The Journal of American Academy

The Impact of Frequency of Use on Service Quality Expectations: An Empirical Study of Trans-Atlantic Airline Passengers

Dr. Kien-Quoc Van Pham, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington

Dr. Merlin Simpson, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington

ABSTRACT

While the academic debate continues relative to the conceptual validity, reliability of the SERVQUAL model to assess service quality, the paucity of empirical studies addressing service quality antecedents indicates the need to revisit the causal relationships between these antecedents and the “corollary” service quality assessment. In today’s globally competitive marketplace, the fostering of customer loyalty reigns undisputed as the most important goal for all commercial enterprises, with repeated use or purchase as one of the primary indicators of customer satisfaction, and yet frequency of use has not been addressed in terms of its impact on the means to achieve and maintain such customer loyalty. The airline industry, with its Frequent Flyers Mileage reward system, its success and that of similar promotional programs in promoting loyalty (bankcards purchase cash rebate, Starbuck’s patrons’ cards), is a natural venue to further investigate this service quality conceptual antecedent (past experience) construct. The economic paradigm shift from industrial to customer-value has made service a focal point of all corporate efforts to improve profitability (Albrecht, 1992). The U. S. economy, as is the case with other developed economies, has become a predominantly "service economy" (Albrecht and Zemke, 1985), in which virtually all organizations compete to some degree on the basis of service (Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Berry, 1990). Service-based companies are therefore compelled to provide excellent service in order to prosper in increasingly competitive domestic and global marketplaces. Service quality has become the significant strategic value adding/enhancing driver in achieving a genuine and sustainable competitive advantage in a global marketplace (Devlin et al, 2000). While many "quality-focused" initiatives have often failed to enhance overall corporate performance, customer-perceived service improvements have been shown empirically to improve profitability (Buzzell and Gale, 1987).

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Whistleblowing: International Implications and Critical Case Incidents

Dr. Steven H. Appelbaum, Professor, Concordia University, John Molson School of Business, Quebec, Canada

Kirandeep Grewal, Concordia University, John Molson School of Business, Quebec, Canada

Hugues Mousseau, Concordia University, John Molson School of Business, Quebec, Canada

ABSTRACT

This article will examine the following: (1) motivation of whistleblowers; (2) international implications; (3) consequences for the individual and organization; (4) selected mini-case studies and (5) solutions for organizations. An employee’s decision to report individual or organizational misconduct is a complex phenomenon that is based upon organizational, situational and personal factors. Recommendations include: Employees should be encouraged to communicate their ethical concerns internally. Employees need to believe that their concerns will be taken seriously. Employees need to feel that they will not suffer any retaliation for their action. According to Miceli and Near (1985), “whistle blowing is the disclosure of illegal, immoral, or illegitimate practices under the control of their employers, to a person or organizations that may be able to effect action”. (Vinten, 1995). Whistle blowing is the voice of conscience”. (Berry, 2004). Whistle blowing is a new name for an ancient practice. The fist time the term whistle blowing was used was the 1963 publicity in the USA surrounding Otto Otopeka. who was an American public servant had given classified documents to the chief counsel of the Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security, which could pose as a threat to the government administration. (Vinten, 1995) Mr. Otpeka’s disclosure gesture was severely punished by the then Secretary of State who dismissed him from his functions for conduct unbecoming. The term whistle blowing is sometimes perceived negatively, while it is also very often viewed in a positive, even heroic fashion. In fact, this perception is highly influenced by the perspective from which one looks at it and by the circumstances surrounding the disclosure by an employee. The main reason why whistle blowing is such an important issue, amongst other elements, is that it has to do with the fact that many public and corporate wrongdoings are never disclosed.

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Sales Growth versus Cost Control: Audit Implications

Dr. Ray McNamara, Bond University, Australia

Dr. Catherine Whelan, Georgia College & State University, GA

ABSTRACT

Concerns raised by regulators, investors, and researchers over the independence implications of audit firms providing both auditing and consulting services, has led to the discontinuation by some firms of their consulting activities. The resulting decline in expertise may lead to an impairment of the ability of audit firms to adequately audit the revenues of listed firms. This research investigates the moderating effect of sales growth and cost control on the value-relevance of earnings and book value. The results demonstrate that the market responds differently to the revenue and cost component of earnings. In particular, the market perceives enhanced earnings quality in the presence of both sales growth and cost control. Consequently, audit procedures should provide assurance of both completeness and existence of revenue and expense items on the income statement. The approach of the new millennium saw an increasing emphasis on the audit profession’s need to broaden its activities into a range of assurance services (Elliot 1998). One area of potential profitability was revenue and cost assurance in those industries with large customer bases, complex revenue schema, and advanced revenue cycle technology such as in the telecommunications and health care industries (Connexn 2003). Firms such as Price Waterhouse Consulting (PWC) became the leaders in the revenue and cost assurance area because of their accumulated auditing, information systems, and statistical analysis expertise (Cullinan 1998). This expertise resided in the audit and consulting arms of the firm. The audit division’s focus was on assuring that the reported revenue was not overstated and on internal controls that reduce the likelihood of overstatement. The consulting arm focused on the understatement of revenue and the implementation of internal control methods and procedures to recover unrecorded revenue (Connexn 2003).

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E-Local Government Strategies and Small Business

Dr. Stuart M. Locke, University of Waikato, New Zealand

ABSTRACT

The New Zealand Government like governments in many countries recognises the importance of small business in the economic and social structure of the country. It has implemented a number of policies, in recent years, to assist small, medium enterprises (SMEs). The extent to which these initiatives are successful, in terms of generating the outcomes purported as the rationale for their implementation typically does not receive detailed scrutiny. This paper reports upon an investigation into one element of government programmes directed toward the promotion of greater broadband internet coverage and the encouragement of the adoption of internet technologies have been promoted. In particular the E-Government single access portal for central government and a similar e-local government strategy have been promulgated. An empirical investigation of the progress made by the territorial local government authorities in implementing the e-local government strategy and the impact upon SMEs is presented. It is observed that at the policy formulation stage the nexus between policy and SME outcome is not made explicit and second that the monitoring of policy is lacking which has potentially negative implications for SMEs. I is suggested that the level of public administrative accountability as it relates to the monitoring of this policy is inadequate and to the extent that this observation is generalisable SMEs may not be reaping the gains that could be achieved. In March 2001, central Government launched an e-government strategy, aiming to create a public sector, including local government, which will meet the needs of New Zealanders in the information age. At the local government level, under the umbrella of the local government association, a range of objectives in terms of the breadth of services and timing of e-delivery development are proposed in the e-local government strategy document. The majority of the objectives have tangible targets and time periods associated with them.

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The Effects of Humor and Goal Setting on Individual Brainstorming Performance

David W. Roach, Ph.D., Arkansas Tech University, AR

L. Kim Troboy, Ph.D., Arkansas Tech University, AR

Loretta F. Cochran, Ph.D., Arkansas Tech University, AR

ABSTRACT

The efficacy of goal setting is widely accepted by researchers, managers, and the “man-on-the-street.” Given this agreement, the simple maxim to “set goals” seems obvious. However, individual, task, and context characteristics affect the characteristics of goals that lead to high performance. The primary purpose of this study is to examine the effects of goal characteristics and a specific context variable, humor, on an individual brainstorming task. With respect to goal characteristics, we examine the effect of goal specificity (vague goals, specific attainable goals, and specific stretch goals) on individual brainstorming performance. With respect to humor, we examine the effect of the presence or absence of humor and the interaction of humor and goal characteristics on individual brainstorming performance. In addition, we examine the interaction between goal characteristics and humor on the task. We found that performance on a brainstorming task was highest when goals were both specific and challenging (stretching). While humor did not affect performance on specific goals, humor did improve performance with vague goals and humor radically improved performance with stretch goals. The research results suggest that humor may be an effective managerial lever for certain tasks and contexts. This paper reports on a study that examines the effects of goal characteristics and a specific context variable (humor) on an individual brainstorming task. The literature abounds with research on this topic, so we cite just a few specific studies on the relationships among goal setting (specificity and difficulty), performance, and humor. Next, we present the procedures, methods, and results of our study. Finally, we will discuss the implications and limitations of this research and present ideas for future research in this area.

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A Comparison of the Solicited and Independent Financial Strength Ratings of Insurance Companies

Dr. Martin Feinberg, University of Texas-Pan American, Edinburg, TX

Dr. Roger Shelor, College of Business, Ohio University, Athens, OH

Dr. Mark Cross, Miami University, Oxford, OH

Axel Grossmann, University of Texas – Pan American, Edinburg, TX

ABSTRACT

This study provides a comparison of the life/health and property/casualty insurance company ratings of a solicited ratings agency, A.M. Best, versus those of an independent ratings agency, Weiss Ratings Inc. for the time period 1998 – 2001. Financial strength ratings assess the company’s overall claims paying ability. The results provide further evidence that A.M. Best ratings are higher than Weiss ratings. Although previous studies have indicated this result, they did not fully account for any lack of correspondence between ratings and possible sample selection bias, as this study does. The finding of no difference in rating changes with respect towards timing is inconsistent with previous research. The results add evidence to the argument that there should be concern among consumers regarding the closeness and unique nature of the relationship between the solicited rating agency and the insurance company being rated. The results remain consistent across both life/health and property/casualty insures. Insurer financial strength ratings provide the rating agency’s assessment of overall financial strength and the insurer’s ability to meet policyholder obligations. Consumers, insurance agents and brokers, corporate risk managers, regulators and investors use financial strength ratings to assess insurer’s insolvency risk. Individual consumers utilize the financial strength ratings to determine which companies are preferable and insurers often utilize those ratings in their advertising. Insurance agents and brokers typically are reluctant to recommend coverage with insurers that are either unrated or poorly rated. In addition, many corporate insurance buyers require a good rating.

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The U.S., Japan in the Global Semiconductor Industry

Dr. Farahmand Rezvani, Montclair State University, NJ

Dr. Ahmat Baytas, Montclair State University, NJ

Dr. Serpil Leveen, Montclair State University, NJ

ABSTRACT

As we enter the 21^st century, the global electronics market is an approximately $1 trillion industry and is expected to double during the early years of this century. Technologically-related industries currently account for more than a ninth of the U.S. domestic product, as compared to just a twentieth of U.S. domestic product only ten years ago (Simons 1995). Even though the invention of the transistor and the integrated circuit (IC), as well as the equipment to manufacture them were almost totally product of U.S. innovation (Spencer 1993), during the 1980’s the U.S. ceded its global domination of the field to the Japanese. However, by the 1990’s the U.S. market share managed to rebound significantly and this favorable trend appears to be continuing. This paper will explore the factors that resulted in the loss of world domination by the U.S. semiconductor industry and will also analyze the factors that contributed to its revival and the gradual American regaining of semiconductor leadership. The birth of the modern semiconductor industry was marked by the invention of the transistor at Bell Laboratories in 1947. The transistor consisted of tiny silicon crystals which were classified as “semiconductor” because an electric current could pass through them in one direction but not the other. Soon after in 1958, the integrated circuit was invented by Texas Instruments and represented a significant breakthrough because all of the functions that previously required distinct devices were now integrated into an under-layer of the semiconductor itself. The so-called miniaturization of circuitry today has reached a point where a complete road map of all of Manhattan can be placed on a chip the size of the head of a pin (Standard & Poor’s 1995).

