Seizing Opportunities: The Moderating Role of Managerial Characteristics on the Relationship between Opportunity‐Seeking and Innovation Efficacy in Small Businesses

We draw from regulatory focus theory to examine the relationship between a focus on opportunities through strategic orientation and entrepreneurial culture and managerial reports of innovation efficacy in small businesses. We propose that manager goals and behaviors moderate these relationships. Hypotheses were tested on a sample of 352 small employer firms. Findings support that strategic orientation positively associates with innovation efficacy and that this relationship is stronger under low managerial direction behaviors. Entrepreneurial culture positively associates with innovation efficacy when managers focus on profit and growth goals and under high managerial direction behaviors.     

Medical resource utilization and costs among Australian patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C: results of a retrospective observational study

Objective: To evaluate medical resource utilization (MRU) and associated costs among Australian patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C (GT1 CHC), including both untreated patients and those receiving treatment with first-generation protease inhibitor-based regimens (telaprevir, boceprevir with pegylated interferon and ribavirin).

Methods: Medical records were reviewed for a stratified random sample of GT1 CHC patients first attending two liver clinics between 2011–2013 (principal population; PP), supplemented by all GT1 CHC patients attending one transplant clinic in the same period (transplant population; TP). CHC-related MRU and associated costs are reported for the PP by treatment status (treated/not treated) stratified by baseline fibrosis grade; and for the TP for the pre-transplant, year of transplant and post-transplant periods.

Results: A total 1636 patients were screened and 590 patients (36.1%) were included. Comprehensive MRU data were collected for 276 PP patients (F0–1 n?=?59, F2 n?=?58, F3 n?=?53, F4 n?=?106; mean follow-up?=?17.3 months). Thirty-eight (13.8%) were treatment-experienced prior to enrolment; 55 (19.9%) received triple therapy during the study. Data were collected for 112 TP patients (mean follow-up?=?29.9 months), 33 (29.5%) received a transplant during the study, and 51 (45.5%) beforehand. The annual direct medical costs, excluding drug costs, were higher among treated PP vs untreated PP (AU$: $1,954 vs $1,202); and year of transplant TP vs pre-/post-transplant TP (AU$: pre-transplant $32,407, transplant $155,138, post-transplant $7,358).

Limitations: To aid interpretation of results, note that only patients with GT1 CHC who are actively managed are included, and MRU data were collected specifically from liver outpatient clinics. That said, movement of patients between hospitals is rare, and any uncaptured MRU is expected to be minimal.

Conclusions: CHC-related MRU increases substantially with disease severity. These real-world MRU data for GT1 CHC will be valuable in assessing the impact of new hepatitis C treatments.     

The Impact of Cause-Related Marketing on Millennials’ Product Attitudes and Purchase Intentions

This study, using scenarios, examined the impact of two kinds of cause-related marketing (CRM) efforts (a traditional donation of a portion of sales to a related cause and a more strategic one-for-one donation of donating a product to a related cause when that product was purchased) on millennials’ (those born between 1982 and 2000) attitudes and purchase intentions for four different consumer product categories. The four different consumer product categories selected included a specialty good (laptop), a shopping good (hat), a convenience good (bottled water), and a service (food restaurant). Given the importance of social media to millennials, this research also examined the role of social media on CRM awareness. While millennials had relatively low awareness of CRM campaigns, there was a positive correlation between social media use and CRM awareness. Additionally, CRM efforts may not work for all products as there was no impact on attitude or purchase intention for the product category of laptops. Additionally, the positive attitudes created by marketers’ CRM efforts will not always translate to increased purchase intentions. The use of a strategic one-for-one CRM effort though had a greater impact, specifically for products that deal with needed fundamentals, such as food and water.     

Assessing probabilities of unique events： Calibrating qualitative likelihood judgments into a probability distribution

Multifaceted events in an organizational environment usually need to be assigned probabilities as a prerequisite to analytical decision-making. If the decision situation is unique, a lack of relevant historical frequency data may preclude use of traditional probability models such as the normal, binomial etc. In this case, an individual decision maker （DM） or an informed group of persons can input into a procedure as outlined here to determine a probability distribution that leads to the expected values of alternative actions or fair values of securities. The individual or group member must decide qualitatively on the extent to which one event is ＂more likely＂ than another where both events are ranked adjacent （i.e., closest to each other） in terms of likelihood. Even though the individual or group members may lack experience in orthodox probability assessment, these pairwise ＂more likely＂ judgments on the relative likelihood of events are not overly demanding for persons familiar with the possible outcomes in the situation under analysis.     

