An empirical test of the model on managing the localization of human resources in the People's Republic of China

The localization of human resources has been a major objective for many transnational corporations (TNCs) in the People's Republic of China (PRC). After a review of related literature and in-depth interviews with six TNCs, Wong and Law (1999) developed a model explaining the localization process in the PRC. Based on this localization model, this study empirically tested the antecedents of successful localization results of 139 TNCs in the People's Republic of China. Results showed that, (1) whether or not localization had been identified as an important goal, (2) overall localization planning efforts and (3) actual human resources management practices were important factors leading to successful localization of expatriate positions. Implications of the results are discussed.     

The New Deal and the origins of the modern American real estate loan contract

The fully amortized mortgage loan contract is an important instance of financial innovation in the U.S. residential mortgage market. We examine the adoption of this contract from the 1880s to the 1930s by building and loan (B&L) associations, the nation's most important institutional home mortgage lenders at the time. A chain of complementary innovations by B&Ls gradually reduced the costs of adopting amortization, supporting moderate use by the 1920s. During the crisis of the 1930s, the poor performance of the traditional B&L loan contract radically increased the benefit of adoption, as borrowers demanded the new contract. The adoption examined here occurred primarily in the conventional loan market because B&Ls, unlike other lenders, generally avoided the use of the new Federal Housing Administration insurance program. The New Deal may have had more impact through new federal savings and loan charters, which incorporated many of the complementary innovations that supported the new form of lending.     

Entrepreneurs Seeking Gains: Profit Motives and Risk Aversion in Inventors’ Commercialization Decisions

Direct evidence has been lacking on entrepreneurs’ response to individual‐specific opportunities, and recent work suggests that entrepreneurship may be a non‐profit‐seeking activity and that entrepreneurs evaluate risk oddly. We model heterogeneous inventors and inventions, outside opportunities, sunk and nonsunk costs, and risk, to guide data analysis. We use assessment data from a center paid to assess the inventions’ economic potential. Inventors’ choices whether to commercialize their inventions and later whether to remain in production were consistent with profit‐seeking motives and risk aversion.     

Graffiti,Art, and Advertising: Re-Scaling Claims to Space at the Edges of the Nation-State

Physical barriers are an increasingly popular political mechanism for central government control over the flows of goods and people at borders. This medium also, however, serves as a canvas for unsanctioned expressions of belonging. Just as graffiti and art are deployed in the urban landscape as unconventional means of claiming space, they are utilised on international border barriers to contest prevalent political winds and re-claim local and alternative senses of who belongs and what is deemed important in debates over border policy. This paper considers unauthorised text and visual imagery on the border barriers of the Arizona-Sonora section of the US-Mexico boundary as a therapeutic reaction to a state-dominated border policy which downplays local impacts. It is argued that such imagery serves to re-scale border space and thereby re-capture a sense of belonging by those whose roles are marginalised by national politics and the neoliberal global economy.     

The challenge of global ethics

The authors argue that the time is ripe for national and corporate leaders to move consciously towards the development of global ethics. This papers presents a model of global ethics, a rationale for the development of global ethics, and the implications of the model for research and practice.Paul F. Buller is an Associate Professor of management in the School of Business Administration at Gonzaga University where he teaches courses in strategic management. Dr. Buller holds a PhD degree in Business Administration from the University of Washington, and has published a number of articles appearing in academic and practitioner journals.John Kohls is an Associate Professor of Management at Gonzaga University. He teaches classes in Business Ethics, Business, Government and Society, and Organizational Behavior. He has written numerous articles in these areas and conducts Management Development workshops including Ethics, Organizational Culture, and Leadership.Kenneth S. Anderson is an Associate Professor of management at the School of Business Administration, Gonzaga University. His research interests include ethics, burnout, and linkages between strategy and human resource management.     

Recent Progress on Endogeneity in Choice Modeling

We describe recent progress in several areas related to endogeneity, including: choice set formation and attention to attributes; interactions among decision-makers; respondents' strategic behavior in answering stated preference choices; models of multiple discrete/continuous choice; distributions of willingness-to-pay; and methods for handling traditionally endogenous explanatory variables.     

Comparative study of phosphate and non-phosphate detergents

A comparison of three different detergents was made by evaluating their properties of soil removal, soil redeposition and calcium carbonate deposition. The detergents included a phosphate granular detergent, a non-phosphate, carbonate built granular detergent and an unbuilt liquid detergent. The local water conditions were moderately hard and clay type soils were used. Detergency was evaluated on the basis of both visual and instrumental colour changes. In effecting soil removal, clay stained fabrics laundered with the phosphate detergent retained only a small amount of soil, while fabrics laundered with the two non-phosphate detergents showed heavier staining. In preventing soil redeposition, the phosphate detergent produced almost no visible redeposition; the unbuilt and carbonate built detergents ranked correspondingly lower. In assessing calcium carbonate deposition, the phosphate and unbuilt detergents showed little or no change, while the carbonate detergent continued to build up deposits with laundering. In summary, the phosphate detergent ranked highest in overall performance, with correspondingly lesser performance from the unbuilt and carbonate detergents.     

How much would low- and middle-income countries benefit from addressing the key risk factors of road traffic injuries?

Abstract

Despite strong advocacy, the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011–2020) is ending with most low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) no closer to the Sustainable Development Goals target of reducing traffic mortality by half. In contrast, most high-income countries (HICs) have seen large benefits in recent decades from large-scale safety interventions. We aimed to assess how much LMICs would benefit from interventions that address six key risk factors related to helmet use, seatbelt use, speed control, drink driving, and vehicle design for safety of occupants and pedestrians. We use a comparative risk assessment framework to estimate mortality and health loss (disability adjusted life years lost, DALYs) that would be averted if these risks were reduced through intervention. We estimate effects for six countries that span all developing regions: China, Colombia, Ethiopia, India, Iran, and Russia. We find relatively large benefits (27% reductions in road traffic deaths and DALYs) from speed control in all countries, and about 5%-20% reductions due to other interventions depending on who is at risk in each country. To achieve larger gains, LMICs would need to move beyond simply learning from HICs and undertake new research to address risk factors particularly relevant to their context.