Cultural Themes in Brazilian and U.S. Auto Ads: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

Abstract

Do Brazilian and U.S. advertisers employ different themes in print advertisements? If so, what can we conclude about cross-cultural differences in values? In our study of automobile ads that appeared in the business magazines of Brazil and of the U.S. during the 1970s, we found that (1) urban themes were used more frequently in Brazilian ads than in U.S. ads, (2) leisure themes were used more frequently in U.S. ads than in Brazilian ads, (3) work themes appeared as frequently in Brazilian ads as in U.S. ads, and (4) work themes appeared more frequently in U.S. ads as the 1970s progressed. Thus, our study suggests that values differ between the business subculture of Brazil and that of the United States. Importantly, our latter two findings disaffirm the theories of many historians and sociologists. Because the application of historical and sociological theories may produce erroneous advertising decisions, we advise advertisers to research carefully each national market before using a “standardized” advertising theme.     

Intellectual property: America's competitive advantage in the 21st century

Three forces reshaped the U.S. economy during the 1980s—globalization, the creation and application of new technologies, and the shift to a knowledge-based economy. By looking at the historic role of intellectual property rights in U.S. economic growth, one can see not only that an ability to create and adapt has always been the driving force in the U.S. economy, but that it will continue to be its strength in the future. This historical perspective leads to a fundamental conclusion: In the next century, U.S. economic growth and competitiveness will largely be determined by the extent to which the United States creates, owns, preserves and protects its intellectual property, and the extent to which the federal government can foster economic growth by creating incentives for private sector investment in research and development, promoting stronger intellectual property protection abroad, reducing barriers to trade and serving U.S. business interests throughout the world.     

The Role of Public–Private Partnerships in Facilitating Cross‐Border Logistics: A Case Study at the U.S./Canadian Border

Private enterprise carries out the complex operations of cross‐border logistics that are the lifeblood of global supply chains. Yet, the efficiency of these activities depends on government agencies that provide the logistics infrastructure for global trade. Thus, public–private partnerships (PPPs) play an important role in facilitating improvements in cross‐border logistics. While private enterprise and the public sector are key stakeholders in the quality of cross‐border logistics, research that examines PPPs in logistics management is relatively sparse. To address this gap, the current study aims to develop empirically based theoretical insights into the nature and role of PPPs in the context of cross‐border logistics. The study employs a grounded‐theory analysis of case study data collected at the U.S./Canadian border. Findings show that private enterprise collaborative capability and public interagency cooperation determine the performance of PPPs which, in turn, influence the quality of cross‐border logistics.     

Business Angel Networks and the Development of the Informal Venture Capital Market in the U.K.: Is There Still a Role for the Public Sector

Business angel networks (BANs) provide a channel of communication between private venture capital investors (business angels) and entrepreneurs seeking risk capital. Most operate locally on a not-for-profit basis with their costs underwritten by the public sector. However, the recent establishment of BANs by private sector organisations in the U.K. has led to a questioning of the government's continuing role in the financing of BANs. This paper demonstrates that there are significant differences between public sector and other not-for-profit BANs and private sector, commercially-oriented BANs in terms of the investments that they facilitate. Private sector BANs are primarily involved with larger, later stage deals whereas investments made through not-for-profit BANs are generally smaller, involve start-ups and other early stage businesses and are local. The emergence of private sector BANs has therefore not eliminated the need for public sector support for locally-oriented networks.     

人民币实际有效汇率调整及其波动率与中美贸易收支

基于1995年1月至2007年9月的月度数据,分析了人民币实际有效汇率与中美贸易收支的关系。结果显示,人民币汇率波动率增加有助于缩小中美贸易收支顺差,人民币汇率升值无论长期或是短期,都不能解决中美双边贸易收支失衡问题。美国经济增长引致的进口需求是中美贸易顺差和我国收入增长的重要原因,在当前经济形势下,要警惕美国经济下滑导致我国的出口下降,进而使我国经济出现"硬着陆"的风险。     

美国监狱私有化原因研究

私有化是将政府整体或部分职责转移到私人部门的过程,监狱私有化意味着私人部门参与提供传统上由政府提供的管教服务.探究美国监狱私有化的原因,有助于估计私人监狱运动的发展前景.美国监狱私有化现象的主要动因在于快速增长的囚犯、监狱过度拥挤和成本问题.尽管监狱私有化不一定向声称的那样能够大幅度降低成本和提高效率,但是真正重要的是认识到私有化节约成本和提高效率本身是竞争过程的结果.最为重要的事情是决定如何最好地提供有关服务,而不是简单地选择要么由公共部门,要么由私人部门负责监狱体系的运转.通过引入竞争力量与机制,监狱私有化也许仍然有发展的空间.     

