Highway to (Digital) Surveillance: When Are Clients Coerced to Share Their Data with Insurers?

Journal of Business Ethics - Clients may feel trapped into sharing their private digital data with insurance companies to get a desired insurance product or premium. However, private insurance must...     

When Should an Incumbent be Obliged to Share its Infrastructure with an Entrant Under the General Competition Rules?

According to the essential-facilities doctrine, competition law requires an infrastructural monopoly to provide access. Under the Bronner criterion, proposed by the EC Court, the doctrine is only applicable when a symmetric infrastructural duopoly is non-viable. This paper uses a simple model to illustrate that, from a welfare point-of-view, the Bronner criterion may provide too little monopoly protection for the incumbent in high-risk new markets, while requiring too much investments from the entrant in low-risk mature markets.JEL classification: L43, L51     

Organizations Behaving Badly: When Are Discreditable Actions Likely to Damage Organizational Reputation?

Everyday there are revelations of organizations behaving in discreditable ways. Sometimes these actions result in damage to an organization’s reputation, but often they do not. In this article, we examine the question of why external stakeholders may overlook disclosed discreditable actions, even those entailing ethical breaches. Drawing on stigmatization theory, we develop a model to explain the likelihood of reputational loss following revelations of discreditable actions. The model integrates four properties of actions (perceived control, perceived certainty, perceived threat, and perceived deviance), stakeholder motivation, and media coverage. Implications for theory and for practitioners concerned with reputation management are discussed.     

Entrepreneurial Orientation versus Small Business Orientation: What Are Their Relationships to Firm Performance?

This study examines the constructs of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) versus small business orientation (SBO), their impact on small business performance, and whether these effects are moderated by longevity. A sample of 267 small business owners from 11 small–medium downtowns was used in structural equation modeling (SEM) testing of the measurement, structural and moderation hypotheses. The measurement confirmatory factor analyses models of the two constructs revealed that EO and SBO are unique constructs. Then a structural model predicting performance was tested. Finally, a two‐group model split on “below 11 years” versus “11+ years” demonstrated that the structural paths connecting EO and SBO to performance are not the same in these groups: for the younger group, only EO significantly predicts performance while for the older group, only SBO significantly predicts performance.     

Negotiating with the Chinese: Are They More Likely to Use Unethical Strategies?

It is always a challenge to deal with ethical dilemmas in negotiations and it is even more difficult when the other party is from a different culture. Understanding the differences between what is ethically appropriate and what is not in an international context has thus become important for a better understanding of different negotiation practices across the globe. This study explores the likelihood of Chinese negotiators’ using unethical strategies in negotiations by examining Chinese managerial employees’ perceived appropriateness of five categories of ethically questionable strategies. The results show that, in comparison with their counterparts from the USA, Chinese managers are more likely to consider it appropriate to use ethically questionable negotiation strategies in all five categories except the traditional bargaining strategies. In addition, contrary to the West where women tend to maintain higher ethical standards, no gender difference is found in China in the perceived appropriateness of using these strategies in all but one category. Implications for negotiation practitioners and international managers that often participate in international negotiations with the Chinese are then discussed, along with potential future research directions.     

Industrial-Relations Practices of Japanese Multinationals and Their Subsidiaries in Canada: Are They Transferable to Canadian Firms?

This paper presents the findings of a comparative study of the industrial-relations practices of thirty Japanese parent companies and their subsidiaries in Canada. Our analysis indicates that differences in the degree of Japanese industrial-relations practices among the parent companies and their subsidiaries in Canada cannot be explained either by cultural or by structural factors. The only meaningful role of the “Japanese” factors in our findings is the high correlation of the degree of Japanese-style industrial relations with the low rates of labour turnover in the Japanese subsidiaries in Canada. As far as the transferability of Japanese industrial-relations practices to Canadian enterprises is concerned, it appears that the enterprise-union structure and the Japanese work ethic-that is, loyalty and close identification with the firm-would be unacceptable to most workers in Canada. The principles in the Japanese industrial-relations system which can be applied to the Canadian scene include better management of human resources, an extensive system of training and education for all employees, and a joint consultative mechanism based on a relationship of trust between labour and management. Résumé Ce mémoire présente les résultats d'une étude comparative traitant des méthodes de relations industrielles de trente sociétés-mères japonaises et de leurs filiales au Canada. Notre analyse indique que les différences en matière de relations industrielles entre les sociétés japonaises et leurs filiales canadiennes ne peuvent ětre expliquées par des phénomènes culturels ou structurels. Selon nos études, le seul rǒle signicatif des caractéristiques “japonaises” se retrouve dans la corrélation élevée existant entre le degré des méthodes japonaises et le faible taux de roulement dans les filiales canadiennes. Il semble cependant que l'application dans l'entreprise canadienne des pratiques de relations industrielles japonaises, entre autres, la structure syndicale et l'éthique de travail qui exigent loyauté et identification étroite avec l'entreprise, sarient inacceptables pour la plupart des travailleurs au Canada. Parmi les principes japonais qui seraient acceptés dans l'industrie canadienne, on retrouve une meilleure gestion des ressources humaines et des programmes complets d'études et de formation à l'intention de tous les employés, de měme qu'un mécanisme de consultation mutuelle fondé sur des rapports de confiance entre les employés et la direction.     

