European Corporate Citizenship in the USA: An Enquiry

European direct investment in the USA raises many local concerns. Are these concerns justified, or alleviated, by the way in which different European companies exercise corporate citizenship in the host country? The author is Assistant Professor of Strategic Management at the College of Business Administration, University of Oklahoma, 307 West Brooks, Norman, Oklahoma 73019-0450, USA.     

Means–end analysis: Does the affective state influence information processing style?

Means–end theory aims at explaining how consumers evaluate products by linking relevant attributes to perceived consequences to desired ends in a hierarchical way, based on core assumptions of cognitive psychology about human information processing. This study investigates the influence of affective states on information processing styles in a means–end measurement situation, thus taking into account an important antecedent and correlate of human decision making and behavior that has received scarce attention so far in the methodological literature on means–end chains. The results reveal that a person's affective state indeed influences the style of information processing. Respondents in a positive mood used more general knowledge structures and processed the laddering questionnaire faster than respondents in a negative or neutral mood. The laddering technique, which measures means–end chains, thus seems to be sensitive to situational effects, and this finding indicates that affective states then also might have an influence on product knowledge and the decision‐making process in a purchase situation. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Issues management and organizational accounts: An analysis of corporate responses to accusations of unethical business practices

When external groups accuse a business organization of unethical practices, managers of the accused organization usually offer a communicative response to attempt to protect their organization's public image. Even though many researchers readily concur that analysis of these communicative responses is important to our understanding of business and society conflict, few investigations have focused on developing a theoretical framework for analyzing these communicative strategies used by managers. In addition, research in this area has suffered from a lack of empirical investigation. In this paper we address both of these weaknesses in the existing literature. First, we explicate Impression Management Theory as an appropriate framework for studying organizational communicative responses, paying particular attention to the concept of accounts. Second, we critique previous investigations of organizational accounts and discuss the major contributions of our study. Third, we propose a coding system and content analyze the accounts offered by managers from 21 organizations that were recently the targets of consumer boycotts. Finally, we report the results of our empirical investigation and discuss ethical issues related to organizational accounts. Dennis E. Garrett (Assistant Professor, Division of Marketing, University of Oklahoma) is a co-author of Marketing Theory: Evolution and Evaluation (John Wiley and Sons, 1988). His articles have appeared in Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Strategies, Business and Society Review, Journal of Marketing Education, and Communication Monographs. In 1987, he was selected as the Outstanding Professor on Campus by the University of Oklahoma Student Association.Jeffrey L. Bradford (Graduate Student, Division of Marketing, University of Oklahoma) is completing his Ph.D. in Marketing in the College of Business Administration. Renee A. Meyers (Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, University of Oklahoma) has published articles in Human Communication Research, Communication Yearbook, Communication Monographs, and Journal of Applied Communication. Her doctoral dissertation from the University of Illinois was selected as the 1987 Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation by the Speech Communication Association.Joy Becker (Graduate Student, Division of Marketing, University of Oklahoma) is completing her M.B.A. degree in the College of Business Administration.     

Investigating the role of enduring and situational involvement with the program context on advertising effectiveness

Although the effect of involvement with the program context is often cited as a key element in advertising processing, there is no consistent view concerning its role. This study attempts to clarify this point by proposing a conceptual model for the determinants of advertising effectiveness in televised sporting events that incorporates both enduring and situational involvement factors. The results of this study reveal that enduring involvement is directly and indirectly, through situational involvement, associated with advertising effectiveness. Moreover, the findings show that individual factors of enduring and situational involvement operate differently and play a distinct role in affecting the nature of advertising processing. Overall, this study suggests that involvement with the program context should be conceptualized as a function of both enduring factors and situational states, and contrary to previous assertions advertisers should not be deterred from placing commercials in involving programs.     

Financial Knowledge and Child Development Account Policy: A Test of Financial Capability

This study examines how study participants' financial knowledge and participation in a Child Development Account intervention affects 529 College Savings Plan account holding among caregivers of infants. The study uses data from the SEED for Oklahoma Kids (N = 2,651), a statewide randomized experiment using a probability sample of infants selected from birth records. Results of logit regression show that participants' financial knowledge is positively related to account holding in the treatment group but not in the control group. The interactive effects between financial knowledge and treatment status are statistically significant. This finding implies that the effect of financial knowledge on financial decisions related to college savings is moderated by institutional features, such as incentives, information and access. Results of this study support the propositions of financial capability and suggest that expanding financial capability requires both improved individual financial knowledge and supportive policy .     

基于最小二乘法的海基双站测量数据综合处理

针对测量船执行海上任务单船数据处理及弹道参数计算受时间和弧段限制局限性的问题,提出了采用加权最小二乘法解算双站目标坐标的综合数据处理方法,并在综合后的数据库增加了跟踪时间及重要特征点弧段数据,提高了位置及其他弹道参数的估计精度。该方法的推广对改进测量船数据处理方法和技术、提高弹道状态估计精度均具有积极的意义。     

Customers' Satisfaction Factors Regarding University Food Court Service

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify university customers' satisfaction levels regarding foods and services in the food court at Oklahoma State University. A survey of 276 customers was conducted regarding customer satisfaction levels of foods and services. Results indicated that food quality was found to be the most important factor contributing to customers' overall satisfaction. It is suggested that management should pay attention to the freshness, appearance, and nutrition of the food to increase the customers' satisfaction. Moreover, focusing on product differentiation by offering convenience packaged Asian, Mexican, and Italian cuisines may prove to be a potential variable contributing to customers' purchasing patterns.     

