Same but different - The effect of the unit of measure on the valuation of a unit price

Unit prices are a ubiquitous phenomenon. The respective legal norms leave a certain freedom of choice with regard to the reference unit. However, research on the impact of alternative measurement units on consumer behaviour is still in its infancy and its findings are inconclusive. Moreover, this influence has so far only been measured directly. Investigating the product category bottled beer (with its essential product attributes ‘brand’, ‘price’, ‘alcohol content’ and ‘size of packaging unit’), a Choice Based Conjoint experiment provides empirical evidence that a large (per 1 L) compared to a small (per 100 mL) size unit of measurement leads to a significant shift of importance towards the product attribute ‘price’ at the expense of the ‘brand’. In addition, consumers react more sensitively to price changes. At the strategic level, retailers can use these insights to sharpen their positioning through a suitable unit price measure. When making operational decisions, retailers should bear in mind that the reference unit influences the likelihood of purchase, the scope for price increases and the opportunities for up-selling.     

On globalization ‘with Chinese characteristics’?

This Commentary looks at Globalization ‘with Chinese Characteristics’ (quanqiu hua yu zhongguo tese) as revealed through the lens of President Xi Jinping’s recent speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January, 2017. In this, he sets out a positive role for the PRC in the ‘Globalization’ stakes. He also puts himself forward as ‘Expert’, rather than ‘Red’, in the ongoing polemic on the benefits of further reductions in barriers to doing business. But whether this may be taken at its face value remains to be seen. Whilst the Chinese appear to promote more of ‘Globalization’ and the Americans seem to retreat from the model, the world economic community may well suspend its judgement.     

农业企业制度效率的理论分析与实证检验

农业企业制度安排及其经济效率是经济运行中一个值得关注的问题。基于农业企业制度安排的现实,可以将农业企业合作生产和剩余分配的制度安排概括划分为固定工资契约制、分成地租契约制和固定地租契约制等三种形式。针对这三种形式,文章在运用逻辑推理、边际分析等方法进行理论分析的基础上,对这三种企业制度安排进行了历史考察、统计分析和实验检验,以说明和论证这三种企业制度安排的经济效率。文章认为,马歇尔税收等价理论和张五常佃农理论有关农业企业制度安排的研究并非完全对立,这两大理论可以在一定程度和范围内协调;关于这一协调,本文在垄断竞争市场的背景下,提出了融合这三种制度安排的激励效应理论,认为农业企业制度安排经过协调后会提升经济效率,并通过对农业企业的实证检验在理论分析层面证实了这一观点。     

The ‘Duce hometown effect’ on local industrial development: The case of Forlì

Abstract

The history of fascist intervention and rescue in support of Italian banks and firms (either through nationalisation or direct aid) in the inter-war years is well known. The case of Forlì adds an important piece of information to the broad literature on state-sponsored development. Benito Mussolini was born in Predappio, a small village in the Apennines in the province of Forlì. And Forlì was meant to become ‘la città del Duce’ (‘the Duce’s hometown’). The case of Forlì offers an original perspective: entrepreneurs who chose Mussolini’s hometown to obtain special concessions, a novel element in the crowded panorama of special relationships between government and industry in Italy. But on the other hand, this article will also underline the unsuitability of big business to local economic characteristics (and post-war challenges) and the return to a traditional growth path centred around the small-firm model specialising in traditional sectors and family-owned, centralised management. State-sponsored business failed and provided no stimulus to local growth: any talk of ‘industrial continuity’ in Forlì requires us to acknowledge that it is based on the steady presence and continuous regeneration of locally grown, small family businesses.     

New rules – old games? Social capital and privatisation in France, 1986–1998

This article focuses on social capital among the French business elite, the period under study coinciding with the implementation of privatisation programmes in France from 1986 to 1998. The Chirac government (1986–1988) sought to change the rules of the economic game, the political aspirations invested in privatisation centring on the free play of market forces and competition, to which the programme purported to reconcile the public at large. The article reveals how privatisation, far from breaking with the past by widening participation in economic life, strengthened the ties that bind the French establishment elite through the concentration of power in ‘hard cores’ of stable investors in newly privatised firms. High levels of social capital within the French national business system ensured that members of the ruling elite, united by multiple ties and similar backgrounds, connived, as before, to manipulate institutions and situations in their perceived collective interest.     

