Shatter the glass ceiling: Women may make better managers

There is considerable evidence that women encounter a glass ceiling or barrier to advancement into the executive ranks of organizations. Although many expected this barrier to be obliterated with the large influx of women entering the work force over the last two decades, little change has actually occurred in the most senior ranks. In most sectors, women still comprise less than 5 percent of board directorships and corporate officerships. This article focuses on emerging evidence which indicates that the trend in U.S. corporations toward high-involvement work teams, consensus decision making, and empowerment may actually benefit the leadership styles that women already exhibit. Preliminary evidence is also provided which indicates that female managers are seen as more transformational than their male counterparts—a leadership style that has been shown to have a strong positive impact on individual, group, and organizational performance.     

The Use of Information Technology by National Unions: An Exploratory Analysis

Exploratory factor analysis and correlation techniques are applied to survey data to examine national unions' use of information technology (IT). We identify common dimensions in current and planned use of IT forms, its applications, and implementation issues. Finally, relations among these dimensions and selected union characteristics are examined.     

Simultaneous-Equation Regression Analysis of Sales and Advertising

A simultaneous-equation regression model is developed and tested against aggregative time series data. The test involves the model as well as hypotheses regarding the structural parameters. Restrictions on the structural parameters imply limits on the parameters of the reduced-form equations. Estimates of the reduced-form coefficients must fall within the implied intervals in order for the model to be in agreement with the data.     

Ebola and the rhetoric of US newspapers: assessing quality risk communication in public health emergencies

Abstract

The 2014 West African Ebola outbreak was the first to be actively covered by the US media because of cases treated on US soil. Despite little chance of widespread contagion, US media termed Ebola ‘apocalyptic.’ The objective of this study was to understand how information about Ebola provided to the public through US newspapers was presented to assess how risk communication principles were or were not used. We conducted a systematic content analysis using a purposive sample of 75 news articles published in five US newspapers between 1 August and 31 October 2014. The articles were analyzed using the Dudo et al. framework, based on the extended parallel process model, and assessed for self-efficacy information, personal risk conceptualization (risk magnitude and risk comparison information), and content framing. We found that while coverage was mostly factual, it inconsistently presented quality risk-related information, and rarely used contextual information that would help readers accurately assess risk. Few articles also provided usable, actionable directives, a tenet of good crisis communication that enhances self-efficacy and lowers risk perception. Results inform how news coverage can affect public risk perception of a new, ‘exotic’ pathogen, and how in the case of Ebola US newspapers may have contributed to the inflated risk perception observed in the US population, and may support better, more comprehensive media response during likely future outbreaks.     

Exploring the role of internationalization knowledge in fostering strategic renewal: A dynamic capabilities perspective

Internationalization knowledge (IK) is important to successfully enter and develop competitive strategies abroad. Yet, how IK is advanced and improved across the multinational enterprise (MNE), and how this contributes to the MNE’s strategic renewal is less understood. This analysis is based on an in-depth case study of Microsoft International to explore how IK is advanced, improved, and integrated across the enterprise. Our findings suggest that IK plays a critical role in fostering strategic renewal of an MNE. More specifically, sensing, seizing, and transforming capabilities jointly provide the necessary basis that enable IK to facilitate strategic renewal. We contribute to the literature by (1) explicating three categories of IK and their hierarchical relationship; (2) reveal how three distinct capabilities required by MNEs capture and integrate the three categories of IK across the enterprise; and, (3) offering that strategic renewal is triggered by routines based on the development and integration of IK.     

When to lead or follow? It depends

Existing studies of entry strategy attribute sustained pioneer advantages to the pioneer's ability to erect barriers that impede the entry of potential competitors. Because effective entry barriers imply industry concentration, the entry-barrier explanation of sustained pioneer advantage suggests that pioneers in concentrated industries will experience superior mature-stage performance. This paper tests this hypothesis by controlling for industry concentration and analyzing the impact of entry strategy on the mature-stage firm's market share, perceived relative product quality, relative product-line breadth, relative price, and relative direct costs. The analysis suggests that the presence of effective barriers-to-entry significantly affects the performance poineers in both consumer- and industrial-goods industries. Moreover, the extent to which pioneers receive an incremental share advantage over early followers depends on both industry type and end-user purchase amounts.