Understanding the unprecedented growth of cryptocurrency has challenged professionals and scholars. This study involved addressing the existence of arbitrage opportunities in the Canadian cryptocurrency market. The purpose of this study was to test the theory of the Law of One Price (LOP) on cryptocurrency in Canada. The LOP demonstrates that the value of a financial asset should be the same across different markets. The research questions for this study examined whether different exchanges cause arbitrage opportunities in the Canadian cryptocurrency market and whether volatility and liquidity were influencers of the arbitrage opportunities between Canadian cryptocurrency exchanges. A quantitative nonexperimental cross-sectional research design was employed with a sample population of almost 3,000 data points collected for four cryptocurrencies across four cryptocurrency exchanges. The data analysis techniques were predictive modeling and a binary logistic regression model. The study results indicated that arbitrage opportunities were found almost 100% of the time, and volatility and liquidity were weak influencers of the arbitrage opportunities. Professionals will become better equipped to protect average and inexperienced investors in cryptocurrency from the study results. The positive social change implications can enable professionals to gain greater insights into supporting and educating investors in high-risk cryptocurrencies who lack risk management knowledge or financial stability, avoid losing a portion or all of their savings.

Keywords: cryptocurrency, arbitrage, law of one price, Canadian markets, volatility, liquidity, quantitative, nonexperimental cross-sectional research, predictive modeling, binary logistic regression model

Rising tuition costs and growing scrutiny of higher education outcomes have renewed debate about the value of traditional subject-centered curricula. Employers increasingly demand graduates possessing transferable skills and applied experience, yet limited empirical research has compared how nonprofit and for-profit hiring managers evaluate different forms of student engagement. This study addresses that gap by surveying over 400 U.S. hiring managers who assessed 34 activities spanning academic achievement, work-integrated learning (WIL), and extracurricular/co-curricular involvement. Results show that while academic performance remains important, both for-profit and nonprofit employers are placing increased emphasis on competencies developed through applied and integrative learning. Importantly, nonprofit hiring managers value service-oriented activities, especially those involving leadership roles, more highly than their for-profit counterparts, underscoring the need for considering organizational mission when examining employability judgments. Findings contribute to research on labor market alignment by demonstrating that nonprofit pathways require equal attention in higher education policy and career preparation.

Keywords: undergraduate education, experiential learning, nonprofit hiring, for-profit hiring

The field of responsible global leadership (RGL) has emerged in response to global challenges such as climate change, inequality, and competing cross-border stakeholder demands. These challenges require leaders to balance competing interests across multinational and multicultural contexts. However, RGL has limited scholarly research and no widely accepted definition among scholars, and therefore, creating risks of conceptual misunderstanding and slowing theoretical progress. To address this gap, an integrative literature review was conducted across three domains: corporate social responsibility (CSR), global leadership, and responsible leadership. The review produced a conceptual model that integrates these domains and supports a proposed definition of RGL as an orientation or mindset by leaders to meet the societal and organizational expectations of stakeholders in countries where their organizations operate or have human impact. This definition and model provide a foundation for future scholarship and offer researchers a reference point for advancing this emerging field.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, global leadership, responsible global leadership, responsible leadership

From an economic perspective, it is of interest to determine if two non-stationary economic time series are co-integrated. Two non-stationary series are co-integrated if a linear combination of the two series is long-term stationary. In this study, we test for co-integration and long-term relationships between macroeconomic variables, including the Dow and S&P 500, using the Johansen co-integration test and the vector error correction model, VECM. Also, we investigate short -term relationships between these variables, using the Granger test and VECM.

Results show that GDP is co-integrated with Dow, S&P 500 (SP), savings deposits, CPI, and debt. Also, Dow is co-integrated with SP, savings deposits, and debt. The SP index is co-integrated with debt, savings deposits, and CPI. Estimates of the long-term relationships between variables and rates of error adjustments are presented. Also, short-term relationships, from the Granger test and the VECM analysis are presented and compared.

Keywords: U.S. Stock Market, macroeconomics, Granger test, vector error correction model

The design and implementation of information systems contribute to the practical knowledge of students. This article introduces an active learning environment in an International Data Management course. Specifically, we highlight how classroom lectures can be enhanced by the experience and application of a real-world project-based study. Gold Rush Antiques is a real-world database management case. Gold Rush is a business with multiple locations which has experienced tremendous growth. The scenario engages students in the design and development of a database to advance the organization and analysis of the data. This case is created at various levels of data management coursework – beginning, intermediate, or advanced. The case scenario is written at a beginner level; teaching notes have intermediate and advanced suggestions (provided upon request). Students are requested to develop a working prototype of a database management system that includes the design of data, tables, forms, queries, and reports. The Gold Rush Antiques case study allows students to not only learn the development of a database but also understand how to examine, analyze, and apply business procedures.

Keywords: database case project, database development, management information systems, database management system, SQL

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education is transforming students’ learning experiences, decision-making, and academic efficiency. This study explores student perceptions of AI’s benefits, challenges, and its role across academic disciplines. Findings indicate that while students recognize AI as a valuable educational tool, they also express concerns regarding privacy, reliance, and the need for improved AI training. Statistically significant differences were observed in AI’s impact on learning efficiency, decision-making, and academic engagement, supporting the hypothesis that AI enhances education but presents notable challenges. The study also highlights the necessity for balanced AI integration, ensuring that AI complements rather than replaces critical thinking and independent learning. These insights provide valuable implications for educators and institutions in developing AI policies that optimize learning outcomes while addressing numerous concerns.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, higher education, student perceptions

Improvements in technology combined with an openness to trade, cross border investment and free markets have allowed many firms to reduce labor and other costs by employing globally dispersed operations. Increased trade barriers, growing geopolitical concerns and supply disruptions caused by the pandemic are requiring a greater focus on supply chain and operational resiliency. Some managers are considering moving operations closer to their home markets, foregoing the cost economies and relationships built up over many years. The purpose of this paper is to argue that increases in technology such as artificial intelligence, strategic and operational planning and integrated business planning make it possible for many firms to continue to manage global supply chains and still have resiliency and efficiency.

Keywords: supply chain resiliency, strategic planning, economics

The Japanese agricultural industry and an exceptionally wide variety of Japanese industries are seemingly at a perpetual crossroads. This intersection includes modern manufacturing techniques and a dedicated commitment to the historical and cultural authenticity that each industry and manufacturer represents. The production and exportation of soy sauce and sake are no different. Modern manufacturing techniques have largely superseded tradition in an effort to promote prompt product generation while an increase in profit with the more complex and intricate traditional techniques still are being used in order to create a smaller, almost boutique sub-industry of elite products with prestigious ties to historical authenticity. This paper addresses one of these crossroads with a comparative analysis of soy sauce and sake production in Japan and its status as an export item of value to the Japanese economy (especially the agricultural sector of the Japanese economy).

Keywords: manufacturing, export, comparative analysis

Smart cities are a growing global trend and include cities like New York, London, and Shanghai. Much of this growth is due to increased urbanization and recent technological advancements. The motivation for many non-smart cities to become a smart city is the ability to improve the lives of its citizens by better managing city services, like traffic congestion, public transportation, and emergency services. With the adoption rate of smart cities increasing, it is important to understand the true nature of smart cities, the full commitment, and risks associated with becoming a smart city before investing the time, money, and resources into becoming one. This article provides insight into the concept, impact, key characteristics, and benefits and challenges for smart cities. This includes a review of some of the globe’s top ranked smart cities and highlights the potential impact that generative artificial intelligence can have on the future of smart cities.

Keywords: AI, smart cities, city services

This paper provides an insightful overview of current research on sustainable entrepreneurship, exploring diverse perspectives, key themes, and future research directions. It reviews various conceptualizations of sustainable entrepreneurship and discusses pivotal topics such as ethical considerations, stakeholder dynamics, accountability, and the triple bottom line. Additionally, the paper highlights promising aspects of sustainable entrepreneurship, including its role in fostering innovation, driving social wealth generation, transforming unsustainable practices, promoting job creation, establishing eco-friendly businesses, and addressing issues like climate change, energy consumption, greenwashing, and digital sustainability. Lastly, the paper raises thought-provoking questions for further investigation, serving as avenues for future research and inquiry.

Keywords: entrepreneurism, sustainability, ethics

This paper tests the predictions of various conflicting theories on international trade and development by examining the impact of exporting and importing on economic level and basic needs in two developing countries of two different developing regions of the world; one in Latin America & Caribbean, and one in Sub-Saharan Africa. The two countries are Brazil and South Africa, respectively. Using fifteen-year lagged data that spanned 1984-2019, the paper finds that exporting tends to have negative and significant impact on both economic level and social basic needs in these two countries. Importing, on the other hand, was found to have positive and significant impact on economic level, and social basic needs in both countries. Implications of these findings for public policy and international trade theory development are discussed, and directions for future research are given.

Keywords: social-economic development, export, import, Latin America, Africa

This study focuses on the issue of names with diverse flavors and whether having these diverse names can affect an applicant being hired for managerial or non-managerial positions. The specific names utilized in this study are Caucasian versus African-American names. The respective names were put on copies of résumés and evaluated by post-secondary students who aspire to someday become hiring managers. One of the unexpected results from the study was that participants were more likely to hire applicants with African-American names for managerial positions and applicants with Caucasian names were deemed a better fit for non-managerial positions.

Keywords: traits, hiring, comparative analysis

This article explores the implications of focusing on leadership education as a process of developing fundamental skills, like the way fundamental skills are developed in sports. Effective leaders need to develop high levels of proficiency in relation to increasing awareness, making decisions, managing attention, building relationships, and communicating. Like the fundamental skills associated with sports, these skills require sustained and intentional practice over time. This demands educational processes that place greater emphasis on affective and behavioral outcomes with an emphasis on deeper learning. Consequently, learners need to move through levels of proficiency from acquisition to compilation to automaticity. To support such progress, educators need to place more emphasis on teaching processes, providing more opportunities for scaffolded practice, and encouraging and supporting greater application beyond the classroom. This necessitates greater collaborative efforts in program design across the curriculum and with cocurricular partners that challenges the current emphasis on academic freedom.

Keywords: leadership skill development, education, program design

This study examined the relationship between a firm’s revenue as a measure of growth and the firm’s financial ratios and macroeconomic variables. Fifty firms from the New York Stock Exchange were chosen at random for the period from 2009 to 2022. The variables included in the study were: Earnings per share (EPS), free cash flow (FCF), debt-to-equity ratio (DER), return on assets (ROA), current ratio (CR), inflation (CPI), GDP, federal fund rate (FFR), and unemployment rate (Unempl).

The results showed that each variable was significantly related to revenue for some firms. Across firms, the percentage of relationships for each variable was low (56% or less). In particular, the percentages over firms were as follows: EPS (56%), FCF (40%), CPI (30%), GDP (30%), DER (24%), FFR (24%), Unempl (20%), ROA (20%), and CR (22%). Financial ratios showed positive effects, as well as negative relationships with growth. These findings indicated that financial ratios are not good growth indicators.

Keywords: finance, enonomics, growth indicators

Through a cross-sectional and longitudinal study, we examined the attitudes of men and women at two time periods, 20 years apart, towards a set of social and ethical issues in international trade using a 10-item survey questionnaire. While women are more concerned than men in both time periods, this concern has declined over time for both groups. In 1999, women were significantly more disturbed than men over child labor, working conditions and human rights violations in exporting countries. In 2019, women were significantly more concerned about lower wage rates, use of prison labor, and deficient environmental standards, in addition to poor working conditions. Use of prison labor and undemocratic nature of foreign governments were the least important issues for both groups in either time periods. The findings suggest that quality of life issues in developing countries concern women more than men and the relevance of issues change from one generation to another. While no support was found for trade critics’ assertion that low wages are a source of unfair competition, policy makers, advocacy groups, and corporate leaders need to be mindful of how trade is viewed by women.

Keywords: international trade, gender, social issues

In this study, we investigated the relationships between financial performance of a company (as measured by return on assets (ROA)) and its financial ratios as well as macroeconomic variables that impact the national economy. The financial ratios used were debt-to-equity ratio (DER), free cash flow per share (FCFSH), price-to-book ratio (PB), and current ratio (CR). The macroeconomic variables were inflation (CPI), unemployment rate (Unempl), GDP, and bond rate (Bond). The data considered were over the period 2005 to 2019 for the companies listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Results showed that GDP and DER were major contributors to financial performance. GDP had a positive relationship with the financial performance of a company and DER had a negative relationship. DER can be viewed as a key indicator of a firm’s financial performance.

Keywords: finances, macroeconomics, return on assets

Currency exchange rates are one of the most important determinants of international commercial and financial market activity. Inflation rates, a recent problem in many developed countries, and interest rates are commonly accepted theoretical determinants of changes in exchange rates, yet published research contains many puzzles regarding the relation between interest, inflation, and exchange rates. This article evaluates interest, inflation, and exchange rates relations between the U.S. and eight developed economies to determine whether higher-than-expected inflation has an effect on the short-run stability of these relations. This study applies both time-series and panel tests including differences-in-differences estimation and finds that exchange rates react differently in the short-run when inflation rates increase beyond inflation policy targets.

Keywords: inflation, exchange rates, interest rates

This research explores whether an employee’s intrinsic motivation is significantly affected by five different types of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) – Environment-related CSR, Human Rights and Labor-related CSR, Product Responsibility-related CSR, Community Engagement-related-CSR, and Corporate Governance-related CSR. In addition, this study examines whether this impact varies across employee generations. Samples were obtained from 546 respondents spanning three generations – Gen X, Gen Y, and Gen Z. A regression analysis was conducted for each generation. Empirical evidence shows that CSR significantly increases employees’ intrinsic motivation, and this impact is moderated by employee generation. Specifically, only environmental CSR was significantly related to intrinsic motivation for Gen X; environmental, product responsibility, and community engagement CSR were significant for Gen Y; environmental CSR and human rights and labor-related CSR were significant for Gen X employees.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, employee motivation, cross-generational differences

In this study, we use time series analysis to examine the long-term relationships of buybacks and stock price, earnings per share, and dividend payout for individual firms listed on the Dow Jones Industrial average. If a relationship exists, it is expected to be positive for stock price and earnings per share and negative for dividend payout.

Results from the time series models showed that there were few firms with a significant relationship. Only five firms showed a significant positive relationship between share buyback and stock price, and two firms showed a positive relationship between buyback and earnings per share. Furthermore, only two firms showed a negative relationship between buyback and dividend payout. The weak evidence for a long-term impact of buybacks supports the argument that buybacks do not contribute significantly to the financial strength of a firm and to its market performance.

