The impact of SARS on China's human resources: implications for the labour market and level of unemployment in the service sector in Beijing,Guangzhou and Shanghai

In this paper, we examine the effects of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) on China's human resources, its labour-market and its level of employment and unemployment, looking specifically at what was one of its economically most vulnerable points, the hotel industry. The paper hypothesizes that the greatest impact would be on human resources in the service-industries and on particular sub-sectors, such as employment in hotels, located in three main cities in the PRC, in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai, catering to both overseas as well as domestic tourism. It tentatively concludes that the almost dramatic demand and supply ‘shocks’ may have directly affected both the demand for and the supply of labour in the sub-sector, with discernable employment consequences.     

Procurement of logistics services and sustainable development in Europe: Fields of activity and empirical results

This paper strives to answer the general question; how far purchasers of logistics services take into account aspects of sustainable development. Modeled on the German Sustainable Development Strategy, which is based on the EU Sustainable Development plan, five fields of activity are defined: the reduction of transport intensity and emission, the reduction of land use, the choice of carrier under consideration of sustainable aspects, the permanent improvement of working conditions, and the enhancement of qualified employment. Then, propositions for purchasing companies of logistics services are developed, which contribute to safeguard ecological as well as social sustainability. In order to conduct an explorative study, a questionnaire was sent to 750 purchase and logistics managers. It was found that purchasing companies place high value on ecological and social aspects. But the perceived importance is not associated with purchasing companies' own contributions to logistics service providers' sustainable activities. Additionally, it was seen that purchasing companies exert only a minor influence on logistics service providers regarding ecologically and socially sustainable actions. A fundamental precondition for a sustainably oriented procurement of logistics services can be seen in the purchasing companies' awareness of the need for integrating sustainable aspects in economic decisions.     

Thailand as a tourist destination: Perceptions of international visitors and Thai residents

In the tourism industry, the perceptions of a tourist destination are critical to its image. Image can be either a mental image of a product created by a marketing department or an associative image of a product that is developed by the consumer. Tourism destinations must be careful about their image so the perception that they have is not different from the way that they are perceived by potential travelers. This study examines the perceptions of international visitors and Thai residents on the image of Thailand as a tourist destination. International visitors and Thai residents were both surveyed to determine their perceptions of the image of Thailand. Some results of the study found that Thai residents and international visitors felt cultural sightseeing, friendly people and food were significantly important when thinking of Thailand as a tourist destination, while international visitors felt that nightlife and entertainment were significantly more important than that of Thai residents.     

MNE home country cultural norms and conflict strategy fit in transnational business contract disputes

The increasing frequency and complexity of transnational business relationships has been commensurate with an increase in contractual disputes. In such situations, home country cultural norms will often influence how MNEs resolve contractual disputes in foreign markets. This begs the question: does fit between an MNE's choice of conflict strategy and its home country cultural norms affect monetary payouts (costs) in transnational business contract disputes? We apply organizational imprinting theory and the fit paradigm to a model employing data from U.S. court cases involving 316 MNEs from 47 countries. We find that choosing a conflict strategy that fits home country cultural norms will result in higher monetary payouts for MNEs. Additionally, cultural distance, but not legal distance, enhances the positive relationship between MNE conflict strategy fit and monetary payouts. Implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Interpersonal Relationship,Service Quality,Seller Expertise: How Important Are They to Adolescent Consumers?

Drawing upon social capital theory and psychosocial development theory, this paper argues that a true buyer–seller relationship is a key determinant of favorable consumer behaviors for adolescent consumers of hairstylist services. Other important determinants include quality of the service delivery process (i.e., service quality as measured by the five SERVQUAL factors) and quality of the core service (in this case, the hairstylist's expertise). A survey of 350 adolescent consumers confirms these predictions. It shows that a true interpersonal relationship negatively moderates the positive effects of service quality on consumer satisfaction with, and overall assessment of the hairstylist. This negative moderating effect is labeled resource substitution benefit and the argument made that this is the fourth social capital benefit. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Earnings Management through Specific Accruals and Discretionary Expenses: Evidence from U.S. Agribusiness Firms

This study examines both accruals based earnings management (AEM) and real earnings management (REM) in U.S. agribusinesses. In particular, the focus is on agribusinesses that report low earnings quality, defined as firms with extreme level of accruals compared to their peers. The cross‐sectional modified Jones model (Jones 1991; Dechow et al 1995) is used to test for AEM. To capture REM practices, we implement the discretionary expenses model by Roychowdhury (2006). We find evidence of AEM and find no evidence of REM in agribusinesses. In addition, our results show that managers might be managing earnings through specific accruals doubtful accounts receivable provisions and special items.     

Did Hayek have a monetary theory of business cycles?

Joseph Schumpeter, a careful reader of Hayek, categorized Hayek??s theory of economic cycles as non-monetary. Almost every other source, including Hayek himself, categorized the theory as monetary. The issue turns on the concept of causality being used. The question of what causality concept to apply to complex phenomena has substantive implications for economic theory. A simple concept of causality, appropriate to the study of some physical phenomena, will mislead when applied to complex phenomena. We provide examples of errors in analysis that follow from the wrong choice of a causal paradigm.     

Financial Education and Counseling—Still Holding Promise

This article reviews the evaluation literature on financial education and counseling for adults in order to synthesize implications for research and practice. Most evaluations report positive impacts, but the findings are often small when compared with valid comparison groups. Many evaluations use self-reported measures, measure outcomes over short time periods and cannot rule out selection bias due to nonrandomized designs, all of which may bias results. Although future research and practice in this field hold promise, more attention to theory-based evaluations and further investment in randomized field experiments may be fruitful.     

Effects of ideal image congruence and organizational commitment on employee intention to leave

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among employee self-image/store image congruence, employee–store commitment, and employee intention to leave within the context of retail stores. Data were collected using a survey method. Usable questionnaires were completed by 276 retail store employees. Path analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Results revealed employee self-image/store image congruence was positively related to store image attractiveness. In turn, store image attractiveness was positively related to employee–store commitment both directly and indirectly through intrinsic job satisfaction. Lastly, both intrinsic job satisfaction and employee–store commitment were negatively related to employees’ intention to leave.