Didier Yélognissè Alia, Nicolas Ponty and Ignace Kamga Tchwaket
The economic literature identifies two families of motives for private transfers: altruism and exchange. Altruistic models postulates that transfers are unselfish assistance to…
Abstract
Purpose
The economic literature identifies two families of motives for private transfers: altruism and exchange. Altruistic models postulates that transfers are unselfish assistance to vulnerable and poor households. Exchange models, however, explain transfers as temporary assistance to households with the expectation of being paid back. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the motives of inter-households transfers in Burkina Faso and identify which model better explains observed transfers’ decisions. The findings can be useful to provide a information on the profile of households receiving and donating transfers and a better understanding of their roles in local communities.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses a nationally representative household survey in Burkina Faso that collects detailed information on inter-household transfers. It combines descriptive analysis with various econometric models to identify the type of behavior that better explain the receipt and donation of private transfers. To account for the non randomness of the receipt and donation of transfers in the population, the study estimates a Heckman model to address selection bias.
Findings
Preliminary analyses suggest that one-third of households have participated in transfers’ exchange, either as recipients or donors with the amount received or given representing a substantial share of household income or expenditure. The econometric analyses show that the primary driver of the receipt of transfers is households’ degree of vulnerability. This result indicates that altruism is the underlying model explaining the receipt of transfers. However, the authors also find that affluent households tend to give and receive larger amounts of money suggesting that some elements of exchange are also at play.
Originality/value
The analysis contributes to a large and growing literature on migration, transfers, and remittances in developing countries. It provides insights into the motives of these non-market transactions in the specific context of Burkina Faso, a developing country, where migration and transfers have been historically important social behaviors. The analysis makes an effort to address the potential bias resulting from households’ self-selection into the donation or receipt of transfer. The findings shed additional light on the double role of transfer as a safety net for the vulnerable and social insurance for the non-poor.
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Lorna Stevens, Pauline Maclaran and Stephen Brown
This paper aims to use embodied theory to analyze consumer experience in a retail brandscape, Hollister Co. By taking a holistic, embodied approach, this study reveals how…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to use embodied theory to analyze consumer experience in a retail brandscape, Hollister Co. By taking a holistic, embodied approach, this study reveals how individual consumers interact with such retail environments in corporeal, instinctive and sensual ways.
Design/methodology/approach
The primary source of data was 97 subjective personal introspective accounts undertaken with the target age group for the store. These were supplemented with in-depth interviews with consumers, managers and employees of Hollister.
Findings
The authors offer a conceptualization of consumers’ embodied experience, which they term The Immersive Somascape Experience. This identifies four key touch points that evoke the Hollister store experience – each of which reveals how the body is affected by particular relational and material specificities. These are sensory activation, brand materialities, corporeal relationality and (dis)orientation. These may lead to consumer emplacement.
Research limitations/implications
The authors propose that taking an “intelligible embodiment” approach to consumer experiences in retail contexts provides a deeper, more holistic understanding of the embodied processes involved. They also suggest that more anthropological, body-grounded studies are needed for the unique insights they provide. Finally, they note that there is growing consumer demand for experiences, which, they argue, points to the need for more research from an embodied experience perspective in our field.
Practical implications
The study reveals the perils and pitfalls of adopting a sensory marketing perspective. It also offers insights into how the body leads in retail brandscapes, addressing a lack in such approaches in the current retailing literature and suggesting that embodied, experiential aspects of branding are increasingly pertinent in retailing in light of the continued growth of on-line shopping.
Originality/value
Overall, the study shows how an embodied approach challenges the dominance of mind and representation over body and materiality, suggesting an “intelligible embodiment” lens offers unique insights into consumers’ embodied experiences in retail environments.
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Fabrizio Frezza, Lara Pajewski, Cristina Ponti, Giuseppe Schettini and Nicola Tedeschi
– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the numerical aspects of the electromagnetic scattering of a plane wave by a set of buried cylinders.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the numerical aspects of the electromagnetic scattering of a plane wave by a set of buried cylinders.
Design/methodology/approach
The cylindrical wave approach is employed. The analytical model is implemented in a Fortran code. The numerical aspects of the technique are presented, with particular emphasis on the numerical evaluation of the integrals involved in the procedure.
Findings
The tool obtained allows a fast computation of the electromagnetic field scattered by an arbitrary disposition of circular cylinders below an interface. Comparisons with the finite element method are proposed, showing the very good agreement between the results obtained with the two different approaches.