Keywords: stock buybacks, earnings, dividends

U.S. colleges and universities have traditionally attracted the largest number of international students compared to any other country. This influx brought opportunities for international students while providing U.S. higher education institutions additional revenue and a diverse student body. Beginning with the Trump Administration’s inward tilt, the welcome mat for international students was removed and the COVID pandemic added to the uncertainty and difficulty of accepting international students to U.S. and indeed much of the western countries that traditionally served as destinations for international students. Post-pandemic international student enrollment is on the increase with significant decline in the number of Chinese students coupled with a marked surge in the number of international students from India. Meanwhile, other countries like the U.K., Australia, and Canada have increased their international student enrollment. This paper explores the path forward to attracting international students to U.S. colleges and universities.

Keywords: international education, college recruiting, international student recruitment

This study uses a modified version of Rozeff’s (1982) transaction cost-agency cost tradeoff model to test the relation between dividend payment and a firm’s environment, social and governance (ESG) ratings for insurance companies. Studying a regulated industry enables us to determine whether regulation replaces the need to pay dividends to convey information to investors. OLS regression results indicate that the social rating (SOC) is the sole significant ESG explanatory variable that affects dividend payout policy. Overall, our findings indicate that insurance firms consider social ratings in establishing their dividend policy. Specifically, given the sign of the relationship, insurance companies with better social responsibility ratings pay higher dividends. This finding could be the result of regulatory scrutiny faced by insurance firms, which affirms the need to subject the firm to the external scrutiny of the financial markets. This paper is the first paper to date that evaluates whether a relationship exists between insurance company dividend policy and proxies for environmental impact, social responsibility and corporate governance.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, insurance industry, dividends

As countries start opening back up for tourism in the wane of COVID-19 pandemic, competition among nations to attract visitors grows stronger. Price of tourism within a country is one of the major determinants of demand for international tourism. This paper examines the relative price competitiveness of Latin American & Caribbean countries in the international tourism market. To ensure adequate comparability, this paper uses a measure of pricing that is based on the PPPs of the ICP. Effectiveness of nation marketing by these countries was also compared via the number of international tourism arrivals and receipts (in US$). Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Honduras were found to be the cheapest destinations overall, that is most price-competitive; while the most expensive overall, that is least price-competitive, were Venezuela, Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos Islands. Public policy and managerial marketing implications of these findings are discussed, and directions for future research are given.

Keywords: tourism, Latin America, Caribbean, price-competition

This study is a follow-up to an earlier study (LeBlanc, 2006) which investigated the outcomes of teaching techniques on students’ sense of comfort in performing research related tasks in an undergraduate research methods course. In the original study, the author tested students’ perceptions of levels of comfort in performing research related tasks at the beginning and end of the semester over several semesters in a face-to-face modality. In the current study, pre- and post-course data from a span of nineteen years in the same course, by the same instructor, with different modalities (face-to-face, hybrid, and fully online) are compared to examine if changes in student reports of comfort with research tasks occur across time and by modality. Results indicated a significant increase in student perceptions of comfort with performing research tasks from beginning to end of the course term for all three teaching modalities, with minor variances between the modalities.

Keywords: teaching modalities, student self-efficacy, undergraduate research

Comparing public disquiet in the U.S. over social and ethical issues in international trade at two time periods, separated by 20 years, it appears that over time, in general, there has been a significant lessening of worries about their prevalence in foreign countries. However, the top three concerns – the use of child labor, violation of human rights, and poor working conditions – have remained unchanged over time. There is some re-ordering of the 10 issues examined, with significant differences in attitudes. Concern over use of prison labor in manufacturing imported products and violation of intellectual property rights have risen in relative importance. Implications for public policy, corporate conduct, and advocacy groups are discussed.

Keywords: international trade, ethics, social issues

In this study, we investigate the relationships between a company’s financial variables and its stock trade volume and spread. The financial variables considered were: return on equity per share, return on assets, total debt divided by total assets, cash and short term investment divided by total assets, current assets divided by current liabilities, total liabilities, and gross income of the company. Using time series analysis on stationary data, it was found that each of the independent financial variables was related sporadically to stock volume or stock spread. Results were company specific and none of the variables was universal in its relationship to volume or spread. The highest percentage of the companies where a variable was related to volume or spread was 28.9%. This sporadic relationship raises the question as to whether other variables such as macroeconomic variables or human motivation (psychological effect) play a more important role than the company’s financial factors.

Keywords: stock trading, assets, human motivation

This article examines the cultural history of leadership in Ecuador with an emphasis on leadership in the modern era. Building on the work of McClellan (2016, 2017), which examined leadership in the precolonial and colonial eras, this article looks at how leadership culture has begun to change based on an examination of political leadership, agricultural leadership, and business leadership. While continuation of many of the themes of colonial leadership are evident, particularly in the political arena. There are some significant changes in leadership culture emerging from within the agricultural/indigenous leadership and the business arenas.

Keywords: leadership, cultural change, Ecuador

The trend towards digital transformation in entrepreneurship education research is gaining importance globally as entrepreneurship is critical for economic growth. Utilizing and incorporating various digital technologies are considered very effective in teaching entrepreneurship and designing courses and more innovative teaching methods need to be studied to better understand and improve entrepreneurship education worldwide. The paper provides a literature review on innovative digital technologies in entrepreneurship education to understand the trends and developments in entrepreneurship education and highlights findings on the impact of digital transformation on opportunity recognition in academic entrepreneurship education. Grounded on the incremental innovation theory and social entrepreneurship theory the paper outlines the impact of numerous digital technologies that provide entrepreneurship students with necessary skills and effective learning experience and ease their opportunity recognition. The paper summarizes research gap on digital technologies in entrepreneurship education studies and generates questions for future research direction.

Keywords: entrepreneurship education, digital transformation, Incremental Innovation theory

In this study, we investigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the daily returns, volatility, and trading volume for the DOW, S&P 500 and NASDAQ on the US stock market. In addition, we examine the pandemic effect on the relationships between market volatility and market returns and trading volume. The daily data used was over the period January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2020. Results from the time series intervention analysis showed a significant positive impact of the pandemic on volatility and trading volume for the DOW, S&P 500, and NASDAQ. Furthermore, the onset of the pandemic caused a significant sharp drop in the returns over a two-week period. After this period, the markets recovered and the returns during the pandemic were significantly higher than the returns before the pandemic. Also, the pandemic affected the relationships that existed between volatility and returns for the DOW and SP 500. In addition, it had an effect on the relationship between volatility and volume for the NASDAQ and S&P 500.

Keywords: COVID-19, stock market, market volatility

This paper examined how young consumers responded to the anchoring paradigm. This research proposed five hypotheses: Anchoring was positively related to the consumer’s willingness to pay; Anchoring was positively related to price perception; Anchoring was positively related to product quality perception; Gender would have a moderating effect; Income would have a moderating effect. We collected data via in-person survey of young consumers in a public university in America. For data analysis, we used ANOVA and regression models. Anchoring was statistically significant in most ANOVA and regression models. Price Perception, Product Quality, and Gender variables showed strong correlation, but they had no statistical significance in regression models. Data showed no income effects on the anchoring paradigm. Thus, evidence supported Hypothesis 1 but did not support Hypothesis 5, while Hypothesis 2, 3, & 4 were inconclusive. This study provided empirical evidence to shed light on the anchoring paradigm effect on young consumers.

Keywords: consumerism, decision-making, anchoring

The paper aims to concurrently examine effects of knowledge-based diversity and gender diversity on firm process innovation. It also investigates board chairpersons' gender effect on these relationships using the categorization–elaboration model (CEM). The paper benefits from the survey method and applies structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine responses of 462 CEOs of publicly listed firms and private firms. We find that knowledge-based diversity has a more substantial impact on process innovation than gender diversity. Meanwhile, it is more likely for female board chairpersons to utilize gender diversity to improve firm process innovation. For male chairpersons, they are more likely to use knowledge-based diversity to improve process innovation. The finding suggests that social categorization processes based on gender matter to some extent. Practitioners should pay particular attention to the skills and quality makeup of boards while being cognizant of the varied support to gender diversity between female and male chairpersons.

Keywords: firm process innovation, gender, board membership

We know from earlier studies that the implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems has allowed companies to process, prepare, and disseminate accounting information more quickly and accurately than the legacy accounting systems that they replaced. However, ERP systems also provide a greater opportunity for companies to manage earnings. In this study, we examine if ERP implementations have improved the information environment for equity analysts. Using implementation data from a major ERP software provider, we find that the magnitude of analyst forecast accuracy decreased and its standard deviation increased soon after ERP implementations. These results hold even when we control for discretionary accruals.

Keywords: enterprise resource planning, accounting, information processing

Increased market globalization on the one hand, and rapid advances in telecommunications and information technology on the other, have given a boost to the volume of services marketed across national borders in recent years. This paper analyzes the relative progress made by the countries of Latin America & Caribbean for a share in this expanding sector of the international market over a 15-year period, from 2002 to 2017. A shift-share analysis was carried out to identify the winners and the losers in the market during the study period. Results show that major winners of market share in terms of total service exports were Brazil, Panama, Argentina, Peru, and Colombia in order of magnitude. The major losers of market shares, in order of magnitude (of losses), were Mexico, Dominican Republic, Chile, The Bahamas, and Jamaica. Policy implications of these results for the countries of Latin America & Caribbean are discussed.

Keywords: service exports, Latin America, Caribbean, shift-share analysis

Within the retail industry, after customers place orders, their orders are sent to fulfillment centers and their orders are often cartonized on a first-come-first-serve basis. This strategy has the benefit of reducing shipping costs, but it is far from an optimal solution. This paper explores an integrated mathematical model for fulfillment center assignment and simultaneous cartonization. Considering the complexity of the model for larger-scale problems that arise in real-world scenarios, a decoupled model is proposed. Moreover, a fast and effective heuristic, a genetic algorithm with modified two-stage crossover and mutation operators and a simulated annealing with two cooling schedules are also introduced. The results of applying the integrated and decoupled models using the proposed heuristic and metaheuristics are presented for various testing scenarios. The proposed heuristic and metaheuristics are shown to be more efficient when applied to testing instances that are tightly constrained.

Keywords: e-commerce, retail, fulfillment center assignment, cartonization, metaheuristics

Internal communication efforts follow well-established marketing practices by using push strategies to promote the need to share information with the PR team or pull strategies using tactics to draw employees towards sharing information as a course of action. This study investigated how employees communicate regarding personal, professional, and company accomplishments as a function of employee engagement as well as the factors that affect their decision-making through a 2 x 3 factorial design. The PR Function was manipulated through corporate culture (open/not open) and accolades (personal/ professional/ company). Findings reveal the information shared by employees varied little regarding strategic orientation (push/pull), yet respondents with a non-open corporate communication structure were less likely to share professional accolades without being asked. Furthermore, age was a predictor for likeliness to share, with younger employees more willing. From the findings, authors make suggestions to internal public relations practitioners on how to approach employee communication.

Keywords: public relations, employee participation, engagement

The purpose of this study is to determine the relationships between different macroeconomic variables and stock price, trading volume, and bid-ask spread for 45 companies listed on the U.S. stock market. Price, volume, and spread are important measures for investors to consider when making investment decisions. The variables considered were the gross domestic product, central bank interest rate, ten-year bond rate, unemployment rate, industrial production index, trade balance of payments, global price of Brent Crude in US dollars per barrel, money supply (M2), savings in commercial banks, federal debt, and inflation rate. Results showed that each of the independent variables had an effect on stock price, volume, or spread. The effect, however, was sporadic. The number of companies for which an independent variable was significant was within the range 1-16 (2.22%- 35.56%). These results may indicate that investors do not depend substantially on macroeconomic factors in making investment decisions.

Keywords: macroeconomics, stock price, trading volume

An increasing number of SMEs are involved in international activities. However, despite technological advances and the ubiquitous presence of the Internet and electronic commerce, many SMEs continue to face structural and psychological impediments that limit their ability to engage in international business. These challenges have persisted over time and new private and public initiatives may be needed to bolster SME participation in international business. In this paper we report on a qualitative survey involving telephone interviews with ten individuals that are either involved in international business or promoting international business at SMEs. The interviews provide a greater understanding of structural and psychological barriers to SME internationalization. We explain our results in light of the theory of planned behavior and the competing values model similar to Karimi et al. (2017). Our findings help explain why many trade promotion programs are underutilized by SMEs.

Keywords: entry barries, SME, internationalization

College sports programs are repeatedly investigated by the NCAA for violating rules forbidding player compensation. However, many collegiate athletic programs find themselves in a “facilities arms race” in which institutions are spending millions of dollars for athletic facilities. People take at face value that the NCAA simply is protecting the “integrity” of amateur athletics. In this paper, however, we take a different look, modeling NCAA Division I sports as a regulated cartel in which competition is permitted in some areas but forbidden (or allegedly forbidden) in others. We compare this model to the de facto cartel that existed in the airline industry until 1978, when Congress voted to deregulate the industry. Our paper specifically looks at the forms of non-price or extracurricular competition that exist when regulations restrict prices either to consumers or for the payment of key resources.

Keywords: NCAA, collegiate athletics, player compensation

Performance of the stock market affects many individuals and corporations and is of importance for the economy of the country. Therefore, it is of prime importance to be able to determine variables that relate to stock returns and develop models that can predict the behavior of the stock market over time. In this study, from a set of nine macroeconomic variables, we developed linear time series models (using transfer function and auto-regression time series analyses) relating the DOW index and the S&P 500 index as dependent variables to the GDP as the independent variable. For both indexes, the index at time t was a function of its lag at time t-1 and the GDP at time t and its lag at time t-1. This simple model gave an excellent fit to the data for pre and post the 2008 recession. Forecasts from the model were good for the pre-2008 recession but underestimated somewhat the observed indexes for 2017 and 2018. This could be attributed to outside intervention due to deregulation (or in anticipation of) during the Trump presidency. GDP seems to be a good predictor of the DOW and S&P behaviors over time under normal circumstances, barring any intervention, such as recessions, regulations or deregulations, or world political events.

Keywords: stock market indices, gross domestic product, time series modeling

The thesis revolves around business students’ competency with technology. Business schools are passively adapting to a new strategy of instruction. The business school curriculum has remained for the most part stagnant because of traditionalism in education. Innovating the curriculum can satisfy the market’s need for professionals with combined business and technology skills. Jobs in technology are no longer just for computer science students. Machine-human interaction requires competency in a hybrid between technology and business instruction. There are greater professional opportunities for students acquainted with Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI, cryptocurrency, blockchain, and data analysis have to be more than just a topic in a business course textbook. There is not a robust selection of academic literature regarding technology competency in business instruction. Business curriculum and instruction has to be developed with technology as a medium. Technology is a main component of business in modern times.

