William J. Lundstrom, Oscar W. Lee and D. Steven White
Considers the factors which influence Taiwanese decisions to buy Japanese or US refrigerators, basing the conclusions on the results of a survey of 586 respondents drawn from…
Abstract
Considers the factors which influence Taiwanese decisions to buy Japanese or US refrigerators, basing the conclusions on the results of a survey of 586 respondents drawn from Taiwan’s four largest cities – Taipei, Kaoshiung, Taichung and Tainan. Describes how the questionnaires were constructed and pretested, and explains how the data was recorded (using a 5‐point Likert‐type scale) and analysed (using factor analysis and t‐tests). Tests particularly for cultural values of the Chinese, consumer ethnocentrism, openness to foreign culture, country image, and consumer sophistication. Finds that, despite the longer presence of Japanese goods in Taiwan, Japan’s proximity to Taiwan, and more cultural similarities between the Japanese and Taiwanese, Taiwanese consumers rate the USA’s country image factor higher than Japan’s, with consequent implications regarding intention to buy US goods. Recommends that US marketers build on their advantageous country image when they promote US appliances in foreign markets. Cautions against making too much of this snapshot data but concedes that further research into different foreign markets, different appliances, and with a longitudinal approach, would ascertain if findings are consistent with this survey, which has obvious benefits as new markets, such as China and India, open up to western goods and appliances.
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H. Colleen Stuart, Sue H. Moon and Tiziana Casciaro
This chapter examines the implications of career achievement for divorce, and whether they differ for men and women. Consistent with theory suggesting that women’s workplace…
Abstract
This chapter examines the implications of career achievement for divorce, and whether they differ for men and women. Consistent with theory suggesting that women’s workplace achievement violates traditional expectations of gender and marriage, therefore creating domestic strain, the authors predict that career achievement is associated with a greater risk of divorce for women, but not for men. Using data from the Academy Awards, the authors find that for women, a sudden shift in achievement from winning an Oscar increases their risk of divorce compared to Best Actress nominees. There was no difference in the risk of divorce between Best Actor winners and nominees. The authors additionally examine two potential mitigating factors: whether the actor was already successful at the time of their marriage, and whether their spouse was comparably successful. For Best Actress winners, but not for Best Actor winners, the authors find evidence for the latter, indicating that women’s marriages are more stable when spouses are equally successful, or when relative achievement within the couple aligns with broadly-held norms of traditional marriage.
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There has been a financial revolution lead by technology firms over the past decade. Many large established technology giants, from Google, Apple to Amazon in the US are entering…
Abstract
There has been a financial revolution lead by technology firms over the past decade. Many large established technology giants, from Google, Apple to Amazon in the US are entering the financial service industry. Smaller start-ups, in particular, robotic advisors, a.k.a. robo-advisors have been taking market shares from traditional asset management firms. In China, firms like Tencent and Alibaba have created a whole new field of online finance. The center of our study is a critical examination of the essential components of the financial innovation over the past 10 years. Mobile banking was the beginning, followed by trading, investment, and insurance business. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are included for discussion in this chapter. Our goal is to develop a thorough understanding of the art and science of financial innovation, from both bottom-up market indicators and a top-down holistic view. Then, we apply to the situation in Russia. We want to demonstrate that the technological changes are likely to have a significant impact on Russia’s sustainable finance and banking development.
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There has been a financial revolution lead by technology firms over the past decade. Many large established technology giants, from Google, Apple to Amazon in the US are entering…
Abstract
There has been a financial revolution lead by technology firms over the past decade. Many large established technology giants, from Google, Apple to Amazon in the US are entering the financial service industry. Smaller start-ups, in particular robotic advisors, a.k.a. Robo-Advisors, have been taking market shares from traditional asset management firms. In China, firms like Tencent and Alibaba have created a whole new field of online finance. At the center of our study is a critical examination of the key components of the financial innovation over the past 10 years. Mobile banking was the beginning, followed by trading, investment, and insurance business. We study innovation through several cases. Due to the size and number o firms in Financial technology (FinTech) space, the US and China are the focus of the chapter. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are included for discussion in this chapter. We emphasize a market approach in our study, albeit, incorporating the historical and cultural perspectives in our analysis. Our goal is to develop a thorough understanding of the art and science of financial innovation, from both bottom-up market indicators and a top-down holistic view. We want to demonstrate that the technological changes are just the beginning of a new world of financial services. Unprecedented changes are still yet to come and it is crucially important to be prepared and even embrace the changes. A special discussion was devoted to the phenomenon of FinTech boom in Asia. Lastly, many new technologies are being developed to combat fraudulent activities in the FinTech space.
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Ali Karami-Mollaee, Hamed Tirandaz and Oscar Barambones
The purpose of this paper is position control scheme for a servo induction motor (SIM) with uncertainty has been designed using a new observer issue and a dynamic sliding mode…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is position control scheme for a servo induction motor (SIM) with uncertainty has been designed using a new observer issue and a dynamic sliding mode control (DSMC).
Design/methodology/approach
In DSMC, the chattering is removed due to the integrator (or a low-pass filter) which is placed before the input control of the plant. However, in DSMC, the augmented system has one dimension bigger than the actual system (if integrator is used) and then, the plant model should be completely known. To solve this problem in SIM, the use of a new adaptive state observer (ASO) is proposed.
Findings
The advantage of the proposed approach is to maintain the system controlled under the external load torque variations. Then, the load variations do not affect the motor positioning. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the observer error converges to zero based on the Lyapunov stability theory.
Originality/value
The knowledge of the upper bound for the system uncertainty is not necessary in an adaptive state observer, which is important in practical implementation. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed approach.
