Eastern versus Western culture pricing practices differ with respect to price endings; however, Eastern cultures are increasingly influenced by Western multinational corporations. At the same time, ...increasing antiglobalization sentiment suggests the use of localization strategies in these markets. The authors investigate whether pricing practices still differ in this new environment, examine the role of superstition, and ask whether Western brands can benefit from localizing pricing practices. They explore the use of lucky number price endings and consumer responses to such pricing strategies in Singapore, an Eastern culture that is strongly exposed to Western multinational influence. Using a content analysis of newspaper advertisements and two experiments, the authors find that superstitious pricing practices continue, especially with high-priced items and brands of Eastern (vs. Western) origin. In the experimental studies, they find that superstitious pricing has a positive effect on price attractiveness and that foreign brands that localize their prices benefit from a more positive brand attitude.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a perspective on the Strizhakova and Coulter article in this issue, with particular focus on the conceptualization of local and global identities.
...Findings
Strizhakova and Coulter (2019) offer valuable service in their discussion of the conceptualization and measurement of local and global identities. The authors suggest that local identity should not always be reduced to a local-as-national identity, but may be relevant as a sub-national or regional identity. The authors also find that another relevant identity-relevant construct is that of consumer disidentification that represents active rejection of one’s national identity as opposed to the passive disinterest represented by the unengaged category.
Originality/value
This commentary offers a new perspective to the local-global identity discourse by integrating consumer disidentification as the active rejection of identity.
We report the discovery of an IR-selected massive galaxy cluster in the IRAC Deep Cluster Survey (IDCS). We present new data from the Hubble Space Telescope and the W. M. Keck Observatory that ...spectroscopically confirm IDCS J1426.5+3508 at z = 1.75. Moreover, the cluster is detected in archival Chandra data as an extended X-ray source, comprising 53 counts after the removal of point sources. We calculate an X-ray luminosity of L sub(0.5-2 keV) = (5-4 + or - 1.2) x 10 super(44) erg s super(-1) within r = 60 arcsec (~1 Mpc diameter), which implies M sub(200,)Lx = (5.3 + or - 1.6) x 10 super(14)M sub(middot in circle). IDCS J1426.5+3508 appears to be an exceptionally massive cluster for its redshift.
Purpose
This paper provides a perspective to the article by Cleveland and Bartsch in this issue. The purpose of this paper is to focus on examining objective global brand performance data in four ...industries and discuss the practicality of global vs country-level marketing strategy.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on data from Euromonitor, the analysis evaluates global brand performance in four industries over the last decade.
Findings
In most industries, global brands are less dominant than what is often assumed.
Originality/value
This commentary aims to bring a new perspective to the global consumer culture discussion and may spur valuable future research on the topic.
ABSTRACT We explore 7.5 billion years of evolution in the star formation activity of massive ( ) cluster galaxies using a sample of 25 clusters over from the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with ...Hubble and 11 clusters over from the IRAC Shallow Cluster Survey. Galaxy morphologies are determined visually using high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope images. Using the spectral energy distribution fitting code Code Investigating GALaxy Emission, we measure star formation rates, stellar masses, and 4000 Å break strengths. The latter are used to separate quiescent and star-forming galaxies (SFGs). From to , the specific star formation rate (sSFR) of cluster SFGs and quiescent galaxies decreases by factors of three and four, respectively. Over the same redshift range, the sSFR of the entire cluster population declines by a factor of 11, from to . This strong overall sSFR evolution is driven by the growth of the quiescent population over time; the fraction of quiescent cluster galaxies increases from to over z ∼ 1.3 to 0.2. The majority of the growth occurs at , where the quiescent fraction increases by 0.41. While the sSFR of the majority of star-forming cluster galaxies is at the level of the field, a small subset of cluster SFGs have low field-relative star formation activity, suggestive of long-timescale quenching. The large increase in the fraction of quiescent galaxies above , coupled with the field-level sSFRs of cluster SFGs, suggests that higher-redshift cluster galaxies are likely being quenched quickly. Assessing those timescales will require more accurate stellar population ages and star formation histories.
While most global productivity is driven by modern photosynthesis, river ecosystems are supplied by locally fixed and imported carbon that spans a range of ages. Alluvial aquifers of gravel-bedded ...river floodplains present a conundrum: despite no possibility for photosynthesis in groundwater and extreme paucity of labile organic carbon, they support diverse and abundant large-bodied consumers (stoneflies, Insecta: Plecoptera). Here we show that up to a majority of the biomass carbon composition of these top consumers in four floodplain aquifers of Montana and Washington is methane-derived. The methane carbon ranges in age from modern to up to >50,000 years old and is mostly derived from biogenic sources, although a thermogenic contribution could not be excluded. We document one of the most expansive ecosystems to contain site-wide macroinvertebrate biomass comprised of methane-derived carbon and thereby advance contemporary understanding of basal resources supporting riverine productivity.
