Determinants of chief executive officer compensation following major acquisitions

This study sought to determine whether major increases in firm size, achieved through acquisitions, result in greater chief executive officer (CEO) compensation, given manager versus owner control. A second issue addressed is whether the type of firm—single industry or multiple industry—plays a role in the linkage between acquisition activity and additional compensation. Other variables included in the analysis were CEO tenure and profitability. Annual observations from 1979 through 1986 of 50 firms that had engaged in acquisition activity form the basis of the study. Findings reveal that acquisitions, after allowing 1 year for the full impact of the merger to be felt, led to significant increases in CEO compensation for both owner- and manager-controlled firms. Also, it was found that manager-controlled firms gave their CEOs further rewards for additional years on the job, regardless of performance, while owner-controlled firms were found to reward more on the basis of performance.     

Impulse versus opportunistic purchasing during a grocery shopping experience

The current study introduces a conceptual distinction between two types of unplanned purchases—impulse purchases (i.e., spontaneous decisions triggered affectively) versus opportunistic purchases (i.e., rational decisions elicited by stimulus exposure)—grounded in separate dynamics of the cognitive processes unfolding during the course of a shopping trip. In a temporal analysis of shopping behavior within a simulated grocery-shopping experience, we found that participants increased their impulse buying but decreased their opportunistic buying, as a function of the number of basket items chosen previously. Similarly, impulse purchases increased in the final stages of the trip, particularly in shoppers without the aid of a shopping list, whereas opportunistic purchases decreased. Ours is thus the first study to report time–course evidence of two types of unplanned purchases within the grocery-shopping experience.     

Interview: Leadership,global management,and future challenges: An interview with Peter Brabeck‐Letmathe,chief executive officer of Nestlé SA

The interview with Peter Brabeck‐Letmathe, Chief Executive Officer of Nestlé S.A., focuses on three core business concepts: Nestlé's leadership style in today's global environment, the importance of Nestlé's core values, and some future challenges to Nestlé. Nestlé's ideal leaders are dynamic, multicultural, and open‐minded; they continuously seize the opportunities that a changing environment offers. Nestlé's Basic Management and Leadership Principles are the foundation upon which changes are enacted and implemented. Nestlé's organizational structures are tailored to facilitate business in many different product categories. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Towards an understanding of health care purchasing: The purchasing behaviour of general practice fundholders 1

In the last few years there have been considerable changes in the National Health Service. Perhaps the most significant of these has been the introduction of competition into health care, that is the split of the health service into purchasers and providers of care. Central to this development has been the introduction of general practice fundholding, whereby practices are able to purchase health care for their patients directly from competing suppliers. Those pradices which have become fundholders have faced considerable challenges in developing their purchasing function. At the same time, provider units in areas where fundholding has become established face an increasingly fragmented purchasing base.

Building on existing theoretical work into the nature of organizational purchasing behaviour and current knowledge of the health care market in Britain, this paper attempts to develop an understanding of the dynamics of GP fundholder purchasing behaviour.     

Representations of the emotions associated with a wine purchasing or consumption experience

Wine products possess pronounced cultural and symbolic characteristics. Given how hard it is to differentiate the product's more objective dimensions, it is important to understand the emotions and feelings that accompany wine purchasing, consuming or sharing experiences. The present study uses a writing workshop and literature review to uncover the relationships between the dimensions of the emotions that people feel during an experience of this kind, along with the mode of expression of different consumer groups. It also offers specific analysis of the role played by brands among the different characteristics of emotions. Towards this end, a series of wine‐related experiential narratives has been compiled and treated via a structural text analysis approach followed by lexical contents analysis. One of the findings breaks consumers' involvement down into four categories of emotions. Another comes from a content analysis of the narratives that will differentiate among three separate consumer groups. Lastly, suggestions will be made in terms of wider consequences for the field of wine marketing.     

The determinants of service quality: issues for purchasing

The overall purpose of this research was to analyze internal communication patterns, service quality initiatives, supplier management strategies and internal performance in organizations providing high levels of service quality to their external customers. Data was collected from 118 purchasing executives of manufacturing and service organizations. Respondents were asked to assess external and internal service quality as well as identify a number of internal service quality-oriented activities employed in their firms. Data was summarized for respondents stating a high level of external service quality. Comparative information was also supplied for the respondents stating lower levels of external service quality.     

The reluctant Hong Kong consumer: purchasing travel online

Hong Kong consumers have embraced the web but appear reluctant to buy airline tickets online, suggesting that perceptions of risk outweigh perceived convenience. In this study we identify that both risk and convenience factors are associated strongly with willingness to purchase, particularly privacy, security and poor customer service, time savings, site usability and information provision. We identify further that the experienced shopper is only moderately satisfied and that satisfaction appears to be associated strongly with willingness to make further purchases. Overall, findings suggest that although consumers recognize a number of benefits, there is deep‐rooted resistance to buying this particular product online. The explanation may lie in a combination of the physical density of the Hong Kong market, love of the whole shopping experience and a desire to minimize risk. We conclude that to tempt consumers online airlines and agents must target the Hong Kong market with a clear value proposition which includes user‐friendly sites, streamlined payment procedures, on‐ and offline customer support, price‐related promotions and tailored offline services which reinforce online offerings.     

