Does Latin America Comprise Transnational ‘Subregions’?

We live in a world of nations, but also one of multi‐nation systems. These systems, or transnational regions, affect global economics, politics and diplomacy. Latin America is a widely recognised and documented transnational region. It contains subregional nation systems that might have all of the characteristics and significance of regions and might also affect the broader integration of Latin America. The author defines regionality on the basis of economic integration and measures it with two methods for Latin America, North America, three Latin American subregional systems and one arbitrarily defined nation system within Latin America. He finds a high degree of integration in Latin America, the Andean nations and the Southern Cone of South America. He finds only a modest degree of integration in North America and not significantly greater integration in South America than in Latin America. The division of Latin America into subregions is consistent with the incidence of sub‐regional trade initiatives in the past two decades and might be at least partly responsible for the limited progress to date towards Latin America‐wide integration. Latin American subregions might now be providing a foundation on which to build regionalism in the future.     

Fathers' participation in infant-care

Ordinary least squares multiple regression was used to model time spent in child-care by 107 fathers of infants, 3–10 months of age. Time in both physical and non-physical care activities was reported by fathers for a weekday. Number of years married, hours employed for pay the previous week, and fathers' stress score in the child domain were negatively related to time spent in infant-care.     

The Relationship between Identity Crises and Crises of Control

Models of the work-to-family and family-to-work interface were tested in two heterogeneous samples of workers, one from North America (N = 408) and one from China (N = 442), using the same measures translated from English to Chinese using back translation. Consistent with proposed differences in the centrality of work and family, tolerance of work demands, and the availability of family support, work-to-family spillover effects tended to be stronger in the North American sample, whereas family-to-work spillover effects tended to be stronger in the Chinese sample. However, some inconsistencies across cultures did not conform to this generalization. Results point to asymmetric differences between North America and China in the work–family interface. Theoretical implications for resource scarcity and expansionist perspectives are discussed, as well as those for the applicability of work–family interventions across North America and China.     

Problems with credit rating and reporting systems in Mexico: A barrier to North America's full economic development?

In many regions of the globe today outside the US and Canada, existing networks for evaluating borrowers' credit histories, for recording borrowers' pledges of assets backing loans, and for the legal enforcement of creditor claims are often poorly developed. Inside North America these problems with credit information flows and legal enforcement systems are most evident inside Mexico, where credit reporting networks and the courts work under a somewhat different set of rules than in Canada and the United States. A national mail survey of more than 300 US banks lending across international boundaries into Mexico found that many US bankers have reservations about the credibility of credit reporting and credit security systems inside Mexico. If these reservations persist, they can lead to a fundamental restructuring of that developing nation's industry that could discourage international capital inflows and curtail the emergence of small business. Indeed, unless current credit information flows are more fully integrated and are of more uniform quality throughout North America, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is likely to continue to fall short of its promise of significant job growth and improved living standards throughout the continent. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Husbands' and wives' household work: moving towards egalitarianism?

Whether husbands are increasing their time in household tasks, especially when their wives are employed, has been a topic of debate in recent years. Several studies have found that husbands are participating in more child care now than in the past. But are husbands also doing other tasks now? Is there any relationship between the amounts of time that husbands and wives allocate to various household tasks? Are there any weekday versus weekend differences? A small sample of husbands and wives recorded their time spent in various activities for 7 consecutive days. The findings reveal that wives spent more time in general doing household tasks than did their husbands. Employed wives and their husbands both decreased their total time in household work, compared with full-time homemakers and their husbands. At weekends, however, both employed wives and homemakers decreased their overall time in household work while the husbands increased theirs. The t-test revealed that at weekends there were no significant differences in the times allocated to various household tasks by employed wives and their husbands, and significant differences only in time spent in child care and food preparation/clean-up by homemakers and their spouses. There appears to be a more egalitarian approach by husbands and wives to household tasks at weekends than on weekdays, even when the wives are not employed. Although these findings should not be generalized to the population, they indicate an intriguing possible trend which deserves further investigation.     

