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Urban
Sprawl: Myth or Reality?
Dr. Tyler
Yu, Mercer University, Atlanta, GA
Dr.
Victoria Johnson, Mercer University, Atlanta, GA
Dr. Miranda
Zhang, Mercer University, Atlanta, GA
ABSTRACT
Urban
sprawl has become a symbol for a number of social and economic maladies plaguing
the public and private sectors, as well as a target for those wishing to cure
those contemporary ills. Perspectives differ on whether it should be contained,
encouraged or ignored. This paper discusses differing viewpoints and
consequences of the ancient and ubiquitous conflict between growth and
development and conservation and community. In the United States,
suburbanization and its corollary, urban sprawl, have increased dramatically and
exponentially over the past twenty years. To some observers, this transition
has created a monster, which threatens the very heart of the legendary American
dream. As the country began its transition from an agricultural, rural economy
to an industrialized, urban one, it was confronted with the inevitable social
and economic challenges that occur with concentrated urbanization.
Historically, the beliefs that growth is a social good, and that bigger is
better, have been central tenants of the American perspective. Undoubtedly,
growth brings with it a concomitant increase in jobs, a thriving economy, and a
larger tax base. Theoretically, it also creates a more equitable distribution
of benefits and burdens. Consequently, as more affluence is obtained, citizens
migrate out of a central city environment to outlying suburbs in an attempt to
improve their quality of life. It is then assumed that the good life will
necessarily follow. That is, the new environment will provide safety, clean
air, privacy, pristine natural areas, and better educational systems. However,
in the waning years of the 20th century, this assumption was met with
increasing skepticism. And at the dawn of the 21st century, this
skepticism has become a mainstream political concern, resulting in a frontal
assault on the cherished beliefs. Empirical data, as well as anecdotal reports,
describe too many cars for too few roads; increased pollution; failing schools;
increased crime, and loss of the natural environment.
Economic
Growth In Transitional Versus Industrial Economies: A Case of the Baltic Sea
Region
Dr. Tiiu
Paas, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
Dr. Egle
Tafenau, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
Dr. Nancy J.
Scannell, University of Illinois at Springfield, Springfield, Illinois
ABSTRACT
This paper
tests whether differences in growth factors exist between the transitional
versus industrialized countries of the Baltic Sea Region. Model estimations
indicate that significant growth factors are, unlike for industrial countries,
in accordance with theory for transitional countries. Economic growth
determinants are apparently dissimilar across the two groups. It is expected,
however, that in light of ongoing processes of European integration and economic
development of the transitional countries, these discrepancies will diminish.
Economic growth, albeit attributed with exacerbating income inequality and
environmental harm, is one of the salient aspects of economic development and,
ultimately, is assumed to promote the enhancement of societal welfare. In this
paper, economic growth is understood to mean the growth of real gross domestic
product (GDP) or, alternatively, the growth of per capita GDP. The Baltic Sea
Region (BSR) has become one of the most competitive economic regions in Europe
in the recent decade. BSR countries are strategically situated vis-a-vis the
leading world economies (World Competitiveness Yearbook, 2002). Due to its
favorable location between the East and West and given the dynamics of
interdependencies between its transition and integration phases, the BSR is
poised for rapid economic growth. The literature underscores BSR's uniqueness as
derived from its concentration of business activity, its high attainment of
economic development, civilization and prosperity, and its non-homogeneity (Kisiel-Lowczyc,
2000; Peschel, 1998). The BSR is composed of two characteristically distinct
sets of countries. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Russia constitute the
transitional nations, while Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Germany
comprise the industrialized nations of the BSR. Inhabitants of industrialized
countries command relatively strong purchasing power, and, thus, domestic demand
prominently contributes to growth along with foreign demand. In contrast, given
the relatively diminutive purchasing power of transitional countries'
populations, economic growth in transition countries is driven more so by
foreign, rather than domestic, demand.
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A Note on
the Impact Managerial Styles Can Have for Service Marketers: Some New Insights
Dr. Chaim
Ehrman, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL
ABSTRACT
In the field
of list selection for service marketing, mail order houses typically offer
prospective renters a systematic sampling of names per list to estimate expected
return rates. Direct marketing is an alternative to e-service marketing since
one can reach a wider audience, i.e. those consumers whose computers are not
attached to the Internet or simply do not use the Internet. These estimates are
the basis for list selection. In this paper, it is shown through Bayesian
Analysis how this selection can be modified to accommodate the risk prone, risk
averse and risk neutral decision-maker. There has been an increasing interest
in customer data base marketing, both at the business to business marketing as
well as the consumer marketing (Kotler and Armstrong , 2001). Don Peppers and
Martha Rogers (1993) contrast the typical mass marketing effort versus
one-to-one marketing. In the latter, there is much more information regarding
the customer data base, such as demographics, preferences and customer
profiles. In Direct Marketing, there is typically an initial communication with
the consumer. Subsequently, the marketing message is tailor-made for a very
narrow market segment, known as your target market. The goal is receive a
direct, measurable response from the consumer from this segment (Kotler and
Armstrong, 2001). Unfortunately, the primary focus of researchers has been on
the needs of the customer, both as a consumer and as a business purchaser.
However, there is another significant component in list selection that is
overlooked in terms of deterministic decision style (Lee et al., 1981). It is
known that management style can be risk prone, risk neutral or risk averse
(Green, Tull and Albaum , 1988). Thus, the marketing managerial decision process
that is used to determine which market segment should be targeted is a function
both of what can be delivered in terms of want satisfaction, as well as the
willingness of management to assume risk. Further, probabilistic issues can also
be included, e.g., what is the probability that the risk prone decision maker
will remain risk prone for the purchase of a given list? A direct marketer may
be very confident on a higher response rate for some products.
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Using the Technological Readiness Audit
sm for
Strategic Competitive Advantage
Dr. Robin Widgery, Eastern
Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI
Dr. Stewart L. Tubbs,
Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI
David Nicholson, Eastern
Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI
What is your company
worth? The human resources literature reminds us that the value of
organizations consists of far more than those items on the balance sheet. How
much value is represented in the abilities of your employees to work well as a
team, to have good communication skills, to be well motivated, to know when to
lead and when to follow? Moreover, what is the value of highly skilled people
in your company - people who know how to get the best results from the various
technologies that are listed on the "hard" assets side of the ledger? Unlike
assets that wear out over time, the value of these human resources, if managed
wisely, can continue to grow year to year. The continuous development of human
resources should become a key element of every organizations strategic plan.
Managed properly these resources can become a powerful competitive advantage.
While some organizations relegate training and development activities to
secondary status, these activities should be viewed as a critical strategic
function that contributes directly to the bottom line, and has quick and sure
impact on the company's competitive potency. A strategic human resource
development perspective should include the following planning components: (1) a
plan fully integrated with the organization's overall business plan and its
vision statement, (2) an employee development plan designed to meet the unique
needs of the current and future organization and its various functions, (3) a
plan created to anticipate changes in technological applications within the
organization, (4) a plan designed to meet the competitive demands of the
organization, and (5) a plan targe-ted to meet the individual training needs
within specific functions and specific locations.
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Auditing
E-Business: New Challenges for External Auditors
Dr. Ahmad A. Abu-Musa, Tanta
University, Egypt
ABSTRACT
Electronic Business (E-Business) is a dynamic set of technologies, applications,
and business processes that link companies, customers, and communities through
the electronic exchange of goods, services, transactions and information.
E-Business technology is rapidly changing the way that companies buy, sell, and
deal with customers and partners. E-Business is becoming an important business
tool since many companies are using the Internet to conduct their business. The
dramatic evolution of information technology and the continuous decline in
prices encourage many companies to automate their accounting information systems
and to adopt E-Business in order to gain competitive advantages in the market.
E-Business brings new challenges to conventional external auditors and the audit
profession. External auditors need to understand how the advanced technology
affects their audit process. Adequate planning of E-Business audit procedures
becomes critical because most of the audit evidence might be available only in
electronic form. External auditors should be able to evaluate the adequacy and
accuracy of the electronic audit evidence. External auditors need to judge the
validity, completeness, and integrity of accounting records; and the ability of
the company to satisfy the going concern assumption. External auditors should
also acquire the technical skills necessary to audit E-Business and maintain
independence to enhance the profession’s credibility. They should also explore
the possibilities and opportunities of using information technology and data
analysis software.
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Making
"Good" Decisions: What Intuitive Physics Reveals About the Failure of Intuition
Dr. Jeff W. Trailer,
California State University, Chico, CA
Dr. James F. Morgan,
California State University, Chico, CA
ABSTRACT
This study examines the
intuitive accuracy that people achieve in predicting the motion of objects
(intuitive physics). Policy capturing was used to identify each subject's
judgment method. Then, individual decision policies were dissected
mathematically, using the Lens Model equation, to determine the source of
judgment errors. The results support previous research that finds intuitive
judgments to be generally inaccurate, but goes further by diagnosing how
intuition fails. Should you trust your gut? Bonabeau (2003) argues a
cautionary “no,” however many articles have proclaimed the virtues of intuition
in managerial decision making (Mintzberg, 1976; Harper, 1988; Agor,
1989). Reasons for focusing on intuition include: an increased need for
visionary thinking, inspired leadership, and complex imaging (Butts, Whitty, &
McDonald, 1991), a need to understand how experts make decisions quickly (Simon,
1987), and a need to reduce reliance on time consuming systematic analysis (Behling
& Eckel, 1991). There is evidence that the role of intuition is being taken
quite seriously, as many companies are paying to have their employees taught how
to enhance their intuitive decision making (Agor, 1988; Block, 1990, Staff,
2002). Thus, corporations are demonstrating a willingness to commit resources
for the express purpose of enhancing intuitive decision making. This makes the
study of the efficacy of intuition relevant to the current needs of industry.
Classical economic theory assumes that decision makers follow a rational process
(Simon, 1955). However, other research has shown that cognitive biases often
affect the decision process, resulting in inconsistent, non-optimal and faulty
decisions (Edwards & Winterfeldt, 1986).
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Agency
Theory, National Culture and Management Control Systems
Dr. Samson
Ekanayake, Deakin University, Victoria, Australia
ABSTRACT
Management
control system of an organization is the structured facet of management, the
formal vehicle by which the management process is executed. In most
organizations, systems exist for planning, organizing, directing, controlling
and motivating. Depending on the level of appropriateness and quality of the
management control systems, the task of management is either facilitated or
hindered. The end goal of a management control system is achieving
organizational objectives. Because employees (agents) do not always give their
best efforts for achieving organizational objectives, management control systems
need to strive for aligning goals of agents (e.g., employees, subordinates) with
that of principals (eg. senior management, owners). Agency theory and its
extension, principal-agent model, provide insights to the problem of goal
congruence and suggest remedies, at least in the Western cultural context.
Whether the agency theory presumptions, predictions and prescriptions are
universally applicable is an important issue in management. Their validity in
different cultural contexts is largely unknown. The available literature to date
indicates the possibility that agency theory may not be valid in non-western
cultures. However, further empirical research is needed in non-western cultures
to shed more light to this issue. Agency Theory provides theoretical
underpinnings for many research efforts in the disciplines of economics,
management, marketing, finance, accounting and information systems. It is one of
the most influential theories that underlie the bulk of the corporate governance
and management control research in the Western world.
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Consumer
Protection in E-Commerce: Analyzing the Statutes in Malaysia
Sarabdeen
Jawahitha, Multimedia University, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
The bearing
of e-commerce especially the retail businesses on the Internet have created
opportunities to the consumers including Malaysian consumers to transact online
with comfort and convenience. Nevertheless, the ultimate success of e-commerce
will depend to great extent on the interest and confidence of consumers. There
have been several legislation passed to protect the consumers in the traditional
market place, many of which can be useful in electronic market place. However,
the nature of electronic environment requires new laws or amendment of the
existing laws to address the new challenges posed by this new medium of
transaction. Issues like the applicable law to consumer contracts for supply of
goods and services made via Internet, the legality of collection of consumer
data without express consent from the data subject and the suitable courts to
decide on an e-consumer dispute always create anxiety among the e-consumers.
Many countries have taken initiatives to address these issues to build up
consumer confidence. This paper is an attempt to examine Malaysian legislative
framework and analyze its adequacy to address these anxieties and the protection
in preserving the interest of the e-consumers. Consumer protection has been a
problem ever since the outset of trading 10,000 years ago. However, the
explosive growth in cyberspace has led to some new problems and challenges for
consumer protection(1). Cyberspace used to mean limited access to text-based
e-mail and reference material for the few who had Internet access through
universities and government agencies via online services such as Compuserve,
American Online, and Prodigy.
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Technical
Efficiencies of Rice Farms in Thailand: A Non-Parametric Approach
Dr. Wirat
Krasachat, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Thailand
ABSTRACT
The purpose
of this study is to measure and investigate technical efficiency in rice farms
in Thailand. This study decomposes technical efficiency into its technical and
scale components. In past studies, efficiency analyses have involved econometric
methods. In this study, the data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach and
farm-level cross-sectional survey data of Thai rice farms in 1999 are used. A
Tobit regression is used to explain the likelihood of changes in inefficiencies
by farm-specific factors. The empirical findings indicate a wide diversity of
efficiencies from farm to farm and also suggest that the diversity of natural
resources has had an influence on technical efficiency in Thai rice farms. Only a few decades ago, rice was not only
the most important crop in Thai agriculture but was also the backbone of the
Thai economy. At present, despite considerable diversification into upland
crops, rice continues to be the most important commodity in Thai agriculture. In
1999, about 50 per cent of farm land was planted to rice (Ministry of
Agriculture and Cooperatives 2002). This is because rice is not only the staple
food of Thai people but also a cash crop for the majority of Thai farmers. In
1999, 10.51 million hectares were planted to rice, 24.17 million tonnes were
produced and 6.84 million tonnes were exported. Thailand has four regions. Based
on 2001/02 crop year data, the main output was contributed by the Northeastern
Region followed by the Central Region. The highest yields stemmed from the
Central Region (Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives 2002).
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The
Moderating Effects of Consumer Perception to the Impacts of Country-of-Design on
Perceived Quality
Ting-Yu
Chueh, National Central University, Taiwan
Danny T.
Kao, National Central University, Taiwan
ABSTRACT
This
research is exploratory in nature. The object involved in this research is
mobile phone due to its prevalent usage. The main purpose of this research is to
identify the moderators affecting the COD effects on perceived quality (PQ).
