Are consumers' financial needs and values common across cultures? Evidence from six countries

Are consumers' financial needs, and financial values, the same or different across cultures? Two studies, with student (Study 1; n = 988) and non‐student (Study 2; n = 959) participants, explore the extent of equivalence, across six countries (Brazil, Russia, China, Taiwan, Tunisia and US), in financial need belief, and financial value, measurement models. The financial need beliefs, derived from self‐determination theory (SDT) principles, include financial self‐efficacy, financial autonomy, financial community trust and support; the financial values include materialism and financial altruism. Both the financial need and financial value constructs evidence configural invariance (similar factor structure), and factor invariance among student but not non‐student samples. The financial need constructs evidence full, and the financial value constructs evidence partial, metric (factor loading) invariance. Factor covariance invariance obtains for the financial need beliefs constructs but not the financial value constructs. Finally, neither financial need nor financial value constructs evidence scalar (intercept) invariance. These results provide partial support for extending SDT's hypothesis of universal human needs to the financial domain. In contrast, the financial value constructs of altruism and materialism are largely instable across cultures, suggesting that consumer views of giving, and the role of wealth in social status, differ between countries.     

Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Value of Multinational Companies: Lessons from a Sub-Saharan African Environment

ABSTRACT

The issue of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as an approach for businesses to independently take actions that lead to better levels of societal development as well as higher value creation for the business, particularly in developing countries has gained much advocacy. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between CSR and business value of multinational companies (MNCs) in sub-Saharan Africa. The study adopted quantitative research methodology and using multiple regression analysis, findings show that CSR can positively and significantly predict business values in the multinational subsidiaries. These values include direct (economic value) and indirect (human capital value and reputational business value). This paper therefore contributes to a novel CSR index from the perspective of business value and sustainability of MNCs in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) environment. Thus, the paper recommends MNCs operating in Africa to enhance their social investment through their CSR strategy with the aim that CSR must not be regarded as a cost center, but an investment instrument that can accrue various dividends.     

A service sector classification scheme using economic data

Using economic data, this paper recreates a previously published service industry classification scheme that was derived using discursive data from interviews with industry experts. It triangulates the earlier results using a different methodology, and extends earlier classification schemes in a comprehensive, objective way. A principal component analysis of six sector parameter sets from a regression analysis of a productivity data set covering 14 countries produces three sector factors, the ‘capital type’, the ‘innovation type’ and the ‘quality type’, which form the basis of the classification scheme. A high degree of conformity is found between this and the previously published discursive-based scheme.     

The role of customer loyalty as a brand extension purchase predictor

The paper explores the relationship between customer loyalty to the retail brand and the purchase of non-traditional products and services (NTPS) offered by grocery retailers with their private label (i.e. over-the-counter products, photo printing, mobile communication services and travel booking). Customer loyalty to the retail brand is measured through its behavioral and attitudinal components. A survey was conducted administering a questionnaire to 480 retail customers in two stores belonging to different retail grocers. A binary logistic regression was then applied using the buying of at least one NTPS as the dependent variable (1 = buy; 0 = no buy) and behavioral loyalty and attitudinal loyalty as independent variables. Results show that attitudinal loyalty plays a significant role as buying predictor, but this depends on the NTPS offered. Theoretical and managerial implications are derived.     

Life satisfaction and self-employment: a matching approach

Despite lower incomes, the self-employed consistently report higher satisfaction with their jobs. But are self-employed individuals also happier, more satisfied with their lives as a whole? High job satisfaction might cause them to neglect other important domains of life, such that the fulfilling job crowds out other pleasures, leaving the individual on the whole not happier than others. Moreover, self-employment is often chosen to escape unemployment, not for the associated autonomy that seems to account for the high job satisfaction. We apply matching estimators that allow us to better take into account the above-mentioned considerations and construct an appropriate control group (in terms of balanced covariates). Using the BHPS dataset that comprises a large nationally representative sample of the British populace, we find that individuals who move from regular employment into self-employment experience an increase in life satisfaction (up to 2 years later), while individuals moving from unemployment to self-employment are not more satisfied than their counterparts moving from unemployment to regular employment. We argue that these groups correspond to “opportunity” and “necessity” entrepreneurship, respectively. These findings are robust with regard to different measures of subjective well-being as well as choice of matching variables, and also robustness exercises involving “simulated confounders”.     

Transnational corporations and spatial divisions of ‘service’ expertise as a competitive strategy: the example of 3M and Boeing

Production processes are becoming increasingly more complicated as firms develop corporate strategies that are designed to increase profitability or capture market share. The focus of this article is on manufacturing companies (3M and Boeing) and on understanding the social organisation of production and the ways in which firms manipulate spatial divisions of expertise (service inputs) as well as labour (manufacturing inputs). This distinction recognises that there are important differences between production and non-production tasks. The 3M case examines the firm's global labour market by exploring the geographies of its transnational or foreign service employees. The Boeing case examines the design and manufacture of the 787 and the development by Boeing of a new complex spatial division of expertise.     

Sacred alliance or pact with the devil? How and why social enterprises collaborate with mainstream businesses in the fair trade sector*

Abstract

This paper uses institutional theory to highlight different patterns of cross-sector collaboration from the perspective of social enterprises. Specifically, it explores how and why social enterprises interact with mainstream businesses and to what extent their collaboration patterns reflect a vision of how their social mission should be implemented and institutionalized. The empirical analysis is derived from a qualitative study of ‘fair trade’ – a hybrid model created by social enterprises and using market mechanisms to support small-scale producers in developing countries and to advocate for changes in international trading practices. The findings highlight three strategies used by fair trade social enterprises to manage their interactions with mainstream businesses: sector solidarity, selective engagement, and active appropriation. This paper suggests that each strategy is motivated by a different vision of how best to articulate the social mission of fair trade via specific types of collaborations. It also notes how each vision has a distinct pattern of institutionalization at the field level. This paper adds to the emergent literatures on social enterprise and social entrepreneurship, fair trade, cross-sector collaboration and hybrid organizing.     

一家制药公司的图形设计法 约翰·拜伦大变身,成为美国乔治亚州的药剂师

GA制药公司在这个社区服务了超过15年的时间,如今它即将迁移到一个全新的地区,并需要一套全新的招牌设计。通过征集来自好几个地区的广告招牌公司的设计方案以后,这家制药公司的负责人最终选中了我的方案,因为他们最喜欢我的这套设计方案。这幢新的建筑反映出了20世纪早期的艺术风格,因此我的设     

SME Competitive Strategy and Location Behavior: An Exploratory Study of High-Technology Manufacturing

Forty-four Scottish small and medium-sized high-technology manufacturing firms were surveyed regarding their technology strategies and the impact of regional- and site-specific infrastructure requirements on their location behavior. An empirically derived typology of technology content for high-technology firms was developed via cluster analysis and utilized, together with selected technology and manufacturing strategy variables, to investigate whether significant linkages existed between these variables and firms' related location decisions. Results suggest that location decisions are directly correlated to a firm's competitive strategy and that they should actually be considered a dynamic dimension of strategy rather than a static one-time choice.