Competition in consumption as viewed by Jewish law

Competition is the most basic force traditionally regarded by Western economists as governing both society's resources allocation and income distribution. No wonder, then, that many legal systems have been concerned with various aspects of competitive activity, and formulated laws and rulings to keep market behavior within limits of ethical conduct. Jewish law has not been an exception. The focus of this paper is on competition in consumption. Its underlying assumption is that lawmakers' decisions approximate optimality in resource allocation. The validity of the ‘optimality’ assumption is assessed in light of the special moral features unique to Jewish law. Yehoshua Lieberman is Senior Lecturer in Business and Economics at the Department of Economics and Business Administration of Bar-Ilan University, Israel. Previously he was Visiting Associate Professor at the Department of Marketing of the University of Washington at Seattle. His most important publications areElements of Talmudic Monetary Thought andThe Coase Theorem in Jewish Law.     

How ethical are purchasing management professionals?

The primary purpose of this study was to assess the ethics of purchasing management professionals. A multidimensional scale of ethics was used to measure their predispositions to act morally. The ethics measure from this scale was correlated to a series of ethical vignettes specific to the purchasing function to further assess the value of the scale. In addition, the consistency of values as rationale for decision making was also examined. The findings of the study indicate that purchasing professionals appear to be more ethical than indicated in previous studies as measured by both the multidimensional scale of ethics and their responses to ethical situations similar to those faced in their day-to-day work experiences. The utility of a multidimensional scale of ethics is further validated, and some preliminary assessments of the nature of values impacting on ethical decision making are also evaluated.Robert Landeros, is associate professor of Integrated Supply Management at the Haworth College of Business, Western Michigan University, U.S.A., and visiting associate professor of logistics at the Norwegian School of Management, Sandvika, Norway. He has researched and published in the area of interorganizational relationships.Richard E. Plank, is associate professor of Marketing at the Haworth College of Business, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, U.S.A. His research interests are in the areas of purchasing, personal selling, and the buyer-seller interface.     

International perspectives on the profile of highly talented international business professionals

There is a global demand for talented managers and leaders. To meet this demand, higher education institutions are developing talent programs. However, international perception of talent is diffuse. In this study, our profile of highly talented international business professionals was internationally validated by 172 participants, representing East Asia and Western Europe. Results indicate consensus on three domains: communicating, achieving results, and seeing patterns and interrelationships in a global context. Strikingly, diverse country-specific interpretations of the accompanying behaviors were observed. The findings contribute to the talent literature and offer insights for educational practitioners when developing competence frameworks for talent or professionalization programs.     

A tool for evaluating advertising concepts: Desirable characteristics as viewed by creative practitioners

Creativity is critical to advertising yet highly subjective. Testing to evaluate alternatives, if done, is often conducted at later stages that are expensive and wasteful. This study examined a set of characteristics about creativity from creative advertising practitioners. These characteristics were subjected to a three-part quantitative analysis that produced a model with four dimensions – novelty, utility, affect, and humor. Further testing showed that the model was useful in predicting the level of creativity in print advertisements, and the tool may be useful for the early evaluation of concepts.     

From grobal management to glocal management: Latin American perspectives as a counter‐dominant management epistemology

Management is known as a global phenomenon. However, its “global” façade tends to mean that management knowledge and practices are usually created and developed in Western countries—mainly the United States—to be transferred supposedly problem‐free to other locations. This paper discusses how management has spread globally via Americanization, and is therefore a grobal phenomenon. From a Latin American perspective, this transfer can be problematic, especially as it tends to suppress locally developed knowledge and experiences. In denaturalizing grobal management, we propose glocal management as an alternative to the current Anglo‐centric view of the field, and believe this new view can take into account hybridism and local realities. Copyright © 2010 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

点评2004年美国高技术产品国际贸易

国际贸易概况 美国是当今世界的科技强国,也是全球高技术产品流通的重要集散地。1989年以来,美国高技术产品国际贸易的规模逐年扩大,并于2000年达到峰值4494.77亿美元,年均增长10.16％。2000年以后,贸易规模略有缩减。到2002年,美国高技术产品国际贸易总额降为3737.16亿美元。2003年,美国高技术产品贸易总额略有回升,达到了3872.39亿美元。     

