The Effect of Educational Background On Performance and Organisational Commitment

In this research note Gedaliahu Harel, Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management at the Israel Institute of Technology, and Yehuda Baruch, Visiting Fellow at the City University Business School, explore the effects of a special educational and training programme that affects the backgrounds of employees in technical jobs measured by variables such as level of performance, professionalism, and organisational commitment. the results are considered in terms of the particular population examined and the implications discussed for the use of special vocational education and training.     

Expatriation and repatriation in MNCs: a taxonomy

The challenge of the management of expatriates and repatriates has never been more timely nor urgent: globalization has forced expatriation into the corporate agenda, confronting us with an array of questions on HRM strategy and practice. We propose that a wide range of current thinking and practice may be conveniently grouped into a taxonomy of five organizational options, each advancing a different set of expatriation relationships: Global, Emissary, Peripheral, Professional, and Expedient. A framework outlining the main configurations of these options generates a generic model for expatriation at the organizational level. This forms the principal part of the article, followed by a comprehensive discussion and implications for practice. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Fiscal federalism in rentier regions: Evidence from Russia

When does sub-national fiscal autonomy prompt regional growth and recovery and, under what conditions, does it have adverse effects? We argue that unearned income streams, particularly in the form of revenues from natural resource production or from budgetary transfers from the central government, transform regions dependent on these income sources into rentier regions. Governments in these regions can use local control over revenues and expenditures to shelter certain firms, i.e., natural resource producers or loss-making enterprises, from market forces. Using fiscal data from 80 Russian regions from 1996 to 1999, we test this hypothesis in both cross-sectional and panel specifications. Our results indicate that tax retention, which is a proxy for fiscal autonomy, has had a positive effect on regional reform and investment since the break-up of the Soviet Union. However, we also find that this effect decreases as rentable income streams to regions increase. Journal of Comparative Economics 33 (4) (2005) 814–834.     

A two-dimensional problem of revenue maximization

We consider the problem of finding the mechanism that maximizes the revenue of a seller of multiple objects. This problem turns out to be significantly more complex than the case where there is only a single object (which was solved by Myerson, 1981). The analysis is difficult even in the simplest case studied here, where there are two exclusive objects and a single buyer, with valuations uniformly distributed on triangular domains. We show that the optimal mechanisms are piecewise linear with either 2 or 3 pieces, and obtain explicit formulas for most cases of interest.     

An agency theory perspective of the Israeli labor market segmentation: Past,present, and future

In this paper we use agency theory to present a process of the dichotomization of the Israeli workforce into two structures, each representing distinct organizational cultures. The first structure is the private sector, led by the high-tech industry; a model where the principal has strong control over the activities of the agent. The second is the public sector, an opposing model in which the principal has virtually no control over the activities of the agents and as a result, the effectiveness within this sector deteriorates. We argue that such conflicting systems cannot exist side by side without affecting each other and we suggest a role for human resource management (HRM) in future developments. Within the public sector it is the responsibility of the principal, the Israeli government, to gain more control over the agent and employ professional HRM systems for this purpose.     

Is doing good good for you? how corporate charitable contributions enhance revenue growth

This study examines the impact of corporate philanthropy growth on sales growth using a large sample of charitable contributions made by U.S. public companies from 1989 through 2000. Applying Granger causality tests, we find that charitable contributions are significantly associated with future revenue, whereas the association between revenue and future contributions is marginally significant at best. We then identify the mechanism underlying our findings. Our results are particularly pronounced for firms that are highly sensitive to consumer perception, where individual consumers are the predominant customers. In addition, we document a positive relationship between contributions and customer satisfaction. Overall, our evidence suggests that corporate philanthropy, under certain circumstances, furthers firms' economic objectives. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A methodology for reducing technological risk

The purpose of the paper is to suggest a quantitative method for analyzing the innovation risk from both technological and an economic point of view as a contribution to the strategic evaluation and planning process. Specifically the method provides a predictive evaluation of the probability of the commercial success of technological breakthroughs.
The method is a quantification of the qualitative method originally developed by White and Graham. It consists of a stepwise process in which the benefits of a technology are classified under four major headings: inventive merit, embodiment merit, market merit, and operational merit. Within each heading, the target technology is evaluated by pairwise comparison with alternative technologies, using a Saaty-type procedure. The decision-maker can conduct a sensitivity analysis and the evaluation can be made collaborative by using a group of judges.
The methodology which is computerized is described in some detail. Its use is illustrated by applying it to an hypothetical project in the field of information retrieval in which CD-ROM is compared with three alternative technologies.     

Monetary policy and multiple equilibria with constrained investment and externalities

This paper focuses on two mechanisms under which interest-rate feed-back rules induce local indeterminacy in a closed economy with capital accumulation: arbitrage activity and the pricing channel. It shows that constrained investment, in the sense that it requires liquidity or that adjustment to the stock of capital is costly, is enough to induce indeterminacy if monetary policy follows a strictly passive interest rate rule. Determinacy of equilibrium is ensured under an active monetary policy stance. These results change when production externalities are introduced into the model so as to mimic the pricing channel in New Keynesian models. In this case, a policy stance that ensures determinacy is either active or strictly passive. In view of the contradicting results for the passive stance and the similar results for the active stance it is recommended that central banks act according to the active stance.