Cash balance pension plans: A case of standard-setting inadequacy

Accounting for and ownership of U.S. private employee pensions has long been a controversial and politically contested terrain. The uniqueness in the U.S. of using employers as the principal provider of pensions makes the reporting of pensions more problematic since the corporate employers providing pensions are not strictly accountable to only the pensioners. Over the last quarter century there has been a marked swing in power toward management and away from employees making it possible for increasing numbers of U.S. companies to switch from conventional defined benefit plans to cash balance plans. This paper provides a “case” study of how accounting standard-setters framed the pension reporting problem vis-à-vis how they frame the “reporting problem” in general. Utilizing various sources of commentary about the phenomenon of cash-balance conversions, we triangulate on the pension problem to demonstrate how current FASB disclosure rules fail to satisfy the condition of neutrality and how those rules have facilitated the shifting of economic risk from shareholders to employees.     

Consumer response to physicians’ advertisements

Although the Federal Trade Commission has initiated a number of rulings to reduce professional societies’ prohibitions against advertising in order to stimulate competition, there is little research regarding the subject. Certainly, this is true of the potential effects of doctors’ advertising. In this study, subjects received illustrative physicians’ advertisements with varying levels of price, service, and competency. In analysis with various attitudinal and intentional measures as dependent variables, these factors were shown to have statistical significance.     

Personal and nonpersonal incentives in mail surveys: Immediate versus delayed inducements

A mail survey was conducted to empirically investigate contributions to charity as a method of stimulating responses to a mail survey. The research design included a control group and four experimental groups with the following treatments: a prepayment of $1.00 enclosed with the questionnaire (immediate personal reward), $1.00 promised upon return of the questionnaire with the respondent identified (delayed personal reward, no anonymity), $1.00 promised upon return of the questionnaire with no identification of the respondent (delayed personal reward, anonymity), and the promise of $1.00 contribution to a respondent-selected charity (delayed non-personal reward). The $1.00 prepayment yielded a statistically significant higher response rate than the $1.00 promised to charity or $1.00 promised upon return of the questionnaire. This study generally supports existing empirical foudnations of equity theory. An immediate personal reward yields a higher response rate than a delayed personal or non-personal reward.     

The role of expectations in the determination of consumer satisfaction

The purpose of this paper is to explore the three determinants of consumer satisfaction, i.e. Predictive Expectations, Normative Expectations and Comparative Expectations. This study applied the confirmation of expectations paradigm to each of the types of expectations. The efficacy of the paradigm in the prediction of consumer satisfaction is examined. Comparative analyses of the three types of expectations show that normative expectations and their confirmation are the best predictors of satisfaction. Suggestions for further research on measurement and conceptual development of consumer satisfaction are also offered.     

Concurrent validity of a measure of innovative cognitive style

Identifying innovative consumer segments remains an important goal for marketers of new products. This article examines the merits of a recently developed marketing oriented scale, called “open processing”, which is purported to measure an individual's openness or cautiousness tendencies with regard to new products, new sensations, new experiences, and information about them. In a test of the scale's concurrent validity, using self reports of new product trail/purchase behavior among female shoppers, the study found open processors to be more innovative than cautious processors, as was predicted. The study also explores the relationships between open processing, innovative behavior, and various demographic variables. Results indicated that (1) open processing is almost as strong a predictor of innovativeness as four commonly used demographic variables combined; and (2) that open processing is an influential moderator of the relationship between demographics and innovative behavior. Internorth, Inc.     

The impact of market conditions on the organizational structure and effectiveness of firms operating in Italy

In the past decade, several organization theorists have begun to examine the organization—environmental interface in the functioning of complex organizations and have argued that an organization's internal structural arrangement is contingent upon the demands of the external environment. The purpose of this article is to further examine the validity of the findings of these theorists with reference to firms operating in Italy. The variables studied consisted of: a) Market conditions—which was divided into the two categories of high and low competition. b) Decentralization of decision-making, and c) Organization effectiveness. To investigate the impact of decentralization on the organization effectiveness of firms under differing market conditions the statistical techniques of a Mann-Whitney U Test and Kendall's Tau Measure of Correlation were used to compute the scores. The resulting computations provide some support for the contingency theory of organization, but also indicates areas of disagreement.     

The product elimination function

Historically, major consideration given to product management has focused on research and development or the introductory stage of the product life cycle. The authors present an empirical study delineating the variables to be considered in the product elimination process. More specifically, the elimination process is evaluated under a situation of poor product performance despite a generally viable market. The basic objectives of the study were: to determine the significant variables in the product elimination process of the Small Appliance Industry; to determine the relative importance of the variables; to examine the interaction among variables. The data obtained through personal structured questionnaire interviews were analyzed and provided a ranking of twenty-six variables relevant to the elimination process. Moreover, the Johnson's Hierarchical Clustering Schemes was applied to determine the interaction among variables. The results indicate that profitability and financial variables are most significant in the elimination decision-process. Second, the primary clusters of importance are concerned with market share, market growth rate, consumer awareness, and competitive action.     

Consumer legislation: A proactive or reactive response to consumerism?

The number and rate of development of new consumer legislation necessitates the evaluation of existing legislation. This paper summarizes and categorizes, in detail, the impact of select pieces of consumer legislation on consumer decision making. It is an implied objective of the paper to provide a perspective for future public policy formulation. The pieces of legislation evaluated in the paper are: (1) unit pricing; (2) product labeling; and (3) disclosure of interest rate provisions for consumer credit. The impact of these pieces of legislation have been minimal, indicating the need for an educational program for consumers.