Individuals’ Perceptions of the Legitimacy of Emerging Market Multinationals: Ethical Foundations and Construct Validation

Journal of Business Ethics - Entry of new organizations, including multinational enterprises from emerging markets (EMNEs), raises the ethical question of will they benefit society. The concept of...     

China’s Consumption Market on the Road to Recovery

The Party leadership’s proposals for formulating the 14th Five-Year Plan(2021-2025)for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035 were adopted by the fifth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee in October of 2020.The proposals clearly stated the need for“comprehensively promoting consumption”and made concrete arrangements for how to achieve this target.It is estimated that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period,the consumption and retail market will undergo rapid growth to become the backbone of China’s economic development.     

Mistaking an Emerging Market for a Social Movement? A Comment on Arjaliès’ Social-Movement Perspective on Socially Responsible Investment in France

In a recent contribution to this journal, Arjaliès (J Bus Ethics 92:57–78, 2010) suggests that the emergence of socially responsible investment (SRI) in France can be best described as a social movement with a collective identity that aimed to challenge the dominant logic of the financial market. Such an account is at odds with a body of empirical studies that approaches SRI in the French context as a process of market creation led by loosely coordinated actors with contradictory and conflicting interests and values, who have mainly complied with—rather than opposed—the existing dominant financial logic of the asset-management field. In this comment, we build on this prior research to contest Arjaliès’ perspective on both theoretical and empirical grounds, with the aim of highlighting the shortcomings of conflating social movements and other forms of collective actions in understanding the building of new markets in organization theory and SRI studies. We contend that in mistaking for social movement forms of collective actions that underpin the emergence of markets, scholars of organization theory may confuse distinct mechanisms in their explanation of SRI emergence across countries, overlook the complex dynamics and interactions of markets and social movements, and, most importantly, fail to evaluate the real political significance of SRI as an empirical phenomenon. We propose that future research on SRI distinguishes carefully “social-movement research as a theoretical framework” from “social movement as an empirical phenomenon” in order to avoid such drawbacks while benefiting from recent advances in social-movement research.     

Prioritizing Brand Equity Methods From Customers’ Perspective for the Food Industry

Brand equity assessment is an important measurement of strategic value for internal use as well as for external stakeholders. Although there are a number of methods available for brand evaluation, it is still uncertain which approach is best. Yet almost no research exists that has prioritized the existing brand equity methods from the perspective of different stakeholders through a survey. In this article a model is developed for prioritizing brand equity methodologies from the viewpoint of customers as a stakeholder of brand equity. The developed model can help businesses to deploy a brand equity methodology that best considers the criteria of their customers as one of their key stakeholders. The criteria of this process are the expectations of customers from a brand. The priority of these criteria sets via a structured questionnaire filled by customers. Then the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) incorporates to prioritize the methodologies versus these criteria. This study set out to prioritize the brand equity pool to help practitioners and academics in assessing the alternative techniques and selecting the most relevant one that measures the most important criteria of brand in the eyes of customers.     

A Service Perspective on IBM’s Brand

Today, global conditions challenge traditional views of management, marketing, and economics. The goods-dominant view, centered on the notion of production and consumption, is being subsumed by the service-dominant view, centered on the notion that business value is cocreated by interaction of economic entities. Here, we consider IBM and its brand, showing that it reflects - and always has reflected — the service-dominant view of value cocreation.     

The Accor Multinational Hotel Chain in an Emerging Market: Through the Lens of the Core Competency Concept’

Service multinationals rely more on their abilities to leverage corporate resources than on their large resource positions to be successful in competition in today ‘s market. To understand this phenomenon, a fresh approach is needed in research on competition in service industries. The concept of core competency is applied in an analysis of case studies of the Accor multinational hotel chain (France) and its competitors in the Thai marketplace. The analysis focuses on core competencies embedded in the three main functions of service firms -human resources, operations, and marketing. It traces Accor's success to four core competencies - nurturing empowerment, data management, and new service development     

Province-Level Impacts of Canada’s Trade Agreements

Given Canada’s extended geography and regional economic diversity, individual provinces have differing exposures to particular international trade agreements. We demonstrate this by estimating the impacts of the Canada-Korea free trade agreement on the province of Ontario, using a dynamic general equilibrium model to generate Canada-level impacts, which are then decomposed on the basis of partial equilibrium model simulations on a trade dataset in which Ontario is represented as a separate international trading entity. We show that geography and sectoral specialization matter and that general equilibrium effects must be taken into account in partial equilibrium assessments of sectoral impacts of major trade agreements.     