Preventing know-how from walking out the door in China: Protection of trade secrets

Protecting ‘know-how,’ or trade secrets, is a vexing problem for companies doing business in China. Primary threats to the disclosure of proprietary information include deliberate actions of current and former employees, as well as loss of trade secrets in the context of joint ventures or other business arrangements. Because China continues to be an important trading partner and its domestic market has tremendous consumer potential, many companies remain in China. With this in mind, what are the best practices firms should undertake to protect their trade secrets in China to prevent competitors from gaining an unfair advantage? Based on an analysis of Chinese trade secrets law, practical recommendations are offered herein. Although there is no way for employers to ‘bullet proof’ the workplace from a loss of know-how, carefully crafted policies consistent with current trends in Chinese law will advance arguments in support of trade secret protection.     

Antitrust,Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Small Business

The purpose of this article is to discuss a few aspects of antitrust enforcement that are directly related to small businesses. The first point concerns how the antitrust laws work as an economic "charter of freedom" by protecting our economy from the misuse of market power by dominant firms, or from anticompetitive collusion by groups of firms, or from anticompetitive mergers, all of which can blunt the mainspring of our economic success – competitive markets. Second is an expansion on the first theme which focuses on how antitrust enforcement helps preserve two freedoms that I think small businesses care about very much: the freedom to engage in entrepreneurship, and the freedom to innovate. A final discussion involves a few recent cases recently seen at the Antitrust Division that illustrate the many ways in which antitrust enforcement has helped the small business marketplace.     

Humanising Business Through Ethical Labelling: Progress and Paradoxes in the UK

Labelling schemes are practical arrangements aimed at making ‘ethical’ products widely available and visible. They are crucial to expanded development of ethical markets and hence to the addition of moral dimensions to the normally amoral behaviour linking consumers and retail and production businesses. The study reported here attempts to assess the contribution of UK ethical, social and environmental certification and labelling initiatives to ‘sustainable’ consumption and production. The research sought to assess the overall potential of initiatives to inject human values into the supply-distribution chains, through a qualitative survey of 15 of the 26 main UK initiatives: in social justice, animal welfare and environmental sustainability from the agriculture, food processing, timber, aquaculture, textiles and personal care sectors. By analysing the basic characteristics and concepts of these labels and investigating the emergence of labelling initiatives, we assess whether labels help add an ethical dimension, or whether, in some respects, they also reduce such missions to the technical management of adding only another ‘utility’ to a product. The analysis assesses whether the gradual ‘mainstreaming’ of ethical initiatives such as ‘Fairtrade’ risks subsuming ethical goals within business participants’ competitive and profit-oriented logics. However, the contrasting perspectives revealed between rival labelling initiatives show that the scope and functions of labelling projects go beyond the manifest ones of information communication between consumers and producer and actually introduce elements of socio-political regulation. These are essential for more sustainable and ethical business practices and are an integral part of any humanisation of business involvement.     

Business policy,ethics and society

This section will cover (a) definition of business policy: strategic decisions in the enterprise; (b) ethical behaviour above and beyond the requirements of the law: what might this involve e.g. in respect of products and markets in which the business is prepared to operate? (c) does business have a responsibility towards ‘society’? For example, should businesses decide without being legally required to do so, to undertake activities which they think are in the national interest even if this may appear to conflict with strictly commercial interests? (d) if ethical/social decisions are required, who is to make them — at what levels of an enterprise — e.g. does the board make them all or are they also expected below board level? This section will also cover: (e) practical examples in the light of changing attitudes towards business and market behaviour in the 1980's and 1990's; (f) implications of attitudes towards corporate crime and of behaviour which may not be illegal but which may be regarded as ‘unacceptable’: this will be discussed with examples from experience in Australia and other countries. The section will first explain the meaning of the phrase ‘business policy’ and will briefly outline the kinds of strategic decision which have to be made in business enterprises. It will go on to consider whether there are things a business ‘ought’ or ‘ought not’ to do even if they are within the law. The section will illustrate these problems with examples in the light of changing attitudes towards business policy and market behaviour in the 1980's and 1990's. It will take into account some recent cases of corporate crime in Australia and elsewhere and also of behaviour which while neither against the law or outside the power of the board, might be thought ‘inappropriate’.     

