An Empirical Study of the Effectiveness of Counsel in United States Tax Court Cases

Janene R. Finley, Ph.D., J.D., Augustana College, Rock Island, IL

Allan Karnes, J.D., Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Carbondale, IL

ABSTRACT

In the U.S. Tax Court, taxpayers may choose to be represented by counsel, including attorneys and non-attorneys, or to represent themselves.  This study examined the effectiveness of counsel representation as compared to pro se appearances in 3,200 Tax Court cases involving individual taxpayers over a period of 16 years.  The results of t-test and chi-square analyses suggested that taxpayers overall won about 15 percent of the time.  However, those who were represented by counsel had twice the percent reduction in the amount of tax assessed than those taxpayers who appeared pro se, and taxpayers were almost twice as likely to win with counsel than if they appeared pro se.  In the U.S. Tax Court, taxpayers may be represented by attorneys or others who are admitted to practice before the Tax Court.  An attorney may be admitted to practice before the Tax Court if he or she has been admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court or the highest court of a state or of the District of Columbia (U.S. Tax Court Rule 200(a)(2)).  Individuals who are not attorneys may be admitted to practice before the Tax Court if they pass a written examination given by the court (Rule 200(a)(3)).  If taxpayers do not wish to hire counsel to present their cases, they may represent themselves (Rule 24(b)).  It had been estimated that taxpayers represent themselves in approximately 40 percent of all regular tax cases (Daily 2003, 5/13).  Prior research that had examined the effectiveness of attorney representation in various courts found that litigants who were represented by attorneys tended to have an advantage over those who represented themselves, or appeared pro se.  Litigants who appeared pro se had a disadvantage compared to those who were represented by attorneys when presenting evidence in trials without a jury (Sheldon and Murray 2003, 228).  If a taxpayer does not agree with the results of an examination by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the taxpayer may appeal the tax assessment in the Tax Court.  In a Tax Court trial, which is a civil case, juries are not available and only one judge hears a case (U.S. Tax Court, About the Court). 

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The Relationship Between Wealth Creation and Professional Management in Small-Medium Enterprises

Dr. Eli Konorti, University of Phoenix, British Columbia

ABSTRACT

This mixed method study explored the relationship between the employment of professional managers and wealth creation in small-medium enterprises. Specifically, the study attempted to determine whether professional managers contribute to the profitability of small-medium enterprises in the secondary wood manufacturing industry. Furthermore, the study investigated the reasons why entrepreneurial firms have difficulty attracting and retaining professional managers. The study involved 36 secondary wood manufacturing firms engaged in the manufacture of a variety of products. The research validated that the more professional managers entrepreneurial firms employ, the greater profitability they realize and furthermore, entrepreneurial firms face major challenges in their pursuit to attract and retain professional management. Wealth creation, survival, and sustainability require that small-medium enterprises (SME) establish and institute strategic initiatives that lead to competitive advantage. The attraction and retention of professional management is one such strategic initiative (Drucker, 1987).  Peterson, Kozmetsky, and Ridgway (1983) wrote that small business is an important part of the American economic system. In 1997, close to 40 percent of American households worked for a SME creating 95 percent of the wealth in the United States (Swiercz and Lydon, 2002). Small-medium enterprises account for approximately 80 to 90 percent of all business enterprises (Phan, Butler, & Lee, 2005), and they create 50 percent of the employment and the gross national product (GNP). In Canada, 80 percent of the wealth is concentrated in the hands of family businesses that are often considered small-medium enterprises (Leighton & Thain as cited in Phan et al., 2005).

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Real Estate Foreclosures and/or Short Sales Tax Consequences

Raj Kiani, Ph.D., EA, Real Estate Agent and Professor of Accounting

California State University, Northridge California

ABSTRACT

Early in the decade, lenders were willing to loan money to home buyers with bad or no Credit (subprime loans). Lenders were hedging losses (i.e. from future foreclosures and/or Short sales) on the significant appreciation the housing market was experiencing.  Furthermore, lenders were offering borrowers adjustable-rate mortgages (Arm’s) tied to the federal funds rate (FFR). This is an excellent financing tool when the market conditions are right.  However, because of changes in the market conditions and recent economic recession, the real estate foreclosures and short sales begin to escalate and defaults increase. Currently, with home prices decreasing, home may have fair market values (FMVs) less than the associated mortgages. Foreclosures and/ or short sales on high loan –to-value recourse debt make the effects of the historical debt forgiveness provisions even worse. Homeowners, in addition, to losing their homes, may have to recognize ordinary income equal to the excess debt (i.e., debt less the home’s FMV).Moreover, if you transfer title on your home, whether voluntarily through a warranty deed of grant deed, or involuntarily through foreclosure, you have sold your home. You might be subject to taxes, even if you sold your home at a loss, either on a short sale or by foreclosure. When the economy falters, real estate foreclosures and/or short sales and related actions (voluntary reconveyance, abandonments) become facts of life. Foreclosure and /or shot sale are unfortunate and emotionally devastating events to happen in one’s life. So it is important to understand why a situation for foreclosure and /or short sale arises and what one can do to avoid it.

