Customers as spatial and social influencers on other customers in the social-servicescape

In marketing, considerable attention has been devoted both to the understanding of consumer behaviour and the impact of the physical environment on the behaviour of consumers within these settings. Yet surprisingly, little attention has been given to the influence of customers on other customers in such settings. But within the environment it could be argued that social stimuli are likely to receive more attention than non-social or physical stimuli (Guerin, 1993). Psychologists have asserted that the mere presence (or absence) of people will affect the behaviour of others. Thus we argue in this paper that customers impact on other customers within the social servicescape. This paper presents the findings of an observational study of 225 episodes which took place within a selected servicescape - four cafes. We found that the presence of other customers appeared to positively influence duration of the stay (social influence), and that customers appeared to exhibit a desire for the presence of other customers in this social setting in that customers appeared to be drawn spatially to where customers were already seated (spatial influence). We draw from psychology, in particular, social facilitation theory (Platania and Morin, 2001; Zajonc, 1965), affiliative conflict theory (Argyle and Dean 1965; Knowles 1980, 1989) and from psychology and sociology in terms of the basic emotional need for a ���sense of belonging��� (Hagerty, Williams and Oe 2002) in order to develop the conceptual framework for this study. Theoretical and managerial implications of our findings are discussed, as well as directions for further research.

Migration and transfer from Germany to Britain, 1660 to 1914:historical relations and comparisons

From the seventeenth until the twentieth century, Germans formed a prominent immigrant group in Great Britain. Their number included many occupations, and many occupied positions of significance. This volume brings together the most recent research on the subject, and places it firmly in the context of migration and transnational studies. It focuses on the significance of migration to cultural transfer, and highlights the contribution of Germans to the course of British history.

Entrepreneurship and the informal economy: a study of Ukraine's hidden enterprise culture

How many entrepreneurs start-up their business ventures conducting some or all of their trade in the informal economy? The aim of this paper is to answer this key question that has been seldom addressed using data from 600 face-to-face structured interviews conducted in Ukraine in late 2005 and early 2006. Analyzing the 331 entrepreneurs identified (i.e., individuals starting-up an enterprise in the past three years), just 10 percent operate on a wholly legitimate basis, while 39 percent have a license to trade and/or have registered their business but conduct a portion of their trade in the informal economy, and 51 percent operate unregistered enterprises and conduct all of their trade on an off-the-books basis. Given that some 90 percent of all business start-ups operate partially or wholly in the informal economy, and that 40 percent of all respondents depend on the informal economy as either their principal or secondary contributor to their livelihoods, the paper concludes by considering the wider implications of these findings both for further research and public policy.

Analysing organisational culture : a critical ethnography of public relations and personnel specialists in a state bureaucracy

Following an introductory chapter, I examine (i) typologies which have differentiated the literature on organisational culture and symbolism (Chapter 2), (ii) the contribution of organisation theory to organisation culture (Chapter 3), and (iii) recent literature on organisational culture and symbolism (Chapter 4). Within these chapters, I adopt Habermas' (1972) notion of knowledge-constitutive interests, assessing the contrubutions to understanding organisational culture made by literature guided by technical, practical and emancipatory cognitive interests. In doing so, I suggest that more critical studies on organisational culture and symbolism have been comparatively neglected. Lamenting this neglect, I suggest that Giddens' theory of structuration can be employed to advance the development of a critical, emancipatory conceptualisation of organisational culture. In particular, I argue that this Giddensian analysis, by penetrating the existential, poltical and material processes of cultural reproduction (Chapter 5), is able to disclose some of the more contradictory features of organisation culture. The remainder of the thesis comprises of a critical ethnography of the work cultures of public relations and personnel specialists located in a state bureaucracy. I begin the ethnography with a dicussion of my research methods (Chapter 6) and an overview of the departments studied (Chapter 7): I then examine (i) the work cultures of the specialists (Chapter 8), (ii) the specialists' management of the relationships with the hosts bureaucracy (Chapter 9); and, (iii) opportunities the specialists had for developing an emancipatory praxis (Chapter 10). Finally, in a concluding section, I offer some critical reflections on the contributions of the thesis and suggest areas for future research.

