Labor-market adjustment in open economies: Evidence from US states

In this paper we analyze whether regional economic integration across US states conditions local labor-market adjustment. We examine the mechanisms through which states absorb changes in labor supplies and whether industry production techniques are similar across states. There are two main findings. Firstly, states absorb changes in employment primarily through changes in production techniques that are common across states and through changes in the output of traded goods, with the former mechanism playing the larger role. In contrast, state-specific changes in production techniques, which are one indication of state-specific changes in relative factor prices, account for relatively little factor absorption. Secondly, industry production techniques are very similar across states, especially for neighboring states and states with similar relative labor supplies. Both sets of results are consistent with productivity-adjusted FPE across either large states or groupings of related states.     

EU preferential market access conditions for the least developed countries

The EU has opened up its market to duty and quota free imports from the least developed countries. This article outlines the key elements of this initiative and the factors determining its likely effects and argues that the EU must also liberalise and reform its prefernntial rules of origin if the initiative is to be effective in achieving its objectives.     

How Entrepreneurs' Knowledge and Network Ties Relate to the Number of Employees in New SMEs

Knowledge is central to entrepreneurship when explaining successful venturing. However, little is known about how a founder's knowledge and their network ties relate to the number of workers in early‐stage small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). This study draws on the knowledge‐based view and social network theory to examine 174 new SME founders. Findings suggest a positive relationship between the comprehensiveness of an entrepreneur's knowledge set and the number of workers. In addition, the number of network ties positively moderates the relationship between the entrepreneur's knowledge set and the number of employees. Network tie knowledge heterogeneity was not significantly related to the number of employees in new SMEs.     

The need for international policy coordination: what's old, what's new, what's yet to come?

The first generation of policy coordination models was introduced some 25 years ago; it provided a rationale for policy coordination, but the gains from coordination were generally thought to be small. Now, a new generation of policy coordination models is emerging, incorporating monopolistic competition and nominal inertia. Here, we examine macroeconomic interdependence and the scope for policy coordination in a tractable second generation model with two countries and multiple sectors. Initial calibration of the model suggests that second generation models may have more scope for policy coordination than did the first.     

Overseas Chinese Entrepreneurs: Second Force of Chinese Economy

Most of the foreign-funded enterprises in China are in fact funded by overseas Chinese. They have made indelible contributions to China's remarkable economic achievement. Their pioneering spirit has already been written into the glorious annals of China's economic development!     

Moving the Needle: Making a Contribution When the Easy Questions Have Been Answered

Today’s competitive and research realities are changing. That is, the easy questions have been answered and the easy research has been done. We therefore need to reevaluate our approach to research so that we can help decision makers resolve tomorrow’s challenges. Specifically, to provide nuanced insight, we need to begin to employ multimethod, metaparadigmatic, and longitudinal research more robustly. Of course, given the inherent cost—both time and money—associated with such research, we may need to seek more collaborative research opportunities and reconsider how research contribution is measured. These efforts will help us stay relevant and move the needle forward in an age where decision makers need greater understanding to create value and achieve differential performance.     

The bottom-line benefits of ethics code commitment

Recent corporate scandals highlight that an exclusive focus on financial performance, to the exclusion of broader stakeholder-related performance criteria, can be detrimental to overall firm value creation. Among the ways to enhance leaders’ focus on stakeholder value creation is the development and executive championing of an effective code of ethics. Such “Ethics Code Commitment” (ECC)—which incorporates characteristics of the code and behaviors by top management—affects a broad number of organizational stakeholders, yielding value for them, thus increasing their psychological and/or financial commitment to the organization while strengthening the firm's corporate culture. This article develops a model highlighting the various benefits of ECC to key stakeholders and the subsequent effects on an organization's culture and competitiveness. In particular, we focus on the need to include community leaders and key employees in the ethics code development process; the importance of moving away from a purely legalistic document to one that inspires stakeholders; the importance of linking ethics to strategy; and managerial approaches that can enhance the effectiveness of the code of ethics through ethics-related dialog. When developed and implemented correctly, ECC can prove to be an important source of competitive advantage via the effects it has on relationships between the firm and key stakeholders.     

A Meta-Ethical Perspective on Organizational Identity

Although much of the growing literature on organizational identity implicitly recognizes the normative nature of identity, the ethical implications of organizational identity work and talk have not yet been explored in depth. Working from a meta-ethical perspective, we claim that the dynamic, processual, and temporal activities recently associated with organizational identity always have an ethical dimension, whether “good” or “bad.” In order to describe the ethical dimensions of organizational identity, we introduce the balance theory of practical wisdom as a theoretical framework, and connect this theory to existing organizational identity concepts. We present an empirical case focused on an international paint company to illustrate the relevance of this theory for empirical organizational identity research. Our intention is to expand existing theory by bringing an aspect of organizational identity that has been tangentially acknowledged to the forefront, and by identifying it as a fruitful avenue for future theory development as well as empirical research.     

CREATING ORDER FORECASTS: POINT‐OF‐SALE OR ORDER HISTORY?

Point‐of‐sale (POS) data, shared by retailers, is often touted as the solution to suppliers' ongoing challenge of accurate order forecasting. However, we find neither empirical evidence of increased order forecast accuracy from the literature, nor consistent use of POS data in suppliers' order forecasting processes. Using a sample containing weekly POS and order data for 10 ready‐to‐eat (RTE) cereal stock‐keeping‐units (SKU's), 7 yogurt SKU's, and 7 canned soup SKU's from 18 retailer distribution centers (DC's) throughout the U.S, our research compares historical POS and order data as order forecasting inputs and finds that POS data does not always outperform order data in terms of order forecast accuracy. While we did find that POS data is a better forecast input in a majority of the forecasts and that on average POS data produces a lower order forecast error, we find that there remain a large number of forecasts where order data is a better predictor than is POS data. Hence, we operationalize this comparison in terms of the frequency and magnitude of order forecast improvement based on POS data. We then hypothesize affecting factors and empirically test these relationships.     

A different toolbox for M&A due diligence in China

Prior to spending considerable resources on putting together a meaningful due diligence process, it is imperative for businesspersons to ask some major questions regarding the decision under consideration. What, explicitly, does the company hope to achieve with the transaction? What is the end game and what are the alternatives? Why is the deal better than a greenfield operation or some other business arrangement? If the transaction is to be a joint venture, will the company merely be paying tuition for a formidable competitor? In the West, the diligence team would typically sit in a war room and pore over piles of documents. This will simply not work in China, as much of the documented information is intended to mislead the tax collector or, in the case of a business, the acquirer. Any meaningful understanding of the target will come from re‐creating a representation of the business from scratch using process mapping and modeling techniques based on trusted information. This article is intended to help businesses entering China conduct accurate and meaningful due diligence as they enter a market fraught with pitfalls and cultural nuances with which Westerners may not be familiar. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.