Globalization of the U.S. Food Supply: Reconciling Product Safety Regulation with Free Trade

The pet food recall in the spring of 2007, its aftermath, and other reports of contaminated food imports have had an adverse affect on the American shopper's confidence in the safety of the nation's food supply. This paper argues that the responsibility for ensuring that imported food entering the United States is safe must be shared by the public and private sectors. The limited resources of public regulation need to be focused on high-risk, imported food products from countries that have weak export food safety regimes. Furthermore, public regulation must emphasize private sector incentives encouraging implementation of state-of-the-art food safety management programs.     

论美国国会与对外贸易法的制定与执行

在美国三权分立政体下,对外贸易法律的制定和执行是国会、总统交互作用的复杂过程。国会一方面通过授权总统扩大自由贸易;另一方面又建立完善的进口救济制度来平衡贸易保护主义的利益。国会还把相当的权力委托给国际贸易法院由其行使司法审查权,防止行政机关滥用授权。美国贸易政策的制订权往往是在行政部门和立法部门之间进行分配,法院通常奉行"司法克制"的态度,通常避免就国会和总统之间在对外政策领域的权力关系问题进行裁决。但其一旦决定介入,必然成为最终的决定性因素。     

A Comparison of Western Business Instruction in China With U.S. Instruction: A Case Study of Perceived Program Emphases and Satisfaction Levels

This research presents a case study of a joint business degree program between an Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSB‐I) accredited business school in the United States and a Chinese PhD granting partner university. The case investigates the impact of a U.S.‐based curriculum, taught by U.S. instructors and which uses all English instruction on Chinese student perceptions of program emphases and satisfaction. It compares these perceptions with those of U.S. sister students. The comparison reveals program dissatisfaction among Chinese students when contrasted to U.S. students and for the most part a failure to attend to the program emphases of the West. Reasons for the departures are explored and strategies for improvement are developed.     

A Cross Cultural Analysis of the Geographical Knowledge of U.S., Irish,Israeli, Mexican,and South Korean Business School Students

ABSTRACT

Geographical knowledge about foreign countries is considered to be a significant factor related to the successful marketing of goods and services in international markets-a not insignificant conclusion by experts given the sizable trade deficits run up by the United States in 2000 ($365 billion), 2001 ($346 billion), and 2002 ($435 billion).

Unfortunately, previous research has concluded that U.S. business school students-tomorrow's executives who will make decisions that will impact their firms' international operations-have inadequate levels of international geographical knowledge.

This article compares the geographical knowledge of U.S. business school students to that of business school students in four countries: Ireland, Israel, Mexico, and South Korea. The sub-par performance exhibited by the U.S. students and the impact of six independent variables on global geographical knowledge are used to develop a number of pedagogical conclusions designed to enhance the international geographical knowledge of U.S. business school students and students in foreign business schools and overcome the antipathy toward this subject matter that apparently exists within business schools and their various external constituencies.     

Let＇s Go to America!

The United States and China have signed an agreement to facilitate Chinese group leisure travel to the United States. This agreement provides the necessary framework to permit group leisure travel from China to the United States. U.S. companies can now enter into business relationships with Chinese travel agencies to organize and market travel packages for group leisure travel to the United States. It also attracts more and more Chinese to go to America, as more and more convenience and comforts are coming up during the travel.     

