American repatriate employees' retrospective assessments of the effects of cross-cultural training on their adaptation to international assignments

With 10 to 50 per cent of expatriates curtailing their assignments early, and the cost of foreign placement estimated at $500,000, training for expatriates needs to be improved. This study investigates different methods of training, and the results as perceived by repatriates. Repatriates were asked about the amount and type of cross-cultural training they had received and their effectiveness and productivity during the overseas assignment. Repatriates' responses included specific comments about their individual and familial experiences. It was hypothesized that managers who receive rigorous cross-cultural training before and during the assignment will not suffer intense culture shock and will become effective more rapidly than managers who have not had cross-cultural training. The results demonstrated that integrated cross-cultural training does reduce the time necessary to adjust and to achieve cultural proficiency and reduces the time necessary to become effective and productive in the assignment.     

Dialogism in Corporate Social Responsibility Communications: Conceptualising Verbal Interaction Between Organisations and Their Audiences

We conceptualise CSR communication as a process of reciprocal influence between organisations and their audiences. We use an illustrative case study in the form of a conflict between firms and a powerful stakeholder which is played out in a series of 20 press releases over a 2-month period to develop a framework of analysis based on insights from linguistics. It focuses on three aspects of dialogism, namely (i) turn-taking (co-operating in a conversation by responding to the other party), (ii) inter-party moves (the nature and type of interaction characterising a turn, i.e. denial, apology or excuse) and (iii) intertextuality (the intensity and quality of verbal interaction between the parties). We address the question: What is the nature and type of verbal interactions between the parties? First we examine (a) whether the parties verbally interact and then (b) whether the parties listen to each other. We find evidence of dialogism suggesting that CSR communication is an interactive process which has to be understood as a function of the power relations between a firm and a specific stakeholder. Also, we find evidence of intertextuality in press releases by six firms which engage in verbal interaction with the stakeholder. We interpret this as linguistic evidence of isomorphic processes relating to CSR practices resulting from the pressure exerted by a powerful stakeholder. The lack of response by ten firms that fail to issue press releases suggests a strategy of ‘watch-and-wait’ with respect to the outcome of the conflict.     

La détection précoce des difficultés financeères des entreprises laitières québécoises

La demande importante d'investissements pour assurer la pérennité des entreprises agricoles rend ces dernières paradoxalement plus fragiles. Identifier les critères qui permettent de déceler de façon précoce les difficultés financières serait donc d'une grande utilité pour les agriculteurs.
De la banque de données Agritel, les données de 67 entreprises saines et de 41 entreprises qui ont connu des difficultés financières en 1992 sont utilisées. Les donnèes des annèes 1988 à 1992 sont utilisées. Des modèles de règression logistique et d'analyse discriminante ont été adoptés. Pour cette dernière, un modèle d'analyse discriminante non paramétrique a également été employé.
Le contrôle des dettes, tant à court terme qu'à moyen et long termes, apparaît essentiel. Des dettes à court terme èlevées caractérisent les entreprises défaillantes dès 1988. De plus, les entreprises doivent parvenir à des résultats technico-économiques suffisants pour atteindre un niveau minimum de viabilité. Enfin, les excès d'actifs non productifs doivent être contrôlés, car de telles immobilisations affectent la rentabilité de l'entreprise. Ainsi, trois dimensions doivent être considérées pour une détection efficace des difficultés financières.
Une analyse à partir de cinq ratios nous permet de prévoir des difficultés cinq ans avant leur apparition.     

Social class differentials in the store selection process of single black professional women

Black single professional women form a growing and little researched market. This study hypothesized that there are significant social class differences in prepurchase store screening and in actual store choice process. Findings indicated that there were significant differences among groups in preplanning the number of garments, using catalogues, and seeking information from sales clerks. There were no significant differences in types of stores patronized, and store loyalty appeared low overall. It was concluded, both in prepurchase screening and during purchases, that social class played almost no significant role in store selection. However it appeared that single black professional women, unlike other nonblack samples studied, tended to rely on store characteristics and features more than on informational search and process or an all-out store search. If additional comparative studies substantiate this finding, there are strong implications for retailing strategies.     

Social class differences in the apparel purchase behavior of single,professional black women

Single professional black women are becoming a separate and powerful segment in the total apparel market. This study explores whether or not there are significant social class differences in their apparel purchase behavior in regard to social classes. Apparel purchase behavior has been analyzed in terms of three-areas: purchase planning, method of payment and social influence. In most cases, class differences were not found to be statistically significant with the exception of social influence. It was found that social classes respond quite differently to social influences in their clothing selection.