Consumerism and well-being in early adolescence

It has been suggested that consumerism is negatively related to well-being in children and adolescents, as well as adults. Few studies have explored whether certain aspects of consumerism have stronger associations with well-being than others, or between-group differences in associations. This article uses data from a sample of early adolescents to examine: levels of consumerism; relationships between different aspects of consumerism and well-being; and differences according to gender, school year group and family affluence. Data were obtained in 2010 via secondary school pupil surveys (N=2934). Consumerism measures comprised number of ‘standard’ and ‘premium’ possessions and four dimensions of consumer involvement; well-being measures comprised self-esteem, psychological distress and anger. There was evidence of high penetration of consumerist values. There were positive associations between number of possessions and anger, and between ‘dissatisfaction’ and poorer well-being, regardless of how measured. ‘Brand awareness’ was associated with positive male well-being, but negative female well-being. Many relationships between consumerism and well-being were stronger than those between family affluence and well-being. These results suggest only certain aspects of consumerism are associated with poorer adolescent well-being. Although, for some sub-groups, other aspects might be associated with better well-being, there was no evidence that modern consumer goods promote happiness

Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin serum level: A potential noninvasive biomarker of endometriosis?

Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL, also known as lipocalin-2) is an acute-phase protein expressed in many tissues and plays a role in cell proliferation, regulation, and epithelial-mesenchymal transformation. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate serum NGAL levels and endometrioma tissue expression in women with endometriosis. This cross-sectional study was conducted at a university hospital. The endometrioma group included 36 women who underwent ovarian cystectomy for endometrioma, which was compared with a control group (n = 36) of women who underwent ovarian cystectomy due to benign persistent cysts (follicle cyst, theca lutein cyst, and serous cystadenoma). NGAL levels were analyzed using both serum enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay analysis and immunohistochemical tissue staining. Serum C-reactive protein and CA-125 levels were also evaluated. NGAL serum levels were significantly higher in the endometrioma group than in the control group (P < .05). C-reactive protein and CA-125 levels were also significantly higher in the endometrioma group (P < .05) and were correlated with NGAL levels. Immunohistochemical staining for NGAL was also higher in the endometrioma group (P < .001). NGAL may be considered a potential noninvasive biomarker of endometriosis

Depression and state anxiety scores during assisted reproductive treatment are associated with outcome: a meta-analysis

This meta-analysis investigated whether state anxiety and depression scores during assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment and changes in state anxiety and depression scores between baseline and during ART treatment are associated with treatment outcomes. PubMed, PsycInfo, Embase, ScienceDirect, Web of Science and Scopus were searched for studies to include in the meta-analysis. Meta-analytic data were analysed using random effects models to estimate standardised mean differences. 11 studies (2202 patients) were included. Women who achieved a pregnancy had significantly lower depression scores during treatment than women who did not become pregnant -0.302 (95% CI: -0.551 - -0.054, z = -2.387, p = 0.017; I2= 77.142%, p = 0.001). State anxiety scores were also lower in women who became pregnant -0.335 (95% CI: -0.582 - -0.087: z=-2.649, p=0.008; I2 =81.339%, p = 0.001). However, changes in state anxiety (d=-0.056; 95% CI: -0.195 - 0.082, z = -0.794; I2= 0.00%) and depression scores (d=-0.106; 95% CI: -0.296 - 0.085, z = -1.088; I2= 0.00%) from baseline to treatment were not associated with ART outcomes. Clinics should aim to promote better psychosocial care for patients to help them manage the psychological and physical demands ART treatment, giving realistic expectations

СТРАТЕГИИ ИНТЕРНАЦИОНАЛИЗАЦИИ РОССИЙСКИХ КОМПАНИЙ НЕСЫРЬЕВОГО СЕКТОРА ЭКОНОМИКИ

The article is devoted to the generalization and descriptive analysis of foreign market entry strategies used by Russian non-energy companies. According to the research results, in most cases, the companies use either the replication strategy of offering a standardized product in all countries, or a strategy of limited adaptation products by local business units to local conditions. In addition, the author assesses the impact of the liability of foreignness effect on internationalization process of Russian non-energy companies.Статья посвящена обобщению и описательному анализу стратегий выхода на зарубежные рынки российских компаний неэнергетических секторов экономики. Согласно результатам исследования, в большинстве случаев компании используют либо стратегию тиражирования, предлагая стандартизированный продукт во всех странах, либо стратегию ограниченной адаптации продукта к местным условиям локальными бизнес-единицами. Кроме того, автором оценивается влияние эффекта «Бремени иностранца» на процесс интернационализации российских компаний неэнергетических секторов экономики

