FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES AND FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN THE UNITED STATES

The hypothesis that foreign direct investment into the United States responds to variations in exchange-rate levels and to exchange-rate uncertainty is tested for the period 1976-1998. We account for nonstationarity and cointegration in the data series and use conditional measures of exchange-rate uncertainty. While a long-run relationship exists among foreign direct investment in-flows as a share of GNP, the real exchange rate, and the GARCH measure of exchange-rate volatility, we find no discernible link between the real exchange rate and inward foreign direct investment in the short run. We also conclude that foreign direct investment decreases in response to increases in exchange-rate uncertainty in the short run when we use a conditional measure of exchange-rate uncertainty.     

Environmental protection and management: A water pollution case study within the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area,Australia

The Grose River is contained almost entirely within a World Heritage Area. While sewage pollution in the area has been addressed, pollution at damaging levels continues from a disused coal mine, closed in 1997. Despite some surface rehabilitation, no action has occurred to remediate zinc polluted waters emanating from the mine. We examine the historical regulation and management of the Australian Commonwealth and New South Wales governments and highlight gaps in both regulatory systems. We conclude that there is an urgent need to improve regulation of water pollution, mining and management of the environment in highly valued world heritage areas.     

Tripartite adjudication—an endangered species

This article focuses on the role of lay members in tripartite employment tribunals, arguing that tribunals' legitimacy has been undermined by restrictions on the use of members' workplace experience, by the growth of the law, by changes to the method of lay member appointment and because judges now decide certain cases alone.     

Strategy–organization configurations in corporate venture units: Impact on performance and survival

We develop a typology of corporate venture units, based on their strategic role in the corporation, and specifically on (a) their relative emphasis on exploration versus exploitation and (b) the internal versus external locus of opportunity they pursue. Following configurations logic, we argue that the structures and systems used by venture units will be a function of their strategic role, and that their performance will be higher when internal elements are aligned. We also argue that exploitation-oriented units will survive for longer than exploration-oriented units. Using primary data collected on 95 venture units during 2001–2003, we use configurational analyses to test and find support for our hypotheses.     

Purchase Intentions and the Dimensions of Innovation: An Exploratory Model

The ultimate success of new product R&D depends as much on customer acceptance as on technological breakthroughs. In this article, Susan Holak and Donald Lehmann focus on customer acceptance by exploring the manner in which the general attributes of Rogers (relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, divisibility and communicability) plus perceived risk combine to form the intention to buy an innovation. Results demonstrate a causal structure among these attributes and lead to various implications for R&D guidelines and product design.     

Consumer profiles section: Consumer profiles for conventional bed and waterbed owners in Canada

This study examines consumer profile data on waterbed and conventional bed consumers. Five hundred conventional and waterbed consumers in Canada were randomly selected from two national lists of waterbed/mattress purchasers from 1981 to the present. A 73-item questionnaire was sent by mail to all of the selected respondents. The cover letter stated the purpose of the project; to study why people bought the bed that they are presently using. One hundred and sixty-two completed, useable questionnaires were returned, yielding a response rate of 37%. Following a series of multivariate analyses, a consumer profile for the two bed users was developed. Both groups tended to be married. The conventional bed consumers had: (a) either no children or one child at home; (b) a mean age of 44; and, (c) an average income in the $30,000-$40,000 range. Waterbed consumers had: (a) a mean age of 36, (b) one child living at home; and, (c) an average income in the $20,000-$30,000 range. On the Adorno F scale, the conventional bed user was found to be more conservative and authoritarian as compared to the waterbed user. The results did not support the notion that waterbed users are abnormally sexually-oriented or “kinky”. For both groups, the price paid for the purchased bed fell in the $600 to $650 range. Implications for retailers were discussed.     

Making connections: Partner quality, identity, and community

The study of equine companion ship and horse ownership provides an opportunity to explore the constructs of partner quality, identity projects, and consumer community.