Information,quality and legal rules: Wine adulteration in nineteenth century France

Nowadays global concerns are tightly linked to the way wine production and labelling have been regulated in France. This paper aims to provide an historical explanation of this peculiar regulation of the wine market in France. Our argument will be that wine adulteration, as it is conceived and regulated nowadays, has to be distinguished from ancient and pre-modern forms of adulteration. From the last quarter of the nineteenth century, technical progresses (i.e. organic chemistry in food and wine making), extended commercial networks and an extending intermediation led to market failures. However, state regulation mainly aimed to ensure the circulation of information and fair trade rather than to protect public health. As a result, from the end of the nineteenth century up to the present, in France and in Europe, rules on beverages are more concerned with preserving AOC (collective trademarks) and wine producers' profits than with limiting alcohol consumption.     

Internationalization of Clustered Companies and the Influence of Resources: A Case Study on Wine Clusters in Brazil and France

Although the importance of local/regional factors in firms' international competitiveness has been increasingly recognized, few studies have investigated the relationship between clusters and the internationalization process of clustered-firms. This theme assumes special relevance for industries that are predominantly organized in territorial agglomerations, or clusters, as is the case of the wine industry. The objective of this paper is to identify the resources generated by the cluster and analyze their influence in the internationalization process of clustered companies. A case study was carried out on two wine clusters: Provence, in Southern France, and Serra Gaúcha, in Southern Brazil. Resource-based theory provides the underlying analytical framework. Both theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.     

Ownership concentration,separation of voting rights from cash flow rights,and earnings management: an empirical study in Canada

Drawing from models of Jones (1991) and Kothari, Leone, and Wasley (2005), this study examines the relationship between Canadian corporate ownership structure and earnings management from 1995 to 1999. There is evidence of a nonmonotonic relationship. The concentration of voting and cash flow rights with the ultimate owner first increases earnings management, but as the level of ownership concentration increases, earnings management decreases. There is also a positive correlation between earnings management and voting and cash flow rights divergence. This is particularly evident when the gap between voting and cash flow rights is high. Copyright © 2008 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The development of British accountancy in the nineteenth century: A technological determinist approach

This article argues that some of the most popular treatments of the development of accountancy in Britain do not accord with the historical evidence. This is true of the functionalist's altruistic view of the profession and of the predominant paradigm – the Weberian ‘professional project’. There is no evidence in the early history of British accountancy to support the concepts of, for example: monopolistic closure, credentialism, or the social construction of skill. Instead, using a model based on technological determinism, the article reasserts the importance of the industrialisation process in forming the accountancy profession, and sees the formation of the chartered societies as largely set up to brand the accountants' training and thereby preserve the value of their human capital.     

Knowledge and training in family firms of the European periphery: Spain in the eighteenth to twentieth centuries

This article is a first attempt to explore the relationship between training and entrepreneurship in Spanish family firms. It examines changes and continuities over time, and relates the evolution of the training practices of Spanish family firms to the technical and economic conditions of the first and second industrial revolutions. The article demonstrates the interaction betweeen technical and educational ideas, the creative adaptation to the entrepreneurial needs of regions and economic sectors, and institutional conditions. It is organised in three main sections. The first briefly introduces new institutional and sociological theories applied to the study of the formation of business groups. The second summarises existing literature and research that deals with knowledge transference and business training in Spanish family firms, and provides a general survey of informal and formal business education in eighteenth to twentieth-century Spain. The third presents case studies of changing training practices in big and old family firms, and relates this evidence with theoretical and institutional insights.     

A Picture of Brazil from the Viewpoint of Cultural Change and Business Exchange

Abstract

This paper argues that, with trade and business exchange, cultural change is introduced to business partners. After analyzing the impact of trade in societies, leading to the transformation of traditional holistic ideologies to individualistic ones, Brazilian society is appraised as a dual culture existing under a constant tension between the demands of social hierarchy and predatory individualism. The paper argues that Brazil's dual culture has been a deterrent to economic remedies that worked in societies that experienced industrialism. Finally, the possibility of cultural changes is assessed and considered as a condition for Brazil's partnership in today's global markets.

