Web-based B2B portals

A portal development frenzy is sweeping through commerce in an attempt to capture the growing business-to-business (B2B) Internet market. However, the very tactics employed to attract users have blurred the significance and, consequently, the effective utilization of portals in B2B strategies. This research analyzes the development of portals to propose a classification based on the informational/transactional, horizontal/vertical, and public/private dimensions of portals. Clarification of portal dimensions should provide B2B marketing managers with a superior focus in the production of efficient portal strategies for achieving business objectives. Strategic implications for acquiring and maintaining users and a five-step approach for developing an effective B2B portal strategy are presented.     

From complete exclusion to minimal inclusion: African Americans and the public accounting industry, 1965–1988

African Americans have always been severely under-represented among certified public accountants. After active exclusion for the first several decades of this century, in 1965 African Americans comprised only 0.1% of CPAs. Twenty-five years later, African Americans comprised close to 1% of CPAs, still far below their 12% representation in the population. This paper examines the accounting industry's response to the change in public expectations regarding equal employment opportunity that followed the civil rights movement. The study reveals that, in the late 1960s and early 1970s when support for equal opportunity was at its peak, the industry ended its complete exclusion and engaged in some visible efforts to recruit African Americans. However, even these minimal efforts waned with the decline in emphasis on fair employment in the 1980s.     

Changes in executive compensation following an environmental shift: the role of top management team turnover

In this study we examine the changes in executive compensation at the top management team (TMT) level following an environmental shift. Using the context of deregulation in the airline industry, we find that: (1) a dramatic environmental change that heightens managerial discretion leads to greater pay level and performance sensitivity of TMT compensation; and (2) the greater the magnitude of turnover among TMT members following the environmental shift, the greater the compensation change. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ethical Decision Making and The Law

This paper will examine the effects of gender, age, work experience, academic status and legality on certain ethical decisions. Six scenarios representing ethical dilemmas were presented to both undergraduate and MBA students in an attempt to determine if various demographic factors influenced ethical decision making. While some past studies have suggested that gender has an important effect on ethical decision making, this study does not completely support this conclusion and suggests that age and/or length of work experience should be included in any study of ethical decision making.The legality of the decisions was determined and compared to the reason given by the students for their decisions. In some cases the choice made by a majority of the students was not the one that was supported by the legal authorities which suggests that there may be conflicts between the ethical system of the respondents and the behavior expected of them by society.     

Debate on Margaret Kohn's The Death and Life of the Urban Commonwealth

This interventions forum presents a debate on Margaret Kohn's The Death and Life of the Urban Commonwealth. Four contributors from different disciplinary backgrounds discuss and critique Kohn's book, which offers an exploration of the political in an age of modern urbanism. Building on theories of solidarism and social rights, Kohn puts forth a set of new arguments about how the city might be a more governable commonwealth. Her book lays bare some of the great contradictions inherent in questions of the distribution of wealth and space in the metropolis. It builds on classical and current political theory and philosophy, theories of justice, and debates on gentrification and social mobility. The reviewers appreciate the great contribution the book is making to current debates in urban politics, geography and law, but they also point to significant areas for further debate along various lines as laid out by the author. Kohn concludes the debate with a response to the critical interventions.     

Perceived crowding in recreation settings: An urban case study

Abstract

Research on crowding in recreation areas has focused primarily on back‐country settings. This study tests some of the axioms developed from this research and from studies conducted in non‐recreation settings using data from a case study in an urban park. The actual number of visitors present was found to be the most important individual predictor of perceived crowding in this setting. Results suggest that more developed parks, in more urban contexts, may elicit different images and expectations about visitor density. The implications of these findings, as they relate both to studies of perceived crowding and the social definition of parks in general, are discussed.     

Sticking to your plan: The role of present bias for credit card paydown

We use data from an online financial service to show that many consumers fail to stick to their self-set debt paydown plans. This behavior is best explained by present bias. Our empirical approach is informed by a parsimonious model showing that the sensitivity of spending to paycheck receipt reflects a present-biased agents short-run impatience, and that this sensitivity is reduced by available resources only for agents who are aware (sophisticated) of their future impatience. Classifying users accordingly, we find that (i) sophisticated users debt paydown decreases with short-run impatience, and that (ii) planned paydown is most predictive of actual paydown for sophisticated users.     

The impact of sustainability (environmental,social, and governance) disclosure and board diversity on firm value: The moderating role of industry sensitivity

Using a large panel data set comprising 812 listed European firms, this study investigates whether sustainability disclosure (environmental, social, and governance) and female representation on boards affect firm value. We observe a positive impact of sustainability disclosure and board gender diversity on firm value, suggesting that the best management practices, enhanced stakeholder trust, and female representation on boards improve firm value. We observe that the firms in sensitive industries achieve superior social and governance performance. We also observe that the firms with higher female representation on their boards present significantly superior environmental, social, and governance performance. Our results are robust to different firm and country specific control variables and to year‐ and country‐fixed effects.     

Analytic collaboration in virtual innovation projects

Researchers attend to innovation and collaboration issues. Yet, the relevant literature devotes scant attention to the relationship between collaboration effectiveness and virtual innovation team context, while there are clear indications that both subjects relate with growing concerns in today's business setting. This article reviews extant literature and state-of-the art collaboration systems, and elucidate dynamic contextual factors among virtual innovation team members. The results show the antecedents and interrelationship among these factors, suggesting an optimal collaboration model for virtual innovation project teams. This paper documents the empirical observations of a virtual innovation project for advanced textile manufacturing technologies, and examines the due collaboration taking place among different project participants. Understanding the set of contextual factors emerging from virtual innovation projects can help managers classify, and employ the most effective collaboration mechanism for enhancing the corresponding project performance and effectiveness pragmatically.