A conceptual model of corporate moral development

The conceptual model presented in this article argues that corporations exhibit specific behaviors that signal their true level of moral development. Accordingly, the authors identify five levels of moral development and discuss the dynamics that move corporations from one level to another. Examples of corporate behavior which are indicative of specific stages of moral development are offered.R. Eric Reidenbach is Professor of Marketing and Director of the Center for Business Development and Research at the University of Southern Mississippi. He has written extensively on business and marketing ethics.Donald P. Robin, Professor of Business Ethics and Professor of Marketing at the University of Southern Mississippi, is coauthor with R. Eric Reidenbach of two recent books on business ethics with Prentice-Hall. He is a frequent lecturer on business ethics and is the author of several articles on the subject.     

EFFECTS OF SMALL BUSINESS ACCOUNTING BASES AND ACCOUNTANT SERVICE LEVELS ON LOAN OFFICER DECISIONS

This study examines effects of four combinations of accounting bases and service levels — GAAP and income tax bases, and audit and review service levels — on loan officers' decisions, both separately and in interaction. It examines effects on loan decisions and perceptions of interest rates, default risk, confidence, and usefulness. The interaction of accounting basis and service level significantly affects perceived confidence but does not affect other decisions. Accounting basis and service level separately affect interest rates, default risk, and report usefulness, but do not affect the loan decision.     

Taxing transactions in futures markets: Objectives and effects

In the last few years various legislative proposals have been made to impose a transaction or excise tax on securities and derivative market transactions. Although there have been considerable discussion and analysis of the wisdom of imposing such a tax on securities markets, there has been no analysis of the pros and cons of extending the tax to futures markets. This article attempts to fill this gap, first, by examining the various rationales advanced to support a tax on securities markets to determine their applicability to futures markets and, second, by analyzing the likely effects of the tax on the competitiveness and efficiency of futures markets. In addition, the revenue-raising potential of a tax on futures transactions is evaluated. I conclude that a tax on futures markets will not achieve any important social objective and will not generate much revenue.     

Empirical Implications of Equilibrium Bidding in First-Price, Symmetric, Common Value Auctions

This paper studies federal auctions for wildcat leases on the Outer Continental Shelf from 1954 to 1970. These are leases where bidders privately acquire (at some cost) noisy, but equally informative, signals about the amount of oil and gas that may be present. We develop tests of rational and equilibrium bidding in a common values model that are implemented using data on bids and ex post values. We also use data on tract location and ex post values to test the comparative static prediction that bidders may bid less aggressively in common value auctions when they expect more competition. We find that bidders are aware of the "winner's curse" and their bidding is largely consistent with equilibrium.     

Single or double bounded contingent valuation? A Bayesian test

This paper evaluates the performance of asymptotic approximations of the Bayes factor to appraise the relative likelihoods of the bivariate and the restricted double bounded models for contingent valuation. The performance of the Bayes factor test is studied by Monte Carlo simulation showing that it correctly chooses the bivariate model when appropriate, but tends to over predict the double bounded model when the correlation coefficient is not estimated accurately. However, the quadratic error in estimating willingness to pay is reduced if the model preferred by the test is chosen. In addition, we consider the effect of averaging the estimates of WTP from both models, weighting each model with its posterior probability. The results show that ‘model averaging’ across the competing hypothesis further reduces the squared error. The applications with two data sets on National Parks show that the test rejects the restricted double bounded hypotheses against the bivariate model.     

Stories from the Front‐line: How they Construct the Organization*

abstract Drawing on social constructionist theory this paper applies discourse analysis to ten narratives told by service delivery staff in one distribution network. The analysis looks at how the narratives construct the organization through their constructions of self (the narrator), customer and manufacturer and their constructions of the relationships linking these three sets of actors. The paper argues that the narrators construct the self either as an organizational customer or an organizational partner. The two constructions locate conflict either within the organization or at the customer–organizational boundary respectively. The implications of this are suggested. Contrasts between the manner in which organizational members construct the self as customer or partner and the construction of the organizational member in the internal customer literature are highlighted and briefly discussed.     

What did people predict for the year 2000 and what happened?

Comparing the global situation in the year 2000 with what the respondent samples from 10 countries predicted 30 years earlier, the conclusion can only be that people were remarkably accurate. This does not mean that any single respondent was that accurate but that anybody, who would have liked to anticipate the year 2000, would have done quite well based on these samples. Actually, the peripheries in the samples came out even better than the centers, making us wonder what education and high special position are actually about. One possible set of explanations would be that the peripheries know better where the shoes pinch, are more holistic and are not paid by anybody to make self-fulfilling or self-denying predictions.We are going to look at what people thought and what actually happened, in three movements. The first is about what they thought about the futures of their own societies and the second about international futures. The third movement deals with how their hopes and expectations depended on who they were, more specifically: whether they belonged to the center or the periphery in their countries.     

Expenditure patterns on food and non food items of Khayelitsha households,Western Cape,South Africa

Food insecurity or lack of access to adequate and nutritious food is a major determinant of under‐nutrition. Expenditure patterns accompanied by unemployment, low level of education, inflation and high food prices have a direct negative impact on food availability within households (Moller, 1997). Ghany and Schwenk (1993) found that as household income increases, the proportion of expenditures on food decreases, the proportion of expenditures on clothing, rent, fuel, and light stayed the same and that of sundries increased. The aim of this study was to investigate household expenditure patterns on food and non‐food items in Khayelitsha. A total of 20 households (10 from the formal and 10 from the informal settlements) were randomly selected from those willing to participate in the study. A questionnaire with open ended and closed questions was used to collect data. The questionnaire comprised four sections namely: biographical information, socio‐economic information which used wealth quintiles to assess households’ social economic status, total expenditure information and a food/hunger scale was used to assess households’ food availability. The findings revealed that households from informal settlements spent more money (62.2%) as a proportion of their income on food compared to households from the formal settlement (39%). There was higher unemployment rate (100%) at the informal settlement compared to the formal settlement (40%). Wealth quintiles scales did not reflect the social status of the households as equipment and assets owned by households were only used as fallback position during times of economic hardships. Households used different purchasing strategies; food and non‐food items were mainly purchased from outside the township (60%). Forty percent of the households bought their items from local shops and spazas because they allowed them to buy items whenever little money was available or to take items on credit. All the respondents preferred to buy bread and small items from spazas and local shops. Prices of items in the spazas and local shops were higher compared to prices of items in bigger shops outside the townships. The food/hunger scale and wealth quintiles showed that informal settlement households were more food insecure (as they were all unemployed and about 50% of the households ran out of food always) and had fewer assets compared to the formal settlement households. The implications of these findings underscore the need to improve socio‐economic conditions of low resource households through empowerment programs. These programs can be in the form of training in management/decision making, work related skills/literacy (to help them access formal employment), business management/income generation skills (to help them to be self‐employed), budgeting, and food gardening. This approach can help to increase the resource base and alleviate food insecurity in low resource households.     

Business Ethics: The Bottom Line

Teaching Business Ethics -