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The Relationship of Personal Characteristics and Job Satisfaction: A Study of Nigerian Managers in the Oil Industry

Dr. John O. Okpara, Briarcliffe College, New York

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of personal characteristics on job satisfaction of Nigerian managers employed in the oil industry. Stratified sampling techniques were used to select the managers for this research. A total of 550 questionnaires were distributed, and 364 were returned, representing a 66.18% response rate. The key findings of this study were that job satisfaction is strongly associated with personal characteristics of managers surveyed for this paper. Results also show that older managers were overall more satisfied than were their younger counterparts. Experience and education affect satisfaction with present job, pay, promotions, supervision, and coworkers. Findings of the study provide management and human resources professionals with key information that would assist them in recruiting, rewarding, promoting, and retaining their workers. This paper offers realistic suggestions to the management of oil companies for how to enhance the job satisfaction of their most valuable workers, thus improving their efficiency and effectiveness. It also offers tools for how to establish a comparable pay policy, create equal opportunity for promotion, and provide a favorable work environment for all workers. Job satisfaction has been a major research area for scholars, practitioners, and organizational specialists, and it is one of the most frequently researched areas of workplace attitude. The consequences of job dissatisfaction include high turnover, lateness, absenteeism, poor performance, and low productivity. According to Al-Ajmi (2001), excessive turnover, absenteeism, and low productivity result in a waste of human power and unnecessary loss in productivity and profit. Studies conducted in the West have shown that many individual variables influence job satisfaction (Ang et al., 1993; Hulin & Smith, 1964; Lee & Wilbur, 1985).

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A Fuzzy Logic Approach to Explaining U.S. Investment Behavior

Dr. Tufan Tiglioglu, Alvernia College, Reading, PA

ABSTRACT

This paper uses a non-linear fuzzy logic procedure to empirically investigate the links between the real interest rate and aggregate investments in the United States from 1959 to 2000. In an interesting paper, “A fuzzy design of the willingness to invest in Sweden [1998],” Tomas Lindström utilized a fuzzy logic approach to explain willingness to invest in Sweden during the period 1950-1990. I examine whether or not his results in Sweden can be replicated in the United States, focusing on both the real interest rate and its variability. The paper provides a brief overview of fuzzy set theory and logic, then discusses the Lindström model and results. It concludes with the results of this approach using interest rate, real output, and investment data from the United States.Fuzzy logic has been widely used by scientists, mathematicians and engineers, among others, as a means of designing decision and control systems where “rules of thumb” are easier to conceptualize and implement than precisely delineated decision making criteria. This practice may result from the inherent complexity of the decision problem at hand, which makes analytical modeling difficult. In this vein, a highly complex system gives rise to considerable (non-stochastic) uncertainty, since the complexity itself makes it too difficult or costly to specify exact relationships among critical variables. Confronted with the necessity of making a decision, decision makers in these circumstances may opt to simplify the process into a series of rules of thumb. Economic decision makers are often faced with a high level of complexity and thus uncertainty relevant to their decision-making problem. Moreover, variables such as price or output can be thought of as low or high, without precisely defined lines of demarcation. Perhaps the concept of reservation price could be fruitfully treated in a fuzzy model. Fuzzy logic is well suited to modeling human processes of decision making in the context of complexity and/or lexical uncertainty. Applications of fuzzy logic to economic decision-making would thus appear to be worth investigation.

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Union Leaders' Value Systems: The Lack of Change Over Time and Scope

Dr. David Meyer, Central Connecticut State University, CT

Dr. William E. Tracey, Jr., Central Connecticut State University, CT

Dr. G. S. Rajan, Concordia University, Montreal, PQ

Vincent Piperni, Concordia University, Montreal, PQ

ABSTRACT

Two studies of union leaders’ value systems were conducted two years apart. One was of local union leaders, the other was of national union leaders. England's Personal Value Questionnaire (PVQ) (1967) was modified to focus on the union as the organization being studied. A measure of the priority of each value was also obtained. Analysis revealed no significant differences across time or scope of leadership. Union leaders are very pragmatic and much more socially concerned than managers. England, Agarwal, and Trerise (1971), comparing union leaders' value systems with managers' value systems, concluded that union leaders were moralistically oriented, whereas managers were pragmatically oriented. They suggested that union leaders occupying higher level positions would be more pragmatic than their counterparts at lower levels. Since then, a number of articles have focused on managers' value systems. Whitely and England (1977) and England (1978) compared managers' value systems across cultures and countries. Lusk and Oliver (1974) measured the change in managers' values from 1966 to 1972 in order to test England’s supposition that values are stable over time. Their study supported that contention. The selection and development of union leaders is different from managers and possibly results in changing or evolving values. Herman (1998) points out that “union members usually distrust leaders who have not come up through the ranks” (p. 91). Union leaders were described by Holley, Jennings and Wolters (2001) as trying to “achieve something I personally valued” (p. 119) and believing in the goals of the union. One of the questions that cries out for study is whether union leaders will show the same stability of values over time that managers have shown.

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Collaborative Systemic Training (CST) Model in Los Angeles for Adult Learners

Dr. Deborah LeBlanc, National University, Los Angeles, CA

ABSTRACT

Enrollment management is vital to the survival of institutions of higher education. While enrollment management is not a direct part of the scope, duties and responsibilities of faculty; yet faculty can play a critical and significant role indirectly in the process of enrolling adult learners into colleges and universities. This study has demonstrated a collaborative approach in Los Angeles which accomplished three major achievements during academic year of 2003-2005: SOBM-LA better served adult learners; (2) SOBM-LA provided greater collectivity between faculty and student services unit; and (3) Enhanced SOBM-LA faculty opportunities in the provision of quality community service using a collaborative method. The goal of the study was to provide greater internal (inreach) and external (outreach) opportunities for faculty and staff to better serve adult learners was obtained. Lastly, this CST study has shown that adult learners require activities that are meaningful and relevant. The topics that that faculty presented on were as followed: Sports Management, Career Management, and Time Management. Self-reports from those who attended session revealed: (1) Empowerment through the collaboration of faculty; and (2) Positive group interactive presentations and discussions. National University is distinguishing itself ‘through its leadership in the field of adult learning through continued growth in improved effectiveness of operations, student support and academic quality’ (NU, 2010, Strategic Direction One). New approaches in student enrollment management are essential to continued academic program growth, development and vitality in meeting the needs of adult learners. This study was developed to provide a descriptive analysis of a team building approach utilized through collaboration designed to increase student enrollment and enhance services for adult learners within the School of Business and Information Management at National University in Los Angeles during the 2003-2005 academic year.

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On Financing with Convertible Debt: What Drives the Proceeds from New Convertible Debt Issues?

Dr. Camelia S. Rotaru, University of Texas – Pan American

ABSTRACT

Despite extensive research, it is not clear why companies issue convertible securities and what drives the variation of proceeds on the convertible market. In this paper I use a sample of 509 convertible securities issued between 1980 and 2003 to show that companies do not issue convertible securities to mitigate adverse selection costs. Rather, the variation of convertible proceeds suggests that managers time the convertible issue for periods when investors are optimistic. This is consistent with the findings of Loughran et al. (1994) and Lowry (2003) which show that IPOs are issued during periods of high investor optimism. The dollar volume of outstanding convertible debt securities has grown tremendously over the past several years. (1) By 2001, the size of the US convertible market had reached $200 billion. However, not all companies issue convertible securities, and despite extensive research, we still do not know why only some companies choose to finance through convertible securities. Some authors suggested that companies issue convertible securities in order to reduce the bondholder-stockholder agency costs (Green, 1984; Brennan and Kraus, 1987), or to hedge against the impact of uncertain risk (e.g., Brennan and Schwartz, 1987), while other argued that convertible issuers are trying to reduce adverse selection costs and financial distress (Stein, 1992), or to take advantage of time-varying selection costs (Choe et al., 1993; Bayless and Chaplinsky, 1996; Lewis et al., 2003). This paper’s contribution to the existing body of literature is that it shows that the convertible market is driven by investor sentiment, rather than by adverse selection. Investor sentiment and its impact on the IPO market has been extensively analyzed, but previous research on convertible securities ignores investor sentiment as a potential factor driving the convertible market. For the IPO market, Lee et al. (1991) conclude that changes in investor sentiment significantly affect IPO volume over time. For SEOs,

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Do the Stars Foretell the Future?: The Performance of Morning Star Ratings

Philip S. Russel, Philadelphia University, PA

ABSTRACT

The mutual funds industry has emerged as a major player in the financial system with net assets of over $6 trillion and serving nearly 100 million investors. The latest institution to capitalize on the popularity of mutual funds is the mutual fund rating agencies. Naïve investors are increasingly relying on “star-ratings” provided by mutual fund rating agencies to guide their selection of mutual funds. However, do mutual fund ratings provide any information of value to investors? We investigate this question by evaluating the performance of premier mutual fund rating agency, Morning star. Mutual funds have become a popular avenue for investors and the net assets of mutual funds have grown exponentially from a mere $17 billion in 1960 to over $8 trillion in 2005. The number of mutual funds has grown to more than ten thousand, exceeding the number of stocks listed on the organized exchange, making the selection of mutual funds an onerous task for the average investor. In response to investor demand for some simple strategy to screen the numerous funds, several independent agencies have started offering ratings on the mutual funds, Morningstar being the most prominent among them. Morningstar rates mutual funds on a scale of 1 to 5 stars, with 5 stars being the best. Other organizations (such as Lipper, Value Line) also provide similar rating services. While the rating methodology varies from organization to organization, the ultimate purpose is the same: to simplify investors’ decision making process by providing a composite measure of mutual fund performance. Mutual fund ratings, though based on seemingly complex analysis, are not necessarily credible in forecasting future performance. Indeed, they might be misguiding investors, as five stars do not necessarily guarantee superior future performance. While Morningstar does not claim to forecast performance, anecdotal evidence suggests that naive investors are increasingly relying on mutual fund ratings to make their investment decisions.

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Mobility of Technology Positioning with Change in Patent Portfolio

Dr. Shann-Bin Chang, Ling-Tung University, Taiwan

Dr. Kuei-Kuei Lai, National Yunlin University of Science and Tech., Taiwan

Shu-Min Chang, National Yunlin University of Science and Tech. & Nan Kai Institute of Tech., Taiwan

ABSTRACT

Patents are an important indicator of R&D performance. A researcher can determine the technological competence of an enterprise by researching the patents it holds and so determine its technological position. Over time and with a changing environment, a firm may change strategies and improve their technological position. The purpose of this study is to discuss the impact of changes in the patent portfolio on the mobility of technology positioning. This study researched 37 firms that are representative of the business method patent of US Class 705. These firms all experienced the three stages of the Internet life cycle. Five technology groups were formed based on cluster analysis. This study also examined possible group movements among the 37 companies during the three stages. This study combined these five technology groups into three technologies oriented: postage metering technology, information and Internet technology, and business model development technology. Furthermore, this study discusses the trend of technology group development, and makes suggestions regarding how to develop “co-petition” strategies between or within technology groups. Patents are important indicators of a firms’ R&D performance. Some researches of patent analysis focus on certain industries such as the tool machine manufacturing and electronic industry (Ernst, 1997; 1998). Others utilize the patent data to evaluate the ability of technological development and innovation. Therefore, companies plan their technology strategy correspondingly (Mogee, 1991; Archibugi & Pianta, 1996). Not only can a corporation’s technological competence be analyzed by its patents, but it also affects the mobility of position and the strategy group in high-tech industry, e-commerce and business methods (Stuart, 1998; Lai, Chang and Wu, 2003). Indeed, a company’s objective may be adjusted because of a change in environment which will also influences its technology strategy.

