A kiskereskedelmi stratégiai szövetségek hatása a kiskereskedelmi marketing tevékenységére és teljesítményére = Effects of the retail strategic alliances to the retailers' marketing activity and performance

A kilencvenes évek második felétől egyre jelentősebb szerepet játszanak a vállalatközi együttműködések, hosszabb távú kooperációk a hazai élelmiszer- és napi cikk kiskereskedelemben. A társulások szintjén a piaci siker egyértelmű, amely jól nyomon követhető az évente megjelenő kiskereskedői rangsorokban. A cikk viszont a tagkereskedők szemszögéből vizsgálja a kérdést, vajon a társuláshoz való csatlakozás ténylegesen javítja-e a kiskereskedő teljesítményét és milyen dimenziókon keresztül. _____________ From the second half of the ’90s the strategic alliances, the long term cooperations have been increasingly role in the domestic food and FMCG retail. On the level of the alliances the market success has been obvious, which has well presented in the annual retail rankings. The article examines the issue from the retailers’ point of view: whether the accession to the alliance has effectively improved the retalier’s performance and which dimensions through.

The influence of perception of forgetting and gender, ethnicity, and closeness on likelihood of caregiving

As life expectancy increases, the population of older adults is increasing rapidly. The caregiving of older parents by adult children has become a normative experience. Much of the gerontological literature has examined the caregiving experience, particularly in terms of the stresses involved. However, research is only beginning to examine the factors which motivate adult children to begin caregiving. The research described here examined how an elderly parent's memory behavior might influence caregiving decisions. In addition, gender, ethnicity, and parent-adult child closeness were examined to explore how these individual difference variables might influence those caregiving decisions.^ Participants read one of two vignettes describing a social visit with an elderly widow (target). In the vignette, the elderly target experiences several instances of forgetting. The vignettes depicted forgetting behavior established in pilot work as normal or serious. The normal forgetting vignette did not arouse concern and the serious forgetting vignette did arouse concern when the middle-aged participants imagined their mothers in the role of the vignette target. Participants rated their likelihood of engaging in eight caregiving behaviors if their mothers behaved like the vignette target. They also rated their closeness with their own mothers.^ Multivariate analyses of variance indicated main effects for vignette type, gender, ethnicity, and attachment. The likelihood of caregiving was higher when forgetting was more serious and when participants were female, Hispanic, and were highly attached to their mothers. Interaction effects showed that gender differences decreased with increased seriousness of forgetting, and ethnic differences were only significant for the normal forgetting condition.^ Multiple regression analyses indicated that attachment was the most significant predictor of likelihood of caregiving. Gender and ethnicity predicted specific caregiving behaviors. Females were more likely to engage in phoning and cooking, and Hispanics were more likely to engage in visiting and suggesting mother move in. ^

Effectiveness of the Teaching Enrichment Activities to Minorities (TEAM) program at increasing underrepresented students in gifted programs

This study examined the effectiveness of the TEAM (Teaching Enrichment Activities to Minorities) program in preparing and identifying underrepresented students for entrance into the gifted program. Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) developed the TEAM program as an intervention program aimed at developing student's thinking skills and critical thinking skills in all subject areas and prepare students for possible placement into the gifted program. ^ A systematic sampling strategy was utilized to select three TEAM schools from each of the six regions in M-DCPS for the sample, for a total of 18 schools. A pool of the students that participated in the TEAM program in 2003-2004 in the 18 schools selected were identified as the TEAM Sample students. A matching sample was created from 18 public schools in Miami-Dade County that did not implement the TEAM program in 2003-2004. The Matching Sample created a match for 806 students in the TEAM sample, for a total of 1612 subjects for the study. ^ This study used a logistical regression design to analyze the relationships of multiple independent variables, including: ethnicity, limited English proficiency, gender, free/reduced lunch status, grade level, reading achievement, mathematics achievement, and participation TEAM on the dependent variables of referral for the gifted program and eligibility into the gifted program. The first analysis found the variables of grade level, participation in TEAM, reading achievement, and mathematics achievement were all significant variables in determining if a student was referred for the gifted program. The second analysis found the variables of grade level, gender, free/reduced lunch status, reading achievement, and mathematics achievement were all significant variables in determining if a student was eligible for the gifted program. ^ Recommendations based on the results of this study include the expansion of the TEAM program in M-DCPS to include additional grade levels and schools. Additionally, adopting a broadened definition of giftedness and reviewing the screening and placement policies for potentially gifted students is recommended. Adopting multicultural and broader definitions of giftedness and constructing better tools and programs, such as TEAM, for assessing and identifying potential gifted students, represent small steps towards creating equitable education for all students. ^

An investigation of mathematics and science instruction in English and Spanish for English language learners

