Retailing in the Transition Economies of Poland and Romania: A Comparative Analysis

This research compares and contrasts the current state of development in the retailing industry in the transition economies of Poland and Romania. Two issues examined in this research are (a) the process of market reforms and resulting developments in store-based and non-store retailing, including the competition among large multinational retail chains and small local retail stores, and (b) the structure of the retail industry in terms of market share of 17 different categories of retailers within their respective sectors, namely, grocery retailers, specialty retailers, and non-store retailers, and overall growth registered by these retailers in the last 5 years (2004–2009). Managerial implications of the findings in terms of the opportunities and challenges in different categories of retailing business in the two countries are discussed, and directions for future research are identified.     

Multinational Companies and Linkages: Panel-Data Evidence for the Irish Electronics Sector

This paper analyses the extent and determinants of backward local linkages between multinational companies and domestic suppliers in the Irish electronics industry, and their effect on indirect employment generated in domestic supplier firms. Several models in recent literature show that linkages between firms can lead to positive effects on the development of indigenous industry, agglomerations, technology spill-overs and indirect employment generation. Our empirical analysis, using a uniquely generated firm-level panel data set, indicates that the extent of linkages is related in a non-linear fashion to the length of time that the firm is located in Ireland. In the context of the literature on the effects of linkages, we find empirical evidence consistent with the view that growth in employment in upstream supplier firms in electronics is linked to the development of downstream firms.     

Diffusion of Corporate Responsibility Practices to Companies: The Experience of the Forest Sector

This qualitative study indentifies how corporate responsibility (CR) practices are diffused to companies, as well as the factors that influence this diffusion process. Forest companies, industry associations, non-governmental organizations, and academics in Brazil, Canada, and the United States participated in this interview-based study. Data emerging from a grounded theory approach revealed three factors influencing the diffusion of CR practices to companies: (1) external contextual characteristics, (2) connectors, and (3) experts and expert organizations. These three factors influence each other, meaning that the diffusion process of CR practices is somewhat cyclic. These interactions are usually manifested by companies and expert organizations influencing each other’s actions, being influenced by the external environment, and contributing to the CR trends that are observed in the external environment.     

Determinants of entry strategies of U.S. companies into Russia,the Czech Republic,Hungary, Poland,and Romania

Executive Summary This study advances and tests determinants of entry strategies of U.S. companies to Eastern Europe, as well as factors that determine the satisfaction of these companies with their economic performance in this area. Using survey data and a multivariable research design, the study adds new knowledge and supports previous findings. It reports that the entry mode of U.S. companies into these countries is determined by the following variables, ranked from most to least important: market potential, company activity, level of competition, and year of market entry. It also reports that the satis‐faction of U.S. companies doing business in these countries is decided by the following variables, ranked from most to least important: economic‐performance outlook, level of competition, number of competitors, market potential, year of entry, and business activity. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Multinational Oil Companies and the Adoption of Sustainable Development: A Resource-Based and Institutional Theory Interpretation of Adoption Heterogeneity

Sustainable development is often framed as a social issue to which corporations should pay attention because it offers both opportunities and challenges. Through the use of institutional theory and the resource-based view of the firm, we shed some light on why, more than 20 years after sustainable development was first introduced, we see neither the adoption of this business model as dominant nor its converse, that is the total abandonment of the model as unworkable and unprofitable. We focus on multinational corporations (MNCs) because they were among the organizations first called to take action. In order to illustrate the institutional pressures MNCs face and their strategic response to these pressures, we analysed four major oil and gas multinationals subject to similar sustainable development pressures – climate change, biodiversity, renewable energy development and social investment. We argue that normative and coercive isomorphism does not occur at the global level because sustainable development is largely a stakeholder-driven rather than a broad social pressure. That is, host country interpretation of sustainable development pressures varies across an MNC’s subsidiary network. Based on the analysis of the four major MNCs’ annual reports from 2000 to 2005, we argue that mimetic isomorphism may occur, but since it implies the use of complex and intangible resources, mimetic processes are slow, rare and discretionary.     

