The Role of Cause Involvement and Assortment Size on Decision Difficulty via Communal Relationships

Social enterprises aim to achieve both social and economic goals by reaching broader consumer segments through extensive assortments, but research into how this product proliferation strategy affects consumer response is scarce. In the current research we examine how consumers judge social enterprises providing large product assortments. Three experiments show that choice overload (i.e., having a decision difficulty when faced with many options) can be reversed among target consumers of social enterprises—specifically those whose involvement in a social cause is high. Because more-involved consumers view large assortments of cause-related products as an indicator of the company’s commitment to addressing social issues, they identify with the company and thereby form communal relationships. Thus, the consumers’ focus shifts from comparing options to helping the company, leading to reduced decision difficulty. The findings contribute to existing research on assortment size and the understanding of the information consumers use to evaluate the company’s commitment to social causes.

Product Proliferation under Rational Inattention: Application to Health Insurance

In markets with complicated products such as insurance, why do firms offer many products even when consumers appear to receive little benefit? We show that when consumers face information acquisition costs, firms may have an incentive to introduce many undifferentiated products. This allows firms to gain market share and increase markups. We document initial evidence consistent with the model using data from Medicare prescription drug insurance. Insurers that offer more duplicate or similar plans have higher-cost plans. These results suggest a role for policymakers to restrict product proliferation in markets with complicated products.

Blurred boundaries: A flexible approach for segmentation applied to the car market

Prominent features of differentiated product markets are segmentation and product proliferation blurring the boundaries between segments. I develop a tractable demand model, the Ordered Nested Logit, which allows for asymmetric substitution between segments. I apply the model to the automobile market where segments are ordered from small to luxury. I find that consumers, when substituting outside their vehicle segment, are more likely to switch to a neighboring segment. Accounting for such asymmetric substitution matters when evaluating the impact of new product introduction or the effect of subsidies on fuel‐efficient cars.

Keeping Waste Low through Management: The Socio-ecological Interpretation

Waste is a ceaselessly developing issue at worldwide and territorial just as at neighborhood levels. Due to vigorous globalization and product proliferation in recent years, more waste has been produced by the soaring manufacturing activities. The social ecology of waste recycling implies the structural, functional and managerial intervention of waste generation process. The present study takes a look into the approach, process and impact of ongoing waste management process, followed by the both kalyani and jalpaiguri municipalities. A set of agro-ecological, socio-economic and techno managerial factors have been developed by selecting two sets of operating variables. 21 independent variables and one dependent variable i.e. waste reduction methods (y4) were selected for the research. Total one fifty respondents, seventy five from each municipal area have been selected by systematic random sampling. A basket of multivariate analytic techniques have been carried out to isolate and interpret the variables. Throughout the study it has been observed that in terms of variable behavior and responses there has been stark differences between jalapaiguri and kalyani where as some few variables like income, impact of waste management and recycling on water and micro flora and fauna have recorded the distinct contribution, for jalpaiguri volume of waste generation from household, water consumption per day have gone in the determinant way. But in both municipal areas perception of environmental impact of waste management have recorded equal contribution. So it can be said that improper waste management leads to ecological damage and waste reduction methods will reduce waste generation, improper waste disposal and save our environment and ecology.