Measuring Reference Price Formation: Analysis In A Virtual Experimental Context

As many surveys stated, companies are investing in better pricing processes, tools and capabilities. Among these companies, 42% consider that capturing the full value of products and services is one of the top challenges related to price setting and optimization. In addition, many improvements have been made recently in the way companies set an optimal price level and adapt their pricing processes. However, pricing decision-makers have to face a paradox: price setting is a left-brained (rational) process, whereas price perceptions and evaluations are right-brained (subjective). Tools available to solve this paradox are limited. Direct measures (price tresholds,...), Van Vestendorp’s PSM approach, conjoint measurement can be useful in assessing price evaluations but fail in measuring how consumers compare, evaluate and memorize price offers. Reference price, viewed as a standard against which the purchase price of a product is judged (Monroe, 1973), is one of the most studied constructs in research on strategic pricing decisions. As Kalyanaram and Winer (1995) stated, “reference price is a psychological construct which, when incorporated into normative models, can change the way marketing managers make decisions about price and promotions”. One stream of research has identified antecedents of reference price and has assessed their effects through experimentation, others have reported effects of reference price models on brand choice and other purchase decisions (Mazumdar et al. 2005). Many studies have examined and called for greater integration of different measures of reference price, noting that the research area is highly context specific (Lowe and Alpert, 2007). The purpose of this research is to operationalize a tool to measure and control contextual influences on reference price formation using a simulated experiment. The decision environment is generated and controlled in a lab setting using a software that simulates a purchase decision context and records the behaviours induced by that process. Contextual and temporal influences can be measured monitoring the total amount of information consulted for competing products (attributes and prices), as well as the time spent on information search. More specifically, this research evaluates the impact of search effort on the perceived reference price in the market at different points in time in the decision process

Implantación de la metodología e‐learning en la docencia universitaria: una experiencia a través del proyecto Campus Virtual

Buscando la inserción continua de las nuevas tecnologías en todos los ámbitos del mundo universitario, se desarrollan múltiples herramientas informáticas para dar soporte en Internet a la docencia tradicional. Cubriendo casi todas las tecnologías y plataformas, existe una gran disponibilidad de diversas aplicaciones que satisfacen buena parte de las funciones de la docencia virtual. Asimismo, surgen nuevas necesidades, no sólo de intercambio de información y documentos, sino de gestión completa e integrada de la docencia impartida usando entornos virtuales de aprendizaje e Internet: e-learning. De este modo, la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, en su continua evolución tecnológica, decide implantar la herramienta que ha considerado más extendida en uso, más amplia en funcionalidades, más cómoda y estándar en desarrollo y más soportada en todo el mundo: WebCT, que actualmente dispone de más de 3500 usuarios (la mayoría universidades) y es usado por más de 15 millones de alumnos y más de medio millón de profesores. Demostrando su universalidad, WebCT ha sido ya traducido a 15 idiomas para ser usado en más de 72 países. Bajo este entorno surge “Campus Virtual”, herramienta analizada en este trabajo, como principal modo de expansión del e-learning en la universidad, entendido como el espacio físico, virtual, administrativo, tecnológico y educativo donde se puede llevar a cabo el desarrollo de la docencia reglada universitaria, de acuerdo con las directrices del nuevo Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior.The continual effort to use new technologies throughout the world of higher education has led to the development of a variety of informational tools which make it possible to support traditional education through use of the Internet. A great many diverse applications are available, both technologically and in the form of programs, which satisfy the majority of virtual education needs. New needs continue to present themselves, not only with regard to the exchange of information and documents, but the complete and integrated management of teaching which is carried out using virtual environments and the Internet: e‐learning. The University of Castilla‐La Mancha, in its continued effort to evolve technologically, has decided to implement the very tool which is considered to be the most widely‐used, the most functional, the easiest and most standard, and the most widely‐supported in all the world: WebCT. Currently, WebCT boasts 3500 clients (most of which are universities), and is used by more than 15 million students and more than half a million professors. Its unlimited range can be illustrated by the fact that it has been translated into 15 languages in order to be used in more than 72 countries. Against this backdrop, “Virtual Campus” has emerged. This paper is dedicated to the analysis of said tool as a primary mode of e‐learning expansion in the university environment. Defined as an entity which is physical, virtual, administrative, technological and educational, it can be used to carry out standard educational university activities in accordance with the guidelines set out by the new European Space for Higher Education

