Vincent‐Wayne Mitchell and Íde Kearney
As the number of imitator brands has risen, so too have legal actions for trademark infringement and passing off, because of consumer confusion, unfair misappropriation of brand…
Abstract
As the number of imitator brands has risen, so too have legal actions for trademark infringement and passing off, because of consumer confusion, unfair misappropriation of brand owners’ intellectual property, and lost sales revenue. However, recourse to the law is time‐consuming, expensive, and can be unpredictable because of the highly subjective and inconsistent ways in which brand confusion is measured and proven. The formulation of more standard measures of marketplace confusion would have significant time and cost advantages for market researchers and lawyers. Using data from key informant interviews with expert legal professionals, critiques the current measures of consumer confusion and shows that in UK law confusion must result in mistaken behavior and any measure of behavior must be taken in situ within shopping environments. Shows most important legal measures of confusion, namely, subjective judicial analysis and witness testimony, to be methodologically flawed. Discusses implications for manufacturers, brand owners and legal policy and practice.
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For strategists, information technology is about building bridges: between business sectors, across continents.
Delves into history to find out if sociological knowledge can be applied successfully to policy making. Explains that society is based on the use of multiple knowledge structures…
Abstract
Delves into history to find out if sociological knowledge can be applied successfully to policy making. Explains that society is based on the use of multiple knowledge structures and belief systems. Cites examples of centres which were set up in the USA to improve understanding and knowledge in a specific area, which could then contribute towards policy making and, ultimately, improved practice. Discusses the application of knowledge at various points in history, indicating that ruling elites are not motivated by knowledge (intellect) but by sentiment, and that this is still the case today. Refers to various literary works on sociological practice. Advocates that modern social research should be driven by policy issues and that sociologists should seize the opportunity, presented by decentralization, to become policy makers in their own communities.
Training programs designed to enhance managerial effectiveness at cross‐cultural communication tend to be directed at specific target cultures. This paper argues that an etic…
Abstract
Training programs designed to enhance managerial effectiveness at cross‐cultural communication tend to be directed at specific target cultures. This paper argues that an etic approach, one based on universal variables that occur in every culture and that vary across cultures, comprises an important alternative. This paper reviews anthropological/sociolinguistic research on one universal variable, “politeness.” Politeness, or linguistic indirection used to show social consideration, is a crucial element of interpersonal communication in all human cultures, yet it has received little mention in the literature. Implications of politeness for managerial cross‐cultural communication are explored. The implications of a universalistic approach to cross‐cultural communication training are discussed.
Application of the numerical method to the art of Medicine was regarded not as a “trivial ingenuity” but “an important stage in its development”; thus proclaimed Professor…
Abstract
Application of the numerical method to the art of Medicine was regarded not as a “trivial ingenuity” but “an important stage in its development”; thus proclaimed Professor Bradford Hill, accepted as the father of medical statistics, a study still largely unintelligible to the mass of medical practitioners. The need for Statistics is the elucidation of the effects of multiple causes; this represents the essence of the statistical method and is most commendable. Conclusions reached empirically under statistical scrutiny have mistakes and fallacies exposed. Numerical methods of analysis, the mathematical approach, reveals data relating to factors in an investigation, which might be missed in empirical observation, and by means of a figure states their significance in the whole. A simplified example is the numerical analysis of food poisoning, which alone determines the commonest causative organisms, the commonest food vehicles and the organisms which affect different foods, as well as changes in the pattern, e.g., the rising incidence of S. agona and the increase of turkey (and the occasions on which it is served, such as Christmas parties), as a food poisoning vehicle. The information data enables preventive measures to be taken. The ever‐widening fields of Medicine literally teem with such situations, where complexities are unravelled and the true significance of the many factors are established. Almost every sphere of human activity can be similarly measured. Apart from errors of sampling, problems seem fewer and controversy less with technical methods of analysis then on the presentation and interpretation of figures, or as Bradford Hill states “on the application of common sense and on elementary rules of logic”.
What are the current trends that mark out the process of internationalization of higher education? In what directions do these trends influence the direction of research and…
Abstract
What are the current trends that mark out the process of internationalization of higher education? In what directions do these trends influence the direction of research and development in African universities? Does internationalization of higher education have the potential to boost knowledge production relevant to Africa’s development needs or it will further hasten the marginalization of both African universities and African development agendas within the global network of scientific knowledge? Internationalization of education is not new. Historically, students have sought better higher education abroad influenced by the desire to benefit from better opportunities provided by universities in the developed countries. The current phase of higher education internationalization has however emerged more vigorously in the 21st century and is associated with the twin trends of globalization and liberalization. Proponents of globalization have argued that higher education is bound to be more strongly affected by worldwide economic developments. They also point out that higher education institutions in developing countries should embrace aspects of internationalization to boost their efforts to be ranked among the best league of universities globally. At the national level, internationalization of higher education is presented as a process that institutions in developing countries must embrace in order to address the persistent challenges of sustainable development. For universities in Africa, the literature argues that internationalization provides them with opportunities that cut across disciplines, institutions, knowledge-systems, and nation-state boundaries thereby exposing the institutions and academics to the world’s best scientific research and infrastructures. In summary, it is contended that internationalization is a strategy to realize success in human-capability and institutional-capacity development in the universities. This chapter revisits these assertions and their tenacity to developing a culture of research and innovation in African universities, and linking the universities to the continent’s development aspirations.
Pawan Budhwar, Andy Crane, Annette Davies, Rick Delbridge, Tim Edwards, Mahmoud Ezzamel, Lloyd Harris, Emmanuel Ogbonna and Robyn Thomas
Wonders whether companies actually have employees best interests at heart across physical, mental and spiritual spheres. Posits that most organizations ignore their workforce �…
Abstract
Wonders whether companies actually have employees best interests at heart across physical, mental and spiritual spheres. Posits that most organizations ignore their workforce – not even, in many cases, describing workers as assets! Describes many studies to back up this claim in theis work based on the 2002 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference, in Cardiff, Wales.
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Dnyaneshwar J. Ghode, Vinod Yadav, Rakesh Jain and Gunjan Soni
A supply chain (SC) involves many stakeholders, directly or indirectly, for satisfying consumers’ requirements. SC management is restricted by a lack of information sharing among…
Abstract
Purpose
A supply chain (SC) involves many stakeholders, directly or indirectly, for satisfying consumers’ requirements. SC management is restricted by a lack of information sharing among stakeholders as parties of SC do not have direct communication and/or are not willing to share private and competitively sensitive information. In the SC, the bullwhip effect (BWE) is an undesirable phenomenon that aggravates the SC performance and increases the overall cost of SC. The main culprit of BWE is the lack of SC coordination among the parties, which results from wrong and lack of information sharing. Blockchain technology (BT) has the main characteristic of distributed shared ledger that makes all parties in the SC network able to access data. This paper aims to develop a BT model and implement it into the SC.
Design/methodology/approach
A blockchain is developed consisting four SC stakeholders and an integrated development environment has been used for coding in Python.
Findings
The analysis of the impact of the adoption of BT in SC shows the reduction in BWE.
Originality/value
In SC, BT can be considered as an effective tool to share the demand data among all SC partners. Sharing of such data will improve SC planning and reduce the BWE.