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Managing Corporate Legitimacy: Nonmarket Strategies of Chinese Firms

Dr. Zhilong Tian, Huazhong University of Science &Technology, Wuhan, PRC

Haitao Gao, Huazhong University of Science &Technology, Wuhan, PRC

ABSTRACT

In recent years, Chinese firms had met a lot of nonmarket obstacles on the global market. The fact indicates the deficiency of legitimacy management of Chinese firms. However, in spite of hostile institutional environment, Chinese private firms had changed their political status successfully and explored their living space. The article identifies nine legitimacy-building strategies that Chinese private firms had employed in Chinese transitional economy, and compares them with the legitimacy strategies of western firm. And discuss the implication for Chinese firms to go aboard. On September 17, 2004, leather shoes of Wenzhou shoe firms were burned by the local extremist in Elche in Spain, which cause a loss about $984,000. It was reported that a lot of similar events had happened in the internationalization process of Chinese firms in the past several years. The accident draws public attention. It is widely believed that the reason why the Elche Accident had happened is that a few extremists try to demonstrate their hatred by making violence event, hoping the government to pay more attention to them, as conventional shoes industry in Spain was facing a great pressure in fierce international competition. Of course, it is true, but we can find another explanation of the conflict from the news report: the shoes businessmen from Wenzhou city did not conform to the prevailing norms, such as evading duty, saling fake commodities, exploiting workers, not conforming to the schedule and so on, which leaded to disgust and resentment of the local people. Moreover, they didn’t communicate with the local people. Thus, the accident happened. The accident proposes an unnoticed but very fundamental topic: corporate legitimacy. The fact that Chinese firm had met a lot of nonmarket obstacles on the global market indicates the deficiency of legitimacy management of Chinese firms. But things are different as to the private firms in China. In spite of hostile institutional environment, Chinese private firm had changed their political status successfully and explored their living space.

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Effort Analyzed by the Balanced Scorecard Model

Jui-Chi Wang, Hsing-Wu College, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) model requires corporations to evaluate their organizational performance from four different perspectives—financial, customers, internal businesses, and learning and growth. Its utility lies in the prioritization of key strategic objectives that can be allocated to these four perspectives and the identification of associated measures that can be used to evaluate organizational progress in meeting the objectives (Kaplan & Norton, 1992, 1993). Through subsequent modifications and improvements, researchers and business specialists have found that the BSC could be used as an effective strategic management tool. More specifically, by determining the existence of strategic linkages between the strategic objectives and measures of the four perspectives, managers can take into account both the organizational objectives and the business processes in their creation of a BSC. Therefore, the BSC can not only be used as an evaluation of the organization’s performance, but also to manage business processes within the organization (Cobbold & Lawrie, 2002). A case study analysis of the business re-engineering efforts of two high-tech companies—Compaq and Acer—was conducted. The business re-engineering efforts of the corporations, which led to their alignment to their work processes with organizational goals, were analyzed within the context of the four perspectives of the BSC. It was evident that the BSC could be used as a strategic management tool. The presentation of the business re-engineering efforts within this model offered a clear overview of the performance of the two corporations and showed how they overcame their problems by forging connections between their organizational goals and their business processes.

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An Empirical Study of Using Derivatives on Multinational Corporation Strategies in Taiwan

Yi-Wen Chen, Hsing Wu College, Taiwan, R.O.C.

ABSTRACT

This study is very much a preliminary one and arrives at through the open-ended interviews conducted in conjunction with the analysis of the literature review on the derivatives market. At the same time, it sets up a solid basis for (a) laying out the parameters and boundaries of the given field of study; and (b) stimulating further studies. It also seems to agree with most of the major studies in the literature with reference to the importance of the derivatives market around the world and its effect on firms of a particular size (Bryan, 1993; Steinherr, 1999; and Fornari & Jeanneau, 2004). The study makes fairly clear what must be done in Taiwan with respect to improving the chances of its firms to compete globally: improve the financial derivatives market through further deregulation and a less hands-on attitude on the part of the government. In this way, Taiwan’s economy can become more integrated with that of the rest of the world (Chelley-Steeley, 2003). While past performance is no indication of future trends, it is well-known fact that traditional financial services have undergone massive changes in the last 30 years, thanks in part to rapidly developing technologies, demographic shifts, economic globalization, opening of dormant and emerging markets, and increased competition among financial institutions. These forces have led to dramatic “change in how financial firms make money; in how and by whom they are regulated; in where they raise capital; in which markets they serve; and in what role they play in society” (Bryan, 1993, p. 59). There is little doubt that derivative, defined as “financial contracts whose values depend on—and are derived from—the value of an underlying asset, reference rate, or index” (Bullen and Portersfield, 1994, p. 18), have become extremely important in the world financial markets. In fact, some argue that they have become indispensable.

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Market Entry Patterns: The Case of European Asset Management Firms in the U.S.

Dr. Jafor Chowdhury, University of Scranton, Scranton, PA

ABSTRACT

The process theory of internationalization posits that the foreign expansion process of firms follows an incremental and sequential path. However, the entry patterns of a fairly large sample of European asset managers establishing presence in the U.S. market in the last two decades show that the entrants had taken a predominantly acquisitive approach, skipping the intermediate steps in the expansion process. The objective of this study is mainly two-fold. First, to describe the firms’ entry patterns with regard to their choice of market entry vehicles. Second, to explain the entry patterns in terms of the internal factors prompting the firms to deviate from the process theory’s predicted path. The implications of the findings of this study for both theory and research are explored. The process theory of internationalization posits that the foreign expansion process of firms generally follows an incremental and sequential path (Johanson & Weidersheim-Paul & Johanson, 1975, Johanson & Vahlne, 1977). However, the entry behaviors of a sample of 54 European asset management firms engaging in 152 entry incidents in the U.S. market during the period 1984-2004 show that the entrants had taken a predominantly acquisitive approach. To a degree, the entrants had employed all three available entry modes— build (internal expansion), buy (acquisition), and partner (strategic alliance). However, buying was by far the most frequently utilized entry mode accounting for nearly three-fourths of all entry incidents. In terms of deal value and assets involved, the acquisition incidents represent significantly larger transactions than those involving either building or partnering. In addition, partnering was used mostly as an adjunct to buying for tapping into certain location-specific resources and capabilities that the entrants needed for bolstering their European and global competitive positions. The preponderance of acquisitions among the incidents implies that the entrants had skipped some intermediate steps in their expansion process to accelerate the speed of their market entry. Overall, the observed entry patterns are not consistent with the predictions of process theory.

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The Discussion of Media Selection and Accessible Equity in Distance Education

Dr. Jack Fei Yang, Hsing-Kuo University, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

Is the role of media in distance education important? Is the medium the message? The impact of media on instructional outcomes continues to be debated. The cost for new distance-system development and training is a major challenge for institutions in developing countries that want to be competitive in the global society. To adopt the newest distance media does not always directly result in a proportional increase in student learning outcomes and learning achievements. A choice of a high quality media for a few people may miss the challenge of serving the greatest number with an effective delivery approach within economic reach. Media influences learning by introducing different levels of learning objectives, learning activities, and learning outcomes. However, beyond media consideration, factors such as instructional methods, learning styles and teaching strategies need to be high priority to policy makers. The less economically fortunate people of developing countries need the concern of the high technology world to assure that large populations are excluded from the distance learning society. Development of distance education across the world is influenced by economics, politics, technology, and societal issues, it is important for distance program designers to be aware that technology applications in distance education may provide quality education for mass populations, radically increasing equal access to opportunity. Clear educational purposes‚ and careful decision-making and program design are key factors to develop a good distance education program to serve an increasing mass population. When determining instructional media in distance education‚ elements such as access‚ cost‚ and level of interaction are key factors need to be considered. Jones Shoemaker (1998) pointed out that in order to evaluate the sources and impacts of change in continuing education, political, economic, social, physical, and technology issues need to be considered. When economic and political conditions change in developing countries, demand for higher education and more educational opportunities will result in the expansion of higher education.

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The Value Added Tax applied in the Member States of European Union: The Case of Spain

Dr. Maria Luisa Fernandez de Soto Blass, San Pablo-CEU University, Madrid, Spain

ABSTRACT

The Value-added tax (VAT) was introduced in the European Economic Community in 1970 by the First and Second VAT Directives and was intended to replace the production and consumption taxes which had hitherto been applied by the Member States, which hampered trade. The following text summarises a consolidation of existing Directives in this field. The present paper introduces new figures and formulas never seen before at book of taxes, analyses the concept of Value Added Tax., makes a brief approach to the history of the VAT, studies the elements of this tax as the beneficiary, taxable person, territoriality, basis of assessment, exemptions, explains the basic mechanism for VAT: VAT NET, OUTPUT TAX and INPUT TAX, deductions, the taxable base, the VAT rates, place of taxable transactions, chargeable event and chargeability of tax, special schemes VAT Invoice, Collections and example at European Union and the case of Spain. This paper is the result of three researches that I´m carrying out at The Institute for Fiscal Studies, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Spain, University of San Pablo-CEU, Madrid, Spain, from 2003 to 2006, and at University of Leeds, United Kingdom from 1st July to 1^st September of 2004, 2005 and 2006 that is going to continue at the same time and place. European action in the area of indirect taxation has its legal basis in articles 90 and 93 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (EC Treaty). It is subject to the unanimity rule and has always been governed by the subsidiarity principle: its aim is to harmonise national systems of indirect taxation , not to standardise them.

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Causes and Consequences of High Turnover by Sales Professionals

Dr. Phani Tej Adidam, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, NE

ABSTRACT

Retention of sales professionals is becoming one of the most challenging issues facing current sales managers, especially since the cost-effects of high turnover on the corporate bottom line is devastating. In this scenario, this paper investigates the costs and reasons behind high sales professional turnover, and offers some suggestions on how to increase sales professional retention, and thereby lowering the turnover rate. Emphasis must clearly be placed on recruiting the right kind of sales professionals by offering realistic job previews, providing appropriate training and developmental opportunities, engaging salespeople by developing high trust and commitment levels, establishing reasonable and equitable sales quota setting procedures, designing appropriate compensation structures, and individualizing the motivational incentives for each sales professional. One of the most important issues facing businesses is finding and keeping good sales professionals. After all, sales professionals are the most valuable organizational resource, and good sales professionals should be thought of in terms of investments needing frequent rewards. Sales human resource professionals find themselves trying almost anything to retain their best sales people, especially when such sales professionals are being ensnared by their competitors in a tight labor market. Retaining top sales people may indeed be hard. It requires being alert to organizational problems and difficulties which may drive sales people out the door (Brashear, Manolis, and Brooks, 2005). It also means being sensitive to their hopes and dreams, needs and desires, and managing sales force in a manner that lets them achieve their own goals (Schwepker, 1999). Savata (2003) opines that “Losing staff is always a part of doing business.”

