Creating Value in the Supply Chain for Australian Farmed Barramundi: Whole of Chain Perspective

This article investigates 4 key areas of supply chain management to identify opportunities to create value for Australian farmed barramundi. These key areas are product attributes, material flow, information flow, and relationships. This exploratory study forms the first stage of a value chain mapping study. Based on data gathered from 13 in-depth interviews, 7 with farmers and 6 with wholesalers/retailers, a preliminary map of the value chain for Australian farmed barramundi was developed. From a producer perspective, 3 key issues emerged: lack of collaboration, inconsistency of product quality, and lack of knowledge of what consumers value. Although wholesalers/retailers identify product consistency as a key issue, they further identify product dumping and the growth of imports as areas of major concern. These findings laid the foundation for strategy development at both the individual and industry level. The insights from this case highlight the value of chain analyses as a diagnostic tool for strategy development.     

Accounting education: a cooperative learning strategy

This paper reveiews the experiential learning and learning-styles literature and applies it to accounting instruction. The authors show that the majority of Sophomore accounting students display a learning style which is inconsistent with traditional teaching methods. An experiential teaching approach is presented which utilizes a cooperative learning environment. This method resulted in improved student performance.     

Unions and Gender Pay Equity in Academe: A Study of U.S. Institutions

This paper uses 1994-95 faculty salary data from over 1,100 four-year U.S. academic institutions, about one-fourth of them with collective bargaining agreements, to ask if faculty unions make a difference to gender pay equity. Average gender salary differences are negative at every rank and at every category of U.S. institution with or without collective bargaining agreement. Unions may improve gender salary differentials somewhat, particularly at the assistant professor level. There is no evidence that this gain will be lost at higher levels, and mixed evidence that further gains occur for women at the full professor level. The most pervasive and robust consequence of unions is to increase the positive impact that higher proportions of women at senior faculty ranks make on relative salaries at the assistant professor level. However, the influence of these higher-ranked women on gender salary inequalities at the associate and full levels is lower in union schools than nonunion schools. By reducing the flexibility of existing salary structures, collective bargaining apparently reduces the influence of senior women faculty on the salaries of current women faculty members while increasing their attention and influence at entry levels.     

A Note on Affordability and the Optimal Share Price

Despite the increase in institutional ownership, decreased trading costs, and increased real personal savings, we find that the average stock price is lower today than it was in the 1920s. In the aggregate, the propensity to split is a function of recent market performance, personal savings, and the desirability of appearing to be a small firm. Our results indicate that, after decades of inflation and the average stock price falling, splitting stocks to return to an "affordable" trading range must be rejected as an explanation. This suggests that other economic forces are behind splits, whether traditional or behavioral in nature.     

Computer-Mediated Customization Tendency (CMCT) and the Adaptive e-Service Experience

Adaptive customization systems are common in the delivery of e-service. However, consumers vary in their reaction to these systems. We introduce computer-mediated customization tendency (CMCT), a composite individual difference variable that reflects a consumer's personal preferences for designing and interacting with adaptive online environments to create valuable e-service experiences. To measure CMCT, we developed a formative index composed of need for control, technology innovativeness, and aesthetic appreciation. The results show CMCT influences adaptive online behavior and the perceived value of the adaptive e-service experience. In addition, customization-prone and customization-averse consumers differ in how they perceive the costs, benefits, and overall value of the experience.     

