A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF STRATEGIC DECISIONS

This study examines the process of upward influence in a variety of strategic decisions. The study provides a list of categories and supporting data for the agents, methods, perceived outcomes, and perceived causes of success and failure of upward influence interactions that impact upon the strategic decision-making process in organizations. The results suggest that: (a) middle-level managers (MLMs) deal directly with their superiors and use rational or persuasive arguments in their upward influence interactions in strategic decisions; (2) MLMs are very successful in their influence interactions and attribute their successes to internal causes; (3) MLMs and their superiors view the influence episode similarly; and (4) upward influence activity in strategic decisions is quite similar to upward influence activity in non-strategic decisions. The study also examines individual and organizational factors that are associated with success and failure in influence activity in strategic decision-making.     

Evidence of feedback trading with Markov switching regimes

Previous research has concluded that the degree of return autocorrelation observed in index returns varies linearly with the volatility of the series, and that feedback traders are at least partly responsible for this phenomenon. Using daily Australian bond and equity market returns, we test this conclusion directly by using a Markov switching model for changing variance that explicitly allows the autocorrelation of returns to vary with the volatility regime. We find evidence that a significant proportion of investors in both the Australian equity and bond markets are positive feedback traders and are responsible for the observed increase in negative autocorrelation in index returns during periods of high and increasing volatility.

Managing Television Commercial Time

With a limited supply of just one marketable resource, that of time, television commercial rates have to be set with a high degree of care. Under constantly changing conditions of demand and competitive intensity a station's profits can be impaired by under pricing as well as by overpricing its inventory of available time. This article, as the first in a two part series, describes the process that stations follow to set the most profitable of rates with a minimum of risk. In a sequel article to be published in the next issue of the Journal of Advertising suggestions are made to advertisers for creating time purchase strategies under different demand and competitive situations.     

Opportunities for Air Pollutant and Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction through Local Transport Planning

This paper has three main objectives: firstly, to provide quantitative information on the potential greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions reductions resulting from a number of future road transport scenarios; secondly, to illustrate the emission reduction measures available to local transport planners; and thirdly, to highlight the potential for these measures to be integrated into strategies that deliver other transport priorities. The results are drawn from a case study of Norfolk in the UK. We conclude that while technology can play a large part in reducing emissions of air pollutants, demand management is crucial to the delivery of long term greenhouse gas emission reduction and ultimately of air pollutant emissions too.     

Revisiting the beauty is beastly effect: examining when and why sex and attractiveness impact hiring judgments

We contribute to the body of literature on the what is beautiful is good heuristic (Dion, Berscheid, & Walster, 1972, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 24, 285–290), the beauty is beastly effect (Heilman & Saruwatari, 1979, Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 23, 360–372) and lack of fit theory (Heilman, 1983, Research in Organizational Behavior, 5, 269–298) by reconciling previous discrepancies in the literature and by examining the circumstances in which attractiveness may and may not be detrimental for female job applicants. First, we perform a review of studies which have previously tested the beauty is beastly effect, and we provide and test explanations for previous discrepancies in the literature. Next, we conduct two new studies on the beauty is beastly effect using corporate types of jobs, and empirically test Heilman's lack of fit theory (1983) as an explanation for the effect. We find support for the effect in a general population sample, and partial support for the effect in a sample of human resource professionals. We also provide support for a mediated moderation model showing that applicant sex is related to job suitability for a male-typed job through the indirect effect of perceived agency, which is moderated by applicant attractiveness.     

An Ethics of Care or an Ethics of Justice

A conflict within the community of those investigating business ethics is whether decision makers are motivated by an ethics of justice or an ethics of caring. The proposition put forward in this paper is that ethical orientations are strongly related to cultural backgrounds. Specifically, Hofstede's cultural stereotyping using his masculine-feminine dimension may well match a culture's reliance on justice or caring when decisions are made. A study of college graduates from six countries showed that Hofstede's dimension was remarkably accurate in predicating a justice or caring orientation for decision makers from five of the six countries.     

The Dynamics of Rivalry

Firms face a constant challenge to understand and manage competition over time: what to do when and how much, for how long, and with what expected effect. In this battle, managers use resources they already have to develop the further resources they need, faster and more sustainably than competitors. Just three forms of rivalry capture the dynamics of these processes: developing potential customers, capturing rivals' customers and competing for sales to shared customers. Each of these applies not only to customers, but also to other assets that must be won against rivals. In complex industries, interactions between many competitors can be simplified by grouping firms together, and industry evolution and scenarios for the future can be evaluated using extensions of this approach.