Keywords: business education, technology competency, curricular innovation

The paper provides a literature review on female entrepreneurship studies in developing countries. To contribute to the gender and entrepreneurship literature the study aims to identify the research gap on the impact of several context and content-wise factors with a focus of rural versus urban regions, industry sector, socio-economic and cultural setting and educational attainment on female entrepreneurs in developing countries. The study aims to bring an understanding on how women entrepreneurs recognize opportunities and pursue entrepreneurial activities in rural regions in developing countries. Based on a multidisciplinary theoretical framework the paper intends to build theoretical explanations for the current issues and generate questions for further studies.

Keywords: entrepreneurism, gender, rural regions, urban regions

Researchers have examined similarities and differences among different forms of leadership, comparing their interpersonal processes and outcomes. Contingency and situational theories of leadership, and modern leadership research, such as the full range leadership model, posit that the most effective form of leadership differs depending on context. Nonetheless, few studies have examined a leader’s ability to demonstrate the intentions and strengths of multiple forms of leadership simultaneously and congruently. This research focuses on whether leaders who embody servant leadership are more effective as transformational, transactional, charismatic, and authentic leaders. Conditional moderation is used to examine data collected from 416 employees across many industries. The interactional effects of servant leadership on the relationships between transformational, transactional, charismatic, and authentic leadership are examined for several employee outcomes. The practical implications are discussed along with the potential for further theoretical insight and development.

Keywords: servant leadership, leadership styles, interactional effects

This paper discusses the traditional leadership paradigm and the factors of social change that delimit its effectiveness. The impact these changes have on leadership are described and an argument is made for a transition to a character-centered leadership paradigm that allows leaders to function more effectively in a global, change-oriented society. The relevance of Hardiness training is then discussed as a model for character centered, holistic leadership development.

Keywords: hardiness, leadership development, social change

International engagement enriches a student’s college experience, broadens thinking, enhances cultural intelligence and makes students attractive to employers. Concurrently, higher education institutions have been under significant pressure to internationalize their business and management curricula in response to the needs of both industry and accrediting organizations. Fittingly, American universities that create and offer students international experiences are becoming the norm. However, still too few college students are in a position to participate in an international experience because of costs, time commitment, or personal concerns. In response, many business schools have implemented a variety of tactics to internationalize.

The authors developed multiple innovative international learning projects. The evolving effort encourages students, faculty, and industry professionals from Spain, the Netherlands, and the United States to meet in multiple modes, network, and learn together. This paper describes the history of the innovative projects, report how it has worked and evolved, and its benefits.

Keywords: multi-modal international learning, college experience, cultural intelligence

This study builds on Thatte, et al.’s (2013) research model, which found positive relationships between supply chain management (SCM) practices and supply chain responsiveness (SCR). Employing regression analyses, this paper analyzes the effects of specific SCM practices (SCMP) that impact SCR and its dimensions. The study finds that customer relationship (CR) and strategic supplier partnerships (SSP) are found to positively influence operations system responsiveness (OSR), while SSP and information sharing (IS) are found to improve supplier network responsiveness (SNR). IS, SSP, and CR between supply chain trading partners were found to increase SCR. The study did not find any support between SCMP dimensions and logistics process responsiveness (LPR).

Keywords: supply chain responsiveness, supply chain management, strategic supplier partnerships

This study investigates the empirical relationship between patent attributes and allocation of control rights, and the relationship between patent attributes and up-front payment in R&D alliance contracts. Patent attributes of focal innovations reduce measurement costs for the party with less information. Patent novelty, patent importance, self-citations, and patent generalizability are reliable and cost-effective signals for underlying knowledge embodied in the patent. Drawing on signaling theory, I argue that signals of patent novelty and technological importance reinforce each other such that biotech firms gain higher upfront payment and a large share of control rights. Further, patent novelty and patent generalizability negatively interact with each other such that biotech firms gain lower upfront payment from pharm firms and smaller share of control rights. Hypotheses are tested with a sample of R&D alliance contract between biotechnology firms and pharmaceutical firms in biotechnology industry.

Keywords: patents, control rights, Signaling theory, transaction cost economics

The backbone of the national economy is the small to midsize enterprise (SME) with 500 or fewer employees. These firms are entrepreneurial and innovative and are an engine for job growth in the United States. Of the net new jobs created in the U.S. from 2000 to 2017, almost 66% were created by SMEs (U.S.SBA Office of Advocacy FAQ 2018). Participation of small to midsize enterprises in the global economy has become important to the health of these companies. This paper reports on a regional survey of such firms in Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington regarding their international activities and involvement. The survey results generally indicate that small and midsized enterprises are increasingly aware of international business opportunities and many take advantage of them proactively or on an ad hoc basis. However, despite technological advances and the ubiquitous presence of the Internet and electronic commerce, many SMEs continue to be hampered by limited resources and structural impediments that have affected their ability to engage in international business over the years. Indeed, many such challenges continue to persist and new private and public initiatives may be needed to bolster SME participation in international business beyond the current levels.

Keywords: small businesses, midsized businesses, international markets

Observers of the economic fortunes of countries in sub–Saharan Africa know that the majority of the people are mired in poverty. The situation is so endemic that many seem to have accepted it as normal. Researchers and multilateral organizations have suggested programs, and plans aimed at alleviating the problems. The bulk of these focus on diagnosing governmental action and public policy geared toward increasing productivity within the continent. While these prescriptions remain contextually useful, they have proven to be insufficient in addressing the problems. Anchored on Innovation Economics, this paper recommends a viable option that is centered on the citizen and involves the invocation of creativity and entrepreneurship. This option is anchored on the antecedents of African societies in the pre-colonial era, the place of the citizen within those societies, and the need to relocate the citizen as central to wealth creation and poverty eradication.

Keywords: citizen involvement, wealth creation, Africa

Shipping firms constantly look for ways to improve their cost structures. Advanced information and communications technologies are providing the latest opportunities in this effort. Some of the aspirations in the area are centralized command and control, and autonomous vessels. Unfortunately, advances in the architecture of maritime vessels can create serious cost and management problems for maritime ports. This paper looks at current trends in ship to shore connectivity, future opportunities in the usage of information and communications technologies in the management of maritime vessels and ports, and issues that are arising or could arise with the implementation of these advancements.

Keywords: ship to shore, maritime trade, communication technology

This study specifically explores whether user acceptance of blockchain technology can be predicted using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model (UTAUT). This model developed by Venkatesh et al. (2003) served as the primary framework. The survey was distributed to students and faculty of a midsize university and IT professionals in several organizations in the Northeast region of the United States, yielding 127 usable survey responses. Results show that perceived operational usefulness has a positive influence on blockchain use, as well as perceived ease of use. Demographics also indicate the potential for growth in blockchain acceptance, including younger generations and IT professionals who could act as early adoption agents.

Keywords: blockchain technology, IT acceptance, early adoption

Creative placemaking (CP) is a transformative revitalization initiative for cities, small and large. It’s described as the coming together of various disparate community sectors to strategically shape the physical and social character of a town through the arts (Schupbach, 2012). Writers and researchers, Jane Jacobs, Anne Gadwa Nicodemus, and Ann Markusen, are the most notable names within the field of creative placemaking. Interested communities often collaborate with arts’ organizations, like ArtPlace, Artscape, and the National Endowment for the Arts, to begin planning any art-centric community revitalization project. Successful creative placemaking communities reap the rewards of enhanced marketability through greater visibility and destination-location designation. Gordon Square Arts District in Cleveland, Ohio underwent such a process and, as a result, attracted new businesses, new residents, and tourist dollars; all helped stabilize the once-declining city. The purpose of this paper is to synthesize available materials and share replicable examples of successful creative placemaking through leveraged arts.

Keywords: creative placemaking, art-centric revitalization, marketability

To date there are limited studies on how special contextual factors in the external environment and how regional variety may trigger firms’ entrepreneurial activities in emerging economies. Vietnam is an emerging economy and the Swiss Development Cooperation in Vietnam 2017-2020 reports that further research is required to underpin and improve county specific issues in handling entrepreneurial activities in Vietnam. To address this gap this paper aims to theoretically address the question of how socio-economic factors and regional differences may impact innovation and entrepreneurial activities in Vietnam. Referring to the German School of Thought and partly, the dynamic capabilities theory, this paper develops propositions that could be foundations for further studies in the development of region-specific entrepreneurial policy and programs, as well as future entrepreneurship studies.

Keywords: entrepreneurism, development, Vietnam

This study examines how the subinstitutional environment impacts the incentive of controlling shareholders to expropriate minority shareholders and how the coercive pressure from increased government regulation interacts with the subinstitutional environment to alter the practices of financial tunneling by controlling shareholders. With a sample of Chinese public firms, we find that subinstitutional environments with more developed legal and market institutions alleviate minority shareholder expropriation. When a regulatory agency illegalizes the use of intercorporate loans, controlling shareholders turn to transfer pricing for expropriation and transfer pricing is more severe in subinstitutional environments with highly developed legal and market institutions. Our findings highlight both the strong incentive of controlling shareholders to expropriate at differing levels of subinstitutional environment, and the challenges confronting regulatory agency in emerging economies where external mechanisms for firm control is far from being developed.

Keywords: minority shareholders, government regulation, China

Technological change has an impact on the economy of a country in terms of productivity and negative effects on employment in manufacturing. Different technology measures have been used to study the relationship between technology and employment. It is not clear from the literature how these measures relate to employment in manufacturing. In this study, we investigate the relationship between technology measures proposed in the literature (labor productivity, total factor productivity (TFP), GDP per capita, GDP per hour worked, and research and development (R&D) in manufacturing) and employment in the manufacturing sector in the United States. Using transfer function time series analysis, results showed that labor productivity, total factor productivity, and GDP per capita were positively related to employment in manufacturing. GDP per hour worked was not related to employment in manufacturing. Only R&D in manufacturing had a negative impact on employment in manufacturing. If improvement in technology is having a negative effect on employment, then from these results, it seems that the only true measure of technological change is R&D in manufacturing.

Keywords: manufacturing, technological change, employment

The environmental, social and economic effects of hospital waste are the vital issue for managers. In this paper a mathematical model is provided for hospital waste management with the site selection of disposal, recycling and treatment of hospital waste taken into consideration. The strength of the proposed model is to reduce the cost of transporting waste materials between the disposal, treatment and recycling centers.

An application of the proposed model for waste management of a hospital in Iran is provided. Some of the model parameters are considered uncertain parameters and we use a robust optimization approach to solve it. The reason of using robust optimization is the ability of this method to find the optimal solution under varying degrees of uncertainty.

Keywords: hospital waste management, mathematical model, Iran

Since the year 2000, employment in manufacturing in the US has declined at a rapid pace. Several factors have been cited as responsible for this decline. Politicians and commentators have focused on cheap imports of goods from China and Mexico. Other factors cited are the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), China’s admission to the World Trade Organization (WTO), and technology in manufacturing.

There is a lack of empirical quantitative studies on what affects employment in manufacturing. In this study, we use time series analysis to determine if a relationship exists between imports of goods from China or Mexico and employment in manufacturing in the US. In addition, we determine if NAFTA or China’s admission to the WTO affect US employment in manufacturing. Results show that imports from China and Mexico have a positive effect on US employment in manufacturing. China’s admission to the WTO has a negative effect on US employment in manufacturing. On the other hand, NAFTA has no effect on employment in manufacturing.

Keywords: NAFTA, WTO, Mexico, China

Many studies have investigated e-government issues in the US at the state and local levels. However, similar research about Chinese e-government websites is relatively few. To fill this void, this study investigated the e-government practices by the counties in Hubei province, China. Hubei province is selected due to its size, economic status, and geographic location, which makes it a good representative of other provinces in China. Besides usability, this study investigates Hubei county e-government portals on their accessibility, election content, and mobile readiness, to give a comprehensive evaluation of the local e-government practices in China. The findings suggest that though most Hubei county e-government websites followed many usability rules well, they deliver very little voting and election content on their websites. Many of them do poorly in compliance with accessibility standards. The mobile readiness, on the contrary, is quite high and matches the current mobile trend in China.

Keywords: mobile readiness, mobile trends, China

This study extends Thatte and Agrawal’s (2017) research which found positive effects of operations system responsiveness (OSR) and supplier network responsiveness (SNR) on competitive advantage (CA), and Thatte, Rao, and Ragu-Nathan’s (2013) research which found positive relationships between supply chain management (SCM) practices, supply chain responsiveness (SCR), and CA. As such, by utilizing MANOVA, this study analyses how CA is effected by high and low levels of OSR and SNR. The study finds that high levels of OSR create high levels of CA for a firm collectively and individually on price, delivery dependability, product innovation, and time to market. The study also finds that high levels of SNR create high levels of CA for a firm collectively and individually on price and delivery dependability. Useful implications of the findings are drawn and discussed.

Keywords: operations system responsiveness, supplier network responsiveness, supply chain management

The current applications of Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP), an aging consulting process, and its recognition as a meaningful strategic planning tool has led to a renaissance in its popularity and a resurgence in academic and practitioner literature. The goals of S&OP, balancing product production to sales forecasts, are pragmatic and logical. We chose to research the state of S&OP implementation within the US paper industry. We worked with representatives of the National Paper Trade Alliance to identify firms willing to participate in our S&OP study. We developed a structured interview guide that included questions related to the interviewee’s experience, the firm’s experience with strategic planning, and the state of their S&OP process. We utilized Grimson and Pyke’s (2007) S&OP maturity model as the foundation for S&OP interview questions. We worked with six firms and one industry expert. We believe that our participating firms are not unique and that regardless of the S&OP sophistication level, improvement of the process will ultimately lead to greater profits.

Keywords: sales planning, operations planning, U.S. paper industry

Over the past decade there has been an increased interest by many countries in promoting financial literacy through financial education programs for their citizens. These efforts have been propelled by the need to increase individual financial responsibility as a consequence of: the global economic crisis; innovations in financial markets; changing employment and pension trends; and a greater involvement of consumers globally in financial markets, among other issues. Major international institutions are in the vanguard of a campaign to increase financial literacy world- wide. Additionally, developing countries are also promoting policies to broaden financial inclusion of their populations and to promote broader economic education. This study introduces an Institutional Model for Financial Literacy in Developing Countries as a framework for analyzing national financial education programs. Data were gathered through personal interviews, website content analysis and secondary sources to examine recent efforts at financial literacy education in selected Caribbean countries.