Correction to: Are two brands better than one? Investigating the effects of co-branding in advertising on audience memory

Marketing Letters - The article Are two brands better than one? Investigating the effects of co-branding in advertising on audience memory, written by Cathy Nguyen, Jenni Romaniuk, Margaret...     

Online display advertising for CPG brands: (When) does it work?

This study examines how online display ads, alone or in combination with more conventional media (television and print), can help drive sales in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) sector. It also assesses how the combined sales effect of online and offline ads depends on the volatility of their expenditures over time. We explore these relations for 154 brands across 68 Dutch CPG product categories. We find that, even though display ads are not effective for the “average” CPG brand, they do have a significant impact for a sizable, and considerably larger than expected by chance, subset of brands. Importantly, this impact depends on the type of product. While display ads are found to be ineffective for low-involvement utilitarian products, they can significantly enhance sales for other CPG product types. Moreover, the effect depends on whether they are used in combination with other media: while display ads are best used as a stand-alone medium for high-involvement utilitarian products, it is better to combine them with traditional media for hedonic products. Finally, the long-term effectiveness of display messages increases significantly when they are spread more evenly in time.     

Determinants for Effects of Celebrity Negative Information: When to Terminate a Relationship with a Celebrity Endorser in Trouble?

This study examines three factors that influence consumers’ brand evaluation and purchase intention under negative celebrity information. The study is designed to investigate the effects of consumers’ perceived associative strength between celebrity endorser and brand, the role of congruence between a celebrity endorser's negative information and his/her endorsed brand, and the effects of consumers’ level of brand commitment. The study's findings suggest that congruence or “fit” between a celebrity endorser's negative information and an endorsed brand moderates a consumers’ evaluation of brand and purchase intentions. The study finds that a strong associative link between the brand and the celebrity endorser leads to lower brand evaluation as well as lower purchase intention. It also finds that consumers with a higher level of brand commitment are less likely to react negatively to a celebrity's bad publicity than are consumers with a lower level of brand commitment. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Building subsidiary local responsiveness: (When) does the directionality of intrafirm knowledge transfers matter?

The present study focuses on effects of subsidiary internal knowledge-based activities—knowledge transfer and reverse knowledge transfer—and absorptive capacity on local responsiveness. We also examine whether absorptive capacity, shared values, and psychological safety, representing constituents of the motivation-opportunity-ability model of behavior, moderate relationships of subsidiary internal knowledge-based activities with responsiveness. Based on a sample of 173 Chinese subsidiaries, the results suggest knowledge transfer and absorptive capacity facilitate local responsiveness. Shared values moderates positively and absorptive capacity negatively, the relationship between knowledge transfer and responsiveness. Psychological safety strengthens the link between reverse knowledge transfer and local responsiveness.     

Associating Turkey with the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership: A costly (re‐) engagement?

Policy debate on the implications of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) for Turkey has focused almost exclusively on “how” Turkey can/will take part in a forthcoming transatlantic deal. Turkey's association with a TTIP has largely been conceived as an inevitable and beneficial policy choice to re‐engage Ankara with the Atlantic alliance and emerging transatlantic trade framework. The arguments for extending TTIP to Turkey have mostly been built upon a conventional understanding of preferential trade agreements. The debate has not provided a comprehensive assessment of costs and benefits for Turkey's exclusion from or joining TTIP as it dismissed multiple dimensions of the “deep integration” agenda which underpined the transatlantic talks. This paper intends to contribute to the “why” debate with a thorough analysis of critical issues on the transatlantic agenda by evaluating economic and policy implications of TTIP both for exclusion and association scenarios together with associated compliance and adjustment costs.     

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Catalytic Effect: Do IMF Agreements Improve Access of Emerging Economies to International Financial Markets?

We investigate whether countries have access to loans with better conditions after an International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement. We conduct an empirical analysis which takes into account both the maturity and the interest rate of public and publicly guaranteed private debt. A two‐stage least squares estimation method is used to avoid selection bias problems. Panel data covering 116 countries between 1984 and 2007 and two other subsets of this panel data are used. The results indicate an improvement in access to international financial markets when an IMF programme is announced. The improvement increases as the sample consists of better‐performing countries. We conclude that, the catalytic effect may lower the level of commitment, political will and ‘ownership’ of the programme of the borrower country. On the other hand, borrower countries should consider the catalytic effect in determining the amount of financial assistance from the IMF.