Can corporate social responsibility resolve the sanitation question in developing Asian countries?

The existing state of sanitation in developing Asian countries fails to deliver a level of service that is adequate for meeting the human right to a standard of living consistent with dignity and health, or for sustaining the capacity for future generations to have access to clean water resources and healthy ecosystems. We argue that translating the current neo-centralised technologies and institutional arrangements mainstreamed by industrialised countries would not resolve the problem in the context of developing countries. Instead it is necessary to ‘leap frog’ to the emerging technological and institutional arrangements that are responsive to current needs and contexts and to potential risks. The sustainability focus and often decentralised technologies of this emergent stage in sanitation present many opportunities for new actors to enter the urban sanitation industry. At the same time, there are many barriers to entry, particularly from the perspective of conventional business management focused on increasing shareholder value.We propose that perspectives from the corporate social responsibility discourse have the potential to provide both the ‘pull’ for seizing the business opportunity for profit while serving social needs, and the ‘push’ to overcome the barriers in order to serve a wider social purpose for corporations. The wealth of nations, at least as reported in ubiquitous GDP terms, has greatly increased through the activities of corporations driven by a profit motive; but the increased poverty, injustice and ecosystem degradation that have resulted from economic activity suggest that corporations perhaps ought to have regard for broader concerns beyond shareholder value. We explore how the alternative relational view of a corporation, as a metaphorical person within society who adopts a moral code consistent with both Buddhist economics and Adam Smith's philosophy, may facilitate profitable corporations that provide better economic, ecological and social outcomes in serving the need for sustainable sanitation services in developing Asian countries.     

The cost of telephone service: An international comparison of rates in major countries

An exhaustive analysis of all 1979 telephone calls in the US Bell System determines market baskets of telephone services consumed by residential subscribers and by business subscribers. Individual calls are classified according to duration, distance, hour and day of week, and type of service. The annual cost of purchasing these market baskets is evaluated using the complete rate structures of nine countries. Telephone service is least expensive in the US and only slightly higher in Canada. Costs in Sweden, the UK and Italy are moderately higher than the USA. The highest rates are found in Japan, the FRG, France and Australia.     

The nature of Japan's comparative advantage, 1965-80

This paper compares the dynamic factor proportions theory to the product cycle theory in explaining Japan's comparative advantage for the 1965-80 period. Three tests were used: (1) domestic Japanese relative prices of more and less competitive export commodities; (2) trends in capital-labour ratios, skill ratios, R&D intensity and product turnover for Japan's manufactured exports; (3) price elasticities over time of Japan's exports. The results suggest that: (1) the product cycle must be considered along with the factor proportions theory for the pre-oil shock period; (2) the product cycle theory is superior for the post-oil shock period.     

Unpacking Firm Exit at the Firm and Industry Levels: The Adaptation and Selection of Firm Capabilities

Evolutionary theory of business activity studies how firms are selected out of environments in which they do not fit, but most existing work underemphasizes the distinction between acquisition and dissolution as selection processes. We address this gap with a multilevel analysis that investigates how managerial and functional organizational capabilities affect whether struggling firms exit by acquisition or dissolution. We demonstrate that managerial and functional capabilities have heterogeneous effects on selection processes, with managerial capabilities having particularly strong influence on acquisition exits by struggling firms. The work provides a bridge between adaptation and selection views on organizational change; exit by dissolution represents selection of both firms and capabilities, while exit by acquisition represents firm selection but capability adaptation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The development of activity-based costing journal literature, 1987-2000

This paper contains an analysis of the activity-based costing (ABC) literature which has been accumulated in the UK and USA accounting journals over the fourteen-year period since the first articles on ABC emerged. This evidence is used both longitudinally and cross-sectionally to gain insights into how ABC started, how it has been communicated, how it has been researched, how it is constituted, how it has generated attention and how it has developed and changed. From the analysis conclusions are drawn on these issues and on the role of academic research when confronted by a new practical innovation of this type.     

Open-mindedness in diverse team performance: investigating a three-way interaction

Studies have shown that open-minded dynamics contribute to diverse team effectiveness; however, there are few studies on the factors that influence the impact of open-mindedness. Survey data from 218 members of 47 professionally diverse teams support a significant relationship between open-mindedness and performance. Professional identification and professional salience were found to moderate the relationship with opposing effects. The study data indicate that although open-mindedness provides a context that facilitates the open exchange and discussion of diverse ideas and perspectives in interprofessional teams, this is less influential when members strongly identify with their profession. Conversely, member focus on professional differences enhances the value of team interaction characterised by receptiveness and openness. Analysis confirms a three-way interaction between open-mindedness, professional identification and salience on performance.     

Qualitative Research in Management: A Decade of Progress

Approximately 10 years ago, Lee et al. reviewed the qualitative methods published during 1979–99 in the major US journals in the organizational sciences. This ten‐year follow‐up review of 198 qualitative articles assesses the progress made in qualitative research in management by specifically considering: (1) the strength and legitimacy of recent publications that challenge any positivistic stigmatizations of qualitative research; (2) the methodological advances in qualitative methods, including the use and elucidation of novel techniques; and (3) the general contribution of qualitative research to the accumulation of management knowledge. By encompassing both US and European journals in our review, we also compare and contrast the qualitative research published on both sides of the Atlantic, stressing what each can learn from the other. We highlight exemplary articles and procedures and make recommendations for the next decade of qualitative research in management.     

Do non-citizens affect U.S. Congressional elections?

U.S. citizens against immigration argue that immigrants commit voter fraud and skew election outcomes towards progressive candidates. These arguments have increased in number and severity since the Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that states cannot require photo identification from voters. We examine whether the size of the non-citizen population is related to election outcomes. Previous research indicates that non-citizens sway elections in favour of progressive candidates but only in elections where the victory margin is small. We find no evidence of a relationship between non-citizens and vote outcomes. We find evidence that the percent of the population that is non-white is positively related to percent of votes cast for democratic candidates.