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Two Stage Residual Income Model for Evaluating Intrinsic Value of Stock Listed Firms

An Empirical Analysis of Electronic Information Industry of Taiwan Fifty Index

Tao Huang, Ming Hsin University of Science and Technology, Taiwan

Shih-Chien Chen, Takming College, Taiwan

Dr. Jovan Chia-Jung Hsu, Kun Shan University of Technology, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

Along with the diversification of our securities market in recent years, as well as with the chaos of market order, corporate valuation has now become a critical issue for numerous public investors. In this thesis, we will carry out our study by means of the Residual Income Model as proposed by Ohlson, and try to understand the intrinsic value of our stock market through the analysis of electronic information industry of Taiwan Fifty Index, thereby providing references for our investors. Conclusions in this study are drawn as follows: Ohlson’s Residual Income Model is a good reference for the forecast of middle-term and long-term industrial rate of return; while the book to market price ratio (B/P) can have relatively more excellent predictive power in both short-term and long-term. And the earnings to price ratio (E/P) is a good index in the short term. In the case of the sales to market price ratio (S/P), it can’t be a suitable reference for short-term rate of return for electronic information industry. Since its inception in the year 1962, Taiwan Securities Market has had a history of 43 years up to now. On the other hand, excellent performances have been repeatedly achieved on Taiwan Stock Market since when the Taiwan Stock Exchange Weighted Stock Price Index increased over 1,000 points in the year 1986. With the experience of the so-called fast-growing period (1987-1990) and collapse period (1990-1991), our domestic market has gradually entered into a stage of maturity in its structure (1991-). Throughout this process, several fluctuations have taken place due to the inadequately healthy and complete order of this market, implicating that the stock values can differ or vary great from the real corporate values. Our observation of the previous transactions on the Taiwan Stock Market shows that there is an intense climate of short-term trading on this market in that at the time of making investments, the public tends to be in popular lack of those concepts regarding the investment value, causing the stock market to degenerate to a venue for speculation and gambling.

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The Determinants of Working Capital Management

Dr. Jeng-Ren Chiou, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan

Li Cheng, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan

Han-Wen Wu, China Development Financial Holding Corporation, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the determinants of working capital management. We use net liquid balance and working capital requirements as measures of a company’s working capital management. Results indicate that the debt ratio and operating cash flow affect the company’s working capital management, yet we lack consistent evidence for the influence of the business cycle, industry effect, growth of the company, performance of the company and firm size on the working capital management. Corporate finance can be mainly categorized into three domains: capital budget, capital structure and working capital management. The raising and management of long-term capital belong to the domains of capital budget and capital structure. Source and use of long-term capital are traditionally aspects of much concern in finance, while management of the working capital that sustains the operation of an enterprise draws relatively little attention. Working capital, including current assets and current liabilities, is the source and use of short-term capital. In addition to company characteristics, working capital is also related to the financial environment, especially the fluctuation of business indicators. Since the poor performance of the global economy during the late 1990s, financial institutions have in general adopted a tighter credit policy to lower their deposit/loan ratio. Thus enterprises have had to manage their working capital more prudently to adapt to the changing financial environment. Kargar and Blumenthal (1994) demonstrated that many enterprises go bankrupt despite healthy operations and profits owing to mismanagement of working capital, so it is a topic that deserves increased investigation. The existing literature on the management of working capital is limited in scope, and most prior studies use variables such as current ratio, quick ratio, and net working capital to evaluate enterprises’ management of short-term working capital.

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Exploring Customer Satisfaction, Trust and Destination Loyalty in Tourism

Heng-Hsiang Huang, Ching Kuo Institute of Management & Health, Taiwan

Chou-Kang Chiu, Ching Kuo Institute of Management & Health, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

As the concept of relationship marketing has motivated management of travel agents to seek fresh and creative ways of establishing long-term relationships with their tourist customers, it is important to explore the tourists’ destination loyalty given a competitive market in tourism around the globe. This study proposes a model of tourists’ satisfaction, trust and destination loyalty in tourism. In the proposed model, the perceived cultural differences, perceived safety and convenient transportation indirectly influence destination loyalty through the mediation of relationship quality comprising satisfaction and trust. Finally, the discussion and limitation about the proposed model are also provided. Tourists’ decisions to choose destinations and spots have been one of the significant issues usually discussed by researchers (Ajzen and Driver, 1991; Chen, 1998; Fesenmaier, 1988; Um and Crompton, 1990). Such decisions have been also linked with the topics of decision rules, decision-making processes, and choice factors (Chen and Gursoy, 2001). Despite the substantial contributions from previous research on decisions to choose tourist destinations (Crompton, 1992; Crompton and Ankomah, 1993; Fesenmaier, 1990; Woodside and Carr, 1988), research pertaining to the linkages between decisions to choose a tourist destination and tourists’ destination loyalty from a perspective of relationship marketing is rather limited, which deserves a close attention as this study attempts to demonstrate. The concept of relationship marketing has promoted management of travel agents to seek fresh and creative ways of establishing relationships of mutual-benefit with their customers. Specifically, customer loyalty nowadays becomes critical to many service industries, including the area of tourism. Travel agents are busy searching customers by offering highly competitive services in order to achieve customer loyalty towards a specific destination, but such loyalty relies on achieving relationship quality with that destination in order for tourists to willingly visit the same destination in the future.

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The Effects of Individual and Joint Gift Giving on Receipt Emotions

Dr. Shuling Liao, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan

Yu-Huang Huang, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

This paper employs the concepts of hedonic framing and mental accounting to interpret the effects of individual and joint gift giving on receiver’s emotional responses. The moderating effects of situational factors including distance of social relationships and types of gift are also investigated. The results show that receivers respond more positively to joint gift giving. Gifts from close members produce better affect. When the gifts come from intimate relationships, receivers respond no differently to nonmonetary gifts from individual or group but negatively toward someone who sends the monetary gift alone. By contrast, individual gift giving from distant relationships generates the worst emotions for a nonmonetary gift. The findings provide insights to the appropriate behavior and practice of gift giving. Gift giving is a kind of common behavior in daily life and is highly promoted by business marketing activities. People are motivated to give gifts for the purposes of social exchange, economic exchange, and love sharing (Belk & Coon, 1993). People also love to receive gifts when the gifts are appropriate to indicate the perceived interpersonal connection (Neisser, 1973; Shurmer, 1971). However, the course of paying a man back in his own coin between men not merely involves the exchange of the entity goods; the implicit psychological factor and influence behind this interaction are even more intricate and thought-provoking. For this reason, the past research on gift giving behavior has integrated perspectives of different domains in social sciences. Among them, the gift giving theory developed by Sherry (1983) has received wider attention for its conceptual completeness. Sherry (1983) originally incorporated concepts from anthropology, sociology and psychology to sketch up the gift giving behavior. A number of following studies on gift giving stem from Sherry’s work and bring in abundant and various explorations to the stream of gift giving research.

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A Study of Implementing Six-Sigma Quality Management System in Government

Agencies for Raising Service Quality

Dr. Li-Hsing Ho, Chung Hua University, Taiwan

Chen-Chia Chuang, Chung Hua University, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

In an age of thin profit margin, the corporations are diligently looking for ways to differentiate themselves from the competitors, to beat the competition, to expand market share, to create quality differences, and even to achieve zero quality defects. Regardless of the industry type, continuous improvement on quality is the irreplaceable part of the entire production activities. Although there are many ways to solve the problems in product quality, the six sigma quality management system can effectively solve the core issue in production quality. This quality management system is highly integrated, contains detailed problem solving procedures, and has been tested by multination corporations like Motorola and General Electric. It is also a system that emphasizes on fundamental educations, changes in organization culture, the quantification of the effective productivity through the discussion of the core problems. Taiwan’s government agency has realized the importance of the six sigma quality management system, and by implementing the six sigma quality management system, the government agencies are able to increase the qualities of the services provided. With an increased and improved government service quality, the general public will have a greater confidence on out government. The main tasks for the health administrative agencies are providing vaccination shots, controlling the drug usage, examining and testing food quality, providing smoke hazard-prevention and public health educations, managing the medical administrative tasks, and etc. Therefore, the quality of the services provided by the health bureaus will have immediate impact on the health safety of the public health. How to effectively implement the six sigma quality management system in order to increase and improve the health service quality and to promote a healthy general public, then, should be the key topic the health administrative agencies should actively and aggressively discuss.

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Influence of Audio Effects on Consumption Emotion and Temporal Perception

Dr. Chien-Huang Lin, National Central University, Taiwan

Shih-Chia Wu, National Central University, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

Consumer expectations towards retail stores exceed selling functions. Audio arrangements and the atmosphere of the shopping environment have become key influences on consumer satisfaction. Previous studies used actual retail stores as the investigation bases. This study adopted a computer graphic design tool to avoid previously uncontrolled variables in actual stores. A virtual realty shopping environment was built to identify audio effects in all aspects on consumers’ shopping behavior. The findings of this study demonstrated that consumer consumption emotion and temporal perception toward a shopping environment are significantly influenced by low music volume, and music type. Audio effects exert a greater influence on consumption emotion and temporal perception. The study of retail environment in the past research was focused on actual retail stores. Variables, including climate, shopper traffic, the attitudes of sales persons, and special events, are difficult for the researchers to control. Moreover, the validity of the findings is easily impeded by imprecise variables. Recently, with rapid advances in technology, virtual reality has created more opportunities for consumers in shopping and also become an effective research tool. This study was attempting to achieve variable control by using the computer graphics design software, named “Space Magician V2.0,” to create a virtual electronic appliance store, similar to a real bricks-and-mortar store, as an experimental and test venue. In this study, objects in virtual electronic appliance stores can be adjusted and moved based on individual needs in terms of color, location, and size. Subjects can also manipulate music broadcasting, for example: volume and broadcast timing. Emotion has been shown to influence consumption perceptions, assessment and behavior, and has also been identified as a key mediator in assessing service quality (Taylor, 1994). Thus, by precisely controlling the previous variables, this study attempts to identify the impact of music familiarity to customers, music type, radio broadcasting programs, volume effects in the store, on consumption emotions and temporal perception. Seidman (1981) explored the use of music in movies and education media, and found that music significantly influences cognition and attention.

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Multi-Criteria Analysis of Offset Execution Strategies in Defense Trade: A Case in Taiwan

Dr. Chyan Yang, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan

Tsung-cheng Wang, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

In international trade the offset practices have received increased attention over the past twenty years. In the coming ten years, the Taiwanese government may expend roughly US$16 billions for purchasing military equipments through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program, and can achieve US$8 billions offset credit. Consequently, this paper is to discuss with Taiwan’s optimal offset execution policy and propose a framework of drawing on offset credit in future. In order to help the decision makers determine the optimal offset strategy, the TOPSIS method by incorporating AHP method is applied to determine the best compromised offset execution strategy. The potential applications and strengths of Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) in assessing the offset strategies are highlighted. Offset is one alternative marketing strategy recently introduced in the international marketplace. Offset, or its military conunterpart, is a commitment associated with a sale where the seller will provide the buyer with an offsetting agreement to purchase other products. The basic philosophy of an offset agreement or countertrade is to structure the commitment so the seller will fulfill a contract that rewards the buyer. This reward may have the potential for economic, social or technological growth, or increased sales of other domestic goods in exchange for the buyer’s purchase. This contract increases the competitive value of the seller’s product. In theory, this agreement allows the buyer to purchase additional units since the sale is more economically, socially, or politically attractive with the offset agreement, making a product more affordable or competitively attractive. This philosophy allows arrangements to create a multiplier effect. Many methods satisfy offset requirements including co-production, direct offset, indirect offset, technology transfer, et al.

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Convergence of Learning Experiences for First Year Tertiary Commerce Students –

Are Personal Response Systems the Meeting Point?

