bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Familiarity, expertise and involvement: key consumer segmentation factors
Authors: Taylor‐West Paul , Fulford Heather , Reed Gary , Story Vicky , Saker Jim 
Published: September 2008

PurposeIt is generally accepted that the launch of a new product is critical to its success. Key to this is that manufacturers understand the market segment which is targeted for the launch. However, recent research and criticism suggest that modern segmentation strategies, aligning products with lifecycle typologies do not work. It is no longer possible to align consumers and products into neat and stable lifecycle segments. It is suggested that more importance should be attached to products having a familiarity fit with consumers – what they know and expect from a particular product. These views are moderated by a consumer's enthusiasm or involvement with the product as well as their level of expertise in understanding complex products. This paper aims to look at these issues.Design/methodology/approachThis research looks at consumer perceptions to the changes to two automotive models launched by one of the major manufacturers at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Germany, held in September 2005, to discover which changes had the most appeal and to identify correlations with consumer lifecycles.FindingsResults revealed that consumer lifecycles had no correlation with any of the data, whereas familiarity, expertise and product involvement will provide manufacturers with more accurate segmentation tools in the launch and marketing of new automotive products.Practical implicationsThese findings suggest that a customer's expertise, product involvement and familiarity with the product are likely to provide more appropriate market segmentation tools.Originality/valueThis paper reveals useful information on consumer lifestyles and market segmentation tools.
Are pub discount cards loyalty cards?
Authors: Hobbs Rachel , Rowley Jennifer 
Published: September 2008

PurposeThis research aims to explore the extent to which pub or bar discount cards that are distributed to students function as loyalty cards, or make a contribution to relationship building. The research also aims to make a contribution to the role of “instant discount” loyalty cards.Design/methodology/approachData were collected on the design of the discount card schemes, their advantages and disadvantages from the customer and management perspective, the business motivations for introducing the scheme, the student motivations in purchasing the cards, and the impact of membership on profitability, popularity of venues, and repeat visits. Three main methods of data collection were used: questionnaires to collect a profile of customers' views; a focus group to gain a more in‐depth understanding of customer attitudes and behaviour; and, interviews with pub managers to understand the operation of the scheme and their perceptions of the impact of the scheme.FindingsPub discount cards do not generate either behavioural or attitudinal loyalty directly, but indirectly through the issue of a discount card, whose associated discounts cause a “flocking” behaviour through which the atmosphere in the pub is enhanced and its popularity and patronage are increased. The relationship between the customer and the pub is then mediated by customer‐to‐customer interactions and, thereby, in turn the discount cards “add value” for both customers and businesses.Originality/valueThis research makes a contribution to the use of discount/club cards in the hospitality sector, outside of the major schemes such as airline and hotel reward schemes. In addition, research into the use of these schemes provides a unique opportunity to understand the way in which the student demographic adopts and uses loyalty and discount cards.
The largest segments that should not be served: higher education marketing serving the growing slacker segment
Authors: Rotfeld Herbert Jack 
Published: September 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to recognize how common practices of selling textbooks to university educators provide the tools for the faculty to minimize their teaching efforts. When coupled with higher education practices that see students as customers, such as university administrators' day‐to‐day goals driven by concerns of complaint avoidance, students “voting with their feet” for popular courses or the evaluation of teaching by use of students' evaluations of faculty, actual education gets minimized.Design/method/approachThe paper describes common supplemental teaching aids provided to adopters of textbooks, but noting that the extensive use of these tools results in decreasing outcomes of student learning. The textbook publishers are using good marketing practices in that these textbook supplements target faculty who teach large numbers of students every year. In turn, the faculty who rely on these aids can become very popular with students. However, marketing to these segments of faculty and (indirectly) to these students might actually encourage the growth of these segments to the detriment of the smaller numbers of students who actually want an education and faculty would be willing to do the work to provide it.FindingsThe paper finds that, while popular attention such as the US “No Child Left Behind” legislation has been toward the primary education levels to ensure students are actually learning to read and write and while high schools increasingly use high stakes testing before students are allowed to graduate, the marketing practices of higher education could be serving the decline of thinking among college graduates. Textbooks target sales to faculty who want quantities of teaching aids to simplify the work, and schools can make classes more popular by asking students to do less thinking.Originality/valueThe paper provides a critical statement of common higher education practices that are not widely known or whose dangers are ignored.
Using student feedback in designing student‐focused curricula
Authors: McCuddy Michael K. , Pinar Musa , Gingerich Elizabeth F.R. 
Published: September 2008