Este articulo argumenta que el intercambio de negocios y/o comercial introduce adicionalmente cambios culturales a las partes involucradas en las transacciones. Despues de analizar el impacto del comercio en las diferentes sociedades, en particular el cambio que transforma sociedades con ideologia holistica y tradicional a individualistas, la sociedad Brasilena es evaluada como una cultura dual con una lucha constante entre las demandas de una sociedad jerarquicatradicional y un individualismo depredador. Se argumenta en este articulo que la cultura dual del Brasil ha sido un impedimento para el buen funcionamiento de las estrategias economicas (remedios) que funcionaron en paises expermientaron una cultura de industrializacion. Finalmente, este escrito considera el cambio cultural en Brasil como una condicion para la incorporacion del mismo a los mercados globales.

Esse artigo defende a idéia de que as trocas comerciais geram transformaç[otilde]es culturais. Após analisar o impacto do comércio na vida social, o que gera a mutação de ideologias holisticas em práticas individualistas, a sociedade brasileira é avaliada como uma cultura dual que sofre a ação tensa e constante das exigências de hieraquização social e de um individualismo predatório. A cultural dual brasiliera é entendida como um impecilho para a ação dos remédios econômicos que funcionaram em sociedades industralizadas. E, finalmente, considera-se a possibilidade de mutaç[otilde]es culturais como fatores para a integração do pais nos merados globais contemporâneos.     

Consumer rights of the elderly as vulnerable consumers in South Africa: some comparative aspects of the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008

Although consumer protection is not a new concept in South African law, the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 (CPA) now provides for a much more comprehensive and encompassing mechanism to protect consumers. Consumers are protected, not only in the provision of goods and services, the conclusion of contracts but also in the promotion and marketing thereof. The CPA further provides special protection to a particular type of consumer which is the vulnerable consumer and includes elderly consumers. Importantly, and for the first time in the history of South African law, the consumer is provided with eight core fundamental consumer rights. As this contribution is an attempt to provide an interdisciplinary analysis from a legal perspective, identification of what is considered to be an ‘elderly' consumer, needs to be assessed by referring to relevant empirical studies from both an international as well as South African perspective. The focus of this study is on the protection of the elderly as a category of vulnerable consumers in terms of the CPA. The investigation will attempt to show that the elderly is protected in terms of all eight of the fundamental consumer rights within the CPA. Special reference will be made to two fundamental rights of the consumer in terms of the CPA. First, the elderly consumer's right to equality in the consumer market (Part A of the CPA) which provides additional protection as the CPA also refers to the Constitutional right to equality. Second, the elderly consumer's the right to fair and responsible marketing (Part E of the CPA) which in terms of the research is compared with the EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive. Certain problems regarding elderly consumers are identified and the importance of consumer rights as well as the implementation of the correct consumer policy is argued.     

Consumer education in the UK: new developments in policy,strategy and implementation

Consumer education is an integral part of the European Community's consumer policy. It plays a key role in consumer empowerment, helping consumers gain the skills, attitudes and knowledge they need to be able to gear the choices they make as consumers to their economic interests and to protect their health and safety. In its policy statement, the Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection states that the European Community is aware that joint measures at national and Community levels should be more structured, in order to achieve maximum effectiveness. This paper aims to set out the current policy and strategic context for consumer education and empowerment in the UK; review the role of UK government bodies and other agencies concerned with developments; review recent literature; present the results of interviews with an extensive range of key stakeholders and the results of a survey of service heads for trading standards throughout the UK. It will consider implementation, partnership, resources, ideas and opportunities. The research found that the agenda for consumer education in the UK is at an interesting stage of development. The Enterprise Act 2002 gives the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) a statutory power to carry out educational activities. Consumer education is also moving up the agenda in the trading standards service. In addition, the teaching of citizenship in English schools is already stimulating new developments in consumer education. The paper will consider the need for organizations like these to work together to build on these policy developments and ensure that consumer education gains the profile it needs to influence consumer attitudes and behaviour.     