‘I being old christian justice proceeded against me...’. The instrumentalization of the moor image

So much the expulsion of the from Granada Moriscos towards the interior of Castile and Andalusia, once controlled the revolt of the Alpujarras, as the definitive expulsion of the territories of the Monarchy arranged by Philip III they tell in his credit with a series of peculiarities and historical facts that they repeated themselves in both events. Undoubtedly, one of the most important processes was the quantity of lawsuits that began to demonstrate the ancestry Christian old woman of hundreds, chance thousands, of Moriscos who tried with it to avoid the expulsion, already it was of the former kingdom nazarí or of Spain years later. Nevertheless, the abundant historiography on the Spanish Moriscos has isolated, consciously or unconsciously, one of the most important administrative processes in the management of named by the contemporaries as “Moorish problem”. To underestimate or to minimize the importance of a favorable judgment or not to the Christian ancestry of those Moriscos who like that were defending it could manage to mean, not more not less, that the permanency in Granada or in Spain, the conservation of his heritage or the social peace for the inheritors of the pleiteante, among other things. But those lawsuits on the ancestry of the litigators who remain in the different files of the Spanish geography served equally as an double-edged word, as a juridical instrument to explain a reason in favor of one or another pleiteante without the Morisco’s condition was happening in one of the parts. The racial accusation not only was effective but known between the population, especially for the competent authorities.Tanto la expulsión de los moriscos granadinos hacia el interior de Castilla y Andalucía, una vez controlada la sublevación de las Alpujarras, como el extrañamiento definitivo de los territorios de la Monarquía ordenada por Felipe III cuentan en su haber con una serie de peculiaridades y hechos históricos que se repitieron en ambos acontecimientos. Indudablemente, uno de los procesos más importantes fue la cantidad de pleitos que se iniciaron para demostrar la ascendencia cristiano vieja de cientos, acaso miles, de moriscos que intentaron con ello evitar la expulsión, ya fuese del antiguo reino nazarí o de España años más tarde. Sin embargo, la abundante historiografía sobre los moriscos españoles ha marginado, consciente o inconscientemente, uno de los procesos administrativos más importantes en la gestión del denominado por los coetáneos como “problema morisco”. Infravalorar o minimizar la importancia de una sentencia favorable o no a la ascendencia cristiana de aquellos moriscos que así lo defendían podía llegar a significar, ni más ni menos, la permanencia en Granada o en España, la conservación de su patrimonio o la paz social para los herederos del pleiteante, entre otras cosas. Pero aquellos pleitos sobre la ascendencia de los litigantes que se conservan en los diferentes archivos de la geografía española sirvieron igualmente como un arma de doble filo, como un instrumento jurídico para dilucidar una causa en favor de uno u otro pleiteante sin que mediara la condición de morisco en una de las partes. La acusación racial no sólo era efectiva sino conocida entre la población, sobre todo por las autoridades competentes

