in search of appropriate methodology from outside the people s republic of china looking in choosing a methodology determines what we can study as well as the range of possible results and conclusions this study took an instrument that had been developed in the west and used extensively in europe and north america to investigate managerial behavior in the people s republic of china for a number of reasons it failed to produce a valid and reliable description of chinese managerial behavior this paper investigates some of the methodogical issues involved in extending western organizational knowledge to the east it raises some fundamental questions about being outside looking in

operating flexibility global manufacturing and the option value of a multinational network the multinational corporation is a network of activities located in different countries the value of this network derives from the opportunity to benefit from uncertainty through the coordination of subsidiaries which are geographically dispersed we model this coordination as the operating flexibility to shift production between two manufacturing plants located in different countries a stochastic dynamic programming model treats explicitly this flexibility as equivalent to owning an option the value of which is dependent upon the real exchange rate the model is extended to analyze hysteresis effects and within country growth options we show that the management of across border coordination has led to changes in the heuristic rules used for performance evaluation and transfer pricing

the impact of the national minimum wage on the pay distribution employment and training britain s first ever national minimum wage nmw came into force in april 1999 covering some 5 of workers between 1999 and 2002 the nmw rose in line with the growth in average earnings but for 2003 6 the nmw will be ratcheted up relative to median pay the evidence shows that between 1998 and 2002 the bottom decile of the pay distribution experienced above average pay rises with no spillover effects further up the distribution there was no overall employment effect but a small negative impact in the care home sector the nmw boosts the probability and intensity of training

cognitive tendencies in international business research implications of a narrow vision some scholars have suggested that international business ib research suffers from a narrow vision this paper tests this thesis by extending principles of the cognitive sciences to study the ontological and epistemological features of ib research from 1970 through 1997 operationally ib scholars schematic representation of their logic of interpretation as indicated by 159 figures including 60 models conceptualization and frameworks culled from 27 years of jibs publication profiling these data by absolute and relative indicators of time shows that analog reasoning dominates present logics of interpretation in ib research the longitudinal profile and time series analysis of the structural features of schematic representations in jibs spotlights significantly decreasing comprehensiveness connectedness and complexity i close by nothing the intellectual merit of scholars call for dialectic inquiry and the task this imposes on the community of ib researchers particularly so within the academy of international business

on the measurement of risk aversion from experimental data attitudes towards risk are measured for households in northern zambia using an experimental gambling approach with real payoffs that at maximum were equal to 30 of average total annual income per capita the results of the experiment show decreasing absolute risk aversion and increasing partial risk aversion determinants of risk aversion are investigated using random effects interval regression model exploiting the panel data structure of the repeated experiments wealth indicator variables are found to be significant and partial relative risk aversion decreases as wealth increases females are found to be more risk averse than males

business ethics in china first i briefly review the emergence and development of business ethics following three stages 1978 1984 1984 1994 1994 to the present and driven by four factors the inheritance of chinese traditional ethics the influence of marxist philosophy and ethics the reflections on the economic reform and the influence of business ethics from abroad then from a practical and a theoretical perspective i discuss the main challenges for business ethics in china issues of the economic system of corporate ethics and of management after commenting on the role of business ethics for the social development in china i offer some reflections about what china can contribute to and learn from other peoples

a managerial decision model of international cooperative venture formation this paper develops a model of international cooperative venture formation that is centered on the decisionmaking process of mne executives central issues for managerial decisions are developed from the organizational studies literature a framework delineating the sequence and criteria used in the decision to form international cooperative ventures is developed from these defined issues and from existing models propositions pertaining to the venture formation decision process are outlined

the expansion of foreign direct investments discrete rational location choices or a cultural learning process it is recognized in the literature that experience may affect the cost and the uncertainty of operating in foreign markets and experience and market knowledge may therefore influence the location decisions of fdis economic theory does not however predict a general expansion pattern of fdis across industries on the other hand the theory associated with the internationalization process approach highlights the importance of cultural distance and predicts a movement from close to more distant markets as more experience is acquired by the firm the internationalization process approach is rooted in a behavioral theory of the firm

