Institutionalized Resistance to Organizational Change: Denial, Inaction and Repression

An extensive theoretical and research literature on organizational change and its implementation has been accumulating over the past fifty years. It is customary in this literature to find resistance to change mentioned as an inevitable consequence of organizational change initiatives. Yet there has been little discussion of the nature and forms of resistance that is institutionalized in organizational structure and processes. Furthermore, organization development perspectives on organizational change address management-initiated change, but not change proposed by advocates for the powerless and disadvantaged. Focussing on institutionalized resistance from the standpoint of the advocate of fundamental change, this discussion proposes a typology consisting of a sequence of forms of active resistance to change, from denial through inaction to repression. The typology is illustrated by referring to responses of organizational decision makers to the efforts of employment equity change agents to address issues of systemic discrimination in the work place. The purpose of the typology is to assist change advocates, such as equality seekers, to name, analyze and think strategically about the institutionalized resistance they encounter, and about effective responses to the resistance.     

Offering a globally-linked international accounting course in real time: a sharing of experiences and lessons learned

This article reports the experiences from offering an online international accounting course that involved students from Japan, Spain, Switzerland, and the USA participating in real time via both audio and video links. In addition to interacting among themselves, students also interacted with accounting practitioners and standard setters from these countries. The latter attended class either in person or “virtually” via audio and video links. The paper also discusses the major benefits from the course, as identified by student feedback and direct faculty observations. A number of challenges in offering a course of this type also are identified. These insights can assist accounting educators interested in implementing a similar international accounting course at their institutions. They also have implications for applying distance-learning approaches in courses with a domestic focus.     

The Effect of Exchange Rate Changes on Geographic Segment Earnings of U.S.-Based Multinationals

This study examines the ability of exchange rate changes to aid in the explanation and prediction of the geographic segment earnings of U.S.-based multinational corporations. In order to evaluate the potential usefulness of geographic segment earnings disclosures, it is important to understand the effect that currency changes should be expected to have on these earnings. Two types of exchange rate effects are examined. These include the mechanical translation effects of an exchange rate change, as well as the operating effects. A sample of geographic segment earnings disclosures is developed for two geographic locations (Canada and Europe) and six industries in which adequate country-industry specific subsamples can be identified. Because the factors that impact exchange rate exposure tend to depend on country, industry, or both, provision is made for country, industry, and country-industry specific sensitivity to currency changes. Regressions and nonparametric analyses are performed to determine whether exchange rate changes can help explain the geographic segment earnings within these samples. Results indicate that the accounting-based translation effect that is typically modeled as the impact of exchange rate changes on earnings does not adequately capture the effect of exchange rate changes on segment earnings. Operating effects of past and current exchange rate changes do help explain earnings for geographic segments located in Europe and in four industries. Prediction models which are country or country-industry specific are able to outperform a random-walk prediction of geographic segment earnings in some circumstances.     

Regionalism in Stanford's Contribution to the Rise of Silicon Valley

In this article I explore the powerful sense of regional solidaritythat accompanied the rise of Silicon Valley. From the earlyyears of Stanford University, the university's leaders saw itsmission as service to the West and shaped the school accordingly.At the same time, the perceived exploitation of the West atthe hands of eastern interests fueled booster-like attemptsto build self-sufficient indigenous local industry. Thus, regionalismhelped align Stanford's interests with those of the area's high-techfirms for the first fifty years of Silicon Valley's development.The distinctive regional ethos of the West during the firsthalf of the twentieth century is an ingredient of Silicon Valley'salready prepared environment, an ingredient that would-be replicatorsignore at their peril.     

Opportunities for artificial intelligence development in the accounting domain: the case for auditing

This paper reviews the nature of accounting and auditing problems and the need for application of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to the discipline. The discussion includes current accounting issues for which new AI development should be fruitful, particularly auditing and assurance. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Globalization and its discontents

Joseph E. Stiglitz. 2002. Globalization and Its Discontents. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. xxii + 282 pages. ISBN: 0‐393‐05124‐2.     

Statement 133: Not Perfect, but a Step in the Right Direction

Statement 133 represents progress toward achieving the goals of GAAP. To the extent it requires companies to mark their derivatives to market, balance sheets will give investors a clearer, more complete picture of a company's assets and liabilities.
But if the fair value accounting prescribed by Statement 133 has provided clarity for investors about corporate derivatives positions, it has also forced some companies—those unable or unwilling to qualify for hedge accounting—to report more volatile earnings, causing the accounting rule to come under heavy criticism. As the author argues, however, such criticism is based on the misperception that the objective of GAAP income statements is to provide a "normalized" measure of financial performance—a single number that can be discounted or capitalized by analysts to arrive at a company's value. In fact, it is mainly the job of the analysts themselves, not accountants, to determine which elements of a company's income statement are recurring and central to the business.
What's more, the author argues that the FASB went too far when it allowed hedge accounting for forecasted transactions. Rather than expanding the use of hedge accounting, the FASB should promulgate a comprehensive fair value standard, one that aims to mark all corporate assets and liabilities to market—which would eliminate the need for hedge accounting or any of its associated complexity, and compensate for 133's dearth of disclosures.     

FINANCING DECISIONS AND SIGNALING BY PARTIALLY ACQUIRED FIRMS

It is well documented that financing decisions by firms can signal valuable information about that firm. Our goal is to determine whether financing decisions by firms can signal valuable information about large stakeholders who have a substantial investment in those firms. In particular, we focus on financing decisions by firms after they had been partially acquired to determine whether these decisions signaled information that affected the values of their corresponding partial acquirers. We find that some financing policies by partially acquired firms may not only signal valuable information about themselves, but may also signal valuable information about their corresponding partial acquirers. We also find that the magnitude of the signal for the partially acquired firm that enacts a financing policy is dependent on the degree of monitoring imposed by the respective partial acquirer. JEL classification: G14, G34