Brian Murphy, University of Wollongong

Dr. Ciorstan Smark, University of Wollongong

ABSTRACT

This paper reflects on the need for interactivity in first year lectures. This need is suggested to arise from first year students’ diminishing tolerance for impassivity and also from the increasing accessibility of Personal Response Systems (PRS) in terms of cost, user-friendliness and students’ level of technological savvy. The ways in which PRS can enhance interactivity and the importance of increasing interactivity in first year students’ learning outcomes is discussed in terms of factors supporting good learning and enhancing their overall learning experience. A fundamental shift in the outlook of commerce students coming into Universities today from the outlook of first year students ten years ago has been argued by many authors (for example, Tapscott, 1998; Friedlander, 2004; Davis, 2005). This shift in outlook is related to the fact that the bulk of first year students coming into Australian university courses in 2006 are both familiar with technology and (in a related development) are reluctant to suffer impassive learning environments silently. This shift in outlook has been accompanied (at least in the field of commerce) by generally increasing student numbers (Freeman and Blayney, 2005) and a realization that the large lecture format of instruction is less draining of resources than smaller forums such as tutorials and seminars. The result is that, at a time when our students demand more interactivity, Australian Universities are anxious to provide a teaching environment (large lectures) which has traditionally allowed little interactivity (Draper and Brown, 2004, 81). This paper argues that a judicious use of Personal Response System (PRS or “clicker”) technology can help to promote the intellectual engagement of our first year students in lectures. PRS can engage the “Net-Generation” or “Millennial” student through interactivity.

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The Influence of Cultural Factors on International Human Resource Issues and International Joint Venture Performance

Dr. Lung-Tan Lu, Fo Guang University, Taiwan, ROC

ABSTRACT

The numbers of international joint ventures (IJVs) have rapidly increased during the past decade, providing Multinational Enterprises the opportunity to stay competitive and manage complex international business activities. This paper proposes a conceptual model, distinguishing between culture theory, international human resource (IHR) issues and IJV performance. An IJV mixes the IHR activities of parent firms from different nations, and, therefore poses more complex management challenges than other entry modes in foreign markets. Many IJV failures, according previous research, point out the importance of (IHR) activities. Theoretical perspectives are used to generate four propositions of concerning cultural factors and IHR issues in IJV performance in this paper. Several suggestions involving culture, management styles, role stress, and conflict resolution strategies are made for future research. The issue of cultural factors for multinational firms investing in foreign countries has increasingly attracted academic attention in the field of international business (Buckley 2002). Cultural background has been suggested to be influential in the entry mode decision for internationalizing firms (the choice, for example, between wholly-owned and joint venture activity). And cultural distance between firms of different nationalities has been argued to influence co-operative strategy, and the success or otherwise of international joint ventures and other co-operative modes. A cooperative strategy (of which an international joint venture, IJV, is one example) offers many advantages to a company, since the host country partner can supply familiarity with the host country’s culture and market. An IJV mixes the management styles of at least two parent companies. It therefore poses more complex management challenges than domestic managerial activity, or than the transposition of domestic routines into a foreign wholly-owned subsidiary (WOS).

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Measuring Goodwill: Rationales for a Possible Convergence between the Excess

Profits Estimate and the Residual Value Approach

Dr. Marco Taliento, University of Foggia, Italy

ABSTRACT

This study examines the two principal approaches to goodwill valuation which are widely accepted in academic literature and in the best accounting practice: (i) the discounted excess earnings technique and (ii) the residuum estimation procedure. The specific attempt of this study is to verify whether – and under which technical conditions and limits – it is possible to achieve a quantitative convergence between the results coming from both methods. In particular, since the former (‘direct’) method finds in firms’ net income power its explanatory variable, any investigated economic / financial convergence will be retained unlikely, or merely casual, if the other estimation (‘indirect’) approach is incoherently based on some alternative value drivers (e.g. cash flow, unless measuring involves the direct goodwill by some kind of ‘abnormal’ cash streams or similar performance indicators). Therefore, attention is paid to the determination of the above normal earnings capacity (excess earnings) and, on the other hand, to the allocation of the value of the firm, assessed as a whole, firstly to every identifiable assets and liabilities of the business enterprise, and then, as residual value, to goodwill. Against this backdrop, numerical illustrations and methodological remarks on time periods and discount rates are provided. Goodwill is a crucial business concept (1) that it is not easy both to qualify/quantify and to correctly account for (2) (3). In general terms, it represents a significant intangible asset which reflects the transferable and sustainable competitive advantage of firms. Financial statements usually exhibit the value of goodwill only after a business combination occurs (e.g. mergers, acquisitions, takeovers, demergers, etc.); nevertheless, it is not uncommon today to see firms that estimate their own earning power, future economic performance or capacity to create business wealth over time.

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Research Discussion of Independent Mechanism in an Industrial Area Developed by the Government

Dr. Li-Hsing Ho, Chung Hua University, Institute of the Management of Science and Tech., Taiwan

Chao-Lung Hsieh, Chung Hua University, Institute of the Management of Science and Tech., Taiwan

Abstract

Our country has made regulations to investment since the 49th year of the Republic of China. This is by the joined strength of the government and the chinese people in making investments and production space together. Over the past forty years, our country has developed the industrial area and is up to more than 13,000 hectares in total, with a great contribution to the development of Taiwan. The conditions for sale in the industrial sector have been poor in recent years, primarily as a result of economical recession. Funding sources for management of development in the industrial sector has been reduced.The government has invested in order to fullfil the demand from the manufacturers for industrial development. Investments are made to promote the relevant coaching and services and to continously decrease the costs for administration and management. However, the develpment of management in the industrial sector is in a difficult phase. Bringing new life to the government in terms of organization and management in the industrial area, with regard to the way of operation is already initiated, An idea for independent operation in the industrial sector has been generated. This enables the industrial area to act according to the tendency of today with regard to service efficiency, strength of pluralism in guest service functions and decrease in the financial shortfall in development of management. From historical background outlined in the abstract, it is clearly seen that the government needs a reform of its organisation. This should improve the operation and financial issues related to the management in the industrial sector.

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Financial Management in the Nonprofit Sector: A Mission-Based Approach to

Ratio Analysis in Membership Organizations

Dr. Anne Abraham, University of Wollongong, Australia

ABSTRACT

Nonprofit organisations (NPOs) are melting pots combining mission, members and money. Given that the mission of a nonprofit organisation is the reason for its existence, it is appropriate to focus on financial resources in their association with mission and with the individuals who are served by that mission (Parker 2003; Wooten et al 2003; Colby and Rubin 2005). Measurement of financial performance by ratio analysis helps identify organizational strengths and weaknesses by detecting financial anomalies and focusing attention on issues of organizational importance (Glynn et al 2003). Questions have been raised that relate the performance of NPOs to their financial resources, their mission and their membership. Addressing these questions is the key to analysis and measurement of financial and operational control (Turk et al 1995) and provides an appropriate analysis for past performance which will help an organisation chart its future direction. This paper analyses financial performance by concentrating on ratio analysis in order to identify anomalies and focus attention on matters of significant concern to NPOs. It discusses the centrality of mission in the use of financial ratio analysis and extends previous financial performance models to develop one that can be applied to individual NPOs thus ensuring that financial performance analysis is not carried out in isolation from any consideration of an organization’s mission. The paper concludes by identifying the limitations of such an analysis and makes suggestions for further application of the model. Nonprofit organisations (NPOs) are melting pots combining mission, members and money. Mission is the central thrust of an NPO, the very reason for its existence (Drucker 1989; Oster 1994).

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Chinese Currency Forecasts and Capital Budgeting

Dr. Ilan Alon, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida

Dr. Ralph Drtina, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida

ABSTRACT

Forecasting the Renminbi (also called RMB or Yuan) is crucial for any type of capital budgeting or long-term investment assessment in China. This article makes a dual contribution by first showing how to use exchange rates in a capital budget model and, second, by forecasting the 10-year RMB-US dollar exchange rate with the help of scenario analysis and using this forecast in a capital budget model. We believe that the RMB will appreciate against the dollar in the decade to come making the net present value of long-term invested capital higher in US dollar (USD) terms. China’s urban middle class, estimated at 50 million, is growing rapidly, and has disposable income to buy consumer products favored by developed economies worldwide (Browne, 2006). Foreign direct investment in China during 2005 reached $60.3 billion and this number is expected to grow in the future. For many companies, investing is not an option, but a necessity because the opportunity cost of not investing can be quite high. China is now the leading host of foreign direct investment in the world. Investing in China, however, does require the company to take risks. Among the risks are political, economic, country and project related. Changes in the exchange rate, in particular, are relevant to almost any type of foreign direct investment and with the liberalization of the Chinese Yuan, currency conversion is now a growing concern in China. This paper makes a dual contribution by first presenting a model for including changes in exchange rate in the capital budgeting process and, secondly, developing a forecast for the Chinese Yuan. Given the importance of China to today’s world investment and the changes that are occurring in the currency, the article discusses a salient global management issue. For the capital budgeting process, foreign companies investing in China must make an estimate of the long-term expectation for conversion of Chinese Yuan. Such an estimate is needed in order to calculate the profitability, required return, and present value in the home currency.

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A Study on the Information Transparency of the Involvements by Venture Capital—Case from Taiwan IT Industry

Dr. Dwan-Fang Sheu, Takming College, Taiwan

Hui-Shan Lin, Deloitte, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

A series of financial scandals of Tung Lung Hardware, Central Bills, Godsun and Taichung Commercial Bank were occurred in Taiwan due to unsound corporate governance, especial the weak information transparency. This study explores the role of venture capital in the information transparency of IPO companies of IT industry from 2001 to 2003. Regression analysis is used to explore the relation of information transparency of the invested companies depending on variables of whether involved by venture capital, shareholding rate of venture capital, number of venture capital and whether venture capital are appointed as directors and supervisors. This study will be discussed year by year based on “Criteria Governing Information to be Published in Annual Reports of Public Companies” as amended by Securities and Futures Bureau in 2001, 2002 and 2003. Empirical results indicate the information disclosures are significantly positively correlative to investments of venture capital, their shareholding rate and number of venture capital in all samples of 2001, 2002 and 2003. Only in samples of 2001 and 2002, venture capital as directors and supervisors are significantly positively correlative to information disclosures. Because of their involvements, venture capital companies have ability to ask the invested companies to disclose more relative information, strengthen information transparency, and minimize the possibility of concealment of information by insiders. The financial crisis caused by US Enron bankruptcy at the end of 2001 shocked the confidence of US stock market. The amounts in a series of subsequent fraudulent expenditures occurred in larger companies such as Worldcom and Merck are larger and larger. Investors became aware of the discrepancy in the reliability of financial statements and the values of companies.

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The Effect of Corporate Identity Changes on Firm Value An Empirical Investigation

Dr. Ceyhan Kilic, New York Institute of Technology, New York, NY

Dr. Turkan Dursun, New York Institute of Technology, New York, NY

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study is to examine the value creation effects of the company name change announcements. Additionally, the wealth creating effects of the company type (consumer versus industrial goods companies), and the type of name change (partial versus complete name changes) are investigated. An event-study methodology is utilized using a multi-variate regression model. The final sample included 44 name change announcements made by U.S. companies. The empirical results of this study indicate that name changes add to firm value. Furthermore, it was found that the name changes made by industrial goods companies with monolithic identity reduce shareholders’ wealth significantly. However, the name changes made by consumer goods companies with branded identity do not affect the investor’s perception of firm value. In terms of the type of a name change, partial name changes generate positive and significant stock returns. Managerial implications and future research suggestions were also provided. Corporate name change is a major strategic decision. The last two decades have witnessed a continued increase in name changing activity among U.S. corporations. Every year hundreds of companies confront the challenge of changing their names and facilitating additional activities associated with corporate name changes. Name changes have often resulted from friendly or hostile takeovers, corporate acquisitions, or spin-offs, restructuring, mergers, and new strategic direction (Morris and Reyes 1991; Morley 1998). According to a recent statistics by the Schecter Group Name Change Index, the number of name changes by publicly traded companies went up, reaching 197 in 1992 or 28.9% higher than in 1991. Financial services led in name changes (Marketing News 1993, p.1; Slater 1989).

