New firms and labor market entrants: Is there a wage penalty for employment in new firms?

In this paper, we explore the role of new firms as an entry point to the labor market. Because the vast majority of new firms are short-lived, it is a risky decision to accept employment in a new venture. It can be argued that individuals with little (or no) labor market experience are more willing to accept the high risks associated with employment in new firms. Hence, new firms may work as an entry point to the labor market. Nevertheless, some research concludes that one disadvantage of employment in a new firm is that new firms pay less (Shane in Small Bus Econ 33:141–149, 2009). However, this empirical conclusion is primarily based on literature on the wage penalty of small firms. In this paper, we study whether the wage penalty of employment in a new firm persists if we focus solely on labor market entrants. In the empirical analysis, we employ an employer-employee matched dataset that covers the Swedish population during the period from 1998 to 2008. We use the propensity score matching method to study the wage differences between labor market entrants employed in new and incumbent firms. We find an average wage penalty of 2.9 % for labor market entrants employed in new firms over the studied period.     

Towards a New Euro Crisis?

Intereconomics - There is thus a fundamental credibility issue about the willingness of the ECB to be a lender of last resort in the government bond markets. This will continue to make the eurozone...     

What Makes for a Contribution? Elaborating on Our Publication Expectations at JBL

This editorial elaborates on the expectations for research destined for publication in the Journal of Business Logistics (JBL). We explore the dimensions of topical coverage, theory, methods, and research implications. The purpose of expounding these expectations is twofold: (1) to inform prospective authors on how to best position their work for submission, and (2) to initiate our reviewers and associate editors (AEs) of the expectations for the evaluation of research. By better illuminating our expectations, authors will have a better experience with the journal, associated with higher levels of success. Also, reviewers and AEs will be better prepared to express their opinions in a constructive fashion, helping to nurture more impactful papers. The editorial concludes by introducing the articles appearing in the current issue of the journal.     

What Makes a New Business Start-Up Successful?

This paper seeks a good measure of new business performance, and then explains this measure by various dimensions of business strategy. Three criteria are used to create a one dimensional ordinal ranking of high, medium and low performance for new business starts: employment growth; return on capital employed; and labour productivity. It is shown that statistical cluster analysis provides a convincing separation of a sample of new business starts into high, medium and low performance categories, using a minimum distance criterion for clustering. An ordinal logit model (with selection) is then used to explain this performance ranking. The results indicate that many widely discussed features of small business strategy have little, or even negative, impact on performance. Of the numerous aims that owner managers may adopt (survival, growth etc.), only one appears to have a major impact on performance; the pursuit of the highest rate of return on investment. Many entrepreneurial perceptions of their own capabilities appear false or unimportant, with the exception of organisational features and systems.     

Is rudeness really that common? An exploratory study of incivility at work

Currently, most studies of incivility involve surveys and controlled laboratory experiments that focus on examining the associations between incivility and other variables. This method of investigation is important, but insufficient for developing a comprehensive understanding of such a complex and multifaceted construct. The present study explores employees’ perceptions of rude workplace behavior from the perspective of real employees in managerial roles. It investigates the extent to which incivility is a prevalent issue faced by employees at work, examines the perceived impact of incivility on relational and productivity-related outcomes, and, finally, considers the potential differences between face-to-face rudeness and electronic rudeness. A qualitative interview approach is used to explore and analyze employees’ perceptions and investigate what employees think, feel, and say about their experiences with incivility at work.     

Do overseas investments create or replace trade? New insights from a macro-sectoral study on Japan

This paper investigates the relationship between outward foreign direct investment (FDI) and exports and imports from Japan, employing an augmented standard gravity model. Several econometric techniques, including the Gamma Pseudo Maximum Likelihood estimator, are used to rectify possible problems of heteroskedasticity and zero trade flows inherent in the estimation of gravity models of trade. The major finding is that outward FDI is trade enhancing for the Japanese manufacturing industry. However, we find that whether outward FDI creates or replaces trade depends on the industry under scrutiny. Our results indicate that the complementary relationship between FDI and trade is dominant in Japanese manufacturing, especially in the food and beverages, electric machinery, primary metals, and precision machinery sectors. We find also that Japanese overseas investments substitute for imports of chemical products, and for both exports and imports of general machinery.     

