bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Towards effective poster presentations: an annotated bibliography
Authors: Brownlie Douglas 
Published: October 2007

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to introduce the topic of poster presentation as legitimate area of academic study and practice within the marketing discipline.Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents the output of one part of a research project that reviewed the state of knowledge and practice within poster presentation as a dissemination medium for research information. The results of the literature search are presented as an annotated bibliography.FindingsThe literature search reveals a sizeable body of material on the use of poster presentation as a dissemination media, indicative of a set of key themes that guide good practice in poster design, construction and presentation. It also includes material that has studied the use of poster design and presentation exercises as pedagogical devices.Research limitations/implicationsThe research on which the paper is based is limited by virtue of not offering a more complete survey of contemporary poster presentation practice across the sciences. It draws observations from the author's attendance at several marketing and management‐related conferences where poster presenters have been interviewed and examples of poster presentation have been collected. However, in the sciences, especially the medical sciences, poster practice is well‐established and in some cases moving towards digitisation.Practical implicationsThe aesthetics of poster design remain unclear in the case of poster design for the dissemination of scientific information. However, a set of templates has been produced based on the close study of a database of over 600 poster designs and ten years' experience of using posters as teaching tools for research training. A methodology for poster design has also been developed known as “The Block Architecture Method of Poster Design”. It uses the software Powerpoint and Photoshop to develop poster design electronically.Originality/valueThe bibliography will help interested teachers and students explore the various issues surrounding poster design, construction and presentation. It will also help to understand some of the advantages of using poster‐design exercises as creative and critical devices in a pedagogical context.
New marketing, improved marketing, apocryphal marketing
Authors: Woodall Tony 
Published: October 2007

PurposeThis paper seeks to explore marketing's ambiguous relationship with truth and, in so doing, to question the efficacy and value of the marketing concept and the very nature of marketing itself. Is marketing something that marketers do, or is it something much broader than this? If the latter, are marketers themselves either willing, or able to operate beyond traditional boundaries and, if not, should they focus – honourably – on what they do best, and encourage/support others who might market just as effectively, but in a different manner?Design/methodology/approachStarting with a summary of recent developments in marketing thought this paper argues that marketers find difficulty in implementing the marketing concept, and that market‐oriented compromise and pretence should consequently be abandoned. The thesis goes on to suggest that both “performance” and the “part‐time” marketer should be given greater respect and allocated substantially more credence by all marketing communities.FindingsThe argument concludes, ultimately, that marketing could find both greater respect and effectiveness by focusing its efforts more on the extremes of “marketing space”, and that the presently envisioned marketing concept offers scope only for a dispiriting and partially realised evocation of its stated aims.Practical implicationsMarketers should take marketing more seriously.Originality/valueThis paper seeks to add to current debates on marketing theory and will, hopefully, help inform ongoing exploration into the nature and role of marketing practice.
Developing a scale for stakeholder orientation
Authors: Yau Oliver H.M. , Chow Raymond P.M. , Sin Leo Y.M. , Tse Alan C.B. , Luk C.L. , Lee Jenny S.Y. 
Published: October 2007

PurposeBusiness practitioners are increasingly concerned about stakeholder issues. Although stakeholder orientation (StkO) has important bearings on a company's performance, to date no systematic attempt has been made to develop a valid scale of StkO, or to assess its influence on business performance. The present paper aims to look into ecological validity by attempting to construct and validate the StkO scale developed in China.Design/methodology/approachGiven the literature reviewed, a model is proposed of company performance based on StkOs, which is identified as a one‐dimensional construct consisting of four components. Using a survey design, data were collected from 400 firms in three most important commercial cities of Mainland China with a response rate of 25 percent. Both item analysis and split‐half method were used to purify the measurement scale and to assess its stability. An exploratory factory was used to assess the dimensionality. Its result was subject to a confirmatory factory analysis using AMOS 4.01, which examined the construct, convergent and discriminant validities of StkO. The nomological validity of the scale was assessed by constructing a structural equation model with encouraging indices of goodness of fit.FindingsThe findings support the assertion that StkO is a multi‐facet construct consisting of four dimensions. The data indicate that these components are convergent on a common construct and that the relationship of the scale developed in this paper has acceptable discriminant validity and nomological validity.Originality/valueFor practicing managers, the findings reconfirm the long‐held belief that StkO is a crucial factor for business performance. First, the proposed scale could be used as a diagnostic tool to identify areas where the specific improvements are needed and to pinpoint aspects of a firm's StkO that require work. Second, the four components in the StkO model may serve to identify training needs by helping human resources managers so as to better develop a relationship with various stakeholders. Finally, firms may use this framework to develop relevant and effective business strategies and tactics and to set clear policies that balance the relationships and benefits among customers, shareholders, and employees.
A review of the foundation, international marketing strategies, and performance of international new ventures
Authors: Aspelund Arild , Koed Madsen Tage , Moen Øystein 
Published: October 2007

