Vertical and Horizontal Trust Networks in Bureaucracies: Evidence from the Third Reich

In a seminal contribution to the literature on bureaucracy, Breton and Wintrobe (The Logic of Bureaucratic Conduct: An Economic Analysis of Competition, Exchange, and Efficiency in Private and Public Organization. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1982) develop a model wherein subordinates and superiors in a bureaucratic structure trade with each other to advance the objectives of the superiors. The success of such an organizational arrangement (for superiors) is based upon the development of vertical trust networks in a way that facilitates the promise of informal payments by superiors in return for informal services provided by their subordinates. Breton and Wintrobe [Journal of Political Economy 94 (1986) 905] also provide a theoretical application of their model by describing the Nazi bureaucracy as a conglomeration of competing agencies that zealously carried out the Final Solution to the Jewish question. As an extension, this note develops two compelling empirical examples of vertical and horizontal trust networks within the Nazi regime: Einsatzgruppen As (Special Action Detachments) attempt to liquidate all Lithuanian Jews after the German invasion of the U.S.S.R. in 1941 and the 20 July 1944 attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler.JEL Classification: D23, D73.     

Understanding commercialization of technological innovation: taking stock and moving forward

The commercialization of technological innovation, which is key to entrepreneurial success, represents a combination of several entrepreneurial activities. Building on research in management, strategy, entrepreneurship, and economics, this research summarizes 194 articles from 62 journals, categorizing them into six broad entrepreneurial activity themes: sources of innovations, types of innovation, market entry competence and feasibility, protection, development, and deployment. This review and synthesis suggest a framework of commercialization and an agenda for future research along with recommendations and guidance for future research. The proposed agenda provides topics and research questions for research, as well as related recommendations regarding the study and practice of the commercialization of innovation.     

Measurement properties of rankings and ratings

Ratings are the dominant approach to construct measurement in the social and behavioral sciences, including the applied business disciplines. The literature documents problems with the use of ratings, but workable alternatives are few. This paper proposes the use of rankings for construct measurement. Rankings and ratings are systematically evaluated using multitrait–multimethod (MTMM) structural equations modeling. MTMM models partition the variation in measures into trait, method, and error components. The assessment presented here favors rankings for construct measurement for the brand context studied. The analysis presents a test of the brand signaling model that Erdem and Swait (1998) propose.     

Information Asymmetry and the Bid‐Ask Spread: Evidence From the UK

Abstract:   The generally accepted factors that determine the bid‐ask spread are volatility, trading volume and market value ( Atkins and Dyl, 1997 ; Glosten and Harris, 1988 ; and Menyah and Paudyal, 2000 ). Following Kim and Verrecchia (1994) we include a measure of the disagreement in analysts' earnings forecasts in our model of the bid ask spread. This measure serves as a proxy for the informational disadvantage of market makers with respect to informed traders. Market makers respond to the additional risk by increasing the bid‐ask spread. We find that the disagreement amongst analysts is significant for horizons up to and including six months (and with the hypothesised sign) in explaining FTSE 100 company spreads, rendering strong empirical support for our model.     

Estimating the costs of conflict and containment on adult acute inpatient psychiatric wards

Researchers sought to estimate the costs of different types of conflict and containment in the United Kingdom using events from 136 adult acute inpatient psychiatric wards in the United Kingdom and unit costs from a sample of 15 wards. Researchers study sought to obtain and observe actual staff time managing conflict and containment by means of a new method of estimating costs arising from the development of an interview schedule to use with key staff. The estimated mean annual cost for conflict is pounds 145,177, and for containment pounds 212,316. The total estimated annual costs in England for all conflict is pounds 72.5 million and for containment is pounds 106 million (see Table 1). The most expensive conflict behavior to manage was verbal abuse with a mean cost per ward of pound 21.2k and a total of pounds 10.5 million nationally. Self-harm had a mean cost of pounds 8.2k per ward and pounds 4 million nationally in England. Intermittent and special observation cost pounds 45 million and pounds 35 million respectively (see Table 1). This study also suggests that approximately half of all nursing resources are expended in managing conflict and deploying containment.     

Resource curse impacts on the co-evolution of emerging economy institutions and firm internationalization

We investigate natural resource “curse” impacts on co-evolutionary relationships between emerging economy institutions and firm internationalization. We discuss how these relationships challenge and extend IB institutional research using three predominant resource curse characteristics (boom and bust cycles with related public discourse and “Dutch Disease” with associated manufacturing sector investment crowd-out). These characteristics alter regulative, normative and cognitive institutional impacts on state- and privately-owned firm internationalization during an emerging economy’s resource curse. We develop propositions describing these processes using oil and gas, manufacturing and service sector examples in several emerging economies. We discuss our theoretical contributions to the resource curse and international business literatures and outline future research directions.     

The impact of the 2007 reforms in China on the quality of earnings

Prior to 2007, in order to encourage international investment, China operated two parallel financial reporting systems, one based on Chinese GAAP for domestic investors and the other based on IFRS for international investors. In 2007, after a series of reforms to harmonise Chinese GAAP with IFRS, this system was replaced by a single set of standards for both classes of investor. We evaluate the impact of this significant change on earnings quality for stocks quoted on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges for the period 2003–2013. Using tests of earnings smoothing and early loss recognition, we identify three key features. Firstly, earnings quality improved consistently over the period. Secondly, prior to the reforms of 2007, IFRS earnings were of superior quality to Chinese GAAP earnings. A third and important finding is that earnings quality under Chinese GAAP after the 2007 reforms is comparable to that under pre-2007 IFRS.     

A multi-country,multi-sector replication challenge to the validity of the cultural tightness-looseness measure

Asia Pacific Journal of Management - In this study, we assess the internal and external validity of Gelfand et al.’s (2011) recently developed measure of cultural tightness-looseness (CTL)....