How business schools lost their way

Business schools are facing intense criticism for failing to impart useful skills, failing to prepare leaders, failing to instill norms of ethical behavior--and even failing to lead graduates to good corporate jobs. These criticisms come not just from students, employers, and the media but also from deans of some of America's most prestigious B schools. The root cause oftoday's crisis in management education, assert Warren G. Bennis and James O'Toole, is that business schools have adopted an inappropriate--and ultimately self-defeating--model of academic excellence. Instead of measuring themselves in terms of the competence of their graduates, or by how well their faculty members understand important drivers of business performance, they assess themselves almost solely by the rigor of their scientific research. This scientific model is predicated on the faulty assumption that business is an academic discipline like chemistry or geology when, in fact, business is a profession and business schools are professional schools--or should be. Business school deans may claim that their schools remain focused on practice, but they nevertheless hire and promote research-oriented professors who haven't spent time working in companies and are more comfortable teaching methodology than messy, multidisciplinary issues--the very stuff of management. The authors don't advocate a return to the days when business schools were glorified trade schools. But to regain relevancy, they say, business schools must rediscover the practice of business and find a way to balance the dual mission of educating practitioners and creating knowledge through research.     

Accounting for Growth and Output Gaps: Evidence from New Zealand

We evaluate New Zealand's macroeconomic performance over the 1967–1996 period, which witnessed numerous economic reforms. Using both index–number and econometric techniques, we decompose nominal GDP growth and the output gap into contributions from price level changes, productivity growth and changes in factor utilisation. Changes in domestic prices accounted for four–fifths of the growth in nominal GDP, while capital accumulation and employment growth were the most important factors determining real–output growth. Deviations in the domestic price level around its long–run trend contributed most heavily to changes in the nominal output gap. The real gap was influenced in any year variously by deviations of the terms of trade and labour input from their long–run trends, as well as by productivity shocks.     

Situating the city and September 11th: military urban doctrine, ‘pop–up’ armies and spatial chess

An evolving body of doctrine, Military Operations in Urbanized Terrain (MOUT), has developed over the last several decades on the assumption that extensive military presence in cities in both warfare and less than war conditions will be necessary in the twenty–first century to deal with the aggression of ‘rouge’ nations, terrorism and civilian disorders. The examination of MOUT doctrine undertaken here, most basically, contributes to a recognition that urban warfare and military operations are relevant, if not normal, urban phenomena. MOUT doctrine also facilitates identifying trends in the prevention, repression and control of mass citizen political mobilizations within and among cities. Finally, this perspective situates the ‘War on Terrorism’ as a factor that is broadening and deepening, rather than causing, the increasing militarization of urban space. Au cours des dernières décennies, une partie évolutive de la doctrine, les opérations militaires en milieu urbain (MOUT), s’est développée à partir de l’idée qu’au vingt–et–unième siècle, il faudra une large présence militaire dans les villes, à la fois en temps de guerre et dans des situations non conflictuelles, afin de gérer l’agression des nations ‘rouges’, le terrorisme et les désordres civils. L’étude de la doctrine des MOUT, entreprise ici de manière très élémentaire, permet de reconnaître que les opérations urbaines militaires et combattantes sont des phénomènes urbains significatifs, voire normaux. Cette doctrine facilite également l’identification de tendances en matière de prévention, répression et contrôle des mobilisations politiques de masse des citoyens dans les villes. En conclusion, cette perspective établit la ‘guerre contre le terrorisme’ en tant que facteur qui élargit et accentue, sans en être la cause, la militarisation croissante de l’espace urbain.     

Resolving Conflicts Over Ethical Issues: Face-to-face Versus Internet Negotiations

Is the Internet an appropriate medium to use when attempting to resolve conflicts over ethical issues in business? The research reported on in this paper focuses on internet versus face-to-face negotiations as a component of applied discourse ethics. Although internet negotiation has serious restrictions, it also has specific qualities. It enhances reflection and plays down emotion. Important qualities when handling complex and delicate ethical issues.