Predicting new product success with prediction markets in online communities

The prediction of new product success is still a challenging task. Traditional market research tools are expensive, time consuming, and error prone. Prediction markets have been introduced as a viable alternative. Utilizing inputs from various participants in game‐like environments, they have been shown to produce accurate results by combining dispersed knowledge via market‐based aggregation mechanisms. While most previous studies use employees or experts as a sample, we test whether online consumer communities can be used to predict the sale of new skis via prediction markets. Sixty‐two users took part in the study. The prediction market was open for 12 days before the main skiing season 2010/2011 began. The outcomes of the prediction markets were compared with the actual sales numbers provided by the ski producers. The mean average errors were between 2.74% and 9.09% in the four markets. Overall, it can be concluded that the prediction markets based on consumer communities produce accurate results.     

Marginalising women in politics: Recent trends in KwaZulu-Natal

This paper examines trends in the political marginalisation of women in KwaZulu-Natal between 1994 and 2004. South Africa's political representation of women has been increasing significantly since 1994. KwaZulu-Natal has just over 25% female representation in provincial governance, an enviable percentage compared to world figures. This paper examines the quality of that representation to discover how effectively this 25% has addressed the concerns of the region's women, especially rural African women, and what sociocultural notions have hampered their political participation and thus escalated their socioeconomic marginalisation. Looking at primary and secondary data from interviews with women in rural KwaZulu-Natal and in public decision-making structures, and with female and male political science students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the paper finds that politics is still masculinised, and poverty by implication remains feminised.     

An Analysis of 10 years of Business Ethics Research in Strategic Management Journal: 1996–2005

From a corporate governance perspective, one of the most important jobs of a firm’s top management team is to create and maintain a positive moral environment. Business ethics has long been considered a cornerstone in the field of strategic management and a number of scholars have called for more research in this area over the years. In this paper 658 articles that appeared in Strategic Management Journal over the 10-year period between 1996 and 2005 are reviewed for business ethics focus and content. The results reveal that while business ethics research in Strategic Management Journal is on the rise, the overall focus on this research stream has been limited. The most prominent ethics theme during the review period was environmentalism, accounting for 30% of all ethics articles. Author affiliations, future research directions, and implications are also discussed.     

Dealing with rough times: a capabilities development approach to surviving and thriving

Leaders during a deep and prolonged downturn should introduce organizational practices that build capability in the organization, not only to withstand the uncertainties of rough times better, but also to emerge stronger for the future. We present a set of organization design changes that can create closer connections to the marketplace and better use knowledge in the organization to introduce new ways to deliver value while consuming fewer resources. During rapid change and extreme threats, steering the ship is not sufficient. Leaders must introduce approaches that tap employees' energies throughout the organization. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

George Raymond Geiger (1903-1998): A Rich Life

ABSTRACT George R. Geiger, professor of Philosophy at Antioch College for fifty years, died March 19, 1998. He was a founding member of the editorial council of the American Journal of Economics and Sociology (1941-1998) and of the Antioch Review (1941-1998). He was also an advisor to and consulting editor of the Humanist (1955–59). He was the son of the founder of the Henry George School of Social Science of New York City and John Dewey's last doctoral student at Columbia University. Early on in his career he took up his father's cause, that of land value taxation; later he took up a defense of the contributions of his mentor, Dewey, and became in his own words a "journalist of philosophy."     

Accounting Classification in the IFRS Era

The degree to which, and the purposes for which, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have been adopted vary internationally. This paper uses classification techniques in order to investigate the reaction of countries, or companies within them, to IFRS. In addition, this paper investigates five aspects of this; for example, whether European countries mandate IFRS for unconsolidated financial reports. Previous classifications in accounting are used to help to predict and explain this.     

Closing the circle: participant views of a 360 degree feedback programme

The use of 360 degree feedback is becoming increasingly commonplace in organisations. It is claimed that this programme offers a more rounded diagnosis of development needs resulting in more effective development plans for individuals and more strategically focused investment in training for the organisation as a whole. These claims are tested in a qualitative and quantitative field study of participants in a 360 degree programme for middle and senior managers at a UK university. Some elements of the programme are found to work better than others, but participants rate their experience of almost all aspects of training and development as significantly better than a matched sample of non‐participants, and this leads to more positive global evaluations of the employer. The implications for the use of 360 degree programmes are discussed with regard to the critical HRM literature.     

Foreign direct investment and the euro: the first five years

This paper assesses the main influences on foreign direct investment(FDI) flows between the major economies in the first five yearsof economic and monetary union (EMU). Using previously unpublisheddata specially provided by Eurostat, it concludes that the hugewave of FDI that reached the Eurozone after EMU was largelya manifestation of the end-of-century takeover boom, a globalphenomenon of which the euro was only a subsidiary cause. Butmuch of the boom in euro economies' FDI disappears if flowsto and from the Belgium–Luxembourg Economic Union (BLEU)(dominated by transhipment via Luxembourg) are removed. On thatbasis, intra-zone FDI turns out to have been weak after EMU,both in relation to previous trends and as a share of majoreconomies' global FDI flows. However, the euro appears to havegiven a modest stimulus to inflows from other major investingeconomies, while the UK share of the latters' outflows has fallenmoderately in the post-EMU period. The policy implications arediscussed.     

打破中国制造的“低成本”魔咒

只要中国人做了,其他人就不要做了。这是当今制造业的生动写照。但是,中国制造的破坏性策略使越来越多的企业陷入低成本的魔咒,劳动力成本、原材料和能源价格都在上涨,以及人民币持续升值,中国制造企业面临着严峻挑战。