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Perceptions of Leadership under Conditions of Environmental Uncertainty

Dr. Crystal J. Scott, The University of Michigan – Dearborn, Dearborn MI

ABSTRACT

This study examines various leadership attributes, traits, and behaviors and synthesizes them into eight succinct dimensions of leadership (supportive, charisma, intelligent, responsibility, vision, integrity, risk taking, and challenges tradition).  The research takes a contextual view of leadership by examining the importance of these leadership dimensions under conditions of environmental uncertainty.  While all eight dimensions are important to high-performing leadership, supportive, charisma, and risk-taking are particularly important when there is uncertainty.  The findings also suggest further areas of study on leadership when there is industry competition and technological turbulence.  There are almost as many theories of leadership as there are papers on the subject.  This study aims to pull together theories that focus on the numerous attributes, traits, and behaviors that have been related to high-performing leadership.  We seek to synthesize these characteristics into succinct dimensions of leadership.  Our research takes a contextual view of leadership by considering aspects of the environment, such as industry competition and technological turbulence, as impacting the perceived importance of these leadership characteristics.Although much has been written on leadership, much less has focused on leadership in light of the organizational context.  As Porter and McLaughlin (2006, p.1) point out, “Leadership in organizations does not take place in a vacuum. It takes place in organizational contexts”. Porter and McLaughlin (2006) review the leadership literature from 1990-2005 to assess the extent that organizational context is used as a factor in the study of leadership. Overall they found 373 articles from 21 journals with a “moderate/strong” emphasis on organizational context. Out of the empirical studies they reviewed, only five of them considered organizational context as the “central variable of interest”. An additional limitation was the number of articles that covered transformational and/or charismatic leadership with little regard to other aspects of leadership.

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Veblenian Analysis of the Recent American Business Cycle

Dr. Adil H. Mouhammed, University of Illinois at Springfield, IL

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the recent American business cycle of 2001--present by using a general explanation grounded in Veblen’s and Mitchell’s theories of the business cycle. The expansionary phase of the business cycle, which is the outcome of increased profits is explained by various sources, including the low cost of doing business, high investment and consumption expenditures which increase prices and revenues, globalization, and the support of various institutions. The recessionary phase, which is explained by the reduction in profits, is analyzed by the same sources as they operate in the opposite direction.The last recession in the American economy, which started in March 2001 and ended in November 2001, lasted eight months. That recession was followed by an economic expansion lasted until December 2007, an expansion of 73 months. During the economic expansion unemployment and inflation were on the average of 5.3 and 2.83 percent, respectively, and labor productivity increased by an average of about 2.5 percent. The average weekly real wages increased by 0.38 of one percent, because the economy was not able to create high-paying jobs. Clearly, the increase in wages was lower than the inflation rate by about 2.45 percent. That is, the American people lost 2.45 percent of the purchasing power of their income: disguised exploitation. In addition, the number of poor people was 32.9 million in 2001 and increased to 37.3 million during the expansion.

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Beating Insiders: Illusion or Reality? An Empirical Analysis

Dr. Huabing (Barbara) Wang, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, TX

ABSTRACT

Section 16(a) and 16(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 require insiders to disclose their insider transactions in a timely fashion and subject insiders to binding constraints of not being able to unwind their insider transactions within six months. From the perspective of outsiders who are aware of the timing and price of insider transactions, they may be able to purchase the stocks insiders have purchased at a better price over the period insiders are locked in their transactions. This paper explores this possibility and finds that 87 percent of purchases made by company executives over the sample period of 1996-2006 are beatable. In a logit framework, we further document transactions that are more likely to be beatable: (1) larger-sized insider purchases, (2) insider purchases of smaller company stocks, (3) insider purchases made by company executives other than CFOs, and (4) insider purchases occurred after the accelerated insider reporting rule of 2002.The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 classifies corporate officers, corporate directors, and any person with greater than 10 percent stake in a company as corporate insiders. Corporate insiders have substantial information advantage over the public. Prior studies show that insiders, especially executives, earn higher abnormal returns when they purchase. To maintain the fairness and integrity of the stock market, regulators subject insider trading to various regulations and vigorous monitoring. For example, insiders are required to make public their insider transactions including transaction prices in a timely fashion (Section 16(a)). Meanwhile, they are not allowed to unwind their transactions within six months (Section 16(b)). Therefore, outside investors are aware of the timing and price of insider transactions, and thus may be able to follow insider transactions at a better price over the period insiders are locked in their prior transactions.

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Alternative Methods of Incorporating International Financial Reporting Standards

(IFRS) into the Accounting Curriculum

Dr. Consolacion Fajardo, National University, CA

Dr. Gregory Merrill, National University, CA

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the pedagogical options and preferences for incorporating International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) into the accounting curriculum. The preferences of accounting faculty at National University on four (4) different methods for incorporating IFRS into the accounting curriculum: (1) as a separate course, (2) as part of every course, (3) in both Intermediate and Advanced Accounting, and (4) in Advanced Accounting only, are examined.  Survey Questionnaires were sent to full-time and part-time accounting faculty and the results were analyzed using appropriate statistical techniques.  For many years, the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) was the most dominant basis of accounting in the world providing a foundation for the reliability of U.S. financial markets.  However, due to numerous corporate accounting scandals, the investing public quickly lost faith in the corporate reporting model.  In recent years International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have quickly emerged as the accounting standards followed by most of the world's capital markets. The European Union mandated IFRS adoption for listed companies within member countries generally starting January 1, 2005. Around 100 countries have either adopted in total IFRS or are converging with IFRS (Larson & Brady, 2009).  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also considered the use of IFRS in the United States. In December 2007, the SEC granted permission to foreign private companies using IFRS without having to make a reconciliation to U.S. GAAP.  In August 2008, the SEC issued a proposed roadmap (current proposal) for public comment.  The current proposal is the move forward towards the potential mandatory adoption of IFRS by all U.S. public companies (Munter & Reckers. 2009). 

