Culture, management accounting and managerial performance: Focus Iran

Modern management and control systems may not be equally effective in every country. Budget participation is one of the effective tools in western nations. However, management control tools, in general, and budget participation, in particular, could be ineffective or even dysfunctional in other environments. Hofstede (1980) had suggested that cultural differences among countries are influencing factors. In this study, we investigate the impact of culture, budgetary participation, and management accounting systems on managerial performance in Iran. Three-way analyses of variance are used separately for each of the four cultural Hofstede dimensions. We find convincing evidence that the application of management tools and techniques developed in western countries for effective management performance is not as useful in the Iranian context.     

基于卷筒纸胶印的印品在线缺陷检测系统

本文详细介绍了一种视觉系统,该系统可以实现对卷筒纸胶印过程中产生的印品缺陷进行检测和定位。具体来说,该系统能够对高速卷筒纸印刷进行实时监控,并且可在印刷过程中出现任何影响印品质量的故障（如结构缺陷、色彩偏差、漏字、墨点、墨杠等）时向操作人员发出警报。本文还介绍了机器视觉系统的硬件部分和用于彩色图像扫描及印品缺陷检测定位的图像处理算法。从本质上讲,该系统采用高速扫描算法检测图像的边缘和边界,利用线性和非线性的滤波器对动态大小、阈值和转换信息做进一步的分析。除了在实验室内进行实验以外,还建立了系统模型,系统模型可应用在卷筒纸印刷中,在真实条件下对模型的功能进行评价。将该系统安装在凹印机上进行实验,结果表明该机器视觉系统同样可以成功地对缺陷进行监控和检测。     

Competing with emerging market multinationals

A new breed of multinationals from emerging markets is appearing in many industries. Western firms are wrong to underestimate, as they often do, the competitive threat from these firms. The discussion herein highlights the non-traditional competitive advantages these firms use to win at home and abroad and shows how these firms use internationalization not only to exploit competitive advantage but to bolster it. The article concludes with suggestions for how Western managers should respond to the competitive threat from emerging market multinationals.     

The structure of reseller goals and performance in marketing channels

The typical view of a marketing channel is that of a manufacturer-designed and-controlled distribution system. However, today, marketing functions, as well as market power, are more evenly distributed in the channel. In organizing and managing the modern channel, it is important to understand the business circumstances and priorities confronting channel members. This article studies how reseller firms establish their goal hierarchies and how these goals are related to performance. It hypothesizes that goal priorities emerge in relation to the environmental imperatives faced by the firm. The article develops hypotheses that are tested on survey data collected from a sample of franchisee firms, using structural equation models. The results support all the hypotheses about the effects of primary goals on performance. The effects of secondary goals are not unequivocal but informative nevertheless. Overall, the study points to interesting theoretical and managerial conclusions. Ravi S. Achrol (raachrol@mail.wvu.edu) (Ph.D., Northwestern University) is the Kmart Professor of Marketing in the College of Business & Economics at West Virginia University. Previously, he has served on the faculties of the George Washington University and the University of Notre Dame. His areas of research interest include distribution channels, marketing strategy, interorganizational relations, and network organization. His articles have appeared in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Public Policy and Marketing, theJournal of Retailing, Social Science Research, theJournal of Business Strategy, and various other publications. Michael J. Etzel (michael.j.etzel.1@nd.edu) (DBA, University of Colorado) is a professor of marketing at the University of Notre Dame. He has previously served on the faculties of the University of Kentucky and Utah State University. His areas of research include marketing management and strategy, retailing, and buyer behavior. In 1996–1997, he served as chair of the Board of the American Marketing Association. His research has appeared in a variety of publications, most notably theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Consumer Research, and theJournal of Retailing.     

A new Bandung? : Economic growth vs. distributive justice among emerging powers

The demographic weight and the scale and magnitude of economic growth in China and India—as well as in Brazil and South Africa—marks a seismological transformation in world politics. However, despite their economic clout, the emerging powers of the global South have done little to challenge the Euro-North American domination of the international stage—leaving that task to Bolivia, Venezuela, and Iran. The reluctance of the large states of the global South to challenge the contemporary world order—and the widening income and wealth inequalities within their borders—suggests that they are increasingly complicit in this new world order. However, as growing inequalities unleash greater political instability, it is in the interests of states in the global South to cooperate with each other to change the rules of the game.     

Analysis of interactions among core,transaction and relationship-specific investments: The case of offshoring

Through the use of core, transactional and relational specificity constructs, the paper studies how the emphasis of clients’ who move business processes offshore, changes over time to represent complex relationships between investments in core, transaction and relationship-specific assets. The complex combination of these investments helps clients attain evolving objectives in offshoring alliances. Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) has been used to establish changing emphases of the specific elements in offshoring alliances.     

An Entrepreneur's Guide to Understanding the Cost of Venture Capital

Entrepreneurs who deal with a venture capital firm (VC) for the first time often find themselves unprepared for the experience. The deal structure language used to describe financing terms, and the methods used to value the investment, are unique to the VC world. The authors have two objectives in preparing this entrepreneur's guide to venture capital finance: First, they explain why VCs require rates of return that are considerably higher—even after adjusting for difference in risk—than the returns required by the shareholders of established companies. Their explanation focuses on differences of opinion between overly optimistic entrepreneurs and less sanguine VCs. Second, the authors discuss the difficulty faced by entrepreneurs when trying to understand the actual cost of VC financing (including the dilution of value that occurs when entrepreneurs fail to meet targets or milestones). The problem can be traced to deal structure terms that typically call for the VC to receive preferential treatment in the event the entrepreneur's scenario does not turn out to be accurate. More specifically, entrepreneurs often grant VCs control rights as well as liquidation rights that, when things go wrong, dramatically increase the effective cost to entrepreneurs of venture financing.     

Factors Influencing Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Organic Fruits and Vegetables: Empirical Evidence from a Consumer Survey in India

Numerous consumers confronted with increasing environmental problems, food safety issues, and augmentative health problems increasingly desire to have healthier and more natural foods grown in an eco-friendly manner. Hitherto organic foods only partly benefit from this increasing market environment, and their market share stays rather low despite high growth rates. This article aims to investigate consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for organic fruits and vegetables and relevant factors affecting consumers WTP. The contingent valuation method was selected to estimate WTP. Empirical data was drawn from a 250-consumer survey conducted in Bangalore during February 2013. A binomial logistic regression model was applied to obtain the value of WTP and determine the factors influencing it. The results indicated that about 90% of the consumers were willing to pay a premium price ranging between 5% to more than 100% in order to acquire better-quality fruits and vegetables; factors such as family income, size of the family, gender, and other opinion variables such as chemical residue in conventional foods, trust on retailers, taste, and environmental concerns significantly influence consumers’ WTP. More than 87% of the consumers indicated that high price, lack of availability, narrow range, and irregular supply are the major barriers for them to buy these products. The results provide useful evidence to pertinent governmental agencies in terms of assisting in the design of policies for the promotion of organic food production and marketing and reaching the target public. Furthermore, firms involved in the organic foods business may also see benefits when drawing information in order to calibrate marketing strategies.