Can Business Ethics be Trained? A Study of the Ethical Decision-making Process in Business Students

The purpose of this paper is to examine the various guidelines presented in the literature for instituting an ethics curriculum and to empirically study their effectiveness. Three questions are addressed concerning the trainability of ethics material and the proper integration and implementation of an ethics curriculum. An empirical study then tested the effect of ethics training on moral awareness and reasoning. The sample consisted of two business classes, one exposed to additional ethics curriculum (experimental), and one not exposed (control). For the experimental group, ethics exercises and discussion relevant to each topic were completed. Findings suggested gender differences such that, relative to other groups, women in the experimental group showed significantly improved moral awareness and decision-making processes. An explanation of the underlying cognitive processes is presented to explain the gender effect.     

浅议我国民营银行的发展

国有银行有力地支持了国家经济的增长,但是国家垄断性的金融制度也为此付出了巨大控制成本,导致银行信贷资金配置效率低下。民间金融可以作为金融市场化以后农村地区和中小企业融资的主要渠道。要正确引导、规范和利用民间金融,为民间借贷构筑一个合法的流动平台,规范、约束和保证民间借贷行为,解决国有银行垄断及金融结构的畸形问题,以降低我国金融体系的整体风险。     

Finnish polytechnics as providers of knowledge-intensive services

Polytechnics are newcomers in companies' regional innovation environments in Finland. Particularly in regions with no university of their own or with only few knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) providers, they may become, and in some cases already are, important providers of science-and-technology-related services. The aim of this article is to analyse the roles, possibilities and challenges of polytechnics as public KIBS providers. Also, the position of polytechnics as a tool of Finnish innovation policy will be discussed.     

Electronic Marketplace: A Distinct Platform for Business-to-Business (B-to-B) Procurement

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine whether buyers perceive different electronic marketplaces (EMs) as distinct types of procurement platforms. More specifically, it empirically investigates to what extent professional buyers expect different benefits from different EM types and perceive different barriers associated with their usage.

Methodology: A Web-based survey of purchasing professionals in the United States was conducted with 359 responses received. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was performed to determine if there are significant differences between EM types with respect to expected benefits (market aggregation and inter-firm collaboration) and perceived barriers (financial risks and trust barriers).

Findings: The results show buyers' expectations of benefits differ significantly between public EMs (i.e., third-party exchanges and industry-sponsored marketplaces) and private EMs (i.e., private trading networks), and between neutral EMs (i.e., third-party exchanges) and biased EMs (i.e., private trading networks and industry-sponsored marketplaces). Likewise, their perception of barriers differs significantly between public and private EMs.

Research limitations/implications: The research confirmed empirically that EMs are a distinct platform for business-to-business procurement. Nevertheless, by examining EMs from business buyers' perspective, this study necessarily limits itself to purchasing-related issues.

Practical implications: By providing insights into buyers' perceptions, our findings can help managers focus their promotional efforts aimed at potential firms that would like to use EM for procurement by emphasizing specific benefits or addressing specific perceived barriers based on the type of EM they manage.

Originality/value: This study fills a void in academic literature on EMs that currently contains few empirical studies with respect to EM types. Its main contribution is in establishing empirically that EMs do not constitute a single, homogeneous marketspace but are instead comprised of distinct types that offer users specific benefits and expose them to certain risks.     

Communication costs in the performance of unrelated tasks: Continuum models and finite models

We consider two two‐person organizations, called A and B. Each organization faces a changing environment; an environment has two components and each of them is privately observed by one of the organization's two members. Each organization's task is to respond to the current environment by taking a correct action; the correct action is a known function of the environment. However, the task of A is totally unrelated to the task of B: if A knew B's current environment and B's current correct action, that would tell A nothing at all about its own current correct action (and vice versa). Now suppose that each organization performs its task by a sequence of message announcements that stop when an “action‐taker”; has just enough information about the two members’ private observations so that he can take the correct action. Suppose we measure the effort this requires by the size of the set of possible message announcements. Then a compelling conjecture says that there can be no saving in total effort if we merge the two organizations into a single four‐person organization in which a single action‐taker takes both actions.

The conjecture turns out to be true when the possible messages form a continuum whose size is measured by its dimension, provided the message‐announcing procedure obeys suitable regularity conditions. When we turn to a model in which the number of possible messages is finite, the situation is different. While a certain general proposition about coverings and projections is the main tool in proving the “continuum”; conjecture, the finite analog of that proposition is (surprisingly) false. The finite version of the conjecture holds, on the other hand, when one adds a certain regularity requirement ("contiguity") to the message‐announcement procedure. The truth of the finite conjecture without such a requirement remains open.     

