Ethical Problems, Conflicts and Beliefs of Small Business Professionals

This paper presents the results of a national study of the beliefs and perceptions of small business professionals concerning ethics within their company and business in general. The study examined their views on the relationship between success and ethical conduct as well as the extent and nature of ethical conflicts experienced by the respondents. Some comparisons are made with similar studies that have been conducted in the past. Respondents have the most ethical conflicts with customers and employees, and with regard to honesty in contracts/agreements. Most also believe that ethical standards are lower than they were 10 and 20 years ago, primarily because society's moral standards are lower. Additionally, they believe that the behavior of top management has the most influence on decisions in ethical situations. Finally, consistent with prior studies, they believe that they have the most responsibility to customers, ahead of employees and stockholders.     

Increased Buyer Concentration and Its Effects on Profitability in the Manufacturing Sector

The article details the increase in buyerconcentration that has occurred throughout themanufacturing sector in recent years and explores itseffects on manufacturers' profitability. The articledevelops a new firm-level data set derived fromSecurities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Form 10-Ksubmissions to explore this topic among 218 firms in19 industries. The article's econometric resultsconflict with economic theory's prediction thatgreater buyer concentration is likely to be associatedwith lower seller profits principally in oligopolisticindustries. To the contrary, the results suggest thatbuyer concentration reduces profitability primarily incompetitive rather than oligopolistic industries.     

Risk of major amputation or death among patients with critical limb ischemia initially treated with endovascular intervention,surgical bypass,minor amputation,or conservative management

Aims: Patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI) have an increased risk of major amputation. The initial treatment approach for CLI may significantly impact the subsequent risk of major amputation or death. The objective of this study was to describe the initial treatment approaches of patients with CLI and the limb outcomes associated with each approach.

Methods: Data from MarketScan Commercial and Medicare Supplemental Databases from January 2006–December 2014 was utilized. Cohorts of CLI patients were defined as follows: (1) peripheral vascular intervention (PVI); (2) peripheral vascular surgery (PVS); (3) minor amputation without concomitant PVI or PVS (MinAMP); and (4) Patients without PVI, PVS, or MinAMP (conservative therapy). The odds of major amputation or inpatient death were estimated using the Cox proportional hazards model. For those patients requiring a major amputation, the incremental expenditures per member per month (PMPM) were estimated using a gamma log-link model.

Results: Conservative therapy was associated with significantly higher odds of major amputation or inpatient death compared to patients who underwent minor amputation (1.59-times), PVI (2.08-times), or PVS (2.12-times). Patients treated with an initial strategy of minor amputation also had higher odds of major amputation or inpatient death compared to PVS (1.31-times) or PVI (1.33-times). The estimated incremental expenditures PMPM for patients with a major amputation was $5,165.

Conclusions: Revascularization reduces the risk of a major amputation or inpatient death for patients with CLI when compared to conservative therapy. Major amputation is also associated with significantly higher healthcare expenditures.     

Should Cruise Ports Market Ecotourism? A Comparative Analysis of Passenger Spending Expectations within the Panama Canal Watershed

This study examined the expected spending patterns of cruise ship passengers as they debarked ships at ports within the Panama Canal Watershed. Results suggest that targeting marketing efforts toward ecotourism opportunities may increase long‐term ecological and economic benefits to port communities and local businesses. Most respondents were interested in ecotourism‐related activities in the Panama Canal Zone and nearby coastal areas. Furthermore, the ecotourism‐related market segments expected to spend significantly more money in port than conventional tourists. The growing ecotourism market represents an important opportunity for the cruise industry to partner with local ecotourism operators, enhancing profitability while simultaneously supporting sustainable development. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Welfare effects of automatic-IRAs

Several states require employers who do not offer retirement benefits to automatically enroll their employees in individual retirement accounts (IRAs). We quantify the welfare effects of this program for individuals who follow a rule-of-thumb to make savings decisions. We find workers who save more than 3% would be willing to give up 0%–1.4% of lifetime consumption to avoid an IRA. We also consider a fully rational model with credit frictions, stochastic income and pre-retirement withdrawals, and costly IRA opt-outs. We find that being enrolled in an IRA is most likely to benefit workers who do not borrow during the life-cycle.     

DIS/POSSESSORY DATA POLITICS: From Tenant Screening to Anti-Eviction Organizing

In this article I place tenant screening data grabbing practices in tension with the ongoing work of housing justice-based tool making. While the tenant screening industry has spent decades amassing eviction data to facilitate the blocklisting of tenants with prior eviction records and thereby reifying racial capitalist geographies, housing organizers today rely on some of this same data to illuminate evictor networks and organize anti-eviction campaigns. This has been particularly important in the wake of corporate landlordism in which evictions are executed through opaque shell companies. Tenant-made tools attempt to undo this uneven landscape in which landlords own troves of data about tenants, but in which tenants don't even know their own landlords’ names. While opening up all eviction data to the public might appear to be an antidote, doing so can also provide screening companies with even more data to use in blocklisting. In my examination of this conjuncture, I forge the analytic of dis/possessory data politics to map out the violence of tenant screening data predation while also problematizing the technoliberal impulse to open up all eviction data. Yet dis/possessory data politics also attest to care and coalition work marked by practices of possession beyond logics of theft, banishment and techno solutionism.     

Mind the gender gap: Inequalities in the emergent professions of artificial intelligence (AI) and data science

The emergence of new prestigious professions in data science and artificial intelligence (AI) provide a rare opportunity to explore the gendered dynamics of technical careers as they are being formed. In this paper, we contribute to the literature on gender inequality in digital work by curating and analysing a unique cross-country data set. We use innovative data science methodology to investigate the nature of work and skills in these under-researched fields. Our research finds persistent disparities in jobs, qualifications, seniority, industry, attrition and even self-confidence in these fields. We identify structural inequality in data and AI, with career trajectories of professionals differentiated by gender, reflecting the broader history of computing. Our work is original in illuminating gendering processes within elite high-tech jobs as they are being configured. Paying attention to these nascent fields is crucial if we are to ensure that women take their rightful place at forefront of technological innovation.