Pricing-based practices,conflicts and performance in franchising

Pricing management is complex in hybrid organizations like franchising, as much of the raison d’être of franchising is built upon maintaining chain uniformity. However, franchisees and franchisors may have very different views on what the optimal prices are at a given unit. The aim of our research is thus to assess how resale pricing decisions are made and implemented in franchised chains and what the business consequences are. Our research question is then “Which pricing-based practices reduce conflicts between franchisors and franchisees and so enhance performance?” Based on a questionnaire-based survey of 406 franchisees in the largest European franchise market, France, the results of our analyses show that resale pricing in franchised chains is of crucial importance not only vis-à-vis customers, but also vis-à-vis franchisees, particularly concerning their satisfaction, store performance, and intention to acquire additional stores. On the franchisor part, pricing is essential in terms of brand performance and brand name value. Regarding the franchisor-franchisee relationship, pricing is crucial in terms of the occurrence of conflicts.     

Prestige in social dilemmas: A network analytic approach to cooperation among Bogotá’s art organizations

What brings about cooperation in social dilemmas? The literature has proposed motivational and strategic solutions to social dilemmas. In motivational solutions, actors cooperate because they care about fairness. In strategic solutions actors cooperate because their chances to exploit others are reduced. This paper argues that actors also cooperate in order to gain prestige. The effect of prestige on cooperation is examined relying on a unique set of network and covariate data on art organizations (museums, independent art spaces, galleries and art foundations) in Bogotá, the capital of Colombia. Bogotá is a not a very likely environment for cooperation, since distrust is still widespread after a long civil war. The temporal exponential random graph models predict dyadic cooperation (i.e., between two actors) based on past and present cooperation in the network as well as of the organizations’ characteristics. The analysis thus controls for the effect of actors’ past and present interaction on the present cooperation dilemma. The paper shows that prestige affects cooperation in social dilemmas independent of past and present interactions.     

An overview of Middle East public relations practice,education, and research from isolation to globalization

ABSTRACT

Public relations has a critical role in addressing culture difference and enhancing research outreach. An analysis of practice, education and research in Middle East provides an exemplar of the need to move the discipline’s scholarship from global isolation to cultural inclusivity. A review of current scholarship in the discipline's journals documents the preeminence of “Western” theory. Research with culturally collaborative studies of media, culture, technology, and society is needed to provide global perspectives. The paper argues five initiatives are needed next steps for the discipline to achieve global inclusivity: * Enhance research collaboration – Culturally collaborative studies of media, culture, technology, and society are needed to provide global perspectives in our discipline. *Address bilingual scholarship – Public relations theory needs to acknowledge varied traditions and methodologies. Research journals need Middle Eastern faculty editorial board members and need to explore translation options. *Align research with the profession – Globally, public relations research needs qualitative understanding. Cultural differences often regress quantitative analysis to meaningless implications for both theory and practice. *Assess curriculum globalization – Educators need to increase cultural content in courses. Textbooks are needed that reflect the globalization of the field from multiple perspectives. *Develop international accreditation standards – An accreditation model based on bilingual, global, and contemporary careers in the discipline is needed. International accreditation site teams must include bilingual members.     

When and with whom to cooperate? Investigating effects of cooperation stage and type on innovation capabilities and success

In times of saturated markets and decreasing product life cycles, the continuous development and successful launch of innovations are essential for profit-oriented organizations of any kind. Interorganizational cooperation enables companies to get better access to knowledge and capabilities in order to generate and successfully introduce innovations. While scientific research and management practice have acknowledged the importance of cooperation, little research effort is dedicated to empirically determine the effectiveness of cooperation intensity within different stages of the innovation process (cooperation stage) and with different partners (cooperation type). This article aims to fill these gaps by empirically examining the effects of cooperation intensity with different kinds of partners (horizontal, vertical and institutional cooperation) in different stages of new product development (concept and product development as well as implementation stage) on innovation capabilities and success of individual companies. Drawing upon a sample of 154 high-tech companies from the German B-2-B sector, our results reveal that it is in general beneficial for a company to cooperate. However, cooperation in concept and product development primarily improves a company's innovation capabilities while cooperation in the implementation stage primarily enhances innovation success of a company. With respect to cooperation type, vertical, horizontal as well as institutional cooperation significantly enhance innovation capabilities and success of a company. However, cooperation with institutional partners was found to be the most important contributor throughout all stages.     

成都·凉山工业园区可持续发展初探

成都·凉山工业园区依托凉山优势资源,加强区域合作,致力于发展特色生态产业。在园区跨越式发展的起步阶段,应科学规划布局,统筹城乡经济发展,优先推进公共设施建设,构建生态产业网络,完善园区管理体系,促进民族区域经济可持续发展。     

中原经济区建设视阈下河南高校实践教学模式探讨

2011年10月7日,国务院颁布了2011年32号文件——《国务院关于支持河南省加快建设中原经济区的指导意见》,这对于加快河南省经济建设来说无疑是一次绝好的机遇。面对这一经济发展趋势和特点,河南高校应充分发挥自身的优势,主动响应、主动对接。关键点就是高素质人才输送。本文从高校实践教学模式入手,探讨了高校如何开展实践教学,探索河南高校如何更加有效地服务于中原经济区建设。     

广州大学城亚运雕塑与岭南城市新景观

广州大学城亚运雕塑,构筑了岭南城市新景观,以广州大学城环岛路线的主题雕塑为图像符号.作为各高校出入口的主干道,“主题绿化带”景观建设,是环境艺术设计的一个新亮点,它起着标识各校区域间的导向道路作用,昭示环境雕塑在城市景观空间中的价值取向.主题雕塑是传递激情、拼搏、创新的符号,是以岭南人“世俗化”取向再现大众生活的剪影,象征务实的岭南精神,使大学城环境景观建设具有时代性意义.     

基于生态范式的南京青奥会主题标语翻译

以南京青奥会主题标语的翻译为例，对主题标语提出时的生态环境作出了全新的阐释；同时以生态范式下的多维转换为原则，对主题标语的翻译进行了深入探讨。     

Better stuck together or free to go? Of the stability of cooperation when individuals have outside options

How do outside options affect cooperation? We examine the stability of cooperation and the reasons for exit in public projects with stochastic outcomes, imperfect monitoring and an exit option. We find that treatments with high barriers to exit generate higher welfare overall as they foster stability and prevent inefficient separation of pairs. There is excessive exit in treatments with low barriers to exit, driven in part by an overestimate of the likelihood that the peer will leave and a desire not to be left alone in the public project. We contrast long-term “strategic” and short-term “egoistic” drivers of exit and find that short-term cost-benefit considerations play a more important role in treatments with lower barriers to exit.     

新安全观视野下的中阿安全合作

新安全观包括政治、经济、军事、文化、信息及生态安全等多种内涵,主张尊重对方的利益,在实现自身利益的同时,为对方安全创造条件,实现共同安全,最终达到“双赢”和“多赢”的目的。中国政府所倡导的以“互信、互利、平等、协作”为核心的和平外交新理念,不仅适用于应对传统安全威胁,也适用于应对非传统安全威胁。依照新安全观积极开展中阿安全合作符合双方利益,也有利于维护世界和平。中阿关系是一种经过时间考验的、真诚的、彼此信赖的关系,这是中阿合作的历史财富,也是继续合作的坚实基础。