All at once or one at a time? The effect of simultaneous versus sequential discount presentation on store patronage intentions

Retailers often employ store flyers, be they in print or digital form, to drive store traffic. A fundamental difference in the presentation of multicomponent information, such as the multiple discounts presented in flyers, is whether the components are displayed simultaneously (all at once) of sequentially (one at a time). Yet a little extant research examines how these different presentations affect individuals' responses to retailer price promotions. Three experiments demonstrate that a sequential display of price discounts is associated with more positive store patronage intentions. Evidence, gleaned by both measuring and manipulating the process by which the discounts are evaluated, implicates a greater sense of accumulating benefit with each successive discount when presented sequentially as the driver of the cross-format difference in patronage intentions.     

Entrepreneurship,economic growth,and innovation: Are feedback effects at work?

This study aims to analyze the relationships between entrepreneurship, innovation and economic growth, and to show the feedback effects in these relationships. A Schumpeterian approach considering three equations linking GDP, innovation, and entrepreneurship facilitates this analysis. This paper presents empirical analysis of entrepreneurial activity in 13 developed countries. Panel data with fixed effects methodology, for the period 2002 to 2007, provides the means to estimate the equations. The analysis shows that several factors have positive impacts on innovation and entrepreneurship, including monetary policy and social climate. Additionally, a feedback effect is at work: economic activity promotes entrepreneurship and innovation activities, and the latter enhances economic activity. Therefore, policymakers must consider this effect when designing economic policies.     

Time at risk: Toward a banking titanic?

The Year 2000 problem is quickly becoming known as potentially the biggest challenge in the brief history of information technology. The complexity of the problem is particularly true for financial institutions, such as banks, which rely heavily on information technology and are interconnected and interdependent. This article reviews the millennium problem and its possible implications for banks and financial institutions worldwide. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Does corporate advertising work in a crisis? An examination of inoculation theory

The primary purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework of consumer evaluation of corporate advertising in a corporate crisis. It also suggests future research propositions by investigating how the so-called inoculation effect from pre-crisis corporate advertising influences consumer response to corporate advertising during a crisis. First, the paper describes how the inoculation effect confers resistance to negative news in a corporate crisis. Next, the paper determines whether the inoculation effect further reduces consumer resistance to corporate advertising during a crisis. Other factors that figure into the broader context of corporate crises are then discussed. These include four other types of external impacts on a crisis situation – the crisis, the corporation, the media, and individual differences. The article concludes with implications for research and practice.     

Whose voice is heard? The influence of user-generated versus company-generated content on consumer scepticism towards CSR

ABSTRACT

Social media is increasingly used to communicate corporate social responsibility (CSR). Stakeholders respond to CSR messages with user-generated content (UGC), signalling approval or disapproval, potentially shaping consumers’ perceived legitimacy and scepticism towards CSR. Few studies have explored how UGC shapes these consumer responses. In the context of the UK food retail industry, this study explored what makes UGC more or less believed than company-generated CSR communication on social media. Through qualitative inquiry, the study identified that unique characteristics of social media, such as system-generated cues, lead UGC to be more believed than company-generated content, shaping perceived legitimacy. The study indicates the risks of communicating CSR through social media may be greater than previously suggested. It identifies recipient-related conditions under which these risks can be minimised.     

Flexible labour markets and individualized employment: the beginnings of a new Japanese HRM system?

In an earlier study we reported that human resource management (HRM) in Japan was best characterized by continuity with some changes to assessment and pay practices. It is now over five years since we mapped out the changes taking place in Japanese HRM. This contribution reviews some of the changes over this period and considers the future directions of HRM. The essay commences with a discussion of the important contextual factors and issues underpinning HRM including employer proposals for reform. The next section then explores changes taking place in employment, remuneration and evaluation. This is supplemented by a more general assessment of the key changes occurring in Japanese HRM. The essay concludes with a discussion on why such changes are occurring, whether the changes constitute a convergence towards the Western model and the implications for HRM and theory development.     