PurposeThis review aims to focus on the phenomenon of infant firms that operate internationally right from or close to inception, so‐called international new ventures (INVs) or born global firms. It also aims to provide a comprehensive review of the literature on INVs from the time when such firms emerged in the literature in the early 1990s up until today.Design/methodology/approachThe study is a systematic review of top journals within entrepreneurship, marketing and management over the years 1992‐2004. The focus is primarily on studies with empirical evidence and the review is narrative in nature. The study presents and discusses findings related to the founding of the firm, organizational features, environmental factors, and their influence on market strategy and firm performance.FindingsThe study finds great heterogeneity on the factors examined within this relatively narrow defined group of firms. This leads the study to conclude that normative linear models of international expansion render little explanatory and predictive value to the study of these firms.Research limitations/implicationsThe study concludes that recent empirical findings on INVs offer insight beyond traditional models of internationalization, and that more theory driven research in the area is required. The paper suggests application of general theories of organizations on the INV phenomenon in an attempt to understand international expansion and market strategies of new firms.Practical implicationsThe study represents a comprehensive review of the literature on INVs and serves well as an introduction to the field for students, managers and scholars.Originality/valueThe study offers a much needed recapitulation of the empirical evidence in a relatively new field of research. It offers guidance for future research in a field of research that is still in its infancy.
The importance of packaging attributes: a conjoint analysis approach
Authors: Silayoi Pinya , Speece Mark 
Published: October 2007

PurposeThe importance of packaging design and the role of packaging as a vehicle for consumer communication and branding are necessarily growing. To achieve communication goals effectively, knowledge about consumer psychology is important so that manufacturers understand consumer response to their packages. this paper aims to investigate this issue.Design/methodology/approachThe paper examines these issues using a conjoint study among consumers for packaged food products in Thailand, which is a very competitive packaged food products market.FindingsThe conjoint results indicate that perceptions about packaging technology (portraying convenience) play the most important role overall in consumer likelihood to buy.Research limitations/implicationsThere is strong segmentation in which packaging elements consumers consider most important. Some consumers are mostly oriented toward the visual aesthetics, while a small segment focuses on product detail on the label.Originality/valueSegmentation variables based on packaging response can provide very useful information to help marketers maximize the package's impact.
Ethnocentric beliefs and country‐of‐origin (COO) effect
Authors: Chryssochoidis George , Krystallis Athanassios , Perreas Panagiotis 
Published: October 2007

PurposeThe present study using the Consumer Ethnocentric Tendencies Scale (CET‐SCALE) aims to evaluate the level of consumer ethnocentrism (CE) and its implications on their evaluation of food products. Furthermore, it seeks to examine the level at which country of origin (COO) effect is activated (country, product or attribute) per consumer cluster of different level of CE in a food evaluation context.Design/methodology/approachFor attaining the above aims, a questionnaire was developed and completed by 274 respondents. The set of countries of origin and products under consideration encompasses Greece, Italy and Holland and yellow cheese, ham and beer.FindingsThe use of the CET‐SCALE pinpointed that the sample can be characterised as marginally ethnocentric. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses justified the uni‐dimensionality of CE. Cluster analysis allocated the sample into two clusters, the ethnocentric and the non‐ethnocentric. The results showed that ethnocentrism affects not only consumer beliefs, but also the way perceived quality of domestic and foreign products are evaluated, culminating in the appearance of COO‐effect. In ethnocentric consumers, the COO effect is activated at the initiatory level of the country a food product originates in (country‐specific), except when the foreign country of origin is given, where the COO effect is activated at the level of the product type (product‐specific). In the non‐ethnocentric cluster, COO does not lead to an overall acceptance or rejection, but instead it affects the evaluation of specific product attributes (attribute‐specific).Research limitations/implicationsThe survey suffers the limitation of focusing on the influence of ethnocentric beliefs in food products evaluation and not on their real impact on final purchasing behaviour. Consumer ethnocentrism and COO effect are linked together, but the stimulus that activates their link differs according to the strength of ethnocentric beliefs held by consumers; that given, different marketing strategies should be applied depending on the level of CE of the target‐group selected.Originality/valueInternationally, the issue of COO‐effect is comprehensively examined, yet the literature has focused almost explicitly on hi‐tech or fashion products and services. This fact attaches particular importance to the present study, which is concerned exclusively with food products.
Customer involvement and interaction in retail banking: an examination of risk and confidence in the purchase of financial products
Authors: Howcroft Barry , Hamilton Robert , Hewer Paul 
Published: October 2007

