Accounting “Boot Camp”

This study examines the effectiveness of a program designed to set appropriate student expectations and motivate students to put forth the necessary effort to succeed in intermediate accounting and other upper-division accounting courses. At a mid-sized public university in the Western US many students enrolled in Intermediate Accounting I (their first upper-division course) struggle with the rigor and academic demands of this course, resulting in failure rates of 30–45%. In many cases, students new to upper-division courses appear to lack a commitment to, or awareness of, the effort needed for success in the accounting program. The faculty implemented an accounting “Boot Camp” to prepare new accounting majors for the expectations of the program. This paper details the implementation of the Boot Camp and reviews its effectiveness by comparing the performance of attendees with the performance of non-attendees. After controlling for other contributing factors, the evidence suggests that attendees outperform their non-attending peers in Intermediate Accounting I. This relatively low-cost intervention should be attractive to faculty concerned about the common problem of students failing and then retaking intermediate accounting.     

Rules of engagement: The role of emotional display rules in delivering conservation interpretation in a zoo-based tourism context

The shifting strategic focus of zoos from sites of recreation and entertainment to predominantly visitor conservation education entails a change in the design and delivery of conservation interpretation strategies. As the primary conveyers of conservation messages, zoo guides are expected to display appropriate emotional expression (emotional labour) to establish a connection between the object of interpretation, the conservation message and the visitor. The emotional display responses of guides to role demands may not be consistent with zoo conservation-based objectives beyond delivering a service-based positive visitor experience. We examine organisational expectations for emotional display in directing the delivery of conservation-based visitor outcomes. Findings from 21 semi-structured interviews with managers and guides at an open-range zoo indicate that sources and types of display rules for visitor entertainment remain more clearly communicated than those related to conservation. Theoretical and managerial implications for the delivery of conservation messages are discussed.     

Coalitional games with veto players: Consistency, monotonicity and Nash outcomes

Following Dagan et al. [Dagan, N., Volij, O., Serrano, R. (1997). A non-cooperative view on consistent bankruptcy rules, Games Econ. Behav. 18, 55–72], we construct an extensive form game for veto-balanced TU games in which a veto player is the proposer and the other players are responders. The set of Nash outcomes of this extensive form game is described, and compared to solutions of TU games such as the nucleolus, kernel and egalitarian core. We find necessary and sufficient conditions under which the nucleolus of the game is a Nash outcome.     

Earliness of internationalization and performance outcomes: Exploring the moderating effects of venture age and international commitment

This study examines the impact of early foreign market entry on new ventures’ performance outcomes. Venture age and international commitment are theorized as moderators to address the inconsistent findings of previous research surrounding the performance implications of early internationalization. Results from a sample of international new ventures in China found that the earliness of internationalization positively contributes to firm performance in terms of sales growth, but not innovation and profitability. The performance advantage of early internationalization becomes obsolete as young ventures become mature, especially among those with a low level of international commitment. This study highlights the importance of incorporating time-based dimensions of international venturing for a better understanding of the performance implications of early internationalization.     

New development: Procurement and policy outcomes—a bridge too far?

This article furthers the discussion in the March 2015 (Vol. 35, No. 2) issue of Public Money &; Management on ‘Public procurement policy and practice— international lessons and debates’. In particular, it illustrates some of the major difficulties in achieving the required policy outcomes through the procurement processes. The numerous ‘failures’, particularly in the defence acquisitions area, are of ongoing concern both in terms of ‘blow-outs’ in costs and, more unfortunately, in achieving strategic defence capability and overall policy outcomes in required timeframes. Can current public sector reforms and observed better practice provide any encouragement for, discipline on, participants to achieve the required results or is it all just too difficult?     

The employment dynamics of different population groups over the business cycle

We examine differences in employment dynamics across population groups using Bayesian vector autoregressions. We document that groups who are particularly strongly affected by business-cycle fluctuations (males, young people, non-whites, the less educated, and workers in blue-collar occupations) also tend to be affected early in the build-up of a boom or bust. We further identify the drivers of the different cyclicalities across population groups. Supply shocks seem to be most important for the heterogeneous employment fluctuations and particularly for the early effects of recessions and booms on the most affected groups. Dynamics in sectoral activity and in hiring rates can help to understand our findings.     

Cultural determinants of alliance management capability – an analysis of Japanese MNCs in India

This study examines the role of national and organizational culture in alliance management in the context of three prominent joint ventures between India and Japan, which reached diverse alliance outcomes. It uses the case study method as a tool for an initial rich exploratory analysis (Yin 2013) of alliance management capabilities that may later be tested on a larger dataset. The study finds that national and organizational culture is both important factors of alliance management capability. It highlights the specific role of trust, consensus in decision-making, communication and relationship building as key constituents of alliance management capability. This paper thus contributes to an important strand of literature on alliance management in the context of two important Asian players from the developed and emerging markets. Its focus on cultural factors as determinants of alliance management helps to establish a managerial blueprint leading to positive alliance outcomes for such ventures in future and to establish a roadmap for increased interaction between India and Japan.     

Dimensions of International Negotiations: Structures, Processes, and Outcomes

Cases of international negotiation are compared in terms of their similarities and dissimilarities. Using both primary and secondary source materials, each case is coded in terms of aspects of the issues, structure, situation, processes, and outcomes of negotiation. One analysis consisted of 23 cases in which Austrian delegations participated. Multidimensional scaling results indicated that a key dimension was the distinction between small bilateral talks and larger multilateral negotiations. Bilateral talks were more likely to be characterized by treaties, low turnover, stage-like processes, and no deadlines. Correlational findings also showed that outside influences had stronger impacts on outcomes than such internal factors as bureaucratic support. A second scaling analysis, based on cases published by the Johns Hopkins' Foreign Policy Institute, produced two dimensions, number and complexity of the issues. The groupings of the cases also corresponded to Ikle's distinctions among types of negotiation. Correlational findings indicated relationships among aspects of the negotiating situation and outcomes. The article concludes with a comparison of the two analyses.     

集团规模与集体行动效果：国外相关研究综述

集团规模与集体行动效果之间的关系引起了大批经济学家和社会学家的关注，但一直存在争论。文章通过梳理国外相关文献，对相关观点进行了总结和评述，认为大部分研究结论都有各自适应的特定环境，并指出下一步研究的努力方向。