The Disinformation Age

Understanding the post-fact era requires going beyond foreign influence or the rise of social media. This examination of the origins and workings of the US disinformation system shows how political strategies and communication practices have undermined authoritative democratic institutions. This title is available as Open Access on Cambridge Core

The deregulation of television and policies for new media development: a comparative study of the United Kingdom, France, Luxembourg and the broadcasting policy of the European Community during 1981-86

This study describes and assesses the problems associated with the development of the new broadcasting media in the United Kingdom, France and Luxembourg in 1981-1986. It also examines the implications associated with the new broadcasting media in both the audiovisual landscape and the public policies concerning broadcasting. It describes and analyses the audiovisual policy initiated by the Commission of the European Community. This study believes that the impact of the the new broadcasting media on the audiovisual environment has been mostly indirect because of their very slow development. In all three countries, the development of the new broadcasting media has taken on an industrial dimension in terms of assisting the restructuring of their mature economies. The strongest impression to emerge from this project is a profound confusion and uncertainty about the media developments. A situation including an increased number of actors, involved both in conventional and new broadcasting media adversely influenced the latter's development. Even though the United Kingdom and France followed a different policy path, the outcome was the same: small growth. While France followed a state-led policy, the United Kingdom favoured private initiative and the market forces. This project also stresses that although economic pressures and challenges have been a driving force for policy adjustment, technology and markets do not themselves dictate specific and institutional arrangements. Additionally, it describes the state policy on broadcasting in Luxembourg and the anxiety of its politicians to maintain the Grand Duchy's traditional role as the location for international broadcasting. Finally, the European Community's broadcasting policy is discussed in terms of another attempt to harmonise diversified national legislations for the satellite age of television and 1992's Single Market

Factors Influencing Customer Satisfaction towards E-shopping in Malaysia

Online shopping or e-shopping has changed the world of business and quite a few people have decided to work with these features. What their primary concerns precisely and the responses from the globalisation are the competency of incorporation while doing their businesses. E-shopping has also increased substantially in Malaysia in recent years. The rapid increase in the e-commerce industry in Malaysia has created the demand to emphasize on how to increase customer satisfaction while operating in the e-retailing environment. It is very important that customers are satisfied with the website, or else, they would not return. Therefore, a crucial fact to look into is that companies must ensure that their customers are satisfied with their purchases that are really essential from the ecommerce’s point of view. With is in mind, this study aimed at investigating customer satisfaction towards e-shopping in Malaysia. A total of 400 questionnaires were distributed among students randomly selected from various public and private universities located within Klang valley area. Total 369 questionnaires were returned, out of which 341 questionnaires were found usable for further analysis. Finally, SEM was employed to test the hypotheses. This study found that customer satisfaction towards e-shopping in Malaysia is to a great extent influenced by ease of use, trust, design of the website, online security and e-service quality. Finally, recommendations and future study direction is provided. Keywords: E-shopping, Customer satisfaction, Trust, Online security, E-service quality, Malaysia

Knowledge for Governance

This open access book focuses on theoretical and empirical intersections between governance, knowledge and space from an interdisciplinary perspective. The contributions elucidate how knowledge is a prerequisite as well as a driver of governance efficacy, and conversely, how governance affects the creation and use of knowledge and innovation in geographical context. Scholars from the fields of anthropology, economics, geography, public administration, political science, sociology, and organization studies provide original theoretical discussions along these interdependencies. Moreover, a variety of empirical chapters on governance issues, ranging from regional and national to global scales and covering case studies in Australia, Europe, Latina America, North America and South Africa demonstrate that geography and space are not only important contexts for governance that affect the contingent outcomes of governance blueprints. Governance also creates spaces. It affects the geographical confines as well as the quality of opportunities and constraints that actors enjoy to establish legitimate and sustainable ways of social and environmental co-existence

