Globalizing Business Ethics Research and the Ethical Need to Include the Bottom-of-the-Pyramid Countries: Redefining the Global Triad as Business Systems and Institutions

A majority of the countries in the world are still considered “developing,” with a per capita income of less than U$1,000. Hahn (2008, Journal of Business Ethics 78, 711–721) recently proposed an ambitious business ethics research agenda for integrating the “bottom-of-the-pyramid” countries (Prahalad and Hart, 2002, Strategy and Competition 20, 2–14) through sustainable development and corporate citizenship. Hahn’s work is among the growing field of research in comparative business ethics including the global business ethics index (Michalos, 2008, Journal of Business Ethics 79(1), 9–19; Scholtens and Dam, 2008, Journal of Business Ethics 75(3), 273–284; Tsalikis and Seaton, 2008, Journal of Business Ethics 75(3), 229–238). This article is complementary to Hahn’s work and it advocates an urgent need for business ethics researchers to globally integrate the bottom-of-the-pyramid countries through a fundamental re-definition of the global economic triad, including the United States, Western Europe, and Japan [Ohmae, 1985, Triad Power: The Coming Shape of Global Competition (New York: Free Press)]. The definition that we propose is based on business systems and institutional perspectives that include the bottom-of-the-pyramid countries. We also propose to broaden the research in business ethics to enable comparisons across business systems indifferent income levels.     

Carriers’ pricing behaviors in the United States airline industry

This paper examines the pricing behaviors of United States air carriers in domestic markets. With quarterly observations in 2000 and 2005, we use a heteroskedasticity-adjusted Instrumental Variable technique to investigate the carriers’ pricing strategies. The results show differential pricing strategies practiced by United States air carriers. American, United, Continental, and Northwest Airlines have higher airfares than Delta and Southwest Airlines in 2005. In 2000, all the carriers, except Delta have the same relationships with airfares. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the carriers’ pricing strategies can vary under the same market condition, indicating that carriers’ managerial decisions may influence their airfares.     

Parametric links for binary choice models: A Fisherian–Bayesian colloquy

The familiar logit and probit models provide convenient settings for many binary response applications, but a larger class of link functions may be occasionally desirable. Two parametric families of link functions are investigated: the Gosset link based on the Student t latent variable model with the degrees of freedom parameter controlling the tail behavior, and the Pregibon link based on the (generalized) Tukey λ family, with two shape parameters controlling skewness and tail behavior. Both Bayesian and maximum likelihood methods for estimation and inference are explored, compared and contrasted. In applications, like the propensity score matching problem discussed below, where it is critical to have accurate estimates of the conditional probabilities, we find that misspecification of the link function can create serious bias. Bayesian point estimation via MCMC performs quite competitively with MLE methods; however nominal coverage of Bayes credible regions is somewhat more problematic.     

Estimating the Economic Impact of Convention and Exhibition Businesses,Using a Regional Input–Output Model: A Case Study of the Daejeon Convention Center in South Korea

Past research on the economic impact of convention and exhibition businesses has neglected disaggregated expenditures of these consumer groups. The primary reason for this neglect is that estimating the economic impacts of these businesses is complicated and requires comprehensive surveys of various consumer groups. Thus, this study estimated expenditures based on surveys to different consumers such as convention and exhibition visitors, convention and exhibition organizers, and exhibitors. This study also employed a regional input–output (I–O) model and then matched the types of expenditure patterns with the I–O table. Survey results show that exhibition visitors spent the largest amount (US$153 million), followed by convention attendees (US$48 million), convention organizers (US$47 million), exhibition organizers (US$3.3 million), and exhibitors (US$2.8 million). The results of the I–O model indicate that the Daejeon Convention Center generated US$488 million of output impact, US$102 million of income impact, US$233 million of value added impact, and 10,211 jobs.     

Stock returns,velocity dynamics and inflation volatility

ABSTRACT

Our model relates the variability of stock returns to the variability of consumption velocity and shows that real stock returns tend to co-vary negatively with expected inflation in a period (or regime) of low and stable inflation and to co-vary positively with expected inflation in a period (or regime) of high and volatile inflation. Long-run real stock returns are shown to be positively related to expected inflation. Our empirical results for 20 countries provide consistent support for our propositions, indicating that the standard deviation of the annual inflation rate roughly equal to 10% is the dividing line between negative and positive return-inflation relations.     

Interdependence in the technology adoption decision among municipalities

This study examines the interdependence among municipalities in the discrete decision to adopt internet technology. Results from probit specifications with interaction effects suggest that cities are influenced by nearby neighbours with similar population size in developing a website. Evidence is also presented indicating interaction among municipalities in the decision to use internet technology to facilitate financial transactions.     

Structuring technological information for technology roadmapping: data mining approach

Most research on technology roadmapping has focused on its practical applications and the development of methods to enhance its operational process. Thus, despite a demand for well-supported, systematic information, little attention has been paid to how/which information can be utilised in technology roadmapping. Therefore, this paper aims at proposing a methodology to structure technological information in order to facilitate the process. To this end, eight methods are suggested to provide useful information for technology roadmapping: summary, information extraction, clustering, mapping, navigation, linking, indicators and comparison. This research identifies the characteristics of significant data that can potentially be used in roadmapping, and presents an approach to extracting important information from such raw data through various data mining techniques including text mining, multi-dimensional scaling and K-means clustering. In addition, this paper explains how this approach can be applied in each step of roadmapping. The proposed approach is applied to develop a roadmap of radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology to illustrate the process practically.     

Strategic visualisation tools for managing technological information

In an information economy, the effective management of a massive amount of technological information is inevitable when attempting to facilitate the decision-making process. It is an important part of selecting R&D projects and allocating budgets to promising technology development. Information visualisation is thus regarded as a critical tool in technological information management because it can provide decisive implications that the intelligence of humans cannot produce. This paper proposes six graphical forms, including a technology tree, a technology map, a technology network, a technology matrix, a technology curve, and a technology dictionary, presenting the generic form and concept of each method. Moreover, the principles and applications of such visualisation tools are suggested in order to enhance their use in practical circumstances. A case study of TFT-LCD (thin film transistor-liquid crystal display) technology will help to explain how to apply visualisation tools to strategic technology management.     

Developing the Causal Model of Online Store Success

This article introduces an Online Store Success Model (OSM) that reflects the characteristics of information systems, marketing, and e-commerce, and then empirically test the model. The OSM has five dimensions: system quality, information quality, service quality, trust, and customer loyalty. The model posits the causal relationships between the dimensions. In order to empirically test the model, a research model is developed and empirically analyzed by structural equation modeling using data from 244 customers on 69 online store websites. The results show that system quality significantly influences service quality and trust; information quality significantly influences service quality and customer loyalty; service quality also significantly influences trust and customer loyalty; and trust has a significant influence on customer loyalty.