BRAZIL-UNITED STATES TRADE: CAPITAL FLIGHT THROUGH ABNORMAL PRICING

Detailed analysis of the statistics of merchandise trade between Brazil and the United States reveals extensive underpricing of exports and overpricing of imports, which has the effect of transferring large amounts of money out of Brazil and into the United States. Previous studies called attention to this possibility without being able to demonstrate convincingly the extent and amount of the practice. This paper reports the results of a systematic investigation of U.S. customs data at its most disaggregate level to document the amount of capital flows which may be hidden in commodity trade. Using deviations from average prices within commodity classes to identify abnormal prices produces conservative estimates of the amount of capital flight from Brazil to the United States of between $2 to $4 billion in 1995 alone, which would be between 10%-20% of total commodity trade between the countries in that year. Some suggestions are developed for using the results to more closely monitor international transactions in order to reduce this amount.     

New venture development: The costs and benefits of public sector assistance

In recent years there has been an extraordinary level of entrepreneurial activity occurring in the United States. Venture start-ups, new incorporations even bankruptcies are reaching record numbers. Concurrent with the increase in entrepreneurial activity has been an effort within the Reagan Administration to privatize public sector programs designed to aid new and small, ongoing business ventures. The premise behind this movement is that private sector initiatives can better, and more efficiently, serve the needs of entrepreneurs and small business managers and can also offer new business opportunities for some entrepreneurs. At the same time, however, privatization could reduce the assistance programs currently targeting fledgling ventures, many of which are unable to afford a private consultant.The purpose of this article is to examine the economic impact of one public sector assistance program, the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), in terms of its contributions to new venture initiation in Georgia and South Carolina. The focus on the SBDC program is appropriate since over 50% of the counseling activities of most of the centers is devoted to pre-venture clients, i.e., individuals or groups considering starting a business. This study is important and timely, not only in respect to assessing the effectiveness of public sector assistance programs for pre-ventures, but also for assessing whether it is worthwhile from an economic perspective, to offer assistance to such individuals in the first place.Although it is difficult to be precise in attributing cause to effects in dynamic business ventures, our study indicates that the Small Business Development Center's client sample experienced a greater than expected number of business starts, and a higher than expected rate of survival. The results suggest that the net taxable sales, generated by these new ventures in 1984. was approximately $20 million in Georgia and $10 million in South Carolina. Results also suggest that almost 500 new jobs were created in Georgia and 600 new jobs were created in South Carolina between 1981 and 1984 as a result of successful business starts among SBDC pre-venture clients.While such figures are impressive, the bottom line of this study is that the new tax revenues generated by client firms exceeded the cost of delivering the services. Specifically, our conservative estimates suggest a $3.80 to $1.00 and $1.50 to $1.00 benefit to cost ratio for the center's pre-venture consulting services in Georgia and South Carolina, respectively. Furthermore, the value attached to the assistance received, by the entrepreneurs themselves, closely paralleled our estimates, lending additional validity to our conclusions. Resource constrained entrepreneurs can obtain effective business assistance from the SBDC free-of-charge, and the benefits to society accruing from this service far outweigh the cost of providing them.     

A Canadian perspective on NAFTA

Although most analysis of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has focused on the bilateral relationship between Mexico and the United States this article concentrates on the larger trading and investment linkages of Canada and the United States. From a Canadian perspective the NAFTA is an extension of (and improvement upon) the Canada–U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) of 1989. The FTA introduced new dispute settlement mechanisms that Canada views as essential to partially offset U.S. administered protection. The new rules-based system of the FTA is also the basis for the NAFTA, and it has been extended from the trade law regime to cover foreign investment disputes. All three parties in NAFTA will benefit from a rules-based system rather than the power-based system that permits U.S. producer interests to exploit the size asymmetries between the large triad market of the United States and the smaller open trading economies of Mexico and Canada. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Aspects of University Research and Technology Transfer to Private Industry

University research in the U.S.A. is based on a tight relationship between University and economic activity. In Europe and South America, although less commonly than in the U.S.A., there's already a large amount of experiences related to the creation of "on campus" or "spin off" companies based on the results and knowledge obtained from research in University departments and R&D centres financed with public funds. The virtual base of this results in communication technologies enables private use and the appropriation of the benefits by their authors. European model, historically widely separated from private companies, has produced high quality basic research, but it has failed to obtain profit from technological development. Research funds happen to be basically public. Europe heads for economic, politic and military union. Common economic space and the growing up of the new markets, which we can foresee to be extended to other countries, will promote business opportunities and the relationship University-Industry. University institutions and faculties should think about their current ethic convictions to create a new Industry-University model in the context of a global economy.     

