Market share as an indicator for corporate social responsibility (CSR) spending: The study of Coca Cola’s market

African Journal of Business Management Vol. 6(6) pp. 2234-2247, 15 February, 2012 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/AJBM DOI: 10.5897/AJBM11.2133Although, prior research has addressed the influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on perceived customer responses, market value, and bottom line, among other drivers for CSR, it is not clear whether the market share of a firm is an indicator for CSR spending in different markets. The study examined the relation between Cola-Cola’s market share in traditional soft-drinks markets and new markets to see if there is a correlation between spending on CSR and market share. The hypothesis that there is a negative correlation between market share and CSR spending was not corroborated with clear evidence. However, the interesting finding was that markets with low relative market share were found to have low spending, markets with medium relative market share (MS) show rather high spending and from there, generally speaking, the social spending declines with increasing market share. Hence, managers appear to invest more on CSR in areas with fierce rivalry, where they have medium market share.Although, prior research has addressed the influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on perceived customer responses, market value, and bottom line, among other drivers for CSR, it is not clear whether the market share of a firm is an indicator for CSR spending in different markets. The study examined the relation between Cola-Cola’s market share in traditional soft-drinks markets and new markets to see if there is a correlation between spending on CSR and market share. The hypothesis that there is a negative correlation between market share and CSR spending was not corroborated with clear evidence. However, the interesting finding was that markets with low relative market share were found to have low spending, markets with medium relative market share (MS) show rather high spending and from there, generally speaking, the social spending declines with increasing market share. Hence, managers appear to invest more on CSR in areas with fierce rivalry, where they have medium market share

Ten years Center for Immersive Visualizations - Past, Present, and Future

Virtual Reality (VR) can be found in many fields. A majority of the time this involves the use of Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs). Their alternatives, large-scale immersive 3D screens and CAVE systems, can also be found in research and offer researchers high visual quality and collaborative VR experiences. This report covers the operation and learnings from maintaining a visualization center with large-scale immersive installations over the course of ten years

Ten years of Immersive VR Installations - Past, Present, and Future

Virtual Reality (VR) has found application in many fields including art history, education, research, and smart industry. Immersive 3D screens, large-scale displays, and CAVE systems are time-tested VR installations in research and scientific visualization. In this paper, we present learnings and insights from ten years of operating and maintaining a visualization center with large-scale immersive displays and installations. Our report focuses on the installations themselves as well as the various developments of the center over time. In addition, we discuss the advantages, challenges, and future development of a location-based VR center

Are there cross-cultural differences in emotional processing and social problem-solving?

Emotional processing and social problem-solving are important for mental well-being. For example, impaired emotional processing is linked with depression and psychosomatic problems. However, little is known about cross-cultural differences in emotional processing and social problem-solving and whether these constructs are linked. This study examines whether emotional processing and social problem-solving differs between Western (British) and Eastern European (Polish) cultures. Participants (N = 172) completed questionnaires assessing both constructs. Emotional processing did not differ according to culture, but Polish participants reported more effective social problem-solving abilities than British participants. Poorer emotional processing was also found to relate to poorer social problem-solving. Possible societal reasons for the findings and the implications of the findings for culture and clinical practice are discussed

Interaction of NCOR/SMRT repressor complexes with papillomavirus E8^E2C proteins inhibits viral replication

Infections with high-risk human papillomaviruses (HR-HPV) such as HPV16 and 31 can lead to ano-genital and oropharyngeal cancers and HPV types from the beta genus have been implicated in the development of non-melanoma skin cancer. HPV replicate as nuclear extrachromosomal plasmids at low copy numbers in undifferentiated cells. HPV16 and 31 mutants have indicated that these viruses express an E8^E2C protein which negatively regulates genome replication. E8^E2C shares the DNA-binding and dimerization domain (E2C) with the essential viral replication activator E2 and the E8 domain replaces the replication/transcription activation domain of E2. The HR-HPV E8 domain is required for inhibiting viral transcription and the replication of the viral origin mediated by viral E1 and E2 proteins. We show now that E8^E2C also limits replication of HPV1, a mu-PV and HPV8, a beta-PV, in normal human keratinocytes. Proteomic analyses identified all NCoR/SMRT corepressor complex components (HDAC3, GPS2, NCoR, SMRT, TBL1 and TBLR1) as co-precipitating host cell proteins for HPV16 and 31 E8^E2C proteins. Co-immunoprecipitation and co-localization experiments revealed that NCoR/SMRT components interact with HPV1, 8, 16 and 31 E8^E2C proteins in an E8-dependent manner. SiRNA knock-down experiments confirm that NCoR/SMRT components are critical for both the inhibition of transcription and HPV origin replication by E8^E2C proteins. Furthermore, a dominant-negative NCoR fragment activates transcription and replication only from HPV16 and 31 wt but not from mutant genomes encoding NCoR/SMRT-binding deficient E8^E2C proteins. In summary, our data suggest that the repressive function of E8^E2C is highly conserved among HPV and that it is mediated by an E8-dependent interaction with NCoR/SMRT complexes. Our data also indicate for the first time that NCoR/SMRT complexes not only are involved in inhibiting cellular and viral transcription but also in controlling the replication of HPV origins