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Big 4, "Next 4", and Smaller Accounting Firms: Resignations v. Dismissals and the Outcome of the Auditor Change Process

Dr. Charles P. Cullinan, Bryant University

Dr. Hui Du, University of Houston – Clear Lake

ABSTRACT

The GAO (2008) documents a material realignment in the audit market from 2002 to 2006. Many of these changes involved clients moving between the different tiers of CPA firms. In this paper, we examine the potential effects of the tier of the former auditor on the likelihood of resignation, and the tier status of the new CPA firm. Using a sample of 875 auditor changes from 2003 to 2008, we find that auditor resignations are more prevalent among Next 4 firms than they are among Smaller firms or the Big 4 firms. We find that Big 4 firms charge higher fees, but there was no difference between the fees charged by the Next 4 and Smaller firms. We also find that if the former auditor resigns from the engagement, the client is more likely to engage an auditor from a lower tier of auditing firms. Overall, our results suggest the Next 4 CPA firms are more selective in their choice of clients than they have been in the past. A recent report from the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO, 2008) examined concentration in the market for audit services among publicly traded companies. Among most sizes of publicly traded companies, the market share of the Big 4 accounting firms decreased from 2002 to 2006. For example, among small publicly traded companies (defined as publicly-traded company with revenues less than $100 million), the market share of Big 4 firms decreased by half, from 44% in 2002 to 22% in 2006. What was not addressed by the GAO study was the nature of these auditor realignments. Were these changes initiated by Big 4 accounting firms resigning from clients, or did they results from client decisions to change auditors? This information may be of interest because if the realignments were largely client-driven decisions, this would suggest that the value of a Big 4 auditor may no longer be considered worth the incremental cost that Big 4 firms typically charge for their services. Our objective in this paper is to examine auditor-client realignments from 2003 to 2008 to determine if these realignments were an auditor driven or client driven process.

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A Study of Peruvian Entrepreneurs’ Leadership Expectations

Sergio G. Matviuk, Ph.D., Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA

ABSTRACT

Entrepreneurship studies literature reports several research efforts aimed to determine entrepreneurs’ personal characteristics. However, the literature indicates there has been little research to determine how entrepreneurs understand and practice leadership. This article reports the findings of an empirical study oriented to identify leadership behavior expectations of Peruvian entrepreneurs. Based on the concepts of leadership perceptions, prototypes and expectations, the study assessed leadership behavior expectations of 655 Peruvian entrepreneurs. Leadership behaviors expectations were assessed by using the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) adapted to describe an ideal leader. Findings suggest that Peruvian entrepreneurs hold the perception that an ideal leader enables people to act in the first place, and secondly serves as a role model while encourages followers to action. Findings also suggest that Peruvian entrepreneurs have lower expectations regarding leaders’ vision setting and communication, and innovation and risk taking. Further analysis also indicated that gender, age and years of experience as an entrepreneur have no significant impact on participants’ leadership behavior expectations. A review of the existing entrepreneurship studies’ literature indicates that entrepreneurs posses particular characteristics. Although in the literature there is not a universally accepted set of entrepreneurs’ characteristics (Raposo, do Paco & Ferreira, 2008), there is evidence of an important effort from scholar and researchers to determine what personal characteristics entrepreneurs posses.Casson (1982) identified risk taking and innovativeness as personal characteristics of successful entrepreneurs and also stated that entrepreneurs are knowledgeable about how markets function, how to produce goods or services, how to market products or services, how to manage a business and how to network.

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Introduction to Quantitative Methods in Business: An experimental Approach Without the Use of Calculus

Dr. Bharat R. Kolluri, University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT

Dr. Rao Singamsetti, University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to present some topics in an introductory quantitative methods course for undergraduate business students who have taken algebra and pre-calculus courses as prerequisites but not calculus.  This is due to lack of direct applicability of calculus techniques such as differentiation and integration in business applications.  Methods that are alternative to calculus are presented and illustrated with examples.  Topics covered include, marginal value, price elasticity of demand and optimization techniques with and without constraints.The undergraduate program of study in business at the University of Hartford used to require M110 Pre-Calculus, M112 Calculus, QNT230 Business Statistics and QNT231 Quantitative Analysis for Business Decisions.  Recently, we adopted the non-calculus-based approach to quantitative methods in business for several reasons. First, the calculus taken as a pre-requisite fails to provide direct utility in understanding of the concepts and applications in business.  For example, the topic of integration has a minimal use in any business quantitative course, because most often the probability tables are used in determining the required areas and/or critical values.  As another example, the concepts of marginal value, elasticity could be easily introduced without the use of derivative.  Second, the calculus-based techniques in quantitative courses may turn off the student away from real use of business data and interpretations.  For example, too much time may be devoted to derivations and technical computations rather than emphasis on business relevance and reasoning.  Third, the traditional calculus based approach introduces too many symbols and cumbersome notations taking away the students' attention from problem solving aspects of business.  For example, students are often confused between partial derivative  and total derivative.  Fourth, the availability of the state of the art computer technology facilitates broader coverage of topics as well as de-emphasizing the calculus-based techniques and computations.  For example, computations on large scale data sets have become easier by the use of computer technology.

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Calculating NPV and IRR with Sub-Annual and Seasonal Cash Flow Patterns

Dr. David Cary, University of Michigan, Dearborn and Stalla/Becker Professional Education

ABSTRACT

Most corporate finance textbooks present a standard method of calculating Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) by assuming that the cash flows from the project are at year end. Unfortunately that is rarely the situation in the real world.  Cash inflows and outflows will usually occur during the year, and frequently in non-synchronized patterns.McMath (1989) demonstrated that level sub-annual flows could be simply adjusted to year end flows to compute NPV and while the IRR for the projects is also given in the examples, the method of calculation is not discussed.   The McMath NPV method simplifies the calculations compared to the brute force method of calculating the present value of every cash flow at the appropriate time, a method that would lead to over 1,000 cash flow listings for a three year project with daily cash flows.  This paper will derive a straight forward method for calculating IRR for projects with sub-annual cash flows and then expand the analysis to include methods for calculating both the NPV and IRR for projects with realistic patterns of seasonal cash flows. Often corporate finance textbooks try to finesse the sub-annual cash flow problem by assuming end of year cash flows in the calculation of the weighted average cost of capital used for the discount rate to offset using end of year flows for the projects being examined.  However, this is rarely an appropriate adjustment.  For a simple example, assume a firm is 100% financed by equity with a current stock price of $10.00, a quarterly dividend of $0.15, and an expected annual growth rate in the price of the stock of 4%.  The effective annual return for the stock would be (1 + 0.15/10.00)⁴ -1 + 4% = 10.14% compared to the nominal return of 10% (= 0.60/10.00 + 4%) assuming a single annual dividend paid at year end. 