Moral Choice and the Concept of Motivational Typologies: An Extended Stakeholder Perspective in a Western Context

Accountants and auditors are often faced with ethical dilemmas, which they have to process using resources available to them. Although they may be sensitive to the ethicality of the issues and have the cognitive ability to work through a judgment process, the final action they take may be dependent on a number of motivational factors, endogenous to the issue. Agency issues are a continuing area of concern providing accountants with an ability to shirk their responsibilities and hide confidential information, which may affect their career prospects if disclosed. This ongoing study explores these notions within a stakeholder context and uses a post test only field experiment to gain evidence to support the existence of an agency problem and that membership to one of a number of motivational typologies directly affects the way accountants respond to ethical issues. This association causes them to adopt informational heuristics that may result in less than optimal decisions. This study identified two specific endogenous constructs, namely social consensus and venal intent that discriminate between motivational types and which possibly provide psychological underpinnings explaining membership orientation. Gordon Woodbine PhD, FCPA, is a senior lecturer with the School of Accounting, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia involved primarily with research and supervision activities. He has taught in universities in the People’s Republic of China and Papua New Guinea and has been published in a number of local and overseas refereed journals. He is interested in behavioural ethics, auditing, governance issues and ethics in education.     

中国非正规部门指数的设计与测算——兼论非正规部门与经济增长关系

文章基于2008版国民经济核算体系新框架,利用统计指数理论和综合评价技术从投资、消费、就业、金融四个方面设计并测算我国非正规部门指数。在此基础上,探讨了非正规部门与经济增长的内在联系。研究结果显示,我国非正规部门年均增长快于同期经济增长;非正规部门的"低抗风险性、低政府规制"的特征增加了非正规部门增长的不稳定性;非正规部门与经济增长之间存在协整关系,不论从长期还是短期看,当期非正规部门与经济增长均存在正向关系,但影响程度较弱。     

Customer Perception in the Health Care Sector:

Customer perceptions of quality play a major role in the success or failure of an organization. Their perception also serves to determine their level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. This paper will discuss those factors that the customer perceives as "quality" factors and how those factors affect satisfaction. The second section of the paper will look at who is (or should be) responsible for implementing and carrying out the goals of a quality improvement program. A case study of a large hospital located in the American Midwest is also presented. Finally, recommendations for the best way to begin a quality improvement program (i.e., measure customer perceptions of quality, involving everyone, and making a real commitment to this program--forever) will be given.     

Corporate Culture in the Nonprofit Sector: A Comparison of Fringe Benefits with the For-profit Sector

One explanation that may be given for why nonprofit organizations pay lower wages than do other organizations is that nonprofits are more pleasant places to work. Indeed, some authors have proposed that nonprofit organizations should make an effort to promote a working environment that reflects the beliefs of the organization. This paper uses several proxies for whether an organization is a pleasant place in which to work, and tests for whether nonprofits are more likely to offer such pleasant working conditions. Analysis shows that nonprofits are not more likely to offer these conditions in many instances.     

Competitive Tendering and Contracting in the Public Sector: A Survey

This paper is a survey of the role and impact of competitive tendering and contracting (CTC) policies in the public sector. The paper examines the theoretical rationale for introducing competition in the provision of public services and the methodology by which contracting decisions are reached. It investigates the extent of implementation and nature of outcomes in several countries. A broad sweep of the empirical findings suggests that CTC generates substantial cost savings. Lack of adequate data makes an assessment of the effect on quality more troublesome, and further research is needed     

Success and Internationalization: Analysis of the Textile Sector

ABSTRACT

The aim of the present paper is to investigate the relationship between business success and international involvement by examining international enterprises to see if they are more successful. To do this, 154 general managers in the textile sector were interviewed on two main groups of questions: (i) entry forms when going abroad; (ii) business results (sales, profit etc.) and competitive indicators (loyalty, satisfaction, image etc.) obtained.     

Reform in the Power Sector: a New Start

TheStateCouncilissuedanoticeinearlyNovember2000whichnotedthatnewadjustmentwillbemadeontheongoingexperimentofpowersystemreform.Itpointedoutthatthepowersectorreformwillbeorganizedbyaco-ordinategroupwhichisheadedbyStateDevelopmentPlanningCommissionandparticipatedbyStateTradeandEconomicCommissionandotherrelateddepartments.AnalystssaidthenoticeunveiledanewwaveOfreforminthepowerindustry.Whowillleadthereform?Inthepast,theestablishmentofStatePowerCorpinJanuary1997wastakenasasymbolofChina'srefor…     

Western Managers Working in Romania: Perception and Attitude Regarding Business Ethics

The results of our research, obtained from a survey of 50 Western managers working in Romania, show that differences exist between Western managers' ethics and those of their Romanian counterparts, especially with regard to bribery. Different backgrounds are at the basis of such divergence. Beyond the communist era and its heritage, the cultural aspect of bribery has been analyzed. Nevertheless, the results of our research suggest that culture may play a double role and the influence could come from both the home environment of Western managers and their new environment. Some Western managers who adapt to the Romanian environment appear to have been already conditioned to bribery from their home environment.     

