Key account relationship management: the moderating effects of relationship duration and transaction volume

This study investigates the impact of three relational benefits (i.e. financial benefits, human interaction benefits, preferential treatment benefits) on switching barriers, customer satisfaction, and behavioral loyalty for key accounts in the context of the air express delivery industry in Taiwan. Empirical results indicate that relational benefits impact switching barriers, switching barriers influence customer satisfaction and loyalty, and customer satisfaction effects loyalty. Findings also confirm most of the hypothesized moderating effects for relationship duration and transactional volume on the relationship between relational benefits and switching barriers. Specifically, long-term key accounts place greater emphasis on the human interaction and preferential treatment benefits. Key accounts that have less established relationships based on the length of business relationship place more importance on financial benefits. Financial benefits were found to have a positive influence on switching barriers only for low annual transactional volume clients, while both human interaction benefits and preferential treatment benefits have positive effects for both low and high transactional volume key accounts.     

The link between managerial style and the job characteristics of R&D professionals

Despite a growing body of evidence as to the importance of linking job design to supervisory practices, almost no empirical studies have been conducted on the issue specifically for R&D professionals. The effectiveness of supervisors should differ primarily with respect to their leadership styles. Data obtained from three major types of R&D organizations in Taiwan were used to examine how leadership styles affect the job characteristics of R&D professionals with personal attributes of professionals themselves as the concomitant variables. The leadership styles were defined in terms of a two dimensional construct with the supportive dimension focusing on enhancing relationship and participatory decision making, and the directive dimension emphasizing telling and directing to get tasks accomplished. The results supported most of the hypotheses proposed in the study. In particular, the high correlation of the supportive leadership style and overall job characteristics, across the three types of organizations in the test, demonstrates the importance of incorporating the role of supervision in the R&D job design. The findings have implications for enhancing the leadership effectiveness in managing R&D professionals. Such findings are not only important for R&D managers in newly industrialized countries, but are also valuable to their counterparts in industrialized countries.     

Management practices of Taiwanese firms: As compared to those of American and Japanese subsidiaries in Taiwan

The management practices of local Taiwanese firms were evaluated by Negandhi in 1973 as the least developed as compared to those of the American and Japanese subsidiaries. Since then, the local Taiwanese firms have undergone a phenomenal change. In comparison to the American and Japanese subsidiaries, the current management practices — organisational structure, decision making and human resource management of the local Taiwanese firms are a mixture of those of the American and Japanese subsidiaries. The local Taiwanese firms have adapted very well to the impact of the West (the United States) and the East (Japan) and contributed greatly to the economic prosperity of Taiwan.The author wishes to thank the Council for Economic Planning and Development, Republic of China (Taiwan) for financial support.     

Consumers’ evaluations of the efficiency of actions to improve environmental quality: A comparative study between Brazil and China

There is a gap in our knowledge about environmentally conscious consumers in industrialized economies and the desire to achieve sustainable economies. Given that most aspects of consumer behaviour are culture bound, this paper contributes by comparing consumers’ evaluations of the efficiency of actions to improve environmental quality in two of the most promising industrializing consumer societies: Brazil and China. The proposed conceptual framework includes environmental concerns, perceived consumer effectiveness, green attitudes, green behaviours and external motivators as constructs to explain the perception of efficient environmental support. Field research was conducted in Brazil with 1,149 respondents, and in China with 632 respondents to test the model. The results suggested that the belief that environmental quality can be improved is directly associated with consumers’ internal and external motivators. However, cultural traits drove important differences in the evaluation of the efficiency of such improvements. Specifically, Chinese people tended to rely on collective leadership to create the conditions necessary for improving environmental quality, while they remained concerned with the current status. In contrast, Brazilians accepted more personal responsibility for the results, although they face important constraints, such as the availability of products.     

Comparing Trading Performance of the Constant and Dynamic Hedge Models: A Note

The constant and dynamic hedge models, with the presence of transaction costs are compared for the Share Price Index futures contract trading on the Sydney Futures Exchange. The optimal hedge ratio is estimated by using a dynamic, bivariate two-stage model for the return equation with a dynamic GARCH error structure for the conditional hedge ratios. When portfolio projections are compared based on their profit positions (net of transaction costs), the GARCH hedge model dominates the next best competitor in terms of trading profit.     

Cross‐national assessment of the effects of income level,socialization process,and social conditions on employees’ ethics

Employees often experience ethical dilemmas throughout their service in an organization. This study utilized a multilevel standpoint to address employees’ differences in ethical reasoning. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze responses from 40,485 full‐time employees across 54 countries. Drawing from Durkheim's concepts of the homo duplex, socialization process, and social conditions, this study found a positive relationship between employees’ income level and unethical reasoning. Furthermore, the results indicate that modern social regulation, technological advancement, economic development, and economic change moderate the relationship between income and ethical judgment. The study findings contribute to the Durkheimian model by validating the effects of individual‐ and country‐level factors on employees’ ethicality. Considering that the results contradict Durkheim's initial propositions, another concept and theory are proposed, which may complement Durkheim's arguments. Practical implications for organizations and society are further discussed to reinforce employees’ ethics.     

Classification of traditional cultural elements in temple street festivals using the fuzzy Kano model

This study aims to explain consumers’ expectations regarding the culture of temple streets and cultivates an identity system for local culture. The Kano model with fuzzy linguistic concepts was applied to the field observation of temple street festivals and the semi-structured interviews of local cultural directors, scholars of cultural centres, government officials, and cultural industry operators with data on traditional cultural elements. The findings show that “Religious temples”, “Custom activities and events”, “Local cultural industries”, and “Specialty and gourmet food” have a symmetrical impact on both satisfaction and dissatisfaction in proportion to the extent of traditional cultural element fulfilment. “Local stories” do not increase overall satisfaction if traditional cultural elements are exceeded but cause dissatisfaction if they are not fulfilled. Moreover, outer “Tangible”, middle “Behavioural”, and inner “Intangible” factors of attractive, one-dimensional, must-be quality transformed into contemporary image designs are amiably illustrated. These results provide a direction for managing satisfaction and a performance guideline for each activity in the process of creating temple street experiences that can increase satisfaction and reduce dissatisfaction.     

Magnitude and volatility of Taiwan's net foreign assets against Mainland China: 1981–2009

The ongoing private capital inflows from Taiwan to China is a steady concern for Taiwan's policymakers. According to the official data, Taiwan's private enterprises have cumulatively invested about US$ 150–280 billion in China since 1987. However, the figures are widely perceived to be an underestimation and there exists a huge gap even between the estimations conducted by different government departments. The purpose of this paper is to re-estimate Taiwan's net foreign assets (NFA) against China, revising the so-called “dark matter” hypothesis proposed by Hausman and Sturzenegger (2006, 2007). In contrast to the current statistics being limited to registered direct investment or census investigation, the advantage of our model is that direct investment, portfolio investment, and the possible knowledge and property spillovers are included. We show that changes in Taiwan's NFA against China over GDP are negative in economic and political turmoil, such as the missile crisis in 1995, Asian financial crises in 1997–98, and global tsunami in 2007–09. From 2000, the growth rates we simulate are never lower than the official data till 2009. We also suggest some possible economic causes that lead to the huge Taiwan's NFA against China.