New Competition; Foreign Direct Investment and Industrial Development in China

Guoyong Liang is completing his Ph.D. in international business and works at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. His current research interests include the theory of the multinational enterprise, business strategy, and business/government interaction. Before his Ph.D. study in the Netherlands, Guoyong Liang was a lecturer at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. He was also a fellow at Shanghai Securities and Futures Institute. He has managerial experience in China’s financial and ICT sector.The primary aim of this study is to examine inward FDI as an industrial phenomenon – how the introduction of a new competitive force through FDI inflows influences the development of industries. It offers an interdisciplinary effort to advance the understanding of the FDI impact on industrial development in emerging markets. Based on a multidimensional, dynamic and comparative approach to analysing industrial advancement, this study investigates in particular the development of two Chinese industries – the automotive industry and the electronics and ICT sector. It illustrates the critical role of the policy environment in determining the effects of inward FDI. The policy environment at the industrial level is largely defined by both entry restrictions and trade barriers. This study suggests that, under certain circumstances, multinational corporations and domestic firms might collaborate to dominate a market, for instance by establishing international joint ventures, which reinforces the problems of market dominances, welfare losses, and regulatory capture. This study also seeks to help policy makers understand the evolution of industries and to provide a fact base for decision making at both the industrial and national level. It advocates a more sophisticated and competition-friendly framework of public policy, which requires both the introduction of new institutions and the upgrading of existing policy instruments. This framework is vital to ensure the contestability of markets, to reap the benefits of FDI, to tackle the negative effects of FDI, and to promote long-term sustainable industrial development.在中国经济改革过程中，新的竞争力量通过市场准入和各种制度安排被不断地引入不同行业。外商直接投资是来自国外的竞争力量直接进入中国产业的首要方式。本书研究了外商直接投资对竞争、市场结构和中国产业发展的影响，并提出了相关的政策建议。在对中国经济中新旧各种竞争力量和新的竞争格局进行产业层面分析的同时，本书亦结合对中国经济发展模式的总结对此进行了宏观层面的分析，从而对所谓“中国奇迹”提供了一个独特的解读。 理论上，本书提出了一个分析外商直接投资对产业发展影响的架构，并对传统的静态和动态分析方法进行了必要的拓展和补充。本书探讨了包括溢出效应、关联效应和竞争效应在内的外商直接投资影响产业发展的诸多机制，并分析了转轨经济和新兴市场的特殊环境对外商直接投资作用机制的影响。本书强调了产业层面的政 策环境对于外商直接投资和跨国公司进入对产业发展作用的影响，并特别强调了低贸易壁垒和松准入管制对于提高市场的可竞争性，保证一定程度的市场竞争以及促进产业发展的作用。从某种意义上说，本书是对关于竞争性市场体制与中国经济发展关系理论的进一步诠释以及在产业层面和利用外资领域的细化。 在实证方面，本书在跨行业分析的基础上重点对中国汽车和电子信息产业进行了对比分析，从而对不同政策模式对产业发展和跨国公司进入效果的影响进行了概括。本书对外商直接投资和市场竞争对生产能力提高、技术进步、本国企业发展和国际竞争力提升等产业发展各方面的影响进行了全面的分析。定量分析的结论表明，即使在外资大量进入的情况下，竞争的缺乏仍可能存在并造成显著的福利损失，而以严格和歧视性的进入管制和高关税壁垒为特征的限制性产业政策是竞争缺乏和企业市场支配地位形成的主要原因。实证分析的结论也证明了竞争性市场结构对于产业发展的重要作用。然而，在某些竞争性行业中，不必要的管制可能借产业政策之名长期存在，从而限制市场竞争，影响利用外资的效果，并从多方面制约产业的发展。特别是在大企业的发展成为产业政策唯一目标的情况下，消费者的利益很可能被忽略，从而造成企业超额利润和社会净福利损失并存的局面。不仅国有企业，跨国公司也可能成为此类政策的推动者和受益者。“管制俘获”(regulatory capture) 假说提供了对这种现象的一个合理解释。 本书旨在通过理论和实证分析为产业层面的公共政策制定提供必要的参考。本书特别强调了一个“竞争友好”(competition-friendly)的政策架构对于确保适度市场竞争，提高利用外资效果和促进可持续产业发展的作用。该政策架构的建立既需要新的政策工具(如竞争政策)的推出，又需要对既有政策工具(如产业政策)的完善。作者希望本研究的结论及相关政策建议能够对中国产业政策和利用外资政策的完善以及竞争政策(反垄断政策)的推出提供有益的参考

The Whitworthian 2004-2005

The Whitworthian student newspaper, September 2004-May 2005.https://digitalcommons.whitworth.edu/whitworthian/1088/thumbnail.jp

Managing the Paradox of Growth in Brand Communities Through Social Media

The commercial benefits of online brand communities are an important focus for marketers seeking deeper engagement with increasingly elusive consumers. Managing participation in these socially bound brand conversations challenges practitioners to balance authenticity towards the community against corporate goals. This is important as social media proliferation affords communities the capacity to reach a scale well beyond their offline equivalents and to operate independently of brands. While research has identified the important elements of engagement in brand communities, less is known about how strategies required to maximise relationships in these circumstances must change with growth. Using a case study approach, we examine how a rapidly growing firm and its community have managed the challenges of a maturing relationship. We find that, in time, the community becomes self-sustaining, and a new set of marketing management strategies is required to move engagement to the next level

Managing the Paradox of Growth in Brand Communities Through Social Media

The commercial benefits of online brand communities are an important focus for marketers seeking deeper engagement with increasingly elusive consumers. Managing participation in these socially bound brand conversations challenges practitioners to balance authenticity towards the community against corporate goals. This is important as social media proliferation affords communities the capacity to reach a scale well beyond their offline equivalents and to operate independently of brands. While research has identified the important elements of engagement in brand communities, less is known about how strategies required to maximise relationships in these circumstances must change with growth. Using a case study approach, we examine how a rapidly growing firm and its community have managed the challenges of a maturing relationship. We find that, in time, the community becomes self-sustaining, and a new set of marketing management strategies is required to move engagement to the next level