Interview: The future is bright,the future is hedge funds: An interview with James R. Hedges IV,founder, president,and chief investment officer of LJH Global Investments

Founded in 1992, LJH Global Investments is one of the oldest global hedge fund advisory and fund of hedge funds management firms. Its disciplined approach to evaluating hedge funds and their respective managers is recognized by many financial services firms such as banks, asset management firms, and insurance companies. They rely on the firm as a sub‐advisor to build, manage, and service fund of hedge funds products. Its founder, James R. Hedges IV, was the first fund of hedge funds expert ever invited to speak to the Bank of Japan executives on the burgeoning hedge fund industry. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Patterns of inter-organizational purchasing: Evolution of consortia-based purchasing amongst GP fundholders

In the last few years there have been considerable changes in the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. Arguably the most significant of these has been the introduction of competition into health care with the split of the health service into purchasers and providers of care. Central to this development has been the introduction of General Practice fundholding, whereby practices purchase health care for their patients directly from competing suppliers. Those practices that have become fundholders have faced considerable challenges in developing their purchasing function given the complexities of contracting within the context of the NHS internal market. Although one of the original aims of GP fundholding was to facilitate locally responsive purchasing, such have been the complexities of contracting that many fundholding practices have attempted to reduce the managerial demands of purchasing through membership of purchasing consortia. Based on an in-depth study of GP fundholders across Scotland, this paper explores the development of consortia-based purchasing in terms of the managerial implications for the participant practices of purchasing through such inter-organizational networks.     

The changing role of purchasing: reconsidering three strategic issues

The competitive pressures that act upon firms have led to major changes in the way in which purchasing is perceived - from a money-saving activity to a resource-planning function. In this paper the authors discuss some of the changes that purchasing has undergone and identify key concerns for the future, as purchasing moves towwards a new strategic role.     

The role of purchasing in countertrade

This paper examines countertrade with a particular emphasis on the involvement of UK companies. A review of the literature shows that whilst international trade organisations adopt a negative attitude to countertrade, which creates difficulties for research into the subject, substantial benefits may be obtained by both parties to countertrade deals. The results of empirical research show that UK companies involved in countertrade play a largely reactive role, which mirrors the approach of UK government agencies. It is argued that purchasing can play a significant role in proactive countertrade through identifying appropriate sources, effective negotiation and disposal of goods to existing suppliers.     

The purchasing power parity persistence paradigm

Rogoff (Journal of Economic Literature 1996;34:647-668) describes the ‘remarkable consensus’ of 3-5 year half-lives of purchasing power parity deviations among studies using long-horizon data. These studies, however, focus on rejections of unit roots in real exchange rates and do not use appropriate techniques to measure persistence. Our half-life estimates explicitly account for serial correlation, sampling uncertainty and, most importantly, small sample bias. Calculating confidence intervals as well as point estimates for long-horizon and post-1973 data, we find that, even though most of the point estimates lie within the 3-5 year range, univariate methods provide virtually no information regarding the size of the half-lives.     

The corporate responsibility officer: A new position on the organization chart

As the corporation began to assume its modern form, new needs were identified and new positions incorporated in the hierarchy. Today, a new position is emerging-that of the corporate responsibility officer. The authors have gathered data from a cross section of major corporations currently showing interest in social responsibility in an attempt to deal with the organizational aspect of this work and with some biographical dimensions of the officers themselves. The findings indicate, for example, that most of the positions were established after 1968 and rank high in the organization, and that their holders report directly to the chief executive. All the officers seem to be mature, experienced, and highly educated and trained individuals, skilled in external relations.     

购买福特蒙迪欧的理由

今年4月份以来，陆续接到几个朋友的电话，内容几乎一致，就是让在汽车媒体工作的我帮他们购买一辆由长安福特汽车公司生产的福特蒙迪欧轿车。今年上半年，全国轿车的销售形势并不乐观，有些品牌的汽车已有相当数量的库存积压。20-30万元价位可选择的汽车品牌和车型已经很多，某些原来需要加价、等待才可以买到的车型，现在也可以当场提车了。长安福特汽车公司在北京已经有3家     

Influence of virtual communities in purchasing decisions: The participants' perspective

This study intended to fill some gaps in knowledge about virtual communities and their influence on consumers' purchasing decisions. A Brazilian Orkut community, whose central theme is preparing for wedding ceremonies, was investigated to reveal relationships among members and group influences on purchasing decisions. Twenty-one interviews were conducted by telephone. Results unveil a basic code of conduct, suggesting that the community can also act as a normative reference group, with strong identification among participants. Although the central interest – the wedding ceremony and party – could be considered as episodic, many members actively stay in the community after being married, just to help others. Group leaders seemed to be active participants, those with more experience with products related to the group's interests, or those perceived as having refined tastes. There was evidence that purchasing intentions and behavior can be altered as a result of interactions among members.     

The challenges of supporting necessity entrepreneurs: Understanding loan officer exit in microfinance

Necessity entrepreneurship can serve as a pathway out of poverty for low-income individuals, with microfinance often providing important financial support. Yet the relational lending strategies common among microfinance institutions may influence loan officer turnover and, in turn, compromise entrepreneurs' access to credit. While there is some reason to suspect that relational lending with poor entrepreneurs will increase retention, we propose that serving the poor may make loan officers more likely to quit: loan officers in commercial microfinance institutions are unlikely to have strong commitments to poverty alleviation and may be taxed by the challenging fieldwork associated with lending in poor areas. Qualitative and quantitative data from a microfinance bank in Latin America support our expectations, showing that exit becomes more likely when loan officers' work involves more poor clients and that the effect is strongest when such work demands intensive fieldwork in low-income areas. Supplementary analyses of trends across the global microfinance industry demonstrate that poor clients have a stronger impact on exit in for-profits than non-profits, suggesting that prosocial motives among non-profit employees may have a buffering effect. Overall, our study reveals how providing services to necessity entrepreneurs can have negative, unexpected consequences for frontline employees.