Perception of Health Claims Among Nordic Consumers

Health claim perception was investigated by a web-based instrument with a sample of 4,612 respondents in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden). Respondents decided which of a pair of claims sounded better, was easier to understand and was more convincing in their opinion. Claims were constructed from an underlying universe combining different active ingredients (familiar, unfamiliar), type of claim (combination of information about ingredient, physiological function and health benefit), framing (positive, negative), and use of qualifier (with, without “may”). Across pairs, the claims differed in the health benefit addressed (cardiovascular health, dementia, bodyweight). Results showed that respondents could be grouped into two roughly equally sized classes that differed in the type of claim preferred: one class prefers “long” claims that give the full story consisting of active ingredient, physiological function and health benefit, whereas the other prefers “short” claims consisting of the health benefit only. Results also showed that the familiar ingredient is preferred to the unfamiliar one, whereas effects of positive versus negative framing depended on the type of health benefit addressed.     

Sustainability perspectives on Oulanka National Park,Finland: mixed methods in tourism research

This paper positions mixed methods as a complement to traditional qualitative and quantitative research. It provides an example of conducting mixed methods research by analysing the sociocultural sustainability of tourism as perceived by local stakeholders nearby Oulanka National Park in north-eastern Finland. Semi-structured interviews were linked concurrently to survey data from the same respondents. First, four discourses were identified based on 40 interviews with respondents about tourism development pertinent to the Protected Area Network (PAN) Parks international certification. Second, the differences between the representatives of the discourses were examined using non-parametric statistics. Results of the qualitative and quantitative analysis supplemented each other. The survey results supported the identification of four discourses and provided information about the representatives using the discourses. The discourse groups differed according to length of residence in the area, distance from the park, gender, employment in tourism, familiarity with PAN Parks, benefit from PAN Parks status, belief in the benefits of PAN Parks, satisfaction with tourism and park development, importance of the environmental dimension and satisfaction with various dimensions of sustainability. The study demonstrates that a better understanding of a problem may be acquired by using a mix of survey methods and interviews.     

Absence and Variant Modes of Presence of Management Accounting in New Product Development – Theoretical Refinement and Some Empirical Evidence

Abstract

The purpose of this explorative multi-organisation study is to describe and explain absence and variant modes of presence of management accounting (MA) in new product development (NPD), and to problematise further the equivocal results and paradigm shift regarding the role and relevance of management control system (MCS) packages in innovative and uncertain environments, in particular, why there are environments without formal management controls such as MA. The study refines, and in certain respects develops the theory of MA absence by combining it with the theory base of MA change and stability. The theoretical analysis suggests that a wide variety of factors may explain the absence or the mode of presence of MA in NPD. These identified explanatory factors are analysed further within the developed theoretical framework. The strongest empirical evidence for MA absence arises from technical, economic and functional factors. Furthermore, lack of reasons-for-adoption of MA systems and other forms of control associated with engineering-oriented culture lead to MA absence in NPD. The empirical findings also reveal a number of variant modes of MA presence with only the ‘accounting thinking’ and concepts adopted in NPD. The contribution of the study extends from the refinement of the theory of MA absence towards increasing the understanding of the evolution, change, stability and relationship of various elements of MA systems, and the dynamics of MCS in general.     

Professional vs financial capital in the field of health care—struggles for the redistribution of power and control

The field of health care, like all fields of social life, is a site of continuous games for power and control. This paper applies the conceptual tools of the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu—in particular the notions of field and capital—to analyse the diverse roles, and partially divergent objectives of the various institutions and individuals involved in the functions of financing, production, and consumption of health services. Participants in these struggles are seen to have different chances of winning or losing, depending on their relative power, which is determined by the distribution of differently valued capitals in this specific field. The expectations associated with the transition to market based control mechanisms in the field of Finnish health care, and the experiences of those directly involved in this transition are analysed. The nature and implications of the process of transition from a planning allocation system to a competition based resource allocation system are studied on the basis of extensive interviews and observations conducted in one university hospital and two central hospitals in Finland.     

