Preparing for organizational death: Proactive HR engagement in an organizational transition

This article describes an HR team's call to action in managing an organization's transition from healthy, vibrant, and financially successful workplace to its death after being acquired. The HR team countered conventional practice in two key ways. First, despite being from the seller's side, it acted unusually early in the company's acquisition and operated proactively throughout the integration process. This constructive approach stemmed from the self‐confidence developed in the HR function over years of process improvement and culture change. Second, the HR professionals were motivated (rather than threatened) by the high stakes involved in this organizational transition. Their company—with its industry‐leading business results and a loyal, long‐tenured workforce—was slated to be closed, dismantled, and auctioned off in pieces to other firms. The HR team's mission was to help people deal with the death of their current employer and prepare for life afterward while maintaining a focus on business results. This article shows how HR helped senior leadership handle the challenge of retaining the talent needed to meet customer commitments and keep the business running while also readying people for an uncertain future with many eventual layoffs. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The Trade Consequences of Maritime Insecurity: Evidence from Somali Piracy

In the past decade (2000–2010), pirates from Somalia have carried out thousands of attacks on cargo ships sailing through the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, causing what others have identified as significant damage to maritime trade. In this paper, we use variations in the spread and intensity of Somali piracy to estimate its effect on the volume of international trade. By comparing trade volume changes along shipping routes located in pirate waters to those that are not, we estimate that Somali piracy reduced bulk commodities trade passing through the Gulf of Aden by 4.1% per year from 2000 to 2010. We find smaller reductions in total trade, consistent with the fact that not all goods are shipped by sea or are targets of pirate attacks. While our estimates suggest that the trade costs of piracy are much lower than what has been suggested in the existing literature, we find that they remain significant and unevenly distributed, with five countries and the EU shouldering 70% of the total costs.     

Introduction to APPC-2018, a Special Issue of the Journal of Productivity Analysis, “Novel Applications of Efficiency and Productivity Analyses in the Asia-Pacific Region”

In this study, an appropriate nonparametric two-step approach to conditional efficiencies is used to investigate how size and time affect the performance of companies. Using a dataset of Italian manufacturing firms over the period 2006–2015, we explore the effect of size on the attainable production set (input-output space) and on the efficiency distribution, without making any a priori assumptions on the role of size on efficiency. Main findings suggest that size positively affects the efficiency of companies. By exploring the idiosyncratic efficiency, an additional empirical result from the conditional efficiency approach shows that the economic disparities between North, Centre and South of Italy not only limit the foreign investment but also seem to penalize the productivity of Italian-owned companies.

     

Employee well-being attribution and job change intentions: The moderating effect of task idiosyncratic deals

We developed and tested a research model in which employee well-being human resource (HR) attribution differentially influences the intention to change jobs across organizations (i.e., external job change intention) versus that within the same organization (i.e., internal job change intention). Furthermore, we posited that task idiosyncratic deals (I-deals) moderated the relationships between employee well-being HR attribution and external and internal job change intentions. Results indicated that employee well-being HR attribution was negatively related to external job change intention, but positively related to internal job change intention. Further, task I-deals significantly moderated the relationships between employee well-being HR attribution and external and internal job change intention. Specifically, employee well-being HR attribution played a less important role in reducing external job change intention when task I-deals were high rather than low. On the other hand, high task I-deals significantly strengthened the positive relationship between employee well-being HR attribution and internal job change intention. Our study extends the careers literature by differentiating the impact of employee well-being HR attribution on job change intentions within an organization compared with that across organizations and the important role of supervisors in enhancing or mitigating these effects.     

Preserving a Professional Institution: Emotion in Discursive Institutional Work

We studied the discursive institutional work written by pharmacy leaders as part of a larger institutional project to preserve the institution of pharmacy. Our analysis of monthly editorials printed in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association from 1960 to 2003 shows how different discrete emotions were systematically incorporated in specific rhetorical argument structures over the course of an institutional project. In contrast to previous research, we show how discursive institutional work that is directed to members of the same specific social group (e.g., a profession) can vary over time in response to significant events and changes in practices of the target audience. Our longitudinal study shows that the relative frequency of argument types, the incorporation of emotion, and the content of rhetorical argumentation changed over time. We contribute to theory about the role of emotions in discursive institutional work by unpacking the role of discrete emotions and showing how such discourse evolves over time in concert with field conditions.     

External knowledge search,innovative performance and productivity in the Korean ICT sector

In recent years, Korea’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry has grown rapidly. The prosperity of the ICT industry has brought growing recognition that rising productivity and innovative performance have made major contributions to ensuring competitive advantage in international markets. In this context, recent studies stress the importance of external knowledge for improving both innovative performance and productivity. This paper empirically investigates the effects of firms’ external knowledge search behavior on their productivity as well as their innovative performance in the Korean ICT manufacturing sector. Based on firm-level data from the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), this study indicates that incremental innovation and productivity are both related to external knowledge search.     