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Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are…
Abstract
Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.
Weiling Zhuang, Barry Babin, Qian Xiao and Mihaela Paun
The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test a new framework that shows how different signals of movie quality along with key control variables affect consumers’…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test a new framework that shows how different signals of movie quality along with key control variables affect consumers’ post-consumption evaluations, critics’ reviews (CR), and movie box office revenues.
Design/methodology/approach
The data set consists of a sample of 332 movies released between 2000 and 2008. Regression was used to test the study hypotheses.
Findings
The results suggest that the three signals of movie quality exhibit different effects on three movie performance measures. Of the three cues, the peripheral quality signal is positive related to movie box, moviegoers’ evaluations (ME), and CR. Furthermore, star performance quality is positive related to both ME and CR. Surprisingly, overall quality signal does not display any influence on movie performances.
Research limitations/implications
The primary limitation is the use of cross-sectional study design and future research should apply for time-series technique to test the relationships between movie quality signals and movie performances.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that consumers and critics evaluate movie qualities based on various movie quality signals. Furthermore, the characteristics of movies also have mixed impacts on movie performances. Movie studios may take these findings into account to produce better movies.
Originality/value
This study proposes and empirically tests the impacts of three groups of movie signals – peripheral quality signal, star performance quality signal, and overall quality signal on motion picture performance. This study contributes to service quality literature and signal theory by categorizing different Academy Awards into three groups of quality signals and by empirically testing the proposed relationships.
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The season of prizes and acceptance speeches stretches endlessly from Booker to BAFTA, the Oscars, the Emmies. If there were any destiny working out some grand plan, Salman…
Abstract
The season of prizes and acceptance speeches stretches endlessly from Booker to BAFTA, the Oscars, the Emmies. If there were any destiny working out some grand plan, Salman Rushdie would have won the W.H. Smith Literary Award. As it is W.H. Smith may be hoping that Rushdie will start a Prize Fund, for Fortitude in the Line of Business; but they may not win it. We may still hope that Lady Ewart‐Biggs will be awarded her husband's Memorial Prize, for Lady in the Lords, or better still the NCR Prize may go to the The Adding Machine (John Calder). Meanwhile there are other prizes to consider:
Shekhar Shukla and Ashish Dubey
Quantitative objective studies on the problem of celebrity selection are lacking. Furthermore, existing research does not recognize the group decision-making nature and the…
Abstract
Purpose
Quantitative objective studies on the problem of celebrity selection are lacking. Furthermore, existing research does not recognize the group decision-making nature and the possibility of customer involvement in celebrity or influencer selection for social media marketing. This study conceptualizes celebrity selection as a multi-attribute group decision-making problem while deriving the final ranking of celebrities/influencers using interactive and flexible criteria based on the value tradeoff approach. The article thus proposes and demonstrates a quantitative objective method of celebrity selection for a brand or campaign in an interactive manner incorporating customer's preferences as well.
Design/methodology/approach
Each decision-maker's preferences for celebrity selection criteria are objectively captured and converted into an overall group preference using a modified generalized fuzzy evaluation method (MGFEM). The final ranking of celebrities is then derived from an interactive and criteria-based value tradeoff approach using the flexible and interactive tradeoff method.
Findings
The approach gives a different ranking of celebrities for two campaigns based on group members' perceived importance of the selection criteria in different scenarios. This group includes decision-makers (DMs) from the brand, marketing communication agency and brand's customers. Further, each group member has an almost equal say in the decision-making based on fuzzy evaluation and an interactive and flexible value tradeoff approach to celebrity selection for receiving a rank order.
Research limitations/implications
The approach uses secondary data on celebrities and hypothetical scenarios. Comparison with other methods is difficult, as no other study proposes a multi-criteria group decision-making approach to celebrity selection especially in a social media context.
Practical implications
This approach can help DMs make more informed, objective and effective decisions on celebrity selection for their brands or campaigns. It recognizes that there are multiple stakeholders, including the end customers, each of whose views is objectively considered in the aspects of group decision-making through a fuzzy evaluation method. Further, this study provides a selection mechanism for a given context of endorsement by objectively and interactively encapsulating stakeholder preferences.
Originality/value
This robust and holistic approach to celebrity selection can help DMs objectively make consensual decisions with partial or complete information. This quantitative approach contributes to the literature on selection mechanisms of influencers, celebrities, social media opinion leaders etc. by providing a methodological aid that encompasses aspects of interactive group decision-making for a given context. Moreover, this method is useful to DMs and stakeholders in understanding and incorporating the effect of nature or context of the brand and the campaign type in the selection of a celebrity or an influencer.
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EDWARD P. WARNER, HAROLD GATTY, RALPH H. UPSON, D.L. PELLETT, JOHN G. LEE, E.S. TAYLOR, OSCAR W. SCHEY and RONALD M. HAZEN
AEROPLANE designing is the only branch of structural engineering making any pretence of strength calculation in which such calculations are based upon a direct empirical…
Abstract
AEROPLANE designing is the only branch of structural engineering making any pretence of strength calculation in which such calculations are based upon a direct empirical assumption or specification of the total forces acting upon specific parts of the structure and, as a rule, having little or no relation to one another. Whether our load factors are sound throughout, no one can be certain. Although the United States Department of Commerce and the British authorities are each satisfied with their own load factors, neither has given an adequate reason for believing its practice to be right. Whereas the American and the British specifications have suggested until recently, and the British regulations still indicate, that weight of the aeroplane alone determines the maximum loads to which the wing structure is subjected, the author asserts positively that this is not true and that the gross weight may not even be a primary factor.