According to related literatures, the moderators affecting the perceived quality
are country image, value perception, risk, trust, attitude toward the brand,
satisfaction, familiarity, attachment and involvement. The moderators involved
in this research were emanated from consumer perceptions, rather than the
behavioral aspects. Based upon the literatures and inference, all related
moderators will significantly impact on PQ.
We suggest that representative samples should be
selected and tested in the future research.
The propositions involved in this research might
be applicable to other products. Moreover, findings of this research can be
applied to practical fields to facilitate the marketing resource distribution.
The trend of globalization since 1980s has brought
unprecedented impacts on the marketing of consumer goods, thus international
marketing research takes on greater importance. Among the themes of
international marketing, country-of-origin (COO) effect has become a critical
issue in consumer decision-making, due to the fact that the consumer perception
and judgment on the identical products may vary depending upon which country the
products are made in. As the face meaning expressed by the term, “perceived
quality” is a subjective judgment. Even sometimes, it cannot be understood by
the scientific ways. However, it will definitely affect the consumer buying
behavior. Therefore, perceived quality has been a popular research topic for
the past decades and many studies have contributed to this area.
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Ownership
and International Joint Ventures’ Level of Expatriate Managers
Lifeng Geng,
Lakehead University, Ontario, Canada
ABSTRACT
We examine
the relationship between ownership and the level of expatriate managers in
international joint ventures. We propose that such relationship rests with the
division between de jure control and de facto control. Results from empirical
tests support our hypothesized inverted-U relationship between ownership and
IJVs’ level of expatriate managers. IJVs’ level of expatriate managers rises as
ownership increases from low to a majority level and then decreases after
ownership exceeds the majority level. Since the 1970s, foreign subsidiaries that
emerged from foreign direct investment (FDI) activities have played an
increasingly important role in world economic development. By 2001, global FDI
activities have created 850,000 foreign subsidiaries. These foreign subsidiaries
employed approximately 54 million people across the globe. Their sales of almost
$19 trillion were more than twice as high as world exports. They now account for
more than one-tenth of world GDP and one-third of world exports (UNCTAD, 2002).
One problem investing firms frequently confront is how to control these foreign
subsidiaries. In fact, control has been the focus of the FDI literature and is
the single most important determinant of both risk and return (Anderson &
Gatignon, 1986). Control is an essential component of managerial functions
responsible for ensuring that investing firms’ goals and interests are met and
deviations from standards are corrected for effective performance outcomes
(Fenwick et al., 1999). Control problems exist with all foreign subsidiaries,
but most notably in international joint ventures (IJVs), which represent a
governance mode of international transactions located between the polar
opposites of arms-length deal and those conducted within firms (Hennart, 1988).
IJV control seems indispensable for a successful, cooperative IJV relationship.
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Teaching
Workloads of Finance Program Leaders and Faculty and Criteria for Granting Load
Relief
Dr. Ron
Colley, University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA
Dr. Ara
Volkan, University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA
ABSTRACT
This study
first examines the distributions for teaching loads and number of course
preparations of finance program leaders and faculty at Ph.D.-level and
masters-level AACSBI-accredited institutions. In addition, official maximum
loads and the extent to which faculty and program leaders in given institutions
teach different levels of loads are presented. Second, the reasons for granting
teaching workload reductions to finance faculty are examined. Where
appropriate, statistical tests are performed to report differences among the
means of the results observed in the two categories, for both faculty and
program leaders and public and private institutions. The overall results show
that there are no statistical differences between the responses of program
leaders and faculty and between the private and public institution outcomes.
While the former indicates good communications among finance educators, the
latter shows that free market competition operates as an equalizing force. When
specified, the official maximum load is usually 24 semester hours (eight
courses) per year, but few faculty teach the maximum load. Also, there are
significant differences between the average common teaching loads and common
number of course preparations in the two categories. While there are some
differences among the reasons cited for load relief in the two categories of
programs analyzed, overall results indicate that publication activities are the
main factors underlying load relief, followed by editing a journal and
institutional service.
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ICT
Adoption and SME Growth in New Zealand
Dr. Stuart
Locke, The University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
The impact
of adopting information communication technology (ICT) upon the growth of small
businesses in New Zealand is reported in this paper. Government policy
increasingly places a strong emphasis upon the importance of ICT and the
knowledge economy. Specific projects, undertaken by government in this regard,
have included remote rural broadband access developments, the single government
portal and e-procurement initiatives. A SME Quarterly Benchmarking Survey has
been used to investigate various aspects of ICT adoption by SMEs since 1999.
This survey provided the research instrument for the present study. Three
measures of growth are used as the basis for investigating the impact that the
level of ICT adoption has on a range of small businesses. The analysis, using
logit regression, probes the strength of the various factor relationships.
Increased profitability, as a proxy for growth, is most strongly correlated with
ICT usage. Although a positive relationship is considered likely, and
detectable in the data gathered, it could not be separated from other
influences. Factors such as the level of ICT understanding of the
owner/managers and increases in the number of employees are similarly positively
correlated. Accordingly, it becomes increasingly difficult to sustain a
causality linkage between increased ICT use and growth. The extent to which SMEs
have clear growth objectives, in terms of specific business performance
measures, appears to be very limited. Finally, it is suggested that the results
obtained in the study provide useful insights which have a direct bearing upon
government policy being developed in agencies such as the Ministry of Economic
Development.
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Internet
Technology as a Tool in Customer Relationship Management
Noor Raihan
Ab Hamid, Multimedia University, Cyberjaya, Malaysia
Dr. Norizan
Kassim, United Arab Emirates University, UAE
ABSTRACT
The
Internet’s growth, particularly the World Wide Web, as an electronic medium of
commerce has brought tremendous changes in market competition among various
industries. For example, past researches have examined the impact of Internet
technology on customer relationship management in various areas¾in small and large firms, services and business-to-business companies.
However, there remains a need to empirically examine the impact of implementing
Internet technology on various dimensions of relationship management in South
East Asia, particularly Malaysia. Primarily, the interest was led by traditional
customer management economics¾it
costs the industry five times as much to acquire a new customer than to retain
an existing one (Peppers and Rogers 1996). The results of this study indicate
that click-and-mortar companies show a higher percentage of using the Internet
technology for CRM compared to pure dotcom companies. There is a positive
impact on the utilization of Internet technology on the CRM variables being
studied. These findings may reflect a similar situation in other countries in
South East Asia where the penetration rate of e-commerce is relatively low. The
limitations and future directions of this research are also discussed and
highlighted. The emergence
of Internet technology, particularly the World Wide Web, as an electronic medium
of commerce has brought tremendous changes in how companies compete. Companies
that do not take advantage of the Internet technology is viewed as not
delivering value added services to their customers, thus are at a competitive
disadvantage. Obviously, the Internet technologies provided companies with tools
to adapt to changing customer needs, and could be used for economic, strategic
and competitive advantage.
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Privatization in Saudi Arabia: Is it Time to Introduce it into the Public Sector
Domain?
Dr.
Abdullah M. Al-Homeadan, The Institute of Public Administration (IPA), Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia
ABSTRACT
Reducing
government inefficiency and ineffectiveness was essential for the improvement of
economic welfare of the human race. “Governments were forced to look at ways to
reduce costs and inefficiencies, and turned to privatizing some of
their...commercially oriented operations ”(Ives, 1995, p. 2). One of the
countries that is seriously considering privatization is Saudi Arabia. In fact,
Saudi Arabia has already taken some big steps toward privatizing all of the
enterprises that could be run by the private sector. The Saudi privatization
program was announced by King Fahd on Monday the fifth of May, 1994 and was
delineated in the government’s Third Basic Strategic Principle of the Sixth
Development Plan (1995-2000). The program has been interpreted to mean “giving
the private sector the opportunity to undertake many of the economic tasks of
the government, while ensuring that the government does not engage in any
economic activity that can be undertaken by the private sector” (p. 17). The
objective of this study is to explore the attitudes of the department heads in
the public sector of Saudi Arabia in order to identify the factors that have
shaped those attitudes. The importance of the opinions of those administrators
stems from the fact that they are going to be responsible for implementing the
King’s privatization initiative. Insuring that policy implementors hold
favorable attitudes towars privatization is essential to the success of the
privatization program. Furthermore, favorable attitudes are a strong indication
that reform through privatization is a very timely policy. Before discussing
these factors, it is appropriate to define the term privatization. Privatization
refers to any policy that is “designed to alter the balance between the public
and the private sectors” (Cook and Kirkpatrick, 1988, p. 3) to the benefit of
the later.
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Trainer
Development Formula: The Case of the Institute of Public Administration in Saudi
Arabia
Dr.
Abdullah M. Al-Homeadan, The Institute of Public Administration (IPA), Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia
ABSTRACT
Government in Saudi Arabia has
always been the main financier of administrative development in the country.
Ever since the creation of the Council of Ministers in 1953, the concept of
effective and efficient public sector has been one of the government’s main
strategies. The Council of Ministers stems from the fact that it practices both
legislative and administrative powers. One of the major steps taken by the
Council towards improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the struggling
ministries and public agencies was the invitation of experts from a number of
concerned international agencies as of the year 1957. These agencies are the
International Monetary Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development, The United Nations Technical Cooperation Committee, and the Ford
Foundation. One of the major recommendations of these agencies was the
establishment of the Institute of Public Administration (IPA) in 1961. The over
all mission of the IPA has been the advancement of administrative developments.
However, accomplishing this mission could not be achieved without providing a
sound administrative environment for the people who will carry on this mission.
In this paper, light will be shed on the IPA’s continuous effort to promote the
efficiency of government civil servants and prepare them academically and
practically to carry out their responsibilities, to use their authorities in a
way that ensures a high level of administrative professionalism and to support
the bases for developing the national economy. In addition, light will be shed
on the IPA’s efforts in the development of the private sector as well.
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The
Relationship between the Dow Jones Eurostoxx50 Index and Firm Level Volatility
Dr. Kevin
Daly, University of Western Sydney, Campbelltown, Australia
ABSTRACT
This paper
presents a study of asset price volatility, correlation trends and market
risk-premia. Recent evidence (Campbell 2001) shows an increase in firm-level
volatility and a decline of the correlation among stock returns in the US. We
find that, in relation to the Euro-Area stock markets, both aggregate firm-level
volatility and average stock market correlation are trended up-wards. We
estimate a linear model of the market risk-return relationship nested in an
EGARCH(1,1)-M model for conditional second moments. We then show that
traditional estimates of the conditional risk-return relationship, that use ex
post excess returns as the conditioning information set, lead to joint tests of
the theoretical model (usually the ICAPM) and of the Efficient Market Hypothesis
in its strong form. To overcome this problem we propose alternative measures of
expected market risk based on implied volatility extracted from traded option
prices and we discuss the conditions under which implied volatility depends
solely on expected risk. We then regress market excess-returns on lagged market
implied variance computed from implied market volatility to estimate the
relationship between expected market excess-returns and expected market risk.We
investigate whether, as predicted by the ICAPM, the expected market risk is the
main factor in explaining the market risk premium and the latter is independent
of aggregate idiosyncratic risk. It is
widely accepted that volatility is not stable over time. Both aggregate market
volatility and single stock volatility generally exhibit time varying behaviour.
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Strategic
Orientation of Banking and Finance Managers in United Arab Emirates
Dr. Quhafah
Mahasneh, University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
ABSTRACT
In the
emerging economic scenario in the UAE characterized inter alia by intense
competition, strategic orientation of banking and finance firms is viewed as a
critical roadmap to competitive edge and superior performance. Policymakers have
taken ambitious steps to transform the UAE economy into a regional hub of
banking and finance. Missing, however, has been an empirical study focusing on
the strategic orientation of managers in the banking and finance sector of the
UAE economy. Therefore, an attempt is made in this study empirically to
investigate the strategic orientation of managers in this important sector of
the economy. It is hoped, a study of this kind would have great implications for
policy not only in the UAE but also elsewhere in the world. A compelling body
of literature has emerged in recent decades focusing on various aspects of
strategy (Porter 1980, D’Aveni 1994, Barney 1991, Brandeberger and Nalebuff
1995, Hambrick and Fredrickson, 2001). Consultants and academics have
contributed immensely in terms of strategy designs and their effectiveness under
various environmental conditions. However, despite the proliferation of some
very promising studies in the literature, there is a need to replicate the
studies focusing on the orientation of organisations to compare empirical
findings and contribute to the advances in theory (Hubbard and Armstrong, 1994).
Interestingly, most of the research in the area of strategic orientation has
been undertaken in industrial countries whose economies have attained maturity
and stability in relative terms. It is assumed that firms in these countries are
also able to design appropriate responses to competitive onslaughts and stay
healthy.
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Great
Leaders Teach Exemplary Followership and Serve As Servant Leaders
Dr. Michael
Ba Banutu-Gomez, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ
ABSTRACT
This paper
focuses on the impact of exemplary follower and servant leader. Thus it examined
their relationship and the roles they play in the creation of the “Learning
Organization” of the future. The first part of this framework addressed the
process of a good follower. This process include leaders alienating followers,
leaders face problems in teaching leadership, skills of exemplary followers,
exemplary followers and team, organizations of the future, leaders transforming
people and leaders measured by the quality of their followers. The second part
of the paper deals with servant leader. Thus its process include servant leaders
elicit trust in followers, modern western societies, community provide love for
humans, business organizations are expected to serve and modern organizations
searching for new mission. Together, the two frameworks provide insights and
guidelines for managers and leaders in leading organizations of the future. To
succeed, leaders must teach their followers not only how to lead: leadership,
but more importantly, how to be a good follower: followership. Contrary to
popular negative ideas regarding what it means to be a follower, positive
followership requires several important skills, such as, the ability to perform
independent, critical thinking, give and receive constructive criticism and to
be innovative and creative. Furthermore, we believe that Great Leader is a
process that can be learned, that is not restricted to a few “chosen or special”
individuals that are born with an unusual capability or skill. Though, some seem
to have more to learn than others do, but the potential for exemplary follower
seems to be universal. Through solicited comments and regular participation,
employees shared ownership in determining policies at work (Gilbert & Ivancevich,
2000).
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Factors that Affect the
Selection of Defensive Marketing Strategies: Evidence from the Egyptian Banking
Sector
Dr. Mansour
S. M. Abdel-Maguid Lotayif, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt
ABSTRACT
The
current study aims at identifying the causality relationships between defensive
marketing strategies {e.g. business intelligence strategy (BI), customers
service strategy (CS), customer complaint management strategy (CCM), Aikido
strategy (AIKO), Free telephone line strategy (FTL), focus strategy (FOC),
differentiation strategy (DIFF), and cost leadership strategy (CL)} and four
sets of variables. These sets are demographics (e.g. respondents’ positions,
ages, educational levels, experiences, bank experiences, and bank’s number of
employees), bank’s objectives (e.g. to increase the bank’s market share, to
maintain the current market share, to increase the bank’s profit, to increase
the bank’s customer satisfaction, and to increase the customer’s loyalty),
bank’s rivals i.e. kinds of entry modes (e.g. branches, subsidiaries, joint
venture, merger, direct exporting and indirect exporting), and rivals’
competitive advantages (e.g. their marketing mix variables, all their marketing
program variables, offering of new kinds of banking services, high interest
rates on deposits accounts, low interest rates for loans given, well designed
service delivery system, employing competitive staff, and strong advertising
campaigns). The experiences of 591 bankers were utilized to investigate these
relationships. Throughout Canonical Correlation Analysis in Stat Graphic
statistical package, strong and significant relationships between defensive
marketing strategies and these four sets of variables were supported.
Defensive marketing is the body of knowledge that uses customers as a shield
in their battle with their rival in a specific market (Griffin et al.,
1995; Heskett et al., 1994; Reichheld, 1993; Fornell, 1992; Reichheld and
Sasser, 1990; and Fornell and Wernerfelt, 1988). Hauser and shugan used
defensive marketing terminology for the first time at 1983. Therefore, it could
be considered a new terminology in marketing literature.
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Hedging
for Global Equity Investing
Dr. Tulin
Sener, State University of New York - New Paltz, NY
ABSTRACT
In short run, substantial
currency surprises exist, including forward rate biases and cross-product
terms. However, significant negative co-variances between the currency
contributions and asset returns may result in less or no need for hedging. A
natural insurance takes place. Hedging decisions for a single investment versus
a global equity portfolio may not be the same for a given period. The
determinants of the optimal hedge ratio for the portfolio are defined as the
domestic asset weight, co-variances between asset returns and currency
contributions, as well as the variance of the currency contribution. Hedging is
less effective for longer time periods and for the global portfolios with larger
domestic asset weights (i.e. 80 percent).
When investing globally, currency risk and
hedging become the major concern, which is one of the most controversial issues
in literature. Jorion (1989) and Gastineau (1995) accept the presence of
hedging benefits in the short run, but not in the long run. Hauser, Marcus and
Yaari (1994) verify the benefits of hedging in developed countries (DCS), but
not in emerging markets (EMS). Further, the impact of the forward rate bias,
or the currency surprise, on the hedged and unhedged returns and risk is
emphasized significantly (Ankrim and Hensel (1994), Gardner and Wuilloud
(1995), Clarke and Tullis (1999), Baz et al. (2001) and Cornelia (2003)). In the
long run, the depreciation of one currency may be offset by the appreciation of
another. Conversely, in the short run, currency markets may have significant
direct and indirect effects on the dollar return and risk of a foreign
investment.
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Finance
Faculty’s Understanding and Acceptance of Accreditation for Chartered Financial
Analyst in Taiwan
Dr. Mei-hua
Chen, National Changhua University of Education, Taiwan
Dr. Bryan
H. Chen, National Changhua University of Education, Taiwan
ABSTRACT
Taiwan
joined
the World Trade Organization (WTO) in January 1, 2002, and now faces
significant
competition in many respects from other members of the WTO. As far as financial
education in Taiwan is concerned, it is urgent to prepare financial students in
Taiwan for a global market. For instance, there are many universities in the
United States currently offering CFA-oriented degrees or CFA exam preparation
courses because the CFA designation is becoming one of the fast-growing
credentials among investment professionals worldwide. The findings from this
study provided information to financial education faculty for planning business
courses in order to meet students' needs and also to capture future business
trends. The findings also assist the selected finance departments design more
appropriate curricula in their finance majors. The Association for Investment
Management and Research (AIMR) is in charge of more than 45,000 investments
professionals from more than 95 countries all over the world (Business Wire,
2000). AIMR, a non-profit organization, administers the Chartered Financial
Analyst (CFA) designation that requires passing a series of three-level six-hour
exams and fulfilling a three-year related experience (CPA Journal, 1998).
In fact, AIMR supervised the CFA examinations at 170 exam sites in 73 countries
on June 2 or June 3 each year (for Far East and Indian Subcontinent). The CFA
candidates have to prepare broad subjects such as ethical and professional
standards, asset valuation, financial statement analysis, quantitative methods,
and economics and portfolio management. The CFA exams are written in English
and include multiple choice, problems, cases, essays, and item set questions (Business
Wire, 2000).
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Assessing
the Measurement of Organizational Agility
Dr. Norizan
M. Kassim, UAE University, Al-Ain, U.A.E.
Dr. Mohamed
Zain, UAE University, Al-Ain, U.A.E.
ABSTRACT
This
research examines four factors of agility¾
enriching customers, mastering change, leveraging resources, and cooperating to
compete and how they relate to the use of information technology and information
systems by Malaysian firms in their efforts to become more agile and
competitive. Measures of all the four factors of agility were developed and
empirically tested using confirmatory factor analysis. The results of the
measurement instrument developed for the four factors of agility indicate
acceptance of the psychometric properties of the scale. Rapid changes and
challenges in the dynamic information technology environment, and increasingly
strong pressures from hypercompetitive markets have forced Malaysian firms to
turn to information technology (IT) and information system (IS) to improve
organizational agility and to expand globally. IT/IS has now becomes the only
way to cope with today’s volume and complexity of data. However, as technology
becomes more matured, management now focuses on controlling the business rather
than the technology. Thus the focus now is on how do firms become agile in the
market and can this agility be sustained or enhanced through the use of IT/IS.
Agility is a necessary ability in the revolutionary turning of the business
environment into a turbulent place of competition (Sharifi and Zhang, 1999).
Gujrati and Kumar (1995) have even come up with a motto for agility which says
agility is "reconfigurable everything." Firms that are agile are those that are
able to manage and to adapt to the changes that occur in their environment. In
other words, firms need to be fast and lean and be responsive to change in order
for them to grow and to maintain or expand its profitability.
The term agility has drawn a lot of attention in
the world of business (Lo, 1998). Generally, agility is the ability of a firm to
face and adapt proficiently in a continuously changing and unpredictable
business environment. Agility is not about how a
firm responds to changes, but it is about having the capabilities and processes
to respond to its environment that will always change in unexpected ways.
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The New
Economic and Social Model – A Third Stage of Economic and Social Development in
Brazil in the
Millennium: One Brazil-Shared Humanity –Wealth Creation and Social
Justice
Dr. Richard
Trotter, University of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD
ABSTRACT
Within the
last fifty years Brazil has embarked upon an economic program of
industrialization and economic development. The first phase of its program
focused on economic development through import substitution and considerable
state intervention in the country’s economic policy. During the 1990’s the
Brazilian government entered upon the second stage of its economic development
policy: a market model based on fiscal discipline, trade liberalization,
privatization and deregulation. This model produced economic growth and
prosperity for the upper and middle classes. Notwithstanding Brazil’s economic
growth income disparity has increased with the result that Brazil is in effect
two entities: a first world and a third world country. If the Lula
administration is to succeed, it must develop an economic model that combines
market economy efficiencies while addressing the enormous economic and social
inequalities existing in Brazil. Additionally the Lula administration must
address structural issues relating to income distribution arising out of race
discrimination, labor policy, educational reform as well as creatively borrowing
from the experience of the United States, Canada, China and other Asian
countries. John Williamson, a Senior Fellow at the Institute for International
Economics in Washington suggested in 1989 ten reforms that he believed should be
undertaken in South America to enhance the region’s economic and social
development. The reforms included the following: Fiscal discipline. This was in the context of a
region where almost all the countries had run large deficits that led to balance
of payments crises and high inflation. Reordering public expenditure priorities.
This suggests switching expenditure in a pro-poor way from things like
indiscriminate subsidies to basic health and education.
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Critical Success Factors in the
Client-Consulting Relationship
Dr. Steven
H. Appelbaum, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
ABSTRACT
The primary intent of this
study is to examine recent projects involving external management consultants at
a N. American telecommunications firm, from the employees’ point of view, to
measure the extent to which the
aforementioned “critical success factors” were perceived as being evident. A
secondary purpose was to examine
which, if any, of these factors differ between
more or less successful consulting projects with a view to building a model to
predict employees’ perceptions of the level of the projects’ success. A third
objective was to gather employee opinions on other factors that might contribute
to the success of consulting projects. A fourth, and final, objective was to
gather general employee opinions on the use of management consultancy at a N.
American telecommunications firm. A total of 102 employees responded to a
questionnaire consisting of 59 questions. A model including six
independent variables was able to predict overall rating of project success,
with an adjusted R2 =0.68, F=27.81 (p<.0001). The significant
variables, in order of importance, were: the solution took into account our
internal state of readiness; the project included prototyping new solutions;the
project deliverables were clear;the consultant partnered with the project team
throughout;the consultant was professional; and the consultant understood our
sense of urgency. There were substantial differences seen on most measures
between projects judged “successful” and projects judged “not successful”.
Nevertheless, it is encouraging that many of the success
factors suggested in the literature, and proposed under “an ideal
client-consultant engagement”, were judged as present in management consulting
projects at the telecommunications firm, to one degree or another.
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A Study
on Entrepreneurial Attitudes Among Youths in Malaysia. Case Study:
Institute Kemahiran Belia Negara, Malaysia
Jumaat Abd
Moen, National University Malaysia,
Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Ishak Hj Abd
Rahman, National University Malaysia,
Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Mohd Fairuz Md Salleh, National University
Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor,
Malaysia
Rohani
Ibrahim, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Syah Alam Selangor,Malaysia
ABSTRACT
The
objective of this study is to know the entrepreneurial attitudes among the IKBN
trainee youths in Malaysia and to identify the factor demographic relationship,
educational back ground, respondents’ experience, parental education and job
with entrepreneurial attitude orientation. The society has given hopes to IKBN
as the first skill center for expanding the entrepreneurship among the trainees.
To understand clearly the factors that can influence the entrepreneurial
attitude orientation, a model that forms the entrepreneurial attitude
orientation was proposed. In this study, a test instrument on entrepreneurial
attitude and questionnaires about respondents’ demography was used. This study
was carried out on all the IKBN trainees in Malaysia. Findings have shown that
the residential area, field area in IKBN and in school, parent’s education and
fathers’ occupation has a significant relationship with entrepreneurial
attitudes. A businessman or an entrepreneur has a certain quality personality.
Quality personality aspects consist of attitudes, values and the spirit to
achieve success. Morris (1985) regarded attitudes attributes as one of the
quality aspect that is important because the attitude of a person plays an
important role to determine whether a man has interest in a particular
business. Schumpeter (1934) has introduced the innovation concept as the basis
of entrepreneurship. He says that entrepreneurs are those with innovation in the
following matters: To introduce goods or new services. To introduce new methods
on production. To handle new market. To source out for new raw materials. To
manage a new organisation for any industry. Schumpeter statement has identified
to us that entrepreneurs are those who are innovated in manufacturing any
product.
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A
Comparison of Economic Reforms and Instability Effects in Three Large Emerging
Markets
Dr.
Parameswar Nandakumar, Indian Institute of
Management Kozhikode, India
Dr. Cheick
Wagué, South Stockholm University,
Södertörn, Sweden
ABSTRACT
An additive
decomposition analysis is made of the external sector developments in three
countries, China, India and Korea, for the period 1974-2000, for the purpose of
distinguishing between the results of policies and external influences. The
growth in exports is disaggregated into that due to additional primary exports
and that arising from diversification into more value-added manufactures. The
effects on imports of constraining primary imports while opening up to valuable
capital goods imports are also weeded out. The terms of trade effect on the
current account, as well as the effects of increases in debt and in interest on
debt, are also separated out. In general, specific reform policies such as
exports diversification have succeeded more in Korea and – to a lesser extent –
in China, while the Indian experience has been only positive in the recent
years. Also, external forces have had their say relatively more in India.
However, the feedback from financial instability to the real economy is noted
only in Korea, as borne out by granger causality tests. The contagious
'Asian Crisis' of the 1990s has added new dimensions to the discussions of
the relative merits of various development strategies, of those labeled as
export-oriented and inward looking in particular. Thus there is an emerging view
that the performance of the so-called Asian Tigers over the last few decades
ought not to be considered as an unqualified success, with a correspondingly
(more) understanding eye being turned towards the enigmatic Asian giants, China
and India.
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New Evidence on the Impact
of Federal Government Budget Deficits on the Nominal Long
Term Interest Rate
Yield on Moody’s Baa-Rated Corporate Bonds
Dr. Carl T. Massey, Jr.,
Armstrong Atlantic State University, Savannah, GA
Dr. Richard T. Connelly,
Armstrong Atlantic State University, Savannah, GA
Dr. Richard J. Cebula,
Armstrong Atlantic State University, Savannah, GA
ABSTRACT
This study empirically
investigates the impact of the federal budget deficit on the nominal long term
interest rate yield on Moody’s Baa-rated corporate bonds over the period
1946-2002. In a system that includes the ex ante real short term interest
rate, expected inflation, changes in per capita real GDP, and the ratio of the
federal budget deficit to the GDP level, IV estimation reveals that the total
budget deficit has acted significantly to raise the nominal corporate bond
yield. This finding is consistent with certain earlier studies and implies the
possibility of at least partial “crowding out.” The impact of federal government budget deficits on
interest rates has been studied extensively [Barth, Iden and Russek (1984;
1985), Carlson and Spencer (1975), Cebula (1988; 1997), Feldstein and Eckstein
(1970), Findlay (1990), Hoelscher (1983; 1986), Holloway (1988), Johnson (1992),
Mascaro and Meltzer (1983), McMillin (1986), Ostrosky (1990), Swamy, Kolluri,
and Singamsetti (1990), Zahid (1988)]. These studies typically are couched
within IS-LM or loanable funds models or variants thereof. Many of these studies
find that the federal budget deficit acts to raise longer term rates of interest
while not significantly affecting shorter term rates of interest. Since capital
formation is presumably much more affected by long term than by short term
rates, the inference is often made that federal government budget deficits may
lead to at least partial "crowding out" [Carlson and Spencer (1975), Cebula
(1985)].
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Issues
and Challenges of Accounting Education in China: Practitioner and Academic
Perceptions
Tsui-chih
Wu, Shih Chien University, Taipei City, Taiwan
Yealing
Tong, Takming College, Taipei, Taiwan
ABSTRACT
This paper
examines and analyzes the current situation and challenges of accounting
education in China. Questionnaire surveys were directed to accounting educators
from five mainstream universities as well as accounting practitioners. Taken
overall, responses from the two groups are quite homogeneous in the majority of
issues in the study. The results show China has experienced an increased pace of
change in accounting environment due to internationalization and economic
openness. While accounting educators, public accounting, and industry see
tremendous value in an accounting education, there is an urgent need for changes
in curriculum development and teaching, rewarding structure, and ways of
communications with the practice community. The Chinese booming economy for the
past ten years has indeed brought about serious problems and challenges with
accounting education. The research results may provide some early feedback for
the development of accounting education in emerging economies. Since 1978, China
has adopted an open-door policy and a series of economic reforms. The shift from
the centrally planned economy to a market-oriented economy has brought about
major renovation and promulgation of new laws and rules in the areas of
securities administration and accounting. Particularly, the structural changes
in accounting regulatory framework are undertaken to meet the pressure of
international comparability and the demand for accounting information by capital
providers and business managers. As a result, the goal of reforming the
accounting system has been to establish a new conceptual framework that combines
the unique Chinese socialist characteristics and the generally accepted
international accounting norm. Chinese accounting reform has involved multiple
significant stages, and the Accounting Law of the People’s Republic of China was
enacted by the National People’s Congress in 1985.
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Exchange
Rate Regime Choices for China
Dr.
Xiaoping Xu, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, P.R.
China
ABSTRACT
What
exchange rate regimes should China adopt in the 21st century? This
paper analyzes some different exchange rate regime choices for China’s economy.
It indicates that in China’s case, a fixed exchange rate regime can not mitigate
both real and financial economic shocks in the long run; a complete floating
exchange rate regime is not appropriate for China either because free movements
of international capital and floating exchange rates are basically incompatible
in China. The conclusion that flows from this paper is that the future choice
for China’s exchange rate regime is a floating rate within a band system. It is
an astonishing fact that all the massive crises of the past ten years—the really
big ones –- have been associated with the collapse of formally fixed or
quasi-fixed exchange rate systems: Mexico in 1994; the three Asian IMF program
countries of Thailand, Indonesia, and Korea; Russia in 1998, in many ways the
most consequential of the crises for the rest of the world; and Brazil in 1998
and 1999. These crises offer strong evidence about the role of exchange rate
systems (Fischer, 2000). So rethinking the Chinese exchange rate regime choices
is of great importance now. Since October 1987, the IMF has classified China as
having a managed floating exchange rate regime, which is de facto peg
arrangements under managed floating. China has successfully maintained its
exchange rate stability for over a decade even during the Asian Financial Crisis
in 1997, with the assistance of capital controls, providing an important element
of stability in the regional and global economies.
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Sources of Competitive Advantage:
Differential and Catalytic Dimensions
Fred Amofa Yamoah, International
University - London Centre, UK
ABSTRACT
A key challenge confronting all
managers is achieving consumer satisfaction in an ever-changing business
environment. It is necessary to demonstrate that the changing business
environment has been a major factor behind the varied sources of competitive
advantage and corporate strategies that are implemented by many businesses. A
literature review spanning over six centuries provided, highlights the need to
differentiate between sources of competitive advantage for corporate success.
Towards this goal, a two-tear classification, termed remote and immediate
sources of competitive advantage is proposed with a discussion on its
theoretical and managerial implications, and an outline of future research
directions. Every profit-making organisation invests some amount of resources
to create worth for the owner/stakeholders. In the case of non-profit making
organisations, the worth generated is employed in various charitable projects.
However, a common challenge to all managers in today’s business environment is
achieving customer satisfaction in a changing environment. Hence, business
decisions taken and strategies formulated and implemented to address this
challenge have always tended to be critical to organisational success. One
popular management concept, among others, that has been employed over the years,
in an attempt to achieve customer satisfaction, in a constantly changing
business environment is gaining competitive advantage (Hoffman 2000). In its
simplest sense, the competitive advantage concept means devising unique features
to attract consumers away from ones competitors. In other words, the creation of
relatively superior product/service that better serve the needs of consumers.
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Comprehensive Income: Evidence on the Effectiveness of FAS 130
Dr. Bruce
Dehning, Chapman University, Orange, CA
Dr.
Paulette A. Ratliff, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR
ABSTRACT
Statement
of Financial Accounting Standards No. 130 (FAS 130) “Reporting Comprehensive
Income” requires all publicly traded companies to include a Statement of
Comprehensive Income in their set of basic financial statements. As
Comprehensive Income items have previously been disclosed in various parts of
the financial statements, listing these items in statement form provides no
information that has not already been available. Therefore, if markets are
efficient, the disclosures required by FAS 130 should not affect firm value.
The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence of the usefulness of
CI disclosures as required by FAS 130. In this study, we examine data for firms
in periods immediately before and after enactment of FAS 130 rules. We find
that there is no difference in the market’s valuation of comprehensive income
adjustments before and after the implementation of FAS 130. This is consistent
with the efficient markets hypothesis in that there is no change in the way the
market values the information due solely to the placement of the disclosure.
Unless other benefits of FAS 130 can be shown, this statement appears to require
additional information without a commensurate payback. Effective for fiscal
years ending after 12/15/98, all publicly traded companies are required to
include a Statement of Comprehensive Income in their set of basic financial
statements. Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 130 (FAS 130)
defines comprehensive income (CI) as “the change in equity (net assets) of a
business enterprise during a period from transactions and other events and
circumstances from nonowner sources.
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On
Acculturation of Business Acquisition: The Case of two Machine Tool
Manufacturers in Taiwan
Nelson N.
H. Liao, Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung County, Taiwan
ABSTRACT
One
aggressive machine tool manufacturer in Taiwan acquired another major machine
tool manufacturer retaining all employees of the acquired firm and providing its
financial and managerial support in the year 2000. The present paper examines
the issue of acculturation between the acquiring firm and the acquired firm in
terms of organizational culture and employees’ working attitudes. The present
paper introduced a conceptual research framework, followed by implementation of
a structured company-wide questionnaire, the employees of the two firms
responded twice in one year. By way of reliability check, descriptive analysis,
Pearson correlation analysis, independent samples t-test, stepwise
regression analysis, and interviewed with key members of the two firms, the
major findings are as follows: (1) Organizational culture is statistically
significant correlated to employees working attitudes. (2) The significant
dimensions of employees’ working attitudes at the acquired firm, when compared
with their counterparts working at the acquiring firm were reduced one year
after acquisition. (3) Retained individual brands’ strategy led to separate
preference for the acquiring firm and the acquired firm, Most employees had no
consensus on the issue of successful acquisition.
Mergers have proven to be a significant and
increasingly popular means for achieving corporate diversity and growth (Nahavandi
and Malekzadeh, 1988). In an examination of Dutch merger activities,
participating firm managers responded that firms were able to achieve (1) an
increase in market power, (2) an increase in sales, (3) the creation of
additional shareholder wealth, (4) increased profitability, and (5) marketing
economics of scale in most of the mergers (Brouthers, Hastenburg and Ven, 1998).
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Perspectives on Privacy
Dr. William
H. Friedman, University of Central Arkansas, Conway, AR
ABSTRACT
Privacy,
while rarely a major social concern before 1900, has recently become a high
profile issue, bordering on obsession for the general public as well as for the
computer and the business worlds. Discussants of privacy rights often take much
for granted, and in the most extreme cases, their assertions about privacy and
rights are made in a tone of almost “axiomatic” self-certainty. They typically
proceed with the full expectation that the intended audience will assent to the
spokesperson’s positions without question. There have been many proposed and
actual extensions of the scope of privacy, which have now progressed to demands
for shielding virtually all information about anything an individual might wish
to keep secret, despite the existence of reasonable, competing values. For
example, in the US, a student has a legal right to keep his/her parents, whether
they defray the student’s tuition or not, from ever learning from a university
that the student has failed every course. The most common starting point for
discussions on privacy is that it is a natural, inviolable right as well as an
important value. When a value-laden policy position has attained such
unquestioned influence, it is both appropriate and timely to examine critically
the extent of its applicability and whether it in fact embodies the overarching
values (Gurak 2002) attributed to it. This paper attempts just such an analysis
from an information technology, business, social, legal, and philosophical
perspective. The values competing with privacy and the matter of the origins of
privacy and other rights play a central role in this analysis. It is useful to
consider three definitions of privacy, which give the range of common usages
and, therefore, will be used to set the parameters for this paper.
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Global
Trade Model
Dr. Baoping
Guo, University of Northern Virginia, VA
ABSTRACT
This
paper presents a global trade model by incorporating capital flows, consumer
goods flows, and intermediate goods flows in conventional multiregional input
output model to simulate that the interconnected world economy as whole is
various of trade flows. The paper presents global trade equation, export
equation, import equation by introducing domestic trade matrixes, import
matrixes and export matrixes, which show the structure connection of global
economy from different analysis angles. The model suggests that there be the
import-export structure interdependence among countries in international trade
system. In addition, the paper provides a solution procedure for an exogenous
customer-consumption-oriented dynamic multinational equilibrium. With continuing
declining in transportation and communication costs and reduction of man-made
barriers to the flows of goods, service, and capital, markets are going global.
This means that it is increasingly important to understand the implications of
international trade and interdependence of countries in the world economy. The
studies of this paper present a global trade model to explore the structure
connection to simulate the structure connection of multinational economy and
international trade in the real world. It provides comprehensive understanding
to international trade flows by showing a method of systematically
quantifying the mutual interrelationships of import and export among various
sectors of a complex economic system participated by multiple countries. The
paper presents general trade equation; export equation, import equation and
dynamic trade model to explore the structure connection of multinational
economy.
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Mobile
Commerce: Customer Perception and It’s Prospect on Business Operation in
Malaysia
Dr. Ahasanul
Haque, Multimedia University, Selangor, Malaysia
Abstract
Use of
mobile devices will open significant opportunities for e-commerce, payment
services, information services and entertainment. However, adoption of mobile
commerce in business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) sectors
has been relatively low in Malaysia. Rapid growth numbers of mobile users, it is
crucial for companies to fully understand what influence consumers satisfaction.
As consumer perception of services would influence the level of satisfaction,
companies should then pay attention to the attributes that are perceived as
important by consumers for making choices. Hence, this paper is an early attempt
aims to provide empirical data on mobile users’ preferences of services as well
as attributes that are perceived as importance when they shop using mobile
devices. This paper explains users’ perception towards mobile commerce
and its scope as a business marketing strategy in Malaysia. The results of the
study indicated significance difference between male and female perception of
mobile commerce. In addition, results also highlighted negative influence types
of information on the use of mobile commerce among the various groups. In a new
global and knowledge economy, there is a high competition among the
organizations to attract customers. The sales cycle and time to make decisions
are becoming limited than ever. Moreover, the availability of large volume of
information and rapid technology advancement increases customer’s expectations
at the faster rate. In order to attract and satisfy the customer needs and to
defend themselves against these challenges business organizations should be
responsive enough. Meanwhile, the growth and success of the Internet has created
new interest as well as new horizons in the information technology development
and business strategy.
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Is Family Ownership a Pain or Gain to Firm
Performance?
Jira
Yammeesri, University of Wollongong, Northfields Ave., Australia
Dr. Sudhir
C. Lodh, University of Western Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT
This study
examines the relationship between family ownership and firm performance in
Thailand between 1998-2000. This study focuses on family-controlling ownership,
managerial-family and managerial-non-family ownership. The results show that
family-controlling ownership is positively significant to profitability, but it
is less significant to market returns. The results also show that
managerial-family ownership has a strong positive relationship with firm
performance. Interestingly, this study finds that managerial-family ownership
does not always encourage firm performance as, based on a non-linear analysis,
the results show that a certain level of managerial-family shareholding is
negatively related to firm performance. Ownership structure is clearly
important in determining firm’s objectives, shareholders’ wealth as well as how
managers of a firm are disciplined (Porter, 1990; and Jensen, 2000). In
particular, the structure of ownership has been extensively discussed since
Berle and Means (1932) introduced the separation of ownership and management.
The basic assumption is that the overwhelming interest of
principals/shareholders is to maximize firm performance, whereas managers have
other interests that may conflict with those of shareholders. Such conflict
between the interests of owners and managers leads to agency problems, which are
attributed as one of the causes of firm performance declining. Berle and Means
(1932), Fama (1980), Fama and Jensen (1983), Blair (1995) and Shleifer and
Vishny (1997) suggest that these agency problems can be mitigated through the
process of effective monitoring by concentrated shareholders (or controlling
shareholders).
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Comparison of Knowledge Management and CMM/CMMI Implementation
Dr. Sam
Ramanujan, Central Missouri State University, Warrensburg, MO
Dr.
Someswar Kesh, Central Missouri State University, Warrensburg, MO
ABSTRACT
As software
project’s deadlines have been missed, budgets grossly overspent, and resources
not adequately used to its full potential, the need for a structure or model to
assist in implementation have become very apparent. CMM and CMMI were developed
to address these situations. In addition to structuring tasks, organizations
face a daunting task of organizing and maintaining the knowledge that exists
within them. Such an effort is essential for organizations to gain leverage from
their knowledgebase. The process used to organize and maintain the knowledge
base is aptly called Knowledge Management. In this study we highlight the
symbiotic relationship between Knowledge Management and CMM/CMMI implementation
in organizations. In a hyper competitive environment like software development
industry, knowledge-based theory says that the possession of the knowledge and
using it efficiently provides a sustainable competitive advantage. Innovation,
the source of sustained advantage for most companies depends upon the individual
and collective expertise of employees. Some of this expertise is captured and
codified in software, hardware, and processes. Yet tacit knowledge also
underlies many capabilities – a fact driven home to some companies in the wake
of aggressive downsizing, when undervalued knowledge walked out the door! [1].
Knowledge management is an emerging discipline that promises to capitalize on
organizations’ intellectual capital. The concept of taming knowledge and putting
it to work is not new; phrases containing the word knowledge, such as knowledge
bases and knowledge engineering, existed before KM became popularized.
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Selecting Consumer Oriented Alliance Partner to Assure Customer Satisfaction in
International Markets
Feng-Chuan
Pan, Tajen Institute of Technology and I-Shou University, Taiwan
ABSTRACT
Many firms
enter into international strategic alliance with a wish to strengthen their
competitive advantages in international markets However, efforts that lack
customer perceived value or deviate from customer expectation. has driven many
firms to the hell of failure. Selecting proper international strategic alliance
partner has been view as critical factor to the success of cross-border
cooperation. While the consumer is the center of marketing and many functional
operations, consumers are ignored in most international strategic alliance
researches. This paper argues that distinct from partner-related factors and
task-related factors; consumer-related factors shall be the most important
criteria in selecting partner prior to adopt other factors into consideration.
This paper presents the importance of the role of consumer in business
activities, and the necessity of involving consumer-related factors in the
decision of international strategic alliance, particularly partner selection.
Base on several international strategic alliance theories, this paper develop
several propositions for further empirical studies. To obtain competitive
advantages, increasing number of firms is now inevitably forced to compete in
multiple markets (Jayachandran and Varadarajan 1999) where are shared the same
competitive space with all sizes of competitors (Etemad et al. 2001). In this
highly competitive environment, it is unlikely for individual companies working
alone without using external resources owned by other organizations (Oliver
1990) to sustain sufficient resources for continuous growth and survival. It is
important to effectively integrate appropriate alliance partner’s resources and
capabilities.
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The
Relationship between Self-Directed Learning Readiness and Organizational
Effectiveness
Dr. Min-Huei
Chien, The Overseas Chinese Institute of Technology, Taiwan
ABSTRACT
The
purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between readiness for
self-directed learning and organizational effectiveness. The hypotheses that
guided this investigation related to the relationship between readiness for
self-directed learning and organizational effectiveness in several companies in
Taiwan. The results of the study showed significant relationship between SDLRS
and organizational effectiveness. Recommendations suggested that manager should
help employees become ready for self-directed learning in order to improve
organizational effectiveness. In the 21st century--the Knowledge
Age--corporations will see workers as intellectual capital. Workers themselves,
rather than just information, will become the resources that allow organizations
to respond quickly and effectively to rapid change. Learning is at the core of
these demands--whether it's learning a new skill, knowing how to manage existing
and new knowledge, or creating organizational structures that support continuous
learning. This study introduces learners to a new focus on performance
improvement based on knowledge as the competitive advantage. Self-directed
learning is the foundation for the Knowledge Age. Well-conceived implementation
of self-directed learning is crucial for the success of learning organizations
in the 21st century. Self-directed learning is really mean to every
organization, especially in knowledge worker age in the 21st century.
Understand how to manage organization's support for self-directed learning
become key factor for effectiveness. Thus, this study was tried to find out the
questions below: (1)
Recognize the importance of self-directed learning.
(2) Identify the most
important aspect of most definitions of self-directed learning.
(3) Identify the
advantages of self-directed learning for the 21st century organization.
(4) Identify roles
trainers can play in self-directed learning. The implementation of successful
programs for learner has been shown to have a positive economic impact on
businesses.
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A Study
to Improve Organizational Performance: A View from SHRM
Dr. Min-Huei
Chien, The Overseas Chinese Institute of Technology, Taiwan
ABSTRACT
This
research studies how to improve organizational performance from the point of
strategic human resource management. The research method adopted was the case
study of the qualitative research and the data was collected by in-depth
interviews. In the process of the research, the author interviewed with fifty
employees, including twenty mangers and thirty workers. According to the
analysis of the research data, there are five factors effecting organizational
performance: (1) Model of motive. (2) Leadership styles. (3) Organizational
culture and environment. (4) Job design. (5) Human resource policies. According
to the results, the study point out some feasible suggestions on the
administrative policy and management. The results of this study could be helpful
to the management effectiveness practices and the construction of quality
management model in disciplinary study.
Strategic human resource management is concerned
with creating a competitive advantage for organizations by closely aligning
human resource processes, such as recruitment, selection, training, appraisal,
and reward systems (Fornbrum, 1984). Research also indicated that
top performance increasingly
demands excellence in all areas, including leadership, productivity, and
adaptation to change, process improvement, and capability enhancement
(knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies).
Wright and McMahan (1992) agree and suggest that
HRM can become a competitive advantage for organizations in terms of improving
organizational performance if it more closely aligns its practices with
strategic management efforts. (Porter, 1985).
It is no doubt, that improved
organizational performance is the only way to lead to successful business. But
there are so much different way to improve organizational performance.
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Project
Performance: Implications of Personality Preferences and Double Loop Learning
Dr. Karla M.
Back, University of Houston, Houston, TX
Dr. Robert
Seaker, University of Houston, Houston, TX
ABSTRACT
The process
of managing and implementing a project is typically more dynamic than what an
initial project plan would indicate. Projects exist within organizational as
well as economic contexts designed and are executed by human beings. When such
influences are considered collectively, chances are that a successful project
will have required a series of reassessments and adjustments throughout the
project’s duration. Given the nature of most project environments, what allows a
project to meet its business and performance objectives in the most cost
effective and timely manner? A proposed theory contends that as organizational
and external environments become more complex, projects must evolve to be more
organic in nature. This is accomplished by building a team that practices,
incorporates, and nurtures double loop learning – a phenomenon that refers to an
individual’s capability and propensity for challenging accepted rules and
parameters that decisions or actions face. It is also postulated that the
tendency toward thinking and behaving in this way is correlated with certain
aspects of an individual’s personality. Therefore, project success may actually
be determined at the time individuals are selected for the project team – that
is, prior to any formal planning and implementation of tasks. It is common that decision-making environments
allow for re-assessments and adjustments. Executives such as CEOs and marketing
managers change directions all the time. If rational and not ad hoc in nature,
it is reasonable that strategies, operating objectives, and resources continue
to be made relevant for the sake of driving shareholder value. Mintzberg,
Raisinghani, and Theoret’s (1976) strategy process model perhaps most accurately
captures the decision dynamics within the organization where the occurrence of
on-going strategizing is influenced by continuous changes in the environment and
decision makers. Project management, however, is typically not allowed such
leniency. Goals of a project are presented in concrete terms.
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The
Dollar Value of Improved Customer-Oriented Retail Sales Personnel
Dr. Edward
Kemery, University of Baltimore, MD
Dr. Gene
Milbourn, University of Baltimore, MD
ABSTRACT
It is
argued that by failing for focus on the customer orientation of its sales
clerks, an organization could place itself at a competitive disadvantage. A
study was conducted which found that a self-report measure of trait hostility
correlated with supervisory ratings of job performance of sales clerks.
Although the magnitude of the obtained correlation was low (r=. 16), utility
analysis demonstrated how even a selection instrument of such “modest” validity
can produce a significant bottom-line payoff to an organization in some
instances. Obtained findings also argue for continued investigations of
theoretically meaningful personality-performance hypotheses. There are
several options available for increasing the level of employees’ customer
orientation. One strategy is to hire job candidates who are likely to interact
with customers in positive ways. This strategy involves incorporating
predictors of customer oriented selling (COS) into the sales personnel selection
system. A second strategy is to provide training to teach job specific
consumer-oriented behavior. A sales clerk position involves more than job
customer contact. Along with sales duties, an employee is expected to run a
register, keep track of inventory, and maintain displays. With these varied
responsibilities, an employee’s immediate workload may make it difficult to
respond to customers’ needs in a timely or tactful manner. However, for
effective customer relations, a high level of COS should be maintained despite
current workload demands. It follows that training programs for new hirees, as
well as periodic refresher course for incumbents, should emphasize COS,
particularly in “difficult” situations. A third strategy is making COS an
explicit component of employee evaluation.
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Gaining a
Competitive Advantage from Advertising: Study on Children's Understanding
of TV Advertising
Dr. Ali
Khatibi, Multimedia University, Cyberjaya- Malaysia
Dr. Ahasanul
Haque, Multimedia University, Cyberjaya- Malaysia
Dr.
Hishamudin Ismail,
Multimedia University, Cyberjaya- Malaysia
ABSTRACT
For
many years, TV advertisers have produced commercials that are designed to
attract and hold the attention of children of all ages. As a result, there has
been increasing controversy regarding whether these commercials are fair since
they are intended to persuade children who are not mature enough to critically
evaluate the messages presented. In this study, verbal and non-verbal
measurements were used to investigate whether age, gender and parental influence
have an effect on the understanding of TV advertising. The study would measure
two components of understanding TV advertising: the recognition of the
difference between programs and commercials and the comprehension of advertising
intent. ANOVA analyses were performed to assess the effect on age, gender,
parent-child interaction and parental control of TV viewing: one for each
measure of understanding of TV advertising. In addition to determine among which
groups the true differences lie, other test was conducted. The Least
Significant Difference (LSD) method was performed for the purpose.. Research
found that majority of children aged between five and eight have some
understanding of TV advertising, they are capable in differentiate program and
commercials especially if this understanding is measured by non-verbal rather
than verbal measure. However, the results
based on verbal measures are not as conclusive. The
findings also indicated that child's age has a substantial positive effect on
the child's understanding of TV advertising. This effect pronounced for verbal
measure of comprehension intent for advertisements.
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Study of
the Relationship between Perception of Value and Price and Customer
Satisfaction:
The Case of Malaysian Telecommunications Industry
Dr.
Hishamudi Ismail,
Multimedia University- Cyberjaya- Malaysia
Dr. Ali
Khatibi, Multimedia University- Cyberjaya- Malaysia
ABSTRACT
The
objective of this study is to examine the co-relationship between customer
satisfaction, service quality and perception on value for leased line service in
Malaysia telecommunication industry. In conducting the survey, the authors
distributed the questionnaire to 245 respondents by using three data collection
techniques i.e. personal interview, telephone interview and mail survey.
Findings indicate that there is a relationship between the customer satisfaction
and service value. The empirical findings in this study also indicate there is a
significant relationship between overall customer satisfaction level and overall
quality of service and the tested variable i.e. perception on the current price
and the perception on the current value. In this study, the authors suggest
that in order to increase value of service, enhancement should be concentrated
more on the service quality aspect rather than customer satisfaction.
Malaysia welcomes the advent of the
Information Age. In this era, information can flow easily and freely regardless
of distance and territorial boundaries. This will promise the world the most
cost-effective and liberal way of sending information, ideas, people, goods and
services across borders. In view of this, the government had embarked on a
project called the Multimedia Super Corridor or MSC. The prime objective is to
help Malaysian companies to test the limits of technology and prepare themselves
for the future. The MSC will expedite Malaysia's entry into the Information Age,
and will also help to actualise Malaysia’s Vision 2020. This corridor will bring
together an integrated environment with all the unique elements and attributes
necessary to create the perfect global multimedia climate. MSC is not standing
on it own. It is supported by a high-capacity, digital telecommunications
infrastructure designed to the highest international standards in capacity and
reliability.
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How is
Market Efficiency Disappeared? Comparing the Opening Position and
Closing
Position Simulation Results
Ching-Wen
Lin, Takming Institute of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan
Dr.
Kuang-Hsun Shih, Chinese Culture University, Taipei, Taiwan
Dr. Shaio
Yan Huang, Providence University, Taichung Hsien, Taiwan
ABSTRACT
This study
intends to examine the market efficiency on the Taiwan Electronic Index (TEI) in
terms of predictability of Neural Networks, and also attempts to compare the
simulation results of using opening position and closing position. The neural
trading system informs 14-15 transaction opportunities based on domestic and
international information in the testing period. This investigation suggests
that using opening position may reflect superior trading information, and that
this information is diluted with the passage of time. This study intends to
examine the market efficiency on the Taiwan Electronic Index (TEI) in terms of
predictability of Neural Networks, and also attempts to compare the differences
of using opening position and closing position to simulate TEI trading. Fama
(1970) initially defined
an efficient market as one in which prices always fully reflect
the
available information. Scholars such as Rubinstein (1975), Cornell and Roll
(1981), and Brennan and Copeland (1988) extended the concept of market
efficiency and tried to explain it from several different viewpoints, such as
the costs of intermediaries and information costs. In a defined efficient
market, the only way to earn positive profits consistently is to develop
competitive advantages; in which case profits may be viewed as the economic
rents that accrue to this advantage. A vast amount of literature has been
devoted to the application of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) in the finance
and investment fields. For example, Dutta and Shekhar (1988) applied neural
network technology to bond rating evaluation. Malliaris, and Salchenberger
(1994) applied ANN to predict option volatility. Chiang et al. (1996) apply a
back-propagation algorism to forecast the performance of U.S. mutual funds.
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Business
School Curriculum: Can we learn from Quantum Physics?
Dr.
Steven Tippins, ARM, Roosevelt University,
Schaumburg, IL
ABSTRACT
This paper
explores the development of the curriculum within business schools. It posits
that changes may be needed and suggests that the work within areas such as
quantum physics may be a place to start the reevaluation. If you peruse the
undergraduate catalogue at many colleges and universities striking similarities
appear. Beyond the nice pictures of students enjoying student life or having a
meaningful conversation with a professor, the real similarities begin to reveal
themselves when one looks at the curriculum. Of the approximately 120 credits
that a student must take to graduate why do most schools require the same
courses? Is business such a science that we know exactly what must be taught,
how it should be broken up, and in what order? One of the duties within the
realm of academia is service. It is not uncommon for a curriculum committee (or
any variation of that name) to periodically look at the curriculum to see if it
is appropriate for the student body in question. Whether this task is
internally driven by a desire to provide a good product or externally driven by
the need to comply with accreditation guidelines, analysis such as this is
good. To paraphrase, an unexamined curriculum is not worth offering. Many
times one of the first questions that arises when curriculum review is broached
is a form of “what is everyone else doing?” Whether it is a formal survey of
competitors or copying top programs, business school curriculum development can
tend toward incestual. The curriculum at many, if not most, schools may be
exactly what is needed. However, there may be ways of looking at what is taught
and its overarching structure that may be helpful. Some of the basic tenants
that have been developed in the field of quantum physics may be helpful.
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Ally
Strategic Alliance with Consumers? Who Care?
Feng-Chuan
Pan, Tajen Institute of Technology and I-Shou University, Taiwan
ABSTRACT
While
strategic alliance is widely adopted by firms to compete either in domestic or
cross-national markets for various advantages, and the customer and consumers
are viewed as the center of any marketing activities, there are none or few of
researches place significant focus on the role of the customers/ consumers in
the decision of strategic alliance. The author conducted a meta research and
citation analysis on main academic literatures and found only a tiny fraction of
researches involve customers / consumers in alliance related studies whether in
domestic or international contexts. The author suggests the need to extensively
and directly involve customer / consumer as the center in the research of
strategic alliance, so as in real business world, particularly for those
international alliances that normally cross over distinct cultures. Before Brief
and Bazerman (2003) expressed their expectations to involve consumers in the
management studies in its editor’s comments in a highly prestigious journal,
Academy of Management Review, customers and consumers have being the center of
the marketing activities and the core of missions of almost all profit or
non-profit organizations. Compared to other input factors, consumer is the most
valuable resource (Duncan and Moriarty, 1998) on which the essential foundation
for competitive advantage is building. In response to the fast changing
environment, plenty technical-efficient skills and managerial knowledge and
practices have been developed and adopted to reduce the operating cost and
enhance business efficiency by which assure the firms survival and growth.
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Knowledge
Management Initiatives: Exploratory Study in Malaysia
Dr.
Badruddin A. Rahman, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
A study on
Knowledge Management (KM) initiatives was conducted on a sample of various
categories of organization in Malaysia. The categories were companies listed in
the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (300 of a total of 500 companies), government
Ministries and Departments (30), educational institutions (80), small and medium
size industries (100), the electronic industries (150) and government-owned
agencies (10). About 303 questionnaires were returned and the preliminary
findings showed nearly half of the respondents were reporting that they already
established formal knowledge management initiatives in their respective
organizations. This was evident amongst organizations in the education sector,
government own organizations and government departments and/or agencies.
Nonetheless, the findings also showed that the Malaysian private sector was
slowly catching up to meet the challenges of the competitive business
environment. The key characteristics identified from leading companies that
have successfully leverage their assets provide a fertile ground for developing
a knowledge management strategy. Companies that want to leverage this asset must
approach knowledge management with a focus on their core competencies and tie
those in very tightly to the business strategy and vision (Tiwana, 2000). The
decades of the last century saw corporations locked in a struggle to out-do one
another and in the 21st century will see organizations in a struggle
to out-know one another. More than half of the organizations listed in the
Fortune 500 in 1993 are no longer in the list today. Even icon names such as
Sears and McDonald find themselves in a slump. “What are we doing wrong?” asked
some corporate leaders and shareholder.
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Alternative Panel Estimates of Elasticities for Cigarette Demand in the U.S.
Su-Chen
Yang, Chung-Hua
University, Taiwan
Dr. Yao-Hsien
Lee, Chung-Hua University, Taiwan
Dr.
Jian-Fa Li, Chin Min College, Taiwan
Abstract
This paper
presents a set of more refined estimates of demand for cigarettes in the U.S.
It was found that the dynamic fixed estimator (DFE) outperforms the pool mean
group estimator (PMG) and the mean group estimator (MG) in the U.S. cigarette
market from 1961 to 1997. The estimated short-run price elasticity is -0.122
(from the DFE), and the long run price elasticity is -0.716 (from DFE) over the
period from 1961 to 1997. This provides better understanding if the price
increases of cigarettes cover settlement costs in the future. The elasticity
of demand for cigarettes plays a crucial role in both the pricing decision of
cigarette firms and the government policy to mitigate medical costs from
cigarette smoking. Literature abounds in estimating the price of elasticity
(see Table 1). The demand for cigarettes in the past was estimated either from
time series data or from cross-section data (Lyon and Simon, 1968; bishop and
Yoo, 1985; Keeler, 1993; Coats, 1995). Without considering the specific state
laws or changes in consumer tastes over time, biased estimations may result.
More recently, researchers have attempted to use the panel data approach to
avoid the estimation problems facing either time series data or cross-section
data (Baltagi and Levin, 1986 and 1992; Becker, et al., 1994; Keeler, et al.,
1998; Baltagi, et al., 2000; Baltagi and Griffin, 2001). Although a panel
estimator might be a better alternative, not all researchers agree on the
fundamental assumption: homogeneity of slope coefficients of different regions.
Pesaran, et al. (1999) proposed a new approach (Pooled Mean Group Estimator
(PMG)), which constrains long-run coefficients to be identical but allows in the
short run the slope coefficients and error variances to be different among
groups.
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Purchasing Power Parity and the Base Currency Effect: A re-examination
Dr. Khalifa
Hassanain, United Arab Emirates University, Alain, U.A.E.
ABSTRACT
This article
reexamines the base currency effect for Purchasing power parity theory. The test
is conducted using a newly developed nonlinear IV unit root test that accounts
for cross correlation for panels made of twenty-one base currencies for
industrial countries. We use annual data and allow for different dynamic
structure over the free float era. While the choice of the base currency matters
for the annual data, the week rejection occurs mostly with European currencies.
The rejection is not strong using the German mark. The null is rejected even
using the dollar and the yen as base currencies. Volatility appears to be the
only significant explanation for the base currency effect. The IV test results
show that cross correlation does matter for base currency invariance. The
Purchasing power parity theory (PPP) states that the nominal bilateral exchange
rate et, which is the relative price of two currencies, should adjust
in equilibrium to reflect their purchasing powers. The theory assumes that all
goods are identical in both countries, that transportation cost, and trade
barriers are very low. Recently there has been an increasing evidence to suggest
that purchasing power parity does in fact hold as a long run phenomena. These
studies used mostly the panel testing procedure, a number of these studies found
stronger rejection when the German mark rather than the US dollar is used as
abase currency e.g. Jorian & Sweeny (1996) Papell (1997) and Papell and
Theodordis (1998) to mention some. Engel et al. (1997) , argued that the same
sets of real exchange rates generated by different choices of base currencies
are linear combinations of one another, thus, changing the base currency does
not change the information that is used in the estimator, only it's
configuration i.e. its interdependence.
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Perspectives in Consumer Behavior: Paradigm Shifts in Prospect
Dr. Z. S.
Demirdjian, California State University, Long Beach, CA
Dr. Turan
Senguder, Nova Southeastern University, FL
ABSTRACT
Despite its
adolescence, consumer behavior as a discipline has attained a crowning position
in marketing. Many professionals and academics characterize consumer behavior
as the key to contemporary marketing success. Over the years, various
approaches based on social sciences have been proposed and applied to teaching
and researching the consumer. Prompted by their ever-increasing complexities,
recently the interest in social sciences seemed to have waned. Although there
have not been seismic changes in the field, there have been some shifts in
paradigms. As the discipline develops, one important question is to ask as to
what approach to adopt for teaching and researching consumer behavior. To
broaden the underpinning theories of consumer behavior, paradigms outside the
social sciences could very well be tapped for additional understanding the
complex nature of the consumer. Several frontiers of other sciences seem
promising for the understanding the consumer. As is explained in this paper,
the prospects for an interdisciplinary approach outside the family of social
sciences appears brighter than ever for thinking outside the “black box” (i.e.,
mind) and for contributing to its dynamism. That human behavior is complex,
replete with controversies and contradictions, comes as no surprise to marketing
academicians as well as practioners. Consumer behavior is no exception.
Against the backdrop of widespread recognition of consumer behavior as being the
key to contemporary marketing success (Hawkins et al. 2003), the fundamental
question has been as to what approach to use in the study and teaching of this
fascinating academic field? As Spiggle and Goodwin (1988), Tan and Sheth
(1985), and van Raaij and Bamossy (1993) have presented articles in their
readings books, consumer behavior over the years, has been the subject of many
models and intellectual arguments.
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A Model
for Web Server Security
Dr.
Someswar Kesh, Central Missouri State University,
Warrensburg, MO
Dr.
Sam Ramanujan, Central Missouri State University,
Warrensburg, MO
ABSTRACT
Organizations are now increasingly dependent on their web servers for business
as well as to disseminate both mission-critical and non-mission critical
information. The core and peripheral business of many organizations as well as
their image depend heavily on their web sites that reside on their web servers.
At the same time, incidents of attacks on web sites by hackers with a multitude
of motives have increased significantly in recent years. It is therefore
essential to secure web servers to the maximum possible extent. This paper
discusses various facets of web server security and presents a model for web
server security based on an analysis of the threats and tools and technologies
available to protect these web servers.
With organizations increasingly performing businesses over the web and using the
Internet to disseminate information, web servers have became a key component of
an organization’s survival. The cost of downtime due to hackers runs into
billions of dollars. It is therefore imperative that organizations use the best
possible means for protecting the web-server(s). This paper provides a model
for web-server security and makes recommendations on how the model can be used
for developing or improving web-server security. To develop the model, the
relationship between the components of web server security is analyzed in
pairs. First, the relationship between the security needs of web servers and
the threats to web server security are analyzed. Then, the relationship between
threats and technologies to counter the threats and finally, the relationship
between technologies and tools to implement the technologies are analyzed. The model can be useful both for
analyzing the current weaknesses of web server security or design a new
web-server security infrastructure.
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Methods
for Maximizing Student Engagement in the Introductory Business Statistics
Course: A Review
Dr.
Charles F. Harrington, University of Southern Indiana, Evansville, IN
Dr. Timothy
J. Schibik, University of Southern Indiana, Evansville, IN
ABSTRACT
Suggestions are offered to create a collaborative teaching environment where
active learning is the primary method used to teach business statistics.
Students often claim to find the initial experience with business statistical
analysis uninteresting, inapplicable, and uninspiring. The faculty-at-large
whether from research universities, comprehensive colleges, or private
institutions report frustration in integrating activities designed to invigorate
and energize student engagement in first year business statistics courses.
Various alternatives to the lecture class format are suggested in an attempt to
encourage instructors to try alternative pedagogies. The intellectual and
practical engagement of students in the undergraduate business statistics
curriculum poses significant challenges to faculty regardless of institutional
or student body characteristics. Students often claim to find the initial
experience with business statistical analysis uninteresting, inapplicable, and
uninspiring. The faculty-at-large whether from research universities,
comprehensive colleges, or private institutions report frustration in
integrating activities designed to invigorate and energize student engagement in
first year statistics courses. Historically,
business statistics curricula have favored theory over application and cursory
attention over practice and competency. However, student expectation, the demand
of graduate education and workplace statistical competencies, and accreditation
body criteria have shifted the curricular focus to the interpretation and
meaning of statistics rather than on the rote memorization of abstract
mathematical concepts. Providing students with opportunities to develop
their skills and abilities as consumers as well as practitioners of statistics
and statistical analysis is paramount if business students are to be
sufficiently equipped for the world of work.
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From
Industrial Revolution to Managerial Evolution: The Case of IBM Credit
Corporation
Dr.
Hui-Kuan Tseng, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC
ABSTRACT
We
ought to admit that we are living in a time of ever-changing. It is the first
time in the human history that the humans are capable of producing mass
information far more rapidly than they can absorb. Humans have sped up the
adapting process far beyond they can imagine. The rapid technological
advancement has made the knowledge and information the key competitive
advantages. The Quality Movement in 1980 brought to the consumers better quality
products with lower prices. The industry power is switched toward consumers
ever since. The internationalizing of marketing and the overall raising of
living standards brought opportunities on the one hand, and competition on the
other. With the emergence of the economic powers in the Asia Pacific region,
competition is increasing globally. The global competitions, the prevailing of
the Internet, and the soaring technology have a great impact on the conventional
way of organization and operation. On the global scale, any managerial personnel
with vision strive to discover innovative and competitive ways of management to
adjust to the situation. The new industrial management models have been
developed speedily. Nowadays, the participatory management, flattened
organization, and empowerment have become the jargon of the industrial managers.
A great number of companies strive to increase their competitiveness and
efficiency. The Industrial Revolution which first got its start in Great
Britain changed the ways by how the world produced its goods.(1) The effects of
the Industrial Revolution were far-reaching. It brought new doctrines –
Laissez-faire, Capitalism, Democracy into political arena. Sabel [1985] and
Matthews [1986], among others, studied the effects of the Industrial Revolution
on politics. The Industrial Revolution also led to the expansion of trade,
commerce and banking. Cameron [1982] and Jones [1984], among others, examined
the effects of Industrial Revolution on banking and trade.
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Developing
New Markets for Turfgrass-sod in the United States
Dr. John J.
Haydu, University of Florida, Mid-Florida Research and Education Center, Apopka,
FL
Dr. Alan W.
Hodges, University of Florida, Food & Resource Economics Department,
Gainesville, FL
ABSTRACT
Three years
of research examining market opportunities for turfgrass-sod was conducted in
the eastern (1999), central (2000), and western (2001) regions of the United
States. A total of 1,248 firms, representing eight distinct Standard Industrial
Classifications (SIC), were surveyed. Data were analyzed by geographic region
and type of business. Results indicate that considerable differences exist
across these categories with respect to market outlets, grass varieties used,
and purchasing criteria of customers. Market outlets have shifted dramatically
in recent years from a direct selling approach (from the farm direct to the
customer) to more indirect selling through large retail chains. Major grass
varieties used by consumers was largely a function of geographic location where
climate restricts optimal growth, rather than problems associated with market
outlets. Primary purchasing criteria were product quality, followed by price,
product availability, and delivery, although results varied somewhat by type of
business. Cultivated turfgrass is a pervasive feature of the urban landscape in
the United States and many other regions of the developed world. It is
preferred as a vegetative groundcover to reduce soil erosion, absorb pollutants,
dampen noise, and to provide a comfortable, durable, and aesthetically pleasing
surface for outdoor activities. Turfgrass is a major characteristic of home
lawns, commercial landscapes, golf courses, hotels and resorts, and public
institutions, including schools, cemeteries and airports. The turfgrass
industry is an incredibly diverse and economically important component of the
horticultural industry.
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Attrition
of Agency in Real Estate Brokerage
Dr. Bruce
Lindeman, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, AR
ABSTRACT
In the past
two decades, the agency function in real estate brokerage has evolved from
representation only of sellers to include agency representation of buyers. This
evolution has led to a variety of problems, especially the likelihood of
conflict of interest when agents attempt to represent both buyer and seller in a
transaction. Because the legal considerations are controlled largely by state
law, attempts by the states to resolve these problems have provided an
interesting variety of “laboratory experiments”, none of which (so far) seems to
have achieved a desirable solution. This paper includes a history of past
developments, a summary of the current situation, and some reflections upon the
implications of these problems. Under agency law, agents are employed by
principals to represent them in some way. An agent must (1) obey the
principal’s instructions (so long as they are within the law), (2) be loyal to
the principal’s interests, (3) act in good faith, (4) use his/her professional
judgment, skill, and ability, (5) account for all money belonging to others that
comes into his/her possession, (6) perform agency duties in person and (7) keep
the principal fully informed as to developments affecting their relationship. A
key element of agency is that agents have a duty to act in the principal’s best
interests, even if so doing requires the agent to act against his/her own
personal best interests. Since the inception of real estate license law a
century ago, real estate licensees in all states have been defined as agents.
Real estate licensees are limited agents: they solicited offers to buy,
sell or lease and assisted and advise their principal during negotiation.
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A Dynamic
Econometric Modeling of the U.S. Rice Market
Dr. Sung
Chul No, Southern University and A&M, Baton Rouge, LA
Dr. Hector
O. Zapata, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
ABSTRACT
Over the
past three decades, developments in time series analysis have brought new
approaches for combining structural characteristics of market models with
stochastic processes that better represent available data: structural
econometric and time series analysis (SEMTSA) and structural vector
autoregressive model (SVAR). The paper provides an empirical evaluation of
these two approaches for the U.S. rough rice market. Transfer functions,
derived from the SEMTSA model, were estimated. The turning point, RMSE, and
MAPE evaluation revealed that the TF model provide accurate forecasts and
greatly reduces forecasting errors relative to the existing structural and ARIMA
models for the fundamental rice market variables in an out-of-sample period
(1990-1999). The research also addressed the empirical usefulness of combining
structural-statistical properties of economic data in commodity modeling. A
comparative analysis of the impulse response functions revealed that the
estimated effects in the VAR model of specific behavioral shocks often do not
appear economically intuitive. Having imposed structural relationships in a
time series context, the study found that most response functions in the SVAR
model are in confirmation with economic logic, with empirical results far
superior to those generated from a VAR in levels. These empirical findings in
favor of the TF and SVAR models stem from a common methodological approach,
which combines economic theory with statistical properties of time series. The
research findings suggest that a significant contribution to commodity modeling
can be derived from this type of approach.
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From
General System Theory to Total Quality Management
Dr. Te-Wei
Wang, Florida International University, Miami, FL
ABSTRACT
This paper
evaluates the theoretical ground for total quality management (TQM). General
systems theory (GST) is the referenced theoretical framework. TQM and GST are
contrasted side by side from two perspectives: theoretical assumptions and
implementation methods. The comparison between system approaches and TQM
practices show that TQM is a true system approach. TQM provides principles and
techniques implement GST. TQM utilizes cybernetic principle to deal with
traditional efficiency and productivity problems. It also prescribes many
practical methods and technique for building a learning organization. TQM has
long been criticized by the lack of guiding theories (Sitkin et al, 1994).
Starting in the 1990s, many researchers have tried to put TQM under rigorous
theoretical examination. For example, Grant, Shani, and Krishnan (1994) compared
TQM with traditional management theories. Hackman and Wageman (1995) accessed
the coherence, distinctiveness, and likely perseverance of the TQM philosophy.
Dean and Bowen (1994) also found substantial overlap between TQM and management
theory. Following their works, this paper describes and examines TQM from the
perspective of general system theory (GST). Why study TQM through GST? First of
all, TQM and GST have many similarities. TQM and GST both covers great deal of
the same ground of management theories. In Dean and Bowen’s (1994) words, “Both
TQM and GST are considered as Interdisciplinary studies and they often
transcends the boundary of existing theories.” Furthermore, GST is a meta-theory
which can be used to bridge many simpler models with different assumptions. It
is believed unavoidable for social scientists to study systems (Kast, &
Rosenzweig 1972; Bailey, 1992:63; Hanson, 1995, Kaynak 2003). TQM also possess
many features of a meta-theory.
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Compensation Structure, Perceived Equity and Individual Performance of R&D
Professionals
Jin Feng
Uen, National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Shu Hwa
Chien, National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan, R.O.C.
ABSTRACT
In order
for individuals to improve their work performance they must be sufficiently
motivated and compensation is the most important source of motivation for
professionals. A major issue in designing a compensation structure for such
individuals is the equity they perceive they are gaining. For this reason, this
research discusses the relationship between compensation structure, perceived
equity and individual performance. After surveying 258 R&D professionals from
high-tech organizations in Taiwan, we put forward the argument that skill-based
pay and job-based pay influence R&D professionals into believing they are
receiving an enhanced equity which will then lead to a better performance on
their part. High-tech organizations succeed through a combination of innovation,
conceptualization, and commercialization of new technological ideas (Newman,
1989). They emphasize techniques in business strategy; and investment in R&D
activities accounts for a relatively high proportion of their total expenditure
(Milkovich, 1987). It has long been recognized that R&D professionals function
as a separate occupational group in manufacturing organizations with a remit to
provide those organizations with a competitive edge. Therefore, in order to gain
this competitive advantage it requires R&D professionals in high-tech
organizations to be properly motivated. Compensation is a critical factor to
consider when strategic business planning is being undertaking (Lawler, 1995)
since it is not only a question of labor costs but also employee motivation.
Compensation is the most important source of motivation for professionals,
including R&D specialists. On account of this, a high-tech organization must
develop compensation packages capable of attracting, retaining and motivating
R&D professionals (Milkovich & Newman, 1999).
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The
Content Continuum: Extending the Hayes & Wheelwright Process-Product Diagonal to
Facilitate Improvement of Services
Dr. Tony
Polito, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC
Dr. Kevin
Watson, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA
ABSTRACT
The
explanatory power of the Hayes & Wheelwright Process-Product Matrix, as well as
the diagonal embedded within it, fails under counterexamples of mass
customization. When the diagonal is extended into the realm of service products
using Schmenner’s Service Process Matrix, an expanded framework emerges. That
framework, herein coined The Content Continuum, appears to be highly explanatory
and finds good fit with many existing service classification schemes. A number of Original Levi's retail outlets offer
made-to-order women's bluejeans on a mass customization basis. Customer
measurements are entered at the POS terminal and directed to a numerically
controlled cutting device at the company's Tennessee plant. Levi's customization
strategy effected a 300% increase in sales and a simultaneous reduction in
inventory at introduction (1994a). Toward further improvement, the company has
co‑developed a point‑of‑sale "body scanner" expected to decrease response time
and improve the quality of the process (1994b). The application is not unique;
Tom Peters notes a similar process for the tailoring of suits at Saks Fifth
Avenue (Peters, 1987). Anderson windows, Motorola pagers, and Hallmark
Create-A-Card vending machines provide examples of mass customization from other
industries. Even McDonald's, the bellwether of Levitt's industrialized service
(1972, 1976), now carries hundreds of menu items targeted by region, rotates
specialty items seasonally or monthly, and offers its once standardized burgers
on an assemble-to-order basis. In some ways, such mass customization (Pine II,
1993) implies a shift towards craft shop production, including higher product
heterogeneity and increased levels of customer involvement, specification, and
delivery convenience.
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Japan’s
Liquidity Trap: An Empirical Analysis
Sujata Jhamb,
IILM, Institute for Integrated Learning in Management, New Delhi, India
ABSTRACT
The
liquidity trap is a phenomenon which may be observed when the economy is in
severe recession or depression. The real GDP stops growing and the price level
are stable or falling. The nominal interest rates are close to zero and cannot
decline further, the speculative demand for money become infinitely interest
elastic. Any increase in supply of money will not be used to purchase government
bonds but will be hoarded as idle cash balances. Money and short-term government
securities become perfect substitutes as the yields from holding both are zero.
In such a scenario only policies other than monetary policy can help raise
output and employment.
This paper studies
the prolonged recession in Japan during the period of the nineties and finds
that liquidity trap has been one of the main reasons for ineffective
monetary policy leading to a limping Japanese economy. The current liquidity
trap can we treated as ‘partial paralysis’ of the Japanese financial system.
Saving behaviour is
important because it helps to determine the evolution of future consumption
opportunities. Japan’s post war savings behavior can be viewed in this light.
Saving has enabled Japan to increase stock of assets rapidly, increase worker
productivity, rapid rates of economic growth and raise standard of living. A
comparison of Japanese gross domestic savings with other major industrial
countries for the 30 year period - 1970-2000 shows us that, there are wide
disparities in saving behavior across countries and by large margins: The other
countries are clustered in terms of their saving rates, with U.S. & U.K. at low
end of the spectrum.
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Teaching
a Research-Oriented, Graduate Global Marketing Course to Adult
Learners in a
One-Month Format
Dr. Juan
Espana, National University, La Jolla, CA
ABSTRACT
This paper
presents the author’s experience teaching a heavily research-oriented, applied
graduate course to a class of working adults in a one-month format. A common
concern among instructors of research-oriented courses in a compressed format is
that the term length might not allow for a thorough treatment of the theoretical
issues involved and their application to real-life situations. As the author
explains, appropriate coverage can be achieved within the framework of a
one-month course format. The key to success is the early use of
efficiency-enhancing mechanisms aimed at, among others, upgrading students’
library and research skills at the very beginning of the course, facilitating
and jumpstarting students’ research and ensuring high levels of student
participation. There is a growing body of research indicating that compressed
teaching formats such as one-month courses lead to learning outcomes that are at
least comparable, if not superior, to conventional semester-long formats lasting
for 12-16 weeks (Serdyukov et al, 2003). One-month courses are taught in a
sequential fashion, one course at a time, unlike the parallel, standard
three-course load typical of semester-long courses. This sequential process
allows students to fully concentrate on one subject area. Some authors provide
support for the belief that compressed formats might actually be more efficient
because “concentrated study may cultivate skills and understanding which will
remain untapped and undeveloped under the traditional system” (Scott and Conrad,
1992). In the same vein, psychological research indicates that “deep
concentration”, “immersion” and “”undivided intentionality” lead to “optimal
experiences” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1982).
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Predicting Impending Bankruptcy Using Audit Firm Changes
Dr. Yining
Chen, Ohio University, Athens, OH
Dr. Ashok
Gupta, Ohio University, Athens, OH
Dr. David L.
Senteney, Ohio University, Athens, OH
ABSTRACT
Unlike
prior research, we investigate the incremental explanatory power of auditor
changes beyond the information conveyed by traditional financial statement
ratios in predicting bankruptcy. We find that auditor changes are important in
predicting impending bankruptcy and convey important information not reflected
in traditional financial statement ratios alone. In fact, we find compelling
evidence that directional knowledge regarding auditor changes such as changing
from large accounting firms to small accounting firms provide incremental
explanatory power in predicting impending firm failure beyond what is conveyed
traditional financial statement ratios and auditor changes considered jointly.
Although the existing relevant literature provides no empirical evidence in this
regard to our knowledge, this result is intuitive as one motivation for clients
to change audit firms is to seek less conservative professional auditors as
smaller audit firms may be as a strategic response to manifestation of the
financial statement effects of bankruptcy. The probability of firm financial
failure is crucially important information to shareholders, creditors,
management, and the various company stakeholders and the assumption of firm
status as one of being a “going concern” is important to the internal and
external constituencies as well. In practice, professional groups of both
auditors and security analysts serve as an effective market mechanism for
monitoring firm financial health and communicating to the various external
constituencies the likelihood of firm failure. Generally, three approaches are
used to predict impending firm bankruptcy: Financial statement ratio-based
prediction: Beaver [1966] and Altman [1968] in addition to many others
(c.f., Altman, Haldeman, and Narayanan [1977], Collins [1980], Ohlson [1987],
and Platt and Platt [1991]) have provided ample compelling empirical evidence
establishing the financial statement ratio-based prediction model specification
as the premier specification in forecasting impending firm failure.
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Financial Crisis in Emerging Markets: Case of Argentina
Dr.
Balasundram Maniam, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX
Dr. Hadley
Leavell, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX
Vrishali Patel, Sam Houston State
University, Huntsville, TX
ABSTRACT
In the past ten years, several emerging markets
experienced severe financial crises: Mexico in 1994, Asia in 1997, Russia in
1998, Brazil in 1999, and Argentina in 2001. The patterns in these
regions/countries are markedly similar. This paper will discuss the reasons for
the financial crises in emerging markets with a focus on
Argentina. The paper will discuss the policies
of the Argentine government before the crisis, the underlying factors that led
to the crisis and the resulting effects of the crisis. Finally the paper will
discuss some of the recommendations to solve Argentina’s problems. The mid
1990’s was marked with severe crises in a number of emerging markets. It started
in 1994 with the Mexican crisis. Asia’s devastating financial crisis hit the
global market, followed by Russia’s and Brazil’s financial crises in subsequent
years. Most recently, Argentina has been drastically impacted financially.
Most of these financial crises started with a currency crisis. The common
features of the financial crises include the vast appreciation of domestic
currencies, skyrocketing interest rates and large capital outflows. By
definition, emerging markets are highly dependent on imports and rely on few
export activities. This import/export inequity exacerbates exchange rate
volatility; any movement of exchange rate significantly affects the market
structure. For several years, investors and the IMF considered Argentina as the
emerging market’s poster child for success. Argentina had aggressively
privatized state-owned businesses, defeated inflation, strengthened its banking
system, and resolved to keep the economy open and the currency stable. Initial
results were overwhelmingly positive, but unfortunately, not long-term.
Argentina had pegged its currency to the U.S. dollar at a fixed one-to-one rate.
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Measuring and Reporting of Intellectual Capital Performance Analysis
Dr. Junaid
M. Shaikh, Curtin University of Technology Malaysia
ABSTRACT
This paper
reviews several internal and external measures of intellectual capital. Internal
measures – such as the Balanced Scorecard – are used to manage, guide and
enhance a firm’s intellectual capital so it can be leveraged to generate greater
value for the company. External measures, which include market-to book value,
Tobin’s Q and Real Option Theory focus on investors and others attempting to
value a company (provides a signal to external parties). Here, greater emphasis
is placed on external reporting and consequently is subject to accounting
standards and financial regulations - although, a specific accounting standard
that adequately addresses intangibles has yet to be developed. There is indeed
much to support the assertion that IC in the new century will be instrumental in
the determination of enterprise value and national economic performance.
Stemming from this awareness of the value of know-how is a drive to establish
new metrics that can be used to record and report the value attributable to
knowledge within an organization. The task has been given impetus by the fact
that early work appearing in the accounting financial reports of Swedish
companies involves the application of non-financial metrics and focuses on
intangible assets. This represents a significant departure from traditional
financial and management accounting orthodoxy. Intellectual capital is becoming
the preeminent resource for creating economic wealth.
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Executive Compensation Contracts: Change in the Pay-Performance Sensitivity
within Firms
Dr. Jinbae
Kim, Korea University, Seoul, Korea
ABSTRACT
Contract
theory predicts that the optimal compensation contracts depend not only on
firm-specific factors but also on CEO-specific factors as well. However previous
research in compensation generally focuses on the effects of firm-specific
factors on the pay-performance sensitivity in compensation contracts. Using
compensation data on 52 firms that have two CEOs in the sample period who have
served for at least eight years, this paper investigates the changes in the
pay-performance sensitivity within firms at the time around the CEO departure.
Empirical evidence shows that firms change their pay-performance sensitivity
after the CEO leaves, in a manner consistent with predictions from the contract
theory. Previous research provides various insights into the pay-performance
sensitivity in executive compensation contracts. Jensen and Murphy (1990)
measure the sensitivity of dollar changes in executive compensation to dollar
changes in shareholder wealth and claim that the relationship is not strong
enough to give CEOs adequate incentives. Haubrich (1994) and Baker and Hall
(1998) argue that the sensitivity level reported by Jensen and Murphy may be
enough to create incentives for the CEO and may be optimal under certain
situations. Numerous other studies including Natarajan (1996), Baber et al.
(1999) and Prendergast (2002) use the pay-performance sensitivity measure in
order to empirically test various hypotheses. Gibbsons and Murphy (1990),
Janakiraman et al. (1992) and Aggarwal and Samwick (1999) use the
pay-performance sensitivity to examine the relative performance hypothesis.
Lambert and Larcker (1987) and Ittner, Larcker and Rajan (1997) use the
pay-performance sensitivity to investigate the relative weights on performance
measures.
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Political
Constraints and the IRS’ Tax Enforcement Actions
Dr. Vijay K.
Vemuri, Long Island University, Brookville, NY
Prof. Donald
P. Silver, Long Island University, Brookville, NY
ABSTRACT
The taxpayer
compliance research mainly focuses on the taxpayers’ compliance decisions.
However, taxpayer compliance is influenced by both veracity of the taxpayers and
the enforcement strategies of the IRS. The perception of excessive coercive
enforcement procedures may result in curtailment of enforcement authority of the
IRS. The political processes available to oppose and reform enforcement policies
differ for individuals and corporations. The opposition of corporations tends to
be swift, well orchestrated, and concentrated on a particular enforcement issue.
On the other hand, the opposition of the individuals may accumulate into
taxpayer antagonism and may call for extensive reform of tax administration
including enforcement policies. This paper analyzes the civil penalties assessed
and abated to examine differences in penalties on individuals and corporations
for the years 1978 to 2002. The results indicate that systematic differences
exist in the incidence and the amount of penalties for these two groups.
Further, time series of penalties for individuals exhibits significant auto
correlation, suggesting a possibility of implicit budgets for penalties. The tax
gap, the difference between the taxes the government is expected to collect, if
every taxpayer reported income and paid taxes honestly and actual taxes
received, is of considerable interest to legislators, the IRS, economists, and
the popular press. A tax gap shifts some tax burden from the dishonest taxpayers
to the honest taxpayers. The research on tax compliance has provided insights
into the decision processes of the taxpayers, their economic motivation to
comply with the tax laws and other variables that may explain the tax compliance
behavior.
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Asymmetry
in Farm-Milled Rice Price Transmission in the Major
Rice Producing States in the
U.S.
Sung Chul
No, Southern University and A&M College,
Baton Rouge, LA
Dr. Hector
O. Zapata, Louisiana State University,
Baton Rouge, LA
Dr.
Michael E. Salassi,
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
Dr. Wayne M. Gauthier, Louisiana State
University, Baton Rouge, LA
ABSTRACT
Over the
past three decades, agricultural economists have tested whether the retail price
response to price increases at a lower market level is similar to the retail
price response to price decreases at the same market level. The majority of the
empirical studies have focused on farm-retail price transmissions. However, the
price transmission effects between the farm and milling level are as important
as the price transmission effects between the farm and retail level, especially
for rice. Milling transforms rough rice into the more desired milled rice. It
is the milled price that transmits changes in farm prices to the final
consumers. Thus, the paper tested the null hypothesis that decreases in milled
prices resulting from decreases in farm prices are as fast as increases in
milled prices resulting from increases in farm prices in the major rice
producing states, Arkansas, California, Louisiana, and Texas. Adopting a newly
developed econometric methodology, momentum-threshold autoregressive model
(M-TAR), the paper found strong evidence indicative of symmetric pricing
behavior for milled rice in the states of Arkansas, California, and Texas. For
Louisiana rice, the results suggested otherwise: the Louisiana mill prices
responded much faster when the milling margins tightened due to farm price
increases than when the margins became wide due to farm price decreases. For
over three decades, agricultural economists have tested various markets for
evidence of retail price asymmetry.
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Application of Thermodynamics on Product Life Cycle
Dr. Kuang-Jung
Tseng, Hsuang Chuang University, Hsin Chu, Taiwan, ROC
ABSTRACT
Thermodynamics is a physical science deal with the interactions of matter and
energy. It contains the law of the energy conservation and the law of entropy
that tends to increase in a closed system. The author has applied these laws to
constrain the processes by which raw materials are transformed into consumable
goods and the goods are distributed afterwards. The size of the sales force can
be determined by introducing the temperature concept into thermodynamics to
represent hot or cold consumable goods. With the concept that entropy increases
in a closed system, which is similar to the distribution of consumable goods
into the system, an ideal innovation of the product life cycle (PLC) can be
determined. In order to modify the phenomenon of the product life cycle, a
parameterα, which relate to the management efforts as well as the development
and services efforts , is introduced. As a result, the PLC curve can be
manipulated due to the value of α. The parameterα is related to the product
quality, sales services and the degree of newness of the application of the
product. While physical sciences deal with the interactions of matter and
energy, economics can be said to deal with the manufacturing and exchange of
goods and services. Marketing management is about how to locate the customers
and distribute goods efficiently accordingly; hence, a proper production plan is
required. Because goods and services incorporate matter and energy,
thermodynamics are clearly relevant to economics and marketing management [Ayres
and Nair, 1984]. In particular, one can expect the laws of thermodynamics to
impose constraints on economic processes. The first law of thermodynamics
states that energy is conserved [Hsieh 1975].
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Regionalization
and Specialization: A Theoretical Contribution
Dr. Charbel M. Macdissi, CEDE,
University of Antilles-Guyane, Guadeloupe
ABSTRACT
The study
of the regionalization and specialization deals with the behavior of a country
inside the supra-national bloc and the correlations that may exist between the
fact to belong to these institutions and the development of exchanges between
their countries members. The institutional frame can take the form of common
market agreements, cooperation or integration but also of commercial
arrangements among the states. Thus, can we consider the institutional factors
and the proximity as determinants of the commercial exchanges?. Thanks to the
institutions and the common agreements between the countries of an area the
intra-regional cooperation can and must expand also to inter-regional relations.
However, this approach raises many questions: can we talk about a regional
comparative advantage?. Must one be affiliated to one or several supra- national
institutions?. Isn’t there sometimes a contradiction between the objectives
followed by these different institutions?. How can we proceed to the
intensification of intra-regional exchanges? How can we choose the
specialization in order to develop the cooperation?. What kind of barriers could
delay or even stop the regional cooperation? The purpose of this paper is to
try to contribute to answer some of these questions, to identify the new
economic challenges of the regional cooperation and to study the main barriers
to the constitution of intense regional exchanges. The world trade has known an
important growth in the last years: 6% in real and annual average between 1990
and 2001(WTO, 2002) and 11% in 2000. In fact, with 5984 billion dollars of
exportation of commodities and 1460 billion dollars of exportation of commercial
services in 2001, the globalization of the exchanges has affirmed itself.
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Critique
and Insight into Korean Chaebol
Dr.
Jonathan Lee, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
ABSTRACT
This paper
closely examines the management practices of one of Korea’s largest chaebols.
Critique of this chaebol is based on interviews with number of
managers still working for the company. It is clear from the discussion that
there are many challenges that face the chaebols; however, these
challenges are not necessarily unique to Korean chaebols. South Korea
(Korea) is the 11th largest economy in the world in terms of gross
national product and 13th largest trading country as of 2002 (1). It
has been and remains one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Many of
the Korean chaebols or conglomerates are well known throughout the world,
such as Samsung, Hyundai, LG and others. Although many consumers do not realize
that they are Korean companies, some of these companies are among the world’s
largest producers and exporters of memory chips, and they rank among the largest
and most efficient steel manufacturers and shipbuilders in the world. These
conglomerates also produce a wide range of products such as home electronics
(TV, DVD, Computers, etc.) as well as mobile phones, machinery, cars, and so
forth. In recent decades, chaebols have been extremely successful in
carving out market shares in Europe, Asia, and North America. In effect,
chaebols have been the engines that have driven the Korean economy to where
it is today. Very few businesses in Korea can escape from the influence and
grasp of these giant entities. While the past success of these organizations is
undeniable, the experience of recent years has brought renewed attention to the
workings of chaebols, from both within and outside of Korea.
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Golf,
Tourism and Amenity-Based Development in Florida
Dr. Alan W.
Hodges, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Dr. John J.
Haydu, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
ABSTRACT
Settlement
patterns in the United States are increasingly based on environmental, cultural
and recreational amenities and the perceived quality of life, rather than
economic opportunities. This is especially true for the retired population, who
are not dependent upon earned income. The state of Florida has experienced very
rapid growth over the past 50 years due to tourism and amenity-based
development. Many residential developments now feature golf courses and other
recreational amenities. Golf is a highly popular recreational sport in America,
with participation by over 20 percent of the adult population. In Florida, there
are currently over 1300 golf courses, more than any other state. Golf is an
important activity associated with the large tourism industry in Florida.
Economic characteristics and regional impacts of golf courses in Florida in the
year 2000 were evaluated based upon survey data together with other published
information and a regional economic model constructed using Implan.
Survey results indicate that residential developments were part of 54 percent of
Florida golf courses, with some 756,000 residential units having a total value
of $158 billion. Golf industry employment was 73,000 persons. The book value of
assets owned by golf courses was $10.8Bn, including land (58%), buildings and
installations (26%), vehicles and equipment (10%) and golf course irrigation
systems (6%). Land area owned by golf courses was 205,000 acres, with 147,000
acres in maintained turf. Travel expenses by golf playing visitors in Florida
were estimated at $22.9Bn, of which $5.4Bn were attributed directly to the golf
experience.
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Explaining Embraer’s Hi-Tech Success: Porter’s Diamond, New Trade
Theory, or the
Market at Work?
Dr. Juan
Espana, National University, La Jolla, CA
ABSTRACT
This paper
analyzes alternative theories of competitive advantage and their ability to
explain the commercial success of the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer EMBRAER in
world markets. A survey of EMBRAER’s history reveals a company created by the
Brazilian government out of national security considerations but able to
transform itself over time into a vibrant commercial enterprise. Key to this
successful transformation was the 1994 privatization and the formation of a
number of strategic and operational alliances with international partners.
EMBRAER’s case seems to transcend the neat demarcation lines drawn by adherents
of existing competitive advantage theories, raising important questions about
the conventional wisdom on the issue of how to create and sustain competitive
national industries or firms. Empresa
Brasileira de Aeronautica S.A. (EMBRAER) is a manufacturer of commercial and
defense aircraft founded in 1969 by a military Brazilian junta intent on
providing Brazil with its own aircraft-manufacturing ability. It was conceived
as a mixed enterprise, with the Brazilian government holding 51% of the voting
shares and the rest dispersed among private investors. Production operations
began in 1970 and the first Xavante, a trainer and attack/reconnaissance
airplane was produced in 1971 under license by Aermacchi, the Italian aircraft
manufacturer. The new enterprise broke even in 1971 and remained profitable
until 1981. EMBRAER is headquartered in
Sao Jose dos Campos, near Sao Paulo. From its humble beginning, it has grown
into the world’s fourth largest producer of commercial aircraft with total
revenues and net income of $2.53 billion and $222 million, respectively, in
2002.
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Investigating and Modelling GATS
Impacts on the Developing Countries: Evidence
from the Egyptian Banking Sector
Dr. Mansour
Lotayif, University of Plymouth Business School, Plymouth, Devon, UK
Dr. Ahmed El-Ragal, Arab Academy
for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Egypt
ABSTRACT
Previous research studies focused
on investigating the impact of GATS (General Agreement for Trade in Services) on
the developed countries, whilst few studies investigated these impacts on the
developing countries. This paper will investigate the following three main
objectives: 1- To identify the impact of GATS on the Egyptian banking sector.
Chi-square Goodness of Fit will be used for the purpose of defining whether the
GATS impact on the Egyptian banking sector is positive or not. 2- The paper will
elaborate the GATS impact by exploring the dependency relationship between
twenty-five GATS impacts and seven demographic variables, for which Correlation
analysis will be utilized. 3- Causality relationships are to be examined
throughout modelling the variables that affect the perception of the GATS
impacts (i.e. dependent variables), Multiple Regression (MR) will be used in
this context. Compiling evidence from the Egyptian banking sector revealed that
the perception of each GATS impact is affected by five of the predictor
variables. These five are bank type (local or foreign), position of respondent,
respondent educational level, respondent experience, and bank experience.
Goldin et al. (1993); Brandio and Will (1993); OECD (1993); GATT
(1993); Nguven et al. (1991); Frohberg et al.
(1990);
Deardorff and Stern (1990); Burniaux et al. (1990); and Trela and whalley
(1990) argued that the benefits of trade liberalization, as a result of Uruguay
round, will range from $119 to $274 billion coupled with an increase in global
trade from 12.4 % to 17 % by 2005.
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The
Behaviors & the Statistical Properties of Emerging Markets’ Indices & Their
Impact on
Estimated Stock Beta: The Case of ASE
Dr. Mahmoud
A. Al-khalialeh, Kuwait University, Safat, Kuwait
ABSTRACT
This study
examines the behaviors and the statistical properties of two alternative market
indices introduced by Amman Stock Exchange (VWI & EWI), and their impact on
estimated stock beta. The study predictions are examined by using 2206
observations of daily market index over a nine-year period (1992-2000). The
study’s findings indicate that the mean of EWR is notably and significantly
higher than the mean of VWR for most years and time intervals examined in this
study. Additionally, findings suggest that the two market returns tend to get
closer during bullish market conditions and diverge widely during bearish
conditions. The variances of the two market returns vary significantly in the
last four years. The implications for estimated beta are examined by estimating
beta for a sample of 58 companies listed in ASE, using the two market indices
and based on 246 daily index observations during 1998. Furthermore, the results
indicate that the two market returns produce dissimilar betas; the market return
with the larger variance (VWR) produces significantly lower beta than the market
return with the lower variance (EWR) The market index, which has been viewed
as an indicator of the security market overall performance, is of considerable
interest to professionals and researchers in accounting, finance and economics.
A significant bulk of market based research in accounting and finance during the
last three decades have been using the market index to estimate security beta
and security returns beginning with Ball & Brown (1968).
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The American Academy of Business
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