The early emergence of European commercial education in the nineteenth century: Insights from higher engineering schools

The setting of European commercial education has traditionally been addressed with reference to higher schools of commerce and faculties of business. This has not taken into account empirical evidence showing that, historically, higher engineering schools also offered a mixed education in mercantile and technical subjects to students who wanted to devote themselves to business. However, this type of schooling has received little attention. This article investigates how commercial departments from higher engineering schools constituted an initial, yet ephemeral, public attempt to build an engineering model of commercial education that closely combined mercantile and technical instruction well before the twentieth century.     

控制权、现金流权与公司业绩——来自中国民营上市公司的经验研究

本文选取了2004年底在深市和沪市上市交易的238家民营公司作为样本,通过层层追溯控制链辨认了我国民营上市公司的最终控制股东,考察了最终控制股东拥有的控制权与现金流权及其偏离的程度,并进行了实证分析。结果发现在我国民营上市公司中,最终控制股东控制权的集中程度较高,并且其现金流权与控制权存在着偏离。最终控制股东的现金流权与公司业绩显著正相关,控制权与现金流权的偏离程度与公司业绩显著负相关     

Gender in international business journals: A review and conceptualization of MNCs as gendered social spaces

The paper reviews 105 contributions published in journals pertinent to the field of International Business (IB) between 1991 and 2014 and details four main conceptualizations of gender: how women are compared against men, how gender is treated as a control variable and a cultural macro variable, and how gender is 'done' in international organizations. The review reveals that positivist epistemological assumptions dominate the IB field and that the current understanding of gender is limited. To advance the research, the paper develops the notion of MNCs as gendered social spaces and explains why the IB field would benefit from a more nuanced understanding and incorporation of gender relations into its analyses and discussions. The paper outlines theoretical and methodological advances associated with the reconceptualization of MNCs as gendered social spaces.     

Exploring antecedents and consequences of consumer ethnocentrism: evidence from Asian immigrants in the US

The US is a multicultural society due to its growing number of ethnic minorities. These ethnic populations have made intracultural studies more difficult because of the different senses of identity and degrees of acculturation the varied groups possess. The current study examined the impact of perceived ethnicity (Asian vs. Asian American) and acculturation level (low vs. high) on consumer ethnocentrism towards the country of immigration (the US) and its consequences with respect to Asian immigrants, the fastest growing minority in the US. One hundred and eighty‐five responses from Asian immigrants were collected through a convenience sample from a university campus located in the southwest US as well as a snowball sampling technique. Results revealed that perceived ethnicity and acculturation play an important role in influencing Asian immigrants' ethnocentrism towards the US, which in turn affects their attitudes and behavioural intentions towards products made in the US. Implications and future research directions are suggested.     

A conceptual framework for analyzing consumers' food label preferences: An exploratory study of sustainability labels in France,Quebec, Spain and the US

In a qualitative study of 375 consumers in France, Quebec, Spain and the US, respondents are asked to choose between pairs of actual food labels and to describe the reason(s) for their choice. The food labels included sustainability labels (eco‐labels, Fair Trade, origin) as well as product attribute (e.g. quality, kosher) and health/nutrition labels. Respondents' reasons were coded in the original language using the same coding system across all four nations to examine their preferences for label message, design and source. We also examined the role of consumers' values, beliefs and experiences on their label choices. The coding system was drawn from a review of theoretical and empirical literature and provides a conceptual framework we call the Label Consumer Interaction model for evaluating consumers' food label preferences. Although this is case study, the results point to substantial differences across nations in terms of preferred labels, as well as the rationale for their choice in terms of attributes of the labels and consumer characteristics.     

Income thresholds of dissaving in Germany: empirical evidence from the recent sample survey of income and expenditure (EVS 2008)

Saving of private households monotonically increases with income. If the regression lines, which represent the ‘demand for saving’, assume negative values, saving turns into dissaving, i.e. dissolving assets or going into debt. The zeros of the demand functions for saving are called ‘dissaving thresholds’. Dissaving thresholds for Germany are determined econometrically using the Sample Survey of Income and Expenditure. Dissaving thresholds turn out to be far higher than social assistance amounts. Implications for economic, social and consumer policy in Germany are discussed.     