Phoenix rising: Legal reforms and changes in valuations in Finland during the economic crisis

Finland experienced an extremely severe economic depression in the early 1990s. As a part of the government's crisis management policies, significant new legislation was passed that increased supervisory powers of financial market regulators and reformed bankruptcy procedures significantly decreasing the protection of creditors. We show that the introduction of these new laws resulted in positive abnormal stock returns. The new laws also lead to increases in firms’ Tobin's q, especially for more levered firms. In contrast to previous studies, our results also suggest that public supervision of financial markets fosters rather than hampers financial market development.     

HRM as a Significant Factor for Achieving Competitiveness through People: The Croatian Case

This paper evaluates the quality of human resource management (HRM) in Croatia because excellent human resource (HR) policies, programs and activities enable enterprises to maximize their workforce productivity. The research was conducted in enterprises with more than 200 employees. The value of HRM was assessed using the HR audit approach. Fifty-five HR indicators were analyzed from the top 10 Croatian HR enterprises to serve as benchmarks for the final sample of 80 enterprises. Results indicate Croatian enterprises have deficient HR practices, on average. Independent sample t-tests showed 61.82% of HR indicators were significantly better in the benchmark firms. Consequently, HRM in Croatia can not be considered solid ground for achieving competitiveness through people.

The future international tax environment and European tax harmonization: a personal view

This study examines whether the decision to voluntarily (i.e. without a statutory obligation) employ two audit firms to conduct a joint audit is related to audit quality. We use separate samples and empirical designs for public and privately held companies in Sweden, where a sufficient number of companies have a joint audit on a voluntary basis. Our empirical findings suggest that companies opting to employ joint audits have a higher degree of earnings conservatism, lower abnormal accruals, better credit ratings and lower perceived risk of becoming insolvent within the next year than other firms. These findings are robust to the use of a propensity score matching technique to control for the differences in client characteristics between firms that employ joint audits and those that use single Big 4 auditors (i.e. auditor self-selection). We also find evidence that the choice of a joint audit is associated with substantial increases in the fees paid by the client firm, suggesting a higher perceived level of quality. Collectively, our analyses support the view that voluntary joint audits are positively associated with audit quality in a relatively low litigious setting both for public and private firms.     

Finding Sensitivity to Scope in Nonmarket Valuation

Data limitations frequently prevent using actual consumer behavior in determining natural resource values, so stated preference methods are used. Whether value estimates show sensitivity to the scope of resource valued is a key test for their validity, which several studies fail. Developing a correlated panel mixed logit model of households' water quality valuations in California, we show that false negatives in scope tests can result when individual preference variation and correlation are ignored and split‐sample comparisons are used. Monte Carlo simulations further demonstrate potentially prevalent false rejections of scope sensitivity even when within‐subject comparisons of willingness to pay portray strong scope sensitivity. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Union power,entrepreneurial risk,and entrepreneurship

The paper proposes that a trade-off can be identified between the union power and the entry rate of new enterprises. It suggests that union power increases the entrepreneurial failure risk, thereby discouraging entrepreneurship and reducing the employment opportunities. In addition, we show that high price uncertainty and a union-controlled labour market is a harmful combination for entrepreneurship.     

Sustainable agricultural intensification: the role of cardamom agroforestry in the East Usambaras,Tanzania

The East Usambaras in Tanzania are a tropical biodiversity hotspot where current agricultural management practices pose threats to forest conservation and development objectives. Promoting sustainable agricultural intensification (SAI) would improve long-term productivity and reduce pressure on forest reserves. The study objective was to identify household-level characteristics that influence adoption of improved management practices, specifically soil replenishment practices, in order to identify opportunities and constraints to scaling up SAI to landscape level. First, three common farming systems and a fourth agroforestry (AF) model were developed to estimate the relative profitability of incorporating fallow, manure, and non-timber forest product activities. Next, household surveys were conducted and a logistic regression analysis was used to measure the influence of socioeconomic characteristics, physical and financial assets, tenure security, and plot-specific attributes on adoption of soil replenishment practices that were specified in the model. Findings showed that the AF model was financially competitive but raises opportunity costs to labour when compared to common systems. Marital status, household size, remittances, credit access, and tenure security significantly influenced adoption of fallow and applying organic inputs. Significant plot-specific attributes included perceived fertility and distance from the homestead. Policies to scale up SAI should consider these factors and emphasize improving markets for AF species and extension services.