是一种天然的符号,具有丰富的文化象征含义。因而从符号学视野探究体育与少数民族国家认同具有重要的理论与现实意义。少数民族的国家认同核心是政治认同与文化认同,体育的物源符号化、自然寓意、伴随文本意义、元语言解读、共同记忆塑造功能,有力促进现代国家少数民族国家认同。认清体育符号的标出性历史反转趋势,采取适当宽幅的文化选择,加强体育元语言的解读,充分利用体育符号媒介作用,增强少数民族文化自觉与自信、强化中华“多元一体”认识,厘清国家政治边界,从而有力促进少数民族国家认同的构建。     

试论战后日本公共外交运作模式的演变

战后日本公共外交的运作模式经历了由基本运作模式向改良型运作模式的转变。在基本运作模式中,一国讯息由政府主导下的相关机构及人员发出,经对方国家的信息传播节点后抵达普通公众视野。这种方式在冷战结束后,越来越无法适应新的国际环境。动员更多的非政府行为体参与其中,构建跨国共同体网络,借助商业模式来传播本国的价值理念,以及将象征本国国家形象的组织嵌入对方基层社会之中,已成为冷战之后特别是21世纪以来日本公共外交运作模式进行改良的主要方向。通过在这些方向上的摸索,日本最终形成了“议程设置式公共外交”“商业模式公共外交”“嵌入式公共外交”三种改良型运作模式。虽然这些运作模式尚未完全成熟,且有些模式真正能在多大程度上影响别国政策还有待进一步检验,但其至少在国家形象的塑造上获得了成功,提升了别国民众对日本的好感度。     

论政治文明的文化选择

文化即人化,它是人类所创造的精神成果和物质成果的总和;文明是文化的结晶,是文化主体对人类文化中野蛮性、愚昧性不断扬弃的结果,是人类有目的、有选择地过滤人类文化、形成合理文化内核的过程。中国当前的政治文明建设,需要走出“精华”和“糟粕”的简单二分的误区,用外来文化中国化、传统文化现代化,来开辟中国文化发展之路。弱化暴力色彩,强化仁政效应,构建中国特色的政治文明。     

Risking safety and rights: online sex work,crimes and ‘blended safety repertoires’

It has been well established that those working in the sex industry are at various risks of violence and crime depending on where they sell sex and the environments in which they work. What sociological research has failed to address is how crime and safety have been affected by the dynamic changing nature of sex work given the dominance of the internet and digital technologies, including the development of new markets such as webcamming. This paper reports the most comprehensive findings on the internet‐based sex market in the UK demonstrating types of crimes experienced by internet‐based sex workers and the strategies of risk management that sex workers adopt, building on our article in the British Journal of Sociology in 2007. We present the concept of ‘blended safety repertoires’ to explain how sex workers, particularly independent escorts, are using a range of traditional techniques alongside digitally enabled strategies to keep themselves safe. We contribute a deeper understanding of why sex workers who work indoors rarely report crimes to the police, reflecting the dilemmas experienced. Our findings highlight how legal and policy changes which seek to ban online adult services advertising and sex work related content within online spaces would have direct impact on the safety strategies online sex workers employ and would further undermine their safety. These findings occur in a context where aspects of sex work are quasi‐criminalized through the brothel keeping legislation. We conclude that the legal and policy failure to recognize sex work as a form of employment, contributes to the stigmatization of sex work and prevents individuals working together. Current UK policy disallows a framework for employment laws and health and safety standards to regulate sex work, leaving sex workers in the shadow economy, their safety at risk in a quasi‐legal system. In light of the strong evidence that the internet makes sex work safer, we argue that decriminalisation as a rights based model of regulation is most appropriate.     

Asset or Liability: Transnational Links and Political Participation of Foreign‐Born Citizens in Taiwan

Viewed as outsiders clinging onto links with their country of origin, immigrants do not often feature positively in electoral politics in their host society. Challenging this conventional view, this article examines how immigrants make use of their transnational ties to foster their political participation in the host state. This exploration is conducted through our study of the political participation of Vietnamese and Chinese immigrants in Taiwan. Our research finds that transnational ties are politicized by the mainstream political parties. However, such politicization does not necessarily restrict immigrants’ agency and their sociopolitical space for political participation. Their transnational ties constitute a dynamic sociopolitical field in which these maintained connections are acted upon and give rise to a variety of strategies for responding to issues affecting their interests.     

Online crisis communication in a post-truth Chinese society: Evidence from interdisciplinary literature

Through a thematic content analysis of 118 journal articles from interdisciplinary fields, this study reviews the research trends of online crisis communication literature in a Chinese post-truth society, where objective facts play a diminishing role, and Chinese people are losing their trust, despite the best efforts of organizations to deal with fake news in crises. Results of this study disclose some unique crisis communication strategies (e.g., strategic distraction, rumor-rebuttal, fabrication, acting cute, and content censorship) in crises of China. Influential contextual factors such as the political system, cultural values, and media features are identified as well. Theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed, and a greater picture of online crisis communication in contexts is posited for future research.     

Level of choice in older women’s decisions to retire or continue working and associated well-being

Retirement is a complex life transition. Women’s retirement, like their work lives, may be further complicated, for example, by family or financial obligations; they may feel forced to retire or to continue working or feel they have the choice to do so. This study examines the role of voluntary versus involuntary retirement or continued work participation among retirement-age women; specifically, the relationships between choice, work status, and well-being. Compared to women forced to retire, women who chose retirement or continuing to work had higher levels of life satisfaction. Findings highlight the importance of examining retirement within the life course context.     

多层供应链外包模式的选择及其协调

本文研究由两个原始设备制造企业（品牌企业）、一个代工企业和一个供应商组成的多层供应链的外包模式选择问题。应用主从博弈和纳什博弈理论,当一个原始设备制造企业的外包模式给定后,通过对不同外包模型求解比较,给出了后跟进的原始设备制造企业外包模式的最优选择策略。研究发现：后跟进的原始设备制造企业最优策略应采取与前一个原始设备制造企业相同的外包策略。针对最优外包策略,还设计了使供应链达到协调的二部定价契约机制,提高了外包供应链的竞争力。