production risk in multi output industries estimates from norwegian dairy farms farmers who produce multiple outputs are portfolio managers in the sense that they use inputs to balance expected economic return and variance of return this article estimates the structure of the stochastic multioutput production technology in norwegian dairy farming allowing for a more flexible specification of the technology than previous studies we find that an increase in input levels leads primarily to higher output variability and that inputs also influence the covariance of shocks between outputs risk reducing effects of inputs on outputs are primarily present in the covariance functions technical change leads to shifts in the profit distribution over the data period but no welfare improvement for risk averse farmers

foreign entry cultural barriers and learning this paper examines the longevity of foreign entries hypotheses are developed on the mode start ups vs acquisitions and ownership structure wholly owned vs joint ventures in relation to cultural distance the hypotheses are tested within a framework of organizational learning using data on 225 entries that 13 dutch firms carried out from 1966 onwards results show that the presence of cultural barriers punctuates an organization s learning cultural distance is a prominent factor in foreign entry whenever this involves another firm requiring the firm to engage in double layered acculturation we also identify locational paths of learning the longevity of acquisitions is positively influenced by prior entries of the firm in the same country similarly the longevity of foreign entries in which the firm has a majority stake improves whenever the expanding firm engaged in prior entries in the same country and in other countries in the same cultural block

a causal model of linkages among environmental dimensions macro organizational characteristics and performance an integrative model of relationships among environmental dimensions diversification strategy firm size structural divisionalization and economic performance was developed and tested using environmental and organizational data from 110 large manufacturing firms the results suggested that among those organizations 1 higher levels of environmental instability were associated with lower levels of divisionalization and diversification 2 strategy followed structure and 3 size did not mediate the strategy structure relationship furthermore both environmental instability and diversification were positively related to market determined performance and instability was negatively related to operating performance the results provided support for portions of each of three models the external control strategic management and inertial models

a framework for integrated risk management in international business treatments of risk in the international management literature largely focus on particular uncertainties to the exclusion of other interrelated uncertainties this paper develops a framework for categorizing the uncertainties faced by firms operating internationally and outlines both financial and strategic corporate risk management responses

the econometrics of damage control why specification matters the contribution of damage control agents to production differs fundamentally from that of standard inputs lands labor capital this paper develops an econometric model based on the key characteristics of damage control agents and examines its properties it demonstrates that standard production function specifications overestimate damage control agent productivity and have erroneous implications for the evolution of damage control agent productivity and use in response to changing environments e g the spread of pest resistance it also proposes several alternative specifications and discusses methods for estimating them

do lower yielding farmers benefit from bt corn evidence from instrumental variable quantile regressions abstract there have been serious questions about whether lower yielding farmers in developing countries who are typically poor smallholders benefit from genetically modified crops like bacillus thuringensis bt corn this article examines this issue by estimating the heterogeneous impacts of bt corn adoption at different points of the yield distribution using farm level survey data from the philippines a recently developed estimation technique called instrumental variable quantile regression ivqr is used to assess the heterogeneous yield effects of bt corn adoption and at the same time address potential selection bias that usually plague impact assessment of agricultural technologies we find that the positive yield impact of bt corn in the philippines tend to be more strongly felt by farmers at the lower end of the yield distribution this result suggests that bt corn could be a pro poor technology since most of the lower yielding farmers in the philippines are poor smallholders with low incomes

a global code of business ethics the international economy is changing at a rapid rate the alteration and reduction of both geographical and political borders coupled with the growing interdependence of socially politically economically and legally diverse countries have caused multinational corporate entities to revise various policies these revisions include revisions in marketing strategies strategic alliances product and service strategies and perhaps most importantly as it affects all strategies a mnc s approach to ethical systems the truly global company must come to grips with the legal and moral atmosphere in which it operates the concept of moral rights those transcending legal or political rights drives us to review four international codes of conduct and to attempt to develop one international uniform code that might be applicable to any business in any country or culture

insurance moral hazard and chemical use in agriculture this paper examines how crop insurance affects corn farmers fertilizer and pesticide use in the u s midwest crop insurance might be expected to affect chemical use because of moral hazard insured farmers may undertake riskier production than do uninsured farmers results suggest that insurance exerts considerable influence on corn farmers chemical use decisions those purchasing insurance applied significantly more nitrogen per acre 19 spent more on pesticides 21 and treated more acreage with both herbicides and insecticides 7 and 63 than did those not purchasing insurance these results suggest that both fertilizer and pesticides may be risk increasing inputs

