An empirical comparison of bankruptcy models

Four types of bankruptcy prediction models based on financial statement ratios, cash flows, stock returns, and return standard deviations are compared. Based on a sample of bankruptcies from 1980 to 1991, results indicate that no existing model of bankruptcy adequately captures the data. During the last fiscal year preceding bankruptcy, none of the individual models may be excluded without a loss in explanatory power. If considered in isolation, the cash flow model discriminates most consistently two to three years before bankruptcy. By comparison, the ratio model is the best single model during the year immediately preceding bankruptcy. Quasi-jack-knifing procedures suggest that none of the models can reliably predict bankruptcy more than two years in advance.     

Managing International Distribution Channel Partners: A Cross-Cultural Approach

Although the topic of conflict has been extensively studied in the distribution channels literature from a domestic perspective, there is relatively little published research examining the construct within the international distribution channels context. This is of particular concern because cross-national channel partnerships are on the rise, and divergent cultures may engender heightened conflict, which has a deleterious effect on channel performance. This article explores the extent to which different channel leadership styles, predicated on Hofstede's dimensions of national culture, can be effective strategies to manage conflict in international distribution channels. Specifically, the article examines whether the relationship between leadership style and conflict in international distribution channels is moderated by national culture. Additionally, the impact of manifest conflict on international channel partner performance is investigated. A conceptual model and research propositions are developed. The use of leadership styles to manage disagreements among international channel partners is argued to be culturally specific. International channel management implications and directions for future research are suggested.     

Leader Ethical Decision-Making in Organizations: Strategies for Sensemaking

Organizational leaders face environmental challenges and pressures that put them under ethical risk. Navigating this ethical risk is demanding given the dynamics of contemporary organizations. Traditional models of ethical decision-making (EDM) are an inadequate framework for understanding how leaders respond to ethical dilemmas under conditions of uncertainty and equivocality. Sensemaking models more accurately illustrate leader EDM and account for individual, social, and environmental constraints. Using the sensemaking approach as a foundation, previous EDM models are revised and extended to comprise a conceptual model of leader EDM. Moreover, the underlying factors in the model are highlighted—constraints and strategies. Four trainable, compensatory strategies (emotion regulation, self-reflection, forecasting, and information integration) are proposed and described that aid leaders in navigating ethical dilemmas in organizations. Empirical examinations demonstrate that tactical application of the strategies may aid leaders in making sense of complex and ambiguous ethical dilemmas and promote ethical behavior. Compensatory tactics such as these should be central to organizational ethics initiatives at the leader level.     

Transaction cost economics and the roles of national culture: a test of hypotheses based on Inglehart and Hofstede

Transaction cost economics (TCE) is probably the most widely accepted theory on how firms can gain competitive advantage through efficient organization of their economic transactions. However, by focusing on the competitive environment in which companies operate, it abstracts from the cultural context in which governance decisions are made. We study the cultural boundedness of TCE using two seminal cultural theories: the political science/sociology framework of Inglehart and the management science framework of Hofstede. We use these theories to develop (main-effect) hypotheses about the cultural contexts in which TCE has higher predictive power as well as (interaction) hypotheses regarding particular cultural contexts that may inherently be more inclined than others to adopt certain non-market governance modes if the market “fails.” Hypotheses are tested using a meta-analysis on data collected from 128 studies from 12 countries on 3 continents, representing governance decisions of 60,926 companies. We find that TCE is a universal theory across all cultural contexts. This being said, we find that in societies low on power distance and in societies characterized by a strong emphasis on secular-rational and self-expression values, companies are more strongly guided in their governance decisions by economic, transaction-cost considerations than companies in societies high on power distance and in countries that are characterized by traditional and survival values. Further, TCE’s power to predict the specific type of non-market governance employed by the firm is systematically moderated by the national culture in which the firm operates. The power of TCE for predicting hierarchical governance is higher in countries that rate high on secular-rational values and on uncertainty avoidance and low on long-term orientation, whereas TCE is more diagnostic for predicting relational governance in countries high on self-expression values and low on power distance and on uncertainty avoidance. In sum, our meta-analysis provides support for our thesis that to fully understand governance choices made by firms, we need to integrate TCE and cultural theory. While managers around the world are guided by economic considerations, the cultural context in which they operate exerts a substantial—and predictable—contingent effect on their governance choices.     

Technological and economic problems of the long-term development of the Russian economy

A set of technological and economic problems of the long-term development of the Russian economy (2025–2030) is considered. Special attention is focused on the challenges related to technological development.     

The correlation coefficient and problems of inference in recreation research

Correlation analysis frequently has been used for the investigation of leisure research questions. This paper illustrates the problem of “unequal weighting of cases” which is present in the use of correlation analysis. It further illustrates how this problem can mislead researchers when they make substantive inferences about leisure.     

Numeraire choice in normalized quadratic functional forms

A semi-nested test procedure is developed for choosing the numeraire for a normalized quadratic profit function when too few observations exist for nested hypothesis testing and when too many alternatives exis for conventional non-nested testing. Sensitivity of empirical results to choice of numeraire price is examined using agricultural data for the US and ten multistate regions. Few test conclusions vary by numeraire but own price input demand elasticities differ greatly.     

The Impact of Consumers’ Need for Uniqueness and Nationality on Generation Y's Retail Patronage Behaviors: Investigating American and Taiwanese Consumers

ABSTRACT

Generation Y (Gen Y) consumers are now one of the most influential buying segments in U.S. history. This article empirically assesses the extent to which American Gen Y consumers and same-aged Taiwanese consumers’ need for uniqueness serves as a meaningful discriminant across retail patronage behaviors for branded apparel products. Results indicate a great deal of similarity between the two cultures’ need for uniqueness. Empirical findings reveal that consumers’ need for uniqueness does influence retail patronage behaviors. The implications of the similarities and differences between American Gen Y consumers and their Taiwanese counterparts serve as potential managerial mechanisms for building and sustaining retail patronage in a globalization era.