PurposeThe whole process of reviewing and redesigning curricula is an exercise in managing change. Given the multiple stakeholders in the educational enterprise, the many forces that impact upon those enterprises, and the organized and complicated activities in which those enterprises engage, the management of curricular change can be a daunting challenge. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that this challenge can be met by adapting and applying knowledge and techniques from the discipline of organizational development and change (ODC) and by including student feedback as an important source of diagnostic input in the change process.Design/methodology/approachA process used in one American school of business for incorporating meaningful student input into the curriculum review and planning process is described. The paper reports on the use of a student survey and student focus group to generate feedback in two areas of the college's curricular concerns: the structure, operation, and impact of an introductory business course offered in the first year of the undergraduate experience; and second, the potential addition of majors, minors, and a course requirement in the business school's curriculum. The paper explains how the survey and focus group were used, summarizes the results provided by each diagnostic venue, and discusses how the diagnostic information is currently being used in the college's curricular design process.FindingsIt was recognized that there are many drivers of curriculum development, most importantly the needs and desires of employers for educated people who have the skills and competencies that can help their organizations survive and succeed. Employers constitute the ultimate marketplace for the output of educational institutions.Originality/valueIt is hoped that this example application of ODC techniques for diagnosing the need for curricular change will stimulate others to embrace ODC as they think about the broader issues of change in educational institutions, and in responding to needs for curricular change.
Three decades of implementation of school‐based management in the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria in Australia
Authors: Gammage David T. 
Published: September 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how the process of implementation of school‐based management (SBM) has worked within the public school systems in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and Victoria in Australia. The period covered was 1976‐2006.Design/methodology/approachThe approach adopted was the mixed methodology which included empirical surveys, interviews with stakeholders and documentary analyses including Parliamentary acts, statutes, school board or council constitutions, research reports, parliamentary and official reports.FindingsThe findings suggest that both systems had a strong commitment to the proper implementation of SBM towards the improvement of school outcomes and student achievements. Whenever problems arose stakeholders were keen to sort them out and move forward by covering the gaps to avoid the repetition of similar problems. Both systems have succeeded in strengthening their own model of SBM and are satisfied with the achievements through SBM.Research limitations/implicationsIn the context of school systems in the ACT and Victoria, all relevant stakeholder groups and political parties were committed to the implementation of SBM and schools have been able to build a high degree of trust and confidence between the internal and external constituencies in a gradual process. But, it may not be the case in other contexts.Originality/valueThe paper's value is in attempting a comparative study of SBM within two different school systems in Australia since the mid‐1970s, highlighting the distinct approaches taken for the introduction and implementation of the concept including constrains and impediments confronted in some cases.
Critical management in knowledge organizations
Authors: Macpherson Reynold 
Published: September 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to invite educational managers and management educators to reflect critically on practice.Design/methodology/approachUsing the point of Socrates' death, the paper suggests ways of reflecting on actions using ethically‐critical, socially‐critical, environmentally‐critical, politically‐critical and globally‐critical perspectives.FindingsWays and means are found of reflecting on actions with special reference to the concept of value and the unique nature of knowledge organizations.Originality/valueThe paper is of value in recommending a blend of Rawlsian egalitarian liberalism and Deweyan democratic and educative pragmatism to support ways of being critical in management education, research and in practice.
Emerging technologies in global communication
Authors: Calabrese Raymond L. , Roberts B.E. , McLeod Scott , Niles Rae , Christopherson Kelly , Singh Paviter , Berry Miles 
Published: September 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe how practitioners from Canada, the UK, Singapore, and the USA, university educational administration faculty from the USA, and the editor of a premier international journal of educational management engaged in a collaborative process to discover how to improve the preparation and practice of educational administration on a global basis.Design/methodology/approachAn appreciative inquiry theoretical research perspective was used to discover a positive core of experiences that could add to cultural proficiency as it relates to educational administration.FindingsIn each cultural context, the central nature of the highpoint stories focused on appreciative ways to work with other people. The stories suggest that relationships and collaboration are at the heart of an educational administrator's practice. It was discovered that twenty‐first century educational administrators operating in a global context believed that they could become difference makers in education.Originality/valueThe findings from this study provide encouragement for extended global collaboration for practicing educational administrators as well as those who are responsible for their preparation. The findings also suggest that using collaborative technologies in the framework of a cross‐cultural educator partnership can enhance the preparation and practice in educational administration programs.
Corporate governance, accountability and mechanisms of accountability: an overview
Authors: Brennan Niamh M. , Solomon Jill 
Published: September 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to review traditional corporate governance and accountability research, to suggest opportunities for future research in this field.Design/methodology/approachThe first part adopts an analytical frame of reference based on theory, accountability mechanisms, methodology, business sector/context, globalisation and time horizon. The second part of the paper locates the seven papers in the special issue in a framework of analysis showing how each one contributes to the field. The paper presents a frame of reference which may be used as a “roadmap” for researchers to navigate their way through the prior literature and to position their work on the frontiers of corporate governance research. The paper is primarily discursive and conceptual.FindingsThe paper encourages broader approaches to corporate governance and accountability research beyond the traditional and primarily quantitative approaches of prior research. Broader theoretical perspectives, methodological approaches, accountability mechanism, sectors/contexts, globalisation, and time horizons are identified.Research limitations/implicationsGreater use of qualitative research methods are suggested, which present challenges particularly of access to the “black box” of corporate boardrooms.Originality/valueDrawing on the analytical framework, and the papers in the special issue, the paper identifies opportunities for further research of accountability and corporate governance.
Does superior firm performance lead to higher quality outside directorships?
Authors: Gupta Aditi , Otley David , Young Steven 
Published: September 2008

