Integrity as a Business Asset

In this post-Enron era, we have heard much talk about the need for integrity. Today’s employees perceive it as being in short supply. A recent survey by the Walker Consulting Firm found that less than half of workers polled thought their senior leaders were people of high integrity. To combat the perceived lack of corporate integrity, companies are stressing their probity. This stress is problematic because executives tend to instrumentalize the value of integrity. This paper argues that integrity needs to be better defined because the current mode of talking about the subject is misleading. The paper considers three traditions’ understanding of the idea of integrity, argues that integrity is intrinsically valuable, and concludes with some reflections on the way in which integrity, properly understood, functions as a business asset.     

Identifying priorities for action in corporate sustainable development indicator programs

This paper presents a case study on the identification of key sustainable development issues for the transmission system of an electric utility. It provides a structured approach to identifying priorities for action within existing corporate infrastructure. The application of the process is discussed, with an emphasis on strategies for the selection of priorities for immediate action, illustrating linkages between the selected key issues and lessons learned. To demonstrate how the issues may lead to the development of indicators, example sustainable development indicators are presented for a selected key issue. The case study illustrates that key stakeholders must be involved throughout the entire process, that the process of developing the issues and indicators is just as important as the final result and that any indicator development process must build on existing corporate infrastructure wherever possible. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

FINANCIAL STATEMENT USERS‘ PERCEPTIONS OF FACTORS AFFECTING THE ABILITY OF AUDITORS TO RESIST CLIENT PRESSURE IN A CONFLICT SITUATION

This study investigates the perceived effects of four factors on the likelihood that an auditor will acquiesce to the demands of a client when a dispute arises over a significant financial reporting issue. A repeated measures experiment was conducted using 49 security analysts and 69 bankers as subjects. Analysis of Variance results indicate that an auditor is perceived as being more likely to acquiesce to his client's demands when the accounting issue in dispute is not dealt with clearly by an accounting standard. Auditors also are viewed as being more likely to acquiesce when: (1) competition in the audit environment is aggressive; (2) the audit firm is small; and (3) the audit firm provides management consulting services to its audit client.     

The Indonesian Log Export Ban: An Estimation of Foregone Export Earnings

The paper examines the economic impact of the Indonesian phased log export ban from 1981 to 1986, by means of a counterfactual analysis which permits the calculation of hypothetical export revenues under the assumption that the log export ban was not implemented. A graphic and numeric presentation of the analysis is provided. The present value of the range of estimated cumulative losses is USS (1980) 1.9 billion to $3.1 billion.     

Independent Collective Representation: Providing Effectiveness, Fairness, and Democracy in the Employment Relationship

Protection against arbitrary management action has always been a concern of employees. Enlightened managerialism has been one approach to addressing these concerns. This approach is compromised by the conflicts of interest that characterize the employment relationship in a market system. We argue in this paper that independent collective representation functions to protect employees while leaving the employer with sufficient freedom to manage. Trade unions, as a counter weight to the exercise of absolute managerial power, complement a pluralist democratic system. The exercise of absolute power, the absence of accountability and countervailing checks and balances, are foreign to any democratic polity. At enterprise level, trade unions manage the ongoing tensions and conflicts between democratic humanistic values and market values.     

E-logistics in China: basic problems, manageable concerns and intractable solutions

This paper examines the reality of issues surrounding e-commerce and logistics in China today. Interviews were conducted with government, business and academic leaders in a major Chinese coastal city. From these interviews, the magnitude of nine major e-commerce and logistics challenges was investigated. Based on the scope of the problems and the scale of potential solutions, the various issues are characterized as basic, manageable or intractable. Conclusions are made about the challenges to be found both today and in the future of e-commerce and logistics in China.     

Pilot intervention with adolescents to increase knowledge and consumption of folate‐rich foods based on the Health Belief Model

Folate is important in the prevention of birth defects and in the maintenance of general health. Even after mandatory fortification, many people are still not consuming the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of 400 mcg folate/day. Consuming a diet rich in naturally high‐folate foods, as opposed to supplementation, may offer additional health benefits and promote an overall healthy diet. The purpose of this pilot study was to test the hypothesis that a learner‐centred educational intervention based on the Health Belief Model (HBM) will successfully increase knowledge and consumption of folate‐rich foods, while increasing positive beliefs about folate and health in adolescents. A two‐group parallel control trial was conducted in two schools in Nebraska. Pre‐ and post‐study questionnaires included a folate‐based food frequency questionnaire, a HBM questionnaire and a folate knowledge test. Participants in the intervention group completed a post‐study evaluation. The intervention consisted of three 30‐min lessons followed by participant creation of podcasts. One podcast was viewed each week for 8 weeks following the lessons. Data were analysed using t‐tests to measure simple effects within the intervention and control groups, and analysis of variance to measure within‐subject effects between the groups. Folate consumption decreased in both the intervention and control groups, but these differences were not significant (P > 0.05). Significant increases (P = 0.000) in folate knowledge occurred in the intervention group. This difference remained significant (P = 0.001) when compared to the control group. Average HBM rankings significantly decreased (P < 0.05) towards ‘strongly agree’ (Likert scale of 1–6) in the intervention group (P < 0.05) for all constructs except cues to action. However, when compared to the control group, these differences were only significant for self‐efficacy and perceived susceptibility. Creating and viewing podcasts may be helpful for the retention of knowledge over time, but did not appear to be an effective cue to action for increased folate‐rich foods in this pilot study.     

Some Consequences of the 1994–1995 Coffee Boom for Growth and Poverty Reduction in Uganda

This paper reports a computable general equilibrium analysis that explores the consequences of the 1994–1995 increase in the international price of coffee for Uganda's economy. Evidence is found for a small effect on both medium‐term growth and poverty reduction. Aid dependence is among the reasons why this effect is not found to be larger. Major beneficiary groups are not primarily the farmers to which the windfall initially accrued, but urban wage earners and the urban self‐employed.