Ethnicity,nationality and gender: a cross-cultural comparison of business ethical decisions in four countries

Data from 513 subjects in China. Korea,. Mexico and the USA are analysed to explore the effects of ethnicity, nationality and gender on responses to a variety of business ethical dilemmas. Responses are analysed with respect to the

ethical theories of Utilitarianism (Act and Rule), Justice, and Individual Rights. Implications for human resource management are discussed.     

Linking organizational learning and customer capital through an ambidexterity context: an empirical investigation in SMEs1

Ambidexterity is an organization's context to achieve alignment and adaptability simultaneously within the organization learning processes. This paper examines the relationship between and significance of two key factors of organization learning (exploration and exploitation of knowledge) and two possible control factors (company size and sector) on the ambidexterity context, and their effects on the creation of customer capital. These relationships are examined through an empirical investigation of 269 Spanish SMEs from two different sectors (Optometry and Telecommunications), using structural equation modelling validated by factor analysis. The results indicate that the effects of exploration and exploitation of knowledge on customer capital are mediated through an ambidexterity context, which in this study is not affected by the size of SMEs but might be related to the sector in which they operate.     

Judgmental aggregation strategies depend on whether the self is involved

We report the results of a novel experiment that addresses two unresolved questions in the judgmental forecasting literature. First, how does combining the estimates of others differ from revising one’s own estimate based on the judgment of another? The experiment found that participants often ignored advice when revising an estimate but averaged estimates when combining. This was true despite receiving identical feedback about the accuracy of past judgments. Second, why do people consistently tend to overweight their own opinions at the expense of profitable advice? We compared two prominent explanations for this, differential access to reasons and egocentric beliefs, and found that neither adequately accounts for the overweighting of the self. Finally, echoing past research, we find that averaging opinions is often advantageous, but that choosing a single judge can perform well in certain predictable situations.     

On the properties of the hotelling��s T2 control chart with variable sampling intervals

When T ² control chart is used to monitor a process, it is usually assumed that the samples of size n ₀ is taken at constant intervals t ₀ . In this paper, we investigate the T ² control chart for monitoring the process mean vector when the sampling intervals are variable. Recent studies have shown that the variable sampling interval (VSI) scheme helps practitioners detect process shifts more quickly than the classical scheme Fixed Ratio Sampling (FRS). In this paper, it is assumed that the length of time the process remains in control is exponentially distributed.     

Inference with dependent data using cluster covariance estimators

This paper presents an inference approach for dependent data in time series, spatial, and panel data applications. The method involves constructing t and Wald statistics using a cluster covariance matrix estimator (CCE). We use an approximation that takes the number of clusters/groups as fixed and the number of observations per group to be large. The resulting limiting distributions of the t and Wald statistics are standard t and F distributions where the number of groups plays the role of sample size. Using a small number of groups is analogous to ‘fixed-b’ asymptotics of [Kiefer and Vogelsang, 2002] and [Kiefer and Vogelsang, 2005] (KV) for heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation consistent inference. We provide simulation evidence that demonstrates that the procedure substantially outperforms conventional inference procedures.     

Firm heterogeneity, productivity and spatially bounded knowledge externalities

In this paper, we argue that conceptually disentangling the ‘context versus composition’ aspects of regional growth is a multilevel issue. By applying multilevel models (also called random-effects models), we show (1) the importance of considering firm-specific characteristics simultaneously with region-specific characteristics, as we find that a large part of what is traditionally assigned to the impact of the region should be assigned to firm-specific characteristics and (2) that existing single-level methodologies can be problematic, as they are vulnerable to the charge of estimating significance levels that are too liberally assigned and promote exaggerations. This is illustrated empirically by showing that single-level approaches would lead to the conclusion that innovation spillovers are highly significant in a setting of Dutch urban growth differentials, while multilevel analyses shows less liberally assigned significance levels. We conclude that multilevel-effect models better fit research questions that combine firm and spatial characteristics simultaneously, especially because they allow firm-specific characteristics to be differently linked to their regional contexts.     

Temporary open market operation on MBS repos: any foreshadowing of the financial crisis of 2008?

The financial crisis of 2008 was significantly influenced by housing, mortgage markets and mortgage-backed securities (MBS). The Federal Reserve (Fed) conducts temporary open market operations on a daily basis and frequently uses repos on MBS. With this daily interaction with MBS, we examine whether any signal about the impending financial crisis could have been seen in the Fed’s temporary open market operations. We identify four anomalous events in MBS temporary open market operations and examine those events for signals of the financial crisis. We find nothing in the four events that would have provided signals of the financial crisis. Instead, the common feature of the four events is an unusually large supply of MBS made available to the Fed for those day’s temporary open market operations.     

Assessing multi-dimensional performance: environmental and economic outcomes

This study examines economic performance, environmental performance, and regulatory activity for plants in three industries: pulp and paper, oil, and steel. Stochastic frontier production function models show significant deviations from production efficiency. Older plants are less efficient in production, but perform no worse on emissions. Plants spending more on pollution abatement tend to do worse on both production efficiency and emissions. Stricter local regulatory pressure is associated with somewhat lower emissions, but has mixed effects on production efficiency. Positive correlations between SUR residuals for emissions and production efficiency suggest unmeasured plant-level characteristics that drive both economic and environmental performance.