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The aim of this paper is to investigate an optimal promotional strategy of intra-category cross-selling on culinary products for the fiercely competitive, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry.

A linear regression model and a Markov switching autoregressive model is used, that incorporates a retailing demand process to capture a nonlinear structure among promotional budget allocation, and evaluate promotional performance, and optimal promotional frequency within a given time span. Three product categories are applied with 39 months of time-series data from a multinational packaged food company in Taiwan.

The result shows that most previous decisions on promotional budget allocation are non-optimal – most promotional investments were either extended too long or allocated too low in stimulating sales.

This study suggests implications for the brand or category manager in removing such non-optimal promotional policies.

Previous promotional investment is evaluated by comparing the changes in promotional budget allocation. Markov's switching feedback rules are then applied to determine the proper length of equilibrium state with and/or without promotion. Finally, effective decision rules on magnitude, duration, and frequency of intra-category promotional strategy are induced.

This paper aims to determine the key criteria used by managers in rapidly changing organizations to make promotion decisions.

A survey was conducted of 311 managers from over 100 different US service and manufacturing enterprises experiencing rapid organizational change. Managers were asked to identify no more than five factors that were most critical in their organization to actually getting promoted. Results were content analyzed.

Top ten factors influencing promotion decisions included: getting desired results/strong performance track record; possessing strong business networks; interpersonal/communication skills; strong knowledge‐experience base; demonstrating a strong work ethic; ability to build teams and being a team player; personality, attitude, and ego factors; solving a major problem or getting a “big hit;” demonstrating character, integrity, and trustworthiness; and, preparation and being in the right place at the right time.

Results indicate what organizations are currently using to make decisions but it does not provide a normative guide for what organizations should be using. Also, further research should attempt to differentiate dimensions used at each level of management.

The results provide a useful guide for managers who are looking for a leg up in the competitive fight for promotions. Results also suggest criteria to be considered when organizations update management assessment tools to better reflect the demands on managers working in the new global business environment.

The study focuses on promotions in rapidly changing organizations and uses a sample that is very familiar with how organizations actually make promotion decisions.

The promotional planning process is seen as being responsible for many of the problems associated with the increase in sales promotions. Planning, implementation and evaluation processes are influenced by the potentially conflicting goals of senior management and brand/product managers, a failure to integrate media plans and trade plans, and the prevalence of subjective and ad hoc decision making. All these factors are observed among large fast‐moving goods companies in New Zealand. Demonstrates that the promotional planning process is an important driver of how much use is made of sales promotions. A promotional planning matrix is offered as an analytical tool to allow managers to understand the impact of budget allocations and to help overcome planning problems that were identified in the study.

Groupthink happens in-group decision-making processes whereby members of a group prematurely arrive at a decision that may indicate consensus but for the aim of protecting group harmony. This limits the contributions of the individuals' talents, ideas, competences and experiences to more effective decisions. Although there are a number of studies on predictors (forecasters) of groupthink, they do not consider the influence of the African cultural aspects of collectivism, high power distance and tolerance on groupthink that may characterise the decision-making context in African settings. It is in that context that this case study analyses groupthink in a public sector organization in Tanzania.

This paper unveils the presence of groupthink predictors that can affect the quality of decisions made in groups within the Tanzania context. The study was conducted in one of the public institutions in Tanzania that is under the Ministry of Home affairs. The study population included Directors, Managers, Heads of units, District registration officers and other officials as shown in Table 1. These are the people who participate in decision-making processes in the organization and were drawn from different offices of the organization including the headquarter office, Kibaha Data centre, District Registration offices from different regions including Dares Salaam, Coast region, Arusha, Mtwara, Mwanza, Manyara, Mbeya, Singida, Dodoma, Geita, Lindi and Njombe – these 12 administrative regions are among the 27 regions that make up the Tanzania mainland. Through simple random and purposive sampling methods, a total of 97 participants participated effectively. The criterion for participation being participants must have been involved with at least one decision-making group experience. The choice of the organization was done on the basis that it is a relatively a new institution of importance; it was also possible to get from it the needed data.

The results of the study show that there is the presence of groupthink predictors of high trust, conformity and promotional leadership in decision-making groups in the organization. Furthermore, the diversity of group members alone indicates to be insufficient reason to avoid Groupthink. It is suggested that other important factors might be at play in group decision making including the influence of African cultural characteristics.

This study was limited to only one institution. For a study of this nature to be undertaken access to data could be a very significant problem. Limiting it to one organization we are familiar with made it a bit easy to achieve access.

Group decision making and groupthink are rarely in discourse in Africa. Tanzania is not isolated from the world, and being a country that unity is a cultural tenet that is promoted at every level from the family to national level (Rwegelera, 2003; Tripp, 1999) effects of groupthink is reasonably conspicuous because of the inbuilt national culture that has shaped people to be tolerant and accepting of different perspectives, ethnic groups, religious and races (Tripp, 1999). The same tolerance and acceptance may be transferred to decision-making groups and easily cause the occurrence of groupthink that can affect the quality of decisions made.

The Tanzania government has dedicated itself to putting strict measures to prohibit unethical and erroneous decisions that cost the nation including reducing employees' misconduct. The findings of this study indicate that there are hidden aspects like groupthink that are not reached by those measures yet ironically impacts the decisions made in organizations and in turn costs organizations and the country at large and calls for the government and its institutions together with the private sector to be awakened and alerted if they are dedicated and concerned about the quality of decisions they make.

This is an original research work building on previous research. Some findings on groupthink and implications have Western origins. In Africa, we need to figure out what is making the continent not to make significant steps to change the social-economic environment. This study highlights to both African academics and leaders with no management background to make them understand groupthink as a phenomena that has implications to quality decisions. It will also prompt similar studies and therefore widen understanding on decisions making.