Keywords: financial literacy, developing countries, Institutional Model

Small and midsize firms are often considered to be more entrepreneurial and innovative than their larger counterparts. This entrepreneurial spirit, however, does not necessarily extend to participation in the international business arena. For these firms, there is a greater need for assistance in overcoming both structural and psychological barriers to achieve equivalent performance in international markets. The barriers impact all functional areas of the firm. We offer a rather extensive review of relevant literature on SME internationalization followed by a discussion of the results of an earlier pilot survey of small to midsize, northwest U.S. enterprises in international business with regards to internationalization challenges. Our results allow us to take an interesting look at how the barriers to internationalization have changed over the intervening years. Comparing the current literature and our earlier results indicates that the tepid and ad-hoc approach to entering international markets observed in the behavior of many SMEs continues today. Our findings show that many of the same challenges faced by small and midsized firms well over a decade ago still remain and underscore a continuing need for state, regional and national support to help develop these firms in order to enhance U.S. competitiveness in the global economy.

Keywords: small companies, midsized companies, international markets

While social media (SM) has grown remarkably in recent years, it remains an emerging technology. Many organizations are still grappling with how they can leverage social media to support their business goals, while researchers are challenged to deliver insight and value on this topic. Many studies of company attitudes toward social media have been survey-based. This study examines this issue through a content analysis of INC. 5000 company websites. The results suggest that while SM presentation is pervasive across industries, some sectors appear to emphasize SM more than others based on their website presentation of SM elements. Correlation analysis demonstrated that industry type and website type had a significant effect on SM presentation, while company size did not. This study is designed to motivate further research so that social media can be better understood and utilized.

Keywords: social media, company websites, INC. 5000

In this study, we investigate the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) in Mexico and key economic variables: GDP growth rate, unemployment rate, total export (as percent of the GDP), total industry production, export to the US, import from the US, and total factor productivity. Time series and auto-regression techniques were employed in the analysis. Results from both analyses indicated that FDI in Mexico had a significant negative relationship with import from the US. There was no clear indication that FDI had any significant relationship with the other economic variables listed above. Possible factors contributing to these results are discussed.

Keywords: foreign direct investment, economic outcomes, Mexico

Innovation can be used as a tool for competitive advantage within organizations. It is, however, often difficult to gain momentum and support for new innovations. Managers seeking to develop new innovations and to diffuse them through their organization should seek innovation champions to lead their cause. A rapid evidence assessment and synthesis of literature revealed five core attributes that innovation champions must possess before and after the decision stage of Rogers’ (1983) Diffusion of Innovations theory. These include: networking and relationship development, persistence, knowledge of champion, political savvy, and enthusiastic support. These attributes are examined and interpreted using a theoretical lens of transformational leadership. Implications to managers from this research are the ability to use the attributes of innovation champions and determine which leaders would be appropriate to champion innovations.

Keywords: organizational champions, transformational leadership, Diffusion of Innovations

This study investigates the relationship between the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and foreign direct investment (FDI), GDP growth rate, unemployment rate, total export, export to and from the US, total industry production, and total factor productivity in Mexico. Results from the statistical analysis, using intervention time series and auto-regression models, showed a positive relationship between NAFTA and total export from Mexico. On the other hand, NAFTA had no definitive relationship with foreign direct investment or any of the other economic variables.

Keywords: NAFTA, economic outcomes, Mexico

Mindfulness has gained significant attention and momentum in business and popular culture in the US, Europe, and Australia. There is, however, a paucity of literature on how business students make sense of mindfulness and its practices. Based on our experiences of adopting mindfulness and mindfulness meditation in our teachings of management courses, we have explored how business students make sense of mindfulness and meditation. From a phenomenological perspective, we have examined our students’ meditation journals, essays, and their own research on the topic of mindfulness. Based on the findings of previous empirical studies on the positive effects of mindfulness practices and our reflections on the pedagogical potential of mindfulness meditation for business education, we have emphasized that the practice of presence through mindfulness tends to enhance the business students’ self-awareness and emotional skills. The implications of adopting mindfulness research and brief and deliberate practices into the business curriculum to develop embodied wisdom are also discussed.

Keywords: mindfulness, curricular design, business education

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of financial and social performance that help firms to identify factors in their sustainable development. Data for this study were collected using a survey questionnaire mailed to 800 American and Canadian companies in November 2008. Useable responses were gathered from 64 manufacturing firms until February 2009. In a changing environment, strategy plays an important role in both financial and social performance, and firms need to adjust their strategies to consider changes in their environment. This research recommends that firms adopt flexible strategies that would allow for the continuous integration of changes in their external environment into their strategic objectives to achieve sustainable social, environmental, and financial performance. Though not significant, this research provides empirical evidence of which determinants have an impact on the performance of the company and also provides directions that would help improve performance—social, environmental and financial.

Keywords: financial sustainability, social sustainability, performance

This study investigated the predictor’s of the effectiveness of ethics continuing professional education (CPE) required by the Minnesota Board of Accountancy (MnBOA) for Certified Public Accountants (CPA) renewing an active license to practice. We developed and tested a model of effective accounting ethics CPE. CPAs licensed by the MnBOA were surveyed. Research questions include (1) if after ethics CPE CPAs report they are better prepared to address ethical issues and (2) if they report an increased awareness of ethical standards. Logistic regression was applied to the data to create a predictive model of possible outcomes. The predictive model for being better prepared found two statistically reliable predictors (1) whether CPAs experienced ethical situations encountered in CPE which were similar to situations encountered in practice and (2) CPAs licensed in the year 2000 or later. No predictors were found to have statistical significance for increased awareness of ethical standards.

Keywords: ethics, accounting, continuing professional education

Some management practices have evolved over time yet management employees often practice traditional employee management approaches that do little to support employee participation, collaboration, create trust, demonstrate leadership or encourage commitment and engagement in organizations. The current environment of hyper-competition and continuous change calls for leadership at all levels of the organization, not just from managers. To develop an environment that encourages leadership from everyone, management practices must demonstrate a more effective approach to develop employees. Expectancy theory and situated learning are proposed as a systematic approach to develop managers and change behaviors necessary to support the development of other employees. Strategic, operational, and tactical leadership behaviors and goals must be evident and in alignment with strategic goals.

Keywords: leadership, management, leadership training

The world is a global marketplace; however, much controversy has been created regarding American-based companies relocating departmental operations offshore to foreign territories. The main reason for moving offshore is to cut costs and to maximize on cheaper labor pools in the host country. There are cultural and language barriers that complicate matters, as well as the media, as reported by Dobbs (2004). This study quantifiably examined the relationship between participants’ demographic profiles and attitudes regarding business outsourcing techniques and strategies utilizing the Chi-Square and Fisher’s Exact tests. Significant differences were found in all of the demographic variables of ethnicity, gender, number of children (e.g. family size), age, education level, marital status, and annual household income.

Keywords: business outsourcing, strategy, demographic variables, attitutdes

Leadership is a cultural phenomenon that, to be understood requires an understanding of the cultural foundations upon which it is based. This article explores the cultural foundations of leadership in Ecuador by examining and comparing the sources of power, goals, and means of influence used by leaders in the precolonial indigenous societies, the Inca Empire, and Spanish Colonial system. The connections between these foundations and modern managerial/leadership culture and practices are also explored.

Keywords: leadership, culture, Ecuador

Several studies on the social ties of executives have focused on their effect on organizational strategy and performance. These studies highlight the benefits that accrue to a firm owing to the boundary spanning activities of executives. So far, researchers have paid minimal attention to the discreet, underlying personality factor(s) that may enable the successful initiation and sustenance of these inter-organizational relationships. This paper examines the role of personality factors on the ability of executives to forge ties and enhance their organization’s overall performance. The suggestion is that affective and cognitive trust mediates the relationship between personality factors and positive social ties.

Keywords: boundary spanning, personality, emotional intelligence, trust

Internships offered through schools of business can provide significant learning opportunities and are potentially beneficial for both the student and the organization. However, organizations may be missing opportunities not only to improve the learning experience for the student, but to also develop high-potential applicants and develop a systematic approach to recruiting, retaining, and developing high-performance employees as part of a strategic approach to manage human resources. This paper addresses areas of improvement that can help organizations realize the full potential of internships. Experiential learning theory, benefits and challenges of internships, and student preparation are addressed, and the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria Framework is also provided to support internships. Discussion, implications, and future research recommendations are followed by conclusions.

Keywords: business internships, student learning opportunities, curricular development

As competition in the international airline industry intensifies, increasing consumer satisfaction with services becomes crucial to airlines’ survival. While its importance in marketing is never questioned, customer satisfaction has rightly been described as “a complex and elusive phenomenon” (Peterson & Wilson, 1992, p. 68). This paper examines the level of consumer satisfaction with the different individual elementary services customarily provided by airlines on an international flight, and determines how this is influenced by consumer purchase-related factors. Four purchase-related factors are examined, namely: (i) reasons for travel, (ii) frequency of travel, (iii) class of flight, and (iv) type of airline used. Findings show that while reasons for travel and frequency of travel had no significant influence; class of flight and type of airline used tend to influence the level of consumer satisfaction with services in the international airline industry. Managerial implications of these finding and directions for future research are given.

Keywords: consumer characteristics, consumer behavior, international airline industry

The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) affected many organizations across the world. There are numerous studies that have examined the financial impacts on organizations and employees but few that have investigated the human capabilities and qualities of employees who survived the crisis. The current study examined the relationships among Psychological Capital (PsyCap: involving self-efficacy, optimism, hope and resilience), individual and organizational adaptability in handling change, and employee engagement after the GFC of 2009, in a multinational organization with headquarters in Europe. The sample totaled 183 employees from across Europe, the US, and Asia. The Psychological Capital Questionnaire, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, the Coping with Organizational Change scale, and a specially developed self-assessment scale assessing perceived personal and company adaptation. PsyCap significantly predicted coping with organizational change, the adaptation demonstrated in handling the GFC, and the engagement levels of the employees in each region. The similarities in the models across each region suggest that organizational managers and HR will find value in understanding and using Psychological Capital in their recruitment, selection and employee enhancement programs.

Keywords: employee engagement, multinational companies, adaptability

Debt and GDP and their effects on the unemployment rate are of fundamental importance to the economy of a country. In this study, the authors used time series analysis to investigate, in different countries, the empirical relationship between unemployment rate and percent debt and GDP. Also, the study examined the empirical relationship between debt and GDP in order to ascertain the true relationship between unemployment and debt. Results showed that GDP was negatively correlated with debt or deficit and with unemployment. On the other hand, debt or deficit was positively correlated with unemployment. It was concluded that the effect of debt or deficit on unemployment was largely a result of the GDP’s negative effect on debt (deficit) and unemployment. Where possible, time series models were developed relating percent debt and GDP as independent variables to unemployment rate as the dependent variable. The models gave good fit to the observed data.

Keywords: debt, gross domestic product, unemployment

India’s dramatic macroeconomic success in the last quarter century has stemmed from a number of factors. This paper provides several of the antecedents for this, focusing especially on India’s burgeoning entrepreneurship. Along with structural liberalization that has allowed the progress to date to take place, several factors—including socio-cultural ones—help explain the dynamism of Indian entrepreneurial activities. Several circumstances, such as access to capital and market conditions, are favorable for continued development, although some limiting factors, such as corruption, remain in place.

Keywords: entrepreneurism, market conditions, India

The emerging field of strategic sustainability tracks the impact of corporate performance on profits, people and place (environment). Applying this model to the pharmaceutical industry, this paper examines patterns of non-compliance, particularly in regards to product safety (people). This paper explores a key performance indicator (KPI) metrics model for use in a Decision Support System (DSS) to track several major areas of non-compliance. A breakdown of warning letters issued by FDA inspector offices in recent years provides insight into the limitations of non-compliance metrics currently used by the FDA to enforce oversight. The FDA’s effectiveness to police non-compliance is undermined by their lack of funding and reactivity, rather than proactive approaches, such as the application of metrics on the supply chain level of analysis. Final investigation shows that regulatory oversight should be proportional to potential profitability of an organization given that larger pharmaceutical companies have more sophisticated supply chain infrastructures which can be used to offload non-compliance risk. Implications are further discussed.

Keywords: sustainability, noncompliance, pharmaceutical industry

Diversification strategy in the venture capital (VC) market has received increasing research interest, as studies have shown this strategy adds value to venture capitalists’ (VCs) investment. We build on previous study results and investigate how the nature of diversification strategy—related and unrelated—affects VCs’ investment including early startups. We draw arguments from a perspective of efficient knowledge management and a perspective of structural coordination need. Two opposing hypotheses are developed. Secondary data of the VC investment from 1990 to 2010 was collected and panel analysis was performed. The study results suggest that related diversification is associated with better VC firm performance, while unrelated diversification shows little effect.

Keywords: diversification, investment, venture capital market

This study explores changes in the relationships between residents’ perception of the impact of tourism and support of tourism at Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, conducted via a three-year longitudinal study that employs a Structural Equation Model. The study concluded that: (1) from 2010 to 2012, the overall trend of these relationships moved from indirect to direct; (2) the influence of residents’ understanding and participation in tourism support became more and more significant; (3) the general trend of the relationships between support and perception was that the effect of residents’ perceived economic impact reduced and the influence of residents’ perceived social impact increased generally.

Keywords: tourism, perception, national parks, structural equation model

To better understand the impact of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) ratings, I investigate how ethical funds select companies for investment. A case study and a review of the literature show that some SRI funds follow investment advice from third party raters and that, surprisingly, there is little knowledge about these raters’ sources and methodologies. This creates potential issues for firms deemed as unsuitable SRI investment targets, because the rating’s murkiness thwarts efforts to challenge the assessment. The problem becomes more relevant as SRI’s popularity grows. In Europe in particular, governments have regulated pension investments through guidelines about non-financial criteria that large pension funds must follow in their investments. Since these funds are usually the largest asset managers, public companies have an interest in being suitable SRI investment targets. Accordingly, I propose the creation of standards for the raters, and a strategy of “co-engagement” for firms interested in attracting SRI money.

Keywords: socially responsible investment, raters, evaluation standards

This study takes inventory of the personality profiles of two large samples of “up-and-coming” bank leaders represented at two respected banking schools in the South. These bankers are of great importance in their banks and represent future senior leadership of their respective institutions—largely regional and community banks. Of interest was their dominant personality profiles and functional backgrounds, as well as the contrasts between the LSU sample of 607 taken in the 1993-1998 time frame and the Alabama sample of 227 taken during the 2009-2012 time frame, after the dramatic series of banking and financial crises during the latter part of the last decade. Major findings include that bankers in both eras are largely sensing, thinking, and judging in nature. In the latter sample, it was revealed that bankers had converged even more toward this STJ style, had become more introverted as a group, with more homogeneity of personality observed.