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Estimating Costs of Joint Products: A Case of Production in Variable Proportions

Dr. Ying Chien, University of Scranton, Scranton, PA

Dr. Roxanne Johnson, University of Scranton, Scranton, PA

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to offer two different joint cost allocation models to add to the traditional cost allocation methods with which we are most familiar. Cost accounting, of which this concept is an essential component, is becoming more and more important as the need for the control of costs, no matter how marginal such controls may be, are recognized within the business community. The importance of cost accounting is evident in that cost information is essential for production planning, budgeting, product pricing, and, inevitably, inventory valuation for financial reporting purposes. As in all matters significant to the preparation and dissemination of financial statements, one must recognize the use of estimates, arbitrary allocations, and alternative methods of constructing the final information that constitutes the building blocks resulting in these statements. This is nowhere more evident than in the various methodologies used to attribute joint costs to product lines for purposes as varied as decision-making, planning, and inventory valuation. In this paper two new methods using a multiplicative total joint cost model and an additive total joint cost model respectively are proposed to estimate production costs for joint products produced in variable proportions over a period of time. The multiplicative total joint cost model and additive total joint cost model, their characteristics, and the procedures for estimating production costs for individual joint products are described. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the application of the models. Cost information is vital for production planning, cost control, product pricing, inventory valuation, and, ultimately, financial reporting. When a group of different products is produced simultaneously with a single production process or a series of production processes, joint costs occur up to the point where the joint products are separated.

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Board Control and Employee Stock Bonus Plans: An Empirical Study on TSEC-Listed

Electronic Companies in Taiwan

Chiaju Kuo, MingDao University, Taiwan

Dr. Chung-Jen Fu, National Yunlin University of Science & Technology, Taiwan

Yung-Yu Lai, The Overseas Chinese Institute of Technology, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

This study examines the correlation between board control and employee stock bonus of TSEC-listed electronic companies in Taiwan, in both corporate governance and regulatory perspectives. In addition, the soundness of regulations regarding board control is also examined. This empirical research differs from previous studies in that not only the different roles played by board directors and supervisors are identified more clearly, but also that there is more accurate data with regard to board control. The evidence provides support for our argument that, owing to the different characteristics, it is inappropriate to combine directors’ ownership with supervisors’ ownership, or to combine the number of directors and supervisors as an explanatory variable, as adopted by previous studies. The main contribution is that we examine the influence of directors and supervisors separately, taking into account the two-tier structure of the corporate governance system in use in Taiwan. In Taiwan, in order to assist companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation (TSEC) and the GreTai Securities Market (GTSM), collectively referred to as "TSEC/GTSM-listed companies"), to establish a sound corporate governance system, and to promote the integrity of the securities market, the TSEC and GTSM jointly issued “Corporate Governance Best-Practice Principles for TSEC/GTSM Listed Companies” on October 4, 2002, to be followed by TSEC/GTSM-listed companies. Many executives credit employee stock bonus plans for the recruitment of innovative employees and to help Taiwan’s high-tech companies become globally competitive. While a number of studies have examined the relationships between employee stock bonus plans and variables such as firm performance, corporate value (e. g., Sue 2004; Wu 2004), and compensation contracts (e. g., Chang 2004; Li 2003; You 2003) in Taiwan, relatively few studies have investigated the correlation between board characteristics and employee stock bonus plans.

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Measuring the Performance of ERP System --- from the Balanced Scorecard Perspectives

Mei-Yeh Fang, Chihlee Institute of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Dr. Fengyi Lin, Chihlee Institute of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.

ABSTRACT

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are commercial software systems that can be defined as customizable, standard application software which integrates business solutions for the core processes and the main administrative function of an enterprise. Traditionally, ERP performance measures focus on financial indicators which tend to reflect on past performance, this study therefore proposed a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) approach; a framework provides a comprehensive set of key perspectives to simultaneously evaluate the overall ERP system performance. Moreover, we empirically investigated Taiwan public companies with ERP system implementation to explore whether different corporate ERP objectives could have affected the post-ERP performance and cou7ld translate a company’s vision and strategy through all levels of organization. Adopting the Balanced Scorecard increases the completeness and the quality of ERP implementation reports and raises the awareness for relevant factors. Based on the research finding, we provided a regression model to measure the performance of ERP systems and found that financial perspectives have closed relationship with non-financial perspectives. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are commercial software systems that can be defined as customizable, standard application software which integrates business solutions for the core processes (e.g production planning and control, warehouse management) and the main administrative function (e.g. accounting, human resource management) of an enterprise (Rosemann & Wiese, 1999; Skok, W. and M. Legge, 2002). Companies that implement ERP systems have the opportunity to redesign their business practices using templates imbedded in the software (DeLone and Mclean, 2003; Chesley, 1999; Huang et al., 2004). Many companies are implementing ERP packages as a means or strategic objectives to reengineering its existing processes, performing supply chain management, requiring for e-Commerce, integrating ERP with other business information systems, reducing inventory costs, changing existing legacy system, requiring for multinational enterprise competitiveness, enhancing enterprise images, and evoluting e-business (Minahan, 1998; Mirani and Lederer, 1998; Pliskin and Zarotski, 2000; Davenport, 2000).

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Endless Surpluses: Japan’s Successful International Trade Policy

Dr. James W. Gabberty, Pace University, NY

Dr. Robert G. Vambery, Pace University, NY

ABSTRACT

In 1991, authors Akio Morita, chairman of Sony and Shintaro Ishihara, member of the Japanese Diet, published a book titled “A Japan That Can Say No”. This work called for the nation of Japan to take a much more self-assertive and aggressive attitude toward the rest of the world (especially the U.S.) in its diplomatic and business relations. The caustic tone of the book, with chapter titles such as “America Itself is Unfair”, “American Barbaric Act!”, and “Let’s Become a Japan that Can Say No” caused much consternation in the West. Nonetheless, before and after the publication of this book, the U.S. - Japan trade deficit was (and still is) enormous [Morita, Shintaro]. Consequently, Americans who express concern about large and persistent trade deficits are not engaged in Japan bashing, but rather may be strong supporters of free trade who are analyzing the effects of large-scale adverse economic phenomena that may need remedy [Lincoln]. In the 1950s and 1960s, the U.S. was the world's leading export powerhouse. The Marshall plan helped provide the capital needed to rebuild Europe and Japan, and fueled a tremendous demand for U.S. exports. During this period, the U.S. ran a substantial trade surplus of about one percent of gross domestic product. The U.S. also benefited initially from strong export demand in a wide range of industries, from low-tech textiles and apparel to sophisticated aircraft and machine tools. Since the 1970s the U.S. moved from a trade surplus to a deficit position, as Europe and Japan began to compete effectively with the U.S. in a range of industries. Now, China has come online as a major trade partner with the U.S. However, China has become not only a surplus trading partner with the U.S, but has been so successful at penetrating the U.S. market that it has eclipsed Japan in its trade surplus position.

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Economic Convergence in the Old and the New Economies of the OECD

Dr. Bala Batavia, DePaul University

Dr. P. Nandakumar, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, and Sodertorn University of Stockholm

Dr. Cheick Wague, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, and Sodertorn University of Stockholm

ABSTRACT

The optimistic belief that incomes per capita will converge in course of time, voiced by a number of economists and soothsayers, has been belied by developments in the last few decades. Instead of catching up with the affluent west, the less developed countries of the southern hemisphere have fallen still further behind in terms of income per resident. In this paper, we address the same issue for the OECD group of countries, and also analyze the impact on the convergence of the income-catch up process of certain fresh factors which have emerged or have become relevant recently in this regard. In particular, a distinction is made between the convergence process in traditional sectors of the economy, and the ‘new economy’ - i.e., the sectors which use significant inputs of information technology. The notion that relatively backward countries, with a comparatively low income per capita, will grow faster than the richer nations, thus effectively closing the income gap, seems to have been prevalent for several decades. Such a process of income catch-up had clearly occurred in the aftermath of the war years, when barriers to trade and capital flows fell rapidly, heralding a golden age for international commerce which lasted well into the 1960s. In fact, this may have been the most expansive era for trade since the classical age that was spearheaded by Great Britain. The income-catch up hypothesis basically postulates that countries with lower per capita incomes will grow faster than the leader with the highest income per capita in a group of trading nations. The rate of growth will be related to the income gap relative to the leading nation. This hypothesis has been considered even in the analysis of the productivity slowdown in the OECD countries since early 1970s (Lindbeck, 1983). Generally speaking , the hypothesis has been considered relevant only in explaining the catch-up process within the group of industrialized nations, which are said to belong to a ‘convergence club’ in the words of Baumol (1986). Baumol et al., (1994) have also postulated that the convergence process among the OECD countries may have run it’s full course by now, after an extended process of strong convergence in the post-war decades, and echoes in this respect, the study by Lindbeck (1983).

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An Evaluation of Investment Performance and Financial Standing for Life Insurers in Taiwan

Dr. Shu-Hua Hsiao, Leader University, Taiwan

Dr. Shu-Hui Su, Fortune Institute with Tech,, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

Life insurers in Taiwan should set a goal of a higher efficiency of investment performance and profitability because the whole market structure changed after the insurance market opened in 1987. Facing more highly intensive competition, insurers may become insolvent when inefficient performance of investment occurs. Hence, to achieve a financial solvent objective and a competitive advantage, life insurers should maintain their relative investment efficiency and performance. The main purpose of this study is to determine the capital investment efficiency based on the DEA results and MPI. Some hypotheses were created to test if there is a statistically significant difference among the original domestic life insurers, new entrant domestic life insurers, and foreign branches of life insurers. Results expressed that there is no significant difference among those three groups for MPI. Nan Shan and Hontai are found to have an efficient investment performance for the overall efficiency and scale efficiency. In addition to Nan Shan and Hontai, Cathay, American, and Manulife are efficient for pure technical efficiency. As the insurance market structure has been changed, more competitive environments will impact financial profitability. It is important to study the profitability and investment performance for life insurers, because companies may become insolvent when failure leads to declining profit, and even to serious interest spread loss. To evaluate the efficiency of investment performance, and to guide companies to financial improvement areimportant. In Taiwan, the main sources of a life insurer’s profit, financial receipts, depend on the investment performance. Obviously, premiums received only cover commission and business expenses, although this amount is about eighty percent of the total income (Yen, Sheu, & Cheng, 2001). Thus, whether the investment performance is efficient or not is a key factor that relates to the whole performance of business management. To achieve these objectives and competitive advantages, a life insurer should maintain their financial relative efficiency and performance.

