Third time right? The EC's third action programme for women

Amid the welter of “new initiatives” from Brussels promoting social integration is a programme for women which appears to offer something new. Nothing in the way of new money, nor novel employment projects, rather a distinctly feminist flavour: “equality” is now to be integrated “into general mainstream policy”; grassroot action - organisation at the local and regional level - is required; working life has to be “reconciled” with family responsibilities and, finally, “women's unequal representation in all spheres of decision making” has to be addressed.

How far this rhetoric will translate into enhanced employment prospects for women, especially women in this country, is nevertheless highly problematic.     

Does Networking with Colleagues Matter in Enhancing Job Performance?

The present study empirically investigates the link between network properties and job performance using a sample of 121 middle managers from Beijing, China. The primary objective is to examine how characteristics of the person and the job moderate the effects of networks on self-rated performance. This study contributes to the network literature by investigating both the impact of network characteristics in terms of information accessibility and diversity on job performance and the interaction effects of gender, managerial rank, and functional areas of the ego with the network characteristics.     

The role of attribution theory in control systems

In this paper we develop a revised model of the management control process in light of attribution theory. Attribution theory describes how people seek and use information to structure and to control their social environment. We examine how and why people cognitively interact with feedback information contained in performance reports in making expectancy and variance investigation decisions. We also discuss conflicts that a superior and a subordinate may have due to different attributions used to explain behavior.     

Compliance with Mandatory Environmental Reporting in Financial Statements: The Case of Spain (2001–2003)

Corporate, Social, Ethical and Environmental Reporting (SEER) should ideally discharge the accountability of an organisation to its stakeholders. Voluntary reporting has been characterised by a dearth of neutral and objective information such that the advocates of SEER recommend that it be made compulsory. Their underlying rationale is that legally specified disclosure requirements and enforcement mechanisms will enhance the quality of such reporting. This paper sets out to explore how realistic this scenario actually is, in view of the conflicting interpretations in the literature on this subject. To that end, a survey of the reporting patterns of 78 of the largest Spanish companies between 2001 and 2003 examines the extent of their compliance with the ICAC-2002 standard, which obliged them to make environmental disclosures in their financial statements. The results suggest that progressive and improved regulation could increase the volume and quality of SEER disclosures. They also suggest, however, that persistent non-compliance means that the problems associated with voluntary disclosure still exist. Finally, through an impression management perspective, the study reveals, the diverse strategies, ranging from dismissal to concealment, that are employed by companies to avoid transparency. As regulation improves and enforcement expectations rise, it becomes more difficult to dismiss compulsory reporting norms. As a result, some firms engage in more complex concealment strategies to attain corporate legitimacy, depriving stakeholders of regulatory information. The latter point serves to reconcile apparently contradictory explanations in the literature as to whether legitimacy theory might explain partial compliance with SEER regulation. Irene Criado-Jiménez is a Doctoral Candidate at the Departamento de Economía y Administración de Empresas, Universidad de Burgos. Her research interests include accounting for sustainable development and corporate accountability. Manuel Fernández-Chulián is a Doctoral Candidate at the Departamento de Economía y Administración de Empresas, Universidad de Burgos. His research interests include sustainability reporting and full cost accounting. Francisco Javier Husillos-Carqués is Assistant at the Departamento de Gestión de Empresas, Universidad Pública de Navarra and a Doctoral Candidate at the Universidad de Burgos. His research interests include social and environmental reporting and environmental management. Carlos Larrinage-González is Associate Professor at the Departamento de Economía y Administración de Empresas, Universidad de Burgos. His research interests include social and environmental accounting. He writes for interdisciplinary journals in accounting. He has co-edited special issues in European Accounting Review and Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal and currently is an Associate Editor of the Revista de Contabilidad-Spanish Accounting Review.     

The Role of Retail Equity,Value and Relational Benefits in Building B2B Relationships in Retailing

Abstract

The present paper aims to examine if variables widely studied in B2C contribute to building strong relationships in B2B markets. Moreover, it analyzes the existence of differences across retailers related to percentage of purchases from the main supplier. Through a personal survey to retail store managers regarding their relationships with their main suppliers, a structural equation model is estimated through PLS to test the hypothesized relations between retail equity, value, relational benefits, trust, and commitment. A multi-group analysis is performed to test the moderating role of the percentage of purchases from the main supplier. Three types of relational benefits identified have unequal influence on relationship value. In particular, special treatment benefits and social benefits, together with retail equity, emerge as the main drivers of value in the relationship between retailers and their main suppliers. The percentage of purchases from the main supplier plays a moderating role in some of these relations. This research provides evidence in the sense that, in the relations held by retailers with their main suppliers, retail equity contributes to relationship value creation. Relational benefits are relevant in building B2B relations since special treatment and social benefits have a positive influence on value that is positively related to trust and commitment. To build strong relations with their customers, suppliers of retailers should mainly concentrate their efforts on building brand equity and providing evidence of the existence of special treatment benefits beyond the service delivered, in view of its ultimate influence on customer trust and commitment.     

