Measuring the information age business

There are seven important characteristics of information age businesses which differ in a major way from traditional industrial age businesses. We should expect that managing this new type

of business will require different management information, knowledge and skills. But what metrics precisely should an information age business manager watch and how should they be used? Two such

metrics, structural effectiveness and knowledge productivity are proposed and discussed. In the information age business, effectiveness, a balance between doing things right (effciency) and doing the right things, is

needed, The structural effectiveness metrirs called .complexity dynamicism and intergration reduce to quanitifiable terns the degree to which the structure of the business's work processes encourage or inhibit effective business operations. Knowleage must be treated as an independent driver of the information age business, in addition to the labor, capital and raw materials which drove industrial age businesses. Managers (and owners) must have a way of measuring how well the knowladge assets of a business are being utilized. The knowledge productivity metric measure this utilization in a way analogous to how managements nurturing of capital assets is measured (i.e. return on capital).     

Russia and the global intellectual services markets

The incipient process of intellectualization of global development is described and the role and behavior of intellectual (nonmaterial) services in the world economic relations is presented. Russia’s position on global nonmaterial service markets is analyzed in comparison with other countries. The scope for utilization of the Russian scientific, educational and other intellectual potential in its foreign economic activities is expounded.     

Cost Management in Sri Lanka: A Case Study on Volume,Activity and Time as Cost Drivers

Despite its theoretical superiority, the activity-based costing (ABC) model has had only moderate success in replacing the traditional volume-based absorption costing models in complex organizations worldwide. Even in organizations that have launched ABC projects, the implementations often do not sustain. In response to this general lack of enthusiasm worldwide for ABC, accountants developed the time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) model as an alternative cost allocation model. This paper presents a comparison of the TDABC model with ABC, and considers if this alternative cost allocation model (1) is easier to implement from an international perspective and (2) provides comparable cost information for decision making. We use a case study in a country outside the model's country of origin to understand the similarities and differences in absorption costing systems that use ‘volume,’ ‘activities,’ and ‘time’ as the drivers of indirect cost allocations. We also use the case study to ascertain if any country‐specific factors impede ABC implementation. We conclude the following: the TDABC model has similar implementation complexities to ABC if modelling conditions are strictly adhered to; these complexities are independent of country‐specific factors; and in its simplest form, the model generates the same decision information errors of traditional costing.     

Auditing Human Resource Management in the Global Environment

The globalization of business is making it increasingly important to understand how multinational enterprises (MNEs) can operate more effectively. Human resource management can be a critical determinant of corporate effectiveness, particularly as it plays out in the global arena. This article discusses how MNEs enhance their ability to utilize human resources and internal labour markets for competitive advantage through audits of the international human resource management (IHRM) function. A multidimensional auditing framework is developed and applied to the strategic aspects of IHRM in MNEs and international joint ventures.     

Self-reinforcing effects between housing prices and credit

The financial crisis has brought the interaction between housing prices and household borrowing into the limelight of the economic policy debate. This paper examines the nexus of housing prices and credit in Norway within a structural vector equilibrium correction model (SVECM) over the period 1986q2–2008q4. The results establish a two way interaction in the long-run, so that higher housing prices lead to a credit expansion, which in turn puts an upward pressure on prices. Interest rates influence housing prices indirectly through the credit channel. Furthermore, households’ expectations about the future development of their own income as well as in the Norwegian economy have a significant impact on housing price growth. Dynamic simulations show how shocks are propagated and amplified. When we augment the model to include the supply side of the housing market, these effects are dampened.     

An empirical study of research and development top managers' perceptions of short-term pressures from capital markets in the United Kingdom

It is often argued that capital market pressures are increasingly directed towards short-term performance evaluation of managers and their operations. Whether these external capital market pressures actually exist or not, short-term pressures on firms are influenced by managers' own perceptions of these external pressures. If managers perceive the existence of these external pressures it is likely that this will lead to short-term behaviour on their part. The purpose of this paper is therefore to examine (a) research and development (R&D) managers' perceptions of short-term behaviour in capital markets in the UK, and (b) patterns of behaviour relating to R&D which may be influenced by these perceptions. The findings of this study indicate that approximately half of the UK research and development managers perceive capital markets as responsible for putting inappropriate short-term pressures on their companies' management. However, an even larger proportion report short-termist behaviour relating to R&D and its evaluation, suggesting that some at least of the problem of ‘short-termism’ is internally generated.     

Gemeinsame österreichisch-ungarische Sedimentforschung im Rahmen des EFRE-Projektes SEDDON

The multiple uses of the Danube River for navigation, hydropower production and as a drinking water supply influence its ecological quality. Flow restrictions due to regulation as well as impacts on the sediment regime such as retention in the catchment area and interruption of the sediment continuum result in changes of the hydromorphological structures and can produce major problems in the context of sediment management. In light of these facts, cross-border investigations of sediment transport at the Danube River are called for. As there are no uniform research approaches shared by Austria and Hungary, the EU-funded project SEDDON (Sediment Research and Management at the Danube River) aims to compare different monitoring and modeling techniques used to determine sediment transport, and to develop mutual solutions. Further, the laboratory equipment currently used for hydraulic model experiments is evaluated and a research channel with a free flowing discharge of up to 10 m³/s without pumping will be constructed, allowing large-scale joint laboratory tests concerning sediment to be performed.