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to examine bank customer involvement and the importance of risk when contemplating the purchase of financial products.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is a discussion of the literature on customer involvement, risk and interaction forms the basis for a series of focus discussion groups and facilitates the design of a questionnaire. The questionnaire is used to collect information on bank customer involvement and confidence when purchasing a comprehensive range of financial products. The data is analysed using cluster analysis.FindingsThe paper finds that the clusters provide evidence to suggest that the market consist of a number of distinctive customer segments. Although the research suggests that the market might be changing and becoming more “active”, the majority of bank customers are still essentially “passive”.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample size means that it is not fully representative of the UK banking population. The findings also raise a number of issues, which require further research, such as, the possibility that customer involvement could be used as the basis for segmenting the customer base.Practical implicationsThere appears to be an overwhelming customer need for more product information and more involvement with banks. This has major implications for the banks in formulating and implementing relationship management strategies.Originality/valueThe paper provides new insights into the importance of customer involvement when purchasing a range of financial products.
Personality traits and the process of store loyalty in a transactional prone context
Authors: Bove Liliana , Mitzifiris Betty 
Published: October 2007

PurposeThis study sets out to replicate Garbarino and Johnson's paper, where the effects of trust, commitment and satisfaction towards service provider loyalty were examined. However, whereby Garbarino and Johnson tested their model in a relationship prone environment, i.e. a theatre company, this study was set in a retail context where transactional customers are more likely. Personality traits as a means to identify customers who are prone to forming relationships with their service providers were also investigated.Design/methodology/approachIn total, customers of two fast food independent stores in Melbourne, Australia completed 202 questionnaires.FindingsThe findings in the paper showed that in this transactional context, only trust and commitment had a significant direct effect on store behavioral loyalty. Satisfaction did not offer any unique explanatory power but was a significant predictor of both trust and commitment. Further, trust, commitment and satisfaction all had significant direct effects on store attitudinal loyalty, with satisfaction displaying the strongest effect. There was little evidence to support the claim that certain consumer personality traits are more conducive to relationship formation in this low involvement retail context.Originality/valueThe paper shows that retailers need to be aware that even in a transaction prone retail environment, trust and commitment and not just satisfaction, play a significant role in both store behavioral and attitudinal customer loyalty.
Strategic management: a tool for public management?
Authors: Drumaux Anne , Goethals Christophe 
Published: October 2007

PurposeThe aim of this contribution is to propose a first overview of the strategic plans in the Belgian Federal Administration and to analyse the process of strategic planning itself.Design/methodology/approachIn the first part, the strategic plans are analysed in order to understand the intentions regarding various public policies. A content analysis will be provided in order to propose a typology or at least a comprehensive framework of the intentions. In the second part, the strategic process itself is investigated more into details on the basis of interviews of the presidents of the Federal Public Services. The contribution tries to formalise several behavioural hypotheses in accordance with a model of strategic action in a public context. Finally, the article concludes on the relation between intention and action.FindingsThree models characterize the management plans in Belgian federal administration: external polarization, internal polarization and balanced polarisation. Furthermore, the survey carried out confirms the existence of some effective behaviours of public top managers related to the nature of the public sector and to specific constraints. This result is fully coherent with behavioural assumptions formulated by a contextual model of strategic management. All these elements assess the possible divergence between the intentional strategy and the emergent strategies that would result from a more flexible behaviour.Research limitations/implicationsThis result is based on the strategic intentions and should be confronted with the later versions of the plans and even better with their achievements in order to distinguish intention and opportunity. Only this longitudinal study will allow final conclusions about the nature of the strategy really implemented in the federal administration to br drawn.Practical implicationsThe result of this research implies that “ideal” competences of public managers might differ from those requested for a private manager, especially regarding decision making (more incremental) and authority (more influential).Originality/valueThis contribution allows an evaluation of strategic process in the public sector as it is formulated by real actors, rather than by a mythical decision maker.
Lost in translation
Authors: Norton Simon 
Published: October 2007

