Purpose – Much of the literature on consumer empowerment focuses on consumers' efforts to regain control of their consumption processes from suppliers. The purpose is to argue that many suppliers achieve success by trying hard to empower consumers. The mechanism by which this takes place...

Purpose – The last ten years have seen a gradual withdrawal of retail facilities from many local areas and the consequent growth of “shopping deserts” resulting in social and health disbenefits. The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential for e-shopping to fill the vacuum and to...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the purchase intentions of online retail consumers, segmented by their purchase orientation. Design/methodology/approach – An e-mail/web survey was addressed to a consumer panel concerning their online shopping experiences and motivations,...

This paper examines the impact of trade unions in the US and the UK and elsewhere. In both the US and the UK, despite declining membership numbers, unions are able to raise wages substantially over the equivalent non-union wage. Unions in other countries, such as Australia, Austria, Brazil,...

This paper develops a framework for evaluating the social returns to infrastructure investments that intensify product market competition. We use a circular model with asymmetric production costs both for incumbent firms and potential entrants, where unit transport cost measures the intensity of...

This paper presents a simple model for analysing the contribution of investments in physical and institutional infrastructure to the transition process. In addition to the direct cost savings, infrastructure investment generates important indirect effects, or transition impacts. The model shows...