New technology, industrial relations and white collar trade unions : the case of the National and Local Government Officers Association

The decade since 1979 has seen the most rapid introduction of microelectronic technology in the workplace. In particular, the scope offered for the application of this new technology to the area of white collar work has meant that it is a sector where trade unions have been confronted with major challenges. However the application of this technology has also provided trade unions with opportunities for exerting influence to reshape traditional attitudes to both industrial relations and the nature of work. Recent academic research on the trade union response to the introduction of new technology at the workplace suggests that, despite the resources and apparent sophistication of modern trade unions, they have not in general been able to take advantage of the opportunities offered during this period of radical technological change,the argument being that this is due both to structural weaknesses and the inappropriateness of the system of collective bargaining where new technology issues are concerned. Despite the significance of the Public Sector in employment terms, research into the response of public sector white collar trade unions to technological change has been fairly limited. This thesis sets out the approach of the National and Local Government Officers Association (NALGO), the largest solely white collar union in the world with over three quarters of a million members employed in a wide range of public service industries. The thesis examines NALGO's response at national level and, through detailed case studies, at local level in respect of Local Government and Water Industry NALGO members. The response is then evaluated and conclusions drawn in terms of a framework based upon an assessment of the key factors relevant in judging the ability of NALGO to respond effectively to the challenges brought about by the technological revolution of the last ten years.

Comparing German and British political culture through values : and analysis of the values of health care reform

This research sets out to compare the values in British and German political discourse, especially the discourse of social policy, and to analyse their relationship to political culture through an analysis of the values of health care reform. The work proceeds from the hypothesis that the known differences in political culture between the two countries will be reflected in the values of political discourse, and takes a comparison of two major recent legislative debates on health care reform as a case study. The starting point in the first chapter is a brief comparative survey of the post-war political cultures of the two countries, including a brief account of the historical background to their development and an overview of explanatory theoretical models. From this are developed the expected contrasts in values in accordance with the hypothesis. The second chapter explains the basis for selecting the corpus texts and the contextual information which needs to be recorded to make a comparative analysis, including the context and content of the reform proposals which comprise the case study. It examines any contextual factors which may need to be taken into account in the analysis. The third and fourth chapters explain the analytical method, which is centred on the use of definition-based taxonomies of value items and value appeal methods to identify, on a sentence-by-sentence basis, the value items in the corpus texts and the methods used to make appeals to those value items. The third chapter is concerned with the classification and analysis of values, the fourth with the classification and analysis of value appeal methods. The fifth chapter will present and explain the results of the analysis, and the sixth will summarize the conclusions and make suggestions for further research.

L��szl�� Csaba, Crisis in economics? Studies in European political economy. Budapest: Akad��miai Kiad�� , 2009, 224pp., e35.10 h/b.

Book review

The measurement and decomposition of economy-wide productivity growth:Assessing the accuracy and selecting between different approaches

Productivity at the macro level is a complex concept but also arguably the most appropriate measure of economic welfare. Currently, there is limited research available on the various approaches that can be used to measure it and especially on the relative accuracy of said approaches. This thesis has two main objectives: firstly, to detail some of the most common productivity measurement approaches and assess their accuracy under a number of conditions and secondly, to present an up-to-date application of productivity measurement and provide some guidance on selecting between sometimes conflicting productivity estimates. With regards to the first objective, the thesis provides a discussion on the issues specific to macro-level productivity measurement and on the strengths and weaknesses of the three main types of approaches available, namely index-number approaches (represented by Growth Accounting), non-parametric distance functions (DEA-based Malmquist indices) and parametric production functions (COLS- and SFA-based Malmquist indices). The accuracy of these approaches is assessed through simulation analysis, which provided some interesting findings. Probably the most important were that deterministic approaches are quite accurate even when the data is moderately noisy, that no approaches were accurate when noise was more extensive, that functional form misspecification has a severe negative effect in the accuracy of the parametric approaches and finally that increased volatility in inputs and prices from one period to the next adversely affects all approaches examined. The application was based on the EU KLEMS (2008) dataset and revealed that the different approaches do in fact result in different productivity change estimates, at least for some of the countries assessed. To assist researchers in selecting between conflicting estimates, a new, three step selection framework is proposed, based on findings of simulation analyses and established diagnostics/indicators. An application of this framework is also provided, based on the EU KLEMS dataset.

