The Competitive Impact of Targeted Television Advertisements Using DVR Technology

Digital video recorders (DVRs) are an emerging technology that is fundamentally changing the competitive landscape in industries that advertise on television. Perhaps the most familiar impact of DVR technology is that it enables consumers to avoid advertisements (ads) by fast forwarding through them. However, this “zipping” of ads is only one aspect of the impact of DVR technology. DVRs also collect a wealth of information at the consumer level that can be used by firms to target their ads more effectively. We examine how this targeting capability moderates the impact of ad avoidance in a competitive setting. Insights are provided on how best to manage this emerging technology in terms of the key managerial decisions of product pricing and advertising efforts, as well as its impact on profits in a competitive (duopoly) marketplace.     

企业非市场与市场行为及其竞争特点对企业绩效的影响研究

随着我国企业步入激烈的动态竞争时代,企业的成功不仅依赖于产品和服务、分销渠道、供应链、价格等市场行为,也依赖于企业与政府、社会公众以及各种利益相关者之间的关系等非市场行为.本文首先提出了一个企业非市场、市场行为(或回应)及其竞争特点与企业绩效关系的理论模型及其相关假设,然后以2004年至2006年我国钢铁、汽车、医药、日化、电力和电信等六个行业中的30家企业的非市场与市场行为为样本,通过结构内容分析方法对有关企业竞争行为新闻报道的编码数据进行处理和信效度检验,接着在对各种非市场与市场行为频数统计和独立样本T检验的基础上,运用回归方程模型进一步分别检验了非市场与市场行为及其竞争特点对企业绩效的影响.最后,本文将研究结果与中国企业现实情况进行了相互对照,并提出了研究结论和相关启示.     

Intergenerational resource tensions in the workplace and beyond: Individual,interpersonal, institutional,international

The workforce is rapidly aging. Already at record highs, labor force participation rates of both over-55 and over-65 age segments are expected to nearly double in the immediate future. The current chapter describes how these sweeping demographic changes necessitate both the unprecedented utilization of older workers and intergenerational collaboration, but also present the danger of heightened generational tension. We describe the specific risk factors for such tensions, highlighting the presence of generational boundaries at multiple levels: (a) individual, (b) interpersonal, (c) institutional, and (d) international. Drawing from our own work and relevant management literature, we then identify three broad domains within which intergenerational tensions are particularly salient at each of these levels: active Succession tensions over enviable resources and influence (e.g., employment), passive Consumption tensions over shared asset usage (e.g., healthcare) and symbolic Identity tensions over figurative space (e.g., cultural fit) (SCI). We conclude with suggestions for potential interventions, and major open areas for future organizational research, both of which should focus on how to maximize the utility of unprecedented intergenerational collaboration.     

Customer Use of Virtual Channels in Multichannel Services: Does Type of Activity Matter?

Many firms have recently adopted virtual channels, based most notably on the Internet and the phone, to complement the delivery of services to their customers by their existing physical facilities. The success of such multichannel (MC) strategies relies on the alignment of service design decisions—namely those concerning the allocation of service activities to virtual channels—with customers’ MC behavior. Although prior studies have looked at the intensity with which customers use virtual channels, they have not addressed virtual channel use for different types of service activities. In our study, we investigate whether customers’ use of virtual channels for MC services varies with the type of service activities they engage in, and if so, in what way. In doing so, we address two objectives. First, we investigate the impact of accessibility to the physical channel on the degree of use of virtual channels (Internet and phone, aggregated) for different types of activities. Second, we look at channel preferences (Internet vs. phone) for different types of activities when customers do resort to virtual channels to conduct activities. To address our objectives, we develop and test hypotheses regarding customers’ use of virtual channels based on the match between activity attributes (complexity and volume) and channel attributes (access efficiency, interface efficiency, interface richness). Using data from a MC bank, we find that the impact of accessibility to physical channels (specifically, customer distance) on customers’ use of virtual channels, as well as the relative use of Internet versus phone, depend on the type of activities.     

An Examination of How Supervisors Influence Their Subordinates to Engage in Environmental Behaviors

Employee engagement in environmental behaviors is an important topic in operations management. Drawing upon stakeholder, commitment, and organizational support theories, this study creates and tests an empirical model of how store managers (i.e., supervisors) influence their direct reports (i.e., subordinates) to become engaged in environmental behaviors. Based on a dataset derived from supervisors and their subordinates who are employed at the same grocery store location across a large retail grocery chain, we test our study's nomological model and find support for the linkages proposed. Key research and managerial implications are discussed.     

苏南地区青少年教育的若干思考

基于对苏南部分地区的实地调查，讨论分析了该地区青少年人口结构、生活环境特点和存在问题，以及转型期社会现实中对青少年健康成长的不利影响因素，阐述了强化青少年正面教育的对策性思考     

Perceptions of efficacy in the use of contemporary film in social work education: An exploratory study

This article discusses the use of contemporary film in social work education, including the theoretical rationale for the inclusion of film from the perspective of narrative and adult learning theory as well as the application of the case method to the use of film. The student viewpoint and perspective is provided through the results of an exploratory research study with 109 Baccalaureate social work students who completed a survey questionnaire following a classroom activity involving a contemporary film. Analysis of the quantitative data and qualitative comments indicates that students believe that film is a beneficial adjunct to textbook and lecture content.     

Analysis of Pre and Posttest Gender Differences in Family Satisfaction of Divorce Mediation Couples

To determine if divorcing spouses experience the family reorganization process through mediation differently, we tested divorcing couples before and after child custody/visitatior mediation, using the Family Satisfaction scale. The pretest family satisfaction scores of husbands as a group were significantly lower than those of the wives (p = .004), but significantly improved after mediation (p = .005). The family satisfaction of wives as a group did not change. Within-couple differences in family satisfaction did not change for either spousal group before and after mediation, an indication that an improvement in the family satisfaction of the husband is not necessarily at the expense of the wife.     

Affirming the “S” in HBSE Through the Socio-Cultural Discourses of Lev Vygotsky,Barbara Myerhoff,Jerome Bruner,and Ken Gergen

Owing largely to the pioneering spirit of Sigmund Freud, social work's understanding of human behavior and development has supported individualist discourses that essentialize the self. Socio-cultural discourses present alternatives that strengthen the intentions of many social workers when they invoke the concept of human behavior in the social environment. In particular, Lev Vygotsky, Barbara Myerhoff, Jerome Bruner, and Ken Gergen offer compelling and salient accounts for genuinely regarding human behavior as embedded, even constituted by, social environments.     

阿拉伯伦理学

伊斯兰教前阿拉伯人的伦理道德是由他们生活的自然条件和沙漠社会所决定的 ,是一种不自觉的自然状态 ;阿拉伯人接受伊斯兰教信仰后 ,在人生观、宇宙观、生死观等诸多意识形态领域内的认识发生了重大的变化 ,发生了质的飞跃 ,这时候的伦理道德是一种自觉的理性表现。伊斯兰的基本信仰———确信真主及其使者———就成了伊斯兰道德的基础 ,一切言行都要按照真主的命令认真去做。阿拉伯伊斯兰伦理在道德与行为 (工作、弃恶从善、履行诺言等 )、道德与修养 (容忍、宽恕、平等、民主等 )、主张男女平等、维护妇女权益以及与现代文明关系诸多方面 ,都表现出了它独有的特征