Continental differences in purchasing strategies and tools

This article focuses on the similarities and differences between the continental purchasing strategies and tools of companies in Western Europe and North America. The main question examined here is the strategic priorities and tools that European and North American buyers use (at the category level) for direct purchases and how they differ. The analysis is based on an empirical study of 224 companies from 10 countries. The results suggest that Europeans emphasise a reduction in prices and total cost of ownership as strategic objectives, while North Americans place greater emphasis on compliance with social and ethical guidelines. Both groups place surprisingly little emphasis on environmental objectives. In terms of tools, North American buyers have higher utilisation of electronic tools in purchasing and in communicating with suppliers, while European buyers appear to more extensively use purchasing tools associated with rating and auditing suppliers. Overall, it appears that a majority of purchases take place in home countries and close-by regions. Accordingly, we argue that practices adopted there offer interesting insights for international purchasing of the companies.     

PRODUCTIVE TIME OF HOUSEHOLD HEADS

This study is an analysis of the utility value of time. Time is viewed on a productivity continuum with activities that result in measurable products such as income or home sewing at one extreme of the continuum and activities such as sleep at the other extreme. The use of time by unemployed and employed heads of households was the basis for this analysis. Four measures of time were constructed to determine the amount of time spent in market, household, leisure and personal activities. Unemployed heads of households spent more time in household and leisure activities than employed heads. Assuming that household activities have productive value, time spent in child care, shopping, house cleaning, etc., were viewed as having utility value for the household. Thus, reallocated time had utility value for the household. In addition, it was found that a significant relationship existed between employment status and use of time, regardless of position on the productivity continuum. From this study comes a better understanding of how time is reallocated during unemployment so that the economic loss for the household as well as the economy can be minimized.     

Advertising in times of war: Themes in Argentine print advertising during the Malvinas/Falklands War

In the plethora of literature that investigates how the advertising industry reacts to changes in society, very few studies are concerned with regions outside of North America and Europe. For this study, we were interested in testing whether the conclusions of North American research in marketing communications would transfer to an understudied market. The ever-changing Argentine economy is a fertile ground to analyze changes in advertising strategies and tactics during times of turmoil. Thus, this study considered changes in appeals and strategies in print advertisements across two eras for the Latin American country: prewar (1981) and war (1982). With the advancement of the war efforts, results indicated that there were changes in (1) the tactical intent of the ads, (2) the nature of the advertiser, and (3) the products advertised. Additionally, our study shows that discursive strategies employed by advertisers were consistent with those emphasized by other media, such as television and print journalism.     

中国分地区进出口贸易与经济增长关系研究

从1981～2004年的统计数据看,我国同亚洲、非洲、欧洲、拉丁美洲、北美洲和大洋洲地区的进出口贸易与我国经济增长之间具有内在关系。我国同各地区的进出口贸易对经济增长的贡献存在明显差异。就长期而言,我国对欧洲地区的出口贸易对经济增长的贡献率最大,进口方面则是从北美洲的进口对我国经济增长的贡献率最大。这一结论为我国贸易政策的分地区调整提供了实证依据。     

Rural-urban differentials in children's household production time

This research examined the amount of time rural and urban children spent in household production activities, and several demographic factors related to that time use. Data were obtained from a multi-state family time-use survey, NE-113 ‘Use of Time in Rural and Urban Families’. Home interviews were conducted with 2,100 families in II states. The sample consisted of 1,045 rural children and 1,026 urban children, aged 6–17. The hypothesis, that the differentials in time spent in household production by rural and urban children will be due to assignment of tasks by sex, was confirmed. Boys spent similar amounts of time in housework regardless of place of residence, while rural girls spent more time than urban girls.     

居留地贸易对日本明治时期海外贸易的促进

由于不平等条约,明治时期的日本必须在各种不平等条约下进行海外贸易,而且在开港的同时还要允许欧美外商进入开放港口,但是欧美外商代理店制度的非效率性和日本当时的进出口体制及商业流通机构,使外商在流通过程中被排除在外,更因为居留地贸易制度反而使居留地的贸易被限制起来。从这个意义上来讲,虽然居留地贸易是在不平等条约下进行的,结果却发挥了非关税壁垒的作用,使日本国内市场在欧美资本进入时被保护起来。     

Quality Dimensions in E-Commerce Software Tools: An Empirical Analysis of North American and Japanese Markets

Are customers in different countries alike in their preferences for similar software products? In this article, we examine the relative importance of 5 dimensions of product quality across customers from North America and Japan. Based on data collected from over 400 customers of a representative sample of electronic- (e-) commerce software products, we tested the relative importance of these quality dimensions for differences across samples from North America and Japan. We use Bayesian analysis for analyzing the average influence of each attribute on the overall customer satisfaction as well as the variability of each attribute across the two samples. Our findings indicate that the importance of quality attributes is significantly different in North American and Japanese samples. We find that although usability dominates other attributes in North American data, Japanese customers place emphasis on functionality and capability of software products. Our results provide managerial implications for the designers of global software applications, especially in the domain of e-commerce.     

