Are costs really sticky? Evidence from publicly listed companies in the UAE

This article measures the degree of adjustment between operating revenues and costs for publicly listed companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Traditional cost models assume that variable costs change proportionally in response to an upward or downward fluctuation in demand. However, in recent years, such an assumption has been questioned by a variety of papers from the economics and accounting fields. Typically, cost stickiness is defined as costs decreasing by less than 1% when sales decrease by 1%, while reacting closer to the proportion of change when sales increase. This study, unlike the vast majority of the literature, did not find cost stickiness in the UAE after using panel data regression analysis. The main explanation is that UAE has mostly expatriate labour force that does not have the typical benefits of employment protection legislation (EPL) available in other national jurisdictions. EPL is a main reason that costs adjustments during decreasing sales is curbed due to the associated costs of firing employees.     

Home or next door? Patenting by European food and beverage multinationals

We study the location of the inventive activity of 59 major European food and beverage multinationals and their 8432 subsidiaries worldwide, by analysing the geographical distribution of the inventors listed in the European Patent Office (EPO) applications, US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) patents and triadic, international and Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) patent families of the companies filed between 1978 and the early 2000s. The sampled companies tend to locate their R&D activities in the home country. EU-based companies, more specifically, deploy an intra-regional strategy in EU countries, especially with regard to the inventions most closely related to their core businesses (food), for which, however, they do not display a home-country preference. Inventions related to non-core business tend to be produced in extra-regional locations.     

An Exercise in Early Modern Branding

This article examines the marketing of an author through the integration of their persona into their text to form a brand that can then be purchased by the consuming reader with confidence. Thus a reader chooses a book by a writer known for a particular genre following the same instincts that might prompt them to choose a successful brand. The example used is an early modern woman writer, who developed agenre of scandal fiction that became synonymous with her. The article contextualises the writer giving some indication of the prevalent market conditions and her motivation in differentiating herself from her competitors.     

Integrating Cross-Cultural Marketing Research Training in International Business Education Programs: It's Time,and Here's Why and How

International business necessitates that its international business educators prepare today's workforce with skills necessary to take on cross-cultural research tasks and challenges. Yet, global business finds these skills in short supply. Perhaps this is the case because empirical evidence shows U.S. academic coverage of cross-cultural research complexities are severely limited as measured by text coverage. Slightly lagging behind international business and marketing programs located outside the United States in recognizing and acting on this this need, many U.S. programs now seek to enhance cross-cultural coverage. However, empirical evidences show that U.S.-based programs and the textbooks they use are lagging behind in their treatment of cross-cultural marketing research. Coverage in these texts is typically limited to a single chapter that repeats basic research concepts usually covered in principles of marketing courses. This article discusses a customized international marketing research course integrated with training that includes cross-cultural research issues and complexities and provides a framework of criteria useful in selecting an appropriate text.     

Quantitative analyses of depth interviews

Prior research has relied on qualitative analyses of customers' responses during depth interviews. This article discusses how observational monitoring, subjective encoding, and automatic encoding can be used to quantitatively analyze depth interview data. It compares the benefits and costs of each method, and discusses computer software packages that assist in automatically encoding verbal data. In an innovative experiment, we compared observational monitoring and automatic encoding of customers' responses to open-ended questions about telecommunication services. We conclude that automatic encoding is a feasible method of analyzing depth interviews that provides detailed quantitative information about customers' responses.     

Natur pur – Hilfe oder Humbug?

Zusammenfasung  Naturheilkundliche Pflegeangebote — Waschungen und Raumbeduftungen mit ?therischen ?len, Mundpflege mit Rosenhonig, Quarkauflagen und Kartoffelwickel. Unterstützende Pflegeangebote auf naturheilkundlicher Basis finden im Marienkrankenhaus Hamburg seit drei Jahren regen Zuspruch. M?glich gemacht hat es eine Fachkrankenschwester für An?sthesie und Intensivtherapie, die sich in naturheilkundlicher Pflege weiterbildete. Mit Unterstützung der Pflegedirektion bietet sie ihr Wissen und K?nnen Patienten und Mitarbeitern an.     

Shareholder preferences concerning corporate ethical performance

This study surveyed investors to determine the extent to which they preferred ethical behavior to profits and their interest in having information about corporate ethical behavior reported in the corporate annual report. First, investors were asked to determine what penalties should be assessed against employees who engage in profitable, but unethical, behavior. Second, investors were asked about their interest in using the annual report to disclose the ethical performance of the corporation and company officials. Finally, investors were asked if they felt that ethics reports should be audited.The survey results indicate that many shareholders (42%) do not expect a high level of ethical behavior from corporate employees or officers. There is a significant amount of interest in disclosure of ethical issues (72%) and unwillingness to trust management to provide unbiased reports of ethical behavior. If such reports are included with the financial statements, 32 percent of the investors surveyed would prefer to have them audited to provide independent verification.Marc J. Epstein is currently a Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of Business Administration at Harvard University Ruth Ann McEwen, Associate Professor, and Roxanne M. Spindle, Assistant Professor, are members of the Accounting Department at Virginia Commonwealth University.     

Justice for Janitors in Los Angeles: Lessons from Three Rounds of Negotiations

We examine an important recent organizing success of the US labour movement: the 'Justice for Janitors' campaign in Los Angeles. This campaign has spanned a complete business cycle and shows the union's capacity for growth over time. It illustrates the potential for unions to overcome pro–employer bias of labour laws, as well as their efficacy in appealing to the wider public. It exposes the importance of building coalitions, as well as the value of union analysis of legal, industrial, and political conditions. Our analysis suggests conditions under which unions might survive and thrive in the service sector in the twenty–first century.