Keywords: leadership, financial crisis, banking industry

This paper uses a comparative qualitative analysis of pedagogical approaches in applied learning in business education—an approach where the student is a consultant to an actual business. The comparison consisted of dissecting the practice of embedding client-based projects, where college students serve as marketing consultants, in both undergraduate and graduate business courses at a liberal arts university. Student consulting projects allow participants to go beyond the concepts discussed in the college classroom—go beyond a class project and engage in problem-solving activities related to the marketing discipline content areas. These consulting projects take a number of forms: they may be individualistic or group-based; they may result from leads from interested companies or leads generated by the professor; or they may be specific in nature or integrative. The paper looks at two specific marketing courses and how students learn to consult with business clients. The underpinning of each of the two courses is the iterative approach to student learning. Students are expected to revise and resubmit their work until they have met the professors’ expectations as set forth in the course.

Keywords: marketing consultants, college students, pedagogical approaches

In the last two decades, the extensive consolidation of the banking industry, and its likely consequences of increased presence of large banking institution as well as concentration in local banking markets, have raised concerns about the ability of small businesses to obtain funds. The effects of consolidation on small business lending may be more pronounced during a credit squeeze when the supply of loans becomes increasingly scarce. Our findings suggest that small business lending growth declined in California’s moderately concentrated and highly concentrated urban banking markets relative to unconcentrated ones after the financial crisis of 2008. We also find that the effect of market share structure on small business lending growth is moderated by market concentration in the post-crisis era.

Keywords: U.S. financial crisis, lending, small businesses

Volkswagen had been manufacturing cars in Mexico for over fifty years when it decided to replace its German managers in China with managers from Mexico and other Latin American countries. These men and women were well trained and had held managerial positions for quite some time, however, although the work in China could be managed, the mindset of the workers could not. Volkswagen had in place an internationalization strategy for its executives worldwide, which included four principles: designing a formal process for talent scouts worldwide; a pool of internationally trained executives with international career plans; a chain of mentors that would help to develop international managers; and a formal plan of successors. The dilemma of introducing “third-country nationals” (TCNs) as managers in China to replace “parent-country nationals” (PCNs) underscored the fact that “host-country nationals” (HCNs) may not have the same respect for TCNs as they did for PCNs even with Volkswagen’s internationalization strategy in place. The aim of this paper is to establish the theoretical foundations to research the impact of country of origin (COO) in the perception of host country executives about the quality and managerial skills of TCNs within three levels of analysis: Country, Company and Individuals.

Keywords: country of origin, management, perception of nationals

The growth of the Internet has increased the need for effective databases. One is Cassandra, an open source database by the Apache Software Foundation, which claims high scalability and is able to run on commodity hardware. Because mechanical hard drives are the bottleneck in the data retrieval process, it is reasonable to investigate optimization by storing data on multiple disks, distributed across multiple devices. This methodology suggests a reduction of data access time by using Cassandra. Research is needed to determine advantages that can be obtained by using distributed databases. This study obtained data from a basic configuration of Cassandra, and the test bed revealed that a distributed database using additional nodes could reduce latency and add efficiency. However, as more nodes were added to Cassandra, diminishing returns were observed and the addition of nodes added only slightly to the efficiency of the database.

Keywords: decentralized disk storage, scalability and performance, business applications

The objective of this paper is to offer a refined understanding of the relationship between resource and performance. Drawing from the resource-based theory (RBT) of competitive advantage, this study compares the relative relevance of core resource characteristics to the implementation of strategic activities. This approach provides an important clarification of the best managerial path towards differential performance. Should managers focus primarily on pursuing resource heterogeneity or preventing resource mobility? Results generated by this study point to the fact that resource heterogeneity has a greater impact over performance than resource mobility. The paper concludes that strategies focused on raising barriers to imitation are comparatively less relevant than strategies focused on promoting innovation.

Keywords: strategic management, resource heterogeneity, resource mobility

How to establish and improve regional innovation systems (RISs) is a significant theoretical and practical issue facing Chinese academia and all levels of government. This paper attempts to make an in-depth study of China’s RIS construction, the innovation barriers, and innovation performance evaluation. The idea of an RIS construction and, development model as well as policy arrangements are in line with the characteristics and requirements of China’s regional economic and social development. The innovation performance evaluation method is of the interest due to the inherent requirements of the RIS. This paper seeks to provide guidance and reference in order to improve the construction of China’s RISs.

Keywords: regional innovation systems, barriers, performance evaluation

This paper presents a longitudinal study of the resource-based horizontal acquisition strategy of JBS, the most acquisitive company in the meat producing sector. Its acquisition strategy transformed a relatively small business that was founded in 1953 (comprising a butcher shop and a slaughterhouse located in a small town in the interior of Brazil) into the world’s biggest meat producer by 2010. However, the acquisition strategy of the company is not one dimensional, it changes with times and the maturity of the company. A big catalyst of the company’s expansion in the late 2000s is the financial assistance from the government, which is very common in Latin America. We further discuss the financial consequence resulting from such a growth strategy.

Keywords: horizontal acquisition strategy, JBS, longitudinal study

In today’s world of text messaging and emails, we found that students learn visually as well as aurally. In other words, students are learning from “visual listening” – listening related to reading texts, emails, and tweets. This exploration is a by-product of our earlier investigation of active productive listening as a key element in the process of thinking critically. Students stated, in interactive workshops, that in order for them to listen critically, professors must add visuals to their class presentations, have in depth knowledge of the subject matter, and explain to students why the material in the course is necessary in their “real” day to day lives. Students’ perceived need for practical information far exceeded their requirement for abstract knowledge for the future and superseded knowledge that was purely theoretical in nature. Students do not listen unconditionally. This paper explores student learning – listening and “visual listening” in order to think critically.

Keywords: critical thinking, visual listening, student perception

This study provides a foundational investigation of the source influences of internet “trustmarks” (i.e., any third-party mark, logo, picture, or symbol, presented in an effort to dispel consumers’ concerns about security and privacy). An experiment utilized three identical marks, but it manipulated the certifying source as coming from either the government, industry experts, or consumer reviews (along with a control condition). Results show that the governmental trustmark was most influential in building cognitive and affective trust. Additionally, male subjects were generally more trusting than female subjects.

Keywords: trustmarks, internet cetifications, source influences

Marketers have been subjected to considerable criticism for not understanding the financial impact of their decisions. However, empirical research has discovered thatthe vast majority of measures that marketing managers ratedas significantly useful were non-accounting measures by nature. It is highly conceivable that accountants and marketers are envisioning the business in general, and marketing in particular, in very distinctive ways in terms of primary scope and focus, unit of analysis,and conditionsof decision making. This paper willdemonstrate that the traditional cost accounting approaches are inadequate for marketing decision making, and suggests that a paradigm shift by both marketers and accountants are imperative for more efficient decision making, which is a prerequisite for creating a long-lasting competitive advantage in the market place.

Keywords: accountants, marketers, discourse

Of interest, is the debate over the effect of deficit financing on economic growth. There are those that argue for a negative effect and others for no effect or a positive effect. In fact, studies in the literature are mixed on the impact of deficit on growth. One theory claims that federal deficits are likely to increase growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) by increasing buying power. Another theory claims that federal deficits can reduce growth by affecting an increase in interest rate, which can lead to reduced investment. A third theory is that deficits have no effect on growth.

In this study, we investigate the relationship between government spending (whether deficit or surplus) and GDP growth in two different economies, namely the U.S. and China. In China there is surplus spending. On the other hand, deficit spending prevails in the U.S. Results show that in both countries government spending and GDP are co-integrated, indicating a long run equilibrium relationship between the two time series. Bivariate time series analysis indicated that there is a functional relationship between deficit spending and economic growth in the U.S. Deficit spending had a negative effect on economic growth. However, in China there was no effect of government spending on economic growth. In this case, economic growth seemed to be the determinant of government spending.

Keywords: government spending, economic growth, U.S., China

Results of extant research into how ownership control affects performance of International Joint Ventures (IJVs) in emerging economies such as China have been inconclusive. We aim to solve this problem by analyzing two control mechanisms: ownership control and operational control. We argue that operational control by foreign parent firms in proportion to their ownership control is critical to performance of IJVs in China. Designing a proper relationship between ownership control and operational control, however, depends on the degree of strategic stakes, a concept addressing the relative importance of resource provisions in IJVs. A conceptual model and corresponding propositions are developed.

Keywords: control parity, strategic stakes, performance, international joint ventures

Operational improvement can be defined as an investment in technology, processes or procedures for growth, customer service, or efficiency. This paper explores the perceptions of 309 business owners in Appalachia about the operation systems of their firms and the percent of revenue spent on operational improvements. The majority, 41% spent between 1-5% of revenue followed by 27% who spent 6-10%. In addition, 69% of owners stated operational problems were resolved collaborative by the employee and the supervisor? Finally, the researchers sought to establish if the operational issues varied by the owners’ gender, type of business or sales volume. However, none of these variables revealed statistically significant differences in how operation issues were resolved.

Keywords: operations system, problem resolution, business owners, Appalachia

The world economy is moving ever faster toward a highly interdependent state in which international business is creating a global market. Often, in this environment, growth or even survival of a business hinges on its successful internationalization. Therefore, firms need to ask the vital question of how internationalized are their operations? To answer such question requires, among other things, measuring the extent of global involvement. This paper is an attempt toward constructing an internationalization measure by using financial performance and market engagement data outside firm’s home country.

Keywords: internationalization, global markets, measurement

According to the German Foreign Office (2011), Germany has emerged in the last decade, as China’s most significant business partner in Europe. Given the vast sums invested by both German and Chinese companies in collaborative agreements, it is critical that all parties perceive the objectives of the agreement in the same way. Unfortunately, the diversity in culture between Germany and China often means that a common perception of objectives is not achieved. This paper seeks to highlight where significant differences in cultural perception lie, particularly with regard to the personal motivation of Chinese managers, their character traits and the objectives of the Chinese company, and how these differences impact on the level of conflict in Chinese-German business cooperation. This paper additionally aims to advise managers on conflict avoidance, when entering into collaborate agreements with Chinese companies.

Keywords: Chinese-German businesses, cultural perceptions, motivations, conflict

An experimental (N=298) assessment of Facebook advertising revealed that awareness of Facebook advertising (goal-directed versus general browsing) and receptiveness toward advertising affected a series of cognition and affective dimensions of advertising effects. Goal-directed searching leads to significantly higher advertising recall (e.g., advertised product, brand, type, advertising features) and positive attitudes toward advertisements. Participants who were allowed general browsing, without specific instruction to attend to the advertisements, rarely recalled specifics about ads appearing on their Facebook page and rarely noticed social advertising cues. Participants’ receptiveness toward Facebook advertising also positively impacted their attitudes and reflective thinking. Results suggest that advertisers on a variety of social networking site (SNS) need to do more to reach their target audiences whose main purpose is to communicate with members of their social network while visiting SNSs in order to achieve advertising effectiveness.

Keywords: Facebook, advertising, browsing, outcomes

In the mid-1990s, theoretical and empirical research emerged that separated human resources (HR) systems into two camps: control- or commitment-oriented systems. These advances regarding HR taxonomies held particular appeal, as HR system type correlated with several dimensions of organizational performance. Surprisingly, little theoretical or empirical research since has sought to advance new conceptualizations of these systems. We address this scholarly shortcoming by extending a different, but related, taxonomy of HR systems. Specifically, we argue that HR systems are beyond control or commitment. Rather, systems may be classified as conflict-oriented or collaborative in form and function. Importantly, we build theory on conflict-oriented and collaborative HR systems and suggest that how these systems are bundled may impact, as most do, an organization’s culture. In particular, we investigate various HR functions with a particular emphasis on compensation policies to formulate a theoretical rationale as to how the design and delivery of HR functions can either produce a conflict-oriented organizational culture or a collaborative one.

Keywords: human resources systems, conflict, collaboration, organizations

The importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been well-documented in the literature. From a management perspective, CSR has been found to influence organizational attractiveness, employees’ commitment, and identification. However, the relationship between these CSR initiatives and employees’ attitudes and behaviors needs further examination. Thus, this paper attempts to fill this gap. Specifically, the propose a conceptual model of the relationship between employees’ perceptions of CSR initiatives, attitudes toward CSR, organizational identification, organizational commitment, and two outcome variables: citizenship behaviors and personal social action. Implications of the conceptual model are discussed, and directions for future research are proposed.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, employee perceptions, employee behavior

This paper is concerned with stochastic modeling of retail mortgage loans using hidden Markov chains (HMC). HMC are very useful in determining the unobservable variables affecting retail mortgage loans by analyzing the observable state transition behaviors of the loans. A fourthorder HMC model is presented based on the assumption that the past several periods of payment behavior have an effect on current behavior. Also, an Interactive Hidden Markov chain model is presented in order to capture the interaction between the observable states, loan transition behavior, and the unobservable underlying local macro-economic factors.

Keywords: retail mortgage payment, past and current behavior, Markov Chain Models

This study investigates whether perceptions of clickers technology differs by faculty rank. Additionally, course and instructor evaluations of clickers based and non-clickers courses are examined. Whether differences exist in evaluations of clickers and non-clickers courses based on faculty rank is also explored. An ANOVA analysis reveals that assistant, associate, and full professors differ in their clickers technology perceptions. Courses with clickers were evaluated more favorably, and there are faculty rank differences in course and instructor evaluations of clickers and non-clickers courses.

Keywords: Clickers, faculty perceptions, faculty rank

Drawing on the Dynamic Capabilities Perspective and the Resource Based View (RBV) of the firm, this paper seeks to further our understanding of international new ventures operating in a traditional commodity sector. We believe that this study can contribute to our knowledge on understanding how international new ventures (INVs) in traditionally low-tech sectors develop competitive advantage. The study reveals an entrepreneurial perspective to the Dynamic Capabilities theory of the firm and presents a conceptual research framework to further our understanding on INVs.

Keywords: international new ventures, Resource Based view, Dynamic Capabilities theory

Recent attention has been given to classroom incivilities reflecting student behavior, however, instructor care and respect toward students has received little attention. We examine perceptions of two groups (undergraduate accounting students, MBA students) regarding instructor care and respect. College instructor care and respect toward students is clarified by (1) explaining such behavior and the lack of it; (2) providing information from learner samples; (3) exploring, [a] caring, respectful behaviors, and [b] uncaring, disrespectful behaviors; and (4) specifying instructor behaviors which may convey that students are respected and cared about, and which help build positive classroom environments.

