The challenge for women expatriates and spouses: some empirical evidence

This is an exploratory study examining issues associated with women expatriates and their spouses. Individuals representing three groups - organizations, women expatriates, male spouses - were interviewed to identify their experiences and concerns. The authors conclude that this issue will pose a dramatic challenge for international organizations in the coming decades, and that it is timely to investigate the issue in more depth.     

The Chinese in Britain: working towards success?

The Chinese community has made rapid socio-economic advancement Britain over the course of one generation. This paper examines the influences of culture and structure in determining the remarkable levels of attainments made by the Chinese Britain. In addition, the impacts of culture and structure in circumscribing occupational choices of the Chinese in Britain are also explored, since somewhat marring this image of success is the occupational segregation of the Chinese in the labour market. The human resource implication of this latter situation is that there exists a valuable source of qualified Chinese labour currently engaged in the ethnic niche, particularly Chinese catering industry, which could be better utilized in the wider labour market. It suggested that responsibility to address this issue reducing such 'wastage', involves efforts of three parties, namely, the Chinese themselves, careers counsellors, as well organizations in Britain.     

A Regime-Switching Model of Long-Term Stock Returns

Abstract

In this paper I first define the regime-switching lognormal model. Monthly data from the Standard and Poor’s 500 and the Toronto Stock Exchange 300 indices are used to fit the model parameters, using maximum likelihood estimation. The fit of the regime-switching model to the data is compared with other common econometric models, including the generalized autoregressive conditionally heteroskedastic model. The distribution function of the regime-switching model is derived. Prices of European options using the regime-switching model are derived and implied volatilities explored. Finally, an example of the application of the model to maturity guarantees under equity-linked insurance is presented. Equations for quantile and conditional tail expectation (Tail-VaR) risk measures are derived, and a numerical example compares the regime-switching lognormal model results with those using the more traditional lognormal stock return model.     

Interfirm Modularity and Its Implications for Product Development*

Industries characterized by interfirm modularity, in which the component products of different firms work together to create a system, are becoming increasingly widespread. In such industries, the existence of a common architecture enables consumers to mix and match the products of different firms. Industries ranging from stereos, cameras, and bicycles to computers, printing, and wireless services are now characterized by interfirm modularity. While the increasing presence of this context has been documented, the implications for the product development process remain underdeveloped. For the present study, in‐depth field‐based case studies of seven firms experiencing an environment of interfirm modularity were conducted in order to deepen understanding of this important phenomenon. What unique challenges did this context pose and why? What solutions did firms experiment with, and which seemed to work? Based on an inductive process of data analysis from these case studies, three primary categories of challenges raised by this environment were identified. First, firms were frustrated at their lack of control over the definition of their own products. The set of features and functions in products were constrained to a great extent by an architecture that the firm did not control. Second, while an environment of interfirm modularity should in theory eliminate interdependencies among firms since interfaces between products are defined ex‐ante, the present study found, ironically, that interdependencies were ubiquitous. Interdependencies continually emerged throughout the product development process, despite efforts to limit them. Third, firms found that the quantity and variegated nature of external relationships made their management exceedingly difficult. The sheer complexity was daunting, given both the size of the external network as well as the number of ties per external collaborator. Partners with whom control over the architecture was shared often had divergent interests—or at least not fully convergent interests. The solutions to these challenges were creative and in many cases counter to established wisdom. For instance, research has suggested many ways for a firm to influence architectural standards. While the firms in the present sample followed some of this advice, they also focused on a more neglected aspect of architecture—the compliance and testing standards that accompany modules and interfaces. By concentrating their efforts in a different area, even smaller firms in this sample were able to have some influence. Instead of focusing on the elimination of interdependencies, it was found that firms benefited from concentrating on the management of interdependencies as they emerged. Finally, while layers of management and “bureaucracy” are often viewed as unproductive, these firms found that adding structure, through positions such as Relationship Manager, was highly beneficial in handling the coordination and control of a wide range of external relationships.     

Workforce diversity initiatives of U.S. multinational corporations in Europe

Although most U.S. multinational corporations have substantial workforce diversity management programs in their U.S. operations, they are only beginning to consider parallel efforts in their overseas subsidiaries and affiliates. The internationalization issue is particularly prominent in the European Union, where competitive, demographic, legal, and political developments make workforce diversity issues unavoidable within the next few years. Instead of simply replicating U.S. programs, however, diversity initiatives in Europe need to adapt to each employer's strategic objectives, degree of organizational integration, and local needs. The experiences of Lucent Technologies Inc. and The Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies illustrate two contrasting approaches. The former has adopted a strongly multidomestic strategy, while the latter has a more global approach. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Learned helplessness as an explanation of elderly consumer complaint behavior

Studies of consumer complaint behavior have shown that many elderly consumers are very reluctant to pursue their rights through the complaint process when they encounter problems with products or services. This passive complaint behavior may be very costly to the elderly, who often live on fixed incomes. This paper presents a theory developed in experimental psychology that may help explain why clderly consumers are more likely than other consumers to incur losses rather than engage in complaint activity. The theory, known as learned helplessness (LH), refers to a process whereby noncontingent reinforcement produces the expectation that events are uncontrollable.The theory of learned helplessness is presented and related to specific behaviors of dissatisfied elderly consumers that have been reported in the literature. Strategy implications of the theory are discussed for counselors, consumer affairs practitioners, and others interested in helping elderly consumers exercise their rights.Mary C. LaForge is currently Associate Professor of Marketing at Clemson University. She received her Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Georgia. Her current research interest focuses on the behavior of the elderly as consumers.     

Incremental approaches to establishing trust

We investigate cooperation using an incremental investment game in which the first-mover has the ability to make small, but increasing incremental investments in their counterpart. Our experiment is designed to test whether establishing trust in small increments is more effective than alternatives, including a one-shot investment game, a decrease only condition where the amount the first-mover sends to the second-mover must be less than the amount previously sent, and an unrestricted condition where the first-mover is not restricted by the amount previously sent. Although results were mixed, broadly, iteration affords greater cooperation than one-shot games and, when given the choice, participants seem to prefer to build trust gradually. Implications for institutional design are discussed.      

Dominion or Republic? Migrants to North America from the United Kingdom, 1870–1910

Late nineteenth–century Canada attracted a large number of immigrants from the UK, despite far lower average income per head there than in the US. While urban labour markets in the northern US were much larger than those in Canada, differences in outcomes between UK immigrants in Canadian and in northern US cities were small. Average annual real earnings by occupation group were only 10 to 15 per cent lower in Canadian cities. Individual–level census data indicate that the occupational distribution of UK immigrants in Canada was quite similar to that of their peers in the US.