E-Based Solutions to Support Intercultural Business Ethics Instruction: An Exploratory Approach in Course Design and Delivery

This paper reports on the experiences of international MBA students following a hybrid design for a business ethics course, which combined class-based lectures with "out-of-class" discussion supported by asynchronous communication tools. The e-learning component of the course was intended to generate discussion on the ethical assumptions of course participants, with each individual required to post a mini case study reflecting an ethical dilemma which s/he had faced at work. Using questionnaire and interview data, we report on the learning experiences of participants following this experimental course. The results reveal a high level of intercultural dialogue between participants, with adopters showing greater awareness of their individual cultural biases in their case writing, a direct consequence of the on-line feedback and case discussion. These findings indicate that asynchronous tools have much to offer business ethics students, supporting ideas sharing and the exchange of cultural perspectives outside the physical boundaries of the classroom.     

Gold loans in the Australian gold mining industry: Do gold loans allow gold producers to increase leverage?

This paper tests the hypothesis that gold producers exhibit greater leverage where gold loans are used. As the choice of gold producers and the study period essentially avoids debt tax shield effects, the paper focuses on information asymmetry and agency costs explanations for leverage. Theory suggests hedging can reduce the cost of debt but it has little impact if management is not committed to adopting the promised hedging policy. The implicit hedge in gold loans commits management to hedging and so greater leverage is expected for producers adopting gold loans. Results from the analysis are consistent with this hypothesis.     

Perspectives on Australian Retirement Incomes

With important developments over the past two decades in Australian retirement income policy, projected future outcomes—for the public purse, for the national economy and for the future retired—have received considerable attention. This focus on the future should not, however, cause us to lose sight of the present. While the major changes in retirement income policy outcomes will not occur for some decades, the picture for current and recent cohorts of retired people is not static. This article begins with an account of the important policy developments since the 1980s in the Australian retirement income arena—the Australian retirement income system still differs radically from that in most other countries, in relying heavily on a means‐tested income maintenance system, rather than on social insurance. The outcomes for current and recent cohorts of retired people are then examined from two perspectives. The first perspective is an examination of the incomes of the aged in the mid 1990s and of trends over the 1980s and 1990s—including consideration of changes in the level, composition and distribution of aged incomes. The second perspective is an international comparison of the incomes of the aged.     

Competency,prior performance,opportunity framing,and competitive response: Exploring some behavioral decision theory perspectives

Theoretical perspectives from behavioral decision research and strategic management are employed to make competing predictions of managers' competitive response decisions. Results indicate that responses of greater magnitude are more likely when an ambiguous situation surrounding the market entry of a new competitor is framed as an opportunity rather than as a threat and when the prior performance and competency of the firm are at high levels. Faster responses are more likely under high levels of competency, especially when prior performance has been good. These results run counter to two of three predictions of behavioral decision research and raise questions about limits to the generalizability of these theoretical perspectives.     

Responses to externally induced innovation: Their effects on organizational performance

Innovation may be externally induced; that is, an external threat or challenge such as the accident at the Three Mile Island (TMl) nuclear power plant sets the stage for outside parties such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to propose that new practices be adopted. Managers then must make choices about how their organizations will respond. This study shows how prior performance can affect organizational responses and how these responses in turn can affect subsequent performance. Vicious cycles are shown to exist in which poorly performing organizations respond with rule-bound behavior, a response which only perpetuates their poor performance. Better-performing organizations, on the other hand, retain their autonomy, a response which reinforces their strong performance.     

Pharmaceutical innovation and R&D investment in the UK

Expenditure on research and development by the pharmaceutical industry in the UK has increased five-fold in real terms since 1964, whilst the rate of introduction of novel medicines and their sales, allowing for inflation, have remained approximately constant. One of the reasons the industry has been able to afford the higher investment in R&D is because its marketing has become far more international. In the UK the average effective patent life of new products has decreased to less than 5 years at launch, making it difficult to see how development expenditure for most products can be recouped before patent expiry without significant international sales.     

Stabilising the international wheat market with a US buffer stock

An aggregate simulation model of the wheat market is presented and the simulator is used to analayse (a) a free or non-buffered wheat market, (b) a market buffered by a US wheat reserve, and (c) a free market with fewer trade restrictions. The authors conclude that a US-owned buffer stock of 15M tonnes could greatly reduce US and world wheat price variability at an average annual cost a little under $300 million.