Management and consumer transformation in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe

This study centers on the transformation of management and the consumer in the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland. Carried out in collaboration with scholars in these countries, the study outlines the impact of the transformation to a market economy on managers and consumers, and discusses the adjustments which managers and consumers have been making in response to new economic realities. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

When Elites Forget Their Duties: The Double‐Edged Sword of Prestigious Directors on Boards

Previous research indicates that the performance effect of prestigious directors is ambiguous. Our study addresses this issue by integrating the theoretical lens of board capital and the institutional perspective. We argue that prestigious directors can bring benefits as well as costs. We claim that the emergence of these costs depends on the institutional context, specifically the institutional characteristics of the country's corporate elite circle which is characterized by the elite cohesion and the elite exclusiveness. Our empirical results with a 15‐country sample covering the period of 2005 to 2014 provide evidence for the overall existence of a positive performance effect of prestigious boards. However, our results also indicate that these beneficial effects of prestigious boards are mitigated in countries with high elite exclusiveness. Hence, under these certain institutional conditions, the elite‐favouring behaviour of prestigious directors also brings costs.     

Contemporaneous and long run canonical correlations in the linear IV model: Implications for instrument selection

In the normal linear simultaneous equations model, we demonstrate a close relationship between two recently proposed methods of instrument selection by presenting a fundamental relationship between the two sets of canonical correlations upon which the methods are based.     

HRM practice in emerging economies: a long way to go in the Slovak hotel industry?

Using empirical data from interviews among leading hotels in Slovakia, this paper sets out to explore recent developments in human resource management (HRM) policies and practices and labour relations in an emerging Central European economy. The main areas explored are the HRM function, employee resourcing, employee development, employee relations and emerging HRM issues. The paper establishes that there has been a move away from the traditional rigid socialist type of personnel management, but it has not been fully replaced by HRM practices. The emergent 'model' is a hybrid of the traditional Western personnel management and basic HRM activities, alongside which some legacies of the socialist personnel function still exist.     

Channels of restructuring in privatized Czech companies1

The main contribution of this paper to the literature on restructuring in the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe is the analysis of productivity‐growth effects for different channels of restructuring. It examines a panel of 737 voucher‐privatized Czech companies in the first years after the transfer of ownership (between 1993 and 1998). The results indicate that asset sales and employee incentives serve as restructuring channels through which productivity of the privatized companies increases. The analysis also indicates that capital expenditures, labour shedding and CEO replacements are not significantly correlated to productivity growth. Furthermore, the analysis suggests that the availability of bank loans is positively associated with productivity growth, but not for less profitable firms. This provides some evidence in support of soft budget constraints accommodated via bank lending.     

TOWARDS AN ECONOMICS OF AWARDS

Awards are a widespread phenomenon. They cater to the fundamental desire for social recognition and serve as a valuable incentive to influence behaviour. The study of awards such as medals, prizes and titles has in recent years gained momentum in economics, complementing the longstanding focus on material incentives. To evaluate the effectiveness of awards as a motivator is difficult as the effect of awards must be separated from the fact that awards are meant to be given to the best. We show how research on awards has advanced over the last couple of years, thus providing points of departure for future work.     

The price of pretty: characteristics of black Tahitian pearls and their implicit values

French Polynesia’s economy is largely dependent on the black pearl industry and associated export revenues. Accordingly, there is a need to understand fully the factors that influence quality and price of pearls – and threats to future sustainability. Focus, thus far, has been on production practices that affect pearl characteristics and quality. Although there is a generally accepted hierarchy in the characteristics of black pearls that determine quality and price, the contributory value of specific characteristics and their interdependence has not been assessed. We used information from two retailers that supply distinct markets to estimate the implicit value of black pearl characteristics, i.e. grade, shape and size. Calculated premiums and discounts revealed key similarities between retailers including that a more preferred shape demanded larger premiums than an improved grade. Results of this analysis will help direct research aimed at modifying production methods to increase the yield of higher value pearls. This is especially important given that climate change will, in fact, affect many environmental parameters that influence pearl quality. If ignored, such changes have the potential to negatively impact the quality of produced pearls with profound socio-economic consequences.     

Welcome waste – interpreting narratives of radioactive waste disposal in two small towns in Ontario,Canada

After briefly reviewing the production of nuclear energy and waste in Canada, this paper uses two small Ontario towns as case studies to examine the treatment of low-level radioactive waste and the communities’ responses and narratives to it. Both towns, Port Hope and Kincardine, have long histories of dealing with such waste. Using interviews, relevant websites and past accounts, this paper employs a discourse analysis to understand the differences in risk perceptions and living with the presence of these materials. Ideas from landscape narratives are employed to show that responses in Port Hope are dominated by death, elegy and crime, whereas those in Kincardine are predominately linked to progressivism and optimism. We explore the characteristics of each case to highlight the reasons for these differences. We conclude by emphasizing the potential role of narrative analysis in informing policymaking.