Issues in Canadian Agricultural Economic Data: A Selected Review

This article expresses the concern that major agricultural data series fail to reflect well changes in efficiency or incomes of those engaged in the industry. Current farm income data focus on income from farm sources, and a shift in emphasis is suggested to value-added by farming and nonfarm agriculture businesses, to total incomes rather than farm incomes of those engaged in farming, and to asset accounts for those producing farm products. The result would be better understanding of the contribution of agriculture to the economy, and better understanding of the well-being of farm people. This may also be an appropriate time to question the value of the farm as a unit for collecting or for publishing agricultural data, as well as a time to seriously rethink the data implications of long-run resource issues in agriculture. ?auteur s'inquiète de ce que les principales séries de données agricoles ne reflètent pas adéquatement les changements survenus au chapitre de ?efficacité ni au chapitre des revenus chez les personnes engagées dans ce secteur. Les données actuelles sur les revenus de ?exploitation agricole mettent ?accent sur les sources de revenu propres a ?agriculture et ?auteur soutient que Ton devrait s'intéresser davantage à la valeur ajoutée par ?agriculture et par les activités agricoles extérieures à ?exploitation agricole, insister sur les revenus totaux plutôt que sur les revenus agricoles des personnes engagées dans le secteur et mettre ?accent sur les comptes de valeurs des producteurs agricoles. On parviendrait ainsi à mieux comprendre la contribution de ?agriculture à ?économic et le problème du bien-être des agriculteurs. Le temps est peut-être également venu de remettre en question la valeur de ?exploitation agricole comme unité de collecte ou de publication de données agricoles ainsi que de repenser sérieusement les incidences que pourront avoir sur les données les questions relatives aux ressources à long terme en agriculture.     

The role of family ownership in international entrepreneurship: exploring nonlinear effects

Empirical research on international entrepreneurship is growing, but results on the role of family ownership in this phenomenon are inconsistent. We believe these inconsistencies owe to prior researchers having not yet investigated nonlinear relationships. Drawing on opposing perspectives of stewardship and stagnation, we explore potential benefits and drawbacks of family ownership for international entrepreneurship and explore nonlinear relationships among these two variables. Using a sample of 1,035 US family businesses and applying ordinal regression analysis, we find an inverted U-shaped relationship between family ownership and international entrepreneurship: International entrepreneurship is maximized when family ownership stands at moderate levels. We discuss the implications of our findings for theory and practice and indicate avenues for future research.     

Effects of Family Socialization in the Organizational Commitment of the Family Firms from the Moral Economy Perspective

South Korean industrial conglomerates (chaebols) are discussed in the context of value-based management (VBM). Recent economics and finance literature on the diversion of corporate resources from the firm to the controlling shareholders (tunneling), for which chaebols are notoriously known, is discussed. Chaebols have engaged in empire building and expropriation of minority shareholders, distorting the process of efficient resource allocation in South Korea, and became the root cause of the 1997 financial crisis. We argue that the 1997 crisis should be viewed as a consequence of chaebols’ systematic deviation from the guiding principles of VBM. We use tunneling within chaebols as an example of the need to directly address prohibition of the expropriation of minority shareholders as a primary postulate of VBM. We argue that VBM should require that the value generated by the firm not be expropriated from minorities, or any stakeholders, by dominant shareholders. We also examine moral and ethical considerations and present explanations as to why the unethical practice of tunneling has been tolerated by the South Korean public. We show that public opinion on tunneling is changing and that the treatment of minority shareholders by chaebols’ controlling families is becoming increasingly unacceptable to South Koreans.     

The Adoption of a Retail-Oriented Marketing Mix for Bank Branch Operations

This article considers the major emphasis currently being placed by the retail banks on the distribution element of the marketing mix. In particular, it demonstrates that the retail banks within the UK have recognised the importance of the branch network in achieving a competitive advantage and are currently active to a greater or lesser degree in adopting a retail-oriented marketing mix for bank branch operations. The article goes on to argue that the mix has not yet been successfully co-ordinated as a result of the limited remit of marketing personnel within the banking sector.     

Pricing multi-class network services using the Shapley Value

This paper investigates pricing issues in class-based networks. Classes of packets having lower impatience and longer average delay receive monetary compensations. The inter-class price differential is determined by the inter-class compensations. The paper also presents rules for allocating network resource to each class. The corresponding payoff (disutility share) for each class is driven by the Shapley Value of the associated cooperative game.     

Early Experiences of the Enforcement of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive in Scotland

This exploratory study examines the early impact of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive 2005/29/EC on enforcers in Scotland within the context of current policy developments regarding the use of civil and criminal enforcement mechanisms within the UK. The Directive has been implemented in the UK by means of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 SI 1277 and the duty to enforce the Regulations falls primarily to local authority trading standards services. Twenty-one in-depth interviews were conducted with a range of officers employed within the trading standards service based in eight local authorities in Scotland on their perceptions of the new Regulations. The main findings were that officers’ views of the new Regulations and the civil and criminal enforcement routes available to them was affected by structural, operational, and cultural issues which varied from one authority to another. A number of officers were finding the Regulations a challenge to old ways and there was evidence that many felt unprepared for the Regulations. A number of positive views were expressed regarding the flexibility of the new Regulations and the advantages of the provisions relating to misleading omissions. Overall officers’ experiences of the Regulations were heavily influenced by the complaints received by their particular local authority service.     

On the relationship between migration and fertility

The relationship between migration and fertility is examined. The author proposes an alternative model to those used previously and applies it to data from the 1973 National Demographic Survey of the Philippines. The model assumes that although the fertility of migrants declines initially because of economic and psychological hardships, it rises subsequently as migrants become settled in their new environment.     

Customer Centric Company

Literaturhinweise

Customer centric company     

Reexamining Masculinity,Femininity,and Gender Identity Scales

This research compares and contrasts three gender identity instruments, the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ), and the Sexual Identity Scale (SIS), that have been used in previous investigations of various aspects of consumer behavior. Specifically, it examines the dimensionality and internal reliability of each scale, inter-scale correlations, and the relationship of each scale to biological sex. Results indicate that the gender identity scales consist of several dimensions beyond those typically interpreted as masculinity and femininity. The femininity factors emerging in the three scales tended to be highly correlated, and females scored higher than males on the femininity factors. However, the three masculinity factors were not correlated with one another, and were not as strongly associated with biological sex—females identified with typically masculine traits just as much as males. The implications of these results for using gender identity in consumer research are discussed, and future research opportunities are explored.     

The creation of regional blocs in the world economy

International economic relations today show a rather pessimistic picture, with high non-tariff barriers, international trade frictions and a serious crisis in the GATT. The following article analyses present tendencies towards the creation of regional economic blocs and the threats to the world economy which these involve.