Firm and Industry Effects of Advertising Accountancy Services

This article takes up the theme of the growing importance of the need to market financial and professional services by an examination of the case of accountancy services. Recent relaxations on the advertising of accountancy service call for an examitration of the appropriate marketing strategy for accounting firms. Discussion in the article indicates that firm size will have an important influence on the appropriateness of advertising and the form that it fakes. Advertising should form part of an integrated marketing strategy and not be seduced by the relaxation of the controls into focusing attention solely on this one aspect of marketing. As regards industry effects, advertising may be seen to reinforce concentration in the provision of both audit and particrtlarly non-audit services. There are benefits to smaller firms, however, through the use of advertising to emphasise specialist skills. In terms of conduct, advertising may help build up a barrier to entry into the provision of certain services, but is unlikely to replace price competition for the capture of audit clients as a key to the provision of non-audit services.     

The Role of Advertising in the Marketing Strategy of Accountancy Firms: Evidence from a Regional Market

Rules governing the advertising activity of accountancy firms have recently been relaxed. Published evidence is, however, scant regarding the perceived value of accountancy firms' advertising by both users of their services and by business advisers. Building on a conceptual model of the role of advertising in accountancy firms described in an earlier issue of this journal [Watkins and Wright, Service Industries Journal, Vol. 5, No. 3, November 19851, this article presents some results from a recent survey of a regional accountancy market. These results show that a careful examination of advertising within the overall marketing mix is required, with other forms of marketing perhaps offering greater possibilities. The overall conclusion is that the cost-effectiveness of the advertising of accountancy services h s t be open to doubt.     

The Impact of Regulation on the Strategy and Structure of Building Societies

A new Building Societies Act was passed in July 1986, radically changing the regulatory framework governing societies which had remained in force since 1962. The provisions of the Act allow societies to move into areas of activity from which they have previously been prohibited. At the same time that legislation was being passed specifically relating to building societies, the whole of the personal financial services market was experiencing what is generally seen as a revolution. Hence societies find themselves at a development crossroads at a time of great uncertainty. Although there has been much informed and some speculative comment, there has hitherto been little attempt at quantifying the likely future directions that building societies will take. This article seeks to remedy this situation by drawing upon the results of two surveys in which senior building society executives and their counterparts in other financial institutions were invited to give their views on the trends in personal financial services provision over the next five years.     

Applying the Randomized Response Technique in Business Ethics Research: The Misuse of Information Systems Resources in the Workplace

Mitigating response distortion in answers to sensitive questions is an important issue for business ethics researchers. Sensitive questions may be asked in surveys related to business ethics, and respondents may intend to avoid exposing sensitive aspects of their character by answering such questions dishonestly, resulting in response distortion. Previous studies have provided evidence that a surveying procedure called the randomized response technique (RRT) is useful for mitigating such distortion. However, previous studies have mainly applied the RRT to individual dichotomous questions (e.g., yes/no questions) in face-to-face survey settings. In this study, we focus on behavioral research examining the relationships between latent variables, which are unobserved variables measured by multiple items on Likert or bipolar scales. To demonstrate how the RRT can be applied to obtain valid answers from respondents answering a self-administered online questionnaire with Likert and bipolar scales, we build a behavioral model to study the effect of punishment severity on employees’ attitudes toward misuse of information systems resources in the workplace, which in turn influence misuse behavior. The survey findings meet our expectations. The respondents are generally more willing to disclose sensitive data about their attitudes and actual behavior related to misuse when the RRT is implemented. The RRT’s implications for causal modeling and the advantages and challenges of its use in online environments are also discussed.     

Determinants of how individuals choose,eat and waste: Providing common ground to enhance sustainable food consumption out‐of‐home

The transformation of food consumption in wealthy economies is regarded as an essential measure to reach global sustainability goals. However, existing policies and research activities to change food consumption in the increasingly relevant out‐of‐home sector relate to a wide set of options on how to influence behaviours and may be criticized to lack a general focus. Against this background, our study provides a structured review of the existing research body on the determinants of individuals’ food choices and food consumption out‐of‐home. It structures the various research approaches and findings for 110 selected papers according to a general ecological framework where personal, social and environmental determinants for food behaviours are considered. By providing a collective overview and linking results for different behavioural aspects and settings, this study supports a more general understanding of consumer food behaviour in out‐of‐home settings. Consequently, it also provides a means to identify research gaps and to suggest relevant aspects for future research to draw from the combination of findings and to enhance sustainability in food consumption.     