Introduction: the icarus paradox in Korean business and management

Some writers argue that modern history reveals that countries pass through ‘cycles’ in economic leadership. The ‘forerunners’ of industrialization used inventions and innovations as the major sources of their growth. On the other hand, newly industrializing countries, labelled ‘latecomers’ vis-à-vis the first groups, relied more on imitating, borrowing, or learning advanced technological and organizational capabilities to achieve national industrialization and eventually to gain national competitiveness. For some time, many have viewed such economies, especially the ‘Asian Tigers’, as a major force that will lead future world economic growth. However, such expectations have diminished with the recent financial crisis and contagion in Asia. The subject matter covered here includes the sources of economic growth and industrialization, the ‘catch-up’ strategies of firms, and foreign investment. The causes of the recent financial crisis, and future possibilities for the Korean model of business and management, are also analysed.     

Models of the relationship of the firm to society

Authors of books on business ethics and corporate social responsibility fall into two general approaches when they answer the question: ‘Why should a business firm, which represents private property, have greater obligations to the local community than an ordinary citizen?’ Authors generally subscribe to a ‘rights’ approach or to a ‘power’ model. This paper will present four rights approaches and three power models which are used to describe the relationship of the firm to society. Introducing these different approaches and models will be two brief expositions which provide the setting for determining the relationship of a firm to society. The first traces two lines to the development of the contemporary American corporation. The second views the business corporation as a quasi-public institution.     

The Rehabilitation of Adam Smith for Catholic Social Teaching

Catholic Social Teaching (CST) takes a rather cautious view toward the value of the ideas of Adam Smith, due to his emphasis on negative political and economic liberty. Detractors of Smith within CST point to what they consider to be deficiencies within his works: an impoverished moral anthropology, a lack of concern for the common good, and markets untethered to human needs. Defenders of Smith within CST tend to emphasize the material benefits that derive from Smithian institutions, such as economic growth, improvements in standards of living, and the new opportunities that arise from cultures focused on innovation. This paper argues that Smith’s ideas have real value for CST. However, this value primarily lies in his moral psychology. While not denying the dangers of business activity for our moral lives, Smith also helps us to understand the possibility of the moral corruption of those who wield political power, thus providing an indirect defense of political and economic liberty that coheres with important Christian ethical notions found in CST. This is the case even though CST does not consistently recognize concerns surrounding the dangers of wielding political power—and thus Smith’s arguments offer real challenges to CST as well. This paper further suggests that these basic insights are relevant regardless of one’s favored institutional arrangements.     

Quantitative content analysis as a method for business ethics research

The aim of this article is to discuss quantitative content analysis as established in communication sciences as a method for research in business ethics. We argue that communication sciences and business ethics are neighboring disciplines, which allow the transfer of quantitative content analysis from communication sciences to business ethics. Technically, quantitative content analysis can be applied through human as well as software coding. Examples for both applications are provided and discussed. We make reference to the software solutions ‘Leximancer’, ‘Crawdad’, and ‘Wordle’, and examine their suitability and limitations with regard to ethical questions for researching business ethics. We recommend a mixed-method approach, combining human and software coding. Furthermore, we propose a three-step process that discusses quantitative content analysis as a method for business ethics, including an ethical research objective, and most importantly, concluding with ethical reasoning and interpretation of the quantitative results.     

Changing Business-Government Relations in Korea

Business-government relations in Korea were transformed during the developmental period between 1960 and 1990 under an authoritarian government. The relationship could be characterised as a close and vertical one where the government took a firm control of the business sector through the allocation of financial resources and entry permits for new business. Cultural characteristics such as close family and school ties and the Confucian tradition of respecting civil servants helped to strengthen this relationship. However, there have been signs that the traditional ‘Korea, Inc.’ model has outlived its usefulness. As the economy matured and became more open t o the world economy, the tight control of the economy by bureaucrats has proved less effective and in many cases it has weakened the efficiency of the economy. The democratisation of the polity has also changed the traditional vertical relationship among the power elite, bureaucrats and business. Now the government has become just one of the many stakeholders that business has to interact with in a more pluralistic and decentralised society.     

Family Matters? Recruitment Methods and Cultural Boundaries in Singapore Chinese Small and Medium Enterprises

Singapore official discourse speaks of (Chinese) families as both cultural and economic assets and as vestiges of national identity. Chinese families are often described in traditional terms, namely as patrilinial, patrilocal, patriarchal and clearly hierarchical. In Singapore official discourse, the historical success of traditional family businesses is presented as a unique ethnic and national characteristic. Simultaneously, the Singapore state claims to be ‘modern’, ‘Western’, and ‘cosmopolitan’, allowing little space for ‘parochial practices’ and ‘archaic traditions’. Either praised or looked down on, family businesses occupy an ambiguous position within the ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’ discourses of the Singapore state. This article supplies the evidence of changing family and business relations in Chinese–Singapore firms. Three major factors are isolated that influence Singapore attitudes towards family businesses: Chinese culture, globalization and the logic of developing capitalism, and the role of the Singapore state.     

