Search results

Provides an example of a firm’s use of distinguishing product attributes to engineer and nurture strong consumer‐brand relationships. Ty Inc., manufacturer of the popular Beanie Babies brand, has effectively engineered the brand to incorporate attributes of nostalgic value, personification, uniqueness, facilitation, engagement, aesthetic appeal, quality/excellence, association, social visibility and image congruence, and price risk. By incorporating these attributes and actively nurturing consumer‐brand relationships, Ty has benefited from greater customer satisfaction, which has led to higher purchase volumes, brand loyalty, and positive word‐of‐mouth communications. The straightforward methodology used to examine customer perceptions of Beanie Babies involved asking respondents to rate Beanie Babies on the ten characteristics associated with high‐involvement, relationship‐prone products. The same measurement approach could be easily replicated by managers of other firms to evaluate the relational potency of their own brands.

This study is an extension of an etic‐emic analysis of the individualism‐collectivism construct at the sociopsychological level to an organizational context. At the first level of comparison, strong and weak etics were extracted to permit comparability of values. At the second level, emic elements were produced to provide a basis of intercultural comparisons. Purely individualistic, purely collectivist and multidimensional factors emerged for the ten nations under consideration.

Entrepreneurship is one of the fastest growing disciplines at colleges and universities today. Programs span campuses offering traditional coursework and a variety of experiential learning options for students from all majors. While most agree that as much learning, if not more, occurs outside of the classroom, there has not been a model for integrating curricular and cocurricular components in entrepreneurship programs. Moreover, there has not been clear agreement on how to assess value from these programs.

To resolve this, we used a five-phase competency development process to create a customized learning model that engages the learner, the educator, and the community volunteer in the learning and assessment process at both the individual and program levels. This chapter presents a case study in a private, metropolitan university of 8200 students. The case study presents the problem and rationale, a history and overview of the application of competency-based education, and a five-stage process used to develop the model and apply the model to achieve a customized learning path for students in entrepreneurship.

The five-stage model of competency-based education can be applied to develop a customized learning approach and assessment path for students who study entrepreneurship. The use of a technology support platform can extend and simplify the use of this model and allow for the integration of curricular and cocurricular components of an experiential education.

This is a unique approach to integrating curricular and cocurricular education to provide a holistic experiential education for learners. The value of this program extends to faculty who assess learning and volunteers who participate in the learning experience. Specific attention is given to the challenges and process for curriculum mapping and the use of this model for assessment.

This paper focuses on accessing the experiences of three boys who are on the autism spectrum to identify what using a voice output communication aid (VOCA), within a classroom setting, means to them. The methods used to identify the boys' perspectives are described and evaluated. Establishing these through direct methods of engagement proved problematic but working with parents and school staff as ‘expert guides’ provided a rich insight into what using a VOCA appeared to mean to the boys. The findings suggest that using a computer‐based VOCA can be viewed by children with autism as a pleasurable and motivating activity. This technology also seems to offer the potential for a much broader developmental impact for these children than that currently recognised within the research literature.