ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT AND THE INTERPRETATION OF STRATEGIC ISSUES: A NOTE ON CEOS’ INTERPRETATIONS OF FOREIGN INVESTMENT*

This paper explores the relationship between organizational context and the interpretation of strategic issues by examining the hypothesis that CEOs' interpretations of foreign investment in the USA are influenced by the organizational context in which they are embedded. Three aspects of organizational context - the global business experience of the firm; the firm's level of organizational inertia (as represented by firm age and size); and the resources available for responding - are examined as predictors of CEOs' perceptions of foreign investment as a threat or an opportunity. Analysis of data from 320 organizations, controlled by industry, shows that global business experience, firm size, and perceived capability are significant predictors of the perception of threat and opportunity. the discussion addresses the implications of these findings for future research on issue interpretation and organizational context.     

Influences on technology strategy in the uk oil- and gas-related industry network

In the course of the last 25 years the UK has seen the emergence of a new, technologically advanced network of organisations underpinning the technical needs of the oil and gas extraction industry.The euolution of this industy network has taken place within a public policy framework which has had too central objectives: to maximize UK industrial involvement in the industry and to maximize. North Sea oil and gas extraction. The extent to which this framework has encouraged the development of new, technology-based firms has not been systematical stuided. This study examines the extent of indigenous incoltlement in the network and the influence of the currrent pressures of economic and policy changes on the performance and strategic planning of these compnies.     

The Structure of the Introductory Economics Course in United States Colleges

The authors examine class size, teaching methods, and the one-semester/two-semester organization of the first course in economics, where colleges and universities are classified into five broad categories, from liberal arts colleges to research institutions. Student satisfaction with respect to their institution is also reported.     

Institutional Usury and the Banks

Although usury is no longer widely discussed in economic discourse, the concept of usury is useful in explaining financial upheavals such as the recent and on-going crisis. The Scholastics began the study of interest with their teachings on usury, and Keynes brought the usury debate back into the discussions during the period around the Great Depression. Bernard Dempsey, a Jesuit economist, wrote a definitive assessment of scholastic theory in the early 1940s under the direction of Schumpeter. Dempsey developed his own theory of financial crises which he attributed to the presence of what he termed “institutional usury.” The recently implemented policy by the Federal Reserve of paying banks interest on reserves is examined in light of Dempsey's concept of institutional usury. The scholastic concept of the just price is used to analyze market power wielded by large financial institutions in the modern economy.     

Broadening the concept of rational economic behavior: A case study of cheese making at the Abbey of Tamié

Through an analysis of the business activities of a Trappist monastery, an attempt is made to add to the understanding of how ethical considerations, custom, and culture, as well as the profit motive, affect how actual economic decisions are made. This analysis is implemented through a case study of the cheese-making business of a monastery in the French Alps where the tradition of cheese, agriculture, and monks is important to the culture and customs of the area. The analysis finds that the monks are able to successfully conduct their business in ways that honor their custom and culture within the religious confines imposed by the monastery.     

Mundane heroines: Conflict,Ethnicity, Gender,and Female Headship in Eastern Sri Lanka

For the last twenty years, eastern Sri Lanka has witnessed a bitter and bloody civil conflict. This paper explores the experience of female-headed households in the region. Only partially the product of war, such households cannot be bundled together as a social problem with a single solution. Our study endorses the feminist suspicion of falsely homogenizing accounts of women's lives and suggests instead an alternative emphasis on the many ways in which gendered relations of dominance and subordination are maintained. With its co-existing Muslim, Tamil, and Sinhala groups, eastern Sri Lanka facilitates the exploration of ethnicity as a source of variation. The households included in this study share a common structure and face the same economic problems, yet ethnic differences divide them. The paper charts the problems, strategies, and partial triumphs of these lone mothers and proposes policies to help them in their mundane but heroic struggle.     

Economic importance and statistical significance: Guidelines for communicating empirical research

Abstract

A critical objective for many empirical studies is a thorough evaluation of both substantive importance and statistical significance. Feminist economists have critiqued neoclassical economics studies for an excessive focus on statistical machinery at the expense of substantive issues. Drawing from the ongoing debate about the rhetoric of economic inquiry and significance tests, this paper examines approaches for presenting empirical results effectively to ensure that the analysis is accurate, meaningful, and relevant for the conceptual and empirical context. To that end, it demonstrates several measurement issues that affect the interpretation of economic significance and are commonly overlooked in empirical studies. This paper provides guidelines for clearly communicating two distinct aspects of “significance” in empirical research, using prose, tables, and charts based on OLS, logit, and probit regression results. These guidelines are illustrated with samples of ineffective writing annotated to show weaknesses, followed by concrete examples and explanations of improved presentation.