Clinical studies have indicated a link between Parkinson's disease (PD) and Type 2 Diabetes. Although preclinical studies have examined the effect of high-fat feeding on dopamine function in brain ...reward pathways, the effect of diet on neurotransmission in the nigrostriatal pathway, which is affected in PD and parkinsonism, is less clear. We hypothesized that a high-fat diet, which models early-stage Type 2 Diabetes, would disrupt nigrostriatal dopamine function in young adult Fischer 344 rats. Rats were fed a high fat diet (60% calories from fat) or a normal chow diet for 12
weeks. High fat-fed animals were insulin resistant compared to chow-fed controls. Potassium-evoked dopamine release and dopamine clearance were measured in the striatum using
in vivo electrochemistry. Dopamine release was attenuated and dopamine clearance was diminished in the high-fat diet group compared to chow-fed rats. Magnetic resonance imaging indicated increased iron deposition in the substantia nigra of the high fat group. This finding was supported by alterations in the expression of several proteins involved in iron metabolism in the substantia nigra in this group compared to chow-fed animals. The diet-induced systemic and basal ganglia-specific changes may play a role in the observed impairment of nigrostriatal dopamine function.
► High fat-fed animals exhibit attenuated nigrostriatal DA release
in vivo. ► Nigrostriatal DA release is correlated with the degree of insulin resistance. ► Striatal DA uptake and turnover are decreased with high fat feeding. ► High fat feeding increases measures of iron deposition in the substantia nigra.
The details of the stellar mass assembly of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) remain an unresolved problem in galaxy formation. We have developed a novel approach that allows us to construct a sample ...of clusters that form an evolutionary sequence, and have applied it to the Spitzer IRAC Shallow Cluster Survey (ISCS) to examine the evolution of BCGs in progenitors of present-day clusters with mass of (2.5-4.5) x 10 super(14) M sub(middot in circle). We follow the cluster mass growth history extracted from a high resolution cosmological simulation, and then use an empirical method that infers the cluster mass based on the ranking of cluster luminosity to select high-z clusters of appropriate mass from ISCS to be progenitors of the given set of z = 0 clusters. We find that, between z = 1.5 and 0.5, the BCGs have grown in stellar mass by a factor of 2.3, which is well-matched by the predictions from a state-of-the-art semi-analytic model. Below z = 0.5 we see hints of differences in behavior between the model and observation.
This study examines how export manager cultural intelligence (CQ) affects the relationship between marketing-mix adaptation and export performance. From a resource-advantage theory perspective, the ...authors posit that export managers' motivational and metacognitive CQ are intangible but valuable resources that influence marketing strategy and export performance. According to survey data from 153 U.S. exporting firms, export managers' metacognitive CQ positively moderates the relationship between marketing-mix adaptations and export performance. Furthermore, export managers' motivational CQ positively moderates the relationship between environmental differences and marketing-mix adaptations. The study adds to the theoretical understanding of the adaptation-performance relationship and provides valuable guidelines for exporting firms in the recruitment, training, and promotion of export managers.
We present results for the assembly and star formation histories (SFHs) of massive (~L*) red sequence galaxies (RSGs) in 11 spectroscopically confirmed, infrared-selected galaxy clusters at 1.0 < z < ...1.5, the precursors to present-day massive clusters with M ~ 10 super(15) M sub(middot in circle). Using rest-frame optical photometry, we investigate evolution in the color and scatter of the RSG population, comparing with models of possible SFHs. In contrast to studies of central cluster galaxies at lower redshift (z < 1), these data are clearly inconsistent with the continued evolution of stars formed and assembled primarily at a single, much earlier time. Specifically, we find that the colors of massive cluster galaxies at z asymptotically = 1.5 imply that the bulk of star formation occurred at z ~ 3, whereas by z asymptotically = 1 their colors imply formation at z ~ 2; therefore these galaxies exhibit approximately the same luminosity-weighted stellar age at 1 < z < 1.5. This likely reflects star formation that occurs over an extended period, the effects of significant progenitor bias, or both. Our results generally indicate that massive cluster galaxy populations began forming a significant mass of stars at z > ~ 4, contained some red spheroids by z asymptotically = 1.5, and were actively assembling much of their final mass during 1 < z < 2 in the form of younger stars. Qualitatively, the slopes of the cluster color-magnitude relations are consistent with no significant evolution relative to local clusters.
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