Removing the rough edges? Nostalgia and storytelling at a UK museum

This paper offers a practitioner's viewpoint of the new Riverside Museum in Glasgow and discusses its successful transition to a new building and location. The role of nostalgia in the museum's appeal through storytelling and collective memory is discussed and shown to be an important element in this success. This paper also highlights the museum's efforts to avoid sanitisation of the past in how it presents this history and argues that the use of nostalgia should not be to just present a rose-tinted selective version of what was past, but rather to present as complete and truthful a representation as possible.     

Two new methods for estimating structural equation models: An illustration and a comparison with two established methods

The application of structural equation models (SEMs) is common in marketing and the behavioral sciences. Accordingly, the exploration of more effective methods to estimate SEMs is also a popular area of research. [Croon, 2002] and [Skrondal and Laake, 2001] have each proposed a new method for estimating SEMs, but since these proposals nearly a decade ago, these methods have been mostly overlooked by applied researchers. We suggest that reasons for this oversight may include not only a lack of guidance in implementing these new methods but also the absence of a formal comparison to review these new methods relative to the more familiar maximum likelihood structural equation modeling (MLSEM) and partial least squares (PLS). In this paper, our goal was to make the Croon and Skrondal-Laake (SL) methods more accessible to applied researchers. We first provide a step-by-step illustration of how to implement the Croon and SL methods. We also present the first comprehensive evaluation of the new methods relative to MLSEM and PLS. From this evaluation, we can better appreciate the circumstances under which these new methods are preferable to MLSEM and PLS. Thus, we intend to help readers understand how and when to apply these new methods.     

CENTRALIZED PRAIRIE GRAIN COLLECTION: SAVINGS RELATED TO MARKET EFFICIENCY

A great deal of controversy and debate has arisen as to how many grain delivery points should be maintained to serve the grain growing areas of the Prairies. Many proponents for a change in the system have opted for a need for centralization. In this study, changes in the grain collection system are analyzed for a small region of Saskatchewan using a total of farmers' trucking and storage costs, road costs, elevators' and railways' costs. A modified Stollsteimer model was used to determine the effect on systems cost (sum of the five costs) as the number of grain collection points changed. Centralization of the system tended to reallocate costs from elevator and rail, to farm storage, trucking and road components. Elevator efficiency, to a major extent, determined the number of delivery points required. For the existing system (in 1974) the optimum number of points were estimated to be 80 (of a total of 178). For various alternatives examined, the optimum number varied between 46 to 107, under the existence of the Crowsnest Freight rates. The study suggests that a highly centralized system, (such as that consisting of up to five points for the study area, equivalent to 25 for the province) would increase the total costs of grain handlings and transportation. II y a eu beaucoup d'opinions et de discussions au sujet des centres de livraison de grains qui devraient etre maintenus en service dans les régions de cultures de grains des “Prairies”. Beaucoup de gens favorables à un changement du système sont partisans de la nécéssité d'une centralisation. Dans cette étude, les changements dans le système de collecte des grains sont analysés pour une petite partie du Saskatchewan en utilisant les coûts de transport et de stockage payés par les fermiers, les coûts de transport par chemin de fer et par route, ainsi que les coûts des élévateurs. Un modèle “Stollsteimer” modifyé a été utilisé afin de déterminer les effets sur le système de coûts, lorsque le nombre de centres de livraison de grains variait. Une centralisation du système tend à redistribuer les coûts des élévateurs et des transports par chemin de fer vers les. trois autres composantes (stockage et transport payés par les fermiers et le coût de transport routier). II est clair que l'efficacité des élévateurs, en majeure partie, détermine le nombre des centres de livraison requis. Pour le système existant en 1974, le nombre optimal de centres était estimé a 80 (sur un total de 178). En fonction de la prise en considération de plusieurs variantes et en utilisant le système des prix “Crowsnest Freight rates”, le nombre optimal variait de 46 à 107. l'étude suggère qu'un système hautement centralisé (équivalent à un maximum de cinq centres pour la région étudiée et a vingt-cinq centres pour toute la province) augmenterait le coût total de transport et de maniement des grains.