Leadership,power and racism: lifeguards’ influences on Aboriginal people’s experiences at a Northern Canadian aquatic facility

Using a Foucauldian and postcolonial lens, this case study examines the ways in which leadership styles used by lifeguards and supported by the structure, rules and regulations at a northern Canadian swimming pool influenced Aboriginal people’s experience of the facility. Participant observation, semi-structured interviews and a focus group were used to identify the ways in which Eurocentric lifeguard training, exercises of power, institutional racism and an absence of cultural competency can intersect to influence Aboriginal people’s use of a local pool and their considerations of lifeguarding as a potential employment opportunity. On the basis of these findings, the study suggests that the development and implementation of anti-discriminatory policies and procedures for swimming pools and the inclusion of cultural competency teachings in lifeguard training are necessary measures to enhance Aboriginal people’s experiences at northern swimming pools, to foster opportunities to become lifeguards and to augment Euro-Canadian lifeguards’ capacity to maintain a safe and welcoming aquatic environment in a cross-cultural context.     

Sex: The Power of the Powerless? The Use of Sex as a Spousal Influence Strategy in Vacation Purchase Decisions

This study is the first to test empirically the common notion regarding sexual manipulation as a spousal influence strategy during couples' vacation purchasing decisions. The study examined whether the use of sex as a spousal influence strategy is more prevalent among individuals who have less marital power than their spouses. Marital power is treated as two-dimensional: the first dimension is objective and composed of actual economic resources; the second is subjective and composed of feelings. A sample of 192 married or cohabiting men evaluated their own and their partner's use of sex as a means of exerting influence during a vacation decision process. Female subjects with low levels of subjective marital power and male subjects with low levels of objective marital power used sex as a spousal influence strategy at a higher frequency. The study found that during a vacation decision process, the use of sex as a spousal influence strategy is impacted by the marital power balance between the spouses. Second, economic power is not the dominant factor that affects the use of this influence strategy; rather, it is interpersonal power that is influential. The findings imply that sex may be used as a power strategy by the powerless.     

Factors affecting biasing of capital budgeting cash flow forecasts: evidence from the hotel industry

This study contributes to a neglected aspect of the capital budgeting process, namely, the proposal development stage, which is primarily concerned with project cash flow estimation. Given that the deployment of sophisticated selection techniques is severely undermined when directed to input data suffering from bias, it is surprising that minimal empirical research has sought to explore for antecedent factors associated with biasing of capital budgeting cash flow forecasts. This paper reports the findings of a survey concerned with determining factors associated with biasing of capital budget cash flow forecasts in hotels that are mediated by a management contract. Statistically significant support is provided for the view that higher levels of biasing of capital budget cash flow forecasts occur in the presence of: high emphasis attached to the payback investment appraisal method; deficient reserve funds for furniture, fittings, and equipment (FF&E); low operator accessibility to reserve funds for FF&E; shorter periods of time to management contract expiry; and high emphasis attached to non-financial factors in capital budgeting appraisal.     

Opportunist dealing in the UK pig meat supply chain: Trader mentalities and alternatives

The scandal surrounding the presence of horsemeat in UK supermarket meat products has focused public attention on the problems of complex, fragmented food supply chains. Through a study of the UK's pig meat supply chain, this paper proposes a new framing of the problem in terms of opportunistic dealing adopted by the supermarkets in vertically disintegrated supply chains, where all actors attempt to pass the risks and costs onto somebody else. This outcome is the result of cultural practices and competences in buyer-led supermarket organizations where strong supermarket chains have the power to capture processor and producer margins. One consequence is that mass-market meat production and processing is close to unviable, as evidenced here by the analysis of the VION Food Group. However, there are mainstream alternatives to the retail-led dysfunctional supply chain. This paper presents an alternative integrated supply chain model using the case of Morrisons, the UK's fourth largest supermarket chain. If fragmented supply chains are not inevitable, the important issue explored in the conclusion is how the inadequacies of government policy, which understands the problem of the sector but is stuck with a competition-based mindset, obstruct the creation of a more sustainable supply chain.     