Efficiency versus effectiveness in business networks

Efficiency and effectiveness are central terms in assessing business performance, yet the challenge for companies is to balance efficiency with effectiveness in business networks. Companies often fail to achieve differentiation and innovation in their surrounding networks, through dealing with efficiency and neglecting effectiveness. This article describes the term efficiency as a necessary condition or hurdle reflected in the company's operating margins, and ‘effectiveness’ as the company's ability to generate a sustainable growth of earnings in its surrounding network. The study builds on notions of efficiency and effectiveness using empirical research in manufacturer-retailer networks conducted between 2002 and 2005. The study draws conclusions to the importance of linking efficiency and effectiveness and more widely on companies' performance in business networks.     

Neither bad apple nor bad barrel: how the societal context impacts unethical behavior in organizations

Every time another corporate scandal captures media headlines, the ‘bad apple vs. bad barrel’ discussion starts anew. Yet this debate overlooks the influence of the broader societal context on organizational behavior. In this article, we argue that misbehaviors of organizations (the ‘barrels’) and their members (the ‘apples’) cannot be addressed properly without a clear understanding of their broader context (the ‘larder’). Whereas previously, a strong societal framework dampened the practical application of the Homo economicus concept (business actors as perfectly rational and egocentric utility‐maximizing agents without any moral concern), specialization, individualization and globalization led to a business world disembedded from broader societal norms. This emancipated business world promotes a literal interpretation of Homo economicus among business organizations and their members. Consequently, we argue that the first step toward ‘healthier’ apples and barrels is to sanitize the larder, that is, adapt the framework in which organizations and their members evolve.     

Do emerging markets become more efficient as they develop? Long memory persistence in equity indices

It seems reasonable to expect financial market efficiency to be related to the economic development level. We study a 16 year sample, covering 22 countries. The Hurst–Mandelbrot–Wallis rescaled range is our efficiency measure, which we apply to returns and volatility. We find strong evidence of long memory persistence in volatility over time, which is unsurprising. However, unlike previous researchers, we could not find evidence of rescaled ranges trending down over time. However, we introduce an alternative measure of economic development, namely, whether FTSE (2011) classify an emerging market as ‘advanced’ or ‘secondary’. This measure shows greater efficiency in returns and volatility for ‘advanced’ emerging markets.     

Failures in Regulator-Led Deinstitutionalization of Questionable Business Practices

Prior works in institutional theory are characterized by an assumption that the legal basis for authority of regulatory agencies is sufficient to ensure compliance by business organizations. From a business ethics standpoint, this would imply that regulatory oversight can hinder organizations’ pursuit of questionable business practices. However, the evidence for regulatory efficacy is far from clear as questionable business practices tend to persist despite regulatory monitoring. Drawing on the case of the regulatory failure to trigger a shift away from aggressive banking practices in Ireland, which had serious social and economic costs, we highlight three barriers to deinstitutionalization: (1) insufficient advocacy for change coupled with an inability to problematize the risks of extant business practices, (2) unwillingness to impose change through the use of threats, power, or sanctions, and (3) contradictions in the institutional environment that can obfuscate the regulators’ message. Thus, our study proposes that regulator-led change might not be as straightforward as previously theorized. In doing so, it advances prior theory through an explicit focus on the importance of three types of institutional work that are necessary for regulator-led deinstitutionalization.     

Exploring and Exposing Values in Management Education: Problematizing Final Vocabularies in Order to Enhance Moral Imagination

In business schools, there is a persistent myth according to which management education is, and should be, ‘value-free’. This article reflects on the experiences of two business schools from Finland and Australia in which the UN Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) have been pragmatically used as a platform for breaking with this institutionalized guise of positivist value neutrality. This use of PRME makes it possible to create learning environments in which values and value tensions inherent in management education can be explored and exposed. Inspired by Rorty’s understanding of ethics—notably his discussion of ‘final vocabularies’ and ‘moral imagination’—and Flyvbjerg’s reading of phronēsis, the article discusses an approach to learning that helps both teachers and students in exploring and exposing values in management education by problematizing dominant business school vocabularies, thereby leading to moral development, in the Rortian sense. The article presents a number of final vocabularies that business students come to class with, some learning methods used to challenge these vocabularies through discussion of alternative vocabularies, and the new directions for moral imagination that may result.