The Google Online Marketing Challenge: A Transnational Comparison of Classroom Learning with Real Clients, Real Money, and Real Advertising Campaigns

In 2008, a collaborative partnership between Google and academia launched the Google Online Marketing Challenge (hereinafter Google Challenge), perhaps the world’s largest in-class competition for higher education students. In just two years, almost 20,000 students from 58 countries participated in the Google Challenge. The Challenge gives undergraduate and graduate students hands-on experience with the world’s fastest growing advertising mechanism, search engine advertising. Funded by Google, students develop an advertising campaign for a small to medium sized enterprise and manage the campaign over three consecutive weeks using the Google AdWords platform. This article explores the Challenge as an innovative pedagogical tool for marketing educators. Based on the experiences of three instructors in Australia, Canada and the United States, this case study discusses the opportunities and challenges of integrating this dynamic problem-based learning approach into the classroom.

China, film coproduction and soft power competition

This thesis investigates China's film internationalism and coproduction strategy based on three cases: Hong Kong and China film coproduction; US and China without any state-level agreements; Australia and China based on an official coproduction treaty. It investigates the evolution of coproduction in the film industry, the process of coproduction, foreign film companies' strategies of adjustment to state policies, and the culture and complexities that hinder coproduction. It surveys the current environment for China film coproduction and investigates the degree to which film coproduction has been - to this stage - a contributor to China's global cultural presence – its soft power.

Thermal extrusion of starch film with alcohol

A one-step thermal extrusion process has been investigated for the modification of starch with alcohol in order to improve the film properties. Unmodified starch/glycerol mixtures containing Methanol (MetOH), ethanol (EtOH) and their combinations (5, 10 and 15 wt%) were thermally extruded to produce thermoplastic. The final hot-pressed film showed increased stiffness and crystallinity, while having decreased moisture uptake due to oxidation and alcohol complexing molecular interactions. The Young’s Modulus, tensile strength and elongation at break increased by 60%, 15% and 32% respectively, for 5 wt% MetOH derived film, compared to the control. The film moisture content was reduced by up to 15 wt% for 5 wt% EtOH-derived film. Generally the crystallinity increased in the alcohol-derived films due to an increased complexing of alcohol with starch forming the VH polymorph. Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1HNMR) spectroscopic analysis were used to discuss the molecular interactions between the starch and alcohol molecules.

Internet marketing capabilities and international market growth

The Internet has been shown to facilitate elements of internationalisation such as information accumulation and network opportunities. However, there is limited understanding of how the Internet combined with marketing capabilities drives international market growth. This study, based on a sample of 224 Australian firms, develops and tests, using structural equation modelling (SEM), a conceptual model of Internet marketing capabilities and international market growth. Results indicate that firms deploying Internet marketing capabilities will benefit due to the reduction of information uncertainty and increased capacity to develop international network capabilities. Moreover, Internet marketing capabilities indirectly lead to international market growth when the firm has a high level of international strategic orientation and international network capabilities. Overall, Internet marketing capabilities enhance the firm's ability to generate other internal capabilities within the firm, which in turn have a positive impact on the international market growth of the firm.

The effect of polyterpenol thin film surfaces on bacterial viability and adhesion

The nanometer scale surface topography of a solid substrate is known to influence the extent of bacterial attachment and their subsequent proliferation to form biofilms. As an extension of our previous work on the development of a novel organic polymer coating for the prevention of growth of medically significant bacteria on three-dimensional solid surfaces, this study examines the effect of surface coating on the adhesion and proliferation tendencies of Staphylococcus aureus and compares to those previously investigated tendencies of Pseudomonas aeruginosa on similar coatings. Radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition was used to coat the surface of the substrate with thin film of terpinen-4-ol, a constituent of tea-tree oil known to inhibit the growth of a broad range of bacteria. The presence of the coating decreased the substrate surface roughness from approximately 2.1 nm to 0.4 nm. Similar to P. aeruginosa, S. aureus presented notably different patterns of attachment in response to the presence of the surface film, where the amount of attachment, extracellular polymeric substance production, and cell proliferation on the coated surface was found to be greatly reduced compared to that obtained on the unmodified surface. This work suggests that the antimicrobial and antifouling coating used in this study could be effectively integrated into medical and other clinically relevant devices to prevent bacterial growth and to minimize bacteria-associated adverse host responses.

Balancing entertainment and behaviour value: M-games as a social marketing agent of change

In a marketplace where millions of dollars are spent on the design of mobile games (m-games), social marketers are now using this technology as a tool for behaviour change. Despite high expenditure by governments and non-profits on social marketing m-games, little is known about their effectiveness in terms of creating value. Value creation has been demonstrated to have an important impact on satisfaction and behaviour. This paper reports the results of a qualitative study involving four focus groups with 23 participants to reveal two categories of experiential value, entertainment and behaviour. Additionally, it was discovered that entertainment could be characterised by amusement and social value dimensions. Whereas, behaviour could be made up of information, simulation and distraction value dimensions. The categories of value, as well as the dimensions of information, simulation and distraction are entirely new to the social marketing literature and thus represents a unique contribution to social marketing.

Social marketers playing to win? Experiential value creation in social marketing mobile games

The rapid change of technological trends in the marketplace has increased the difficulty for social marketers to reach consumers using traditional marketing channels (Della et al., 2008). Traditionally, social marketing interventions have typically used more conventional supporting products and services such as water counters for water conservation or condoms for sex safety. However, recently social marketers are witnessing the diminishing effectiveness of more traditional social products and services in encouraging the uptake and maintenance of behaviour. In light of the technological trends in the marketplace and diminishing effect of previous social products and services (Lefebvre, 2009), social marketers have been encouraged to look to alternate means of delivering valuable offerings...