Flexible Fourier stationary test in purchasing power parity for African countries

This study applies stationary test with a Fourier function proposed by Enders and Lee (2004 Enders, W and Lee, J. 2004. Testing for a unit root with a nonlinear Fourier function, Tuscaloosa, AL, , USA: Working Paper, Department of Economics, Finance and Legal Studies, University of Alabama.  [Google Scholar], 2009 Enders, W and Lee, J. 2009. The flexible Fourier form and testing for unit roots: an example of the term structure of interest rates, Tuscaloosa, AL, , USA: Working Paper, Department of Economics, Finance and Legal Studies, University of Alabama.  [Google Scholar]) to test the validity of long run Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) to assess the nonstationary properties of the real exchange rate for 20 African countries. We find that our approximation has higher power to detect U shaped breaks and smooth breaks than linear method if the true data generating process of exchange rate is in fact a stationary nonlinear process. We examine the validity of PPP from the nonlinear point of view and provide robust evidence clearly indicate that PPP holds true for almost African countries. Our findings point out their exchange rate adjustment is mean reversion towards PPP equilibrium values in a nonlinear way.     

The Social Psychological Underpinnings of Commons’s Institutional Economics: The Significance of Dewey’s Human Nature and Conduct

The institutional environment of science differs across countries. Its particularities have an impact on productivity of scientific enterprise in terms of both research and teaching. Reform of the system of higher education occupies an important place in programs of catch-up modernization. Attempts to replicate Western institutional arrangements and organizational designs in this area have been undertaken in Russia since the very beginning of economic and political reforms of the 1990s. This paper considers a particular transplant, the Higher School of Economics (HSE) established in 1992, and its subsequent evolution. A structural analysis shows its divergence from the organizational patterns that served as a model. The HSE case is compared with several "representative" Western universities as well as other Russian universities. When explaining divergent patterns between the HSE and the Western counterparts, special attention is paid to the issue of power relationships and their role in the functioning of the scientific organization. The paper aims to contribute to the discussion of "cultural entrepreneurs" and their motivation.     

权利配置、契约完备、政府约束视角下的中国农村经济组织化发展研究

中国农村以家庭承包经营制度为核心的小农经济在迅速发展的市场经济中竞争能力日渐不足,组织化发展是促进农村经济增长和提高农民收入的一条可行之路。诸多研究表明,从制度经济学的角度来看,经济的组织化发展是以权利配置、契约完备和政府约束的组织化为核心。以此为起点,本文首先探究了制度组织化提高供求竞争性均衡的机理,之后深入研究了中国农村经济中农地流转、农民合作、农产品流通、农业生产和农村金融服务五个组成部分中权利配置、契约完备和政府约束三个方面的组织化水平及其与农村经济供求均衡的适应度,最后给出了中国农村经济组织化发展的对策建议。     

Agrifood Safety Standards,Market Power,and Consumer Misperceptions

This article analyzes how the public regulation of food safety influences a firm's strategic behaviour in a food chain. In this context, we provide an original theoretical framework to show how, regardless of the level of standard, food safety regulation may have unexpected harmful effects. Namely, the level of compliance costs alone cannot explain the producer exclusion due to a high level of standard. We highlight how upstream producers' involvement in the market also depends on the strategic interest of the downstream firm to remunerate their compliance process. Finally, we show how the actual level of risk does not necessarily decrease when the standard is reinforced.     

Deterrence or Conflict Spiral Effect? Exercise of Coercive Power in Marketing Channels: Evidence from China

Purpose: The article aims to test the appropriateness of deterrence and conflict spiral models in marketing channels. Both models have been alternatively used as bases to explain firms’ power-related behaviors in marketing channels. However, the issue of the appropriateness of such an application in various contexts has not yet been addressed.

Methodology/approach: The authors develop the hypotheses based on deterrence theory and their alternatives based on conflict spiral theory. They gather data from 204 sales representatives of suppliers in China and use linear regression analysis to test their hypotheses versus alternatives.

Empirical findings: The data analysis offers supportive evidence for the deterrence logic but with unexpected results. By elaborating on the empirical results, the original assumption of deterrence theory, and the nature of interfirm relationship in marketing channels, the authors modify the deterrence model for research on power related-behaviors in the given context. The analysis implies a possible explanation for inconsistent findings in the literature regarding exercises of coercive power.

Originality/value/contribution: This article proposes a revised deterrence model that can interpret the empirical results with a consistent logic and better predict power-related behaviors in marketing channels.

Research limitations/implications: The research results may lack generalizability with respect to channel type and culture. It does not directly test the cognitive mechanisms that mediate the impact of power on its exercise. Researchers are encouraged to directly test the mediating constructs in other channels or countries.

Practical implications: The article includes some insights and implications for managers in understanding power structure and implementing influence strategies in business-to-business marketing.