Corporate Branding: An Interdisciplinary Literature Review

Purpose: This paper examines how scholarly research on corporate branding has evolved using bibliometric author co-citation analysis of articles published between 1969 and 2008 on corporate branding. Design/methodology/approach: The bibliography was compiled using the ISI Web of Science database. We searched articles published between 1969 and 2008 that used terms in their title related to our research scope. Then we used citation mapping to visualize the relationships between and among key works in the field. Findings: Our search resulted in 264 papers by 412 authors in 150 journals. The field is notably interdisciplinary, with articles published mainly in business, management, architecture, arts and communications disciplines. We found three main approaches to corporate branding research (internal, transactional, external) with seven core research streams: (1) product, service and sponsorship evaluation; (2) corporate and visual identity; (3) employment image and application; (4) corporate crime; (5) financial performance; (6) brand extension; and (7) corporate image. We also identified emerging fields such as corporate branding combined with corporate social responsibility. Research limitations: This research is limited by the database and the terms used for the search. Self-citations were also included. We used citation mapping and content analysis to identify core research streams. Originality/value: The article is singular in using bibliometrics by means of author co-citation analyses to identify, analyze and visualize key articles about corporate branding in the last 40 years. The results demonstrate the impact of selected institutions, journals, and key articles and authors on the research field

Brand Extensions: A Qualitative Meta-Analysis Of 20 Years Of Marketing Research

Brand extensions, or new product introductions under an existing brand name, have become increasingly popular over the past 20 years.  Marketers tout brand extensions as enjoying higher market share and profitability than launching new brand names that require exorbitant advertising expenditures (Smith & Park 1992). According to some estimates, brand extensions account for more than 90% of new product introductions in some categories (Volckner & Sattler 2002). However, one study found that 27% of line extensions failed (Reddy, et al 1994). Furthermore, excessively stretching the brand to various products may risk brand dilution. A brand extension failure is seen as harming the parent brand. The authors provide a qualitative meta-analysis that summarizes sixty-three articles comprising the brand extension research over the past twenty years (1981-2000). They suggest three propositions that represent three major conclusions reached by the studies and present evidence of support for each

Artful Living: Examining the Relationship Between Artistic Practice and Subjective Wellbeing Across Three National Surveys

Over the past few decades, elected officials and policy leaders have increasingly focused on "quality of life issues," seeking ways to not only create jobs and grow the economy but also to help people both strengthen family and community life and advance health and happiness. The arts have a role to play in this new agenda. In 2011, the National Endowment for the Arts collaborated with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to host a convening examining the relationship between the arts and wellbeing. From that meeting emerged an interagency task force involving 13 federal agencies and departments with the goal to encourage more research on how the arts help people develop their full potential at all stages of life. Rocco Landesman helped frame the new initiative when he remarked, "How do the arts help build us as a people and as individuals? We share a fundamental mission -- how to improve the quality of life. The arts are central to human development".This report represents an initial exploration of the thesis that the arts are essential to a high quality of life. Using three national datasets, we examine the correlation between artistic practice and wellbeing among a representative national sample of adults, a sample of undergraduate seniors, and a sample of former arts graduates. Overall, we find strong support that artistic practice is associated with higher levels of life satisfaction, a more positive self image, less anxiety about change, a more tolerant and open approach to diverse others, and, in some cases, less focus on materialistic values and the acquisition of goods

Business Ontology for Evaluating Corporate Social Responsibility

This paper presents a software solution that is developed to automatically classify companies by taking into account their level of social responsibility. The application is based on ontologies and on intelligent agents. In order to obtain the data needed to evaluate companies, we developed a web crawling module that analyzes the company’s website and the documents that are available online such as social responsibility report, mission statement, employment structure, etc. Based on a predefined CSR ontology, the web crawling module extracts the terms that are linked to corporate social responsibility. By taking into account the extracted qualitative data, an intelligent agent, previously trained on a set of companies, computes the qualitative values, which are then included in the classification model based on neural networks. The proposed ontology takes into consideration the guidelines proposed by the “ISO 26000 Standard for Social Responsibility”. Having this model, and being aware of the positive relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and financial performance, an overall perspective on each company’s activity can be configured, this being useful not only to the company’s creditors, auditors, stockholders, but also to its consumers.corporate social responsibility, ISO 26000 Standard for Social Responsibility, ontology, web crawling, intelligent agent, corporate performance, POS tagging, opinion mining, sentiment analysis

What Makes Foreign Knowledge Attractive to Domestic Innovation Managers?

This study focuses on the early stages of international innovation activities, i.e. the organizational processes through which promising ideas from around the globe are collected and evaluated. We ask: What characteristics make foreign knowledge interesting to domestic R&D managers? We envision this process as a balancing act between direct transaction costs for communication and coordination and indirect transaction costs from overlooking or misinterpreting important global trends. These hypotheses are tested through a conjoint analysis among 158 heads of R&D departments of German high-tech firms. We find that uncertainty avoidance is the most important driver. Radically new ideas from dynamic markets are most attractive and must not be overlooked. Complementarities with existing knowledge stocks and low language barriers are also important but to a lesser degree. Interestingly, we find no distinction between market and technological impulses. --Globalization,sensing,innovation impulses,conjoint analysis