Informational Benefits of International Environmental Agreements

This paper develops a theory of consumer boycotts. Some consumers care not only about the products they buy but also about whether the firm behaves ethically. Other consumers do not care about the behavior of the firm but yet may like to give the impression of being ethical consumers. Consequently, to affect a firm's ethical behavior, moral consumers refuse to buy from an unethical firm. Consumers who do not care about ethical behavior may join the boycott to (falsely) signal that they do care. In the firm's choice between ethical and unethical behavior, the optimality of mixed and pure strategies depends on the cost of behaving ethically. In particular, when the cost is (relatively) low, ethical behavior arises from a prisoners' dilemma as the firm's optimal strategy.Firm's ethical code; Consumer morality; Boycotts

Firms’ Ethics, Consumer Boycotts, and Signalling

This paper develops a theory of consumer boycotts. Some consumers care not only about the products they buy but also about whether the firm behaves ethically. Other consumers do not care about the behavior of the firm but yet may like to give the impression of being ethical consumers. Consequently, to affect a firm’s ethical behavior, moral consumers refuse to buy from an unethical firm. Consumers who do not care about ethical behavior may join the boycott to (falsely) signal that they do care. In the firm’s choice between ethical and unethical behavior, the optimality of mixed and pure strategies depends on the cost of behaving ethically. In particular, when the cost is (relatively) low, ethical behavior arises from a prisoners’ dilemma as the firm’s optimal strategy.firm’s ethical code, consumer morality, boycotts

Firms’ Ethics, Consumer Boycotts, and Signalling

This paper develops a theory of consumer boycotts. Some consumers care not only about the products they buy but also about whether the firm behaves ethically. Other consumers do not care about the behavior of the firm but yet may like to give the impression of being ethical consumers. Consequently, to affect a firm’s ethical behavior, moral consumers refuse to buy from an unethical firm. Consumers who do not care about ethical behavior may join the boycott to (falsely) signal that they do care. In the firm’s choice between ethical and unethical behavior, the optimality of mixed and pure strategies depends on the cost of behaving ethically. In particular, when the cost is (relatively) low, ethical behavior arises from a prisoners’ dilemma as the firm’s optimal strategy.firm’s ethical code, consumer morality, boycotts

Firms' Ethics, Consumer Boycotts, and Signalling

This paper develops a theory of consumer boycotts. Some consumers care not only about the products they buy but also about whether the firm behaves ethically. Other consumers do not care about the behavior of the firm but yet may like to give the impression of being ethical consumers. Consequently, to affect a firm’s ethical behavior, moral consumers refuse to buy from an unethical firm. Consumers who do not care about ethical behavior may join the boycott to (falsely) signal that they do care. In the firm’s choice between ethical and unethical behavior, the optimality of mixed and pure strategies depends on the cost of behaving ethically. In particular, when the cost is (relatively) low, ethical behavior arises from a prisoners’ dilemma as the firm’s optimal strategy

Changing times in rural Alaska

Professional project report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Journalism from the School of Journalism, University of Missouri--Columbia.In rural Alaska, bush pilots play a vital role "transporting people, cargo, and goods from cities to far-flung villages. In the past, they've also taken newspapers. But that all changed when the Internet came to town, in ways not always beneficial to local media outlets. Villagers near the town of Kodiak discuss how the Internet transformed how -- and from where -- they get their news. In general, villagers report that the Internet allows them to bypass Kodiak's local media for state, national, and international news. They also use the Internet to create village-level information forums. The Internet provides a service that local media did not, and gives villagers the ability to choose alternative information sources they feel are more relevant to their lives, as they say they cannot rely on Kodiak's local news outlets for information about their communities. The end of this analysis offers recommendations for local news outlets to better use the Internet to grow their audience in the market's outlying communities.Includes bibliographic references

Consumer power via the Internet

Recently, there has been plenty of upbeat reporting on new opportunities provided by the Internet to business in marketing and sales and in financial services, to name a few. Most of these developments may be said to increase "firm-power". This paper describes a proposal to strongly enhance "consumer-power" to the ultimate benefit of both businesses and consumers.