PurposeHolding the number of outside directorships constant, this paper aims to test whether executive directors from superior performing firms are subsequently rewarded with better quality outside directorships.Design/methodology/approachThe quality of new outside directorship appointments is modelled using a two‐step Heckman selection procedure to control for the probability of acquiring a new outside board seat. Outside directorship quality is estimated using an index formed from series of observable firm‐specific characteristics proxying for the following three latent aspects of quality: prestige, reputational risk and monetary rewards. The index aggregates across these three dimensions to produce an overall quality score, with higher scores signifying higher quality directorships.FindingsTests based on a sample of UK executive directors who subsequently acquire at least one new outside board seat show that the quality of newly acquired outside directorships is positively related to past and contemporaneous performance at the executive's own firm. Recent past performance appears to be a more important determinant of the quality of outside directorships than long‐run performance reputations. However, effects are largely confined to executives that either switch between boards or enter the outside directorship market for the first time.Research limitations/implicationsFindings support the view that the market for outside directorships operates (at least in part) as a meritocracy by rewarding executives from superior performing firms with better quality outside board appointments.Originality/valuePrior work on the market for outside directorships focuses on explaining cross‐sectional variation in the number of outside board seats held. The paper is the first to measure and model directorship quality.
Corporate governance: what about the workers?
Authors: Sikka Prem 
Published: September 2008

PurposeTo stimulate debates about the creation of corporate governance mechanisms and processes which would help to secure an equitable distribution of income and wealth for workers.Design/methodology/approachThe paper builds on a political economy of income and wealth inequalities. It argues that corporate governance mechanisms and processes are rooted in particular politics and histories. The state is a key actor. It provides a brief history of the UK corporate governance debates relating to income distribution, industrial democracy and disclosures. It provides social data about the extent of income inequalities.FindingsThe paper shows that the UK lacks institutional structures and processes and mechanisms to enable workers to secure a higher share of the firm's income.Research limitations/implicationsThe study primarily focuses on some aspects of the corporate governance structures, practices and income/wealth inequalities in the UK. Its implications could also be relevant to market‐oriented liberal states with “consensus” or “majoritarian” electoral systems.Practical implicationsTo encourage debates, the paper puts forward a number of suggestions for changing electoral and corporate governance practices together with disclosures that could give visibility to income and wealth inequalities.Originality/valueThe paper links corporate governance debates to broader political choices.
The individualization of corporate governance
Authors: Dewing Ian P. , Russell Peter O. 
Published: September 2008

