Reconciling culturalist and rationalist approaches: leadership in the United States and Turkey

This article empirically investigated the invariance and discriminant validity of a six-factor leadership model across two very divergent cultures: the United States and Turkey. In conjunction with the rationalist approach to international management, it was hypothesized that the same range of six leadership styles would appear in both cultures. However, coinciding with the culturalist approach to international management, it was also hypothesized that managers would emphasize different styles in each culture. Turkish and US managers each completed the Leadership Effectiveness Questionnaire measuring degree of emphasis placed on six leadership styles. Results of the test of model invariance indicated that the six styles existed in both cultures; however, discriminant analysis demonstrated that the Autocratic and Consensus styles differentiated managers best. Turkish managers emphasized the Autocratic style to a greater extent and the Consensus style to a lesser extent than did US managers. Implications for international management are discussed. ©1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Caring and Conflicted: Mothers’ Ethical Judgments about Consumption

Literature on consumer ethics tends to focus on issues within the public sphere, such as the environment, and treats other drivers of consumption decisions, such as family, as non-moral concerns. Consequently, an attitude–behaviour gap is viewed as a straightforward failure by consumers to act ethically. We argue that this is based upon a view of consumer behaviour as linear and unproblematic, and an approach to moral reasoning, arising from a stereotypically masculine understanding of morality, which foregrounds abstract principles. By demonstrating the importance of context to consumption decisions and articulating the impact of caring relationships, we highlight how such decisions are both complex and situated. This is particularly evident for decisions involving the needs of others, as occurs in family life. We argue that the incorporation of care ethics provides both theoretical insights and a more complete account of consumer ethics. This is explored empirically through an investigation of the ethical dilemmas arising from consumption decisions made by mothers of young children. Such decisions juxtapose an ethical consumption orientation (representing impartial concerns) with care for one’s child. Therefore, what has been previously considered a failure to act ethically may in fact be the outcome of complex decision making, which involves competing ethical considerations. We discuss the implications of our findings for theory and practice and how this approach to consumer ethics could be applied more widely.     

The ‘disguised’ foreign investor: Brands,trademarks and the British expatriate entrepreneur in Brazil

Abstract

This article examines the impact of the British expatriate entrepreneur, and his processes of knowledge transfer, on the industrialization and economic development of Brazil between 1875 and 1914. It focuses on the textiles industry, and combines original trademark data with conventional trade and investment statistics, and also case study analysis about firms and their entrepreneurs. It argues that British investment in Brazil was higher and had a deeper impact on economic development than considered by existing research, as expatriate entrepreneurs ‘disguised’ a substantial amount of foreign investments by acting as shareholders and top managers of newly established local businesses.     

Competition in the Portuguese economy: insights from a profit elasticity approach

The article uses the elasticity of profits to marginal costs, as in Boone (Econ J 111:1245–1261, 2008b), to measure the degree of competition in the Portuguese economy in a period characterised by the reallocation of resources towards the non-tradable sector and the accumulation of macroeconomic imbalances. Using firm-level data for the period 2000–2009, we find that there is lower competition intensity in the non-tradable sector. The least competitive markets within this sector lay in professional services, network industries and segments of retail trade. We also find that reductions in competition intensity are relatively widespread in the economy, but in terms of sales, gross value added and employment they are more substantial in the non-tradable sector. Results suggest that some network industries and other services exhibit low and a declining competition intensity in the period under analysis. In addition, the article discusses the coherence of the profit elasticity with classic indicators of market power, such as the Herfindahl–Hirschman index and the price-cost margin, and find that in more than half of the markets there is an agreement in the dynamics of competition intensity.     

Modelling price transmission and volatility spillover in the Slovenian wheat market

Interdependence between first and second moments of producer and consumer wheat prices in Slovenia is assessed, in light of the recent major historical events that the country has undergone, as well as the recent rumours of cartel agreements between millers causing a decline in farm-gate prices, while leaving consumer prices untouched. A threshold vector error correction and multivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity model with exogenous variables is applied. Results indicate that price-level adjustments mainly favour retailers by increasing their marketing margins. Important second-moment interactions are also identified. Increases in international wheat stocks reduce producer prices, while higher interest rates increase their instability.     

Economic geography and wages in Brazil: Evidence from micro-data

This paper estimates the impact of market and supplier access on wage disparities across Brazilian states, incorporating the control for individual characteristics into the new economic geography methodology. We estimate market and supplier access disaggregated by industry, and we compute access to local, national and international markets separately. We find a strong correlation between market access and wage differentials, even after controlling for individual characteristics, market access level (international, national or local), and using instrumental variables.     

Unreformed or Hybrid? Accounting for Pension Arrangements Diversity in the EU

EU27 pension systems are diverse and different from textbook ideal-type. They are hybrids because they combine public and private pension features. Over a century, public and private pensions have been designed and reformed simultaneously. We examine how the history of those reforms can explain the emergence of existing hybrid pension arrangements.     

Why some firms adopt telecommuting while others do not: A contingency perspective

Using a contingency perspective and data from 122 CEOs of Spanish firms, this paper examines what makes a firm likely to adopt telecommuting. We hypothesized that employer adoption of telecommuting would depend on organizational constraints (age and size of the firm), the international composition of the workforce, and the top executives' leadership style. In turn, we argue that firms adopting telecommuting would emphasize outcome‐based control systems. Our empirical evidence showed that telecommuting correlated with small organizational size, a high proportion of international employees, and variable compensation. A contingent reward leadership style at the top moderated the effects of firm age and internationalization on the adoption of telecommuting. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.