An Upbeat Crowd: Fast In-store Music Alleviates Negative Effects of High Social Density on Customers’ Spending

Research suggests that in-store crowding can lower customers’ spending, thus limiting overall benefits of high store frequentation. Here, we propose that this negative effect can be mitigated by adjusting store ambiance, specifically by using certain types of in-store music. To test this idea, we conducted a longitudinal field experiment in which we manipulated in-store music tempo and measured social density in six European retail stores. Analyzing over 40,000 individual shopping baskets, we found that social density had an inverted u-shape effect on customer spending. This effect was moderated by in-store music tempo, such that fast music strongly increased spending under high-density conditions. The increase in shopping basket value was driven by customers buying more items rather than buying items that were more expensive. Fast music thus alleviated negative effects of social density. We discuss the theoretical implications of these findings and describe how practitioners can use in-store music to counter negative effects of high customer density.     

Segmenting Police ‘Customers’ on the Basis of their Service Quality Expectations

Customer expectations form the standards against which organisation performance is often assessed. Additionally, knowledge relating to customer expectations provides information concerning the differentiated performance requirements of heterogeneous customer groups. Relatively few studies have explored the segmentation potential of ‘customer expectations, und to the best of this author. knowledge, none of these has addressed the issue it1 the non-profit sector. This study addresses this need by investigating the extent to which demographics constitute expectation segmentation criteria in the context of the police service. Both the desired and predictive expectation standards are considered. Managerial arid research implications are given.     

God and the Market: Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand

The invisible hand image is at the centre of contemporary debates about capacities of markets, on which discussion of many other topics in business ethics rests. However, its meaning in Adam Smith’s writings remains obscure, particularly the religious associations that were obvious to early readers. He drew on Isaac Newton’s theories of divine action and providence, mediated through the moderate Calvinism of the eighteenth century Scottish circles in which he moved. I argue within the context of Smith’s general providential account of markets, the invisible hand operates restrain inequality and capital flight, thereby stabilizing the market system. Such an understanding of the invisible hand raises questions for contemporary religious and secular discussions of the capacities of markets in the wake of the global financial crisis.     

CMC Exploring the Export Market for Complete Sets of Equipment

The China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC), founded in 1950, is a large state-owned foreign trade enterprise subordinated to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC). The corporation focuses on the import and export of mechanical and electrical products. It has maintained an annual trade volume of more than US$ 2 billion for many years and ranks among the top 10 foreign trade companies in the country.     

A Stakeholder’s Perspective on Human Resource Management

In order to understand the system wherein human resource management practices are determined by the interactions of a complex system of actors, it is necessary to have a conceptual framework of analysis. In this respect, the works of scholars (Mitroff, 1983, Stakeholders of the Organizational Mind, Jessey-Bass; Freeman, 1984, Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach, Pitman) concerning stakeholder theory opened new perspectives in management theory. An organisation is understood as being part of a politico-economic system of stakeholders who interact and influence management practices. Each stakeholder tries to optimise and protect his interests (Frooman, 1999, Academy of Management Review 24, 191–205; Savage et al., 1991, Academy of Management Executive 5(2), 61–75). The framework of stakeholder analysis enables escape from a purely instrumental approach to HRM, and avoids reducing our understanding of conflicts within companies to mere antagonism between employees and their employers. It enables us to point out the existence of other stakeholders in the relationship. Notably, it allows for the incorporation into management theory of actors from the sphere of politics (president of the republic, government, national elected representatives – deputies and senators – and locally elected representatives – mayors and regional councillors, etc.) as well as their dependent administrations. All these actors are considered to be stakeholders who define the legal framework of firm management and guarantee the application of these laws.     

Search: An Expense or an Experience? Exploring the Influence of Search on Product Return Intentions

Prepurchase information search may be viewed as an expense and/or an experience. The authors argue that theory is unclear in explaining the effect of each form of search on a consumer's ultimate product return intentions. Alternative hypotheses are developed in relation to core theory that predict inconsistent effects of search upon both product satisfaction and return intentions. Results ultimately suggest that a consumer's investment in search that is viewed as an expense weakens satisfaction with a product, while prompting return intentions. Conversely, search viewed as an experience heightens satisfaction and diminishes return intentions. Theoretical and managerial implications of the results are discussed.     