Originality/value
The advantages of the proposed technique in terms of computational weight are explained. The method can be useful in a wide class of application, e.g. in the ground penetrating radar applications, microscopy, biomedical applications, etc.
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The Archers is a much-loved soap opera which relies entirely on audio outputs: on actors speaking and listeners listening. Despite this, many silent characters populate the drama…
Abstract
The Archers is a much-loved soap opera which relies entirely on audio outputs: on actors speaking and listeners listening. Despite this, many silent characters populate the drama. In fact, from Rosaline in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to Godot in Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, and not forgetting Tracey the barmaid in Eastenders, silent characters have long played a crucial role in dramatic productions, an influence all the more acutely felt if they are unseen as well as unheard. Therefore, using key examples of silent characters, and with reference to Freda Fry in particular, I discuss the expanding role and influence of the silent characters in The Archers. In addition, by invoking philosophies of language and silence, I will suggest they have an influence and potency in the storylines that speaking actors should envy, and that Freda Fry reigns supreme over all others.
This volume, sponsored by the European Society for the History of Economic Thought, was shaped at the University of Bologna where earlier drafts of the 16 essays it contains were…
Abstract
This volume, sponsored by the European Society for the History of Economic Thought, was shaped at the University of Bologna where earlier drafts of the 16 essays it contains were presented at a Conference on institutions, markets and the division of labor. Like any collection of essays, especially if they come after a conference, the quality of the contributions varies, but it must be said that the average exceeds the usual standard. Moreover, although the title “Knowledge, Social Institutions and the Division of Labour” is broad enough to accommodate a diversity of subjects, there is a degree of congruity among the different contributions. The book is divided in three parts, “Rationality, Communication and Connecting Principles” (comprising four essays), “Social Interaction and Moral Sentiments” (comprising five essays) and “Division of Labour, Patterns of Interdependence and Social Institutions” (comprising seven essays).
Paola Cillo, Joseph C. Nunes, Emanuela Prandelli and Irene Scopelliti
Mastering aesthetics is a precious source of competitive advantage in creative industries. In fashion, innovation is reflected by how and how much styles change. Elite designers…
Abstract
Mastering aesthetics is a precious source of competitive advantage in creative industries. In fashion, innovation is reflected by how and how much styles change. Elite designers claim to be the only endogenous force shaping fashion innovation season by season. Yet, each season, fashion critics vet the new collections these designers introduce, assessing what is original as opposed to reworked and uninspired, in this way playing a fundamental role as gatekeepers in setting taste within the industry. In this research, we document how stylistic innovation, vis-à-vis the styles premier design houses introduced each season, is impacted, among the others, by the specific exogenous force of critics' assessments of designers' past work. Our data, which include 61 measures detailing the styles introduced by 38 prestigious Italian and French design houses over a nine-year period, suggest designers move further away from styles reviewed less favourably while adhering more closely to styles reviewed more positively. Additionally, the styles a designer introduces are shown to depend on critical assessments of competing designers' styles, revealing how design houses attend to each other's work. This work documents the strong correlation between style dynamics and critics' feedback. It also has important implications for any company trying to find a balance between independence and conformity in setting its own unique positioning into the market.
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Cesare Amatulli, Matteo De Angelis, Sue Vaux Halliday, Jonathan Morris and Floriana Mulazzi
The purpose of this paper is to enrich country of origin (COO) effect in international marketing theory by adding the understanding of temporal dynamism into COO research.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to enrich country of origin (COO) effect in international marketing theory by adding the understanding of temporal dynamism into COO research.
Design/methodology/approach
Utilizing a qualitative and interdisciplinary phenomenological approach, this paper analyses historical and contemporary sources triangulated with contemporary primary interview data. The example of how perceptions of Italians about the values typical of the British Sixties varied over time periods is presented.
Findings
COO perceptions are both malleable and in evolution. Results show that values from earlier peak periods of appeal can be combined and recombined differently over time due to the varying historical and contemporary resonances of COO values.
Research limitations/implications
This study focuses on COO applied to two product areas, fashion and music, over a limited time period, in a two-country study and so the findings are not fully generalizable, but rather are transferable to similar contexts.
Practical implications
The fact that COO is neither static nor atemporal facilitates a segmented approach for international marketing managers to review and renew international brands. This enriched COO theory provides a rich and variable resource for developing and revitalizing brands.
Originality/value
The major contribution of this paper is that temporal dynamism, never before discussed in international marketing theory, renders COO theory more timeless; this addresses some critiques recently made about its relevance and practicality. The second contribution is the original research design that models interdisciplinary scholarship, enabling a thorough historical look at international marketing.