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Dolorous Songs and Blessings of the Curses

Dr. Kazi Saidul Islam, University of Wollongong, Australia

Dr. Kathie Cooper, University of Wollongong, Australia

Dr. Jane Andrew, University of Wollongong, Australia

ABSTRACT

The latest trend in accounting arises from the spate of pathetic exodus of sprinkling stars from the corporate sky around the globe. The direct and domino effect of the corporate collapses are dreadful. The neurotic curses arising out of gripped collapses remind us of the fact that there is the other side of a coin. Severity in accounting scandals and commonality in the nature of collapses have bought in a number of blessings by triggering global consciousness and consensus to root out the diagnosed disease, setting celestial attributes in the governance process, bringing harmony as well as transparency in the disclosure regime and building a strong knowledge-base through continuous education to be provided by the higher educational institutions and professional bodies. Regulatory changes, emergence of corporate governance codes, mandatory compliance with accounting standards for greater transparency and thus emergence of a new accounting order were not possible so rapidly without such a severity in the corporate ruins. Songs reflect mind. Birds and people sing to express their jovial feelings. Again the songs of cuckoo in the spring remind the sorrows of loosing her pair. Sometimes songs of people cause tears. Songs on drums can not be as pathetic as those on a violin or piano. So songs can be dolorous or delightful. Blissful or brutal events determine the sweetness of songs. Our concern is about the songs in the corporate world. Corporate bodies are artificial entities governed and surrounded by many people. Management, regulators and stakeholders are the birds who live on the branches and leaves of corporate entity to care for their interest and eat apples. When a company runs well, the sweet wind touches everybody living on the tree. The management throws complacent smile for effective efforts, the regulators for good control and the stakeholders for having their shares from the company assets and profit. Their songs are then played on the drums followed by dances or Champaign. To the contrary, when a company runs badly and ultimately collapses for a range of reasons, the high sounding drums are replaced by buzzwords and the shocking songs are played on violins or pianos.

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Process and Quality Model for the Production Planning and Control Systems

Dr. Halim Kazan, Gebze Institue of Technology, Turkey

Dr. Ahmet Ergulen, Nigde University, Turkey

Dr. Haluk Tanrıverdi, Sakarya University, Turkey

ABSTRACT

Over the last decades, many industrial sectors have been experiencing profound changes involving both the business environment and the internal organisation. This process has been so deep and radical as to suggest that a new operations management paradigm has emerged. In this new competitive and turbulent environment, effective production planning and control systems have become extremely important to drive improvement efforts. We consider production planning models from a different perspective, assuming that both production and quality are decision variables. Within this class of models, we consider various degrees of process on the part of the producer including the quality, process technology and control system to determine the acceptance or rejection of how the system is designed, implemented, run, improved and measured the quality of the outputs. Our intent is to provide an overview of applicable process and quality model; we present briefly how the quality is identified, designed, implemented, run, improved and measured in terms of the appropriate quantity, the appropriate time, the appropriate level of quantity. Especially, our purpose of the PP&C is to ensure that manufacturing run effectively and efficiently and produces products as required by customers. In this article we focus on process and quality model for the production planning and control systems. We also have organized the article into two major sections. In the first section we present a framework for the process technology and system. In the second section we discuss control system and quality models for production planning. Over the last decades, many industrial sectors have been experiencing profound changes involving both the business environment and the internal organisation. Especially, today’s changing industry dynamics have influenced the design, operation and objectives of production planning and control systems since CAD, CAM and CIM systems used in industry.

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Analysis of Financial Performance by Strategic Groups of Digital Learning Industry in Taiwan

Wen-Long Chang, Shih Chien University, Taiwan

Kevin Wen-Ching Chang, Abacus Distribution System Ltd., Taiwan

Jasmine Yi-Hsuan Hsin, Taiwan Federation of Industry, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

The research focuses on digital learning providers in Taiwan. The digital learning providers are categorized into different strategic groups depending on the strategic dimensions they conduct. Factor analysis is applied to determine the measurement index for the financial performance of these providers, and to further examine the divergence among their financial performance. As a result of the research, digital learning providers in Taiwan can be divided into four strategic dimensions which are ‘leading group with integration of marketing and sales abilities’, ‘leading group with external relation management, and research and development abilities’, ‘leading group with human capital and financial management abilities’, and ‘leading group with Niche market management and product innovation abilities’. Among all four, the leading group with integration of marketing and sales abilities shows the best profit earning ability. Digital learning (also known as e-Learning) industry has been expanding with rapid acceleration in recent years. While people reply on the internet to read, to shop, to talk, and to learn, many countries have enclosed the barrier-free digital learning as one of their competitive essentials. Through digital learning, knowledge can be obtained easier, faster, and cheaper. It is believed that digital learning will ultimately provide us life-long learning experience with great learning efficiency and quality. Since digital learning was first initiated in Taiwan in 1998, many researches have been conducted on its management models (Barron, 2002; Close, Humphreys and Ruttenbur, 2000), key success factors (Rosenberg, 2000), and system regulations (Anido and Llamas, 2001). Today, the major task for digital learning providers is to design the best competitive strategies, including studying their financial performance.

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Duality of Alliance Performance

Dr. Noushi Rahman, Pace University, New York, NY

ABSTRACT

While alliance research has proliferated and branched out to several areas in the past decade, alliance performance remains a misunderstood and limitedly studied area. A review on alliance performance suggests that it comprises two elements: goal accomplishment and relational harmony. Both are necessary to ensure alliance performance. This paper reviews four theoretical streams in organization research that are relevant to alliance performance. Apparently, extant research has attended to alliance relationship management much more than it has attended to alliance goal accomplishment. This review highlights the need to extend existing theoretical streams in certain directions to further explain alliance performance. The literature on strategic alliances has flourished tremendously over the past decade. Strategic alliances are enduring, yet temporary, interfirm exchanges that member firms join to jointly accomplish their respective goals. In his review of the state of alliance literature, Gulati (1998) wrote about five avenues in which alliance literature has spread out: formation, governance, evolution, performance, and performance consequence. Of these five paths, research on alliance performance has received the least attention: “the performance of alliances remains one of the most interesting and also one of the most vexing questions” (Gulati, 1998: 309). Strategic management research is generally geared toward better performance of the firm. While conceptualizing and measuring firm performance is quite straightforward, the involvement of more than one firm and the permeable boundary of the alliance entity (with the exception of joint ventures) make conceptualizing and measuring alliance performance a messy and daunting task. Performance of an alliance is conceptualized as the extent to which member-specific goals are accomplished by the alliance. However, alliance members may find it difficult to work with each other for a lack or trust and threat of opportunism. Consequently, an alliance may fail to perform despite its ability to accomplish alliance-specific goals.

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Does Cooperative Learning Enhance the Residual Effects of Student Interpersonal

Relationship Skills?: A Case Study at a Taiwan Technical College

Kai-Wen Cheng, National Kaohsiung Hospitality College, Taiwan, R.O.C.

ABSTRACT

The relative effectiveness of cooperative learning instruction and traditional lecture-discussion instruction were compared for Taiwan technical college students to determine the residual effects of interpersonal relationship skills on accounting courses. A pretest-posttest control group experimental design involving two classes was used. The experimental group students (n=53) received the cooperative learning instruction, and the control group students (n=45) received the traditional lecture-discussion instruction. The “Interpersonal Relationship Skills Test (IRST)” was used as the research instrument. A multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) suggested that students taught using the cooperative learning instruction scored significantly higher than did students in the traditional lecture-discussion group. The research results showed that the cooperative learning indeed enhanced the residual effects of student interpersonal relationship skills and that cooperative learning could serve as an appropriate and worthwhile reference that schoolteachers could apply to their teaching instruction. Cooperative learning instruction plays an important role in contemporary teaching instruction. Many teachers and researchers have used cooperative learning to enhance learning effectiveness and interaction in the classrooms during the last few decades. Cooperative learning incorporates five basic elements: Positive interdependence, face-to-face interaction, individual and group accountability, collaborative skills, and group processing (Johnson & Johnson, 1999). Positive interdependence is structured once group members understand that they are linked together for the same goal. Face-to-face interaction means that group members need to be collaborative in fulfilling the assigned tasks. They need to encourage each others’ efforts. Individual and group accountability means that the whole group must be held accountable for achieving its goal, and each group member must be held accountable for making his or her own contributions to the group and the goal. Collaborative skills mean that teachers should incorporate various social, decision making, and communication skills into their instruction.

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Measuring Efficiency and Productivity Change in Taiwan Hospitals: A Nonparametric Frontier Approach

Ching-Kuo Wei, Oriental Institute of Technology, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

This research investigated the productivity of hospitals (total 550 decision-making units) in Taiwan and its changes during 2000~2004, and applied Data Envelopment Analysis for analysis, as well as the Malmquist Productivity Index to evaluate the status of annual productivity changes. The results showed that the return-to-scale of medical centers was overly large, and there should be room for downscaling. As evident from the MPI analysis, from 2003 to 2004, the productivity of all levels of hospitals had significant growth, as a reason of due to improved technical efficiency. Furthermore, this research also found out that after the first year of implementing the National Health Insurance Global Budget System, the productivity of all hospitals showed deterioration. In recent years, the management of hospitals in Taiwan has suffered a major impacts from changes in the macro environment, in which, the changes of the National Health Insurance Payout Scheme was most influential. In the past, with fee-for-service payouts, the hospital could increase its service quantity to increase its income, but after implementation of the Global Budget System in July 2002, which intended to control the rise of medical fees through budgets, the operational efficiency of hospitals was greatly impacted. The management of many Many hospitals managements were faced with the crisis of losses or bankruptcy. Thus, the efficiency of hospital management has become a problem worth exploring. Based on ownership, Taiwan hospitals can be divided into three categories, public hospitals, proprietary hospitals, and private hospitals. Public hospitals are profit oriented. Proprietary hospitals are a kind of private hospital, but they are not profit oriented either. Private hospitals, on the other hand, are mainly profit oriented. In terms of accreditation level, hospitals can be categorized into three main types, medical centers, regional hospitals, and local hospitals. Medical centers are large-scaled hospitals mainly responsible for education, research, training, and highly complicated medical treatments. Regional hospitals are medium-sized hospitals responsible for education, training, and complicated medical treatments.

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Capital Structure: Asian Firms Vs. Multinational Firms in Asia

Dr. Janikan Supanvanij, St. Cloud State University, MN

ABSTRACT

The study analyzes the financing decisions of Asian firms and multinational firms investing in Asian countries during 1991-1996. The results show that some factors are correlated with firm leverage similarly in both groups. Overall, leverage increases with tangibility and size in Asian firms. For MNCs in Asia, the explanatory variables are related with short-term financing decision, not long-term decision. Empirical work in the area of capital structure is largely based on firms in the US and G-7 countries. Without testing the robustness of these findings somewhere else, it is difficult to determine whether these empirical regularities can support the theory. Very few studies expand the test to Asian countries because of data limitation. This paper is the first study that compares the financing decision of Asian firms to MNCs investing in Asia. It analyzes whether capital structure in Asian firms is related to the factors similar to those appearing to influence the capital structure of the US firms, and whether the financing choice is similar to MNCs investing in the area. The determinants of capital structure choice are investigated by analyzing the financing decisions of firms across industries in Japan and other Asian countries including Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Philippines during 1991-1996. This section presents a brief discussion of the attributes that different theories of capital structure suggest may affect the firm’s debt-equity choice. Harris and Raviv (1991) find evidence that leverage increases with fixed asset, nondebt tax shields, investment opportunities, and firm size; and decreases with volatility, advertising expenditure, the probability of bankruptcy, profitability, and uniqueness of the product. Booth et al. (2001) examine the capital structure determinants in ten developing countries during 1980-1990 and provide evidence that the determinants are similar to those in developed countries. In this study, I focus on five factors: tangibility, investment opportunities, firm size, profitability, and volatility.

