The labour theory of value,risk and the rate of profit

The paper extends Marx's law of value to include the effects of risk. It shows how risk has its origins in the labour process and is transferred between labour and capital on an unequal basis and between capitals on a zero sum basis. An empirical test is then presented, which shows that the employment of labour increases risk from the point of view of the investing capitalist. The conclusion is that the employment of labour is a curate's egg from capital's point of view. On the one hand it is essential for the production of sustainable surplus value and therefore for competitive advantage and capital accumulation. On the other hand employment of labour renders such accumulation inherently risky and therefore commensurately more costly to the rational capitalist investor.     

Pipeline management for the acquisition of industrial projects

The management and controlling of the industrial project acquisition process, with its staged, funnel-like structure, has been neglected in empirical research so far—even though an effective acquisition process is crucial for economic success. In addition to profitability, the main goal of industrial companies is to implement a pipeline process that ensures that the pipeline is always filled with acquisition projects and results in a constant stream of orders over time. The projects considered are characterized by complexity, uniqueness, and discontinuity. Based on a large-scale survey among German industrial companies, we describe the industrial project acquisition process, where the projects mentioned above are sold on a non-continuous basis to industrial customers. We assess how the industrial project acquisition process is really structured, whether a sales funnel management is applicable and utilized by sales management to monitor and control this process, and whether a sophisticated sales funnel management contributes to enhanced economic success.     

How Control System Design Influences Performance Misreporting

This paper investigates reporting honesty when managers have monetary incentives to overstate their performance. We argue that managers who report about their performance will take into account how their report affects their peers (i.e., other managers at the same hierarchical level). This effect depends on the design of the organization's control system, in particular, on the reward structure and the information policy regarding individual performance reports. The reward structure determines if peers’ monetary payoff is increased or decreased when managers claim a higher level of performance. The information policy determines if managers will be able to link individual peers to their reports and affects the nonmonetary costs of breaking social norms. We present the results of a laboratory experiment. As predicted, we find that participants are more likely to overstate their performance if this increases the monetary payoff of others than if their reported performance decreases others’ monetary gains. In addition, overstatements are lower under an open information policy, where each individual's reported performance is made public, compared to a closed information policy, where participants only learn the average performance of the other participants. Our findings have several important implications for management accounting research and practice.     

A Social Marketing Template for Solving the Musicians’ Dilemma Through Nonprofit Healthcare Networks

The Musicians’ Dilemma—the lack of affordable healthcare for the uninsured or underinsured musical entrepreneur—is actually a common problem plaguing not only 33% of musicians, but approximately 19% of the American population as a whole. The current research uses social marketing principles to conceptualize a template for designing a marketing program that meets the healthcare needs of the target market. Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM) is a nonprofit organization that links healthcare providers, local businesses, and community donors in a network providing basic preventive health services to this essential segment of the community. HAAM's business model is analyzed and cast on the social marketing framework so that it can be adapted for use by other music cities. Although the template could also be applied to serve other uninsured populations, it is critical that research be undertaken to understand the specific characteristics and needs of each target market and used to adapt the model to those populations.     

Choice-Based Conjoint Analysis of the Local Coupon Preferences of Millennials

This article explores the local coupon preferences of the 18–29-year old market. Choice-based conjoint analysis was used to determine Millennials’ local coupon needs and preferences. From this data, three need-based segments were identified and discussed. The findings indicate that while overall, millennials are resistant to receiving coupons for local businesses through their cell phones, there is one segment that is receptive to this method of coupon delivery method.     

Subsidiary knowledge flow strategies and purpose of expatriate assignments

Although a general association between the role of international assignees and knowledge transfer has been noted in the international human resource literature, very little is known on how subsidiary knowledge flow strategies influence the purpose of expatriate assignments. Building specifically on Gupta and Govindarajan’s typology of subsidiary knowledge flow strategies and Hocking’s expatriate assignment purpose, we examine the link between subsidiary knowledge flow and the purpose of expatriate assignments using a mixed method approach. Combining survey data and qualitative interviews from 156 subsidiaries in the service and manufacturing sector in Malaysia and Singapore, we find that subsidiaries with divergent strategic roles have different knowledge flow strategies, thus leading to different purposes of expatriate assignments.     

Synthesizing R&D planning and business strategy: some preliminary findings

The need for firms to compete in the longer run by offering superior products at competitive prices requires better integration of R&D, and technology in general, into business strategy development. A survey based on personal interviews of 40 respondents from “Fortune 500” U. S. industrial firms reveals that their shift in emphasis toward new product/process R&D is providing the impetus for placing R&D in a strategic context. However, R&D has not been fully integrated into the strategic planning process of many organizations. The results of the survey reveal that certain communication channels can be more fully utilized to meld R&D planning into business strategy. Specific suggestions to facilitate information exchange, dissemination of planning data, and integration of various R&D plans into a cohesive technology strategy are given.     

Aged-care support in Japan: perspectives and challenges

This article explores economic aspects of the market for long-term care (LTC) in Japan. As the world's most rapidly aging nation, it is of interest to understand that country's current LTC system and projections of LTC utilization patterns and costs, as well as their potential drivers. Since Japan appears likely to experience important shortfalls in LTC in the future, the authors also discuss alternate forms of provision.     

Linkages between creativity and intention to quit: An occupational study of chefs

Human resource issues persist as a vexation for tourism managers. Foodservice is a core component of many tourism destinations and attractions yet the foodservice labour market is historically volatile. This article reports on the findings of a job satisfaction survey of chefs working in Australia's tourism and hospitality industry. This study's aim is to determine empirically whether there is a positive relationship between creativity and job and occupational satisfaction. A customised instrument is designed to mitigate the shortcomings of generalising scale items and findings of generic job satisfaction surveys to a single occupation. This paper focuses on identifying a range of dimensions of job satisfaction and occupational attributes connected to creativity and its associated dimensions. Reliability and data reduction analyses were conducted to validate the construction of composite ‘creativity’ variables for the basis of further comparisons. The findings indicate that the sample ranks creativity more highly than working conditions and that there is a clear relationship between creativity and both organisational and occupational satisfaction. Results vary as a function of gender. In conclusion, theoretical and practical implications for occupational and tourism management are discussed.