The contextual demands of language in content area are difficult for ELLS. Content in the native language furthers students' academic development and native language skills, while they are learning English. Content in English integrates pedagogical strategies for English acquisition with subject area instruction. The following models of curriculum content are provided in most Miami Dade County Public Schools: (a) mathematics instruction in the native language with science instruction in English or (b) science instruction in the native language with mathematics instruction in English. The purpose of this study was to investigate which model of instruction is more contextually supportive for mathematics and science achievement. ^ A pretest and posttest, nonequivalent group design was used with 94 fifth grade ELLs who received instruction in curriculum model (a) or (b). This allowed for statistical analysis that detected a difference in the means of .5 standard deviations with a power of .80 at the .05 level of significance. Pretreatment and post-treatment assessments of mathematics, reading, and science achievement were obtained through the administration of Aprenda-Segunda Edición and the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test. ^ The results indicated that students receiving mathematics in English and Science in Spanish scored higher on achievement tests in both Mathematics and Science than the students who received Mathematics in Spanish and Science in English. In addition, the mean score of students on the FCAT mathematics examination was higher than their mean score on the FCAT science examination regardless of the language of instruction. ^

A Professional Development Model to Promote Internet Integration in P-12 Teaching Practices

This mixed-methods study examined effects of a staff development model on instructional practices and dispositions of P-12 teachers. The model design was guided by participants’ varying developmental levels and their values and beliefs about teaching and learning. The study adds to our understanding of the need for teacher-centered professional development.

Perceivers' impressions of self -presentation tactics: The effects of age and gender

Eighty-four young and 84 older men and women participants, read scenarios in which a male or female target uses either a self-enhancement or a self-deprecation tactic to present him/herself in front of either a close friend or a new acquaintance. Then participants i.e., perceivers) rated their impressions of the self-enhancing or self-deprecating target on six scales: likable, self-knowledgeable, honest, depressed, happy, and anxious. Overall, both young and old perceivers gave more favorable ratings to self-enhancing targets than to self-deprecating targets. Both young and old perceivers' impressions did not differ for a target who presented him/herself in front of a friend or in front of an acquaintance. Also, perceivers completed Singelis' (1994) Self-Construal Measurement, which measures both interdependent and independent self-construals. As predicted, older perceivers had a higher level of interdependent self-construal than did young perceivers. Unexpectedly, female perceivers had a higher level of independent self-construal than did male perceivers. Neither the age-related nor gender-related differences in self-construals were associated with any age-related or gender-related differences in perceivers' impressions of the self-enhancing and self-deprecating targets. That is, the moderator effects of self-construals on the relationships between self-presentation tactic conditions and ratings of targets were not-significant. ^

Employee perceptions of workplace empowerment in relation to self -reported intent to stay on the job

As the nursing profession faces a shortage of nurses, workplace initiatives focused on retaining employees are critical to the United States healthcare industry (Sochalski, 2002). The purpose of this research was to determine whether self-reported intent to stay on the job was related to perceptions of workplace empowerment using Kanter's (1977) theory of organizational empowerment as a framework. ^ The sample consisted of 206 Florida registered nurses. Four self-report scales and a demographic questionnaire were administered by mail. The Conditions for Work Effectiveness Questionnaire (CWEQ; Chandler, 1987), Job Activity Scale (JAS; Laschinger, Kutzscher, & Sabiston, 1993), Organizational Relationships Scale (ORS; Laschinger, Sabiston, & Kutzscher, 1993) and an intent to stay instrument (Kim, Price, Mueller & Watson, 1996) were used to measure perceived access to empowerment structures, perceived formal power, perceived informal power, and intent to stay, respectively. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlational analysis, and hierarchical regression. ^ Twenty-eight percent of the variance of intent to stay was explained by perceived access to empowerment structures, perceived formal power, and perceived informal power when holding age, gender, education, overall nursing experience, and number of years on current job constant. Perceived access to empowerment structures (CWEQ total score) was the best predictor of self-reported intent to stay for this sample. Of the four components of perceived access to work empowerment structures, perceived access to opportunity and resources were the best predictors of nurses' intent to stay on the job. ^ This study was the first step in establishing the relationship between Kanter's full model and intent to remain on the job, which is a stepping stone for the development of effective retention strategies based on a workplace empowerment model. This knowledge is particularly important in today's healthcare industry where healthcare administrators and human resource development practitioners are ideally positioned to implement organizational strategies to enhance access to work empowerment structures and potentially reduce turnover and mitigate the effects of nursing shortage. ^

The effects of semantic and syntactic instruction on user performance and satisfaction in search user interface design

The design of interfaces to facilitate user search has become critical for search engines, ecommercesites, and intranets. This study investigated the use of targeted instructional hints to improve search by measuring the quantitative effects of users' performance and satisfaction. The effects of syntactic, semantic and exemplar search hints on user behavior were evaluated in an empirical investigation using naturalistic scenarios. Combining the three search hint components, each with two levels of intensity, in a factorial design generated eight search engine interfaces. Eighty participants participated in the study and each completed six realistic search tasks. Results revealed that the inclusion of search hints improved user effectiveness, efficiency and confidence when using the search interfaces, but with complex interactions that require specific guidelines for search interface designers. These design guidelines will allow search designers to create more effective interfaces for a variety of searchapplications.