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Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation Applied in the Performance Assessment of Service

Quality of Insurance Companies in Taiwan

Dr. Hsing-Ping Kuo, Southern Taiwan University

ABSTRACT

The management over service quality comes with multiple dimensions and it is improper to measure the complex dimensions of service quality in a traditional model.  Thus, this research is designed with the method of Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation to integrate five dimensions of service quality scales which were proposed by Parsuraman, Zeithaml and Berry(1988).  The five dimensions of SERVQUAL were tested with five insurance companies using the method of Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation to analyze the entire service quality performance in the Taiwanese insurance market and to suggest implementation priorities of service strategies.  The results of this research will allow managers and decision-makers of insurance companies understand the benchmarking insurance companies in Taiwan, together with the service strategies performed by their competitors. Also, it assists decision-makers of insurance companies to consider the importance of the said five dimensions to correct the service quality of companies.  This method can also be used to explore strengths and weaknesses for insurance companies in order to conduct strategy planning in the future.  Recently, because peoples' income has been increasing, the demands on life insurance are also growing. Thus, the frequency of people's demands for life insurance and investment activities are increasing substantially with resultantly vigorous activities in the insurance market.  Because the transactions of insurance companies are involved with high frequencies for service contact, the relationship among people will naturally be intimate and important.  Thus, how to implement highly efficient service strategies based on the original resource layout of various insurance companies will be an issue worthy of further exploration.  The traditional statistical methods always show a fixed answer in evaluating respondents' replies（such as Likert Scales）. 

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Customers’ Perceived Brand Equity and A Research on the Customers of Bellona

Which is a Turkish Furniture Brand

Dr. H. Anıl Degermen Erenkol, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey

Adnan Duygun, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey

ABSTRACT

Extensive competitive environment that the enterprises are confronted with today and their competition in being different among thousands of similar products that could draw consumers’ attention necessitate the products to have certain elements of differentiation other than their physical characteristics. One of the primary reasons of the necessity in question is that the effort in differentiating the physical specifications of a product from other products is not always successful and the efforts made could cause unnecessary losses of time and money. Therefore, recently, it has been observed that the enterprises focus on “brand value” which is an important element in differentiating both the enterprise and the products they offer. The motive under this focus is that especially nowadays the brand is an important means of competition and the increasing brand value would bring great advantages to the enterprises. For the brand value concept to be established appropriately by the enterprise and to be applied accurately, first of all, correct measurement of the brand value is extremely important. Hence, the brand value concept brings along the question of measuring the brand value. For this reason, the brand value and the measurement of the brand value issues appear in the literature as the issues of utmost importance. There are two types of methods in the literature which are used for measuring the brand value. These are the financial methods and the methods based on consumer behavior. In the studies conducted, sometimes the brand value is measured based on one of these methods, and in other cases the brand value is measured using both two methods together at the same time. In this study, the brand value of Bellona, which is one of the leading furniture brands in Turkey, is measured in accordance with the method based on consumer behavior via a questionnaire survey conducted on the customers of Bellona. 

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Green Industry’s Sustainable Development and Government’s Motivation Strategy

Dr. Chen-Kuo Lee, Ling Tung University, Taiwan

Hsueh-yung Hsueh, Ling Tung University, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

Green industry makes remarkable contributions to Taiwan’s sustainable development. As a strategic industry, the green industry helps the enterprises across Taiwan and the entire society to upgrade economic benefits and social welfare. This study concentrates on the game equilibrium between the preferential policy promulgated by Taiwan government, the fundamental environment, and the green industry thereby present recommendations to facilitate the system implementation and decision-making process for the development of green industry in Taiwan. This study find that, despite the necessity of expanding the preferential policy, an optimal environment is the only assurance for the rapid development of the green industry in the long-run and, furthermore, a flawless fundamental environment plays the most critical role that upgrades the optimal degree for the environment. Apparently, the incentives for the fundamental environment is by all means more important than the incentives for the preferential policy in the long-run. In this connection, the fundamental environment inspires the development of green industry ultimately. Therefore, system renovation and technical renovation are the only way for Taiwan government to improve the fundamental environment for the green industry and upgrade the optimal degree for the environment thereby promote the sustainable development for the green industry. Peace and development have become the major concerns across the world ever since the Cold War ended. Triggered by the conflicts and confrontations resulted from population and resource utilization, the environment issues is attracting more and more attentions from the international community.

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Developing a Brand for the Sabah State in Malaysia: Empirical Research Among its Tourists

Mandy Mok Kim Man, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Sabah, Malaysia

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the importance of evaluating Sabah state’s image as an ecotourism destination. Like consumer products, states are increasingly trying to brand themselves in order to appeal more strongly to the tourism market. Consumers continue to rely on country and state images to pick their tourism destinations. According to the literature review, effective state branding should reinforce positives images, thereby providing a competitive advantage in world markets. The important role of identity in branding is discussed, and the process of image evaluation as a self-analysis process leading toward building a strong destination brand is considered. Image evaluation is important for Sabah state as an ecotourism destination. This study addresses the theory and practice of country branding, providing recommendations for Sabah state’s ecotourism branding. The study proposes that Sabah be associated with its natural beauty and offers a number of recommendations derived from branding theory. Brands have been considered as marketers’ key tool for creating product differentiation (Kotler and Gertner, 2002). According to Kapferer (1998), the two functions of brand are to distinguish different products and to indicate a product’s origin. Konecnik (2004) indicated that destination branding is a new research area. State branding is important because consumers rely heavily on country or state images to make their economic decisions. The concept of ecotourism requires careful management to ensure ongoing sustainability through a strategic balance of numbers and yield. The key to achieving an optimal return on tourism investment is to develop and manage the ecotourism brand by identifying and understanding the target audience—in other words, to get into the heads of the audience (stand out) and deliver ecotourism branding messages in a way that they will understand them.

