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Presents a contemporary baseline study of US‐based international freight forwarders. Provides much needed information on industry characteristics, which should reduce the occurrences of managers making important distribution decisions based only on conjecture, subjective perceptions and commonly held assumptions. Addresses three research questions, focusing on the selected demographic characteristics of US‐based forwarders; the differences between “pure” forwarders (those concentrating primarily on consolidating shipments for international water transport) and “diversified” forwarders (those providing other intermediary services, those deriving a noticeable portion of revenues from air shipments); and the forwarders′ views as to the primary reason for shippers using their companies. Describes methodology and analyses, results and implications.

A mail survey was conducted among 535 worldwide water ports and water carriers to learn about (1) the importance of various port selection factors and (2) the influence of contemporary trade issues on international port operations. Analysis of 134 responses (25 per cent response rate) revealed general agreement among respondents in terms of port selection factors, with equipment availability and loss and damage record ranked as most important. However, there was little agreement among survey participants concerning the influence of contemporary trade issues. Comparison by respondent nationality (US, non‐US) revealed that US interests oppose an increase in the value of the US dollar; US respondents also indicate that ports are not secure from terrorist actions. Comparison by primary function (ports, carriers) found substantial disagreement on operational issues and personnel issues.

Port competition attracted much scholarly attention in Northwest Europe during the 1980s. Following the rise of powerful economies in East Asia, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s, port competition has become an important phenomenon with the top five container ports in the world being located in the region. This paper aims to overview major port competition issues and outlines and analyzes the main alternative methodologies that researchers have employed to address them, referring to 70 items, mostly papers but including a few books and reports

This study explores the main factors considered when shippers and container shipping lines select their import/export and transshipment ports. In the present study, 38 container port selection indices were chosen from the previous research and field interviews. The scores of the 38 items were collected via survey to the three major maritime/port market players: shippers, shipping lines, and container terminal operators. In order to analyze the different priorities imposed on the port selection factors by the three market players, the ANOVA method has been employed. The empirical test shows the different perceptions about port selection attributes among service suppliers and demanders. In addition, the 38 items have been categorized into seven key factors through an exploratory factor analysis. The ANOVA technique was employed again to analyze the perspective differences for the port selection factors among the market players. The results show that there are significant differences among the players assessing the importance of the three port choice factors: liners and terminal operators give more weight to ‘hinterland and terminal basic conditions’ than shippers; terminal operators do not take ‘line operation’ as seriously as carriers and shippers; the factor of ‘terminal operation’ is more significantly considered by liners and terminal operators than by shippers.

Intellectual property theft amounts to billions of dollars per year worldwide. The first step in stemming this loss is to understand the underlying precursors of this behavior. This paper aims to propose and test a model of consumer choice to purchase or pirate intellectual property, specifically music. This paper combines and applies the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and Becker’s theory of crime to develop a more comprehensive model of digital piracy behavior. Culture was tested as an antecedent to the attitudes and the perceptions of risk associated with music piracy.

A survey of 4,618 participants was conducted across 23 countries. Construct measures were validated using confirmatory factor analysis in LISREL. A conceptual model was tested using logistic structural equation modeling in MPlus. Respondents were asked about the last music they acquired to test a behavioral model of music piracy.

The results indicated that culture, specifically rule orientation and uncertainty avoidance, had a significant impact on attitudes toward the music industry, ethical perceptions of music piracy and risk perceptions. Respondents’ ethical perceptions of downloading had the highest impact on music piracy behavior. The personal/copy risk associated with the illegal downloading of music had a significant impact while the relative channel risk did not. The market value, quality and selection also had a significant impact on downloading behavior, as did the respondent's ability to find and download music.

While this paper was limited by focusing on the illegal downloading of music, the results can provide guidance in the design of future research concerning the piracy and unlicensed downloading of other types of intellectual properties such as movies/videos, TV, paywall content and e-books.

In recent years, improved access to music and video through online streaming and online stores has significantly decreased music piracy. This research indicated that further inroads into this behavior could be made through better online purchase access and through consumer education about the ethics and results of digital downloading. Further, efforts are more efficient by targeting cultures with lower levels of rule orientation with ethics education and targeted risk messages in countries with higher uncertainty avoidance.

Yearly losses to the music industry amount to about $5-29bn. Many find music and video downloading and “sharing” as acceptable. The model developed in this research has implications to affect this mass loss of revenue to the music industry and perhaps the societal view of downloading behavior that is illegal but commonly accepted.

This model is the first to integrate cultural aspects into models of digital piracy. In addition, the model is developed from a strong theoretical base (TRA and Becker’s theory of crime) to integrate multiple antecedents to intellectual property theft research.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically test a new theory called the balanced theory of port competitiveness.

Data were collected from multiple respondents in 72 of the largest container ports. The instrument was translated into English, Simplified Chinese, Korean, and French. The data were collected through online and paper-based surveys. The data were analyzed using analytical hierarchy process.

The theory was shown to explain the behavior of port stakeholders in improving competitiveness by balancing the need to attract new customers with that of attracting new investors when making decisions, which can often be contradictory. The analysis showed significant effects for the five variables of volume competitiveness (VC) and the five variables of investment competitiveness.

This study is limited in that it only tested the balanced theory on the largest container ports. The decisions by port managers may differ at smaller ports or those that do not handle containers.

Port stakeholders now have a ten-variable model of the factors needed to attract new customers and investors. These variables, and their tradeoffs, can evaluate the impact of managerial decisions on port competitiveness.

This study informs the literature by being the first to test a new theory that explains a greater level of port stakeholder behavior when improving competitiveness. Prior to this study, VC and investor competitiveness had only been studied separately, although they were related in practice.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of moral equity, relativism, and attitude towards digital piracy behaviour in a developing country. End-user piracy is more difficult to detect than commercial piracy. Thus, an effective strategy to combat piracy needs a comprehensive understanding of both the supply and demand sides of piracy. The current study focuses on the demand side by investigating the impact of moral equity, relativism, and attitude on consumer piracy behaviour in Indonesia.

Using a convenient sample in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, questionnaires were distributed in a large private university. In addition, through snowball sampling techniques, the surveys were also distributed to other adults who live within a walking distance from the campus. The data collection resulted in 222 usable surveys (a response rate of 68 per cent).

In Indonesia, moral equity had a negative and significant impact on purchases of illegal copies of music CDs and pirated software. Relativism affects the purchase of pirated software positively, but its effect on purchases of illegal copies of CDs is insignificant. Attitude towards the act was negatively impacted by moral equity for CDs and software. Relativism only significantly affects the purchase of pirated software but in the opposite direction while it has failed to reach significance for illegal music CD purchases. Attitude towards the software piracy and purchases of illegal copies of music CDs positively affect consumer’s digital piracy behaviour. Finally, Indonesian consumers feel more morally wrong to purchase illegal copies of CDs than to buy pirated software.

In the context of Indonesia, higher moral equity has affected piracy behaviour negatively. Therefore, efforts to reduce piracy should focus on highlighting the importance of fairness and justice. One of the main drivers of digital piracy (e.g. buying, downloading, copying, and sharing digital materials illegally) is overpriced products. It has led many Indonesians to believe that it is acceptable to purchase pirated software and illegal copies of CDs. Nonetheless, if companies are able to lower prices; thus make it affordable to consumers, consumers will perceive fairness and justice in purchasing original copies of software and CDs.

There are very limited studies investigating factors impacting the purchase of pirated software and CDs in the developing countries specifically Indonesia, the fourth most populous nation in the world and one of the biggest markets for counterfeit products. This is one of first few studies exploring this issue in Indonesia.