Keywords: student perception, faculty behavior, consideration

This paper examines the effectiveness of services provided as part of export promotion programs with respect to increasing export trade activities of businesses in Louisiana. The objectives of the study are to determine if there is an increase in: (a) the number of Louisiana businesses that participate in export trade activities; and (b) the percentage of Louisiana businesses that engage in export trade activities. Data for the study was compiled from various databases of the U.S. Census Bureau, Division of Foreign Trade; available data covers the period 1997-2008. Results show an increase in both the number of businesses in Louisiana that engage in export trade activities and the percentage of Louisiana businesses that export. The results suggest that programs designed to encourage new businesses to export are having an impact. The findings imply that some businesses that currently engage in export trade activities did not do so in the past.

Keywords: export promotion programs, export trade activities, Louisiana

Sports’ leagues struggle to maintain and grow. To do so many are returning to marketing fundamentals; creating satisfied customers with better products directed at undeveloped segments. This strategic marketing focus is examined as it is applied to a Major League Soccer product targeted at the yet-enigmatic American soccer sport market. The paper examines the demographics of American sports fans and soccer fans, motivations, and behavioral intentions of those fans as related to shirt sponsorships. The findings are intriguing as respondents didn’t think the shirt ads were unprofessional; instead, they felt these sponsorships made MLS clubs look more like prestigious international counterparts. Soccer fans felt more strongly about these questions than sports fans or non-fans. Our research showed that shirt sponsorships helped connect sponsors and teams. Finally, non-fans were most likely to believe that shirt sponsorships would spread beyond MLS followed by soccer fans and sports fans.

Keywords: international sports markets, promotion, sponsorship

This study examines the ethics chapters in five introduction-to-public relations textbooks and the codes of ethics of four major public relations associations contained within those chapters to assess the prevalence of language that either uses the same terms Daniel Goleman employs for his 25 competencies of emotional intelligence or uses words that strongly suggest the terms Goleman employs to determine the connection between the language of emotional intelligence and the language of the ethical practice of public relations. Results show that such a connection exists, with the emotional intelligence competency of trustworthiness being the most prevalent.

Keywords: public relations instruction, codes of ethics, content analysis

This paper examines the influence of team performance characteristics on wins in the National Hockey League using a multiplicative model. Six of the thirteen independent variables are significant at the 99% level: power play percentage, whether a team scores first, save percentage, blocked shots, shootout shooting percentage, and faceoff percentage. Three of the thirteen independent variables were significant at the 95% level: major penalties, hits, and total shots. Variables that were not significant were: penalty minutes, shootout save percentage, giveaways and takeaways.

Keywords: team performance, winning, National Hockey League

Citation Analysis is a rigorous research methodology that has been widely used to investigate the contribution of a journal toward other journals or academic disciplines. This methodology is often used to analyze the citation life cycles and patterns of journal articles, mostly cited studies, as well as frequently researched topics in an academic discipline. In this research, a citation analysis was conducted to investigate the ten year citation status of the literature published during 1995-1999 in MIS Quarterly (MISQ) – a top business journal in the Management Information Systems (MIS) area. The research unveiled the citation life cycles of MISQ publications and its top cited articles. It also found that IS research has been frequently cited by other business journals and the contribution of IS research toward other disciplines is profound.

Keywords: journal quality, citation relevance, Management Information Systems

It is believed that firms within successful supply chains have a great deal of trust in one another. However, little is known about the effects of trust on firm performance in supply chain relationships. I draw on social exchange theory to devise a model linking trust between partners with two types of displayed behaviors: constructive and opportunistic. Constructive behaviors are those behaviors that strengthen the supply chain relationship whereas opportunistic behaviors are those behaviors that weaken the supply chain relationship. I then investigate several moderators to the trust-behavior relationship. Finally, I explore the effects of constructive and opportunistic behaviors on firm performance.

Keywords: trust, behavior, firm performance

Recent research suggests that Master of Business Administration [MBA] prestige is defined by the degree to which graduates master international business. This paper explores how 56 of the most popular MBA programs have adopted international management into their curricular offerings. Comparing global focus to tuition costs revealed four distinct types: elite, parochial, economic, and progressive MBA programs. Implications also are discussed.

Keywords: globalizing MBA programs, international business, comparative analysis

Management scholars have paid relatively little attention to human nature. We consider this a deficiency for developing a more accurate understanding of organizational behavior and more effective organizational interventions. We argue that Darwinian evolutionary psychology provides us useful conceptual tools to advance our understanding of human behavior in organizations. Beginning with a brief history of evolutionary thinking in social sciences, we present a general introduction of evolutionary psychology followed by some of its practical implications for managers. We conclude by addressing some of the criticisms against research that applied evolutionary psychology to the field of management and organization studies.

Keywords: human nature, management, evolutionary psychology

Ethical standards are a major area of concern for organizations when preparing and communicating financial statements. Reflective of this, management, directors and employees must exhibit and maintain ethical standards which should include honesty, integrity, fairness and responsibility. Companies are satisfied with meeting certain types of ethical standards, but the overall philosophy of business still remains, i.e. individuals within an organization must exceed expectations and maximize the returns to its shareholders. Sometimes employees may sacrifice the integrity of a company and compromise duties that exist between the company and society.

Keywords: ethics, accounting, standards

Universities face increased pressures to both reduce costs and, at the same time, serve more students. Using on-line or virtual education is often viewed as a mechanism to serve these competing interests. Indeed, the number of on-line courses has increased significantly over the past decade. And, while most students actively use the Internet to both collect information and engage in social interaction, the results of this study suggest that they actually prefer the traditional classroom setting for most of their coursework.

Keywords: computer-based instruction, business schools, student preference

This paper explores the linkages between employee consciousness of the High Performance Work System (HPWS) and their commitment through a matrix approach. The impact of individual human resource practices in HPWS on employee outcomes is also investigated. The data collected came from the enquiry responses of non-managerial Japanese employees in sixteen companies in the Kanto region of Japan from around October 2008 to February 2009. The average response rate was 52% (n=227). Discriminant analysis reveals that HPWS, affective commitment and occupational commitment were the most important discriminant variables in the four predicted groups of HPWS-Commitment linkages. Hierarchical Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression indicates an increase in teamwork, employee participatory programs, and the sharing of company information with employees as human resource practices in HPWS that could increase employee commitment and reduce stress, though some practices could also increase job intensity. The research findings contribute to the extant literature in HPWS and employee psychology. The practical implications of the findings are also discussed.

Keywords: high perfromance work systems, employee outcomes, Japan

The goal of this study was insight into why some consumers avoid a service encounter and choose “do-it-yourself” (DIY) service. Fifty adults were interviewed, grouped into self-described DIYers or confirmed non-DIYers. Thematic analysis of open-ended responses resulted in a conceptual model of the antecedents and outcomes of DIY service. Motivations affecting DIY activity included: saving money, control over the procedure, a feeling of accomplishment, meeting the expectations of others, lack of trust in service providers, and fear of doing a poor job. However, DIY activity required a set of enabling factors as well: necessary equipment, facilities, knowledge and skill, and perceived time to perform the task. For some consumers, the decision to DIY appears to be related to a service failure with a provider. Performance of one DIY activity did not necessarily predict a pattern of other DIY tasks. Guidelines to better market to the DIY segment are offered.

Keywords: do-it-yourself consumers, antecendents, outcomes, performance

Our conception of product affirmation depicts a product as “sculptor” of the consumer’s ideal self, similar to how a relationship partner can help us achieve our aspirations and goals. We performed two studies to look at the role of higher education as a product in affirming a consumer’s ideal self. We found that product affirmation for undergraduate students and alumni (with the university as the product that affirms the ideal self of the student/alumnus) leads to increases in the experience of various positive emotions, the acquisition of various positive traits, and positive evaluations of the university. Additionally, we found that product affirmation effects were more pronounced and robust in one’s personal ideal-self domain than in one’s professional ideal-self domain. Practical implications, study limitations, and future directions are discussed, as well as preliminary findings from a follow-up experiment using a sample of graduate students.

Keywords: higher education, personal growth, undergraduate students

This paper investigates churn behavior within the Moroccan telecom sector. The Moroccan telecommunication sector is considered one of the most developed telecom sectors in the African region and one of the most developed economic forces in the country. The privatization of the market, new services, the emergence of new operators, as well as the changing socio-economic factors have contributed to a change in attitude of Moroccan consumers over the past few years. In this study, high churn rate of over 21% has been measured and the mechanism behind customer churn has been examined. Causes of customer churning were investigated through a survey of 500 respondents conducted in Morocco’s two most important cities. Logistic regression identified a clear correlation between customer churning behavior and customer personal characteristics, operator services, and the mobile phone characteristics.

Keywords: churn behavior, telecom industry, Morocco

In this study, a continuous Markov Chain model is used for modeling the size of retail loans in prepayment, past due, and default states. Prepayment and past due states describe the payment status of a loan. The default state is defined as charge-off on the loan due to bankruptcy, death, or other causes. As such, the model uses the economic status of the loan, rather than the accounting assets status. On the other hand, the book amount of a bank’s credit portfolio on its financial statement seldom reflects its real economic status due to the nature of bookkeeping, which only provides a static snap-shot of a bank’s operation result. Furthermore, the book amount fails to give the management a true picture of the portfolio pool, which is a function of its contraction and is based on past due rate, default rate, and prepayment rate. To remedy this situation, a stochastic model based on a continuous time Markov Chain is used to analyze contraction and extension, which give a true economic picture of a bank’s credit portfolio and, thus in turn, facilitate the pricing of the bank’s securities.

Keywords: retail mortgage portfolios, estimation, prediction, Markov Chain Model

Thirty-five Colombian and thirty-five Japanese foreign exchange students were analyzed to determine which group was more completely assimilated into the United States (US) “college” culture. Subsequently, their satisfaction with academic outcomes was explored to determine the effect of this cultural assimilation on students' perceptions. Results indicate that while both the Colombian and Japanese student sojourners closely align with their US counterparts on the dimensions of Power Distance and Uncertainty Avoidance, the Colombian student sojourners also assimilated on the Individualism/Collectivism dimension. As expected, when directly compared and contrasted, the Colombian students assimilated to US culture more easily than Japanese students. Finally, it was determined that although a strong relationship exists between culture and academic perceptions, it was not in the predicted direction, as both the Colombian and Japanese exchange students had higher positive perceptions of the US higher education system than the US students themselves.

Keywords: internatioal students, assimilation, success

The increasingly globalized environment in which firms operate, as well as recent changes in accreditation standards for business schools, require that educators prepare students for international business issues. A semester-long project pairing American undergraduate finance majors and Macedonian undergraduate business majors online was intended to allow students to experience both an international learning environment and internationally divergent perspectives of business issues. The project would also allow us to investigate both ‘dissemination’ and ‘distance learning’ scenarios given its international online learning environment. In the end, the project yielded different but equally valuable lessons for faculty and students in both countries regarding their international collaboration.

Keywords: online learning, internationalization, curricular development

As the U.S. workplace becomes more heterogeneous, it is essential that managers understand the concerns of diverse employees. This paper examines racioethnic differences that are likely to influence the antecedents (e.g., role overload, conflict, and ambiguity) and outcomes (e.g., job satisfaction-work, pay, promotion, supervision, and coworkers) affecting the U.S. workplace. In addition, we measure two distinct dimensions of work–family conflict (WFC), work interfering with family conflict (WIFC) and family interfering with work conflict (FIWC). Using a comparative sample and structural equation modeling, our findings explain the divergent viewpoints of Blacks and Whites regarding role stress, WFC, and job satisfaction facets. This underscores the important role of subgroup analyses comparison. Implications and limitations of the current study and suggestions for future research are presented as well.

Keywords: work-family conflict, demographic differences, outcomes

In the international business and international relations literature, the prevailing sentiments regarding the role of the hegemony and global leadership appear unclear. The paper addresses the differences between global domination (hegemony) and leadership in the era of globalization. A framework is provided to differentiate between a hegemonic power and global leader. Furthermore, the paper suggests that in today’s world there is a need for responsible global leadership to stabilize the world economy and enhance the quality of life for the world community. Implications for MNCs are provided.

Keywords: global hegemony, leadership, globalization, multinational corporations

Grunig (1993) claimed that the adoption of a symmetrical model of public relations (PR) would eliminate most ethical problems in international public relations. This paper examines that proposition, applying it to the public relations of warfare. Examples of public relations related to warfare in this paper show it is not likely that a symmetrical model would be adopted because the purpose of public relations in time of war is to persuade and restrict the flow of information. The history of public relations and warfare is marked by deception and propaganda. It is likely that these patterns will continue into the future.

Keywords: public relations, war, ethics

Inspiring hope has been a more or less implicit leadership task, but until recently has not been included in leadership models. With the rise of a solid empirical foundation within the discipline of psychology, hopefulness is now being construed as a central characteristic of a leader and primary leadership task. This article briefly reviews the psychological foundations of hope, especially in the work of Snyder (1994), and Luthans and Avolio’s (2003) Authentic Leadership model which applies Snyder’s (1994) operationalization of hope to leadership. There is, however, very little literature on practical steps toward inspiring and developing hope in individuals and organizations. The present article aims to fill this gap by offering twenty-nine tips to inspire hope in individuals and organizations.

Keywords: hope, hope-centered leadership, authentic leadership style

Workplace bullying has been an issue in organizations and in different countries but has received varying degrees of attention. This paper proposes a research agenda to investigate the six highest Individualism (IDV) scores represented in six countries in an attempt to understand why some high IDV countries have established bullying protection through legislation while other IDV countries have done little in this area. Although a high IDV score might indicate a focus on the individual, some high IDV countries have focused on a collectivist approach through legal channels. Research proposals are presented in four of Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions to suggest potential areas for analysis. Approaches are compared for potential impact and a research agenda is proposed.

Keywords: workplace bullying, individualistic cultures, Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions

The authors used a case study analysis to examine celebrity endorsements in advertising that supported or opposed the 2006 Missouri amendment on embryonic stem cell research. The spots in this case received considerable coverage in the national news media that the authors selected for analysis. Not only do the authors conclude that using celebrities in this case was effective, but also that these spots helped focus the national news agenda on the Missouri race and on the embryonic stem cell research issue.

