Mall Managers Research Articles

Small Business Failure Rates and the New Zealand Retail Sector: Perceptions of Shopping Mall Managers

Evidence from 220 small business start-ups in both managed and unmanaged shopping centres in New Zealand shows that the difference in failure rates between the two are statistically significant under one definitions of failure, as defined by Watson and Everett (1996). Average annual failure rates range from 0.5% to 9.6% in this study compared with much larger government reported ‘discontinuance’ rates, thus supporting the notion that the actual small business failure experience requires closer and more detailed examination before the ‘risk of failure’ for small businesses can be understood and not assumed to be the same as the lack of continuance. This study suggests that small business failure rates would be best modelled and reported in order to provide a more accurate assessment of failure rates as well as a deeper understanding that ‘discontinuance’ is not necessarily failure’ and not, therefore, to be confused with a risk measure.

사례기반추론과 규칙기반추론을 이용한 e-쇼핑몰의 상품추천 시스템

e쇼핑몰 경영자들은 고객들의 다양한 제품 구매 욕구를 충족시키기 위한 효율적 시스템에 많은 관심을 가지고 있다. 인터넷 쇼핑몰 운영에 있어 고객들의 개인적 구매 특성 및 취향을 파악하여 고객들을 효과적으로 관리하는데 많은 어려움이 있다. 상품 추천의 과정이 기획된 소수의 특정 상품을 고객의 유형 및 특성들의 고려 없이 공급자 중심으로 이루어져 고객관리의 문제점으로 지적되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 고객위주의 추천을 위해 규칙기반추론(Rule-Based Reasoning, RBR)과 사례기반추론(Case-Based Reasoning, CBR)을 하여 고객의 취향 및 구매 특성에 따른 추천방법을 제시한다. 기존의 제품 판매정보와 고객정보를 이용해 생성한 규칙베이스와 사례베이스의 고객특성과 입력된 고객특성의 유사도를 평가해서 고객의 취향에 따라 추천하도록 한다. 생성된 규칙과 사례기반의 추론으로 기존의 정보를 효과적으로 사용하고 또한 고객 및 시장 상황의 변화를 인식하고 지속적인 학습을 수행하여 지능적 추천이 이루어진다. It is a major concern of e-shopping mall managers to satisfy a variety of customer's desire by recommending a proper product to the perspective purchaser. Customer information like customer's fondness, age, gender, etc. in shopping has not been used effectively for the customers or the suppliers. Conventionally, e-shopping mall managers have recommended specific items of products to their customers without considering thoroughly in a customer point of view. This study introduces the ways of a choosing and recommending of products using case-based reasoning and rule-based reasoning for customer themselves or others. A similarity measure between one member's idiosyncrasy and the other members' is developed based on the rule base and the case base. The case base is improved for the system intelligence by recognizing and learning the changes of customer's desire and shopping trend.

Community Health Promotion In The Mall

1357 The enclosed shopping mall has become a dependable community resource for the pursuit of fitness primarily by seniors aged 65 years or greater. The safety of the mall for this purpose has not been evaluated. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the evolution of the mall over the decade of the 1990s as a safe site for fitness from the perspective of mall administration. METHODS: In 1992 a questionnaire was mailed to the mall directors in 60 randomly chosen enclosed shopping malls in the southeastern United States (73% returned). The questionnaire was repeated in 2000 with many of the same malls, however, due to prior promises of confidentiality of response a new random sample had to be obtained for the second questionnaire (57% returned). The results were analyzed for significance by a Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. RESULTS: Despite its continued popularity, mall directors reported a 36% decline in mall walking activity and a 13% decrease in the frequency of reported mall walking clubs. The increase in CPR trained personnel (11.5%) may have been fueled by the increase in the number of reported heart attacks, one in 1992 and 9 in 2000. On site primary health care services have increased for mall walkers by 66.7% while mall-tohospital relationships have increased by 7.5%. Despite these changes over the decade there were no significant differences between the responses in 1992 and those in 2000. CONCLUSION: Mall management has been proactive in its response to the needs of the community in providing a safe site for health management through exercise despite a decrease in the use of the mall by walkers. Due to the risk associated with exercise, the managers in many malls have wisely enlisted the aid of community hospitals in providing on-site health care.