Can consumers buy alternative foods at a big box supermarket?

ABSTRACT

While consumers in affluent countries are ever hungry for alternatives to the ‘Big-Food’ mainstream, critical scholars have raised serious questions about the meaning of ‘alternative’ food products. I explore scholarly critiques of alternative food, and argue against a binary approach that sees foods as either alternative or not alternative. Instead, I suggest the utility of taking a multifaceted, ‘family of issues’ approach that is both reflexive and materialist. The case of ethical meat is used to explore the myriad, often contradictory ideals contained within consumers’ search for alternatives to mainstream market options. Three cautionary lessons are put forward. First, the goal of producing myriad consumer alternatives is significantly hampered by the competing, and often contradictory demands of market forces. Second, the discourse of food alternatives uses a ‘win-win’ logic suggesting that consumer sacrifice or change is unnecessary; the challenge of reshaping, and even downgrading consumer expectations is a necessary, but tremendous challenge facing consumer projects for ecological and social change. Third, the search for eco-social alternatives cannot simply make consumers feel good about their purchases, but must address the material realities and limitations of niche markets, and the need for structural reform to the food system.     

Does buffet choice architecture affect intake? The effect of relocating butter at a breakfast buffet on food intake

The aim of this study was to investigate if a changed default reduces the intake of butter among students at a breakfast buffet. Students were divided into two groups and served themselves from a breakfast buffet. The control group was offered a buffet where the butter was easily accessible, whereas the intervention group was offered a buffet where a request had to be made for butter. Single packed portions of butter taken from each part of the buffet, the number of students, and the number of habitual users in each group were recorded. At the regular buffet, 67 of 115 students were habitual butter users and 81 packs of butter were taken. At the buffet with the changed default, 16 of the 56 students were habitual butter users. Seventeen packs of butter were taken from the buffet. Slightly displacing butter at a breakfast buffet and forcing students to ask for that option significantly reduced uptake.     

The Corporation as Citoyen? Towards a New Understanding of Corporate Citizenship

Based on the extended conceptualization of corporate citizenship, as provided by Matten and Crane (Acad Manag Rev 30(1):166–179, 2005), this paper examines the new role of corporations in society. Taking the ideas of Matten and Crane one step further, we argue that the status of corporations as citizens is not solely defined by their factual engagement in the provision of citizenship rights to others. By analysing political and sociological citizenship theories, we show that such engagement is more adequately explained by a change in the self-conception of corporate citizens from corporate bourgeois to corporate citoyens. While the corporate bourgeois acts primarily for private business purposes, the corporate citoyen engages in society, performing civil and political rights and duties. As an intermediate actor in society, shaped by the principle of subsidiary task-sharing, the corporate citoyen undertakes co-responsibility for social and civic affairs and actively collaborates with fellow citizens below, beside and beyond governmental regulation.     

Does Industry Regulation Matter? New Evidence on Audit Committees and Earnings Management

This paper investigates the moderating role of industry regulation on the effectiveness of audit committees in restricting earnings management. Using comprehensive panel data of S&P 1500 firms between 2003 and 2007, we find that the proportion of CEO directors on an audit committee is positively associated with earnings management in unregulated industries, while this association is significantly weaker in regulated industries. Further, the proportion of financial experts on an audit committee is negatively associated with earnings management. Our results also indicate that the average board tenure of audit committee members is negatively related to earnings management in regulated industries, but positively affects earnings management in unregulated industries. Finally, audit committee members’ average directorship increases earnings management in regulated industries, but reduces earnings management in unregulated industries. Overall, our results suggest that the effectiveness of audit committees in reducing earnings management and improving financial reporting quality is influenced by industry regulation.