Dividend Stickiness,Debt Covenants,and Earnings Management

Consistent with the notion that dividends are very sticky, Daniel, Denis, and Naveen ( 2008 ) report evidence that firms manage earnings upward when pre‐managed earnings are expected to fall short of dividend payments. However, we find that this evidence is not robust when controlling for firms' tendency to manage earnings upward to avoid reporting earnings declines; only firms with high leverage exhibit a statistically weak tendency to manage earnings to close deficits of pre‐managed earnings relative to dividends. We further report that the decision to cut dividends depends on whether reported earnings fall short of past dividends, but not on earnings management that eliminates a shortfall in pre‐managed earnings relative to dividend payments. Overall, our evidence suggests that firms that face dividend constraints are more likely to cut dividends than to manage earnings to avoid dividend cuts.     

Research note: The internet's impact on export channel structure

This study explores the Internet's impact on export channel structure. Findings from this study suggest that the Internet does not have a considerable impact on the export channel structure of those manufacturers that adopt differential pricing policies and market separation policies. Export manufacturers that pursue broad targeting or experience dominant distributors may keep their traditional channel structure as well. However, export manufacturers that face tough competition or short product life cycles have to change their traditional channel structure to fit the market changes caused by the Internet. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Enhancing direct regional agro-aqua tourism entrepreneurial marketing by farmers＇ market or community supported agriculture in small and medium agro marketing enterprises in Malaysia

The purpose of this study is attempting to examine the feasibility application of the concept of enhancing the Direct Regional Agriculture, Aquaculture and Tourism Entrepreneurial Marketing （DRAATEM） and the Small and Medium Agro Marketing Enterprises （SMAMEs） in Malaysia. This collaborative marketing concept will solve the local agro-aqua and tourism fraternities＇ plight where they are constantly preyed by the marketing scavengers or middleman and the possibility of entrepreneurial ventures by the farmers themselves. The methodology used is to determine the feasibility of Direct Regional Agro-Aqua and Tourism Entrepreneurial Marketing （DRAATEM） in SMAMEs that comprising local farmers in agriculture, aquaculture and its association, Ministry of Agriculture （agencies including district agriculture department, irrigation department, FAMA） and Tourism Industry （local tourist agencies and operator）. Local agro-aqua farmers＇ demographic factors （gender, race, academic level, knowledge and experiences of agro and aqua） will also examine to determine the feasibility of Direct Regional Agro Aqua Tourism Entrepreneurial Marketing concept. This study found that, there is a significant difference among factors stated with the enhancing of Direct Regional Agro Aqua Tourism Marketing Entrepreneurial concept in the Small and Medium Agro Aqua Tourism Marketing Enterprise management. The initiatives and eagerness to be successful in this concept depend on the inter-relatedness and collaborative of the tri-party of agro-aqua and tourism fraternities which constitute to the improving of their income, livelihood and generate national economy. In addition, the leadership quality of local farmer＇s cooperative, networking facility and agro-aqua knowledge are another three essential factors found to be the strong fundamental of improving the income and livelihood of local farmers. The implication of this study is upgrading of farmers income and livelihood minus the role of middleman by enhancing Direct Regional Agro-Aqua Tourism Entrepreneurial Marketing concept which is a pivotal role in managing agro sector effectively. This could contribute since agriculture is considered as the third engine of growth in the Malaysian economy. The devised models could be used to achieve the goal. As well as to provide further groundwork to assist existing and would be agro managers; entrepreneurs or agro-agencies to upgrade farmers＇ income and generate country＇s economy by enhancing Direct Regional Agro-Aqua Tourism Entrepreneurial Marketing （DRAATEM） concept in Small and Medium Agro Marketing Enterprises （SMAMEs）.     

贸易财属性与贸易政策竞争均衡

本文利用两国两异质财货的产业内贸易模型,讨论贸易财属性与贸易政策竞争均衡的决定,并获得以下结论:(1)当两国政府均采取相同的进口或出口政策时,不论产品的消费性质,最适进口贸易政策均为课税;最适出口贸易政策将随贸易财的消费性质而定.替代品为出口补贴,互补品为出口课税.(2)当产品为替代品且厂商在两国市场均实行数量竞争的情况下,进口课税政策虽将成为两国政府的优势策略,但出口补贴政策则更具有效率.在产品为互补品且厂商在两国市场均实行价格竞争的情况下,当产品的互补程度较小(大)时,进口课税(出口课税)政策将成为两国政府的优势策略;当互补程度中等时,两国政府有可能采取差异性的贸易政策.