Peers Versus National Culture: An Analysis of Antecedents to Ethical Decision-making

Given the recent ethics scandals in the United States, there has been a renewed focus on understanding the antecedents to ethical decision-making in the research literature. Since ethical norms and standards of behavior are not universally consistent, an individual’s choice of referent may exert a large influence on his/her ethical decision-making. This study used a social identity theory lens to empirically examine the relative influence of the macro- and micro-level variables of national culture and peers on an individual’s intention to behave ethically. Our sample consisted of respondents from Germany, Italy, and Japan. The results indicated that both national culture and peers were found to act as significant referents in ethical decision-making dilemmas. Although peers exerted a much stronger influence on an individual’s ethical decision-making, the impact of peers varied depending on the national culture levels of individualism and power distance. James W. Westerman is an Associate Professor of Management at Appalachian State University. He received his Ph.D in Management from the University of Colorado at Boulder and an MBA from Florida State University. His research interests include person-organization fit, compensation, and employee ethics, and has been published in the Journal of Organizational Behaviour, Journal of Business Ethics, Academy of Management Learning and Education, Group and Organization Management and the Journal of Business and Psychology, among others. Rafik I. Beekun (Ph.D., the University of Texas at Austin) is Professor of Management and Strategy in the Managerial Sciences Department at the University of Nevada. Reno, and Co-director, Center for Corporate Governance and Business Ethics. His current research focuses on business ethics, national cultures and the link between management and spirituality. He has published in such journals as the Journal of Applied Psychology, Human Relations, Journal of Management, Journal of Business Ethics and Decision Sciences. Yvonne Stedham is a Professor of Management in College of Business at the University of Nevada, Reno. She received a Ph.D. in Business and an MBA from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas and undergraduate degrees in Economics and Business from the University of Bonn, Germany. She joined the University of Nevada, Reno in 1988 and served as Chair of the Managerial Sciences Department from 1999-2002. Dr. Stedham's research covers a broad spectrum of management issues with a special focus on international, business ethics and gender aspects, and has been published in the Journal of Management. Women in Management Review, the Journal of Management Studies, the Journal of Business Ethics,the Journal of European Industrial Training, and the Journal of Knowledge Management Practice, Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resource, and others. Jeanne H. Yamamura, CPA, MIM, PHD, is Associate Professor at the University of Nevada Reno. Her research is focused in the area of the international management of accounting professionals and in ethical decision making. She has published in journals such as the International Journal of Accounting, the International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Performance Evaluation and the International Journal of Human Resource Management.     

基于Web的餐饮连锁经营管理信息系统的开发

餐饮连锁经营企业为参与世界范围内商业的竞争 ,必须通过计算机广域网连接分布在全国各地的连锁机构 ,以提高企业经营管理水平。基于Web的餐饮连锁经营管理信息系统的系统分析和系统设计 ,采用B/S结构和先进的开发工具对系统进行了开发 ,实践证明 ,系统具有一定的先进性、实用性、可靠性和安全性。     

A Note on the Labor Market Effects of Remittances in Latin American and Caribbean Countries: Do Thresholds Exist?

The labor market effects of remittances have long been examined in the empirical literature. To date, the results have been mixed: some authors observe a negative association between remittances and unemployment while others report that remittances increase unemployment. This study empirically examines the impact of remittances on unemployment using macroeconomic data for a sample of 18 Latin American and Caribbean countries. Specifically, the study tests whether there is a nonlinear relationship between the variables. Results suggest that when the remittance‐to‐GDP ratio is low, remittances have a positive and significant impact on unemployment. However, as they increase, remittances are negatively associated with unemployment. This suggests the possibility that estimations based on the assumption of a linear relationship between remittances and labor may mask the true relationship between the variables.     

Sales and Firm Entry: The Case of Wal‐Mart

Temporary price reductions or “sales” have become increasingly important in the evolution of the price level. We present a model of repeated price competition to illustrate how entry causes incumbents to alternate between high and low prices. Using a six‐year panel of weekly observations from a grocery chain, we find that individual stores employ more sales as the distance to Wal‐Mart falls. Moreover, the increase in the frequency of sales was concentrated on the most popular products, suggesting the use of a loss‐leader strategy.     

基于W77E532单片机的锁定轨温测试系统

介绍了使用W77E532单片机为主控核心的无缝线路锁定轨温测试系统的硬件组成架构和软件实现。该系统巧妙的将形变与应力状态通过传感器方式数值化,并利用数学模型计算出无缝线路的锁定轨温。现场应用表明,该系统操作简单快捷,测试数据准确可靠。     

基于Pro/E的机械零部件三维动态序列装配技术研究

三维动态序列装配技术在机械产品和工程设计行业的设计、制造、检测、展示、学习、资金节约、功效提高等方面具有非常重要的意义,其制作具有一定的技术复杂性和技巧性,目前许多三维CAD软件有此功能,但很少有此方面的具体介绍,为了给机械及工程技术人员提供一些有益的借鉴,以某高楼外墙清洗机吸盘部件三维动态序列装配动画的制作为例,针对Pro/E三维机械设计软件的动态序列装配技术进行了详细介绍,给出了整个制作流程。     

On Persistent Demand Shortages: A Behavioural Approach

We incorporate two sets of behavioural assumptions, fairness concerns and insatiable desire for money, into a dynamic optimization model to illuminate how they can generate persistent aggregate demand shortages. We obtain the conditions for persistent unemployment and temporary unemployment. Policy implications differ significantly between the two cases. A monetary expansion raises private consumption under temporary unemployment but not under persistent unemployment. A fiscal expansion may or may not increase short‐run private consumption but crowds out long‐run consumption under temporary unemployment. Under persistent unemployment, however, a fiscal expansion always increases private consumption. The “paradoxes of toil and flexibility” also appear.     

International Transmission of the People's Bank of China's Balance Sheet Expansion

The People's Bank of China's (PBoC) balance sheet expanded more dramatically than any of its major international counterparts during the past decade. The main contribution to this expansion was the rapid accumulation of the central bank's foreign assets, as a result of foreign exchange market intervention. In this paper, we examine the possible international transmission of this expansion by analyzing monthly data for China and 15 other countries over the period 2000–2012. Impulse response analysis based on vector autoregression modeling suggests that the PBoC's balance sheet expansion has greater impacts on developing than on developed countries. So far the influences appear to be dominated by “trade channels” instead of “financial channels,” possibly due to China's capital account controls. However, the impacts of the PBoC's balance sheet expansion on other countries' interest rates, exchange rates, and stock market prices could strengthen significantly in the coming years as China's economic scale grows and its capital account opens up.     

Foreign Direct Investment and the External Wealth of Nations: How Important Is Valuation?

While the balance sheet approach has increased the focus on position data, differences in valuation practices for foreign direct investment (FDI) make cross‐country comparisons difficult. To enhance comparability, the IMF's Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual, sixth edition, which some countries have already implemented and others will implement in the coming years, recommends seven methods for valuation of unlisted FDI. This paper demonstrates that both the valuation method and simple differences in estimation techniques can fundamentally change a country's financial balance sheet. Using Denmark as an illustration, unlisted FDI equity liabilities vary from 22 to 156 percent of GDP when applying different estimation techniques, but just one valuation method, price to earnings. These measurement uncertainties can lead to important misunderstandings and affect policy recommendations, thus pointing to the need for further international harmonization. While the results are presented in an FDI context, the uncertainties also apply to other macroeconomic datasets, including national accounts statistics.