Rhythmic masking release:effects of asynchrony, temporal overlap, harmonic relations, and source separation on cross-spectral grouping

The rhythm created by spacing a series of brief tones in a regular pattern can be disguised by interleaving identical distractors at irregular intervals. The disguised rhythm can be unmasked if the distractors are allocated to a separate stream from the rhythm by integration with temporally overlapping captors. Listeners identified which of 2 rhythms was presented, and the accuracy and rated clarity of their judgment was used to estimate the fusion of the distractors and captors. The extent of fusion depended primarily on onset asynchrony and degree of temporal overlap. Harmonic relations had some influence, but only an extreme difference in spatial location was effective (dichotic presentation). Both preattentive and attentionally driven processes governed performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Interregionalism

Interregionalism is deeply rooted in the foreign policies and external relations of the EU. Interregional cooperation today not only encompasses trade and aid but also political dialogue, cultural relations and even security cooperation. Although the EU���s official ambition has been to formalize and institutionalize its interregional relations with other regional bodies or organizations (so-called ���pure interregionalism���), in practice there are a bewildering variety of interregional or group-to-group relations on display (H��nggi 2006; Baert et al. 2014). The EU is rapidly evolving as a global actor and while doing so it has been trying to export its own civilian and normative values. Interregionalism is an important tool in this process, contributing to the EU���s policy of fostering regionalism worldwide, not only in the triad (Europe, North America and East Asia) (De Lombaerde and Schulz 2009). Through interregionalism, the EU and its regional others enhance their presence, gain recognition, tighten institutional cohesion and define identities. Interregionalism, therefore, occupies a special position in the construction of regional actorness in global affairs (Wunderlich 2012). However, the link between interregionalism and regionalism is both complex and underexplored (Baert et al. 2014; Doidge 2007). Much depends on the type of interregional relations, and the balance of other forms of cooperation, which appears to play out differently in different regions. All this leads to a number of research questions that should be addressed by the academic literature, including is there a preference for interregional relations in EU���s foreign policy? If so, for what reason(s)? What are the consequences of such a preference? What is the role of interregionalism in the broader context of EU���s external policies? How are expressions of regionalism related to expressions of interregionalism? Does the sui generis character of the EU lead to a sui generis character of EU interregionalism? This chapter provides a general overview of the evolution of the field, the key conceptual and analytical debates, as well as the main research questions that drive the research agenda. Emphasis is also placed on identifying the main gaps in the field and suggesting directions.

Az ��zleti kapcsolatok menedzsmentj��nek gondolati modellje. ��s ez mi��rt lehet fontos a v��llalati vezet��k sz��m��ra? (The conceptual model of management of business relations ��� and why it may be important for the corporate executives?)

A szerz��k cikk��kben az ��zleti marketinget ��s a gazdas��gszociol��giai megk��zel��t��st ��tv��zve vizsg��lj��k az ��zleti kapcsolatok ir��ny��t��s��nak n��h��ny probl��m��j��t. Gondolati modellj��k figyelembe veszi a kapcsolatra vonatkoz�� k��ls�� ��s bels�� szab��lyokat, a kapcsolatban ��rintettek percepci��it ��s cselekv��seit. Az ��zleti kapcsolat menedzsmentje alatt els��sorban tervez��, szervez�� ��s ellen��rz�� tev��kenys��geket ��rtenek, amelyek att��l f��gg��en alakulnak, hogy egy kapcsolat l��trehoz��sa, fenntart��sa vagy v��ltoztat��sa-e a c��l. Rem��nyeik szerint az ��ltaluk javasolt gondolati modell alkalmaz��sa a t��rsadalmi ��sszetev��k vil��gosabb felismer��s��ben seg��theti az ��zleti ��let r��sztvev��it. Dolgozatuk c��lja az ��zleti kapcsolatok menedzsmentj��t megk��nny��t�� gondolati modell fel��ll��t��sa. A modell operacionaliz��l��sa ��s empirikus tesztel��se meghaladja jelen ��r��suk kereteit ��s egy esetleges j��v��beni kutat��s t��m��ja lehet. ____________ The purpose of this article is to create and demonstrate such a conceptual model, which might assist in the more efficient management of business relationships. The peculiarity of the way of thinking proposed by the authors is that it takes into account the complexity of business relationships and its social embeddedness. Thus they make an attempt to systematize the key components of business relationships, their processes, economic and social characteristics. The authors would like to approach this from the point of view of the management of the business relationship, trusting that the deeper understanding of the complexity of business relationships and the consistent consideration of this complexity may contribute to the more successful management of relationships.