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Examining and Comparing the Competitiveness of Tourism Industry in Cambodia and

Taiwan: An Assessment from Professionals

Yu-Ping Lee, Shu-Te University, Taiwan

Ching-Yaw Chen, Professor, Shu-Te University, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

The development of competitiveness indicators links with the existing and potential tourism flow to one destination. Our result of our previous research on Tourism Competitiveness of Cambodia showed that while Cambodia’s tourism has a lot of strengths, there is still a lot of space to improve. However, one famous Taiwanese tourism professional stated publicly that Taiwan’s tourism cannot be compared to only one Angkor Wat of Cambodia alone. This triggered our interest to conduct this study. Is Taiwan’s tourism industry less competitive than Cambodia’s? In what areas? And, why? This study aims at examining and comparing tourism competitiveness of Cambodia and Taiwan from the perspectives of academia and industries in both destinations. Tourism competitiveness is measured by 7 factors categorized as endowed resources, created resources, supporting factors, destination management, situational conditions, demand condition, and market performance, benchmarked from previous research. The result showed that Cambodia has more strengths and opportunities than Taiwan in terms of natural and heritage resources, location of the destination, government’s policy, and environmental management. These strengths can be the explanation to that famous Taiwanese tourism professional’s speech. However, Taiwan also has some competitive advantages over Cambodia in terms of created and supporting resources, human resource, and marketing strategies. From the authors’ perspective, Cambodian tourism has stronger core competencies, for we believe that the competitive advantages Taiwan’s tourism has over Cambodia’s are not rare and unique and can be overtaken once the economy situation of Cambodia improves. Tourism is known to be one of the most dynamic and fastest growing sectors. It has recently emerged as an important contributor to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and has become a main economic indicator for many countries in the world.

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Developing Place Marketing Strategies to Promote the Redevelopment of the Historic Main Streets

to Take Better Advantage of Globalization: The Case Study of Tainan City, Taiwan

Dr. Kang-Li Wu, National Cheng-Kung University, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

Given the impact of globalization and a new policy direction that emphasizes place marketing and urban redevelopment, the issue of developing place marketing strategies to promote the redevelopment of historic main streets has received widespread attention in Taiwan. However, how the issue could be efficiently and effectively addressed in current planning practice remains a critical research question. Employing the concept of place marketing, and using the renowned cultural city in Taiwan-Tainan city-as the empirical example, this study attempts to explore the issue. By employing research methods that involve interviews, field surveys, and a fuzzy questionnaire survey, this research identifies the core values and issues that influence the redevelopment of the historic main street in Tainan city. This is followed by the reposition of the redevelopment of the historic main street district. Based on the analysis of planning and marketing environment, this paper suggests a set of marketing and planning strategies in order to promote the redevelopment of historic main streets in Tainan city in order to take better advantage of the trend of globalization.Historic main streets are valuable cultural capitals that represent the collective memory and shared images of cities. They are also important resources to promote cultural tourism under the trend of globalization. Nonetheless, amongst the urban environment in Taiwan, many unique historic main streets are gradually losing their functions and identity due to the trend of globalization and rapid urbanization.  Moreover, many historic street districts are facing problems of environmental deterioration, lose of economic activities, and social inequity.  Therefore, how decision makers and urban planners should reposition and redevelop historic main streets and their surrounding blocks given the trend of globalization has become an important and urgent research issue. 

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Potential Determinants of Brand Extension Success: Direct and Indirect Effects

Esra Sonmezler Arikan, Bogazici University, Istanbul

ABSTRACT

Even though many studies on the potential determinants of brand extension success have been conducted, in those studies, only the direct relationships between brand extension success (dependent variable) and potential success factors (independent variables) have been tested, disregarding the fact that some success factors may constitute dependent variables in other relationships. Prior research suggests that customer acceptance of a brand extension is affected greatly by the perceived fit between the extension and the parent brand. Yet, in real life, it is not difficult to find examples of brands that have been extended successfully into relatively distant categories. At this point, the proposed indirect effects that other success factors have on brand extension success through perceived fit may help explain this discrepancy between prior research and marketplace observations. Thus, the proposed model not only considers the direct relationships between success factors and extension success but also the relationships between perceived fit and other success factors, offering various managerial implications that can be very helpful for reducing the fear of launching non-similar extensions and expanding the boundary of extension products. Leveraging brand equity through brand extensions is a strategic option for a firm looking to grow. Brand extensions are products and services that an organization offers beyond its core product (Keller, 2003). When a brand uses its established name to introduce a new product, the risks associated with the launch of the new offering as well as the investments needed are lowered, and there are higher chances that the new product will be successful (Tauber, 1988). Trusting in an established brand with which they may have had prior experience, consumers are more willing to purchase the extension because of the quality assurance they receive from the known brand name (Romeo, 1991).