Value of Household and Farm Work: Evidence from Alberta Farm Family Data

Estimates of the economic value of unpaid household and farm work of Alberta farm women and men are calculated using two common market alternative cost methods. Time use data for 1984 collected by Doherty and Keating (1985) from 414 Alberta grain farm families as well as Statistics Canada wage data are used. The average annual value of unpaid farm work ranges from $20,647.35 to $29,088.24 for men and from $5,017.54 to $6,604.19 for women. Conversely, unpaid household work performed by women has an average annual value of $17,460.98 to $34,617.66, while the value of men's unpaid household work ranges from $1,943.02 to $3,962.54 annually. When the values of farm and household production and the income generated by off-farm work are accounted for, there is little difference between mend's and womend's total contributions to the economic well-being of the farm family. These estimates illustrate the importance of family membersd' unpaid work to the economic well-being of the family. They also suggest that there is little basis for the historic inequity of legal and other social systems that neglect the economic value of womend's contributions to family welfare. On estime la valeur du travail domestique et agricole non rémunéré des agricultrices et des agriculteurs de l'Alberta au moyen de deux autres méthodes de calcul des coûts, dd'usage courant sur le marché. On se sert pour cela des données de 1984 sur le temps recueillies par Keating and Doherty (1985) auprès de 414 producteurs de céréales de l'Alberta et des données sur les salaires de Statistique Canada. La valeur annuelle moyenne du travail agricole non rémunéré varie de 20 647,35 $ à 29 088,24 $ pour les hommes et de 5 017,54 $ à 6 604,19 $ pour les femmes. Parallèlement, le travail domestique non rémunéré effectuÉ par les femmes vaut de 17 460,98 $ à 34 617,66 $ en moyenne par année, tandis que pour les hommes il varie entre 1 943,02 $ et 3 962,54 $. Lorsqud'on additionne la valeur de la production agricole et domestique et le revenu générÉ par le travail non agricole, on constate qud'il y a peu dd'écart entre la contribution totale de l'homme et celle de la femme au bien-être économique de la famille rurale. Ces estimations prouvent 1d'importance du travail non rémunéré des membres de la famille pour la situation économique de cette derniÈre. Elles suggèrent également qud'il nd'existe pas de véritable fondement à l'injustice historique introduite par les systèmes juridiques et sociaux qui négligent la valeur de la contribution des femmes au bien-être économique de la famille.     

What's in Your 403(b)? Academic Retirement Plans and the Costs of Underdiversification

Sponsors of defined contribution retirement plans typically limit the investment choices of plan participants to a small number of investment managers and a limited number of investment vehicles. Such restrictions may limit excessive risk-taking by participants but also may preclude opportunities for efficient diversification. Many college and university 403 (b) plans have restricted investment choices to the retirement annuities offered by TIAA-CREF, the current manager of over half of all 403(b) contributions. Using 10 years of historical data, we study the efficiency of this TIAA-CREF opportunity set relative to a larger set that includes several standard index funds. Extrapolations must be interpreted -with caution. Assuming optimal rebalancing, depending on loss aversion and diversification constraints, the historical sample of returns implies that over a 20-year remaining work life, an employee -with an expanded menu that includes standard index funds could gain over 40% in terminal wealth compared to one who is restricted to TIAA-CREF retirement annuities. Even when a naive diversification strategy of equally weighting (1/n) all available funds is used, the expandedmenu outperforms the restricted portfolio by more than 25% over20years. These differences generally are significant at conventional levels based on parametric and nonparametric testing and do not appear to result from idiosyncratic market performance durinz the sample period.     

Banking relationships and access to equity capital markets: Evidence from Japan’s main bank system

We study the role of banking relationships in IPO underwriting. When a firm in Japan goes public, it can engage an investment bank that is related through a common main bank, or can select an alternative investment bank. The main bank relationship can be an efficient way for the investment bank to acquire information generated by the main bank, but may give rise to conflicts of interest. We find that main bank relationships give small issuers increased access to equity capital markets, but that issuers of large IPOs often switch to non-related investment banks that are capable of managing large offerings. While investment banks seek to exploit bargaining power with related issuers, issuers respond to expected high issue cost by switching to non-related investment banks. The net result is that total issue costs through related and non-related investment banks are similar. With respect to aftermarket performance and use of proceeds, we find no evidence of conflict of interest or self-dealing for either the main bank or the investment bank.     

Formulating Hypotheses Graphically in Social Research

This article explores the proposition that the appropriate use of suitable forms of graphic communication can improve the formulation and presentation of hypotheses in quantitative social science research. The creative nature of scientific diagrams is discussed and the technological advances in computer graphic media are seen as part of a visual revolution which is markedly changing not only the way we see things but also the way we think and do things today. Brief historical views on the use of hypotheses and diagrammatic languages in science are given. The restricted use of graphic communication tools in social research academic documents is discussed and the importance of using well-designed data graphics in the production and transmission of scientific knowledge is highlighted. Hypotheses are conceptualised and their importance within social research is emphasised. A methodological approach for formulating hypotheses graphically is proposed based on the use of three types of language: notation, statement (ordinary language) and diagram. Some criteria are suggested for the selection of diagram type dependent on the related variables. Several examples are given covering the different models proposed.