Sheb L. True

Russian Consumer Perceptions of Foreign and Domestic Consumer Goods: An Analysis of Country-of-Origin Stereotypes with Implications for Promotions and Positioning

Although Russia is continually in the news, reliable information relating to the consumer behavior of Russian citizens is not available. Despite ongoing turmoil, free market economies should eventually emerge in Russia. In fact, Russia could represent one of the next major growth opportunities for U.S. exporters. This study evaluated Russian consumers perceptions toward domestic, German, Japanese and U.S. products. Russian consumer perceptions of “country-of-origin” characteristics differed significantly on 13 perceptual dimensions. Implications for strategic promotion and competitive positioning of U.S. goods in Russia are presented.

Teaching Business Ethics: Why Gen Y?

Each generation both influences ensuing generations and is influenced by preceding generations. As the most consumption-oriented and ethnically-diverse generation in history, Generation Y will likely change the landscape of the marketplace. The overarching purpose of this article is to assess how value orientations of Generation Y impact ethical decision-making. Specifically, the present research assesses the relationship between self-reported authority credence, needs determinism and altruism and un/ethical decision choice. In this way, the attention shifts from a curricular focus to a participant (student) focus in business ethics education. The findings suggest that Generation Y students may possess different value orientations that may or may not be accordant with traditional teaching methods or content areas.

Corporate America's Search for the “Right” Direction: Outlook and Opportunities for Family Firms:

The recent accounting scandals and corporate misdeeds of several high-profile Fortune 500 companies have left the investing public reeling. This paper highlights the attributes and characteristics of family firms that confer operational and financial performance advantages on them vis-à-vis nonfamily, or publicly controlled, firms. As a result, family firms have a unique opportunity to model the way regarding corporate reform.

The Integration Allegation in Executive MBA Programs

The impetus toward inter-functional integration in organizations is generating great demand for human capital with the necessary skills and knowledge to operate effectively in cross-functional role sets. Despite this growing demand, universities and colleges have largely adhered to a traditional model of graduate education in which specialization is achieved through functional segregation of areas, topics and skills. This national study—a balanced replication of an earlier study addressing the finance discipline—surveyed key informants from various EMBA programs in the U.S. This study specifically addresses how marketing content is/is not integrated in EMBA program design. Responding institutions indicate little progress toward inter-functional integration of marketing principles and practices in EMBA programs.

Purchasing Nonprescription Contraceptives: The Underlying Structure of a Multi-Item Scale.

The authors develop a multi‐item scale measuring attitudes associated with purchasing nonprescription contraceptives. Although contraceptives represent a common as well as consequential purchase for many people, published research has not addressed measures of attitudes associated with this purchase decision. A scale development method is presented measuring both male and female consumer attitudes toward purchasing contraceptives. Ultimately, a multi‐item scale demonstrating a high degree of invariance across 2 samples (men and women) is developed.

From Successful SMEs to Entrepreneurial Society and the Importance of the Entrepreneurial Mindset

The entrepreneurial activity has been recognized as a major source of jobs and economic development. Most people who start and grow their own businesses around the world are opportunity motivated. Others are motivated by the necessity to earn their living, when leaders of downsizing corporations replace them with technology and lay them off, in their attempt to increase efficiency. On the other hand, the entrepreneurial competence is crucial for corporate competitive advantage. Intrapreneurship is a key factor of innovation. The entrepreneurial society represents the hope of moving economy from stagnation to prosperity. This chapter aims to explain what such a society is, why it is so important to mankind, and how it can be created.

The Effect of Ethnic Acculturation on Advertising Perceptions: an Investigation of Mexican-American Consumers

This paper investigated the influence of ethnic acculturation levels on attitudes toward advertising. The respondents were classified using the ARSMA and compared to a sample of Anglo consumers. The findings indicated differences among the sub-groups based on ethnic acculturation.

An Exploratory Investigation of Students’ Perceptions of Psychological Climate and Trust in Higher Education

Faced with declining enrollments, evolving accreditation standards, and rising concerns about institutional effectiveness, colleges and universities are entering a period of skepticism. This skepticism from various publics suggests that institutions of higher learning will need to re-evaluate their primary constituents’ -- students’ --outcome expectancies.

Trends in Consumer Research Topics: A Decade In Perspective (1980–1990)

Developments in the area of consumer research for the 1980s are reported. By extending a classification scheme utilized in an earlier content analysis of the consumer research literature prior to 1981, recent trends in selected journals and proceedings are tracked and directions for future research are discussed.