Culture and the management of time: A comparison of Japanese and American top management practice

Data was collected from CEO's and upper-level managers in Japan and the United States by survey and by structured observation in order to investigate patterns of time utilization as functions of culture. The results showed similar patterns between the Japanese and the Americans with regard to the percentage of time spent working alone as opposed to working with others. Different patterns were found for the two cultures with regard to the length of activities.     

Wage Differences Between Men and Women: Performance Appraisal Ratings vs. Salary Allocation as the Locus of Bias

This article explores the nature and origins of wage differences between men and women in the context of a single large financial services organization. Data collected on 800 women and 1831 men showed that modest wage differences do exist and that they tend to be concentrated primarily in managerial levels. Two possible sources of bias in evaluation were assessed – performance appraisal ratings and the translation of performance appraisal ratings into salay. Our analyses showed that performance appraisal ratings, on average, do not differ between men and women at the same level; however, the relationship between performance appraisal ratings and salary was stronger for men then women, particularly at higher levels. This suggests that the salary allocation process, and not the performance appraisal process, may be the source of bias in large organizations.     

Transaction costs and the small firm effect

Recent empirical work by Banz (1981) and Reinganum (1981) documents abnormally large risk-adjusted returns for small firms listed on the NYSE and the AMEX. The strength and persistence with which the returns appear lead both authors to conclude the single-period, two-parameter capital asset pricing model is misspecified. This study (1) confirms that total market value of common stock equity varies inversely with risk-adjusted returns, (2) demonstrates that price per share does also, and (3) finds that transaction costs at least partially account for the abnormality.     

THE DIFFERENTIAL EFFECTS OF SINKING FUNDS ON BOND RISK PREMIA

This study analyzes the effect that two options created by the inclusion of a sinking fund clause in a bond indenture have on the bond issue's secondary market risk premium. The impact of market prices that exceed current sinking fund redemption prices, and of par versus premium redemption, is clearly apparent when a set of issue-specific and macroeconomic control variables are incorporated into a model of bond risk premia. Thus, secondary market prices for the large-volume utility bond transactions in the sample reflect knowledge of individual-issue, time-varying indenture characteristics.     

Office triage and the physician's supply curve

This paper contains a theoretical and empirical model of the physician firm. The utility maximizing physician chooses the number of hours of labor to supply and the mix between patient visits and time per visit. Theory suggests that a serious specification error may occur if one estimates the labor supply curve and patient demand curve without simultaneously estimating the mix between patient visits and time per visit. A Chi-Square specification test reveals that this “triage” model statistically dominates the simple supply/demand model. Estimation results indicate relevant backward-bending labor and negatively sloped service supply functions.     

The purchase of components: Functional areas of influence

The Webster and Wind model of organizational buyer behavior enjoys considerable popularity. However, not all of its constructs and relationships among constructs have been validated by empirical research. The purpose of this study was to provide empirical evidence concerning the relationships between three of the model's critical constructs: buying center membership, purchase situation, and purchase phase. The relationships studied were variations in the perceived relative influence of different functional areas (e.g., production, marketing, purchasing, etc.) across three purchase situations and four purchase phases. The results of the study clearly indicate that the functional areas are generally perceived to have varying amounts of influence across both the purchase situation and purchase phase. These results have specific implications for developing effective industrial marketing strategies.