Corporate ethics and new technology: an exploratory investigation of advertising activity and world wide web usage

This study explores the ethical standards and behaviour of Australian advertisers and their usage of new technologies. Although corporate ethics has been an issue in the established media of television advertising for some time, there is little research about how companies are adapting in terms of ethics to the new communication technologies. The consumers’ “right to know” was used as a device to assess the ethical standards and behaviour of companies. Findings suggest that the WWW is not used as a means of communicating corporate ethical standards. Results indicate that the method of communicating requests for information does not influence the likelihood of receiving a response from a company. The results also show differences between the ethical standards and the ethical behaviour of those companies who do use the WWW to communicate ethical statements.

Is there global inclusion in publishing in the five leading advertising journals and does this relate to general publishing performance : a regional comparison

The question has been raised in academia whether there is global inclusion of authors in publishing. This has generally not been explored in the 30 years of research on advertising research activity and those works that do exist in advertising have generally only examined three North American focused journals. This paper expands the set of journals to five advertising focused journals and thus is a global examination of publishing in advertising. Within these five advertising journals there is an increased international involvement and thus it appears that a broader set of perspectives are being considered in the advertising literature. We also found that there is a positive correlation between publishing in the five leading advertising journals and four leading generalist journals, suggesting that institutions may be developing broader research cultures, rather than targeting works only in advertising.

What is the role of tobacco control advertising intensity and duration in reducing adolescent smoking prevalence? Findings from 16 years of tobacco control mass media advertising in Australia

ABSTRACT
Objective: To examine how the intensity and duration of tobacco control advertising relate to adolescent smoking prevalence.
Methods: Australian students (aged 12–17 years) participating in a national survey conducted triennially between 1993 and 2008 (sample size range 12 314–16 611). The outcome measure was students’ smoking in the previous 4 weeks collected through anonymous, self-completed surveys. For each student, monthly targeted rating points (TRPs, a measure of television advertising exposure) for tobacco control advertising was calculated for the 3 and 12 months prior to surveying. For each time period, cumulative TRPs exposure and exposure to three intensity levels (≥100 TRPs/month; ≥400 TRPs/month; ≥800 TRPs/month) over increasing durations (eg, 1 month, 2 months, etc) were calculated. Logistic regression examined associations between TRPs and adolescent smoking after controlling for demographic and policy variables.
Results: Past 3-month cumulative TRPs were found to have an inverse relationship with smoking prevalence. Low TRPs exposure in the past 12 months was positively associated with adolescent smoking prevalence. However, smoking prevalence reduced with cumulative exposure levels above 5800 cumulative TRPs. Additionally, exposure to ≥400 TRPs/month and ≥800 TRPs/month were associated with reduced likelihood of smoking, although the duration needed for this effect differed for the two intensity levels. When intensity was ≥400 TRPs/month, the odds of smoking only reduced with continuous exposure. When intensity was ≥800 TRPs/month, exposure at levels less than monthly was associated with reductions in smoking prevalence.
Conclusions: Both antismoking advertising intensity and duration are important for ensuring reductions in adolescent smoking prevalence.

The cost-effectiveness of removing television advertising of high-fat and/or high-sugar food and beverages to Australian children

Objective: To model the health benefits and cost-effectiveness of banning television (TV) advertisements in Australia for energy-dense, nutrient-poor food and beverages during children's peak viewing times.

Methods: Benefits were modelled as changes in body mass index (BMI) and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) saved. Intervention costs (AUD$) were compared with future health-care cost offsets from reduced prevalence of obesity-related health conditions. Changes in BMI were assumed to be maintained through to adulthood. The comparator was current practice, the reference year was 2001, and the discount rate for costs and benefits was 3%. The impact of the withdrawal of non-core food and beverage advertisements on children's actual food consumption was drawn from the best available evidence (a randomized controlled trial of advertisement exposure and food consumption). Supporting evidence was found in ecological relationships between TV advertising and childhood obesity, and from the effects of marketing bans on other products. A Working Group of stakeholders provided input into decisions surrounding the modelling assumptions and second-stage filters of 'strength of evidence', 'equity', 'acceptability to stakeholders', 'feasibility of implementation', 'sustainability' and 'side-effects'.

Results: The intervention had a gross incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of AUD$ 3.70 (95% uncertainty interval (UI) $2.40, $7.70) per DALY. Total DALYs saved were 37 000 (95% UI 16 000, 59 000). When the present value of potential savings in future health-care costs was considered (AUD$ 300m (95% UI $130m, $480m), the intervention was 'dominant', because it resulted in both a health gain and a cost offset compared with current practice.

Conclusions: Although recognizing the limitations of the available evidence, restricting TV food advertising to children would be one of the most cost-effective population-based interventions available to governments today. Despite its economic credentials from a public health perspective, the initiative is strongly opposed by food and advertising industries and is under review by the current Australian government.

