Uncertainty and Growth of the Firm

Using data from a survey of 1,097 small and medium-sized non-listed Dutch firms we investigate the relation between growth of the firm and uncertainty. We focus on the impact of sales uncertainty on various types of investment. We find that sales uncertainty, measured by the conditional variance, has a mixed impact on various investment decisions. We include an analysis of the relevance of financial structure and firm size on the growth-uncertainty relation.     

Modeling the effects of including/excluding attributes in choice experiments on systematic and random components

This paper examines the impact of attribute presence/absence in choice experiments using covariance heterogeneity models and random coefficient models. Results show that attribute presence/absence impacts both mean utility (systematic components) and choice variability (random components). Biased mean effects can occur by not accounting for choice variability. Further, even if one accounts for choice variability, attribute effects can differ because of attribute presence/absence. Managers who use choice experiments to study product changes or new variants should be cautious about excluding potentially essential attributes. Although including more relevant attributes increases choice variability, it also reduces bias.     

Cultivating Moral Imagination through Meditation

The purpose of this article is to show how moral imagination can be cultivated through meditation. Moral imagination was conceived as a three-stage process of ethical development. The first stage is reproductive imagination, that involves attaining awareness of the contextual factors that affect perception of a moral problem. The second stage, productive imagination, consists of reframing the problem from different perspectives. The third stage, creative imagination, entails developing morally acceptable alternatives to solve the ethical problem. This article contends that moral imagination can be cultivated through three kinds of meditation: non-discursive, semidiscursive, and discursive meditation. Part one shows how the seed of reproductive moral imagination is planted during sessions of nondiscursive meditation. Productive moral imagination, as will be shown in part two, is nurtured through semidiscursive meditation. Part three will demonstrate the flowering of creative moral imagination through discursive meditation. Reflection and small group discussion on each form of meditation will help to show business people how to cultivate moral imagination.     

Political consequences of ethical investing: The case of South Africa

This paper discusses the economic impact and political consequences of ethical investing, with particular attention to the case of South Africa. The origins of ethical investing are examined, along with the institutions and strategies by which ethical investing operates today. Of immediate relevance to managers is a recent judicial decision upholding Baltimore's divestment ordinance. The discussion concludes with an assessment of the likely consequences of ethical investing for U.S. multinationals in Southern Africa. Dr. Paul is an Associate Professor of Management at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She took her Ph.D. from Emory University in 1974. She has published and presented widely on the subject of Business Ethics and Business and Public Policy. Her current research interest in business and South Africa has taken her to South Africa on a Fulbright Fellowship. Dr. Paul has also been named a Radcliffe Peace Fellow for 1987–88. She has just edited Business Environment and Business Ethics: The Social, Moral, and Political Dimensions of Management (1987) for Ballinger Press.Mr. Aquila has been a full time Lecturer at the Rochester Institute of Technology since 1984. He took his M.B.A. degree from New York University in 1980 and is just finishing his Ph.D. at the University of Rochester in American History. Mr. Aquila was awarded the David Parker Memorial Prize in History from the University of Rochester in 1986.     

Tourism, the world and the Caribbean

Tourism contributes significantly to the Caribbean economy and a strategy to exploit the industry's potential must be tailored to world trends at macro and micro levels. The composition of the market is changing and bookings are becoming dominated by fewer, larger companies able to exclude smaller carriers and tour operators not participating in the computer reservations systems. Worldwide recession has retarded the growth of the tourism industry and aggressive marketing by the USA and others provides fierce competition for the Caribbean. The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) seeks to enhance the local prospects.     

Sustainable Tourism: Ethical Alternative or Marketing Ploy?

While tourism is often seen as a welcome source of economic development, conventional mass tourism is associated with numerous negative effects, such as the destruction of ecological systems and loss of cultural heritage. In response to these concerns, a term that has surfaced recently is, sustainable tourism. This article attempts to define sustainable tourism and asks the question of whether this new term is an acceptable criteria or is merely a marketing ploy to attract the morally conscious tourist. Paul Lansing is a professor of Business Administration at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received a J.D. Degree and a Graduate Degree in International Business. Paul De Vries received an M.Sc BA, in Strategic Management from the Rotterdam School of Management, RSM Erasmus University.     

Can economic bonus programs jeopardize service relationships?

Research findings on the impact of economic bonus programs on service relationships are contradictory. While some studies find positive effects of economic bonus programs on customer’s relational behavior, other studies demonstrate negative effects. Building on self-determination theory, Dholakia (J Market Res 43(2):109–120, 2006) points at a possible explanation for these conflicting results, arguing that economic marketing programs have negative effects on self-determined customers when the program is perceived as controlling by them. By testing the effect of four different kinds of economic bonus programs on loyalty in an experimental setting using a nationwide representative sample of 768 participants, this research is the first that provides empirical evidence that economic bonus programs can indeed endanger service relationships by reducing customer’s self-determination. Implications of our findings for the abundance of economic bonus programs offered to service customers these days are highlighted.     

Consumer-Driven Healthcare: Information,Incentives, Enrollment,and Implications for National Health Expenditures

We highlight the importance of information for consumerdriven healthcare (CDHC), describe barriers, display data on adoption rates and product features, and use a new health modeling approach to investigate the potential impact on national healthcare expenditures. We conclude with an assessment of the prospects for CDHC as a revolution of information, competition, and market orientation; and we discuss potential pitfalls, including concern regarding vulnerable populations. While the jury is out on the ultimate effects, enrollment in CDHC programs— while still small—is growing rapidly; utilization and costs for subscribers appear to be moderating; and creative benefit structures emphasize health promotion alongside previously unseen cost consciousness. JEL Classification I11