Business Ethics Perspectives: Faculty Plagiarism and Fraud

Faculty plagiarism and fraud are widely documented occurrences but little analysis has been conducted. This article addresses the question of why faculty plagiarism and fraud occurs and suggests approaches on how to develop an environment where faculty misconduct is socially inappropriate. The authors review relevant literature, primarily in business ethics and student cheating, developing action steps that could be applied to higher education. Based upon research in these areas, the authors posit some actions that would be appropriate in higher education and suggest topics for continued study.     

The Influence of Internal Communities of Practice on Customer Perceived Value in Professional Service Relationships

Effective customer-related knowledge transfer can be seen as the cornerstone of customer value creation in collaborative relationships between professional service organisations and their customers. Our intention in this paper is to describe how different work groups within organisations (communities of practice) influence the perceived customer value. We approach this phenomenon from a relationship management perspective and use literature from relationship marketing, organisation research and knowledge management as a theoretical basis. Empirically the paper is based on an information-rich explorative case study of a professional service organisation, operating in the consultancy and training business, and its relationship with one of its customers.     

Re-internationalisation: Exploration and conceptualisation

Re-internationalisation represents a research challenge for the internationalisation process and international entrepreneurship fields. Many companies withdraw from international operations, go through an international time-out period and later re-enter the international arena. Little is known about this process, and whether re-internationalisers behave differently from those starting out for the first time. The limited, sketchy evidence is considered and it is argued that some re-internationalisers will go into the re-entry process with a significant international heritage from previous activities, including relevant knowledge and networks, enabling faster re-entry and take-off. However, other firms will have exited in such negative circumstances that international re-entry initially is rejected as an option, and may be slow to respond to new international opportunities. Much depends on what happens during the international time-out period, particularly in terms of changes in management and/or ownership; the nature and strength of new re-entry influences; and how the re-entry process unfolds.     

George Bain and a ‘Mechanistic Formula’: the Purposes and Politics of £3.60

This response to George Bain’s most recent defence of the Low Pay Commission’s first report and recommendations argues the case for a higher minimum wage tied to average earnings which seriously tackles the poverty and discrimination suffered by many employees     

On Returning Inflation to Target

To gauge the breadth of current inflation and prospects for inflation returning to target, we consider disaggregated measures of CPI infl ation to evaluate trends and then consider diff erent scenarios for the realisation for wages and prices.

     

Untere Einkommensgruppen noch gezielter entlasten

Wirtschaftsdienst - Prices for energy and food are currently rising extraordinarily sharply. Households with low net incomes in particular are being burdened by the price increases, in some cases...     

Age and factors influencing consumer behaviour

When evaluating a product or service, consumers seek out information to judge whether that specific product will meet certain criteria. The main concern of sales providers is how to increase their purchasers' willingness to buy a product. The authors studied the impact of age on the perceived importance and interaction of three factors known to influence people when buying clothes: price, durability and suitability. A sample of 160 French adults aged 18–90 rated their likelihood of buying an item of clothing in 27 scenarios, in which three levels (low, moderate and high) of each of the above three factors were combined in an orthogonal factorial design. For younger participants, a low price was considered a sufficient reason to buy the item of clothing. For older participants, suitability was a more important factor, while for the eldest people, durability was the most important.     

The Corporate Ethical Virtues Scale: Factorial Invariance Across Organizational Samples

This study investigated the factorial validity of the 58-item Corporate Ethical Virtues scale (CEV; Kaptein, J Organ Behav 29(7):923–947, 2008). The major aim was to test the invariance of the factor structure across different organizational samples. The CEV scale was designed to measure eight corporate virtues: clarity, congruency of supervisors, congruency of senior management, feasibility, supportability, transparency, discussability, and sanctionability. The data (total N = 3,702) consisted of four organizational samples that are operated in the private and public sector. The results of confirmatory factor analyses supported the hypothesized eight-factor structure, as well as its alternative second-order factor structure, where high correlations between the first-order factors (virtues) were explained by a general CEV factor. These factor structures (including factor loadings) remained the same across samples, lending strong support for the group invariance assumption of the scale. Thus, the 58-item CEV scale was found to be a valid tool for measuring the aspect of ethical organizational culture in different organizations, and its use can be recommended for future research.     

Cultural influences on global firms' decisions to cut the strategic brand ties that bind: A commentary essay

Today's global firms face increasing pressure to protect their brand identity from encroachments of copycat brands that seek to benefit from associations firms have established in the minds of consumers. This essay is a commentary to the article “Marking your trade: cultural factors in the prolongation of trademarks” by Melnyk, Giarratana and Torres that raises several important issues warranting further attention by researchers. This essay comments on the paper's contributions, limitations, and opportunities contributing to future research about trademark practices and strategies. Furthermore, the essay suggests useful extensions relative to the more general strategic issue of prolongation or abandonment of intangible brand assets in global markets and the dynamic interface between firm-created and consumer-created brand meaning.     

As time goes by: Examining the paradox of stability and change in business networks

Stability and change may seem contradictory features but in business networks, they coexist [Hakansson H, Snehota, I. Developing Relationships in Business Networks. London, Routledge; 1995]. This article explores the paradox of the coexistence of stability and change in an Australian context. Previous research illustrated that stability over time can exist in specific business relationships [Sutton-Brady C, Donnan, M. Nexus nonsense or is it? Conference Proceedings, 19th Annual IMP Conference, Lugano, Switzerland September 2003; 2003]. This research study further investigates time as a proxy variable of stability [Halinen A, Tornroos, J-A. The meaning of time in the study of industrial buyer–seller relationships. In: Moller K, Wilson DT, editors. Business Marketing: An Interaction Approach. Norwell, Mass: Kluwer Academic Publishers; 1995.] and attempts to uncover other variables, which may influence the stability of the relationship. Given the exploratory nature of the research a case study approach was utilized to gain an in-depth understanding of the variables, which may contribute to the stability. This article further advances the concept of time as a proxy variable for stability while investigating what other variables may be crucial in understanding this concept. From analysis of the case studies, the findings show that other variables do play a role in determining the stability and change in the relationships and networks, these included location, product/service quality, technology, cooperativeness, adaptations and cost. The major contribution of this article is the reopening of discussions on time as a proxy variable for stability and attempts to broaden this to include other variables.