Personal value systems of Japanese trainees and managers in a changing competitive system

A study of personal values held by Japanese and foreign students, trainees and managers showed recent Japanese trainees slightly more conservative than their 1979 cohorts. Foreign students and foreign managers held more pro-American work values than either Japanese managers or trainees. Finally, for the Japanese respondents, there was some evidence of specific shifts away from the Japanese employment system in the areas of thenenko compensation and promotion systems in their organisations.Roy J. Adams is a Professor of Industrial Relations in McMaster University; Richard B. Peterson is a Professor of Management and Organization in the University of Washington; Hermann F. Schwind is an Associate Professor in St. Mary's University.     

Reverse Causality in Global and Intra‐European Imbalances

The paper discusses global current account imbalances in the context of an asymmetric world monetary system. It identifies the USA and Germany as center countries with rising/high current account deficits (USA) and surpluses (Germany). These are matched by current account surpluses of countries stabilizing their exchange rates against the dollar (dollar periphery) and current account deficits of countries stabilizing their exchange rates against the euro or members of the euro area (euro periphery). The paper finds that changes of world current account positions are closely linked to the monetary policy decision patterns both in the centers and peripheries. Whereas in the centers current account positions are affected by monetary policies, in the peripheries exchange rate stabilization cum sterilization matters. In specific, monetary expansion in the USA as well as exchange rate stabilization and sterilization policies in the dollar periphery are found to have contributed to global imbalances.     

Underdevelopment through isolationism? Dependency theory in retrospect

Until the mid seventies the dependency theory could be relied upon to stimulate lively debate, but nowadays it seems to arouse little interest. There are several reasons for this, a fundamental one being the fact that many of the central tenets of dependency theory have since had to be qualified, to some extent as a result of empirical studies by the theory’s proponents themselves. This article examines the modification of certain aspects of the theory, such as its claim to explain underdevelopment and its recommendations as to the development strategy to follow.     

Decision Support Systems in Marketing

The practical application of decision support systems in marketing is still in its infancy, even though academic research has been recommending the use of such systems for years. This is largely due to the lack of a single, generally applicable decision support system. The specific requirements and problems of management are too dissimilar to make the development of one universal decision support system feasible. However, improved PC performance, enhanced market survey methods such as conjoint measurement, and further developed programming tools permit the varying requirements to be fairly flexibly met. The following article describes state-of-the-art know-how regarding the practical utilization of such systems, and addresses the preconditions for employing them. We have included many examples gathered from our own experience with numerous applications.     

LAFTA’s successes and failures

The Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA), established by the Treaty of Montevideo in 1960, was an attempt by the participating countries to seek a way out of the dilemma of declining demand for their exports, on the one hand, and the inadequacy of a solely inward-looking strategy in development policy, on the other.     

Entrepreneurship in Europe

This article focuses on the changes in attitude and venture capital provision that the author believes are necessary to rekindle the spirit of entrepreneurship in Europe. The article goes on to discuss technology clusters and the role of stock markets. It then describes the way the Cambridge-based Amadeus venture capital company sets about the venture capital process. It concludes with a plea for entrepreneurship centres to be set up in each university and for some changes in government policy.