Understanding the Challenges Facing the Food Manufacturing Industry

Abstract

The Northeast's share of US food processing activity has decreased significantly over the last three decades as many food processing firms have exited the region and located elsewhere, particularly in the South and the West. This decline has been most severe in New Jersey, the state that is frequently cited as having the most stringent business and regulatory climate in the nation. To investigate why food processors have found the New Jersey environment to be so unfriendly, this study organized focus groups of food processing industry executives, trade organizations and researchers. The findings suggest that the area of environmental and other regulation is the most problematic for food processors. Other areas of concern include, in order of importance, taxation and fiscal problems, economic barriers to development and expansion, high cost of doing business, education, training and labor concerns, communication and public relations, and transportation. Policy makers in New Jersey, and in other northeastern states facing similar food processing declines, interested in the retention and economic development of food processing firms need to be cognizant of the impediments currently constraining the industry. Industry-based public policy recommendations for enhancing the business climate for food processors are presented.     

William F. Whyte: Contributions to management

The name of William Foote Whyte is most frequently associated with Street Corner Society, the sociological study of life in Boston's North End during the late 1930s, but his research spanned another sixty years in a range of settings on three continents. This article traces his achievements over the decades, as he developed and applied a participatory action research methodology in the kitchens of Chicago restaurants, the oilfields of Oklahoma and Venezuela, subsistence farms in Peru and Guatemala, and industrial cooperatives in the Basque region of Spain. It describes how this methodology, grounded in case research, led to social change at the “Tremont Hotel” in a Midwestern city. It questions why his achievements have not received greater recognition among by academicians and practitioners, perhaps because his ideas and findings on social change produced discomfort among peers and the sponsors of his research.     

湖北永惠食品有限公司成长的心路历程

论述了湖北永惠食品有限公司依靠自主创新和科技进步,经过多年的艰苦创业,发展成为有一定知名度食品企业的创业历程,并结合国内食品加工业市场需求,对其产业未来发展作出了美好展望。     

Exploring a Model for Integrating Child Development Accounts with Social Services for Vulnerable Families

In the financial capability intervention known as Child Development Accounts (CDAs), incentives with savings or investment accounts enable families (especially vulnerable ones) to accumulate assets for children's developmental and life‐cycle needs. With data from SEED for Oklahoma Kids (OK), a randomized statewide policy experiment, we examined a CDA intervention's effects on a subsample of low‐income families in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Head Start. Results from simultaneous equation modeling suggest that the intervention has positive, statistically significant impacts on financial and social‐development outcomes. Findings provide empirical support for a new model for integrating the accounts with other social services for economically vulnerable populations. The centralized account platform used in SEED OK seems essential to providing CDAs on a large scale, which would enable opportunities for integration with federal‐ and state‐funded social service programs.     

State Curriculum Mandates and Student Knowledge of Personal Finance

This study analyzes the relationship between high school students’ scores on a test of personal financial literacy and their state's personal finance curriculum mandate. At the time of the testing, twenty of the thirty‐one states included in the study had some kind of educational policy in the area of personal financial management. The results of the study show that curriculum mandates, broadly defined, are not generally associated with higher students’ scores. However, students in states that required specific financial education course work scored significantly higher than those in states with either a general mandate or with no mandate.     

An Examination of the Contribution of Dispositional Affect on Ethical Lapses

The popular press and academic research has focused primarily on the characteristics of corporate leaders. Subordinates have been studied much less frequently than leaders and yet they play a pivotal role in destructive leadership processes. An area holding significant potential to bring clarity to subordinates?? ability to withstand (or succumb) to pressures from superiors is dispositional affect. In our exploratory study, we examine how specific affective states influence subordinates?? unethical behavior. We performed an experiment with 63 mid-level managers having significant work experience. Participants were given ethical scenarios and asked to assess their intentions to comply with their superiors?? requests to engage in unethical conduct. The participants also completed the positive affect negative affect schedule (PANAS) which provides measures of affective states. Our results provide support for theory-based predictions. The findings of our study make important contributions and have implications to both practice and theory. First, we identify certain affective states that encourage subordinates to adopt the behavior of a conformer or colluder and thus be susceptible to their superiors?? unethical directives. Second, our results suggest the need for training programs to assist employees in managing affect in the work place and consideration of organizational changes that provide a culture of empowerment of its employees. Third, unlike a large majority of prior research, we measured naturally occurring affective states rather than providing a contrived (and potentially exaggerated) triggering event to elicit affective states. Fourth, we examined specific affective states rather than examining only general positive and negative valence categories.     