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Gulf Bank, Kuwait Corporate Strategy and Management Issues

Dr. Ahmad Assaf Alfadly, Gulf University for Science & Technology, Kuwait

ABSTRACT

Gulf Bank reported a net loss of KD359.5 million for the year 2008, due mainly to exceptional losses in derivative transactions, but also from losses on its investment and loan portfolios relating to the global financial meltdown. This study discusses the challenges facing Gulf Bank and reviews strategies that could be adopted to face them, covering many issues that together reflect the significance of banking in our economies.  Strategy is the art of organizing or coordinating the means (money, human resources, and materials) to accomplish the ends (profit, customer satisfaction and company growth) as defined by company policy and objectives.  According to Paley (2006), strategy is defined further as actions to achieve long term objectives, which exists at three levels. First, higher level of corporate strategy: In this strategy, the manager's aim is to coordinate and deploy company resources toward filling his/her company's vision for the future, along with related long term objectives. Second, mid-level strategy: In this level strategy operates at the division business unit department.  It is more specific than corporate strategy.  Third, lower-level strategy: The low level strategy requires a shorter time frame than those at the two higher levels.  This study aims to analyze the issues regarding Management and Corporate Level strategy. As we probably know, many firms operate multiple business units in different environments and various situations. Also, the study discusses the financial returns associated with various corporate level strategies and the role that top managers' motives may play in corporate acquisitions.  Corporate Level strategy arms senior managers and planners of a corporation with a set of approved strategic principles and clear guidelines for successfully managing a diverse, multi-business company.  Here, I demonstrate that developing a clear corporate-level strategy to reach parenting advantage is essential to the successful portfolio management of a multi-business corporation.

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A Taxonomy Model for a Strategic Co-Branding Position

Wei-Lun Chang, Tamkang University, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

In the competitive and shifting business environment, creating non-replaceable value and strengthening core competences are critical. M&A is the best strategy for survival because of one rule: the big ones get bigger. This study investigates the effects of co-branding strategies and strategic alliances in order to propose a co-branding taxonomy. It analyzes co-branding from four dimensions and two perspectives: The perspectives are the management and brand perspectives, and the dimensions are goals, reasons for M&A, brand image, market segmentation, financial reports, and reasons for successful/failure. Hence, this research furnishes a roadmap and guideline for future co-branding strategies and provides clues for managers in decision-making related to brand alliances. In the competitive and shifting business environment, creating non-replaceable value and strengthening core competences are critical. Merger and acquisition (M&A) has become a significant strategy that assists companies in gaining competitive advantages in a global environment. M&A allows firms to develop in vertical and/or horizontal dimensions, to expand scales of business, and to handle advanced technologies.  Drucker (1992) indicated that it is inevitable that companies evolve into globally allied businesses. Ohmae (1989) specified that alliances are essential for business strategies based on diffusion of IT, cost increments, and protection of trade. Thomson Financial reported that total revenues of M&A reached US$3.87 trillion in 2006 (as shown in Figure 1). According to Bloomberg LP (11/20/2006), the global scale of M&A in 2006 was US$3.1 trillion, which was a50% growth compared to 2004 and 7 times higher than 2003. Forty-seven percent of the M&A activity was in Europe and the US. M&A is not only a trend but an altering process for specific areas or domestic industries.

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IPO Profit Forecasts Regulation and Earnings Management

Dr. Norashikin Ismail, Accounting Research Institute and Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia

Dr. Pauline Weetman, University of Edinburgh Business School, UK

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the impact of revised regulation of earnings forecast on management reporting behaviour for the period of three different regulations 1996, 1998 and year 2000 using working capital accruals  model.  The regulatory changes affecting earnings forecast disclosure in company prospectus which has taken place in January 1996 and the government regulation is applied to penalise under achievement of forecasts beyond a defined range is expected to influence management behaviour in reporting their actual earnings.  Earnings management measured in terms of discretionary accruals is computed for the year of forecast issuance and three years after the IPO. The results show that median discretionary accruals for examined IPO companies are highest and significantly positive at the 1% level in the year when the forecast is made in the prospectus and  managers continue to manage earnings during the period after listing where there is continuing regulatory scrutiny.  Our findings are mainly consistent with the evidence from prior research that there are positive abnormal accruals in the year of an IPO and that the positive abnormal accruals persist during regulated periods subsequent to listing.  Companies in a regime of mandatory earnings forecasts disclosure may have a greater cost associated with disclosure.  The disclosure regulation is likely to encourage IPO companies to issue more optimistic forecasts, sending positive signals to the market so that the IPO proceeds may be maximised.  Inaccurate forecasts give the appearance of company instability and high risk.  It may be assumed that security and reputation are in some way dependent on reported profits.  In adjusting earnings to reach forecasted targets, managers are presumably attempting to establish positive reputations in order to, for example, raise the company’s stock price. 

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The Constraints and Obstacles Facing Women in Auditing Profession: The Case of Jordan

Dr. Muhammad Yassein Rahahleh, Al-al Bayt University, Jordan

ABSTRACT

The study aims to identify the constraints and obstacles facing women in auditing profession in Jordan. The Likert Scale was used on various statements of the constraints and obstacles facing women in auditing profession mentioned in the questionnaires. An independent t-test was carried out on the respondents’ perceptions. The analysis noted that the perception of women and men external auditors on the constraints and obstacles facing women in auditing profession is significantly different in general while some characteristics as individual, shows no significance difference between male and females auditors. Meanwhile, the study revealed that finally, using the linear regression, the study found that there is a significant relationship between women's salary in internal auditing the constraints and obstacles facing women in auditing profession experienced by women auditors while there is significant relationship in external auditing profession  Women have traditionally been attracted to careers in teaching, nursing, information, and library services... etc. however, increasing numbers of women progress to top positions in both small and large firms in public and private sectors. But while the numbers of women holding the top positions increases, the view is still expressed that it is more difficult for a woman to reach some professions than it is for a man. The process of feminization of the accountancy profession has well been documented by contemporary feminist accounting researchers. Women have been entering the accountancy profession in increasing numbers since the early 1980’s (Chung, 2000; McNicholars et al., 2000). Currently there are increasing numbers of female accounting students enrolled in Jordanian universities, recent statistics shows that female represents more than (34.8%) of the accountant students in Jordan.

