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Outlines research work into the assessment of light‐scattering techniques for manufactured surfaces inspection. Describes the three type of commercial sensors that have been available so far: glossometers, peak intensity meters and light distribution measuring instruments and how they work. Describes the laboratory rig supporting equipment and analysis methodologies employed in order that numerous surfaces could be examined and classified. The outcome was an atlas of typical manufactured surfaces and a small ruggedized test bed sensor. Concludes that by using this rig and the atlas the whole 3‐dimensional light scatter image can be examined to select the appropriate sensor.

This study aims to examine how product involvement moderates the effects of emotional appeals namely humor and endorsers on consumers' responses to direct‐to‐consumer advertising (DTCA).

This study employed a 2 (Humor: humor vs. non‐humor)×2 (Endorser: celebrity vs expert)×2 (Involvement: high vs low) factorial experimental design. Subjects were 420 allergy/asthma sufferers or non‐sufferers attending a large Southwestern US university as undergraduate and graduate students.

Results confirm that low involvement consumers demonstrate more positive responses than high involvement consumers toward prescription drug ads with emotional appeals. Humor or a celebrity endorser enhances ad and brand attitudes, brand recall, and copy point recall of consumers without medical conditions. However, an expert endorser is found to be more effective in improving ad credibility. A three‐way interaction between humor, endorser, and involvement was evident indicating that the celebrity endorser and humor jointly generated more positive responses than other combinations of treatment group when product involvement was low. These findings clearly suggest that use of emotional appeals in DTCA does not influence attitudes and memory of target audience who are suffering from a condition.

This is the first empirical study that examines the effects of emotional appeals namely humor and endorsers on consumers' responses to DTCA.

In this paper, the main objective will be to discuss the factors which can influence the usage of risk reducing strategies found in the literature over the past 30 years. Some of the factors which have relatively consistent effects include age, socio‐economic group, education while other factors show complex effect e.g. self‐confidence, loss‐type and product risk. On the whole, the literature on risk reduction and how it is affected is unable to provide would‐be researchers with clear guidance for questionnaire construction and research design.

IT is too early to examine what the change of Government may portend for libraries sustained attract malign attention from any party. We are aware enough, however, that a time of financial stringency lies ahead for every public activity. In book production, the restrictions on imports may worsen a position which is bad enough as it is. There may not be a sinister intention in the gesture of cutting the salaries of Cabinet Ministers by a sum which for several of them represents about £25 or about a half crown a week on such salaries as librarians earn. We hope there is not. Although all good Britons will make necessary sacrifices; but they want to be sure that they are necessary and not, as usually is the case, merely attacks on public servants. We are told that there will be no Geddes axe this time, but experience shows that the politician can always find a way of reversing a statement in what he imagines to be the public interest. Fortunately those likely to be affected are better organized than they were in the early twenties.

Gray market activities have become global, occurring not only in less developed or volatile markets, but also in many well‐developed markets. Although the gray market problem has been discussed in the literature, pertinent research from a demand perspective remains scarce. This study establishes a valid measure of consumer attitude toward gray market goods and investigates the relationships between consumer attitude toward gray market goods and their antecedents. Data analysis reveals that both price‐quality inference and risk averseness significantly and negatively affect consumer attitude toward gray market goods. Strategies for managers of international brands to address gray market problems are presented.

A trend has been developing in the United States towards the use of vertical marketing systems. Of the many types of vertical marketing systems, franchising has become one of the most dominant. This is evidenced, in part, by the nearly one‐third of retail sales in 1973 that were through franchised retailers (US Department of Commerce, 1974). The success of the franchise form of distribution hinges upon franchisors and franchisees both contributing skills and resources, frequently however franchisees and franchisors become dissatisfied with the other's contributions and actions. This dis‐satisfaction in some cases leads to substantial friction. Although it is not clear that conflict (friction) will always decrease channel efficiency it is probably safe to assume that continued conflict would be dysfunctional in a franchise channel. It is therefore the purpose of this article to discuss and empirically test several propositions about the franchisee's satisfaction with his franchisor.

Notes that changes in the charity environment mean that fundraisers need to increase income from donations. Argues that to move forward donor behavior research needs to look not only at “why” people make donations but also at the process of “how” donations are made. Proposes that valuable lessons may be learnt through consideration of advances made in the field of consumer behavior where researchers have long focussed on decision‐making processes as a concept which is central to the understanding of how consumers behave. Suggests that taking account of the circumstances in which the consumer acts will give insight into donor behavior, which avoids losing sight of the reality of donation occasions.

IF SONS DID NOT EXTOL, many a worthy father would sink into oblivion and forever go unsung. As filial biographers, however, sons customarily meet with intimidating scorn and derision. There is a generally accepted notion that consanguineous biography is fraught more with fealty and filial frailty than with disinterested depiction. The best way to disprove this false assumption is to muster meritorious biographies written by scions and compare them with representative biographies of the ‘blame and blemish’ variety. Sympathetic assessment always stands up stronger than ostensible objectivity, for writers of the ‘warts and all’ kind of biography lose track of virtues and nearly always become engrossed in the imperfections of their victims.

Innovation has attracted considerable interest in recent years in improving competitive advantage for both profit and nonprofit organizations. Service innovation offers the potential for substantially improving the performance, but performance gains are often obstructed by users' unwillingness to accept and use available systems. This research aims to use the concept of Reasoned Action Theory to further examine consumer attitudes toward service innovation and its antecedents.

By focus group discussion and literature review, a conceptual model with six postulated hypotheses is proposed. The Electronic Toll Collecting (ETC) system launched by the Taiwanese government is selected as the service innovation to test the model. A structured questionnaire is designed to collect field data. The structural equation model with LISREL VIII program is used to estimate the structural coefficients and to test the hypotheses.

The results show that perceived ease of use, perceived price fairness, risk averseness and satisfaction with existing service significantly influence consumer attitude, and then influence consumer's intention to adopt service innovation.

Before introducing a service innovation, the service provider must seriously consider the possible difficulties of usage and risk from the consumer's perspective.

Compared with product innovation, research focusing on service innovation is relatively scarce. Services have specific characteristics of intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity and perishability. Hence, the factors influencing the consumer adoption of service innovation may be different from those of product innovation.

In order to succeed in an action under the Equal Pay Act 1970, should the woman and the man be employed by the same employer on like work at the same time or would the woman still be covered by the Act if she were employed on like work in succession to the man? This is the question which had to be solved in Macarthys Ltd v. Smith. Unfortunately it was not. Their Lordships interpreted the relevant section in different ways and since Article 119 of the Treaty of Rome was also subject to different interpretations, the case has been referred to the European Court of Justice.