An Empirical Study on China＇s Gold Futures Market Hedging Performance

本文选取2008年1月9日至2010年12月31日之间期货价格和现货价格数据,运用传统回归模型（OLS）、双变量向量自回归模型（B—VAR）、误差修正套期保值模型（ECM）、误差修正GARCH模型（EC—GARCH）对样本数据进行平稳性和协整关系检验,在估计最小风险套期保值比率的基础上发现：（1）我国黄金期货市场运行三年多来,通过黄金期货市场进行套期保值是有效的,可以较为明显地降低参与者面临的价格波动风险;（2）在具体进行套期保值操作时,应该根据套期保值时限长短的不同和预期效果的差异,采用不同的模型来合理确定自身的套期保值比例。在此基础上,本文提出了相关政策建议。     

Tort Law and the Ethical Responsibilities of Liability Insurers: Comments from a Reinsurer’s Perspective

Tort law and liability insurance have a complex interaction in which each shapes the evolution and effects of the other. This interaction and its many forms and facets in different international contexts must be comprehended to understand fully the ethical responsibilities of liability insurers. This essay builds on previous scholarship on the tort law–liability insurance interaction through a series of observations from the perspective of a global reinsurer. It seeks in part to extend previous analyses of this interaction by also considering issues in the developing world. It seeks to make some normative questions and stances explicit concerning this interaction, as well as to identify some empirical questions that still need to be answered. The responsibility of liability insurers includes ethically shaping the responsibility of others in interaction with tort law in countless diverse situations.

     

Online Music Consumption in Today’s Technological Context: Putting the Influence of Ethics in Perspective

Whereas in the past ‘free’ and ‘illegal’ were nearly synonymous in the music industry, consumers nowadays face a myriad of music platforms with widely different characteristics in terms of business model (advertising supported, fee based, etc.), delivery mode (streaming, downloading, etc.), and others. The current research examines music consumption preferences in this new context. In order to break with the outmoded free-illegal versus paid-legal dichotomy, the present research studies consumer preferences for a broader range of music platform attributes, including free versus paying business models, (il)legality of use, artist revenues, downloading versus streaming, and audio quality. Based on a literature review and a qualitative study with in-depth interviews (N = 92), an online conjoint survey (N = 764) quantifies online music preferences. Results show that consumers of all ages clearly and consistently prefer legal and ethical options if available, but favor different ways of making this economically viable. Youngsters and young adults are more open to advertising, while middle-aged adults are more often willing to pay for advertising-free platforms. Thus, in real-life choices, youngsters may appear to be less ethical and law abiding, but the driving force behind this is mainly economical. Finally, a market segmentation provides deeper insights into online music consumer preferences and leads to recommendations on how to define viable legal and ethical music offerings.     

Moral Differentiation: Exploring Boundaries of the “Monkey See,Monkey Do” Perspective

Research in ethical decision making has consistently demonstrated a positive relationship between others’ unethical behavior and observers’ unethical behavior, providing support for the “Monkey See, Monkey Do” perspective (e.g., Robinson and O’Leary-Kelly, Acad Manage J 41:658–672, 1998). However, the boundaries of this relationship have received little research attention. Guided by theory and research in interpersonal distancing, we explore these boundaries by proposing and examining “moral differentiation,” the set of individual and situational characteristics that affect the degree to which one is willing to be influenced by others’ unethical behavior. Using data from 655 undergraduate business students in two U.S. universities, we test moderating hypotheses regarding the influence of moral differentiation characteristics on the relationship between others’ unethical behavior and observers’ unethical behavior. Results suggest that strong moral identity, low need for affiliation, and extraversion weaken the relationship between others’ unethical behavior and observers’ unethical behavior. Implications for managers and future research are discussed.     

Tort Law and the Ethical Responsibilities of Liability Insurers: Comments from a Reinsurer’s Perspective

The aim of this article is to present the dynamics of the structure of human action to enable us to link the organizational level of institutions, norms, and culture of the firm. At the organizational level, the existing institutions and culture are the confines of our individual action. However, at the individual level, we focus on the external consequences of our acts. It is our acts that maintain social institutions and culture. The ethics of personal virtues demands an ethics of institutions, the ethics which deals with the institutional means of realizing individual ends. All individuals choose courses of action by deciding what type of life is worth living. In this view, virtue (areté) occupies a central position, defining the paradigm that each society with its institutions and norms sets as the model of life to be lived (eudiamonia).     

Sins of the Father’s Firm: Exploring Responses to Inherited Ethical Dilemmas in Family Business

How do individuals respond when they perceive that their family business has been built upon unethical business conduct? Drawing on an expanded version of Hirschman’s typology of generic responses to declining situations (Exit, Voice and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1970), which includes responses of Exit, Voice, Loyalty, and Neglect, we offer a model that predicts probability of intended response behavior as a function of normative obligation (i.e., what one perceives ought to be done), managerial discretion (i.e., what one perceives can be done), and successor commitment to the firm. The model is tested on 124 business school students exposed to a scenario depicting an inherited ethical dilemma occurring in a family business from Arthur Miller’s play All My Sons, and shows support for elements of the proposed framework. Most notable is a significant negative relationship between normative firm-directed commitment and the response of Neglect.