Measuring Vulnerability to U.S. Foreign Economic Sanctions

Economic sanctions are an important instrument of U.S. foreign policy. While politicians look favorably on unilateral economic sanctions as a policy instrument, many scholars attribute significant long-term economic costs to the United States and have doubts about their effectiveness. We outline a simple approach to assess the vulnerability of target countries to sanctions in order to develop focused sanctions and reduce unnecessary costs to U.S. business, avoid the imposition of sanctions on countries when sanctions are unlikely to have the desired effects, and determine what other countries must join the United States in imposing sanctions if they are to be effective.JEL Classification K330,F190     

Panama's ecotourism-plus initiative: the challenge of making history

Panama's master plan for ecotourism plus involves public and private entities in efforts to develop heritage resources and attract tourists without damaging those resources. As the crossroads of two continents and two oceans, Panama's natural environment is complemented by a rich cultural history. The nation has a signal opportunity both to draw attention to itself and to control its own destiny for the first time in nearly a century, as the United States decommissions its military bases and transfers sovereignty over the Panama Canal to Panama. Prototype projects already have shown the potential for cooperation between public and private entities for mutual gain—preservation of resources and expansion of the tourism business from its current focus on the business-travel segment. Inter-Continental Hotels, for instance, has joined an effort to safeguard a mangrove ecosystem as an ecotourism resource. The private Coronado Club Suites Resort, one of the few tourist developments outside Panama City, aims to preserve valuable montane area of biodiversity as it attracts ecotravelers. The master plan for the Gamboa Tropical Rainforest Resort includes development of facilities for research and a rebirth of the cultural legacy of an historic gold-transportation route. Perhaps the most intriguing project is the adaptive reuse of a former U.S. radar tower as an “ecohotel” and observation point for birds and other animals in the rain-forest canopy.     

A comparison of business ethics commitment in private and public sector organizations in Sweden

This paper reports the results of a study of the top 500 private sector organizations and the top 100 public sector organizations in Sweden. It is a replication of the study by Svensson et al. (2004) . The aim of the study was to describe and compare the business ethics commitment of organizations across the two sectors. The empirical findings indicate that the processes involved in business ethics commitment have begun to be recognized and acted upon at an organizational level in Sweden. Some support is provided to show that codes of ethics are developing in some of Sweden's largest private and public sector organizations – although this is happening to a lesser extent in the public sector. It is noted that an effect of a code of ethics on the bottom line of the business was acknowledged by respondents in both private and public sector organizations. We believe that the supporting measures of business ethics commitment appear to be underutilized in both private and public sector organizations in Sweden (among those that possess codes of ethics), thus indicating that the commitment to business ethics in Swedish organizations has potential for future development.     

U.S.-China trade war and competitive advantage of Vietnam

China has been losing international competitiveness in labor-intensive industries due to various factors, including the trade war with the United States and globalization. Vietnam, however, has rapidly expanded its labor-intensive exports. The paper proposes to explore the future of labor-intensive industries in Vietnam due to the U.S.-China trade war. The paper examines export performance data from United Nation Comtrade for 10 specific labor-intensive industries that serve the U.S. market between 2000 and 2020 to assess the possibility of Vietnam overtaking China's position as the world's largest manufacturer. Using situation analysis, the paper compares the competitive advantage of Vietnam in labor-intensive industries due to the U.S.-China trade war. The paper found that China's competitiveness was negatively impacted for the final two periods, while Vietnam's competitive advantage increased.     

《美韩自由贸易协定》对中国输美纺织品服装的贸易影响评估

《美韩自由贸易协定》是近年来美国与贸易伙伴间所达成的最具经济重要性和影响力的一项优惠贸易安排,中国亦是该协定的重要"利益攸关方",尤其在纺织品服装领域。本文在对该协定的纺织品条款进行全面分析的基础上,就协定实施后对中国输美纺织品服装的贸易影响进行了初步定量评估。评估主要基于2005～2010年数据,从中韩两国输美产品总体结构相似度和具体产品类别的贸易替代价格弹性两方面展开。