Has International Financial Integration Increased?

This paper compares the behavior of real interest rate differentials across the major countries under the Bretton Woods regime and the regime of floating exchanges that replaced it. The primary object is to investigate both the extent of market integration and its changes over time. For all fifteen possible country pairs real interest differentials are mean reverting, and in two-thirds of these cases indistinguishable from zero statistically. For all country pairs on average and for most such pairs individually, moreover, the estimated differentials are not appreciably different in absolute value than the differentials that we estimate for various money-market rates within the United States. Additional evidence points to a narrowing of differentials under floating rates over time and an increase in speeds of convergence.     

Global M&A: Still the chocolate industry sweetspot?

Like a dividing cell under the microscope, the American snack food market has split apart into two distinct cells, each with its own unique consumer DNA. The two market segments can best be defined as legacy consumers and next‐generation consumers. This tectonic shift in the confectionery industry may make global industry‐giant mergers more a battle between dinosaurs, lit by meteor light.     

Is Africa integrating? Evidence from product markets

This paper presents a price-based assessment of product market integration in Africa using disaggregated retail prices for 91 products and 12 African cities from 1991 to 2008. We find evidence of substantial deviations from the law of one price ? product price differences between the cities averaged 76% over the period – a result that is consistent with the presence of large barriers to trade in the continent. Mean price differences across cities fell by close to a quarter over the period, but the decline was concentrated in the early 1990s with little progress subsequently, despite the regional trade policies implemented by the countries. Gravity-style estimates reveal that reductions in external tariffs and global trends towards price convergence in the early 1990s are the key contributors to the trend in price integration amongst the African cities.     

The Effects of Food Color on Perceived Flavor: A Factorial Investigation in India

We extend research testing the effects of food color on flavor to a new cultural setting—India. We test color’s effect at three levels: flavor identification, perception, and preference. One hundred twenty-two graduate students at an Indian business school enrolling students from all parts of India were assigned the task of tasting and evaluating an orange-flavored carbonated water. Color at two levels (purple and orange) and label information at two levels (told orange flavor, told grape) were manipulated in a full factorial, between-subjects design. Results confirm that food color affects the consumer’s ability to correctly identify flavor as well as to form distinct flavor profiles and preferences. Food color dominates other flavor information including labeling and taste, though the strength of the effect is less pronounced in this setting. Strategic alternatives for the effective deployment of food color for promotional purposes are recommended.     

To push performance,check the leader’s power motive

The power motive, defined as the desire to impact the behavior and emotions of another person, has long been controversial. On one side, the exercise of power has been put forth as a fundamental human need greater in strength than the need to survive. On the other, it has been vilified for its potentially devastating consequences. We argue the latter view is distorted, and, by relying too heavily on it, we have come to misunderstand the essential nature of power and its use by leaders charged with driving performance. It is not the power motive that leads to corruption and tyranny, but rather how the power motive is channeled into behavior by other personality factors. Consequently, those charged with leader selection should place greater emphasis on how individuals with strong power motives differ in how they channel power. Doing so will support the selection of executives best equipped to deliver organizational performance.     

Doing Good While Behaving Badly: Checkout Charity Process Mechanisms

Journal of Business Ethics - Companies are increasingly using cause-related marketing campaigns to engage consumers during the purchase process and highlight their own corporate social...     

An evaluation of the red-light camera programme in the city of Dammam,the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

This study evaluated the effectiveness of red-light cameras in Dammam, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Two methods were used to assess changes in crash risk at the intersections at which the red-light camera programme had been operating. Geospatial analysis was used to visualize trends in road crash density over the geographical region of Dammam and a pre--post-camera crash analysis was undertaken. The distribution of injury crashes was greater than that of crashes which included property damage, the latter of which was concentrated around central Dammam. The five red-light cameras installed in 2012 were located outside areas of high-crash and injury density, and the total number of crashes reported in the three-month periods after installation was double that before the cameras were installed. This increase in the number of crashes also occurred at the five comparison sites (without red-light cameras), indicating a null effect. The findings from this study are contrary to previous evaluations of speed management programmes associated with red-light cameras. The study highlights the challenges in obtaining data for such research and illustrates that a reliance on overt, fixed camera's to manage speed is unlikely to deliver significant reductions in road trauma.