Futures of the sustainable firm: An evolutionary perspective

The response of firms to sustainable development issues needs to pass through a deep re-thinking of the strategic design, encompassing the entire organization, its functions and re-shaping its business model.This contribution proposes a frame of reference for SD oriented organizations, based on three cornerstones: principles, processes and outcomes. Based on an abductive research approach, an analysis is developed on some case studies. Special attention is devoted to the dynamics of SD oriented organizations in order to understand how firms can evolve towards progressively more challenging models of business which make compatible profitability and growth with respect for the environment and – beyond mere respect – positive proactive action to improve the planet resources.     

Organization technology and the media and purpose dimensions of organization communications

Data collected from field research using structured observations indicate for task communications significant relationships between organization technology certainty (using Perrow's typology) and use of verbal and sign media and no significant relationship with use of object and written media. These data also indicate relationships between technology certainty and stimulus and problem solving communications purposes. Directionality of communications moderates these technology-purpose relationships, even exposing some additional relationships. The last section of this article proposes a reconceptualized model of organization communications, considering technology certainty, member mobility, and leadership style as independent variables and directionality as a moderating variable.     

Preferences for compensation options

An analysis of preferences for compensation options was performed for a sample of employees in one organization. The organization was sampled at two points in time, approximately one year apart. The first sample was a stratified random sample of managerial and nonmanagerial employees (N = 101). The second sample contained a repeat sample of 48 individuals and a random sample of 80 individuals for a total (N = 128). The sampling procedure allowed for both cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis. The analysis of compensation preferences was based on the set of compensation items currently available to all employees. The results indicated a marked stability of preferences for the longitudinal sample (N = 48), and a systematic crosssectional variance in preferences at both time periods based on age and salary levels of employees. The results of this research lend credence to both cafeteria-style compensation programs and portable pensions.     

Macro-financial linkages and business cycles: A factor-augmented probit approach

In this paper, we analyze macro-financial linkages in the euro area by implementing an innovative factor-augmented probit model estimated using a large database. In particular, our model specification enables the identification of the leading influence of financial variables on euro area business cycles, in addition to the coincident information conveyed by standard macroeconomic variables. We also point out that dynamic factor models lead to more accurate replication of business cycles than static ones.     

Industrial product innovation: An international comparison

This paper presents and discusses the data obtained from a study of 500 industrial innovations introduced in major industrialized countries from 1953 to 1973. The trends in industrial innovation of both the country of origin and the country of market introduction are examined based on the data presented.     

Accuracy of management and security analysts' forecasts: Additional evidence

This paper provides further support for findings in studies by Basi, Carey, and Twark [2] and Ruland [5] which indicated no statistically significant superiority of management over analysts in forecasting earnings per share. These somewhat surprising findings are seen to flow from several possible sources. Lack of superior management forecasting performance may reflect (1) a considerable sharing of the forecast or forecast-related information by management with analysts, or (2) firm-specific data (to which management is more privy) may be less important in forecasting performance than data on economy-wide movements.     

Monitoring in service triads consisting of buyers, subcontractors and end customers

Organisations increasingly outsource service delivery to specialist subcontractors. These buyers, their subcontractors and their end customers operate in a triadic service relationship. In these triads, the buyer lacks direct control over service delivery and completely depends on the subcontractor for its performance towards its end customers. Subcontractors are confronted with two principals (buyer and end customer) who may have conflicting objectives.Although traditionally focusing on dyadic buyer–seller relationships rather than triads, Agency Theory provides valuable suggestions on the type of contract to be used and the type of monitoring to be employed. We adopt Agency Theory as a theoretical lens to look at the buyer–subcontractor–end customer triad and develop propositions on the design of contractual arrangements and monitoring activities. We use the results of two cases of service triads to provide some initial validation for these propositions.     

‘Though it is but a promise’: Business probity in Arnold Bennett's Anna of the Five Towns

Noting the increasing interest amongst business historians in the socio-cultural dimensions of business, this article presents a reading of Arnold Bennett's early twentieth-century novel Anna of the Five Towns. The purpose of the article is both to explore the evidential value of cultural representations, such as the novel, in relation to issues currently to the fore in business history, such as trust, and also to act as a means through which to examine some of the biases and assumptions present in the literature. Thus the article speaks also to issues of historiography.     

Corruption,foreign aid and welfare to the poor

This paper investigates the impact of foreign aid and corruption on the welfare of different classes in an economy that receives aid and uses it to finance a public good. We use a general equilibrium model that consists of three goods and three income classes to derive our results. The most important result we obtain is to show that under certain conditions, aid and corruption immiserize the poor.     

MATCHING MODELS UNDER SCRUTINY: AN APPRAISAL OF THE SHIMER PUZZLE

Abstract Two papers have recently questioned the quantitative consistency of the search and matching model. Shimer has argued that a textbook matching model is unable to explain the cyclical variation of unemployment and vacancies in the US economy. Costain and Reiter have found the existence of a trade‐off in the model's performance: any attempt to change the calibrated values to improve the model's ability to predict the business cycle jeopardizes its predictions of the impact of unemployment benefits on unemployment. In surveying the literature originating in these findings, I distinguish three different avenues that have been followed to correct the model: change in wage formation, change in the calibration and changes in the model specification. The last approach seems to achieve the best results both from a business cycle and from a microeconomic viewpoint.