With an increasingly competitive job market, this study focuses on what marketing educators can do to help students develop a sustainable competitive advantage. The authors conducted a survey of students, faculty, and recruiters to develop a better understanding of what skills and characteristics might be of value to each group of respondents and to ascertain where differences might exist across respondent groups. Although the basic skills (i.e., critical thinking, communication) recruiters seek have not changed much from previous studies, recruiters rated critical thinking skills, such as problem solving, much higher than either faculty or students. Graduates must be accountable and show the impact and rationale behind decisions. In other words, educators must continue to stress reading, writing, and “arith-metrics.” The lessons learned herein include ways to engage students, strengthen communication skills, incorporate skill development workshops, use professional speakers in marketing organizations, and promote services available outside the classroom as well as help students develop multiple skill sets in class. Educators should also encourage students to be open-minded, creative, and explore opportunities including internships and positions that may not be their current career choice. Finally, educators should discuss pros and cons of going straight through school or working before attending graduate school.

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Cyber technology creates new shopping experiences for consumers and ways of searching for product information that are not possible in traditional advertising contexts. Telepresence, defined as the sense of being present in the remote environment, can simulate direct experience, and is useful for conceptualizing consumers’ experiences in computer-mediated environments. We focus on perceived telepresence in seeking to broaden our understanding of the effects of persuasive communications in the cyber environment. We examine effects of perceived telepresence on consumer responses such as attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand, and purchase intention, and also examine how these effects are moderated by consumer involvement. Hypotheses derived from a proposed conceptual model are tested via a laboratory experiment. Data is then analyzed with multi-sample structural analysis. Results show that perceived telepresence significantly affects consumer responses to online advertising and that involvement moderates these effects. Theoretical and managerial implications of the results are discussed.

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Three laboratory methods were developed to measure matrix gas permeability (K m ) of Devonian shale cores and drill cuttings at native water saturations. The first method uses pulse pressure testing of core plugs with helium. The second, new method uses pulse pressure testing of core chips or drill cuttings with helium. These methods gave comparable results on 23 companion shale samples from two wells, with K m = 0.2 to 19 x 10-8 md. The third, new method uses degassibility of core plugs with helium and methane, and yielded K m higher by a factor of 3 to 10.Most of the core plugs tested showed multiple microfractures that remain open at reservoir stress, and these dominate conventional flow tests. These microfractures are parallel to bedding, are coring induced, and are not present in the reservoir. KnOWledge of Km is important in computer simulation modeling of long term Devonian shale gas production, and has been a key to understanding the nature of the natural fracture network present in the reservoir.