Businesswoman networking: An Eastern perspective

Networking studies remain limited, often overlooking key structure, content, and cultural issues. This article attempts to fill the gap through describing the networking attributes of composition (who), motives (why), faste and methods (how), and network building and maintenance. Results show that (1) businesswomen indicated a preference for male networks, (2) formal networks were more socially accepted, and (3) online networks are becoming popular. Finally, although businesswomen need to extend their networking activities through participating in mainstream networks, cultural limitations on intergender interactions need to be considered; imposing a specific networking model (i.e., male‐dominated) might force women into more isolation. ©2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A note on the turn of the month and year effects in international stock returns

This examination of the turn of the month (TOM) and turn of the year (TOY) effects in 50 international stock indices, for the period 1994–2006, characterises the degree that the effects are influenced by: (i) the gross domestic product of the economy, (ii) the sign of the return on the prior day (called the prior day effect), (iii) a temporal indicator and (iv) the Monday effect. These effects are assessed by the use of an estimated generalised least squares (EGLS) panel regression model incorporating panel-corrected standard errors. Three important results relating to the TOM and TOY effects are observed. When the prior day effect on control days is used as the reference and controls are made for market development and year, we find that: (i) there is a relatively enhanced return on all TOM days, (ii) there is a relatively enhanced return on good TOY days and (iii) returns of bad TOY days are not remarkable.     

The dimensions of assortment: A proposed hierarchy of assortment decision making

Abstract

The merchandise assortment plays a fundamental role in retailing; it conveys the positioning of the retailer, and is a key determinant of image and patronage. However, existing literature covering a 50-year period is somewhat fragmented. A key problem with the literature is that it does not distinguish between different levels and dimensions of assortment, causing potential ambiguity in their interpretation in the modern retailing context. The lack of standardised terminology could potentially inhibit future assortment research in, for example, assortment measurement. In reviewing the literature, the critical dimensions of assortment are clarified with conceptual definitions and a hierarchical classification of assortment being proposed. Further, the assortment research is examined, identifying an imbalance between operational and strategic assortment research. As retail assortments expand and saturate, the need for assortment measurement research is argued with associated implications for retail management.     

The Link Between Small Business Governance and Performance: The Case of the Ghanaian SME Sector

ABSTRACT

The present study set out to examine corporate governance practices of SMEs in Ghana and whether there is any linkage between these governance practices and financial performance. We employed two levels of interaction to achieve our objectives: The first is an interview for a general understanding of governance issues in the SME sector and the subsequent design of a questionnaire for an exploration of the linkages between governance issues and firm financial performance by employing a linear model. The study reveals that governance structures in SMEs are jointly influenced by credit providers and business ethical considerations. The regression results show that board size, size of audit committees, corporate ethics and the proportion of outsiders on the audit committees have negative impact on financial performance while independence of the board and the presence of audit committees enhance firms' financial performance. The findings have some policy implications in that it shows that exporting SMEs are relatively profitable. It is recommended that in an attempt to promote exports, the legal and regulatory environment should be conducive for these firms.     

Relationship between employees’ beliefs regarding training benefits and employees’ organizational commitment in a petroleum company in the State of Qatar

The study examined the relationship between the beliefs of senior staff Qatari national employees regarding training benefits as measured by the benefits of employee training, and employees’ organizational commitment as measured by the three‐component model of organizational commitment. This relationship was assessed through a quantitative associational research design. From the study site, Qatar Petroleum, a total of 283 responses were analysed using stepwise regression analysis. The findings suggest that there is a positive relationship between employees’ beliefs regarding training benefits and employees’ organizational commitment.     

Consumer ethics: moral ideologies and ethical beliefs of a micro-culture in the US

This study explores the ethical ideologies and ethical beliefs of African American consumers using the Forsyth ethical position questionnaire (EPQ) and the Muncy–Vitell consumer ethics questionnaire (MVQ). The two dimensions of the EPQ (i.e. idealism and relativism), and gender were the independent variables and the four dimensions of the MVQ (i.e. illegal, active, passive and no harm) were the dependent variables. A sample of 283 students from a historically black university was used to explore the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. Findings suggested that consumers who scored higher on the idealism scale and lower on the relativism scale were more likely to reject questionable activities. On average, females expressed more willingness to reject questionable activities than males.     

Organizational Ethics in Developing Countries: A Comparative Analysis

Relationships with one’s employees, co-workers, or superiors create ethical dilemmas. Employees’ judgments and ethical perceptions have been extensively studied in Western cultures, but not in developing countries. The purpose of this investigation is to examine employees’ self-reported work-related ethics and compare them to their perceptions of co-workers’ and top managements’ along various morally challenging situations in three developing countries’ organizations. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman, known as the Gulf countries, were selected as the research setting – and provided the sampling frame – for this study. The results suggest that respondents perceived all ethically challenging situations as unethical and had significant differences among themselves regarding the ethical perceptions of self, as compared to perceptions of peers’, and top managements’. Discussion of the results and implications are provided.     

Refining value-based differentiation in business relationships: A study of the higher order relationship building blocks that influence behavioural intentions

Research on the behavioural intentions (BI) of business-to-business customers has focused on the influence and the interactions among constructs driving BI, giving rise to two perspectives for the structural equation modeling of constructs influencing BI. In the first perspective, BI is impacted directly by relationship quality (RQ) and its antecedents such as relationship benefits (RB) and relationship sacrifices (RS). The second perspective suggests that antecedent dimensions of RB and RS may act indirectly through the construct of relationship value (RV), which drives RQ but also directly influences BI. The current study was undertaken to resolve the differences between these two perspectives. The findings indicate that RQ has a strong direct influence on BI while RV has a weak direct influence but a significant indirect influence on BI through the RQ construct. In addition, the constructs of RB and RS influence RQ directly, as well as through the RV construct.     

Good Governance and Growth in Developing Countries: A Case Study of Regulatory Reforms in the Telecommunications Industry

We investigate whether good governance, measured in terms of the regulatory structure, has a positive impact on the development of the telecommunications industry in developing countries. To this end we construct a data set on a panel of developing countries with information on the number of mainlines per capita and proxies for certain aspects of regulatory structure argued in the literature to be important for optimum development. Our results indicate that if the regulator is given certain functions with which to carry out telecommunications policy, this can enhance growth, but that there is no similar evidence in terms of operational separation of the regulator from the government.