International joint ventures in the United States: An examination of factors related to their effectiveness

The increasing popularity of international joint ventures (IJVs) and their high failure rate prompted this examination of pre- and postincorporation factors related to IJV effectiveness. Interviews with IJV CEOs, and the findings from a questionnaire administered to CEOs of 81 IJVs in the United States, suggest which pre- and postincorporation factors can be important to IJVs' effectiveness. Why these factors are important, and how they interact with other factors in the general context of IJV experiences are also explored in this article. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Hotel executive microcomputer use in the United States

With the advent of the microcomputer revolution in the United States, the lodging industry is taking advantage of the new technology. Computerized property management systems for small properties are available at reasonable cost using microcomputers. Both large hotel corporation applications of microcomputers and individual property uses are given. Models for management use of electronic spreadsheet programs for budgeting as well as financial and operational control are shown. The examples use VisiCalc and Lotus 1–2–3. Management training for microcomputer use by the large hotel corporations is also examined. The new technology will hasten the computerization of the lodging industry.     

Dimensions of Performance Effectiveness In High-Involvement Work Organisations

Sharon Parker, Sean Mullarkely and Paul Jackson, who are researchers in the MRC/ESRC Social and Applied Pyschology Unit at the University of Sheffield, draw on detailed case study evidence to consider the substantial changes to the shop floor roles entailed in high involvement work organisations. They argue that specification of the performance requirements of such roles will facilitate employees taking on appropriate behaviours, reduce role confusion, and enable consistency in human resource practices. They discuss the use of repertory grids to explore the models of effective performance held by production managers and derive nine critical dimensions of shop floor employee performance from the analysis. These contain specific behavioural examples and are grouped around four higher-order dimensions: ‘process ownership’, ‘social skills’, ‘personal style’, and loss prevention’. These dimensions form the basis of a broader specification of the skills, knowledge and general orientations required by shopfloor employees in high involvement roles.     

Unit root testing via the stationary bootstrap

A nonparametric, residual-based stationary bootstrap procedure is proposed for unit root testing in a time series. The procedure generates a pseudoseries which mimics the original, but ensures the presence of a unit root. Unlike many others in the literature, the proposed test is valid for a wide class of weakly dependent processes and is not based on parametric assumptions on the data-generating process. Large sample theory is developed and asymptotic validity is shown via a bootstrap functional central limit theorem. The case of a least squares statistic is discussed in detail, including simulations to investigate the procedure's finite sample performance.     

Uk Corporate Acquisitions In Latin America In The 1990s: Lost Opportunities In A New Economic Environment

During the 1990s, foreign direct investment flowed into Latin America at an unprecedented rate. Capital inflows associated with privatizations and private mergers and acquisitions (M&As) rose steeply. Drawing on original firm–level transactions data, this article examines the extent to which UK enterprises participated in the Latin American privatization and private M&A boom. The authors conclude that, relative to their counterparts in many other major industrial countries, UK enterprises adopted a cautious stance, largely eschewing privatization opportunities and concentrating M&A activities on relatively few operations, sectors and countries, in order to strengthen product and market positions. Moreover, the strategic logic guiding the most important corporate acquisitions centred on gaining access to domestic markets rather than attempting to create global export platforms.     

Financial reporting to employees: the pattern of development 1919 to 1979

This paper examines the literature on financial reporting to employees between 1919 and 1979. It finds that the level of publication interest has varied widely during the period as has the relative interest of accountant and non-accountant groups. Periods of heightened publication activity appear to repeatedly coexist with four major socioeconomic factors, and arguments that this coexistence is not coincidental are considered. Finally it is noted that the same reporting to employee issues are frequently recalled and re-examined; possible reasons for this are considered.