Keywords: political advertising, advocacy, celebrity endorsements

This paper is concerned with the social construction of globalization as a management discourse. The nature and development of the globalization discourse is examined in two ways. First, a systematic content analysis of more than two decades of globalization-related publications using the British Library’s OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue) system and the Social Science Citation Index is undertaken. Second, a framework based upon ‘tropes’ (i.e. figures of speech) is utilised to unpack the concept of globalization. The work reveals that the discursive construction of globalization in the literature presents it as ‘something new’ (an ironic framing), with ‘universal application’ (presented via synecdoche and metonymy) and producing positive outcomes (couched through seductive metaphors). The ideological and practical implications of the ‘globalization discourse’ for organizing and the process of managing are also discussed.

Keywords: globalization, Bibliometric Analysis, Tropological Analysis

Earnings management has attracted a large amount of attention in the U.S. literature. With the continued expansion of companies into the global marketplace and the internationalization of capital markets, it is increasingly important to examine the views of earnings management from an international perspective. The purpose of this study is to increase our understanding of accounting students’ perceptions regarding the practice of earnings management, and whether those perceptions are influenced by nationality. Comparing U.S. accounting students to German accounting students we predict that there will be differences in perceptions of the ethical acceptability of earning management due to cultural differences and financial reporting environment differences in Germany. Ninety-five students (59 from the U.S. and 36 from Germany) were asked to evaluate the ethical acceptability of 13 earnings management activities. Our results show that for all scenarios, the U.S. students object more strongly to earnings management practices than do the German students.

Keywords: earnings management, accounting students, United States, Germany, comparative analysis

The paper was motivated by a concern for the de-globalization possibilities of the coming decades. The enigmatic position of contemporary globalization hangs between two extremes. Globalization is a novel phenomenon or else, one rooted in antiquity. The paper takes an historical-analytical approach to studying connectivity via the great trade routes. It believes that a panoptic view of globalization is critical to understanding its evolutionary nature. This is imperative if globalization is to build a constructive foundation for humanity. Using the methodology of 'non-ergodic' path dependence, it examines a variety of products on the silk road and the spice route as well as the issue of productivity. The applications are illustrative. The methodology is exploratory. Two different globalization indices are created. It is believed that the approach has the potential of generating a more normative and prescriptive insight into contemporary globalization, especially if a more rigorous methodology was to be developed.

Keywords: globalization effects, Great Trade Routes, Historical-Anaytical perspective

In this conceptual paper, the authors examine the postinternational strategic alliance establishment process by focusing on the interrelationships surrounding utilization as a resource coordinating activity. As the antecedents of utilization, they have gleaned from the literature four communication variables (i.e., formal, informal, competitive, and cooperative communications). Employing as a theoretical foundation the resource-based view of the research stream on strategic alliances, they have developed a conceptual model that depicts the influences of the four communication variables on utilization and, subsequently, on international strategic alliance (ISA) performance. They have also constructed a 2x2 table to illustrate the impact of these variables on utilization when they interact. In this paper, the authors seek to fill a research gap that is rich in evaluating the beginning and the end of the ISA operation, yet is very poor in studying the post-ISA establishment process. Using the derived model, the authors generate propositions and discuss conclusions and future research directions.

Keywords: international strategic alliances, utilization, antecedents, outcomes

This study examined Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) by measuring personal views on the ethics of tax evasion. Study participants provided demographic information and responded to 15 statements related to tax evasion. Likert scale measurements were employed to determine the strength of responses. Responses were then were analyzed to determine what effect certain demographics (e.g., gender, age, religious involvement, marital status, years in the profession and years since certification) would have on the views of the ethics of tax evasion. The study found that statistically significant relationships were related to the variables of gender, years since certification, and level of religious involvement.

Keywords: tax evasion, ethics, certified public accountants

Standards in the public relations profession must be translated to the students. One source of standards developed over the last 8 years or more focused on outcome variables for undergraduates and graduates. Both practitioners and academics agreed these outcomes were critical to the profession. This study used these outcome variables in testing undergraduate students enrolled in public relations courses as they progressed through the program. It was hypothesized that courses based on these outcome variables would show a different level of accomplishment when compared to the years completed in the program. This study focused on students’ interpretation of new and more fully developed clusters of outcome variables based on the national Commission on Public Relations Education’s earlier studies. This analysis compared and contrasted responses from lower and upper level students enrolled in the PR courses developed for the major.

Keywords: public relations students, outcomes, Integrated Communication perspective

The main frame of digital marketing is the Web used through specialized search engines. The objective of digital marketing is to answer marketing questions one by one using technological tools. Digital marketing promotes online services to attend its clients’ demands. This process implies commercialization, publicity, brand management, or market research. We assist the strengthening of the Internet industry. We attend to the power of the Web to encourage collective intelligence, the interaction of users who act as codevelopers. Web 2.0 is the transition of traditional applications to a new approach where applications are focused on the final user. Digital marketing is based on strategies of using social Web 2.0 as an interactive platform. We are in a time of social networks. This is a new era for advertising between You and the social Web—and Spain is there, too!

Keywords: digital marketing, search engines, social networks, Spain

Developing countries in Asia, including China and Korea, have faced serious environmental challenges as their economies have grown. We review in this paper information on the unique, environmental problems and regulatory systems developed by both the Chinese and Korean governments. We envision entrepreneurs as ingenious storytellers of green narratives and actionable ideas that can attract and sustain public interest as well as governmental investment. Thus, by emphasizing the role of entrepreneurs as change agents transmitting green narratives that spark the process of imitation, we attempt to answer our initial research question: What would be the emerging roles of entrepreneurs in actualizing government-mandated environmental policies in Asia? We propose an emerging role of entrepreneurs as creative change agents who fill the gap between unfulfilled goals and policies initiated by governments and actual programs enacted by them. We close our paper by emphasizing a more interdisciplinary approach for educating future entrepreneurs.

Keywords: entrepreneurs, environmentalism, China, Korea

This study presents an analysis of international viniculture to explain the factors that contribute to the success of the wine business in both the New and the Old World. It also discusses the new challenges the traditional wine-producers face in competing in foreign markets. The recent trends show an increase in consumption in United States, but a decrease in some other markets. The long-term outlook for exports of wine for New World producers are predicted to improve. The results of the time series analysis (1985–2005) that were made on exports, imports, per capita consumption, total wine consumption, and production have allowed us to make reliable predictions of the wine industry in Spain, France, the United States, Argentina, and Chile.

Keywords: international viniculture market, success, comparative analysis

We developed a new approach for decision making with the Dempster-Shafer (D-S) theory of evidence. We focused on a problem where the available information was uncertain and could be assessed with interval numbers. To aggregate the information, we suggested using different types of uncertain induced aggregation operators such as the uncertain induced ordered weighted averaging (UIOWA) and the uncertain induced hybrid averaging (UIHA) operator. As a result, we obtained new types of aggregation operators such as the belief structure—uncertain induced OWA (BS-UIOWA) and the belief structure—uncertain induced hybrid averaging (BS-UIHA) operator. The main advantage of using these operators is the possibility of using complex attitudinal characters in situations where it is not possible to simply use the degree of optimism of the decision maker. We studied some of their main properties. We also develop an application of the new approach in a financial decision-making problem about selection of investments.

Keywords: decision-making, uncertainty, uncertainty induced aggregation operators, Dempster-Shafer theory

The key to successfully competing in the global marketplace might be staffing key expatriate positions with accomplished and skilled leaders. Previous research has focused on preparing managers to expatriate successfully to foreign assignments and to repatriate back to the United States. The high failure rate and general lack of effectiveness of many expatriate managers might be attributed to a cultural mismatch between the assignment and the leadership style of the expatriate. This paper explains the complex issues associated with multicultural leadership and proposes a diagnostic leadership matrix using internal and external cultural constraints.

Keywords: leaders, leadership, global assignments

This research examines the impact of and the benefits derived from e-business integration in large manufacturing and service organizations in Sweden. Business managers are increasingly under pressure to improve the financial performance and the profitability of their companies. The Internet-based electronic business can provide opportunities for business to improve the efficiency and the effectiveness of their business operations, to form partnership with suppliers, improve customer service, and to manage better their supply chain. The results show that large Swedish firms are benefiting from e-business implementation in many key areas of their business.

Keywords: e-business, large firms, strategy, outcomes

This paper suggests a covenantal model of public relations used in sport communication strategies. The aim of the article is to present a civil religion perspective on the cultural nation-building through a study of soccer’s dynamics in Catalonia, and specifically of Football Club Barcelona (FC Barcelona) national reality and its public relations efforts. We believe that FC Barcelona can be seen as a form of national culture that uses a communication model that sets forth, upholds, and reinforces relations with supporters. This communication process is a covenantal public relations model.

Keywords: nation-building, sports, public relations, Civil-Religion approach

This article describes the development and strategic application of online quizzes to enhance student performance and overall course experience. Although research has increased in the field of technological delivery of educational content, there is yet a dearth of studies when compared to the quantity of activity in practice. The experimental situation that this study presents is generalizable to any regional, public business school with no major in operations management. These schools tend to use operations management as an integral part of its core curriculum. Students are required to take only one required operations course in their program; thus, it becomes challenging to cover all the appropriate subjects. Faced with low student performance and below average student satisfaction with the course, this study details the effect of delivering content using online quizzes. Based on a before–after comparison, quizzes were found to be a very effective and efficient way to overcome these challenges and have proved a very successful method of content delivery for both the students and the instructor.

Keywords: online content, strategy, influence

This is a proposed research in three stages of management development—needs analysis, program design, and evaluation. For the purposes of this study, the first stage of the research dealing with the needs assessment of global managers was completed first. In the second stage, the correlates of learning styles and training needs effectiveness were found. In the final stages of design, delivery, and evaluation, the program was designed with the background variables and leadership profiles of global managers that were correlated with the training needs of these managers and an executive development program was delivered to nominated executives around the world. Evaluation at the lowest two levels—Reaction and Learning—have been summarized to portray the effectiveness of the weeklong executive development program. The post study of executive behavior and results accruing due to the program itself will be reported when the post study is completed.

Keywords: global management, international executive development programs, evaluation

Leadership is continually in short supply and businesses are concerned about where the next generation of leaders will come from. The coursework and activities in higher education help prepare students for the world of work. This study explores the leadership style of future leaders. The majority of respondents did not use any predominant leadership style. Those who did use a predominant style used a single style followed by a paired style. The human resources frame was the most used, followed by the structural frame. Conversely, the political frame was by far the weakest frame used. Slight statistically significant relations were found. The authors address implications and recommendations to enhance the skills of future leaders.

Keywords: leadership styles, leadership training, higher education

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of various market structure elements in the pharmaceutical industry in the United States, such as research and development (R&D), advertising, capital intensity, inventory turnover, and firm size on the financial accounting performance measurements, return on equity (ROE), and return on assets (ROA). The results indicate that two elements of market structure, firm size and R&D intensity, are associated significantly and positively with the financial performance indicators (ROA and ROE), advertising intensity and capital intensity are significantly and positively associated with ROE, and inventory turnover is not statistically significant for both ROA and ROE. Because these variables are not correlated, they have not been as proven explanatory elements in the determination of the financial performance.

Keywords: marketing factors, R&D activity, firm performance, U.S. pharmaceutical industry

How can educators incorporate the discoveries of cognitive science and its multifaceted exploration of how the mind works, of brain-based learning, and of the concepts of connectivity of mind, body, and soul into virtual learning in a virtual environment? Can professors implant the excitement of learning through virtual means? Students and professors make no eye-to-eye contact, have no face-to-face communication; nevertheless, good people skills and good communication are essential characteristics in today’s global business world.

How can professors develop an e-learning assessment model for learning experiences in a virtual world? In some ways, e-learning assessments might be more honest because they do not incorporate gender, race, nationality, or class constructs. They do not assess attitude or socioeconomic climate. They assess ability, communication, and complex multidimensional participation of students. They allow students to share and learn without reservation (Tham & Werner, 2005). Let us explore the concept of implementing effective learning assessment criteria for a virtual environment and set forth a framework for assessment.

Keywords: online learning environment, learning assessments, outcomes

All universities are in business because they must attract students to survive. Although some prefer publicly to minimise the business aspects of education, others are untroubled by the association. A sudden arrival on the agendas of all universities was the business-focused Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act in the United States in 2002. The educational purist and the worldly pragmatist alike had to look at this cuckoo-in-the-nest and work out what to do with a United States (U.S.) Act of Congress that was never intended for not-for-profit enterprises worldwide. Could “good governance,” as defined by this business-related Act, be an external marketing issue for universities?

Keywords: universities, marketing, Sarbanes-Oxley 2002

This paper conceptualizes the relationship between gender and consumer ethics. It lays the theoretical foundations to study whether female consumers are more sensitive to ethical problems than male consumers. Specifically, this study conceptualizes the relationship between gender and consumer ethics using Muncy and Vitell questionnaire (MVQ). Based on the literature review this study hypothesizes that female consumers are more sensitive to ethical problems than males. In addition, based on past research this study concludes that the relationship between gender and ethics still needs to be explored using finer theories, representative samples, and better statistical analysis. The theoretical precepts presented in this paper can be used to develop better marketing strategies, policy formation, job assignments, and internal training.

Keywords: consumerism, gender, ethics

This study extends empirical evidence on the relationship between export commitment and export intensity. Data collected through a mail survey of 173 U.S. small exporters indicates significant correlations between export intensity and three factorized measures of organizational commitment to exporting: interest in foreign markets, domestic and overseas export-related marketing activities. A discussion of the findings is presented within the behavioral framework of export performance and implications and direction for future research are discussed.

Keywords: exporting, small businesses, performance

Although small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been a major source of economic growth not only in Europe and the USA, but also in the emerging economies, the factors underlying their expansion into international markets have received very little attention in the literature. Using data from 90 manufacturing SMEs from six French regions, we examined the impact of different resources and capabilities on the level of internationalization of each firm. The results indicate that low-cost manufacturing capabilities and proactive managerial orientation towards international operations are positively associated with increased internationalization. Surprisingly, a focus on using knowledge resources is not related to the level of internationalization of French regional firms. The implications of these findings are discussed within the context of developing sustainable competitive advantage of SMEs in a transitional phase of their internationalization.

Keywords: internationalization, regional development, resources, management, French SMEs

Human resource management (HRM) practices, support systems, and personnel profiles were examined in microurban (9 or fewer employees) and rural enterprises. The investigation is an exploratory descriptive study employing a discussion of the results of a questionnaire. The authors’ hypotheses were that urban and rural microenterprises would differ significantly in HRM practices, support systems, and personnel profiles. The research findings suggest the authors’ hypotheses were generally incorrect. These results might advance the concept that the Internet, access to information, and management information systems has made possible comparable HRM activities and functions in both urban and rural enterprises. Additionally, the rural micro firm’s general environment might be less inclined to litigate than the urban microfirm’s environment, thus reducing the rural microfirm’s need for extensive legal advice or more formalized employee handbooks.