This paper explores the impact of high-performance human resource practices (HPHRPs) on the research performance and career success of academics.

Survey data was collected from 586 faculty members in the five largest public universities in Saudi Arabia.

The findings suggest that the HPHRPs of internal mobility and recognition had a strong impact on faculty members' career success and that these relationships were mediated by research performance. In addition, the study also found that the HPHRPs of training and recognition positively influenced research performance, while, surprisingly, the HPHRPs of participation in decision-making were found to have a negative effect on faculty members' research performance.

This study is original in combining research in human resource management (HRM) and career studies to develop a model that explains academic research performance and career success from the lens of HR practices. The results also provide leaders in Saudi Arabia's public higher education sector with empirical data on the impact of HPHRPs on academic research performance and career success.

This article discusses the costs and benefits of implementing affirmative action programs in higher education. Based on a national survey of institutions of higher education, the author addresses the following questions: What factors impede the ability of the affirmative action officer to achieve program results? What is the effect of staff size, budget, and race on perceived implementation barriers? This study finds that increased impediments to affirmative action program efficacy are greatly affected by program resources and race.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the retailer’s strategy of information sharing in a green supply chain with promotional effort, and the impact of information sharing on the decisions and profits of the manufacturer and the retailer.

The developed models aim to maximize the profits of the manufacturer, the retailer and the green supply chain system. The game theory is used to obtain the equilibrium solutions of both the manufacturer and the retailer. A two-part compensation (TPC) contract is designed to motivate the retailer to share information with the retailer. Numerical examples are used to show the impact of parameters on decisions by Matlab 2014.

The results show that the green degree increases while the promotional effort level decreases when the manufacturer receives the larger demand information from the retailer; information sharing leads to a profit increase to the manufacturer and a profit loss to the retailer, but can increase the profit of supply chain under a certain condition; information sharing reduces the expected consumer surplus. The TPC contract designed in this paper can not only motivate the retailer to share information but also increases the consumer surplus.

The study has been done in a monopoly environment where only a retailer can forecast demand information. It is an interesting direction of future research when considering there are more retailers who can forecast such information in a supply chain.

There exist two main aspects that are different from the existing literature. The stochastic demand function related to the retail price, the green degree and the promotional effort have never appeared in previous literature. This paper considers a green product supply chain with a manufacturer who produces green products and a retailer who has an information advantage because of her promotional effort; this paper investigates the impact of information sharing on the consumer surplus and designs a contract to coordinate the green supply chain.

Recent evidence from glass cliff research suggests that women are more willing than men to accept risky leadership positions. The purpose of this paper (based on three studies) is to reveal and resolve the apparent paradox that women are more risk averse than men yet end up in risky leadership positions.

In Study I, risk attitudes of 125 participants were surveyed to understand gender differences in risk taking. In two experimental vignette studies, 119 university students (Study II) and 109 working adults (Study III) were offered a leadership position in either a risky or successful company and asked to rate their willingness to accept the job.

Together, the results showed that although women are generally more risk averse than men, women who scored low on career self-efficacy were more likely to perceive a risky job as a promotional opportunity and were therefore more willing to accept such a job. These findings shed light on the role of women’s career decision making in the glass cliff phenomenon.

Glass cliff research has focused almost exclusively on organizational decision makers. The authors aim to better understand the glass cliff phenomenon by incorporating the perspective of job seekers.

Inaction inertia is the phenomenon in which people are less likely to accept an opportunity after having previously missed a relatively superior one. This research explores how framing quantity promotions as either a freebie (e.g. “buy 1, get 1 free”) or a price bundle (e.g. “buy 2, get 50% off”) influences inaction inertia. Relevant mediators are also identified.

Three experiments, two using imaginary scenarios and one using an incentive-compatible design, test the hypotheses.

Consumers who miss a freebie quantity promotion express higher inaction inertia than consumers who miss a price bundle promotion. The cause of this difference is higher perceived regret and greater devaluation that result from missing a superior freebie (vs price bundle) promotion.

Future research should examine how factors influencing perceived regret and devaluation moderate the quantity promotional frame effect on inaction inertia.

The findings provide insights into which quantity promotional frames practitioners should use to reduce inaction inertia.

This study's comprehensive theoretical framework predicts quantity promotional frame effects on inaction inertia and identifies relevant internal mechanisms. The findings are evidence that inaction inertia is caused by both perceived regret and devaluation in certain contexts. Furthermore, this study identifies the conditions in which a price bundle promotional frame is more beneficial than a freebie promotional frame.

The purpose of this paper is to shed more light on the influence of a tourism‐oriented environment on the promotional channel strategies of fast‐moving consumer goods (FMCG) firms.

The study utilises an exploratory, qualitative research design among 14 case studies of FMCG firms operating in the tourism‐oriented environment of Greece.

Findings show that most firms utilise adapted promotional channels due to the influence of structural characteristics of the tourism industry and tourists' modes of behavior.

The outcomes of this qualitative study are limited to the context that is investigated and thus, future researchers are encouraged to investigate similar contexts with the goal of generalising findings.

Findings suggest that firms ought to appreciate the contextual idiosyncrasies of Euro‐Mediterranean countries (as a result of international tourism) and thus, tailor their programs to these idiosyncrasies, which are distinct from other non‐tourism‐oriented environments.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first paper that investigates the effect of tourism‐induced idiosyncrasies of Euro‐Mediterranean countries on FMCG firms' promotional strategies. In light of the increasing importance of global consumer mobility, such studies are expected to increase.