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 A Study on Safety Systems in Canoe Sports –A Case of 2007 International Canoe Slalom

Championship in Nantou County, Taiwan

Ming-Chieh Wu, Chienkuo Technology University, Taiwan

Dr. Pei-Ling Wu, Chienkuo Technology University, Taiwan

Dr. Ching-San Chiang, Chienkuo Technology University, Taiwan

Ju-Mei Hung, Chienkuo Technology University, Taiwan

Dr. Jaw-Sin Su, Chinese Culture University, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

 Injuries to canoe sports racers may come from accidents. The reasons for injuries, not attributed to people, could come from sets of hardware. Avoiding hardware injuries to racers is an important issue. In this research, we constructed the safety system of hardware sets, environment and tangible objects. These consisted of weather and course, equipments and facilities and outfits, respectively, for canoe sports to detect uncertain accidents. To prove that the model could be applied to the practical field of the 2007 International Canoe Slalom Championship in Central Taiwan, the Shui-Li River in Nantou County, was the case example. Conclusions were that the system could detect the risk cost in canoe sport accidents, and that the model could be used to protect racers from injury through the insurance system.  The canoe and kayak were developed for hunting, fishing, transporting, and traveling in ancient times (Row, 1993). Many kinds of canoes were used in racing (Chiang, 1997). The canoe slalom in whitewater was developed in 1920 (Szanto and Dallos, 1987). Canoe slalom racing has appeared three times in the Olympics; 1972, 1992, and 1996 (Searle and Vaile, 1996). In Taiwan, the "Du-Mu Zhou, in Chinese", was the name for canoeing or kayaking over more than hundred years (Out-Side Sports, 1981), The Chinese Taipei Kayak Association was established in 1991 (CTKA, 1996).

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Quality of the Lighting in Taiwan’s Three Inline Hockey Rinks

Chin-Hsien Hsu, National Chin-Yi University of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan R.O.C.

ABSTRACT

 This research is a survey of the quality of lighting in three of Taiwan’s hockey rinks, which are respectively located in Dajia Riverside Park (in Taipei City), Hemei Park (in Changhua), and Dapingding (Xiaogang District, Kaohsiung). Data were collected and analyzed using SPSS for 11.0. The results show that the horizontal illuminance values at three rinks were 65Lux, 98Lux, and 238Lux respectively. Among the three inline hockey rinks, the one in Dapingding was the only one that lived up to “leisure” grade while the other two fell short of the standards. Secondly, the maximum/minimum illuminance ratios at the three rinks were measured at 58, 38, and 5.5 respectively, which means that none of the three rinks lived up to the max/min illuminance ratio standards. Considering variance, the rink in Dajia Riverside Park was measure at 0.85, the one in Hemei Park at 0.8, and the one in Dapingding at 1.3, which means that none of the three rinks lived up to the variance standards, either.  Since late twentieth century, many professional sports leagues have spread of their places of origin, Huang Yu (2002) observed. And pushed by the trend, inline hockey teams for different age groups have set up one after another in Taiwan (Hou Xiao-ning, 2009). According to Zhang Gong-hong (2001), for the last more than a decade, inline hockey has been taken up by a growing number of people and inline hockey population is ranked in the top-five of Taiwan’s total sporting population.

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Female Labor Force Participation in Korea from a Historical Perspective

Namchul Lee, Ph.D., Fellow, Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education & Training

Ji-Sun Chung, Ph.D., Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education & Training

ABSTRACT

 Female labor force participation has increased in Korea during decades. This increase has been a result from improvements of labor market conditions and due to the diversification of social structures and opportunities available for women. Using various aggregate data, we find that the effect of fertility rate on labor force participation is negative. The women’s educational attainment and labor force participation have increased relatively to men’s labor force participation. The effect of education and female labor force is positive in Korea. Highly educated female workers defer and have high labor force participation. These issues are relevant to gender differences when it comes to employment associated with increased female education.  The most dramatic change of labor supply in Korea has brought tremendous increase in the number of Working Women. In 1980, less than 6.0 million of 15.6 million labor force participations were women. However, women labor force grew to 10.0 million, an unprecedented number in 2007. Women’s labor force participation rates increased sharply from 47.0 percent in 1980 to 50.2 percent in 2008. The dynamics of change in the pattern of female labor force participation are apparent from the aged participation profiles for women during the same period. In Korea, GNI per capita increased more than twenty times from 1973 to 1997, from US $401 to US $11,176.  However, there was deep recession in the Korean economy after the financial crisis in 1997. GNI per capita dropped to US $7,355 in 1998.  The female labor force participation rate reached 47.1 percent in 1998. It was estimated that the national competitiveness kept slackening and many concerned voices were being heard that the economic hardship could not be overcome within a short period of time.

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Leadership Style Orientations of Senior Executives in Australia: Senior Executive

Leadership Profiles: An Analysis of 54 Australian Top Managers

James B. Hunt, University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia

ABSTRACT

 Research into the personality trait antecedents of executive leadership styles demonstrates the links between dispositional anchors and the following leadership orientations; autocratic, democratic, visionary-inspirational and laissez-faire.  Australian senior executives in this study are shown to have a strong achievement-orientation, a tendency toward visionary-inspirational leadership, and a range of tendencies toward autocratic and democratic leader behaviours.  This profile emerged out of a study in which 54 senior executives participated, and provides an update on previous senior executive leadership studies conducted on representative samples of top-level Australian managers (eg; Wood and Vilkinas, 2005; Hunt, 2006; Brown and Sarma, 2007). The purpose of this study is to provide new insights into the leadership-style orientations of senior executives presiding over medium and large private sector organisations in Australia.  This study presents an updated perspective on corporate executive leader behaviour, by building on the top management leadership-profile studies conducted by Mukhi (1982), Sarros and Butchatsky (1996), Wood and Vilkinas (2005), Hunt (2006), Brown and Sarma (2007), and Lau, Sinnadurai and Wright (2009).  Specifically, autocratic and democratic predispositions to leadership are investigated, along with individual achievement-orientation and visionary-inspirational leadership, through the identification of trait-based indicators.

