Time to Close the Opportunity Gap

Our economy suffers from a large and widening “Growth Gap” between the current recovery, which started in June 2009, and an average post-1960 recovery. In this context, President Obama raised the issues of economic inequality and mobility. In the United States over the last few decades, income inequality increased modestly, but economic mobility remained stable. First, this address presents five areas in which the federal government can help to ameliorate economic inequality and enhance economic mobility. They concern the federal tax system, the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate, federal unfunded liabilities, and regulatory reform. Second, Congress has a role to play in education reform and reducing the burden of college debt. Third, increasing economic mobility requires Congress to address the “poverty traps” for low-income individuals that are imposed by the interaction between taxes and the eligibility for social welfare benefits. Fourth, as a society, we must encourage the young to get their first job, a problem made worse by the proposed increase in the federal minimum wage. Fifth, we must open new markets for exports.     

Evaluating business value of IT towards optimisation of the application portfolio

Information technology has become heavily embedded in business operations. As business needs change over time, IT applications are expected to continue providing required support. Whether the existing IT applications are still fit for the business purpose they were intended or new IT applications should be introduced is a strategic decision for business, IT and business-aligned IT. In this article, we present a method that aims to analyse business functions and IT roles and to evaluate business-aligned IT from both social and technical perspectives. The method introduces a set of techniques that systematically supports the evaluation of the existing IT applications in relation to their technical capabilities for maximising business value. Furthermore, we discuss the evaluation process and results that are illustrated and validated through a real-life case study of a UK borough council and followed by discussion on implications for researchers and practitioners.     

Chinese Cultural Values and Personal Referral Sources in International Education Choice

China offers the greatest growth potential for international education across the global markets. To better understand the motivations of students, a survey of 420 university students was conducted and results revealed that students who rated abasement and personal activity orientation as important values were more likely to find personal referral sources influential. Students who rated situation orientation and interdependence as important values were less likely to find personal referral sources more influential. However, there is no significant difference in authority, face, and group orientation. This suggests the complex role of Chinese cultural values in the process of globalization and industrialization.     

Explaining ethnic entrepreneurship: An evolutionary economics approach

The cultural approaches and the economic approaches advocated by mainstream neoclassical economists and new institutional economists fail to provide an adequate explanation of the differences between ethnic groups in the rate of business formation. These approaches provide only a partial explanation, much of which is based on static, predetermined exogenous and/or endogenous factors. By comparison the old institutional economists’ framework, when applied to this area, offers a more holistic explanation of differential ethnic business formation by bringing together a range of cultural and economic factors that emphasize the path dependency of activities and the dynamic evolution of behaviour and actions.     

Dynamic Links Between Unexpected Exchange Rate Variation, Prices, and International Trade

This paper investigates dynamic interrelations between exchange rate uncertainty, international trade, and trading competitiveness in prices, using UK data. The empirical results derived from vector autoregressive (VAR) models show that a shock to exchange rate volatility negatively affects trade volumes, and such negative effects are greater than the effects on trade price levels. JEL Classification Numbers: F14, F31, F41     

The Performance of REIT-owned Properties and the Impact of REIT Market Power

Using a unique, detailed panel dataset of lodging properties, this paper tests whether properties owned by real estate investment trusts (REITs) perform differently than other properties and whether the concentration of real estate ownership brought about by REITs has increased market power. Our results demonstrate that REIT-owned properties, which are primarily mid-scale and high-end hotels, did not perform significantly better, on average, than other mid-scale or high-end hotels in the same geographic area. However, because of the superior overall performance of mid-scale and high-end hotels, REIT properties as a whole did perform better, on average, than non-REIT properties. From these results we conclude that the superior performance of REIT properties was due to the fact that REITs tended to acquire properties in market segments that performed well; REIT ownership in itself does not appear to have increased performance. Our results also suggest that the superior performance of the market segments in which REITs have a significant presence is not attributable to the market power of the REITs.     

Zimbardo's “Stanford Prison Experiment” and the relevance of social psychology for teaching business ethics

The prevailing pedagogical approach in business ethics generally underestimates or even ignores the powerful influences of situational factors on ethical analysis and decision-making. This is due largely to the predominance of philosophy-oriented teaching materials. Social psychology offers relevant concepts and experiments that can broaden pedagogy to help students understand more fully the influence of situational contexts and role expectations in ethical analysis. Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment is used to illustrate the relevance of social psychology experiments for business ethics instruction. F. Neil Brady is an Associate Professor of Management at San Diego State University. He has published a dozen articles in the field of business ethics, three of which have appeared in the Academy of Management Review. Jeanne M. Logsdon is an Assistant Professor of Management at Santa Clara University. Her research on various aspects of corporate social performance has appeared in the Journal of Business Ethics, Research in Corporate Social Performance and Policy, and California Management Review.     

Situational Ethics Across Borders: A Multicultural Examination

Managers throughout the world regularly face ethical dilemmas that have important, and perhaps complex, professional and personal implications. Further, societal consequences of decisions made can be far-reaching. In this study, 210 financial services managers from Australia, Chile, Ecuador and the United States were queried about their ethical beliefs when faced with four diverse dilemmas. In addition, the situational context was altered so the respondent viewed each dilemma from a top management position and from a position of economic hardship. Results suggest a complex interaction of situation, culture and issue when individuals make ethical judgments. Specifically, Chileans were found to have different beliefs about sex discrimination and child labor dilemmas when compared to their colleagues from the other three nations. Chileans and Australians also disagreed on the bribery dilemma. Anglo managers were more likely than Latin American managers to change their ethical responses when the situation was altered. For multinational firms interested in maintaining healthy ethical climates, the findings suggest that culturally contingent ethical guidelines, or policies adapted to the local customs, must be considered. Further, managers must remain aware of issues related to specific situations, both internal and external, that would cause subordinates to alter their moral judgment.