Mobilização de competências na atividade informal do vendedor ambulante em praia de Natal (RN)

The central issue of this dissertation is to investigate the labor activity of beach hawker, in order to identify the main professional competencies mobilized in this activity, traversed by both the precariousness of the means of labor exercise, as for complex and structured routines. In the town of Natal (RN) the beaches serve as workplace for thousands of informal workers, who use various professional skills, translated into the ability to mobilize and articulate knowledge, skills and behaviors to solve problems in concrete work situations. This research therefore had as main objective to investigate the work of beach hawkers, trying to identify the core competencies mobilized for facing demands and obstacles in such a context. The beach of Ponta Negra (Natal-RN) was chosen as field of observation, in which a group of hawkers took part as voluntary subjects. Methodologically, quantitative and qualitative methods of production and analysis of data were combined in three stages. In the quantitative phase an occupational questionnaire was applied to a sample of 60 subjects, generating a set of data analyzed with quantitative univariate and multidimensional descriptive statistical tools, complemented by inferential statistical analysis. The results of this phase indicate a predominance of men sellers with salary varying in a range from one to two minimum wage Brazilian salary, age and education quite heterogeneous, extended working hours and the choice of only this activity and this beach throughout the year. Concurrently with this step of analysis, unsystematic observations of the activity of vendors were held and then driven to the technique of Instruction Impersonator with four chosen subjects. This phase had a clinicalinterpretive analysis, rooted in historical-cultural Vygotskian psychological perspective and in the french approach of skills and abilities. The main results point to several strategies for overcoming obstacles, use of technics anchored in everyday work experience and practical knowledge, building rules of conduct and collective mobilization of diverse professional skills similar to those found in formal work, such as business and time management, use of communicative tools, flexibility in problem solving, creativity and teamwork competence. We conclude that informality investigated in context can not be seen exclusively as a synonym of precariousness. It also covers skills and knowledge in a complex culture that situates informal labor in a complementary way with respect to formal work. This conclusion, therefore, contributes to overcome the notion of antinomy between formal and informal labor activity, since they both can be considered as a way to achieve job satisfaction, and even a personal representation of well done job, which is an important psychological generator of identity and social place.

Costs and effects of new professional roles : Evidence from a literature review

“The authors wish to thank the European Commission for funding this research programme ‘Health Care Reform: The iMpact on practice, oUtcomes and cost of New ROles for health profeSsionals (MUNROS), under the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7 HEALTH-2012-INNOVATION-1) grant agreement number HEALTH-F3-2012-305467EC. The authors also wish to thank all those who supported and guided this work both within the MUNROS research project team and as external associates. In particular we would like to thank Mathijs Kelder for his valuable contribution in the review process. The authors also wish to thank all the MUNROS research and project partners for their continuing collaboration in this research”.

Costs and effects of new professional roles : Evidence from a literature review

“The authors wish to thank the European Commission for funding this research programme ‘Health Care Reform: The iMpact on practice, oUtcomes and cost of New ROles for health profeSsionals (MUNROS), under the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7 HEALTH-2012-INNOVATION-1) grant agreement number HEALTH-F3-2012-305467EC. The authors also wish to thank all those who supported and guided this work both within the MUNROS research project team and as external associates. In particular we would like to thank Mathijs Kelder for his valuable contribution in the review process. The authors also wish to thank all the MUNROS research and project partners for their continuing collaboration in this research”.

Developmental study of treatment fidelity, safety and acceptability of a Symptoms Clinic intervention delivered by General Practitioners to patients with multiple medically unexplained symptoms

Acknowledgements This study was funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government, grant CZH_4_495.

Costs and effects of new professional roles : Evidence from a literature review

“The authors wish to thank the European Commission for funding this research programme ‘Health Care Reform: The iMpact on practice, oUtcomes and cost of New ROles for health profeSsionals (MUNROS), under the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7 HEALTH-2012-INNOVATION-1) grant agreement number HEALTH-F3-2012-305467EC. The authors also wish to thank all those who supported and guided this work both within the MUNROS research project team and as external associates. In particular we would like to thank Mathijs Kelder for his valuable contribution in the review process. The authors also wish to thank all the MUNROS research and project partners for their continuing collaboration in this research”.