A service sector classification scheme using economic data

Using economic data, this paper recreates a previously published service industry classification scheme that was derived using discursive data from interviews with industry experts. It triangulates the earlier results using a different methodology, and extends earlier classification schemes in a comprehensive, objective way. A principal component analysis of six sector parameter sets from a regression analysis of a productivity data set covering 14 countries produces three sector factors, the ‘capital type’, the ‘innovation type’ and the ‘quality type’, which form the basis of the classification scheme. A high degree of conformity is found between this and the previously published discursive-based scheme.     

Business ethics: Restrictive or empowering?

There is a tendency in the business ethics literature to think of ethics in restrictive terms: what one should not do, and how to control this. Drawing on Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral development, the paper focuses on, and draws attention to, another more positive aspect of ethics: the capacity of ethics to inspire and empower individuals, as well as groups. To understand and facilitate such empowerment, it is argued that it is necessary to move beyond Kohlberg's justice reasoning so as to appreciate the value and importance of feeling and care. Accordingly, we draw upon case study material to review the meaning of Kohlberg's higher stages — 5, 6 and 7 — to question the meaning of ethical reasoning. With such deeper understanding of particular ethical codes or practices, it is thought that members of organisations may come closer to thespirit, as opposed to the letter, of ethical conduct in organisations. This, we argue, is consistent with the degree of trust and integrity demanded by leaner, post-bureaucratic ways of organizing and conducting business as well as being personally beneficial to the people involved.Bjørn Kjonstad has recently completed his Masters dissertation. He has subsequently been ordained in the Western Buddhist Order and is currently devoting himself full-time to the work of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order.Hugh Willmott is Reader in the Manchester School of Management having previously held appointments at the Aston Business School and Copenhagen Business School. He has taken refuge in the Kagyu Order of Tibetan Buddhism. His most recent books have beenLabour Process Theory (Macmillan, 1990 co-edited with David Knights),Critical Management Studies (Sage, 1992, co-edited with Mats Alvesson) andSkill and Consent (Routledge, 1992, co-edited with Andrew Sturdy and David Knights) andMaking Quality Critical (Routledge, 1994 co-edited with Adrian Wilkinson). Their common theme has been a critical examination of the changing organization and management of work in modern society.     

The management of expatriates: messages from Europe?

Much of our knowledge of expatriation and the processes of managing expatriates comes from North American researchers analysing the policies and practices of North American multinational corporations. This article uses that base of understanding, but argues that there has been an increasing stream of research into IHRM in Europe, which remains largely “invisible” to the North American specialists. Given the paucity of research in the area in general and the need for a more international understanding which can arise from examining different contexts, the article suggests that commentators outside Europe may find useful insights in the European analyses.     

Responsibility and moral reasoning: A study in Business Ethics

This essay was written for the 1984 General Motors Intercollegiate Business Understanding Program. It consists of three sections, each responding to a separate issue posed by General Motors. The opinions expressed are not those of the General Motors management.The first section attempts to document, through the use of Harvard Business Review articles, a shift in the notion of managerial responsibility from a narrowly focused role responsibility to a more widely focused moral responsibility.The second section explicates the different conceptions of Justice behind the United States and West German economic systems. It gives examples of the consequences of the different conceptions both in methods of policy formation and results.The third section deals with business ethics in international contexts. It argues that law is by itself inadequate in the regulation of business activity and must be supplemented by public discussion, which employs the traditional methods of moral reasoning.John Davis Feldmann, John Kelsay, and Hugh E. Brown III are or have been graduate students in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia. Their essay, written under the direction of James F. Childress, Edwin B. Kyle Professor of Christian Ethics, won first prize in the 1984 General Motors Intercollegiate Business Understanding Program.John D. Feldmann, currently writing a dissertation on justice and tax reform, holds a law degree from the University of Virginia. He has practiced business law, served as a Vice-President of a banking corporation, and worked for the Center for Applied Ethics at the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business Administration.John Kelsay, an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., holds a Ph.D. in Religious Ethics from the University of Virginia and has been serving as an Instructor there. His dissertation dealt with ethics and society in Islam.Hugh E. Brown III, now preparing for the Episcopal ministry at Virginia Theological Seminary, holds an M.A. in Religious Ethics from the University of Virginia. Prior to entering graduate school, he had experience in business as a supervisor for an AT&T affiliate.     

Alienation in corporate America: Fact or fable?

