Bankruptcy Decision Making

When a firm encounters financial distress, there is a significantpossibility that, at some point, the firm itself should be shutdown and its assets put to better use. But Chapter 11 and indeedall market-mimicking reorganization regimes other than a speedyauction entrust the shutdown decision to a bankruptcy judgewho lacks information and expertise, as well as the abilityto control the timing of her decisions. Understanding the costsof entrusting the shutdown decision to a bankruptcy judge iscentral to assessing any law of corporate reorganizations. Thisarticle models the shutdown decision as the exercise of a realoption. The model suggests that the shutdown decision may loomso large in the early parts of the bankruptcy case that it erasesany significant difference between Chapter 11 and many alternativemarket-mimicking regimes. All these regimes take more time thanmandatory auctions and thus increase the cost of taking theshutdown decision away from a market actor. Moreover, the realoption itself gives parties an incentive to withhold information.Only a system of mandatory auctions both limits the amount oftime the shutdown option resides with an inexpert decision makerand forces insiders to give that decision maker sufficient informationto value the option while it is in her hands.     

International air passenger services: The determinants of bata negotiation outcomes

International air passenger services, like services in general, have played an increasingly important role in international commerce. No such services would take place, however, without bilateral air transport agreements (BATAs). This study examines the determinants of the outcomes of the BATA negotiation process. It focuses on United States flags hare, a key outcome. Using regression analysis, this study finds that the importance of the other country's airline to that country's government has a significant negative effect on U.S. flagshare. The importance of tourism to the economy of the other country has a significant positive effect on U.S. flagshare, as does the size of the market between the United States and the other country. In contrast, this study finds no support for the relevance of U.S. citizen share or U.S. military basing privileges in the other country.     

Public–Private Partnerships and Supply Chain Security: C‐TPAT as an Indicator of Relational Security

Following the attacks of September 11th, public and private entities recognized a need to protect the global supply chain from terrorist disruption. In response to this need, the U.S. Government partnered with industry to create the Customs‐Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C‐TPAT) program. This research investigates the public–private partnership (PPP) relational aspects of C‐TPAT. C‐TPAT encourages firms to voluntarily improve their security competence and that of their supply chain partners. We introduce the concept of relational security in the context of PPPs. We define relational security as all activities that establish, cultivate, and maintain successful security exchanges between parties. We establish C‐TPAT as one indicator of relational security by demonstrating its ability to establish, cultivate, and maintain successful security exchanges between parties. Results indicate certified firms outperform noncertified firms in security performance, firm performance, and resilience.     

The Emergence,Variation, and Evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility in the Public Sphere, 1980–2004: The Exposure of Firms to Public Debate

This study examined the emergence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a public issue over 25 years using a content analysis of two national news- papers and seven regional, geographically-dispersed newspapers in the U.S. The present study adopted a comprehensive definition encompassing all four CSR dimensions: economic, ethical, legal, and philanthropic. This study examined newspaper editorials, letters to the editor, op-ed columns, news analyses, and guest columns for three aspects: media attention, media prominence, and media valence. Results showed an increase in the number of opinion pieces covering CSR issues over the 25-year period. The prominence of each of the four CSR dimensions varied over time. Each of the four CSR dimensions had its moment of media prominence when it was more important than the other dimensions. The most prevalent valence of the opinion pieces was negative; the volume of negative pieces increased over the 25 years, whereas the number of opinions with positive, neutral, and mixed tones showed little change over time. The study concludes by tracing the implications of the role of the news media for business ethics research.     

The effect and moderation of gender identity congruity: Utilizing “real women” advertising images

The present article examines the predictive ability of gender identity congruity in explaining women's responses to advertising appeals. The contributions of the article are twofold: (1) to demonstrate whether advertisements that are congruent with female consumers' gender identities elicit strong positive responses and (2) to identify the factors that moderate/mediate the impact of gender identity congruity on consumer responses to advertisements. The research findings provide evidence of the ability of gender identity congruity to elicit positive responses to advertising appeals. The relationship between gender identity congruity and responses to the advertisement is mediated by advertising involvement. The moderating roles of national culture, physical concern, and physical view are also supported. Overall, the congruity theory provides a powerful framework to examine consumer responses to gender portrayals in advertising. ©2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The incremental time costs of children: An analysis of children's impact on adult time use in Australia

Abstract

Raising children takes both time and money. Scholars have sought convincing ways to capture the costs of children, but even when these estimates include indirect costs, such as mothers' foregone earnings, they fall short of the true time costs involved. This paper uses data from the 1997 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Time Use Survey to study how the allocation of time differs across households with varying numbers and ages of children and how households with children differ from those without children. It also examines the intra household division of time resources, showing how childcare, related unpaid work, and the total market and non-market workloads compare for a couple in the same household. It includes secondary activity in an analysis of total parental time commitments to give a more accurate picture of the time cost of children than is possible on the basis of analyzing “primary” activities alone.     

Forging the new talent compact

It is difficult to attract and keep top talent, acknowledges Douglas Ready , but he believes that your company's culture and climate are key to creating a system that works.     

Not Only Gender: More on Debating Markets

The paper by Gudeman and Gudeman on the nature of computer-mediated-communication (CMC) is a valuable contribution. This comment argues that they neglected one important aspect affecting CMC, namely ideology, and suggests that the ''Debating Markets'' exchange had long-term negative impacts on Femecon.