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Marketing study shows lenient return policy may increase sales " The study shows that lenient return policies do in fact encourage product purchase ." A meta-analysis of retail return policies led by a University of Texas at Arlington College of Business professor may lead businesses to modify their policies to increase sales and reduce returns.  The study found that return policies that offer consumers more monetary rewards are likely to increase their consumer purchases. Narayanan Janakiraman, an assistant professor of marketing who specializes in consumer behavior, UTA doctoral candidate Holly Syrdal and University of Texas at Dallas doctoral candidate Ryan Freling recently published their conclusions in The Journal of Retailing. "The Effect of Return Policy Leniency on Consumer Purchase and Return Decisions: A Meta-analytic Review" analyzed 22 academic papers concerning return policies. The analysis reviewed five different dimensions: time, money, effort, scope ...

Businesses who put customers and employees first flourish Volumes have been written about successful business, political and historical leaders.  Angelo Mastrangelo, adjunct assistant professor of entrepreneurship and leadership at Binghamton University, dives deeper than any other into the characteristics, behaviors, values and attitudes that make great leaders in his new book " Entrepreneurial Leadership ." "The art of generating new business is selfless, and not selfish … good entrepreneurial leaders focus on the needs and wants of the consumer, knowing that by satisfying the consumer first, the company will benefit later," Mastrangelo said. The book offers a practical guide to being the kind of leader that creates a new business, instead of rehashing an old one. "My model provides the fundamentals of leadership and entrepreneurship. If you're looking for a new business opportunity, ultimately, you need to be looking for a problem that needs to be solved...

Whether a small employer offers health care insurance, research out of the Mayo Clinic shows that offering your employees discounted memberships in wellness centers can cut both your and your employees health care costs with an added benefit of weight loss.  According to a new Mayo Clinic study, starting a employee well center or partnering with a health club is an effective and relatively low cost way to help control the costs of health care by encouraging a healthy lifestyle among your workforce. Boost Employee Health and Wellness : Getting to the Heart of the Matter by Carol A. Vance, Ph.D. Click on image for more information Significant weight loss and health care savings Research published this month in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine shows that members of Mayo Clinic's employee wellness center, the Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center (DAHLC), who regularly participated in wellness activities, experienced significant wei...

Looking for happiness in all the wrong places? Everyone knows that money can’t buy happiness – yet some men and women invest a lifetime of effort trying to buy their way into a satisfying life despite research and experience clearly showing that people who are materialistic are less satisfied with their standards of living, their relationships and their lives as a whole. You might ask why pursue a goal that won't make you happy in either the short or the long term?  With that being the case, James A. Roberts of Baylor University and two colleagues set out to explore the relationship between materialism -- making acquisition of material possessions a central focus of one's life -- and life satisfaction. They wondered if anything could make materialistic people more satisfied with their lot. Grateful individuals are more satisfied with their lives They chose to test how gratitude, a positive emotion experiences when someone feels another...

Is there any worse time to be interrupted than right now? Regardless of what we're doing or the nature of the interruption, we often feel as if we have no time to spare at the moment. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, consumers feel busier when they are close to finishing a task or reaching a goal. "We often decline or delay opportunities because we are just so close to finishing what we are doing right now. Consumers often postpone a visit to a financial planner, skip going to the gym, or put off having a drink with a friend just because they are so close to completing what they are doing at the moment," write authors Ji Hoon Jhang (Oklahoma State University) and John G. Lynch Jr. (University of Colorado). Across three studies, the authors showed that consumers tolerate interruptions less the closer they are to completing a task or achieving a goal. Just start your first business? This book could help. Click on image to order. In one study, co...

The bad news? Research out of Washington University in St. Louis shows you'll only stay in the top 1% of earners for a year or so. According to new research, there's a 1 in 9 chance that the typical American (you) will hit the jackpot and join the wealthiest 1 percent for at least one year in her or his working life. Only an elite few get to stay in that economic stratosphere -- and  nonwhite workers remain among those who face far longer odds. Click on image to order your copy. This, according to Mark Rank, PhD, the Herbert S. Hadley Professor of Social Welfare at the Brown School and co-author of the influential book 'Chasing the American Dream: Understanding What Shapes Our Fortunes.' According to the authors, "Education, marriage and race are among the strongest predictors of top-level income, and in particular the race effect suggests persistent patterns of social inequality." Relying on data collected regularly since 1968 as part of the University of Mic...

An interesting post by Srini Pillay on a blog at the Harvard Business Review that I recommend you read and think about.  As the author points out: People often prepare for failure, but rarely prepare for what they will do when they succeed.  And this can cause you unexpected problems. Here is the gist of the article, with a link to the original. "Don’t do victory laps. "Focus on the value you bring, not on winning per se. "Stay in the “here and now”. "Reach higher. "People often prepare for failure, but rarely prepare for what they will do when they succeed. Even when we consciously want to be successful, enjoying that success can be a challenge. By following the suggestions above, you can create a framework for managing success so that you can more reliably sustain your success when it occurs. If you are conscious about these factors, you will create far more opportunities to sustain your success over time." Click here to read the full HBR article: The Un...