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Influence of Instructors in Enhancing Problem Solving Skills of Administrative and Technical Staff Candidates

Dr. Nesrin Özdemir, University of Bahcesehir, Turkey

Dr. Ozge Hacifazlioglu, University of Bahcesehir, Turkey

Mert Sanver, University of Bahcesehir / (Stanford Master Candidate), Turkey

ABSTRACT

Communication problems seem to serve as one of the main problems encountered at educational institutions. This is mostly observed at institutions where future middle management employees are trained. Vocational Schools in this respect have fundamental importance to train the necessary technical and administrative staff for the companies. Atmosphere of the class, democratic attitude and leadership qualities of the instructor and the program enhancing the creativeness of the students form the basis of a successful model. The purpose of this study is to determine the perceptions of students about problem solving and communication skills practiced by their instructors in a classroom atmosphere. A questionnaire was devised as a tool for data collection. 422 students chosen from Vocational School of Education constitute the sample of the study. SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) was used in the analysis of the data. Recommendations were made regarding the communication and problem solving process. Problem solving skills helps the individual to effectively accommodate to the environment in which he/she is living in. It can be said that, all generations have felt the need to learn problem-solving techniques in order to adapt to their environment. Some of the problems have certain right answers and precise solutions. It is possible to reach the result by carrying out certain strategies in such kind of problems. However, solutions to some problems are not as straight forward. They do not have one right answer. Inter disciplinary knowledge and creativity should be used to solve them. Ultimate goal of the educational programs is teaching students, dealing with problems in their major subjects in school, and problems they will face in life (Gagne, 1985). Problems are challenges for which we need to spend effort in order to reach a goal, and we also need to define sub-goals in the process. ( Chi,Glazer, 1985) Problem solving is an activity in which both knowledge and appropriate mental strategies are utilized. The most important aspect in problem solving is determining the tools needed for the purpose. Some of the problems are one-dimensional; generally have one right answer and certain strategies that allow finding the right answer. They are specific to one knowledge area.

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Relationships Among Public Relations, Core Competencies, and Outsourcing Decisions in Technology Companies

Dr. Chieg-Wen Sheng, Chihlee Institute Technology, Taiwan

Ming-Chia Chen, Da-Yeh University, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

Though the importance of public relations (PR) is rising, PR activities remain distinct from traditional management functions. It becomes a strategic decision to determine whether it is necessary (or possible) to internally direct or to outsource PR activities. The objective of this research is to examine PR activities in Taiwan’s technology industries and to determine through an informal survey and content analysis how this decision relates to core competencies. We provide theoretic analysis and develop four models quantifying relationships among core competency, PR functions needed, outsourcing channels, and outsourcing success. In addition, we discuss policies concerning outsourcing decisions and evaluate key decision-making criteria before and after outsourcing. Through rapid technological change, the global economy is quickly becoming one based on knowledge. Furthermore, regional commercial and financial activities are increasingly intertwined, and the context of economic exchange can no longer be characterized as a closed system. As members of the ever-expanding open system, enterprises must be increasingly aware of their environment (including particular production and value chains, the natural environment, and the surrounding community). In light of this changing reality, a company’s success hinges not only on economic profits; it also must demonstrate social responsibility [Hagen, Hassan & Amin, 1998; Sheng & Hsu, 2000]. Most moderate- to large-sized enterprises now depend on public relations (PR) departments to manage their corporate position and to produce a desirable image in the eyes of key community entities (including consumers, governmental bodies, and competitors). In this sense, the importance of PR activities is increasing [Hsu & Sheng, 2001]. Though the importance of PR is growing, PR activities remain distinct from traditional management functions. It becomes a strategic issue for firms to determine whether it is necessary (or possible) to internally direct or to outsource PR activities. According to some research [Mascarenhas, Baveja & Jamil, 1998], enterprises face a short-term incentive to manipulate external relationships in order to develop their core competencies but need to maintain a socially responsible image for long-term survival.

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Compliance with Disclosure Requirements by Four SAARC Countries—Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka

Dr. Majidul Islam, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the compliance with disclosure requirements by some South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries and to explore the possibility of standardization of accounting practice in the SAARC region. The reports of ten companies from the manufacturing sector of each of four SAARC countries—Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka (BIPS) were collected. The reports were examined against 124 information-item requirements of the standards, company acts and listing rules of the stock exchange, which are commonly observed by the BIPS companies in their respective countries. The compliance with the obligatory information items was measured using a relative index for those four countries. The result shows that Sri Lanka complied, on average, with the highest requirements of the standards, acts and rules, followed by Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. The South Asian countries are gradually making contributions to world trade, and because these countries are dependent on aid and investments from beyond their borders, the accounting development processes and accounting systems need to be such that they satisfy the investors and donors and, at the same time, create an environment for useful reporting for user groups within the countries. The purpose of this paper is to investigate and assess empirically the degree of compliance with disclosure requirements of the listed Bangladeshi, Indian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan (BIPS) companies. As these countries belong to emerging capital markets (ECM) (Standard and Poor’s, 2001), it is particularly relevant for them to comply with financial reporting requirements of the standards. Accounting information plays an important role in emerging economies, especially if the countries are dependent upon foreign investment. Financial statements of companies reflect the aspirations of the users’ information; however, many players influence the quality of financial reporting and bring strengths and weaknesses to the accounting and reporting process (Gavin 2003).

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How Firms Integrate Nonmarket Strategy with Market Strategy: Evidence from Mainland of China

Dr. Yuanqiong He, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, China

ABSTRACT

Integrating nonmarket strategy with market strategy is the new trend in the field of strategic management. However, it is still unknown how market strategy and nonmarket strategy will be integrated, special in an emerging economy setting such as mainland of China in the existing literature. Therefore, based on 438 usable questionnaires and in-depth interviews with 10 top managers from mainland of China, this research examines the integration between nonmarket and market strategies among firms with various ownerships. The study represents a promising step forward toward the new trend of strategic management and provides Chinese firms with implications of dealing with stakeholders in today’s Chinese business environment. Since Baron (1995a, 1995b) advocates the integration of nonmarket strategy with the economic “market” strategies of the firm, it is fair to say that two areas of market strategy and nonmarket strategy have often been treated as separate subjects in the academic literature. In the previous literature, nonmarket strategy of American firms is mainly taken as the sample of empirical researches so that there is lacking of evidence from an emerging economy setting such as China. Actually, being in a transitional period from a command economy to a market economy, Chinese firms adopt nonmarket strategy ubiquitously and integrate them with market strategies in their business operations (Tian et al., 2003). Because of different institutional background between China and other developed countries such as America, nonmarket strategies of Chinese firms and their integration with market strategies both have their own characteristics. Therefore, this paper is an effort to fill this gap through an empirical examination based on evidence from mainland of China. This paper is structured as follows. The following section describes the nonmarket environment in the transitional period of China and proposes the hypotheses. Then, research methodology along with collection procedures and measurement of the constructs are introduced. The results of the empirical study are discussed in section four. Finally, we conclude by noting the managerial implications of the study’s findings and provide directions for future research.

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Relationship between Organizational Socialization and Organization Identification of

Professionals: Moderating Effects of Personal Work Experience and Growth Need Strength

Xiang Yi, Western Illinois University, IL

Jin Feng Uen, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

“Organizational identification” (OID) has significant implications for managing professionals in fast changing organizations. This study focuses on the relationship between socialization tactics and the OID of professionals. Work experience and personal “growth need strength” (GNS) were included as moderators. Three main results were found. (1) Ignoring the moderating effect, the serial tactic has a significantly positive effect on the OID; (2) Considering the moderating effect of work experience, collective and fixed tactics are helpful to OID for the professionals with formal work experience. (3) Formal and sequential tactics have positive impacts on the OID despite the GNS the professionals have, but high GNS professionals commonly have higher OID than the low GNS ones. Rapid advances in science and technology have changed the world. The knowledge and skills of employees are key sources of productivity in knowledge-based economies. For this reason, how to attract and retain high-quality professionals will continue to be critical issues among researchers as well as practitioners. Employees with knowledge and skills are essential to an organization’s success. Professionals distinguish themselves from traditional employees in that professionals’ work requires highly complicated general and firm-specific knowledge and skills; while traditional employees tend to perform clearly demarcated jobs or jobs needing a high degree of supervision (e.g., Xu, 1996). They can solve the difficult and non-routine problems for the organizations. Therefore, professional employees can, and often do have more bargaining power when they negotiate with the employer. This puts more pressure on a firm to find ways both to promote professionals’ productivity and bind them to the organization. Another feature of professionals is that they must continually learn new knowledge and skills, and keep up with latest developments in their specialized areas if they are to maintain their own employability (Xu, 1996).

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A Typology of Brand Extensions: Positioning Cobranding As a Sub–Case of Brand Extensions

Dr. Costas Hadjicharalambous, Long Island University, NY

ABSTRACT

This article treats cobranding as a sub-case of brand extensions and presents a typology of brand extensions. The underlying research is briefly outlined for clarity of meaning and intent of the terms of the typology. Brand extensions are classified (1) according to the number of brands involved in the extension and (2) the purpose of the extension. The rationale and the benefits of treating cobranding as a brand extension are presented. The paper concludes by discussing the importance of the typology. The typology presented can be used as an organizer of thought on the subject and a stimulus for future research. A relatively new phenomenon that caught the attention of academic researchers is cobranding. Cobranding is the use of two or more brands to name a new product. According to some estimates, recent cobranding and other cooperative brand activities have enjoyed a 40% annual growth (Spethmann and Benezra 1994). The basic premise behind cobranding strategies is that the constituent brands help each other achieve their objectives. Marketers recognized that, at least in some cases, using two or more brand names in the process of introducing new products offers competitive advantage. For example, ConAgra and Kellogg have joined efforts to market Healthy Choice adult cereals. In another cobranding effort, ConAgra has agreed to allow Nabisco to use the Healthy Choice brand in a new line of low fat, low cholesterol and low sodium snacks. The purpose of this double appeal is to capitalize on the reputation of the partner brands in an attempt to achieve immediate recognition and a positive evaluation from potential buyers. From a signaling perspective (Wernerfelt 1988; Rao, Qu and Ruekert 1999) the presence of a second brand on a product reinforces the perception of high product quality, leading to higher product evaluations and greater market share. Associating one brand with another involves risks that need to be addressed.

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The Dynamics of Corporate Takeovers Based on Managerial Overconfidence

Dr. Xinping Xia, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, PRC

Dr. Hongbo Pan, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, PRC

ABSTRACT

Using a game theoretical real option framework, this paper presents a dynamic model of takeovers based on the stock market valuations of the merging firms. The model incorporates managerial overconfidence on merger synergies and competition and determines the terms and timing of takeovers by solving option exercise games between bidding and target firms within the same industry. The model explains merger waves, abnormal returns to the stockholders of the participating firms around the time of the takeover announcement, and the impact of completion on the timing, terms and abnormal returns. The implications of the model for shareholder abnormal returns and the impact of competition on shareholder abnormal returns are consistent with the available evidence. The model generates new predictions relating shareholder abnormal returns to industry characteristics of the participating firms, and the level of managerial overconfidence. Mergers and acquisitions have been the subject of considerable research in financial economics. Yet, despite the substantial development of this literature, existing merger theories have had difficulties reconciling the stylized facts about mergers with the payment of cash (1). Two of the most important stylized facts about mergers are: First, the combined returns to stockholders are usually positive (see the recent survey by Andrade, Mitchell and Stafford (2001)); and second, acquirer returns are, on average, not positive (Andrade, Mitchell and Stafford, 2001; Fuller, Netter and Stegemoller, 2002). These two stylized facts are difficult to reconcile theoretically. The main aim of this paper is to provide a theoretical explanation for the above two stylized facts and examine the impact of competition on the abnormal returns of participant firms around the takeover announcement. The basic elements of our theory are the following: First, a takeover deal is an efficient response to industry shock, which usually results in positive merger synergies. Many academic literatures find that mergers concentrate on industries in which a regime shift of technological or regulatory nature can be identified, making mergers an efficient response (e.g. Mitchell and Mulherin (1996),

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