Supply Chain Integrity: A Key to Sustainable Supply Chain Management

As stakeholders continue to increasingly hold firms accountable for environmental and social performance in their supply chains, the importance of understanding how firms can be more sustainable becomes more prescient. Based on the underlying premise of stakeholder theory that business and ethics decisions are intertwined, the current research introduces the concept of supply chain integrity (SCI) to explore how the interdependence of business and ethics decisions can lead to improvements in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices. Exploratory analysis employing secondary data sources in an elastic net (EN) logistic regression provides support for the proposed construct, by providing preliminary empirical evidence that SCI, measured through two subdimensions of structural and moral SCI, can be linked to firm sustainability. The research contributes to the supply chain management literature by: (1) introducing the concept of SCI; (2) performing an exploratory econometric analysis to provide initial validity of the SCI construct; and (3) providing a research agenda to guide further research on the concept of SCI and its role in SSCM.     

Comparing three ways to update Choquet beliefs

We analyze three rules for updating neo-additive capacities. Only for Generalized Bayesian Updating is relative optimism the same for both updated and unconditional capacities. For updates of the other two, either the updated capacity is fully optimistic or fully pessimistic.     

Design and analysis of delivery ‘pipelines’ in truckload trucking

This paper examines a new dispatching alternative for the truckload trucking industry involving the use of delivery ‘pipelines’ with dense flow volumes. Drivers and loads are partitioned into two sets; those that utilize pipelines via a series of ‘dray’ moves and line-hauls, and the remaining set of random over-the-road (OTR) drivers that are dispatched by traditional methods. Alternative methods are presented to determine where delivery pipelines should be located and how they should be operated. The effects of the pipelines on the remaining OTR fleet are also examined. Results indicate that the new dispatching alternative is feasible.     

Park Usage,Social Milieu,and Psychosocial Benefits of Park Use Reported by Older Urban Park Users from Four Ethnic Groups

Structured interviews were conducted with African-American, Hispanic-American, Asian-American and Caucasian-American park users (N = 463) during one of their visits to a large urban park. The participants varied from 55 to 93 years of age. Most (77%) of the interviews were conducted by interviewers of the same ethnicity as the interviewee, and interviews were conducted in Spanish or Chinese when that was the preferred language of the interviewee. A stratified quota sampling plan was established to ensure that interviews were conducted in all areas of the park, at all times of the day and on both weekdays and weekends. Preliminary analyses indicated that neither gender nor age differences accounted for a meaningful percent of the variance in the dependent variables. Consequently, chi-square analyses and analyses of variance were performed with ethnicity as the independent variable. Significant differences were found among the ethnic groups in their use of park facilities, the social milieu within which they visit the park, and their ratings of the psychosocial benefits of park use.     

Rushing to Overpay: Modeling and Measuring the REIT Premium

We explore the questions of why Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) pay more for real estate than non-REIT buyers and by how much. First, we develop a search model where REITs optimally pay more for property because (1) they are willing, due to cost of capital advantages and, (2) they are occasionally rushed, due to external regulatory time constraints and internal incentives to deploy capital quickly. Second, using commercial real estate transactions, we find that the extant hedonic pricing models contain an unobserved explanatory variables bias leading to inflated estimates of the REIT premium. Third, using a repeat-sales methodology that controls for unobserved property characteristics, we derive more plausible estimates of the REIT premium. Consistent with our model, we also find the REIT-buyer premium depends on the size of the REIT advantage, the rush to deploy, and the relative presence of REITs in the market.     

Introducing a Learning Portfolio in an Undergraduate Financial Accounting Course

This paper evaluates changes made to the internal assessment component of a third year financial accounting course at a university in New Zealand. A learning portfolio was designed to supplement existing coursework. The aim was to engender in students a deep rather than a surface approach to learning. As a record of the students' learning, the learning portfolio was an attempt to produce an innovative development in the assessment of what was a traditionally taught financial accounting course. Within their learning portfolios, students were required to complete a number of tasks, each aimed at improving critical thinking skills and creativity. Students were also required to maintain a personal or reflective section aimed at personalising and deepening the quality of their learning.     

Why Companies Hire Lobbyists

A sample of those responsible in big businesses for hiring lobbyists was interviewed. ‘Propensity to hire’ depends on internal needs for services offered: on needs for access to decision-makers; for representation; and for policy advice and administrative support. Demand for services is not constant: even within one company, it is contingent on externalities. ‘Propensity to hire’ seems not to relate to corporate size. It depends on several factors: experience and capacity of corporate staff; supply side ativities by hired lobbyists (aka commercial lobbyists); the company's strategic position in the economy; expectations in their economic sector, and the challenges faced.     

Inflation and Financial Statement Analysis in the International Accounting Classroom

This article provides an exercise for students to contemplate the effects of inflation during financial statement analysis. Even small amounts of inflation accumulating over time can grow to distort a company's reported financial position and results of operations. The growing economies in emerging markets, the international market for oil, and other economic factors threaten to increase inflation rates in the future. As a result of changing global conditions, interest in inflation accounting is expected to increase. The exercise we suggest in this article provides an efficient tutorial on the potential effects of inflation on financial statement analysis and on the application of International Accounting Standard 29 in hyperinflationary environments.     

Differentiating ambiguity: an expository note

Ghirardato et al. J Econ Theory 118:133–173, 2004 propose a method for distinguishing between perceived ambiguity and the decision-maker’s reaction to it. They study a general class of preferences which they refer to as invariant biseparable. This class includes CEU and MEU. This note presents some examples which illustrate their results. Research supported by ESRC grant no. RES-000-22-0650. For comments and discussion we would like to thank Klaus Nehring and a seminar audience at ESEM, Vienna 2006.