Public Versus Private Sector Procurement Ethics and Strategy: What Each Sector can Learn from the Other

The government purchasing market constitutes the largest business sector in the world. While marketers would benefit from a deep understanding of both sectors, how the two sectors differ in terms of ethics and strategy largely remains unknown. The purpose of this research, therefore, is to explore differences between the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors on two critical aspects of business-to-business procurement: ethics and strategy. Using survey data from a sample of 328 procurement professionals in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors, key differences are explored. Findings suggest that buyers in the for-profit sector are more likely to behave opportunistically. Conversely, the buyers’ leaders in the not-for-profit sector behave more opportunistically and are more willing to turn a blind eye to their subordinate buyers’ opportunistic behaviors. In addition, key differences in procurement strategy are unveiled suggesting that not-for-profit procurement practices have some room for improvement. Based on the findings, theoretical and managerial implications are drawn, and a future research agenda is proposed.     

Advertising Spending Efficiency of Beauty-Care Product Companies: Comparison Between Local Companies and Multinational Companies in the U.S. Market

ABSTRACT

In this study, the authors apply data envelopment analysis (DEA) to evaluate the financial efficiency of U.S. beauty-care companies and foreign companies based on their media advertising expenditures in eight key media outlets (i.e., magazines, newspapers, outdoor, network TV, spot TV, syndication TV, cable TV, and radio) and their revenues in the U.S. market. The analyses revealed that 47.4% of the companies examined advertised efficiently. Companies that advertised inefficiently could save, on average, 75% of their advertising spending. The results also indicated that although U.S. companies are more efficient overall than are non-U.S. companies in terms of advertising spending, the competitiveness of non-U.S. companies should not be underestimated because some of them advertised efficiently (e.g., Kao Corporation from Japan) or almost efficiently.     

Technological Convergence in the IT Industry: The Role of Strategic Technology Alliances and Technological Competencies

For some time now, the convergence of the telecommunications and computer industries into a single 'information and entertainment' industry has been predicted. The acquisitions that appeared to be bringing such a convergence about have not, however, proved particularly successful. The paper suggests that one factor behind the relatively low degree of convergence may be inertia. Following evolutionary and ecological theory, the paper argues that both external and internal inertial forces reduce the ability of firms to deal with changes in their technological cores. The paper concludes that technological convergence, although apparent on the technological and product/market level, does not seem to have affected the 'core' competencies of major IT companies.     

Modelling Market Orientation: An Application in the Education Sector

This paper defines market orientation following a critique of existing literature. It then operationalises this definition via a model containing three behavioural elements (customer orientation, employee orientation, and organisational co-ordination) linked to a long term survival requirement.

The model is tested in the context of the development of market orientation in the further education sector (in which professional - rather than commercial - values have tended to dominate). This sector is characterised by dynamic change in both its social/demographic and economic circumstances as well as the impact of government policy initiatives - especially the Education Reform Act of 1988 and Local Management of Colleges.

The empirical focus of the paper is on three large FE Colleges in the English Midlands. It provides evidence to support the operationalisation of the definition of market orientation in the context of the management of change.     

Market Orientation and Performance in the Public Sector

Abstract

Increased calls for transparency and accountability in government organizations underscores the need for a market orientation even in the public sector. The degree of market orientation and its effect on performance and on organizational commitment in government departments in three Australian states is considered. Results provide empirical support for a direct relationship between market orientation and performance and evidence of the mediating role of organizational commitment. Implications are drawn and directions for future research are discussed.     

Employment Policies in the Service Sector: Training in Retail Distribution

This article presents in summary the results of the recent study by the Distributive Trades EDCs Part-Time Employment Group, which focussed attention on the training practices and career opportunities for this major and increasing component of the labour force of retail firms. There is no great certainty or unanimity about the training needs of retail staff, and differences in skill requirements are evident across the various retail trades and diverse organisational structures. Retailing is a dynamic and rapidly changing industry arid employers are not unaware of the training needs associated with labour intense operations yet the training implications of the industry's considerable dependence on part-time workers do not appear to be fully appreciated. In discussing the Report's findings in the context of the ongoing training debate in Britain, it is argued that the corporate strategies of retailers must comprehend the centrality of the training function, if effective use is to be made of all their employees.