Bevezet��s a K��zpontos��t��s ��s piaci reform c��m�� k��tethez = Introduction to the volume Centralization and Market Reform

Az al��bbi ��r��s Kornai J��nos ��letm��sorozata k��zelj��v��ben megjelen�� harmadik k��tet��nek bevezet��je alapj��n k��sz��lt. (A sorozat els�� k��tete, A hi��ny ��s m��sodik k��tete, A szocialista rendszer 2012-ben jelent meg.) Ritk��n fordul el��, hogy ��letm��v��t rendszerezve, egy szerz�� maga veszi t��telesen sorra ��r��sait, t��rja fel az ��r��sok megsz��let��s��nek k��r��lm��nyeit, ��s elemzi ��ket t��bb ��vtized t��vlat��b��l. Kornai J��nos ��letm��sorozat��nak ��ssze��ll��t��sakor erre a rendk��v��li feladatra v��llalkozott. A k��tetben megjelen�� 22 ��r��shoz f��z��tt gondolatainak k��zl��sekor mai szemmel veszi g��rcs�� al�� az egy kiv��tel��vel a rendszerv��lt��s el��tt ��rt cikkeit, valamint 1956-ban ��rott els�� k��nyv��t, A t��lzott k��zpontos��t��st. Az ��r��sokat rendszerez�� bevezet�� a k��zpontos��t��sra ��s a piaci reformra ��sszpontos��tja a figyelmet - e t��mak��rr��l bebizonyosodott, hogy korai m��g csup��n a k��zgazdas��gtani elm��lett��rt��net fejezetek��nt sz��mon tartani. A k��tetben megjelen�� ��r��sok egy r��sze k��zvetlen��l kapcsol��dik a magyar gazdas��g tapasztalataihoz, m��sik r��sze pedig elm��leti jelleg��. Ennek megfelel��en az itt k��z��lt bevezet��s is foglalkozik mind a magyar gazdas��gt��rt��net m��ig is figyelemre m��lt�� ��s tanuls��gos gyakorlati probl��m��ival, mind pedig a szocializmust ��s a kapitalizmust, a centraliz��lt ��s decentraliz��lt form��kat ��sszehasonl��t�� ��ltal��nos elm��letekkel. ______ This piece forms the introduction to the forthcoming third volume of J��nos Kor-nai s life s work series reissued in Hungarian. (The first and second volumes, Economics of Shortage and The Political Economy of the Socialist System, ap-peared in 2012.) It is rare for an author to arrange his own life s work, taking his writings item by item, presenting the circumstances in which they arose, and ana-lysing them decades later. His thoughts on the twenty-two writings in the volume, at the time of republication, involve scrutinizing with present-day eyes articles written, with one exception, before the change of system, along with his first book, Overcentralization, written in 1956. The introduction that systematizes these fo-cuses on centralization and on market reform - events show it is still too soon to see these subjects simply as a chapter in the theoretical history of economics. Some of the articles draw directly on experiences with the Hungarian economy, while others have a theoretical nature. So the introduction also deals both with practical problems of Hungarian economic history that remain notable and instructive, and with comparative general theories of socialism and capitalism and centralized and decentralized forms.