Corporate entrepreneurship: Current research and future directions

In this paper, we suggest future research on the processes and knowledge-based resources in corporate entrepreneurship (CE), argue for the need to appreciate the heterogeneity of CE in relation to new contexts, and suggest appropriate strategies for such contexts. First, we highlight the key contributions of the papers in this special issue, with a particular focus on how they provide insights into structural and process contingencies, the role of management at multiple levels, and organizational and managerial capabilities. We then discuss the limits to the applicability of theories developed in other contexts to CE. Finally, we suggest some future research, with particular emphasis on the corporate governance mechanisms that foster CE and the requisite managerial roles and skills in instigating and supporting entrepreneurial activities at different levels of the organization.     

Problems of world food and agriculture: Projections,models and possible approaches

This article is concerned with the global implications of recent work in food and nutrition planning. It is based on the realisation that the world food situation is critical. Two distinct explanatory/ action paradigms that have been adopted by food/nutrition planners and other professional writers are identified and discussed. These approaches are then assessed in the light of forecasting techniques used to explore the future world food situation and more appropriate techniques are proposed.     

Profitability analysis in UK organizations: An exploratory study

Recent research into management accounting practices suggests that companies are now placing considerable emphasis on profitability analysis and consider it to be one of the most important management accounting practices. There is however little recent empirical research relating to the content and role of profitability analysis in companies. This paper will address this omission and report the findings derived from a survey of UK companies relating to information that is contained in profitability reporting, generated for managing the existing mix of a firm's activities. In particular, it focuses on the nature, content and role of profitability analysis carrying out some exploratory analysis and testing various propositions to explain the divergence in observed practices.A distinctive feature of the research is that, unlike some previous research, rather than focusing on the information that is accumulated within the costing system it focuses primarily on the information that is extracted from it for different purposes. Not surprisingly we find that different information is extracted for profitability analysis than for pricing purposes. The research findings also indicate that firms use a hierarchy of profit measures within the periodic profitability analysis statements and that profitability analysis is used mainly for attention-directing purposes for signalling the need for more detailed studies. For profitability analysis, the findings suggest that, in terms of what is considered the most important attention-directing measure, the use of some form of full costs based on arbitrary allocations is not as widespread as that suggested by previous studies. Evidence is also presented to suggest that the level of cost system complexity influences the observed practices.     

Who owns the long term? Perspectives from global business leaders

Day-to-day management is challenging enough for CEOs. How do they manage for the long term as well? We posed that question to four top executives of global companies. According to Maurice Levy, chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe, building the future is really about building the present and keeping close to the front line--those who deal with your customers and markets. He also attributes his company's success in large part to knowing when to take action: In a market where clients' needs steer your long-term future, timing is everything. UPS Chairman and CEO Mike Eskew emphasizes staying true to your vision and values over the long run, despite meeting obstacles along the way. It took more than 20 years, and many lessons learned, to produce consistent profits in what is today the company's fastest-growing and most profitable business: international small packages. Wulf H. Bernotat, CEO of E.ON, examines the challenges facing business leaders and politicians as they try to balance energy needs against potential environmental damage. He calls for educating people about consumption and waste, and he maintains that a diverse and reliable mix of energy sources is the only way to ensure a secure supply while protecting our environment. Finally, Marianne Barner, the director of corporate communications and ombudsman for children's issues at IKEA, discusses how the company is taking steps to improve the environment and be otherwise socially responsible. For example, it's partnering with NGOs to address child labor issues and, on its own, is working to help mitigate climate change. IKEA's goals include using renewable sources for 100% of its energy needs and cutting its overall energy consumption by 25%.