PurposeThis paper aims to consider the suitability of Anglo‐American new public management (NPM) practices in the context of public sector reform in Japan.Design/methodology/approachThe paper examines the two principal alternative approaches that have been taken to public sector reform in the UK and the USA. These comprise in the case of the UK the setting of targets by politicians and the monitoring by quasi‐autonomous non‐governmental organisations of the extent to which these are delivered upon. This is in contrast to the USA, where reform has been founded upon “market‐oriented populism”. Reforms implemented by successive Japanese administrations since the end of the Second World War are considered and the extent to which these manifested a philosophical preference for either approach.FindingsThe research finds that the Anglo‐American (occidental) versions of NPM may not be appropriate in the context of public sector reform in Japan. Attempts to achieve a decentralised and deregulated form of NPM, philosophically rooted in the 1945 Constitution as written by the post‐Second World War Occupying Power, the United States, and mimicked from its Anglo‐American contexts by Japan's political elite may, paradoxically, delay achievement of more culturally accommodating reform of the bureaucracy acceptable to all the country's principal democratic stakeholders.Practical implicationsThe need for Japan's public sector reformers to evolve a unique form of NPM which accommodates the cultural and historical traditions of the country instead of mimicking occidental approaches is identified. Specifically, the paper provides policy proposals as to how this alternative to the UK and US models may be developed.Originality/valueThe paper suggests an alternative approach to public sector reform in Japan, which may be suitable for other countries looking to implement NPM but finding the USA and UK policies unsuitable in the context of their own traditions. Accordingly, the paper should be of value to public sector managers and policy makers generally who are looking to innovate upon traditional models of NPM.
The research imperative and the responsible recordkeeping professional
Authors: Williams Caroline 
Published: October 2007

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to provide an opinion on the responsible recordkeeping professional.Design/methodology/approachThe paper provides a useful discussion on the responsible recordkeeping professional.FindingsIt is argued that anyone who does not strive to add to that discrete body of knowledge by undertaking research and disseminating its outputs for the benefit of others is not a true professional.Originality/valueThe paper provides a useful discussion on the responsible recordkeeping professional.
Documentation in pre‐trial investigation
Authors: Valtonen Marjo Rita 
Published: October 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to explore the documentation work in pre‐trial investigation performed by the police from the records management perspective. The study, undertaken as doctoral research, is meant to give answers to the questions: what kind of information is recorded in the pre‐trial investigation process, how are recordings made, and what are the regulatory and statutory requirements for the recording processes? The aim is to produce new knowledge of the Finnish recordkeeping field and of the relationships between work processes, record management and information systems.Design/methodology/approachThis study presents findings from a qualitative explorative case study. Data collection methods were based on triangulation of data sources. Data were collected for the period 1999‐2004.FindingsDocumentation of activities proved to be a coherent part of pre‐trial investigation. Various activities in the investigation process are reported exactly, with information on criminal cases captured as a record or recorded in registers. Diverse information systems are used in the pre‐trial investigation process. The relationships between tasks, information systems and information management proved to be slight. Information systems do not serve the pre‐trial investigation process in the desired way. Several different legal and statutory requirements concern operations in pre‐trial investigation and their documentation. There are divergences in compliance with legal norms and guidelines depending on types of norms, actors, tasks and cases. The records management norms are not very well‐known, and compliance with them is poor.Originality/valueThere is an obvious need for studies aimed at examining the relations between task performance, information systems and documentation.