Career management issues for flexpatriate international staff

This article reports findings from an in‐depth study of a small number of European men and women that identifies organizational activities and their own initiatives to successfully manage their international careers within the context of their personal and family lives. In contrast to prior studies that have focused on issues for expatriate international work assignments, this study focused on flexpatriates—the frequent flyers of international work. The results indicated that, with minimal human resource management (HRM) assistance, flexpatriates were proactive and self‐managing in dealing with career issues and the family and personal demands linked to their flexpatriate lifestyles. Similar career issues were evident for men and women, but the impact of home life seemed more significant for women, and the implications of this for HRM are explored. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

关于国际贸易企业风险管理的探讨

国际贸易竞争越来越激烈,市场经营呈多元化趋势,支付方式各种各样,买卖双方信誉度低,企业经营不善,国际诈骗集团数量多,在这种局势下,国际贸易企业面临的风险越来越多.本文从国际贸易企业管理的现状和存在的问题进行分析,找出了一些应对分析的措施,为广大国际贸易企业风险管理政策提供参考.     

Home base and knowledge management in international ventures

This paper examines the scope and sequence of international activities carried out by nascent international ventures. Building on earlier research about foreign direct investment (FDI) and knowledge management in international firms and on the analysis of six international ventures the paper develops a number of propositions. We suggest that international ventures are conceived as ‘international’ because cross-border activities increase the chances of venture survival and growth. We also suggest that, in the early stages of international ventures, cross-border activities that augment the venture's knowledge base are more prevalent than cross-border activities that exploit the venture's knowledge base. Finally, the paper points out research trajectories for more detailed studies of knowledge management in international ventures.     

Toward lean management? international transferability of Japanese management strategies to Australia

There has been growing international interest in the “lean production” notion with present Japanese car plants as the paragon of this work system. Yet despite its Japanese origins many commentators have taken for granted that this Japanese notion can readily be transferred to other contexts and that it is a preferable alternative to Fordist mass production. Lean management involves continuous improvement, just-in-time techniques, total quality management, and team based work organization. These techniques have led to demonstrable major improvements in the efficiency of manufacturing enterprises in Southeast Asia, Japan, Europe, and the U.S., as shown by numerous studies. However, there has been little research on the possible transferability of such Japanese management strategies to Australia, which does not have a reputation for having highly committed workers or compliant unions. Therefore, the introduction of lean management in Australia deserves examination. After summarizing the context of the Australian car industry and the literature on lean production, we report on our study of a major car plant, which is based on interviews, observation, and a survey of employees. We were fortunate in having a high degree of cooperation from the company, unions, and government, because this independent study was initiated jointly by these three parties, which is relatively unusual for such research. Although we report several criticisms of lean production, we conclude that, especially when coupled with industry restructuring, lean production can potentially contribute to a substantial improvement in manufacturing competitiveness. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

企业国际化经营中的跨文化冲突与管理

随着改革开放的不断深入,我国企业也在迅速成长,越来越多的企业参与跨国经营和投资.企业由国内企业变成国际企业,国内经营变成跨国经营,角色和环境的变化给这些企业带来了新的难题--跨文化冲突和管理.本文从文化层面谈谈企业国际化经营中商务礼仪的重要作用与实施,以支持我国企业塑造良好国际交往形象和增强竞争实力.     

Organizational culture as differentiator in international retailing

Much of the international retailing literature echoes major retailers' assertions that inimitable organizational cultures can create competitive advantage. However, the culture concept remains ill-defined and systematic international empirical analysis is lacking. Based on website analyses of nine international retailers, the paper investigates how organizations define their cultures, codify and transfer them into practice, and aim to homogenize them across borders. Although some evidence for organization-specific cultural aspirations is identified, findings suggest that retailers' cultures become homogenized within and between countries. This supports previous work on the existence of industry-specific macro cultures and challenges the resource-based view, which sees culture as a source of competitive advantage.