Alexander Buoye, Arne De Keyser, Zeyang Gong and Natalie Lao
The purpose of this paper is to look into the topic of IP category extensions in an entertainment setting. The main goal of the study is to explore the reciprocal spillover effect…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to look into the topic of IP category extensions in an entertainment setting. The main goal of the study is to explore the reciprocal spillover effect of customer experience (CX) ratings with an intellectual property (IP) in one medium (i.e. film) on the sales of the same IP in other media (i.e. comic books).
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on 21-years of monthly top 300 comic book direct market sales data linked to the release schedule and domestic box office gross figures for films featuring Marvel and DC comic book IP appearing in the weekly top 50 films over the same time period. The analysis is based on a hierarchical linear (i.e. mixed) model to account for the nested structure of the data.
Findings
The analysis reveals that CX ratings of weekly top 50 films featuring comic book IP have a quadratic relationship with comic book sales by the two major publishers. Films receiving very good but not excellent ratings are associated with the highest levels of incremental comic book sales.
Research limitations/implications
The model is based on sales of periodical comic books in the direct market only (i.e. specialty shops) and does not account for sales of digital comics or collected editions through other channels. The analysis is also limited to IP for the two major publishers (Marvel and DC comics).
Originality/value
This study expands current knowledge on CX spillover effects between different media, contributing to entertainment and CX-literature alike.
Details
Keywords
In the wake of the ongoing financial crisis, US managerialism has been denounced as a professional caste that has slowly served to erode the competitiveness of the US economy. In…
Abstract
Purpose
In the wake of the ongoing financial crisis, US managerialism has been denounced as a professional caste that has slowly served to erode the competitiveness of the US economy. In light of this, there is an increasing search for possible alternatives to US managerialism, with some authorities putting forward that one enviable alternative is “Confucian management”, which they claim is a means of organising in Chinese institutions that gets things done by pulling on the rich heritage of Ancient Chinese philosophy. The purpose of this paper is to interrogate “Confucian management”.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper questions the common view of “Confucian management” through an ethnography of Baiyun University (a pseudonym) in South China, where the author worked as a “foreign” English lecturer for one academic year, and in order to do this the author draws on participant-observation and semi-structured interviews. Ethnography has long been associated with colonialism and has more recently been connected with post-colonialism, so in an attempt to decolonise the methodology, the author analyses the generated research data through a Chinese sensitive cultural framework.
Findings
This paper argues that “Confucian management” offers a confused and epistemologically questionable view on Chinese management. It points to some of the limitations of management and organisation studies brought about by claims being made without sufficient empirical evidence.
Research limitations/implications
The focus is on “Confucian management” at Baiyun University so findings are specific to this empirical research site. It is also acknowledged that universities have a divergent form of management to other institutions. The paper’s intent is ideographic rather than nomothetic; therefore, no claims to generalisation are made.
Originality/value
The paper makes three substantive contributions. First, the empirical contribution is an ethnographic description of “Confucian management” at Baiyun University. Second, the methodological contribution attempts to decolonise methodology by analysing the generated research data through a Chinese sensitive cultural framework. Third, the epistemological contribution queries to what extent “Confucian management” as an idea that is enunciated from the Global North is able to effectively speak about a practice that is supposedly performed in the Global South.
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Keywords
James A. Wall, Dong‐Won Sohn, Natalie Cleeton and Deng Jian Jin
This study investigated the mediations of 125 community mediators in the People's Republic of China. The mediators' reports on two mediations each—one in a community…
Abstract
This study investigated the mediations of 125 community mediators in the People's Republic of China. The mediators' reports on two mediations each—one in a community (inter‐family) and one in a family (intra‐family) dispute—indicated the frequency with which they used 33 mediation techniques. In family (versus community) mediations, Chinese mediators were found to rely more heavily upon the techniques of separating the parties, getting assistance from third parties, calling for empathy, stating the other side's point of view, and utilizing logic. As for the strategies (combinations of techniques) employed, we found three distinct ones—separate, analyze together, criticize—in the family mediations. Two sets—reason together and criticize—were detected in the community mediations.