A Case Study on the Dual Effect of External Support and Implications on Small Business Growth,Entrepreneurial Creativity and Performance

ABSTRACT

Using a case study approach, this article investigates a Small Plastic Manufacturing Firm (SPMF) and Entrepreneur in Nigeria. The firm represents an example of a firm that has received external support. Very few firms are able to acquire adequate SME grants in Nigeria. Findings from the study revealed that most Small Plastic Manufacturing Entrepreneurs in Nigeria constrained by certain external and internal factors ironically, seem to be challenged to invent original strategies on their own, to cope, survive and to remain in business. Lack of financial capital, especially foreign exchange needed to import vital operating inputs from abroad has been the most serious constraint. Other serious external constraints identified are inadequate infrastructure facilities, competition from large firms, unfavorable government policies, dearth of machines and spare parts and paucity of raw materials. Internal obstacles like incompetent planning, poor organizational skills, and limited knowledge, among others, are common obstacles faced by most Nigerian entrepreneurs. It is also discovered that, in Nigeria, funding assis tance to entrepreneurs by relevant institutions concerned are not based on merit but rather biased on the basis of favoritism.     

Trends in Agricultural Incomes: An Analysis at the Select Crop and State Levels in India

India's agricultural sector is at a crossroads, facing challenges of stagnation in crop yields, non‐remunerative prices, falling crop incomes and tardy responses from public service systems. There are reports of peasant suicides due to non‐profitability of farming. However, scant empirical evidence is available on changes in real income and wages in the Indian agricultural sector. The present study uses data from the National Accounts Statistics and Cost of Cultivation Surveys to analyse the changes in real income and discusses the underlying reasons. The study reveals that the purchasing power of farmers has remained low and has worsened over recent years. The value of crop output has increased, but a disproportionate rise in input costs has resulted in a fall in crop incomes in several states, with the agriculturally developed Punjab being an exception. Interestingly, real wage rates for agricultural labour have shown an increasing trend, indicating improvement in the welfare of labour.     

Assessing the Reliability of Self‐reported Income Information in Informal Small Business Lending through a Bogus Pipeline Experiment

Coping with asymmetric information plays a major role in successful small business lending. Our purpose is to determine if small business applicants report their income information correctly when requesting a loan. We use a randomised controlled trial bogus pipeline experiment, established during a typical cash‐flow analysis of a bank for small businesses in the Philippines. The bogus pipeline approach is commonly applied in social science and aims to increase the rate of truth telling by informing participants that answers will be verified by a lie detector. The experimental data, which include 243 observations of credit clients that are mainly from the agricultural and food value chain, served to identify asymmetric information. Additionally, debtors’ repayment behaviour for approved loans was observed by the bank. Our results indicate that loan applicants of the treatment group report lower incomes, an effect which is most pronounced in lower income quantile. Our analyses also reveal higher loan delinquencies in the control group.     

城乡建设用地增减挂钩中土地权属调整研究

研究目的:分析增减挂钩政策中土地权属调整面临的困境,探讨权属调整途径,立足于保障集体和农民合法权益,提出创新和完善增减挂钩政策的建议。研究方法:政策分析法。研究结果:集体土地所有权权属调整面临缺乏法律依据、空间约束性强、集中居住区土地性质模糊等困境;集体土地使用权权属调整面临实践与法律脱节、集中居住区土地及房屋产权界定困难等困境。研究结论:在法律层面为集体土地所有权流转正名并保障集体土地和国有土地"同权同价,同等入市"以及建立新型集体经营制度;实践中土地所有权向村集体集中并依法流转、农地使用权以"确权确股不确地"方式交由集体经营、扩大集体经营性建设用地入市交易规模。     

Characteristics of a Logistics-Based Business Model

In companies where excellence in logistics is decisive for the outperformance of competitors and logistics has an outspoken role for the strategy of the firm, there is present what we refer to here as a “logistics-based business model.” Based on a multiple case study of three Nordic retail companies, the purpose of this article is to explore the characteristics of such a logistics-based business model. As such, this research helps to provide structure to logistics-based business models and identifies a way forward for companies for whom logistics and distribution are a major concern for the overall strategy of the firm.