Elevated levels of PFOS and PFHxS in firefighters exposed to aqueous film forming foam (AFFF)

Exposure to aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) was evaluated in 149 firefighters working at AFFF training facilities in Australia by analysis of PFOS and related compounds in serum. A questionnaire was designed to capture information about basic demographic factors, lifestyle factors and potential occupational exposure (such as work history and self-reported skin contact with foam). The results showed that a number of factors were associated with PFAA serum concentrations. Blood donation was found to be linked to low PFAA levels, and the concentrations of PFOS and PFHxS were found to be positively associated with years of jobs with AFFF contact. The highest levels of PFOS and PFHxS were one order of magnitude higher compared to the general population in Australia and Canada. Study participants who had worked ten years or less had levels of PFOS that were similar to or only slightly above those of the general population. This coincides with the phase out of 3M AFFF from all training facilities in 2003, and suggests that the exposures to PFOS and PFHxS in AFFF have declined in recent years. Self-reporting of skin contact and frequency of contact were used as an index of exposure. Using this index, there was no relationship between PFOS levels and skin exposure. This index of exposure is limited as it relies on self-report and it only considers skin exposure to AFFF, and does not capture other routes of potential exposure. Possible associations between serum PFAA concentrations and five biochemical outcomes were assessed. The outcomes were serum cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoproteins, low density lipoproteins, and uric acid. No statistical associations between any of these endpoints and serum PFAA concentrations were observed.

Disguising the performance of M-games in social marketing

Despite the explosion of mobile games (m-games) and the uptake of games as a social marketing tool for behaviour change, little is known about which game attributes (design factors within a game) are preferred by consumers for social marketing m-games. This research reports the findings of four focus groups (n=23) to propose three new categories of game attributes along with seven preferred game attributes for social marketing m-games. These results provide a unique contribution to social marketing theory given the goal of a social marketing m-game game is both entertainment and behaviour change. Further, the findings suggest strategies for practitioners seeking to develop, design and build social marketing m-games.

Exploring the role of entrepreneurial marketing in entrepreneurship education

This is a conceptual paper that seeks to explore the role of entrepreneurial marketing in promoting entrepreneurship in tertiary education. We postulate that the subject of entrepreneurship is marketed in different ways as a means of introducing (a) new learners to the subject area of entrepreneurship and (b) the wide ranging possibilities of entrepreneurship education. This research explores both the entrepreneurial marketing and the entrepreneurship literature to capture how they meet at the interface to solve the issue of appropriately marketing entrepreneurship courses within the context of university education. Whilst empirical evidence of entrepreneurial marketing has tended to concentrate on profit-making and small organizations, fewer studies have sought to understand the role of entrepreneurial marketing in public sector organizations, including the university. Although this article is exploratory in nature, it shows the benefits of utilizing the extensive research within the fields of entrepreneurial marketing and entrepreneurship to determine the value of entrepreneurship education for policymakers, universities and students.

Small firm internationalisation and the objective characteristics of managers: An importer's relationship marketing perspective

As a result of competitive pressures, firms are transitioning to international sourcing and initiating complex relationships with suppliers. Despite a lack of inward internationalisation research, there is progressive support for the importance of importing. Heavier focus has been placed on downstream efforts in past years, despite the fact that many factors affecting exporting also influence importing. For small and medium sized enterprises (SME), the psychic distance construct is especially important for internationalisation behaviour but there is little evidence on how perceptual psychic distance, that is the individual’s experiences, influences the buyer-seller relationship. This study draws on internationalisation process theory and commitment-trust theory, in an effort to describe the relationship between objective characteristics (i.e. language, cultural background, education and international experience) and relationship marketing (trust and commitment). The study utilises a holistic, multiple case study design to gain a deeper understanding of the inherent complexities of the relationships in dyads and how objective characteristics, which reduce psychic distance, can facilitate trust and commitment development between importers and exporters.

Instrument for simultaneous assessment of tear film surface quality and subjective vision

To develop and test a custom-built instrument to simultaneously assess tear film surface quality (TFSQ) and subjective vision score (SVS).

The construction of feminism in Indonesian film: Arisan 2!

Feminism in Indonesian society is related to the emancipation term that women nowadays have still been bringing up this issue. However, Arisan 2! film showed a shift in film discourse regarding the representation of cosmopolitan women in Indonesia. This research examines on how Arisan 2! film as a media portrays feminism in the society of Jakarta. Feminism in Arisan 2! film was likely to expose the liberal feminism in nowadays modern society through several issues of women’s emancipation, specifically in the areas of marriage, job, and social life.

Consumers' perceptions and attitudes towards firms' green marketing initiatives: How do they influence green consumption?

This thesis examines green marketing and green consumption behaviours addressing limited understandings about how consumers interpret their green consumption behaviour in their everyday lives; what motivates people to purchase green products, and what barriers exist to this behaviour. Findings reveal that enhancing green consumption through green marketing depends on consumers' enthusiasm to engage in green practices and green behavioural influences. The research supports the need for qualitative research to provide rich insights into relationships between consumer behaviour, green marketing and green consumption and builds a stronger knowledge foundation by introducing social practice theory into the marketing discipline.