Community Health Promotion In The Mall

1357 The enclosed shopping mall has become a dependable community resource for the pursuit of fitness primarily by seniors aged 65 years or greater. The safety of the mall for this purpose has not been evaluated. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the evolution of the mall over the decade of the 1990s as a safe site for fitness from the perspective of mall administration. METHODS: In 1992 a questionnaire was mailed to the mall directors in 60 randomly chosen enclosed shopping malls in the southeastern United States (73% returned). The questionnaire was repeated in 2000 with many of the same malls, however, due to prior promises of confidentiality of response a new random sample had to be obtained for the second questionnaire (57% returned). The results were analyzed for significance by a Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. RESULTS: Despite its continued popularity, mall directors reported a 36% decline in mall walking activity and a 13% decrease in the frequency of reported mall walking clubs. The increase in CPR trained personnel (11.5%) may have been fueled by the increase in the number of reported heart attacks, one in 1992 and 9 in 2000. On site primary health care services have increased for mall walkers by 66.7% while mall-tohospital relationships have increased by 7.5%. Despite these changes over the decade there were no significant differences between the responses in 1992 and those in 2000. CONCLUSION: Mall management has been proactive in its response to the needs of the community in providing a safe site for health management through exercise despite a decrease in the use of the mall by walkers. Due to the risk associated with exercise, the managers in many malls have wisely enlisted the aid of community hospitals in providing on-site health care.

The seven year itch? Mall shoppers across time

The present study investigates changes in the shopping behavior of today’s mall patrons as opposed to those in the early 1990s. Data collected in the sample surveys included respondents’ demographic attributes, shopping motivations, situational factors, and purchase behaviors. Although no differences were found between the demographics of the respondents in the earlier and later periods, we discovered significant differences in shopping patterns and purchase behaviors. Compared with the shoppers in the early 1990s, today’s mall patrons tend to be more leisure driven, they have a greater concern for merchandise selection, and they visit the mall less often but make more purchases per visit. The findings also reveal that situational variables are more likely to have an impact on shoppers’ purchase decisions today than they did before. Based on the study’s findings, we suggest a number of pragmatic strategies to aid store and mall managers in their marketing efforts with regard to consumers today.

Social Planning for Mall Redevelopment: An Australian case-study

This paper provides a case study of recent work undertaken in Melbourne relating to a mall re-development project. It begins by discussing the nature of shopping centres as sites of consumption and non-commercial social activities. It then describes planning and development strategies that provide innovative and socially progressive interventions in regard to the social, physical and regulatory environments of public malls. The importance of seeing such sites as 'community spaces', of promoting activities on the basis of social inclusion, of creating a safe, convivial atmosphere, and of establishing low-key friendly sorts of mall management, are highlighted.

Orchestrating an Indoor City

The acoustic space of shopping malls is orchestrated by mall management to promote a stimulating, enjoyable sense of place conducive to their economic, political, and social purposes: to get people inside their corridors to spend time and money. The perceived qualities of the sounds and the physical intensity of the sound pressure levels have auditory, extra-auditory, and social effects that may be detrimental to the well-being of mall patrons and the nature of their social relations. Using the West Edmonton mega-mall (WEM) as a case study, it is shown through several patron questionnaires and on-site sound pressure-level measurements that there is a noise pollution problem inside the corridors of the mega-mall. A literature review of the potential effects of moderate sound-level intensities supports the contention that mall management should rethink their sonic strategy. Long-term solutions to the problem of indoor ambient noise pollution lie not simply in architectural and legislative measures, but in convincing the operators of WEM and other indoor public places of the potential economic benefits to be realized through noise abatement.