A Comparison of Ethics of Investment Professionals: North America Versus Pacific Rim Nations

This study examines the ethical attitudes and practices of securities analysts and portfolio managers from four Pacific Rim countries – Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Thailand – and compares the findings to a similar study of North American investment professionals to identify significant differences. The findings show that many differences exist due to cultural differences and differences in the regulatory environment between the Pacific Rim countries studied and North America.     

A Three‐Country Comparison of the Business Success versus Failure Prediction Model

Why do some businesses succeed and others end up bankrupt? There is great discrepancy in the literature as to which variables do in fact lead to success, thus, there currently is no theory. To move the field in that direction, this study tests the Lussier 15‐variable business success versus failure prediction model in Chile with a sample of 234 small businesses—131 failed and 103 successful. Results support the model's validity in Chile. Thus, the model has been tested with significant results in three very different parts of the world; first in United States (North America), then in Croatia (Central Eastern Europe), and now in Chile (South America). The model will reliably predict a group of businesses as failed or successful more accurately than random guessing in all three countries over 96 percent of the time.     

Perceptions of Social Media's Relevance and Targeted Advertisements

American college students in the northeast and southeast were surveyed about Facebook's relevance and advertising. Latent class cluster analysis was used to segment respondents based upon: Facebook relevance; the value of Facebook advertising; and the ethics of Facebook's targeted advertising and demographic variables. Distinct segments were identified that are distinguishable by Facebook's relevance, the value of Facebook advertising; the ethics of Facebook's targeted advertising; hours spent on Facebook; residence while in college; and personality type. No segment found Facebook advertising, for example, useful, meaningful, and leading to purchase intentions. They viewed the advertising poorly and found it unethical to be targeted with advertisements based on their interests and those of friends.     

Work hard or play hard: the effect of leisure crafting on opportunity recognition and venture performance

Given the challenges inherent in starting companies, investigation of how entrepreneurs use their time at work to develop ventures has received prominent attention by scholars. We argue that how entrepreneurs use their leisure time has not received commensurate scrutiny. Leisure crafting, the proactive pursuit of particular leisure activities for specific goals, could play an important role in the entrepreneurial process. Herein, we develop and test a theoretical model describing how leisure crafting among entrepreneurs affects opportunity recognition and venture performance. Using three studies we provide strong evidence that leisure crafting positively relates to opportunity recognition and venture performance, which is mediated by thriving at work and moderated by work task focus. These findings provide generative insights into the nature of leisure and the micro-processes that drive entrepreneurship.     

Richard Follett. The Sugar Masters: Planters and Slaves in Louisiana's Cane World, 1820-1860

Nobody writes books with grand titles like American Slaveryany more, and with good reason. No matter how thick the volume,no single study can adequately depict the dazzling varietiesof unfree labor in North America, even within a single era.Broad statements about unwaged labor practices in one part ofthe country will attract the criticism of specialists of anothersection. Even within a single colony or state, slavery on thecountryside was     

Cultural influences on cross-border vacationing

This study investigates the impact of cultural variables on cross-border vacationing in the Western New York-Southern Ontario region in North America and the Hong Kong-Shenzhen area in Asia. A survey of 635 cross-border vacationers in the two regions indicates that economic, quality, and service variables and the affective pleasure of vacationing in a foreign environment exert effects on vacationers' perceptions, behavior, and satisfaction predicted on the basis of the levels of individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and time orientation prevalent in those border regions.     

Euro-Asian trade: The stepchild in triadic relations takes over

Euro-Asian trade was for a long time by far the weakest link in the triadic chain of economic relationships between Europe, North America and Asia. The development of the EC towards the single market, the opening up of Eastern Europe and the growth of trade within the Asia Pacific region itself have led to the expectation that this link would become even weaker in future. The following article presents evidence to the contrary. This paper is a revised version of a lecture given at the Euro-Asia Centre of INSEAD on 14 February 1992. The statistical work and the preparation of graphs was largely done by Alexander Bushaev.