Adjusting for risk in comparing the performances of male- and female-controlled SMEs

Small and medium enterprise (SME) research has typically found that female-owned SMEs underperform male-owned SMEs. Further, this underperformance usually persists after controlling for variables such as industry, age of business, and size of business. However, previous studies have normally limited their assessment of performance to sales or profit (or growth in sales or profit) without controlling for differences in risk. Our results indicate that although profits are significantly higher for male-controlled SMEs, so is the variation in profits (risk). After adjusting for risk, we find no significant difference between the performances of male- and female-controlled SMEs.     

The International Business Ethics Index: European Union

The present study expands the systematic measurement of consumers’ sentiments towards business ethical practices to the international arena. Data for the Business Ethics Index (BEI) were gathered in three countries of the European Union (UK, Germany, Spain). The Germans were the most pessimistic while the British were the most optimistic about the future ethical behaviour of businesses. John Tsalikis is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Florida International University. His articles have appeared in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Ethics, and Psychology in Marketing. Bruce Seaton is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Florida International University. His research interests include the role of national stereotyping in consumer choice and the application of experimental methods to investigate models of business ethics. His articles have appeared in the Journal of Advertising, Journal of Business Research, and Journal of Global Marketing.     

Business students' ethical perceptions of retail situations: A microcultural comparison

Due in part to a growing realization of the importance of the role that retailing plays in the marketing channel, and to the increasing numbers of college graduates being employed by retailers, growing attention is being placed on business students' ethical perceptions of retailing practices. This study continues this focus by examining the ethical perceptions of collegiate business students attending two different universities which likely represent two different microcultures — conservative evangelical Protestant and secular.The results suggest that ethical perceptions may vary between the students attending two universities which likely represent differing microcultures. The students attending the conservative evangelical Protestant university appear to possess ethical perceptions which are significantly more ethical than those of students attending the public university. Evidence was observed, therefore, which suggests that ethical perceptions may vary across students from differing microcultures.Dr. David J. Burns is Associate Professor of Marketing at Youngstown State University. His research has appeared in a number of journals. His research interests include business ethics, retail location, and the adoption of new products.Mr. Jeffrey K. Fawcett is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Cedarville College, Cedarville, Ohio where he has taught since 1987. He is currently working toward his DBA. His research interests include business ethics, and the marketing of services and not for profit organizations.Dr. John M. Lanasa is Associate Professor of Marketing at the A. J. Palumbo School of Business Administration, Duquesne University and a member of the Biard Center for Leadership and Ethics. Dr. Lanasa has numerous publications and his research interests include business ethics and sales training.     

Interstate banking,bank consolidation,and bank lending to small business

Proponents and critics of interstate banking argue over the implications of nationwide banking for bank lending to small business. This study explores the patterns of (1) bank consolidation at the national level and (2) the share of domestic-bank commercial lending extended to small firms, specifically, small manufacturing firms, over the period 1976–90. The evidence indicates that despite the trend toward fewer banking organizations and increased aggregate bank concentration due largely to cross-state expansion by superregional banking organizations, no significant downtrend is observed in the share of domestic-bank credit extended to small manufacturing firms. Nor is there any discernible downtrend in banks' share of borrowing by small manufacturing firms. These results are consistent with the thesis that banking industry consolidation hasnot led to a reduction in the supply of bank credit to small firms, at least within the manufacturing sector.     

Putting Meta-Analysis to Work: Accountants' Organizational-Professional Conflict

Commentators on empirical research in business ethics have recommended that use should be made of meta-analysis – the quantitative analysis of a group of research studies. This paper elaborates upon those recommendations by conducting, as a "case study" for further reflection, a meta-analysis of studies of accountants' organizational-professional conflict (OPC) previously published in accounting and psychology journals. Of five variables capable of analysis, only the population correlation coefficient between OPC and organizational tenure is identified. It was not possible to find the population correlation coefficient of the other four variables, for which several possible reasons are suggested. The paper then shows how meta-analysis can make a valuable contribution, even when the substantive findings are limited, by providing guidance for future research and a safeguard against the drawing of unjustified conclusions, to which the more usual narrative reviews of literature are prone.     