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The Construction of Scales for the Measurement of Non-profit Volunteer Free time Management

Dr. Chin-Shyang Shyu. National Taichung Institute of Technology, Taiwan, R. O. C.

Dr. Tun-Li Chen, Hungkuang University, Taiwan, R.O.C

ABSTRACT

 The Non-profit Volunteer Free Time Management Scale employed in this study is compiled based on the time management scale developed by Britton and Glynn(1989), Huffstutter and Smith (1989) and Macan (1994). The original scale has 21items in five constructs. The scale was evaluated by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to verify its reliability and validity, measurement model, and overall model fit. The result showed all measurement indexes in the Non-profit Volunteer Free Time Management Scale meet the standard of the goodness-of-fit index. In an effort to effectively compete in our globalized market, while aiming to improve the quality of customer service, the public sector is focused on reducing present financial burdens on the government through outsourcing and privatization. This movement comes with the expectations of organizational downsizing, increased flexibility and improved administrative efficiency. Non-profit organizations play a role in the integration of abundant social resources and the organization of invaluable volunteers. These organizations also make efforts regarding environmental protection, gender equity, human rights, humanitarian aid, and other international affairs via systematic and effective management policies. In recent years, the number of non-profit organizations has climbed; as of the end of 2008, a total of 31,994 government-registered social groups have been established. Among these, 10,228 groups are focused on social services and charity, outnumbering registered groups in 2004 by 7,846 (Taiwan Ministry of the Interior, 2009); over the last decade, Taiwan has seen a substantial increase in non-profit organizations. Non-profit organizations are categorized as part of the service industry with volunteers being one of the core elements.

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Information Model of Quality of Bank Lending to Croatian SMEs

Dr. Ljiljana Viducic, University of Split

Dr. Vinko Viducic, University of Split

Dr. Damir Boras, University of Zagreb

ABSTRACT

 The object of the analysis in this paper is satisfaction of entrepreneurs with bank lending practice in Croatia. The following fundamental scientific methods have been applied: synthesis and analysis, inductive and deductive methods, descriptive and comparative methods, survey, statistics and modelling (growth matrix). Based on the qualitative and survey analysis, using growth model, authors have formulated information model of quality of bank lending as perceived by Croatian entrepreneurs for the period from 2009 to 2016. Synergetic relations among main features of quality of bank lending have been provided. In the case of Croatian small businesses, the main burdening factor, when bank lending is considered, is an availability of long-term loans. Indirect growth rates of the model indicate that collateral and interest rates will have the greatest influence on this factor. Quantification of the model renders to the creators of the economic policy the basis for policy measures and strategy formulation in order to boost small businesses development.  Small entrepreneurship has been recognised as a locomotive of the economic and social progress. This role requires huge investments and they, in turn, require an approach to financial resources to a suitable extent and under suitable terms. The entrepreneurs' approach to the financial resources is the issue that both developing and developed countries are very interested in.

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The Fragile Structure of  Turkey’s Macro Economy and  The Neuroeconomics

Dr. Haldun Soydal, Selcuk University, Konya, Turkey

Fatma Nur Yorgancılar, Selcuk University, Konya, Turkey

ABSTRACT

 In this study, at first; it is explicated that the world countries’s – they have been in the globalization process - their tries’s dimensions that are about owning a comparative advantage as other countries, having a major voice in international platform, with the proviso that is following various strategies and methods, and their policies which they placed them on either economical or political frameworks for achieving their these purposes, and the incidence of pursued policies to the household and to the hand’s macro economies, and then; the neuroeconomics concept that  has just recent acquired a shape in economy science; is displayed with it’s cultivatings in the country economies  which neuroeconomics is being applicated, in terms of its definition, application, sphere, results, advantages and  disadvantages. And after these two conceptualizations, it is canvased that the implication of neuroeconomics  concept to the economical policies which countries followed as in a comformity with their macro economic  structures; and at last, by dealing with the reasons, process and results together, of this fragile structure of our  country which is faces with an economical recession in average, ones for each seven years, it is exhausted that those  present applications, edging of it’s due place in our country of neuroeconomics concept, and the importance of it in  terms of the economies which are hypersensitive against to endegenous – exogen variables like our country.

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Innovation Management and Thought Leadership – A Cultural Requirement in a Global Competitive Environment

Dr. Michel Soto Chalhoub, Lebanese American University, Lebanon

ABSTRACT

 Globalizing markets are imposing a new breed of competitive pressures which include the need for competition and cooperation at the same time - often among the same parties. Business performance is increasingly dependent on the ability of managers make investment decisions about technology and innovation.  However, innovation has been traditionally perceived as synonymous to developing a new product or adopting a new technology.  This paper addresses innovation in its broader definition to include processes for organizations to operate and build performance-driven cultures.  We propose a theoretical model that describes a relationship between technological and process innovation on one hand and leadership in performance on the other hand.  New ways to communicate, organize tasks, design processes, and manage people have evolved. The competitive wave in the late twentieth century spurred firms to cut cost by eliminating almost anything that sounded as out of scope from daily operations. This led to a lack of measures for intangible assets such as innovation management practices, especially when it comes to the generation and use of tacit knowledge in the innovation process.  As many organizations opted not to institutionalize innovation management, individuals took it in their own hands to establish informal networks and intellectual communities of interests. 

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