Is corruption a greater burden for registered MSEs? Evidence from Zambia

If corrupt bureaucrats target registered firms, then corruption may discourage registration. Using data from a survey of 4,801 micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in Zambia, this paper looks at whether corruption is a more or less serious problem for registered MSEs. Consistent with earlier studies, the results suggest registered MSEs are more concerned about corruption than unregistered firms are. The paper also proposes two reasons why corruption might affect registered MSEs differently than it affects unregistered firms. We first suggest that registered firms might meet with government officials more often than unregistered firms, giving corrupt officials more opportunities to demand bribes from them, but we also suggest that registered firms might be less vulnerable when officials demand bribes because they are more able to complain about bribe demands. This could offset registered firms' disadvantage because of more frequent meetings. The evidence supports the first, but not the second, hypothesis. Registered firms were more likely to meet with government officials but were not consistently less likely to pay bribes when they did meet with them.     

Some Economics of Safe Injecting Rooms

Provision of safe injecting rooms (SIRs), needle exchanges and other harm minimisation schemes reduce mortality and other health risks that illicit drug users experience. However, SIRs diminish incentives to refrain from the use of drugs by reducing the risk of a key harmful consequence of use, namely the user's death. Moreover, such harm minimisation efforts are socially costly. Economic approaches to drug management balance benefits from harm minimisation against policy costs and the costs associated with a failure of community drug abstinence. This article shows that the economic case for SIRs disappears with conservative assumptions about adverse incentive effects of reduced mortality risks even when only modest weight is placed on drug abstinence objectives.     

Product differentiation and the gains from trade under Bertrand duopoly

Abstract.  In the literature on the welfare effects of free trade under imperfect competition, one important case seems to have been overlooked, and that is the Bertrand duopoly model with differentiated products. Although many authors have analysed the welfare effects of free trade under Cournot duopoly and demonstrated the possibility of losses from trade, there has been no thorough analysis of the welfare effects of free trade under Bertrand duopoly. In this article we present a thorough analysis of the welfare effects of free trade under Bertrand duopoly with differentiated products, and it is shown that there are always gains from trade. JEL Classification: F12     

Choices and constraints: individual perceptions of the voluntary redundancy experience

This article considers how voluntary redundancy influences individual perceptions of retrenchment. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with people who had taken voluntary redundancy from a range of Australian public and private sector organisations. The article argues that, although some employees may feel pressured into accepting voluntary redundancy, for most people it provides a better alternative to involuntary retrenchment, enabling them to maintain self‐esteem and reducing the negative psychological, physical and financial impacts normally associated with retrenchment. However, it also suggests that redundancy programmes need to be managed strategically to avoid creating a ‘package culture’ mentality in which turnover becomes contingent on receiving a redundancy package.     

What businesses are doing to attract and retain employees--becoming an employer of choice

This article explains why the new economy has made many businesses anxious to become employers of choice. The author uses a case study to show how one firm achieved this goal and explains the role that innovative benefits practices and other HR policies can play in attracting and retaining qualified employees.     

Why HR policies fail to support workplace learning: the complexities of policy implementation in healthcare

An appropriate human resource policy infrastructure to support workplace learning has been advocated both within the literature on workplace learning and in official British Government guidance for healthcare organizations. Yet minimal empirical evidence exists to support the view that HR policies are able to promote greater use of workplace learning methods within organizations. This proposition was tested through collecting both quantitative and qualitative data from staff in British hospices. The findings demonstrated the limited effects of HR policies in this respect and five key factors were identified that appeared to influence HR policy implementation in this instance. These findings have wider significance for our understanding of the complex interrelationships that potentially exist between HR policies, their outcomes and the mediating factors associated with policy implementation.     

Sustainable Product and Market Development for Subsistence Marketplaces: Creating Educational Initiatives in Radically Different Contexts*

Developing products and business processes to serve subsistence marketplaces (or the roughly 4 billion poor around the world referred to as the bottom of the pyramid) is a significant challenge for businesses. Despite the importance of subsistence marketplaces, most product development educational curricula have been focused on relatively resource‐rich and literate consumers and markets. We teach an innovative year‐long product development course which includes an international immersion experience and which covers a broad spectrum of learning from understanding poverty, to consumer behavior, to product development and engineering design specifically for subsistence consumers. This unique course represents a pioneering effort to focus attention and create knowledge about product development, marketing, management, and engineering practices for subsistence marketplaces. Our two‐semester course sequence for graduate‐level students in a variety of business and engineering disciplines and industrial design combines in‐class pedagogy with experiential learning and results in useful and marketable product concepts and prototypes. Working on projects with multinational companies or startups, students identify an opportunity of general need, conduct field market research to better understand subsistence consumer needs and contexts through an international immersion experience, develop a product concept, convert the concept to a workable prototype, and develop a manufacturing plan, marketing strategy, and overall business plan for the product. Overlaying the content found in a typical new product development lab course we develop a contextual understanding of subsistence marketplaces, setting the stage for new product development. A central aspect of the learning experience is travel to subsistence markets for actual immersion in the context and to conduct market research. Our course is at the confluence of two of the most important issues facing humanity, subsistence and sustainability. Lessons learned here can also be extended to other radically different contexts, such as future scenarios involving severe energy shortages or climate change consequences. Such educational initiatives provide challenging learning experiences in preparing students for the unique demands of the 21st century.     

MUTUAL FUND TRADES: ASYMMETRIC LIQUIDITY PREFERENCES AND FUND PERFORMANCE

We investigate the role of the liquidity of stocks traded by mutual funds on the performance of funds experiencing substantial and sustained redemptions (outflows) or inflows. Accordingly, we identify 770 redeeming fund‐periods and 1,757 inflow fund‐periods and find a statistically significant relation between the liquidity of the stocks they trade and the quantity of the stock traded. Notably, when funds experience redemptions, those with low portfolio liquidity have an elevated preference for selling more‐liquid stocks. In the following period, such funds statistically and economically underperform funds that sell less‐liquid stocks. This is consistent with redemptions detrimentally affecting shareholders that remain in a fund.     

Employee Turnover in International Brand Hotels in Russia: A Comparison of Nationals and Foreign Nationals

ABSTRACT

This empirical study tests the relations between employee turnover and the organizational dimensions of service climate, comparing nationals and foreign nationals in the international brand Russian hotel industry. This study extends the geographic scope of employee turnover to the undertested Russian context. Responses were analyzed using a partial least squares model. Results show that nationals’ and foreign nationals’ responses to model variables diverge. Job insecurity directly affects the turnover intentions of Russian nationals, while its effect for foreign nationals was indirect through organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Compounded indirect effects of turnover antecedents and service climate dimensions are also examined and discussed.