客户关系的新时代

就像网络那样,CRM(客户关系管理)先是创造了一个狂热的浪潮,而随后是幻想的破灭。     

Fear and risk in the audit process

Relying on an ethnographic study conducted in the French branch of a big audit firm and using a psychodynamic perspective to interpret the collected data, we show that auditors’ sense of comfort (Pentland, 1993) arises only at the end of the audit process, and that the rest of the time, public accountants are inhabited primarily by fear. Fear plays a crucial but ambivalent role in auditing. On one hand, auditors and audit firms cultivate this feeling through informal and formal techniques to stimulate vigilance, encourage self-surpassment, mitigate the anesthetizing effect of habit and maintain reputation. On the other hand, audit teams’ members strive to alleviate their fear in order to form and convey their conclusions with a certain degree of comfort. In the field, driven by fear, they manage to finally become comfortable either by mobilizing their ‘practical intelligence’ (an intelligence of the body which helps them handle that which, in their mission, cannot be obtained through the strict execution of standardized procedures) or by adopting defensive strategies (such as distancing themselves from work-related problems, mechanically applying audit methodologies or relaxing their conception of a job well done). Fear and risk are closely related phenomena. Michael Power (2007a, p. 180) notes that ‘the significant driver of the managerialization of risk management is an institutional fear and anxiety’. Yet the experience of fear and the role that fear plays in risk management processes is most often overlooked in the literature. In this respect, our study contributes to ‘emotionalize’ and challenge the cognitive and technical orientation adopted by most academics and regulators in their understanding of audit risks and auditors’ scepticism. We also discuss a number of avenues for future research with a view to encouraging further examination of the role that emotions play in the audit process.     

A Meta‐Analysis of the Investment‐Uncertainty Relationship

In this article we use meta‐analysis to investigate the investment‐uncertainty relationship. We focus on the direction and statistical significance of empirical estimates. Specifically, we estimate an ordered probit model and transform the estimated coefficients into marginal effects to reflect the changes in the probability of finding a significantly negative estimate, an insignificant estimate, or a significantly positive estimate. Exploratory data analysis shows that there is little empirical evidence for a positive relationship. The regression results suggest that the source of uncertainty, the level of data aggregation, the underlying model specification, and differences between short‐ and long‐run effects are important sources of variation in study outcomes. These findings are, by and large, robust to the introduction of a trend variable to capture publication trends in the literature. The probability of finding a significantly negative relationship is higher in more recently published studies.     

Caught By Surprise?

Abstract

New social network technology (Web 2.0) provides individuals and small groups with powerful resources for rapid political mobilization. This can create strategic surprises to policy-makers. Two cases of Web 2.0 driven micro-mobilization processes are considered. In both cases, new network technology helped the process of issue-expansion on which the emergence of these strategic surprises is dependent. Policy-makers were taken by surprise because their repertoires of action are focused primarily on official arrangements of consultation and on the news coverage by traditional media. Policy-makers' capacities and resources are not attuned to the political use of network technology by citizens.     

From <Emphasis Type="Italic">The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance</Emphasis> to <Emphasis Type="Italic">The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review</Emphasis>

The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review celebrates in 2016 its 40^th year of existence. Yes. But it must be recalled that about half of these 40 years occurred under a different name—The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance. For a long time, the fate of the journal was very closely linked to the development of “The Geneva Association”.     

A simple and efficient estimation method for a non-linear demand system

A least-squares-type estimation method appears to be about as efficient as maximum likelihood with a known contemporaneous covariance matrix.     

Analyzing Potentials for Reducing the Energy Requirement of Households in The Netherlands

The energy requirement of households represents a useful concept in studying energy use in relation to production structures and consumption patterns. Reduction potentials of the energy requirement for households provide insight on the possibilities for reducing energy use in the whole economy. We determine reduction potentials by means of implementing energy conservation options in an input–output model for calculating the household energy requirement. The implementation of a set of technical energy conservation options results in a reduction in the energy requirement of Dutch households by 55%. The reduction potential based on a set of demand-side options is 9%. The combination of both sets of conservation options results in a reduction potential of 59%. Therefore, by combining (sets of) options, some effects are cancelled out.     

Challenges in designing,implementing and operating an environmental management system

Introducing an effective environmental management system (EMS) to an organization is a complex process. This complexity is belied by current EMS models that concentrate on EMS frameworks and components, and present a relatively simple approach to the process, especially the introduction and implementation phases. While these models outline what should be introduced, they provide little guidance on how EMSs may be implemented. Experience indicates that effective EMS introduction may be adversely affected by a number of conditions, but EMS literature has yet to recognize these barriers. There is a significant gap between EMS theory and application. This paper discusses the degree to which current EMS models address practical EMS design and implementation, barriers to successful EMS introduction, strategies and tactics for overcoming these barriers and implications for EMS practice. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.