Impact of the use of the e-learning in the attitudes towards the statistics

En los últimos años se está manifestando un renovado interés por la metodología docente en el ámbito universitario en general. Dentro de este proceso general, se está analizando la problemática particular de materias con alto contenido cuantitativo. Igualmente, se ha abordado el problema de la actitud y motivación de los alumnos respecto a las asignaturas con contenido estadístico, clasificadas habitualmente como “difíciles”, así como los procesos de aprendizaje del alumnado. Paralelamente, el aprendizaje en entornos virtuales, se ha convertido en parte fundamental de la oferta educativa de la Universidad. Sin embargo, la bibliografía especializada no es unánime sobre la eficacia de este nuevo enfoque en el aprendizaje. Además de las controversias sobre su utilidad, se ha estudiado poco el efecto que un método de enseñanza-aprendizaje en entornos virtuales puede presentar en la actitud del alumnado frente a la estadística, tanto de una forma directa como a través de la modificación de los procesos de estudio. Esta última característica es la que se pretende analizar en el presente trabajo. Siguiendo el esquema metodológico de Bayot et al. (2005), se han pasado los cuestionario de actitud hacia la estadística y procesos de estudio a dos grupos de alumnos que han seguido, respectivamente, una metodología tradicional y una basada en un entorno virtual. Respecto a la actitud frente a la estadística, los resultados obtenidos indican cierto grado de mejora con la metodología virtual, pero no son estadísticamente concluyentes. Por el contrario, sí existe una evidencia más fuerte de disparidad en el cuestionario de procesos de estudio, hecho que podría contribuir en parte a explicar las diferencias de actitud. Por último, este trabajo concluye con una serie de reflexiones sobre la metodología docente empleada originadas por la evidencia empírica, un análisis de las limitaciones encontradas y comentarios sobre futuras líneas de investigación.In recent years researchers have shown renewed interest in the teaching methodologies that universities use in many of their courses. Within this general process, some authors are analysing the particular problem of subjects with significant quantitative content. Researchers are also investigating the question of students’ attitudes and motivations with respect to subjects with statistical content – traditionally classed as “difficult” – and with respect to their learning processes. In parallel, learning in virtual environments has become a fundamental part of universities’ educational offer. But there is still no consensus in the specialist literature about the efficacy of this new pedagogical approach. And apart from this debate about its utility, there has been little research into the potential effect of using e-learning methods on students’ attitude towards statistics, whether directly or through the modification of their study processes. The current work aims to analyse this final point. Following Bayot et al.’s (2005) methodological framework, the authors have presented one questionnaire measuring attitudes towards statistics, and another measuring attitudes towards study processes, to two groups of students, the first following a traditional methodology and the second a methodology based on a virtual environment. The results for attitude towards statistics indicate that the virtual methodology provides some improvement, but they are not statistically conclusive. In contrast, the results offer stronger evidence of differences in the case of the study processes, a finding that could contribute in part to explaining the differences in attitudes. Finally, this work concludes with a series of reflections about the teaching methodology used on the basis of the empirical evidence found here, an analysis of the limitations found, and a discussion about future lines of research

Moro shoeing, Moro slave. New outlooks of the Moorish slavery in the kingdom of Córdoba (1570-1609)

La guerra de las Alpujarras entre 1568-71 provocó un incremento importante del número de cautivos moriscos. Tanto es así que desde el reino de Granada salieron miles de éstos para inundar el mercado esclavista de toda Andalucía. El reino de Córdoba fue uno de los principales centros receptores de cautivos moriscos, lo que ayudará para el análisis de las estrategias de solidaridad desarrolladas por los miembros de la comunidad morisca para el horro de esclavos de su misma etnia. El clan, la familia, los lazos de solidaridad, las estrategias… serán los múltiples factores que intervengan en este fascinante proceso.The war of the Alpujarras between 1568-71 caused an important increase of the Moorish captives number. So much is so from the kingdom of Granada went out thousands of these to flood the market esclavista of all Andalusia. The kingdom of Córdoba was one of the main centers Moorish captives receivers, what he will help for the analysis of the strategies of solidarity developed by the members of the Moorish community for the horro of slaves of his same ethnic group. The clan, the family, solidarity ties, strategies… will be multiple factors that intervene in this fascinating process

Evolución del turismo rural en España

Se ha producido una mejora en la situación de las áreas protegidas en el conjunto de España y, de forma concreta en la comunidad autónoma de Castilla-La Mancha. Ese avance ha sido gracias a concienciación de la ciudadanía sobre el interés y la necesidad de preservar estos espacios como piezas claves para la mejora medioambientalUniversidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec