Living to 100 and beyond--implications of longer life spans

The challenge of longer life spans will center on the problem of allocating individual, family and social resources most effectively. To create a context for understanding the significance of measuring and forecasting mortality trends, this article addresses concerns about the implications of increasing longevity to very high ages for families, businesses and society as a whole.     

Asymmetries between Rich and Poor Countries in Financial Crisis Responses: The Need for a Flow-of-Funds Approach

This paper focuses on the manner in which interest rates have been raised to, and sustained at, extremely high levels in developing and emerging market economies as a consequence of recent financial crises. By contrast rich market economies have typically lowered interest rates and injected liquidity in response to incipient financial crises. The paper first sketches the logic that lies behind extremely high interest rates (nominal and real) as an element of crisis resolution. It suggests that this reflects a money-phobic view of financial markets and also conflicts with some well-established economics. It then reviews the conventional wisdom about why richer economies have enjoyed sustained price stability in recent years and why this in turn has allowed their monetary authorities to be relaxed about injecting additional liquidity in response to LTCM (1998) and September 11 (2001)-type crises. It is pointed out that this conventional wisdom is also money-phobic in that it neglects the build up of corporate and government debt in bond and financial derivative form that has been associated with recent financial developments. This analysis helps to contest the common view that emerging market economies pay a higher price merely because their polices are "bad'. Finally, the paper reviews the manner in which the financial systems of developing and emerging market economies respond to the destabilization created by corrosively high real rates of interest. Even when bankruptcy arrangements are well established, certain new forms of financial flows and instruments are implicit in this response, but are invariably ignored in formal modelling.     

Evaluating a method of integrating generic skills with accounting content based on a functional theory of meaning

This paper documents and evaluates an intervention designed to integrate the learning of selected generic skills, particularly analytical thinking and written communication skills, with the learning of accounting content. The method used was to scaffold practice in analytical thinking skills through specially designed writing activities. Content‐focused learning materials adapted from task‐types currently used to teach language skills were used to facilitate the analysis and interrelation of accounting concepts, principles and problems in interpersonal communicative contexts typical of actual accounting practice. The materials, in three assignments, were designed to incorporate: (i) selected generic skills, taken from those listed by the professional accounting bodies; (ii) writing, both as communication and as an instrument for analytical thinking and learning; (iii) knowledge of accounting concepts and principles; and (iv) awareness of the interpersonal dimensions of professional communication. Overall, students showed improved learning outcomes, with improvements of 19 percentage points for non‐Australian students over the three assignments. We were also able to show significant positive relationships between the assessments of assignments 2 and 3 and performance in the knowledge‐based final examination. Improvements in the quality of learning were shown in students’ improved ability to assess their own work.     

Managing International Distribution Channel Partners: A Cross-Cultural Approach

Although the topic of conflict has been extensively studied in the distribution channels literature from a domestic perspective, there is relatively little published research examining the construct within the international distribution channels context. This is of particular concern because cross-national channel partnerships are on the rise, and divergent cultures may engender heightened conflict, which has a deleterious effect on channel performance. This article explores the extent to which different channel leadership styles, predicated on Hofstede's dimensions of national culture, can be effective strategies to manage conflict in international distribution channels. Specifically, the article examines whether the relationship between leadership style and conflict in international distribution channels is moderated by national culture. Additionally, the impact of manifest conflict on international channel partner performance is investigated. A conceptual model and research propositions are developed. The use of leadership styles to manage disagreements among international channel partners is argued to be culturally specific. International channel management implications and directions for future research are suggested.     

Prospects for Personalization on the Internet

Personalization is a key component of an interactive marketing strategy. Its purpose is to adapt a standardized product or service to an individual customer's needs. The goal is to create profit for the producer and increased value for the consumer. This goal fits nicely into traditional notions of segmentation. Applications of personalization have advanced greatly in conjunction with the Internet, since it provides an environment that is information rich and well suited to interactivity. This article reviews past research on personalization and considers some examples of personalization in practice. We discuss what we believe are key problems and directions for personalization in the future.     

Import Competition, Employment Risk, and the Job-Search Outcomes of Trade-Displaced Manufacturing Workers

This study examines the underlying relationships that exist among import competition, employment risk, and worker earnings. In addition, we consider how such competitiveness and risk experienced on a prior job will affect, under both equilibrium and disequilibrium interpretations of the labor market, alternative postdisplacement job-search outcomes. Econometric models of predisplacement earnings and postdisplacement outcomes (jobless duration, reemployment, and earnings) provide insights on these relationships and in turn on the comparative job-search success of trade-displaced and "other" displaced workers.     

The impact of tourism: A case from the Bahama Islands

LaFlamme, Alan G., “The Impact of Tourism: A Case from the Bahama Islands,” Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. VI, No. 2, April/June 1979, pp. 137–148. The socio-cultural impact of increased tourism on a small, once isolated island community in the Bahama Islands is discussed. The community's traditions have, for the most part, been maintained. However, material living standards, occupational specializations, and race relations have been significantly altered. For a number of reasons, the local people have not taken on the role of “professional natives.”