Foreign trade potential,small enterprise development and job creation in developing countries

Increasing American competitiveness in the international economy requires expanding trade with emerging markets, especially in developing countries of Asia, Latin America and Africa. Historically, as developing countries' economies have grown, the capacity for exporting and importing have both expanded. In the future, the capacity for trade in developing countries will depend increasingly on their ability to create sufficient numbers of jobs to absorb their rapidly growing labor forces.Unlike Western countries, most developing economies have a small percentage of their labor forces in large-scale manufacturing and a large share engaged in small-scale and informal sector enterprises. Small-scale enterprises have been the primary sources of labor absorption in cities in developing countries and will continue to play a crucial role in the future. Experience has shown that policies for improving the capacity of small-scale enterprises to generate jobs have had only mixed results in developing countries. The challenge facing governments and the private sector in the future include: (1) creating an economic environment conducive to small-enterprise development; (2) removing regulatory and administrative obstacles to small-enterprise expansion; (3) tailoring small-enterprise promotion programs to local conditions and needs; (4) providing capital and credit for small-business owners; (5) involving the private sector in small-enterprise development programs; and (6) providing technical assistance, training and educational programs through public-private partnerships.     

Shop Talk: Liberalism, Consumerism, and the American Revolution

T. H. Breen. The Marketplace of Revolution: How Consumer PoliticsShaped American Independence. Oxford: Oxford University Press,2004. xviii + 380 pp. ISBN 0-19-506395-3, $30.00. The Marketplace of Revolution is the culmination of more thantwenty years of sustained inquiry by the distinguished earlyAmerican historian T. H. Breen into the economic culture ofcolonial America. Sweeping in scope and magisterial in conception,it sets forth a novel interpretation of the American Revolutionthat is predicated on the assumption that the pursuit of happinessin the eighteenth-century America referred more to the promiseof personal fulfillment than to the promotion of the commongood. In the language of colonial historians, Breen’sAmerican revolutionaries were paragons of ‘bourgeois virtue’rather than ‘civic humanism.’ Breen’s principalhistoriographical foil is Bernard Bailyn and the so-called republicaninterpretation of the American Revolution with which Bailyn     

A Critical Analysis of the Accounting Industry’s Voluntary Code of Conduct

The public accounting industry’s voluntary code of conduct in the United States is the American Institute of CPA’s Code of Professional Conduct. Based on our analysis, we conclude that the accounting industry’s current code is limited in its ability to serve the public interest in three respects. Specifically, the code is input-based, requires no third-party attestation of compliance with the code, and contains no public reporting process of code compliance/noncompliance at the accounting firm level. We propose that the accounting profession should reorient its largely input-based Code of Professional Conduct to include output-based performance measurements. We also conclude that third-party attestation of compliance with the profession’s code would help to promote compliance. Finally, we maintain that the accounting industry should initiate a public reporting process at the individual accounting firm level. Such a requirement would add a degree of public accountability as to whether a firm complies or fails to comply with the industry’s voluntary code of conduct. John D. Neill, Ph.D., CPA, is a professor of accounting at Abilene Christian University and has previously published articles in numerous journals including the Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Accounting Literature, Accounting Horizons, Advances in Accounting,theFinancial Analysts Journal,and theJournal of Accounting, Ethics, and Public Policy. O. Scott Stovall, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of accounting at Abilene Christian University and has published articles in the Journal of Business Ethics, Management Accounting Quarterly, and Cases from Management Accounting Practice. Darryl L. Jinkerson, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of management and chair of the Management Sciences Department at Abilene Christian University and was formerly the Director of Assessment and Measurement for Arthur Andersen.     

The Impact of Socially Responsible Investment on Human Resource Management: A Conceptual Framework

Socially responsible investment (SRI) has increasingly assumed a major role in global equity markets. In this article we argue that the continued growth in investors seeking to align their ethical concerns with their investment strategies may influence the way in which the employment relationship is managed in publicly-listed corporations. After tracing the historical development of SRI, its implications for the conduct of human resource management (HRM) are examined. We conclude by analysing a number of the key problems associated with investor confidence in SRI funds and present a range of suggested techniques for improving screening methodologies.     

Some unresolved ethical issues in auditing

Independence is a fundamental concept to the audit. There is a clear relationship between independence and conflict of interest in all professions. This paper examines this relationship in the auditing profession and in the context of three specific practices. The paper analyses these practices by using the Davis model of conflict of interest. The results of this analysis give rise to some interesting questions for the ethical practices of the auditing profession.Sally Gunz teaches business law at the School of Accountancy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo Ontario. She is a former legal practitioner whose research interests include ethical and legal issues of concern to auditors and studies of the corporate counsel profession.John McCutcheon teaches accounting at the School of Business and Economics, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario. His research interests include analyses of alternate approaches to the liability of auditors for negligence and various issues in management accounting.