The effects of refugee and non-refugee immigrants on US trade with their home countries

Employing data on US immigrants and trade with 59 home countries for the years 1996–2001, we compare the extent to which refugee and non-refugee immigrants affect US trade with their home countries and provide the first evidence of variation in the US immigrant–trade relationship across immigrant types. We also consider the abilities of refugee and non-refugee immigrants to offset the trade-inhibiting influence of cultural distance. Our results show that while immigrants, in general, exert positive influences on US imports from – and exports to – their home countries, the influence of refugee immigrants is quite minimal when compared with that of non-refugee immigrants. For both immigrant types, however, evidence supporting the notion that immigrants act to offset cultural distance is observed. To conceptualize the economic meaning of our results, we provide estimates of the extent to which each type of immigrants offset transport costs.     

The product life cycle trap

Many of America's most successful companies have gone through a life cycle similar to the product life cycle. They began as innovators, and then grew to be giants in their markets. But, as their products mature, they need new products to continue company growth. However, the organizational structure of an established company is no longer suited for innovation. The authors provide some insight into this cycle, and offer some solutions for big companies which need new products.     

Electronic Commerce and the Future for SMEs in a Global Market-Place: Networking and Public Policies

This paper explores three inter-related issues: globalisation; the role of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs); and electronic commerce (e-commerce). A central question is whether e-commerce offers advantages to SMEs that may facilitate their access to global markets and help them overcome the disadvantages they face vis-à-vis large transnational corporations (TNCs)? The paper starts by briefly considering the extent of globalisation and its relationship to free trade. We then go on to consider recent developments in e-commerce, focusing on the key issue of e-payment systems. Differences in the requirements of large and smaller firms are identified, and we identify a number of key issues concerning access of smaller firms to e-payment systems and the (virtual) market place, and outline their implications for regulatory policy. Our analysis highlights the importance of network externalities, and institutional factors affecting trust and the relationships amongst different economic actors. This leads to a consideration of networking and public policies more broadly. One of the central conclusions of our analysis is that there are important synergies between e-commerce (virtual) networks and (real) production networks. This suggests that policy makers and smaller firms should think in terms of extending existing, and catalysing new, real production networks to incorporate e-payment systems for networks of firms in order to facilitate their access to virtual markets.

     

Instructor quality affecting emergency medical technician (EMT) preparedness: a LEADS project*

This represents one of a series of studies of the Longitudinal Emergency Medical Technician Attributes and Demographics Study (LEADS) being undertaken by the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). This secondary analysis of the LEADS database, which provides a representative sampling of EMTs throughout the United States, examines the effects of instructor quality on the level of preparedness of emergency medical technicians (EMTs). Results showed significant differences, based on instructor quality, in the ratings on ten dimensions of EMT preparedness for both EMT Basics and EMT Paramedics. Implications for HRD practitioners, adult educators and researchers are discussed.     

International versus domestic auditing of bank solvency

This paper examines alternative ways to prevent losses from bank insolvencies. We develop a model that compares two alternative institutions for bank auditing. The first is a system of central bank auditing of national banks. The second is carried out by an international agency that collects and disseminates risk information on banks in all countries. The international auditor is shown to perform at least as well, and sometimes better than, auditing by either central banks or voluntary disclosure by the banks themselves in preventing losses. The international auditor's credibility comes from the fact that its incentives are not distorted by a sovereignty bias.     

Donald D. Stull and Michael J. Broadway. Slaughterhouse Blues: The Meat and Poultry Industry in North America. Belmont, Calif.: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2004. xviii + 172 pp. ISBN 0-534-61303-9, $25.95 (paper).

In the late 1980s Donald Stull and Michael Broadway launcheda remarkable collaborative project on the contemporary meatpackingindustry, on which Slaughterhouse Blues is based. With researchfunded in part by a massive Ford Foundation grant, Stull andBroadway brought a basketball team of social scientists to smalltowns in the Midwest where today’s huge packinghousesare located. The astounding productivity of this group runsto more than fifty articles in journals     

Internationalization as an entrepreneurial process

When firms cross-borders it is, by definition, internationalization. We believe that often internationalization should be seen as either a by-product of a firm’s efforts to improve its position within its network or networks, or as the result of an entrepreneurial action. We consider three theoretical approaches as a starting point and breathe life into them with a rich case study. We suggest adjustments to Johanson and Vahlne’s business network internationalization process model, an update of the Uppsala internationalization process model, to emphasize the entrepreneurial aspects of the process.     

Local trader profitability in futures markets: Liquidity and position taking profits

This study examines the profitability of local traders on floor‐traded futures markets. Using unique data from the period of floor trading on the Sydney Futures Exchange, local income is decomposed into liquidity and position‐taking profit components. Locals on the trading floor are found to make significant position‐taking profits. Moreover, the ability of locals on the floor to derive position‐taking profits is positively related to order‐flow related information, and negatively related to the presence of exogenous information, local liquidity profits and the length of a locals inventory cycle. Accordingly, this paper characterizes locals as active informed traders. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 30:1–24, 2010     

The role of the stock market in the provision of Islamic development finance: Evidence from Sudan

This paper assesses the impact of stock exchange funding in the Shari'ya compliant Islamic economy of Sudan. Evidence suggests that while Islamic financial instruments have considerable potential in facilitating development finance through their emphasis on partnership this is better achieved by the banking system rather than the Khartoum Stock Exchange. A case study of the Sudan Telecommunications company shows that larger firms able to cross-list elsewhere are likely to choose regional markets in preference to their domestic one thus benefiting from lower costs of equity. However, governance preferences are likely to favour block shareholders following the Islamic finance partnership concept.