Key institutions in business and management education research

The authors investigate institutional productivity in business and management education (BME) research based on the analysis of 4,464 articles published by 7,210 authors across 17 BME journals over a 10-year period, involving approximately 1,900 schools worldwide. Departing from traditional disciplinary silos, they examine the BME research field as a whole by including all traditional business disciplinary areas and producing two top 100 rankings, one based on raw number of author publications and the other based on weighted scores reflecting journal quality and coauthorship.     

Formalisation of land rights: Some empirical evidence from Mali, Niger and South Africa

In this paper, we re-interpret three cases of research previously carried out in Mali, Niger and South Africa in light of the recent debate about formalisation of land rights that has emerged since the publication of Hernando de Soto's ‘Mystery of Capital’. The Malian case shows that lack of broad access to formalisation processes in high-pressure areas may play into the hands of those with power, information, and resources. The case also demonstrates that timing of formalisation efforts in urban areas characterised by rapid expansion is crucial in terms of distributive outcomes. The Nigerien case demonstrates how impending formalisation led to a scramble for land and increased conflicts in a context of institutional competition and limited administrative capacity. The South African case shows that the very process of surveying and registering rights may also change the rights themselves. Formalisation procedures may also amplify the tension between individual and communal rights, and boost privatisation.     

An Empirical Examination of Marketing Professionals' Ethical Behavior in Differing Situations

The ethical behavior of a national sample of marketing professionals was examined by analyzing their responses to four different types of ethical dilemmas presented in vignette form. The ethical situations operationalize the concepts of coercion and control, deceit and falsehood, conflict of interest, and self integrity, within the context of the marketing mix elements – place, promotion, price, and product. Responses were examined to determine whether behavior varied by type of ethical situation, and whether demographic factors affected their responses. The results indicate that marketing professionals vary their ethical decisions depending on which marketing mix decision they face. Among demographic variables, age, gender, and education level had significant but mixed influence on respondents' ethical decisions across the different situations.     

Financial reporting and disclosure requirements for trade unions: a comparison of UK and US public policy

The underlying policy objectives and the degree to which they are served by current trade union financial reporting and disclosure regimes in the US and the UK are examined in this article, along with a detailed comparison of the government oversight agencies, annual disclosure forms and member access to union financial records.     

A Model for Studying the Effect of EMU on European Yield Curves

In January 1999, the European monetary union (EMU) was formally launched with 11 member countries. However, before May 1998 there was considerable uncertainty about who would join EMU, and whether the project would start on time. When a monetary union is formed, exchange rates between the member countries are irrevocably fixed, and yield spreads stemming from exchange-rate risk are eliminated. As a direct consequence, EMU affected the prices of long-term bonds well before 1999, but quantifying this effect can be difficult when there is uncertainty about the monetary union. We address these issues and develop a bond-pricing model which explicitly takes into account that a country may join a monetary union at a future, unspecified date. The empirical results show that a narrow EMU, consisting of Germany, France and the Benelux countries, has been priced with almost 100% probability throughout the period 1995–1998, whereas, on average, the implied probability of joining EMU has been somewhat lower for the other EU countries. However, in the period leading up to May 1998, the estimated probabilities have increased considerably for the countries that joined EMU in January 1999.     

HOUSEHOLD FOOD CONSUMPTION: THE INFLUENCE OF HOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICS

This paper reports an attempt to identify the effects of various household characteristives on household food consumption. The analysis was based on National Food Survey (NFS) data for Great Britain for the calendar year 1982. Consumption (per person per week) of various food items was related to each of the main household characteristics on which information is collected in the course of the Survey-location (both country/region and type of area), income (generally of the head of the household), household composition, age of housewife, housing tenure and freezer ownership. The results indicated that all these variables are important in the explanation of households' food consumption patterns.     

Denationalised Savings? The Folly of the Capital Bond

What justification is there for a special Department of National Savings? Tim Lund of Chase Manhattan Securities, argues that the sale of National Savings, including the new Capital Bond, should be privatised.