Keywords: human relations, small businesses, rural, urban

This research examined the mediating effects of job-focused self-efficacy on the relationship between work stress (e.g., work-role conflict, work-role ambiguity, and work-role overload) and work–family conflict. Using latent variable modeling, we found that job-focused self-efficacy mediated the relationship between work stress and work–family conflict. Implications, limitations, and future research suggestions are discussed.

Keywords: work-family conflict, stress, job-focused self-efficacy

Using a strategic human resource management (HRM) perspective, we identify and address factors that enable and induce organizational corruption at the upper-echelons. Specifically, we develop a multilevel conceptual model that examines how executive culture, decoupling, and cognitive constraints influence the content and process of executive HRM in a manner that contributes to corruption. This executive HRM-oriented approach allows us to advance our understanding of why and how executive corruption occurs despite the scrutiny of watchdog constituencies and progressively stricter rules and regulations. Related to this last point, our theory building exposes some of the limitations of agency theory and answers calls by agency scholars (Eisenhardt, 1989) to compliment existing agency perspectives with other organizational theories.

Keywords: human resource management, organizational corruption, executive corruption

The purpose of this research was to investigate the extent to which small- and medium-size businesses (SMEs) in the Kuala Lumpur region are prepared for Web site adoption. Most of the businesses have now accepted the Web site as an important tool for marketing and selling their products and services in the domestic and global market places. Companies can use Web sites to present almost unlimited information about themselves in cyberspace. Through judgment sampling, Kuala Lumpur was selected as the research area for this study. This study investigates the rate of usage of Web sites by the SMEs. The survey was conducted by mail, and the findings are summarized herein.

Keywords: website, technology adoption, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

In this paper, we analyzed two sets of data (Cable television [TV] and wireless telephone) using time series and Bass diffusion models to forecast the demand side of an innovation, taking into consideration any cross correlation that may exist between supply and demand. Results show that a univariate third order autoregressive time series model was the best model for forecasting demand in the case of the wireless telephone data. This implies that the supply side in the form of the number of systems had no effect on the number of subscribers (demand side). These results are in agreement with the fact that there was no cross-correlation between supply and demand. However, in the case of cable TV, cross-correlation existed between supply and demand. In this case, a transfer function model, where supply in the form of number of systems was used as an input series, gave the best model for forecasting the number of subscribers. For both data sets, the time series models gave better forecast performance than the Bass model.

Keywords: innovation, demand side, Time Series models

This quasi-experimental study tested the relationship between audience attitude toward sports commercialization and the resulting attitude toward sponsoring companies. An additional variable, “fit” or similarity between the sponsor and sporting team, was also tested for effects on spectator attitude. The theories of balance and context effects are presented for a theoretical framework. It is theorized that those with a lower attitude toward the commercialization of sports will have a higher resulting attitude toward the sponsor when exposed to a good use of sponsorship. This study involved 299 undergraduate students and found no contrast effects. A three-way interaction between the independent variables, attitude toward commercialization, type of sponsorship and the fit between the sponsor and sponsored event, influenced spectators’ resulting attitude toward the sponsor. The fit between the sponsor and sporting team was also found to play a significant role under certain conditions.

Keywords: sports commercialization, sponsorship, consumer attitudes

Amid record numbers of recent indecency complaints to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), there is little information available on the complaints themselves, and no discussion of complaints focused on advertisements. This descriptive study analyzes a 1,030-page database of 254 denied indecency complaints from 2004 of which 35 addressed product advertisements and promotional spots. Analysis was done by type of media, geographical origin, complaint topic, and denial grounds. More than half of the complaints were denied as “not sufficiently graphic” (19), and about one-third for insufficient information (10). The authors discuss common elements of the complaints, and suggest reasons for these commonalities and areas for future research.

Keywords: broadcast advertising, indecency complaints, FCC

This study adds to research on audience framing, metacommunication, and online textual and technical interactivity by examining a blog on a third-party, advocacy Web site. Results from a quantitative content analysis of blog posts indicate that audience frames follow patterns similar patterns to journalistic ones. Overall, the majority of blog posts and frames present were negative in their tone. Diagnostic and Metacommunication frames were the most frequently employed. Additionally, the overall amount of metacommunication indicated that bloggers posted divisive, polarizing opinions about Puerto Rico’s status and tended to blog about the blog itself and its users, instead of engaging in more detailed, deliberative discourse. Ultimately, the results of this article indicate the blog did not take advantage of textual or technical devices, which hindered chances for interactivity and mobilization.

Keywords: advocacy, online blogs, interactivity, audience framing

The emergence of the Internet as an information search and product comparison tool for consumers has led to a reduction in time-related search costs. The Internet minimizes search and transaction costs by eliminating time-related issues, such as visiting different retail locations and waiting for service. However, there is often a trade-off regarding the delivery of the product to the customer. This paper examines the relationship between a consumer’s time orientation and the perceived appeal of e-tailer offerings. The results of our study and the implications for future research are discussed.

Keywords: time orientation, online retailer offers, evaluation

Interest in entrepreneurship has grown significantly. Technology now enables more opportunities than ever, most particularly in the area of home-based entrepreneurship. An attempt to define the personality and behavior of entrepreneurs has proved inconclusive and now research is moving to the study of the entrepreneur in the context of the venture. One consistent finding from research searching for personality variables is that a large percentage of those entrepreneurs studied have been MBTI iNtuitors (Ns), a proportion more than double the population distribution. This exploratory mixed methods study looked at how entrepreneurs’ MBTI related to their strategies and experiences. MBTI preference was found to be related to strategy and to be situational.

Keywords: entrepreneurs, strategy, Myers-Briggs

Retailers spend a great amount of effort and resources focusing their activities on attracting consumers, building relationships, and enticing people to make purchases. In the physical world, the importance of store environments to retailers’ success is unsurpassed. The field of study that addresses the store environment and its impact is known as atmospherics.

Atmospherics within a physical store is expensive to manipulate. It is also literally impossible to match a store’s environment to the taste of every consumer. This is not the case with e-tailing (selling over the Internet). Electronic store (eStore) environments influence shopping behavior through mediating emotional states. Factors such as Web site organization, product data, and search options have been found to influence shopping behavior. This paper argues that heuristic decision modeling for the online environmental elements needs to have greater attention. To that end, this paper explores how the ideas of retail atmospherics may be applied to eCommerce Web site designs and offers the Cyberspace Atmospherics Mental Model (CAMM) as a method to facilitate design decisions.

Keywords: e-commerce, atmospherics, Cyberspace Atmospherics Mental Model

Casino operators have long known that the longer players gamble, the larger the house’s take. Similarly, extending the amount of time other retail patrons shop may increase their opportunity for spending. Atmospherics research suggests that manipulating ambient scent may influence the length of time customers remain on the premises. Moreover, since scent knows no language barriers, the global implications of harnessing the power of environmental fragrancing are enormous. Consistently predicting the direction and magnitude of scent-induced effects, has however, proved quite difficult. Employing scent for strategic advantage is therefore deemed somewhat risky. This study aims to reduce the risk by increasing our understanding of how, and under what circumstances environmentally induced feeling states may lead to increased shopping time and other desired outcomes. A laboratory experiment tested affective state induction under situations of low and high involvement, and the transfer of these feeling states to the enjoyment of, and willingness to remain in, an environmental setting. Results indicate involvement and scent pleasantness matter most. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Keywords: environmental fragrancing, consumer perceptions, consumer intentions

Contrary to many, this study contends that activity-based costing (ABC) success ultimately depends on user acceptance of activity-based information (ABI) in the early stages of the ABC system implementation. The results of this study reveal that the level of effort required to use ABI will have a significant influence on user acceptance of ABI. The findings also suggest that the expected benefits of using ABI, use of ABI, and satisfaction with ABI are related to the complexity of the users’ task activities and level of involvement in the ABC system design.

Keywords: activity-based information, influence, task activities, user acceptance

The purpose of this paper is to test the information content of Statement of Financial Accounting Standard No. 131, “Disclosures About Segments of an Enterprise and the Related Information.” A random sample of one hundred and eleven companies of those listed in Business Week Global 1000 for the year 1997 was selected. These companies disclosed segment information before 1996 and applied the new standard afterward. Three statistical techniques; a dummy variable, analysis of variance, and contingency table analysis were utilized to test whether the new standard conveys useful information. The results indicate that adoption of the new standard does not statistically convey significant additional information that is relevant to the investors and other users of financial statements. Investors and other users of financial statements have already had access to the information disclosed under SFAS No. 131.

Keywords: investment outcomes, financial statements, Statement of Financial Accounting Standard No. 131

This study explores dominant cultural values in banner advertisements of the Top 100 U.S. Web Sites. The findings reveal that the dominant cultural values presented in U.S. online banner advertisements reflect the prevailing values of the society and technology features of the Internet. U.S. online banner advertisements exhibit more utilitarian appeal than symbolic appeal. The study also found that type of advertising appeal is associated with product type possessing the corresponding appeal. The results indicate that online banner advertisements reflect a convergence of the typical cultural norms of the American society and the particular features of Internet advertising medium. The dominance of utilitarian appeal in the banner advertisements corresponds to the nature of Internet advertising development. It also fits the American low-context culture, which prefers logical and factual manners to communicate thoughts and actions.

Keywords: online banner advertisements, cultural values, utilitarianism

In this paper, we analyze the evolution and pattern of ownership in Spanish-franchised chains, and we study some of the key factors or characteristics that can determine—from an organizational view—the proportion of franchised units. First, we represent how the percentage of franchised units varies with time for the 316 chains included in the sample. In order to detect existing differences, we have also divided chains into two basic groups—service and product chains. Second, taking into account data for 2003, we try to identify the key variables that significantly determine the propensity to franchise using ordinary least squares (OLS).

The paper is structured as follows. After a brief introduction, the description and meaning of the different variables used is explained. The third part of the paper is related to the data collection phase and, lastly, we refer to the basic conclusions and possible future extensions.

Keywords: franchising, ownership, Spain

This paper tests for Threshold Effects in inflation’s impact upon German productivity growth. We find differences in the impact of inflation upon German productivity growth depending upon the inflationary regime. No statistically significant impact from an inflation shock upon productivity growth is found if at the time of the shock inflation was in its “low” inflationary regime. If, however, inflation was in its “high” regime at the time of the inflationary shock, then the inflationary shock is found to have a significant negative impact upon productivity growth. This result is contrary to the existing literature examining inflation-productivity linkages for Germany, which fails to find any statistically significant impact from inflation upon productivity growth for the modern German era. The previous literature, however, did not allow for the possibility of a differential impact from inflation depending upon the initial level of inflation itself as in this work.

Keywords: inflation, productivity, Germany

This study examined from a dynamic perspective how the New York Times covered the SARS Epidemic. Based on a two-dimensional model, the study revealed that during the life span of the SARS Epidemic (March 2003 to January 2004), the newspaper employed a frame-changing strategy on both the time and space dimensions to maintain the salience of the event. An overwhelming majority of the stories employed the core frames, which were the frames that originally registered the event on the news agenda. The data also revealed that during the 11-month period, the newspaper shifted its focus on the core frame combinations, which further supported the role of the frame-changing strategy in the coverage of a long-lasting event.

Keywords: SARS, framing, U.S. press coverage

While e-commerce has thrived in some sectors of the U. S. economy, Internet-based commerce has not taken hold to the same extent in other sectors. One factor in explaining slow expansion of e-commerce in certain sectors of the economy has been the use of legal impediments to Internet commerce. Where competitors have had the most success in slowing e-commerce competition has been through state law barriers in such industries as wine, contact lenses, automobiles, caskets, online legal services, real estate, mortgages, and financial services. Recent court decisions, including the 2005 wine cases before the U. S. Supreme Court, demonstrate that courts are increasingly willing to strike down protectionist state and local laws that impede Internet commerce.

Keywords: e-commerce, expansion, U.S. court decisions

This study examines the relationship between the five modes of handling organizational conflict (as measured by the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument) and the two personality factors of self-monitoring and proactivity. Participants in this study were a mix of 157 undergraduate and graduate students from a large public university located in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Results show that self-monitoring was not significantly correlated with any of the five conflict handling strategies. Proactivity did show a significant positive association with the competing and collaborating styles, and a significant negative correlation with avoiding and accommodating styles. Implications for future research are discussed.

Keywords: conflict, strategic intentions, personality, self-monitoring

This paper reports on field research comparing initial and on-going designs of work groups in two different organizations. Four components including task structure, group boundaries, norms, and authority, were specifically compared. Teams designed within the context of these four components were much more effective than work groups designed without consideration of these components. This field study, therefore, supports earlier results that design activities have a positive impact on team performance and project outcome. In addition, appropriate design activities can result in stronger team self-management.

Keywords: team design, organizational style, performance

Recent research has been devoted to examining the types of organizational change associated with hospital closures, conversions, mergers, and the introduction of new organizational forms. The increased acceptance of divestiture as a strategy may reflect recent patterns of consolidation in the health care field that require hospital systems to cut back certain subsidiaries by removing assets that do not contribute to the core business and organizational mission of the system. Hospital divestitures enhance a health system’s performance by improving internal focus and integration among member hospitals. To gain an understanding of hospital system divestiture, factors that enhance a hospital's value to the system, and its likelihood of being retained, are identified. This study examines the association of hospital integration strategies and ownership control with divestiture decisions among health systems as well as to observe the effect of divestiture decisions on hospital financial performance.

Keywords: system integration, ownership control, decision-making, financial performance, hospitals

This paper seeks to examine the influence of nationality and gender on the effectiveness perception of sexual harassment reporting behaviors. Although gender did not impact whether the respondents viewed reporting harassment behaviors as effective, the influence of nationality was strongly supported. Specifically, we found that the U. S. respondents were more likely than Thai respondents to view decisions to report sexual harassment behaviors as more effective in stopping these unwanted advances. An unexpected, unhypothesized, interactive effect was also found, and its impact is illustrated and discussed. The practical implications and limitations of this study are also presented.

Keywords: sexual harrassment, gender, reporting

This paper focuses on the concept of rational decision-making and how it collapses during an imminent natural disaster. The authors have devised a model that incorporates the main decision-making processes and illustrates how they become intertwined with a “black box” that suspends rational decision-making. Further, when rational processes are not utilized, arational decisions may result. Hurricane Katrina and the Federal, State, and Local government response exemplifies this process. Recommendations are offered to minimize the Black Box effect.

Keywords: decision-making, disasters, Black-Box effect