A social procedurial approach to the Pareto optimization problematique

This article applies a variant of game theory to the Pareto multi-value problematique, that is situations where members of a group, community or society are faced with alternative allocations, institutional arrangements, or states of the world and may collectively choose an allocation, institutional arrangement or state of the world if they can agree on it. This type of multiple value decision situation is increasingly prevalent not only on the level of societal and political issues but on the level of many enterprises, particularly those advocating corporate social responsibility. Because actors hold and apply values from different perspectives, there are potential contradictory value judgments and incompatible equilibria. In a world of contradiction, incommensurability, and disequilibrium, to what extent can conflicts be resolved and social equilibrium accomplished? Force works but it is inherently unstable. Drawing on an extension of classical game theory, generalized game theory (GGT), this article addresses the multi-value problematique in terms of collective “resolution procedures.” These regulative procedures—or social algorithms—are applied to problems of conflict and suboptimality in a multiple value world such as Pareto envisioned. This paper (the first of two) outlines key elements of GGT, defines the Pareto multi-value problematique, pointing out several of the critical weaknesses, theoretical as well as empirical, of the Pareto approach. GGT is then applied in defining and analyzing several major procedures to realize improvements in a multi-value world characterized by conflict and sub-optimality. A second article conceptualizes a complex of societal games making up a social system with 2-phase multi-level game processes; it applies the conceptualization to the different societal procedures for multi-value choice under conditions of conflict. Procedures such as democratic voting, adjudication and administrative decision-making, and multi-lateral negotiation are capable of producing outcomes that in many cases are widely accepted as legitimate and become social equilibria (at least within some range of conditions). These procedures and the conditions for their activation and implementation are modelled and explicated through a generalized game approach.     

Relational and transactional factors as hybrid criteria for buyer project selection (BPS): An exploratory study from industrial suppliers' perspective

Working off the literature in selection studies, evolving from supplier selection, to buyer selection, to selection as transaction embedded in relationality, this study asks how industrial suppliers actually engage in buyer project selection (abbreviated as “BPS”). Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions were used to construct and pilot-test a new BPS instrument among electronics executives in Taiwan. A mail survey using the new BPS instrument subsequently resulted in three significant research findings. First, the five BPS factors uncovered a hybridity thesis: factors from the transactional paradigm and the relational paradigm co-existed side by side. Second, even though suppliers engaged in project selection, the majority of the respondents' firms lacked clearly articulated formal BPS criteria. Third, relational satisfaction, more than perceived power, significantly impacted project selection; and project economic contribution, more than the other four BPS factors, played a substantive role in assessing relationality. Our research hopefully will help practitioners to recognize the need of BPS formalization, making a rich literature related to the co-existence/hybridity of transactional and relational approaches in project marketing and management relevant to Taiwan, China and the broader Asian business world in the future.     

The Influence of Ethnicity and Self-Construal on Leisure Constraints

This study examines the effects of ethnicity, participation, and self-construal on constraints to the popular leisure activity of downhill skiing, an activity that is struggling to attract ethnic minority group members in North America. A new leisure constraints model guided our study, a framework that recognizes the importance of macro- (i.e., ethnicity) and micro-level (i.e., participation, self-construal) variables on the traditional concepts of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural constraints. After sampling both Chinese- and Anglo-Canadian skiers and nonskiers, results indicate that ethnicity does influence leisure constraints, both alone and in interaction with self-construal.     

Panel data estimates of the effects of different types of crime on housing prices

One of the most studied effects of crime is the impact that neighborhood crime has on housing values. A major drawback of these studies is that, although crime is undoubtedly endogenous in property value models because of either simultaneity, omitted variables or measurement error, the vast majority of studies treat crime measures as exogenous independent variables. We exploit a unique nine-year crime panel at the neighborhood level to estimate models that properly address the endogeneity of crime and allow us to overcome other specification errors that have plagued previous studies. Of the seven different types of crime we investigate, only robbery and aggravated assault crimes (per acre) exert a meaningful influence upon neighborhood housing values.     

Incentive effects of enterprise systems on the magnitude and detectability of reporting manipulations

We consider how the information environment effects of enterprise system (ES) forecasting tools affect a given manager's decision to manipulate reported performance. As ES forecasting accuracy increases, the manager is better able to determine whether anticipated performance is going to exceed the desired level of performance, and we propose that this may affect how the manager chooses to use the ES. To investigate this setting, we construct a model of manipulation behavior as a function of desired performance, uncertainty in forecasted performance and internal control strength. The implications of the model suggest that as a manager's forecast of an impending shortfall in expected performance becomes more certain, the economically optimal decision is increasingly to manipulate reported performance and to use smaller magnitude adjustments. This result holds unless a significant countervailing investment in internal control strength accompanies the ES, which evidence suggests is not the norm in practice. This study furthers our understanding of the effects of ES adoption on managerial behavior and contributes to the burgeoning literature investigating the dual control and empowerment roles of technology. Opportunities for future research are discussed.     

Memory Enhances the Mere Exposure Effect

The fact of having already encountered something encourages future preference, a phenomenon known as the mere exposure effect (MEE). There is a widely accepted view that recognition inhibits the MEE. Here this view is contested and the generality of the findings upon which it is based questioned. New evidence is presented from a systematic investigation of the moderating influence of recognition memory on the MEE, using brand logo stimuli and methods that make the results directly applicable to marketing practice. It is shown that recognition, whether correct or mistaken, enhances, rather than inhibits, the likelihood of preference.     

兼并完，但别让队伍整合“完蛋”了

完全可以肯定：企业的合并充满挑战性。但即便如此，它们仍然可以为企业组织提供变革的可能性。为了确保收入增长和实现合并行动所承诺但往往无法实现的价值，最大的变革之———销售队伍的整合——是企业的首要任务。     

The financial crisis in Norway: effects on financial markets and measures taken

This article guides through the measures implemented in Norway in order to dampen negative effects stemming from the financial crisis. We also discuss some features of the Norwegian money market and the liquidity system in Norway. From the point of view of central banks, the widening gap between money market rates and the key policy rate has been one disturbing element of the financial crises. We develop a simple model, which illustrates how developments in forward exchange premiums can provide insight as to why money market premiums differ across currencies. The model shows that the excess supply of term liquidity in dollar relative to the excess supply of term liquidity in other currencies has an impact on the domestic money market premium relative to that on USD.