PurposeUnder the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) is the single regulator of firms in the UK financial services industry. The Act grants extensive powers to the FSA such that it can impose by rules and regulations additional corporate governance requirements on firms in the financial services industry. The legislative and regulatory requirements also extend to individuals under the FSA approved persons' regime. The purpose of the paper is to examine this individualization of corporate governance.Design/methodology/approachThe paper first explores the rise to significance of internal control and risk management in corporate governance and regulation, and links this to Beck's risk society and individualization theses. The extent of the individualization of corporate governance by the approved persons' regime is explored by examining three sources of evidence: the FSA's documents setting out the approved persons' regime; the initial perceptions about the implementation of the approved persons' regime from interviews with high‐level individuals in the financial services industry; and the outcomes of illustrative FSA enforcement actions against individuals.FindingsThe findings are that the FSA has developed a comprehensive and formidable apparatus for the individualization of corporate governance in the UK's financial services industry. It is argued that a discourse based on the interpretive evaluations of internal control and risk management may be replacing a discourse based on the quantitative techniques of management accounting, which may be characterised as the demise of the “calculating self” and the rise of the “auditable self”.Practical implicationsThe FSA's approved persons' regime could be developed as a model for other areas of the private and public sectors, where for regulatory purposes it may be desirable to identify approved or official roles.Originality/valueThe ability of regulators to “make” corporate governance by rules and regulations is relatively unexplored. Also, the focus of corporate governance is on firms rather than individuals. The paper considers the extension of corporate governance from the firm to the individual that may be achieved by regulation.
Beyond the boardroom: governmental perspectives on corporate governance
Authors: Stein Mitchell J. 
Published: September 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to examine corporate governance and consequences of the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act (SOX) in the US from a socio‐political perspective.Design/methodology/approachThe author employs neo‐liberalism and its related mentality of governmentality to develop an analysis of how corporate governance and reforms such as SOX are socially constructed through autonomous agents, including managers and accountants, and various power relationships that comprise government.FindingsThis paper theorizes that legislative reform, such as SOX, represents pervasive mechanisms of disclosure, surveillance and power, and an insurance rationality designed to manage the new and significant risks of corporate governance. A framework is established which conceptualizes SOX as the intersection of neo‐liberalism, political rationalities and governmental techniques, and accounting practices which lead to the elements of security, quantification and shareholder value. Through this framework a model of risk as governance is developed that examines SOX through technologies of the self, calculation and insurance, designed to act upon managers using knowledge about control or financial statement weaknesses. Such mechanisms identify corporate governance risks, which can be acted upon by outside experts, such as accountants.Originality/valueThe major inference from this paper is that corporate governance research in accounting should pursue new lines of inquiry, which will permit the more profitable extension of existing research. Such inquiry should focus less on empirical corporate governance factors and more on the relationships, and power constructs of corporate governance, as well as how legislative reforms employ tactics to normalize the behaviour of not only managers, but also accountants.
Rationality, traditionalism and the state of corporate governance mechanisms
Authors: Uddin Shahzad , Choudhury Jamal 
Published: September 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide an account of corporate governance practices in Bangladesh. This paper demonstrates that the traditionalist culture mediates the rationalist/legalist framework of corporate governance in Bangladesh.Design/methodology/approachA series of semi‐structured interviews were conducted. Observations and the personal working experience of one of the researchers, along with documentation, provided rich sources of information for the paper.FindingsThe findings show that families have a dominant presence in all aspects of corporate governance. Boards of directors in companies play a significant part in serving the interests of families rather than those of general shareholders.Research limitations/implicationsThis study focuses on corporate governance practices in a traditional setting and shows how traditional culture and values are in conflict with the rational ideas imported from a different setting.Originality/valueThe paper adds to the literature on corporate governance, especially in the context of less‐developed countries. It will be of great value to researchers and practitioners seeking to gain a better understanding of corporate governance frameworks in various settings.
Internal control, accountability and corporate governance
Authors: Jones Michael John 
Published: September 2008

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to compare modern internal control systems with those in medieval England.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses a modern referential framework (control environment, risk assessment, information and communication, monitoring and control activities) as a lens to investigate medieval internal controls used in the twelfth century royal exchequer and other medieval institutions. It draws upon an extensive range of primary materials.FindingsThe paper demonstrates that most of the internal controls found today are present in medieval England. Stewardship and personal accountability are found to be the core elements of medieval internal control. The recent recognition of the need for the enhanced personal accountability of individuals is reminiscent of medieval thinking.Originality/valueIt investigates internal controls in medieval England for the first time and draws comparisons to today.