Challenges and opportunities of new retail horizons in emerging markets: The case of a rising coffee culture in China

Economic growth and a rising middle class consumer base make emerging markets an attractive prospect for many international businesses. Changing patterns of retail in these countries present opportunities for business expansion that many are keen to capitalize on, but also present challenges for reaching their ambitions. This article examines the growth of the coffee shop industry in China—considering its key dynamics and drivers—in order to address questions about successful retail expansion in emerging markets. We aim to explore how changing consumer cultures have contributed to a rapidly growing industry and what strategies businesses have used to enter the market and maintain growth, as well as considerations for potential retail success in the future.     

A Cross‐Cultural Comparison of the Plural Forms in Franchise Networks: United States,France, and Brazil*

This paper explores the phenomenon of plural forms (i.e., the simultaneous coexistence of franchised and company‐owned outlets, operationally, the proportion of company‐owned units in franchise systems based on literature, in franchising across three countries from three continents, namely the United States, France, and Brazil in what is ostensibly the first cross‐cultural comparison of its kind. Based on 2003 secondary data, we carry out a series of inferentially grounded analyses involving the plural forms phenomenon from an exploratory perspective. Though subsequently, comparative regression models are also evaluated using eight purported determinants of the use of the plural forms, the essential character of the paper remains essentially exploratory. The results show that the proportion of company‐owned outlets is almost three times greater in France and Brazil as compared to the United States. We also found that in the U.S. sample, three of the eight predictors significantly predict the occurrence of plural forms (namely, average total required investment and cash liquidity requirement have a negative impact, and company age has a positive impact); the French model was not statistically significant, whereas in the Brazilian sample, two predictors influence the plural forms phenomenon (i.e., total network size has a positive significant effect and incidence of internationalization has a significant negative impact).     

Fellow-townsmenship as the mechanism for exploring and exploiting business opportunities: A longitudinal reflection of the nineteenth century Ningbo entrepreneurs in Shanghai

This research examines how fellow-townsmenship, a distinctive homophilous social network, functioned among Ningbo entrepreneurs pertaining to their simultaneous exploration and exploitation of business opportunities, or achieving ambidexterity, in the nineteenth century. By investigating data in relevant historical records from museums, archives and libraries, case studies based on two representative Ningbo entrepreneurs from a distinctive business family showcase how those entrepreneurs took advantage of townsmenship to resolve the trade-off between exploration and exploitation. In doing so, simultaneous exploration and exploitation alongside the expansion of fellow townsmenship proved to be effective and successful. This research provides new grounds to examine ambidexterity.     

The Nature of the Firm, Agency Theory and Shareholder Theory: A Critique from Philosophical Anthropology

Standard accounts on the nature of the firm are highly dependent on explanations by Coase, coupled with inputs from agency theory and shareholder theory. This paper carries out their critique in light of personalist and common good postulates. It shows how personalist and common good principles create a framework that not only accommodates business ethics better but also affords a more compelling understanding of business as a whole.Joan Fontrodona is Assistant Professor of Business Ethics and Academic Director of the Center for Business in Society at IESE Business School. He is member of the Academic Board of EABIS and member of the Executive Committee of EBEN-Spain.Alejo José G. Sison is the Rafael Escolá Chair of Professional Ethics (TECNUN) with appointments from the Philosophy Department and the Institute of Enterprise and Humanism of the University of Navarra.     

Technological change and the governance of joint-stock enterprise in the early nineteenth century: The case of coastal shipping

Recent studies of the innovation process have viewed it as the outcome of organizational dynamics rather than as the product of technological developments exogenous to the governance of firms. We apply this approach to our examination of British coastal shipping companies during the early nineteenth century as they grappled with the problem of making a successful transition from sail to steam technology. Within the industry there were contrasting responses to this transition, but also common elements in the decision-making process. Before the 1840s, there remained a widespread assumption of shareholder involvement in this sector as in others. The evidence suggests that shipping company directors were generally able to determine resource-allocation decisions, but not without first taking into account governance relations.