The German two-tier board and the German corporate governance code

This paper deals with some interesting recent corporate governance developments in Germany. The focus is in particular on the German Corporate Governance Code, its parts, layout and how it deals with the various organs of German public corporations. The German Code is quite unique since it applies a Code of Good Practice to a two-tier board system, thus making it necessary to deal with the role and functions and the relationship between the management and the supervisory board. This paper concludes that several changes to the German law relating to public corporations since the middle of the 1990s and the introduction of the German Code will ensure that the two-tier board system will remain the favoured board structure for public corporations in Germany. It is, however, submitted that employee participation at supervisory board level will provide particular political challenges for Germany in the near future.

Marketing information sources and the performance of Australian businesses

This study investigated the various sources of information used by business organisations and their association with business performance indicators. The results showed that larger Australian companies predominantly used various internal and external secondary data sources of information, followed by formal primary marketing research. The study indicated an association between market share and the use of competitors, advertising agencies, and sales promotion agencies as sources of information, while overall financial performance was associated with the use of competitors and media/trade publications.

Investigating the influences on attendance and intention to rejoin with inaugural members of a new football team

This study investigated the effects of factors like member satisfaction and social rituals on desirable outcomes such as attendance, intention to rejoin and merchandise sales. This study focuses on the inaugural members of a new team in Australia’s A-League to gain insight into how loyalty develops amongst fans of new sporting organisations. The results show the importance to sports marketers of satisfying members and building ritual behaviour, as both are correlated with all of the positive outcomes investigated here.

Stem cell research and ethics : a socio-economic and marketing perspective

This paper addresses the ethical and moral issues surrounding stem cell research (SCR) and development within the socio-economic and macro marketing environments. A two dimensional conceptual framework is developed towards broadening the understanding of the complexities of these issues in an international context. The conceptual model captures the two dimensions of narrow moral/ethical to broader imperatives and the cost-benefits realm of SCR. Four quadrants emerge within these two dimensions which are likely to help identify the dominant views and the people associating themselves with these views in terms of their demographics and psychographic characteristics. These findings have important socio-economic and marketing implications which are highlighted in the paper.

Relational capabilities and brand strategy within commoditised industries

In many traditionally commoditised industries, organisations are recognising that their product offering alone does not cultivate a competitive advantage. As commoditised products face greater price competition, many are looking for a more sustainable form of differentiation. Within the fresh fruit and vegetable, dairy and meat industries, organisations are increasingly value-adding and focusing on branded offerings to gain such advantage. Whilst this is witnessed within industry, there is little academic evidence that discusses the relationship between dyad partners and how this impacts their branding strategy. This paper conceptually discusses how relationships between buyer and supplier trade partners can impact the branding strategies that are ultimately pursued by dyad participants. The relationship between trade partners is conceptualised using the resource-based view. Consideration is given to relationship complexities, the external environment and performance measurement.

Consuming children : education, entertainment, advertising

"Schools are dull, adults are dim, kids rule, pleasure can be purchased - these are canons of children's consumer cultures. In the places where kids, commodities and images meet, education, entertainment and advertising merge. Kids consume the corporate abundance with an appetite. But what happens now that schools are on the market? Is this a form of corporate gluttony? Are designer schools educationally "grotesque"? How are students packaged? How can curriculum compete with other attractions constantly advertised to students? Are students themselves both purchasers and commodities for sale?"

This volume argues that people are entering another stage in the construction of the young as the demarcations between education, entertainment and advertising collapse and as the lines between the generations both blur and harden. Drawing from the voices of students and from contemporary cultural theory this book provokes the reader to ponder the role of the school in the "age of desire.

Reducing consumer switching intentions following service failure : do empowerment and apology help?

This research explores the effectiveness of apology and empowerment as service recovery actions and their impact on consumers switching intentions within the hospitality industry. It also examines two different types of failure - process failure and outcome and whether consumer-switching intentions vary based on failure type. Results suggest that apology is effective in reducing switching intentions in both types of failure. Employee empowerment reduces switching intentions in outcome failure situations, but increases switching intentions in process settings. There is also an interaction effect of apology and empowerment in the outcome failure setting, but not in the process failure setting. Recommendations for managing service recovery are provided.

International marketing journals : a preliminary regional and institutional examination of research productivity

Contributions to marketing knowledge are becoming more global (Stremersch and Verhoef, 2005). This paper explores the issue of regional contribution to the international marketing area, which could be expected to be more global than other areas. Publications within four leading international marketing journals were reviewed over a five-year period (1999-2003). Findings suggested that approximately 50 percent of the works were authored by academics outside North America.

Exploring the links between relational bonds and customer loyalty : the case of loyal Arabic guests at five-star hotels

Relationship marketing aims to build and maintain relationships between customers and organizations. While building strong bonds is a key objective of relationship marketing, limited empirical attention has been paid to the role of relational bonds on enhancing loyalty. This study explores the impact of financial, social and structural bonds on consumer loyalty, using a sample of loyal Arabic hotel guests. The results of this study suggest that structural bonds increase loyalty, although financial and social bonds were not found to have a significant impact on loyalty.