Using NORC annual survey data, the authors selected 21 questions describing respondent attitudes toward job, life in general, and financial status. Respondents were catigorized as management, white collar, blue collar, and those not affiliated with business organizations. Attitudes were compared across the four occupational groups. Little dissatisfaction was found in any but the blue collar group. Management as a group, and men as well as women managers showed high levels of satisfaction, with few significant differences found in responses by men and women. This study does not support the earlier finding of widespread alienation in business firms.Charles B. Sannders is Professor of Business Administration at the University of Connecticut. He has written numerous articles which have been published in various management journals.Hugh M. O'Neill and Oscar W. Jensen are Assistant Professors of Business Administration at the University of Connecticut and the Fairfield University, respectively. Both have written several articles, published in management journals.     

The impact of network relationships on internationalization process: An empirical study of Chinese private enterprises

Chinese private enterprises have been internationalizing rapidly during the last two decades. This study adopts a network approach to examine what factors affect the internationalization process of Chinese private enterprises. Our survey of 108 private Chinese enterprises in the manufacturing sector in Zhejiang province in southeastern China revealed that business networks and personal networks affect the internationalization activities of Chinese private enterprises. Specifically, business networks have a positive impact on the timing of the first foreign market entry, the internationalization pace, and resource commitments, whereas personal networks have a positive impact on the internationalization pace and resource commitments, but not on the timing of the first foreign market entry. In this paper, we report our findings of our survey, discuss the contribution that this study makes to the existing internationalization literature, and suggest future research directions. Policy implications on how to facilitate the internationalization process are also discussed.     

Land use planning and health and well-being

This paper is concerned with the relationship between the planning of settlements and health. It gives a brief introduction to the issues before summarising the evidence in relation to a range of topics, concluding with some more speculative thoughts on likely future findings.Modern planning was invented in response to inhumane living conditions in 19th century cities. But in the last century the connection was lost. Only now, with concerns over climate change and obesity, is there beginning to be the realisation that the physical environment is an important determinant of health.The paper uses a particular model of this relationship based on eco-system and health determinants theories to structure the review of evidence. The review covers: lifestyle choices in relation to physical activity and diet, mental well-being and community, the local economy and income, health inequalities and strategic land use transport planning, pollution and urban form, and finally impacts on global ecology.There is now a growing consensus that while personal factors are critical in determining health, the urban environment exacerbates or mitigates health and well-being outcomes.The level of active travel (walking and cycling) and outdoor recreational activity is strongly affected by accessibility to local facilities. Access to green, natural environments, and to local social networks, are factors in mental well-being. The wider sub-regional pattern of housing, economic development, land use and transport is a determinant of social exclusion and therefore health inequalities. It also affects health-damaging pollution, adaptability in the face of climate change and the level of carbon dioxide emissions.We have literally been building unhealthy conditions into many of our towns and cities. But comparisons with the best cities in Europe indicate that it is possible to reverse the less desirable trends. Success depends, however, on more radical policies of local authority control over land and finance than any political party has yet advocated. It also requires collaboration between the full range of powerful public and private organizations that influence the built environment.Future research is likely to further strengthen these conclusions. It will become much more obvious that planning for health and well-being is not only the NHS, but about creating a health-promoting physical, social and economic environment.     

The dark side of transfer pricing: Its role in tax avoidance and wealth retentiveness

In conventional accounting literature, ‘transfer pricing’ is portrayed as a technique for optimal allocation of costs and revenues among divisions, subsidiaries and joint ventures within a group of related entities. Such representations of transfer pricing simultaneously acknowledge and occlude how it is deeply implicated in processes of wealth retentiveness that enable companies to avoid taxes and facilitate the flight of capital. A purely technical conception of transfer pricing calculations abstracts them from the politico-economic contexts of their development and use. The context is the modern corporation in an era of globalized trade and its relationship to state tax authorities, shareholders and other possible stakeholders. Transfer pricing practices are responsive to opportunities for determining values in ways that are consequential for enhancing private gains, and thereby contributing to relative social impoverishment, by avoiding the payment of public taxes. Evidence is provided by examining some of the transfer prices practices used by corporations to avoid taxes in developing and developed economies.     

Competition,Prices and Quality in the Market for Physician Consultations

Prices for consultations with General Practitioners (GP's) in Australia are unregulated, and patients pay the difference between the price set by the GP and a fixed reimbursement from the national tax‐funded Medicare insurance scheme. We construct a Vickrey‐Salop model of GP price and quality competition and test its predictions using individual GP‐level data on prices, the proportion of patients who are charged no out‐of‐pocket fee, average consultation length, and characteristics of the GP's, their practices and their local areas. We measure the competition to which the GP is exposed by the distance to other GP practices and allow for the endogeneity of GP location decisions with measures of area characteristics and area fixed‐effects. Within areas, GP's with more distant competitors charge higher prices and a smaller proportion of their patients make no out‐of‐pocket payment. GP's with more distant competitors also have shorter consultations, though the effect is small and statistically insignificant.