Reformoptionen des Länderfinanzausgleichs unter politökonomischer Betrachtung

The German states Bavaria and Hesse have initiated a legal case against the German fiscal equalisation system. The German Federal Constitutional Court has already made rulings concerning this system on three occasions, and thus this new case is not expected to result in major changes. Consequently, states may have to depend on the Bundestag and Bundesrat to implement any changes to the system. Minor reforms would be likely to pass muster with the Court. This is important, as even minor changes can have a significant impact on states’ revenues. This study analyses whether there are policy reform options that could attain majorities in the Bundestag and Bundesrat and estimates the possible effects of the policies on states’ revenues.     

Labour demand in the EU and returns to scale: A production function approach

The paper tests the hypothesis that small member states of the European Union (EU) experience economies of scale constraints. This study adopts a production function approach, utilising data from the 27 differently sized EU member countries. The results confirm the hypothesis and indicate that larger EU member countries incur lower costs per unit of output produced when compared to the smaller ones. This finding has important implications for small EU member states, including that smaller countries have to overcome their economies of scale constraint in order to attain and maintain international competitiveness. This disadvantage is particularly relevant for small states, because these states tend to be highly dependent on international trade, in which case international competitiveness is a major issue.     

Deviant managerial behavior: Costs,outcomes and prevention

This paper examines deviant managerial behavior, and compares such behavior to the clinical psychological sociopathic model. The scope of a multinational corporate operation can enhance or degrade the quality of life for individuals with more impact than at any previous time in history. Social costs are compared to the results of sociopathic behavior and examined as the result of amoral or immoral behavior. The idea of the sociopathic manager is discussed, and theoretical causes of sociopathic development are examined with bases in behavioral, economic and criminological literature. Future research and recommendations for prevention of sociopathic behavior are advanced.N. S. Miceli is a doctoral student at the University of Oklahoma majoring in Management (Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management). His research interests include the effects of ASPD on decision making, attitudes toward disabled persons, occupational health and stress, international business, cross-cultural issues and labor relations.An earlier version of this paper was presented at a Southwest Academy of Management Meeting.     

一种基于周期模型的物联网实体实时预测方法

对物联网中实体的海量数据进行分析处理成为了物联网应用层发展的基础,很多应用场合需要对物联网实体状态进行预测。物联网中的实体状态具有强实时性和高动态性,通过判断物联网实体的周期模式采用合理的预测模型,对特定时间段建立时间窗口,预测出实体状态的概率值。该预测方法耗时短,能在2~4 s给出预测结果,且准确度高,能与实际相符合,对物联网应用层的决策分析起到了很好的指示作用。     

Significant Choice and Crisis Decision Making: MeritCare’s Public Communication in the Fen–Phen Case

This study examines the communication strategies employed by MeritCare’s public relations staff during the fen–phen case. The ethic of significant choice was the primary lens for the study. The study revealed that MeritCare’s public relations staff members believed they did, in fact, follow the ethic of significant choice. Specifically, they perceived that the biases held by staff helped maintain the public’s safety as the primary issue during the fen–phen events. They also believed that their communication strategies allowed them to avoid ambiguity and emotionalized language. Finally, the staff members felt that teaming with Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota enabled them to influence the marketplace of ideas by capitalizing on the credible standing of Mayo Clinic.Renae A. Streifel (M.A., North Dakota State University) is a public relations specialist for the MeritCare Hospital group in Fargo, North Dakota. She studied the MeritCare case for her Master’s thesis.Bethany L. Beebe (M.A., Purdue University) studies crisis communication from an organizational perspective. Shari R. Veil (Ph.D., North Dakota State University) is an assistant professor in the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma. She studies crisis communication from a public relations perspective.Timothy L. Sellnow (Ph.D., Wayne State University) is professor of communication, North Dakota State University. Along with an extensive publication record, he has worked with several US government grants which provide some of the context for his study of crisis communication from an organizational perspective.     

Group Action in the Baltic States

The article is based on a study which aimed at examining the existence and use of group actions in consumer issues in the Baltic states. It was part of a larger research project in which the same questions were studied in all Central and Eastern European countries. Besides group actions in courts, administrative group actions were also studied.A starting point for the study was an overview of substantive consumer protection legislation in the Baltic states. In spite of the fact that there has been a rapid development in this field during recent years, the main finding was that many substantive law elements of consumers' collective interests, which in the EU Member States are often protected by different kinds of group actions, are as yet not regulated at all in the Baltic states or not regulated in a sufficiently detailed way in the Baltic states.The study showed that several kinds of group action exist in these countries. Firstly, there are administrative group actions for injunction. They are applied mainly in cases concerning product information, product safety, and unfair competition. Secondly, a group action by a consumer organisation for injunction in a court is, in principle, possible in Estonia and Lithuania, but not in Latvia. So far, no case law exists, however. A genuine group action for compensation is not possible in the Baltic countries, but a consumer organization may represent an individual consumer or a specified group of consumers in a court and may claim compensation on their behalf. The study showed that administrative group actions are a functioning part of the present consumer protection system in these countries, whereas court actions so far exist only on paper. It also showed that in the Baltic states, procedural means are in some matters better developed than substantive consumer law, whereas in many western countries, the exact opposite is the case. The article concludes with some recommendations as to how the Baltic states could develop their consumer protection legislation.