The Integrity Capacity Construct and Moral Progress in Business

The authors propose the integrity capacity construct with its four dimensions (process, judgment, development and system dimensions) as a framework for analyzing and resolving behavioral, moral and legal complexity in business ethics' issues at the individual and collective levels. They claim that moral progress in business comes about through the increase in stakeholders who regularly handle moral complexity by demonstrating process, judgment, developmental and system integrity capacity domestically and globally.     

The Challenge of Leadership Accountability for Integrity Capacity as a Strategic Asset

The authors identify the challenge of holding contemporary business leaders accountable for enhancing the intangible strategic asset of integrity capacity in organizations. After defining integrity capacity and framing it as part of a strategic resource model of sustainable global competitive advantage, the stakeholder costs of integrity capacity neglect are delineated. To address this neglect issue, the authors focus on the cultivation of judgment integrity to handle behavioral, moral and hypothesized economic complexities as key dimensions of integrity capacity. Finally, the authors recommend two leadership practices to build competence in business leaders to enhance integrity capacity as an organizational strategic asset.     

Modelling the Performance of Irish Credit Unions, 2002 to 2010

This study undertakes a modeling based performance assessment of all Irish credit unions between 2002 and 2010, a particularly turbulent period in their history. The analysis explicitly addresses the current challenges faced by credit unions in that the modeling approach used rewards credit unions for reducing undesirable outputs (impaired loans and investments) as well as for increasing desirable outputs (loans, earning assets and members’ funds) and decreasing inputs (labour expenditure, capital expenditure and fund expenses). The main findings are: credit unions are subject to increasing returns to scale; technical regression occurred in the years after 2007; there is significant scope for an improvement in efficiency through expansion of desirable outputs and contraction of undesirable outputs and inputs; and that larger credit unions, that are better capitalised and pay a higher dividend to members are more efficient than their smaller, less capitalised, and lower dividend paying counterparts.     

Does executive compensation incentivize managers to create effective internal control systems?

We examine the relation between CFO compensation and the effectiveness of internal control structures under SOX, Section 404. Given the growing evidence of an uncoupling of pay from performance, we conduct our analysis using a two-stage regression. In our first stage model, we decompose compensation into its fitted (i.e., explained by firms’ economic characteristics) and residual (i.e., unexplained) components. In our second stage model, we estimate a logit regression of internal control effectiveness on both the fitted and residual components of compensation. Overall, we find that internal control effectiveness is related to the fitted components of compensation, but unrelated to the residual components. These relations exist for aggregate compensation, as well as its individual components (i.e., salary, bonus, equity-based). Our findings suggest that fitted compensation increases the probability of effective internal controls. Conversely, residual compensation does not affect this probability, suggesting that it reflects pay without performance. Our findings inform regulators and standard setters of the often unforeseen costs of increased regulation.     

Brand management in small and medium-sized (SME) retailers: A future research agenda

Abstract

Recently, an emerging body of literature has advocated the importance of branding to small and medium-sized (SME) retailers. Nonetheless, this discourse has ignored the complexities and idiosyncrasies of retail branding. The aim of this paper is to provide a new theoretical understanding of brand management by SME retailers. In order to achieve this aim, the paper integrates the brand management, SME branding, and retail branding literature, and offers a conceptual framework for SME retail branding. A number of propositions are included that aid understanding of brand management in SME retail organisations. It is anticipated that these propositions will help shape future empirical research in this area. Further in-depth research into the application of branding within the SME retail context would address a significant gap in academic knowledge. In doing so, it would also provide important insights for management practice.     

A framework for SME retail branding

Abstract

It has become increasingly important for small to medium sized enterprise (SME) retailers to stand out in the current marketplace. Branding in SMEs is a growing area of academic interest, although the majority of studies have been based in the manufacturing sector. This study seeks to develop a framework of the characteristics, processes and dynamics of SME retailers. A qualitative research study was carried out with SME owner managers (OMs) over a period of 15 months. The findings extend the understanding of branding in SMEs in a number of ways. Firstly, it is found that SME retailers take a cautious approach to brand management, seeking to build loyalty, networks and relationships. Secondly, the holistic nature of SME retail branding presents a challenge to OMs who are resource-constrained. Thirdly, the soft, colloquial and intuitive approaches to brand equity appraisal are evident. Brand marketing is focused on word of mouth, which has implications for how OMs operationalise the brand around store experiences. Finally, the influence of the OM on branding decisions is clear. The key findings are discussed in relation to the retail context of the study, the centricity of the OMs in SME branding and entrepreneurial brand management.     

The benefits of holidaying for children experiencing social exclusion: recent Irish evidence

There is a general assumption in contemporary society that holidaying is beneficial in many ways. Yet, even in affluent societies, access to holidaying opportunities continues to be constrained by a variety of factors relating to inter alia income, gender, health and race. This is problematic because it means that sizeable minorities within advanced societies are being denied the benefits that researchers have attributed to the practice of holidaying. Recently, there has been a renewed interest in problematising the exclusionist nature of holidaying with researchers arguing that a lack of holiday opportunities may compound social deprivation, reinforce social problems and heighten social exclusion. A number of knowledge gaps have been identified including the extent to which holidaying benefits children and youth and those experiencing social exclusion. This paper aims to redress this knowledge deficit by reporting the findings of a study that examined the benefits of holidaying accruing to a group of children, and their families, experiencing social exclusion in Dublin. Using a variety of qualitative methods, the study found that access to holidaying opportunities contributed to quality of life and enhanced well‐being for the children studied. The benefits of the holiday extended beyond the time period of the holiday itself, and also extended beyond the children themselves into the wider family unit. A number of avenues for further research are identified.     

Richard Dale. The First Crash: Lessons from the South Sea Bubble. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2004. vi + 192 pp. ISBN 0-691-11971-6, $29.95.

In The First Crash: Lessons from the South Sea Bubble RichardDale offers an easy-to-read history of the South Sea Bubbleof 1720. Though many others have written on the subject, Dalepens this contribution to argue that the South Sea Bubble wasdriven by irrational investors. Because the South Sea Bubblewas the first modern financial bubble, Dale seeks to establishthat irrational behavior began forming bubbles three     

Earnings Announcements and Information Asymmetry: An Intra‐Day Analysis*

This paper examines the effect of earnings announcements on information asymmetry as perceived by specialists. We use changes in quoted bid‐ask spreads and depths (relative to the average value in the non‐announcement period) as proxies for changes in information asymmetry in the market. To our knowledge, we are the first to employ a model that captures the simultaneous nature of the specialists' choice of spreads and depths in reaction to earnings news. We provide evidence that spreads are wider and depths are smaller before the release of earnings announcements. We also find that changes to depths are greater for announcements of quarterly earnings than for announcements of annual earnings and changes to spreads persist longer into the post‐announcement period when announcements are made outside trading hours. These changes to spreads and depths persist when earnings announcements are made after trading hours.