public service employment and the public private wage differential in british regions successive forms of regional policy in the uk have sought to support the maintenance and creation of public sector employment opportunities in relatively disadvantaged regions nationally negotiated public sector pay rates mean that the private public pay gap is likely to be wider in lower demand regions this will be reinforced by the relative absence of private sector employment crowding out in such higher unemployment regions this paper investigates the association between private and public sector service employment using panel data for british regions and estimates regional public private wage differentials using british household panel survey data for 1991 to 1996 across britain private sector employment growth is weakly positively associated with higher public service employment growth but the association is stronger in scotland and the north of england the pattern of regional wage differentials found is consistent with lower crowding out in higher unemployment regions this suggests that reg

local knowledge transfer and performance implications for alliance formation in asia foreign firms in host country environments frequently face location based disadvantages this study proposes three means channels of overcoming local knowledge disadvantages based on a sample of 558 japanese joint ventures jvs located in southeast and east asia we find that partnering with local firms the first channel can be a primary strategy for accessing local knowledge and improving jv performance jv experience in the host country the second channel also mitigates local knowledge disadvantages and leads to increased jv performance the third channel the foreign parent s host country experience leads to increased performance in the absence of a local partner however when a jv is formed with a local partner increased parent experience in the host country leads to decreased performance suggesting that the need for a local partner declines as parent experience in a host country increases

multinational corporate power influence and responsibility in global supply chains this paper examines the question of how to determine the extent of a multinational corporation mnc s corporate social responsibility for actions by its suppliers drawing on three theories of power and influence from the organization and management literature resource dependence theory social exchange theory and social network theory this paper presents a conceptual framework for analysing the extent of power and influence of an mnc in a global supply chain based on a consideration of i economic and non economic exchanges and ii direct and indirect exchanges in the mnc s industry network the paper also shows how the legal concept of complicity can be incorporated by considering the knowledge links of the mnc to other organizations in the industry network finally the paper demonstrates how the concepts can be integrated to construct a power assessment grid which can be used to assess the extent of responsibility of an mnc for the actions of its suppliers and other parties in the industry as well as a map of power and knowledge relationships between organizations in the industry which can be used for further analyses using social network analysis techniques

partner selection and venturing success the case of joint ventures with firms in the people s republic of china it has been hypothesized in the international joint venture ijv literature that partner selection affects interpartner fit which in turn influences a synergistic effect on ijv performance this study investigates the relationship between ijv success and the strategic and organizational traits of local partners we address this issue in the context of an emerging economy p r china newly emerging economies have in recent years become major hosts of direct investment by multinational corporations mncs because these rapidly expanding economies characterized by an exploding demand previously stifled by ideologically based government intervention provide tremendous opportunities which mncs can preempt mncs in such economies however face the challenges of structural reform weak market structure poorly specified property rights and institutional uncertainty right local partners can help mncs boost market expansion obtain insightful information mitigate operational risks and provide country specific knowledge the analysis of the data obtained from china suggests that both strategic and organizational traits of local partners are significantly associated with some individual dimensions of ijv performance among strategic traits absorptive capacity product relatedness and market power are favorable to ijvs market and financial outcomes market power and experience significantly reduce ijvs operational uncertainties of organizational traits international experience and organizational collaboration are important for ijvs not only profitability and stability but also local market expansion and export growth organizational form and size influence ijvs local market performance the findings provided by this study can help mncs determine what criteria they should use in opting for local partners and what criteria are vital to their goal accomplishment those investors seeking local market expansion should select those local partners that have rich market experience superior market position high absorptive capacity and related product diversification with the ijvs those seeking profitability and stability should select local firms that have superior international experience longer organizational collaboration and greater market power while mncs should use appropriate strategic and organizational criteria to select local partners the host government or local firms can try to make these traits available to attract more stable and profitable foreign direct investment

comparing the new earnings survey nes and the labour force survey lfs an analysis of the differences between the data sets and their implications for the pattern of geographical pay in the uk ma a roberts e elliott r f bell d and scott a 2006 comparing the new earnings survey nes and the labour force survey lfs an analysis of the differences between the data sets and their implications for the pattern of geographical pay in the uk regional studies 40 645 665 the labour force survey lfs and the new earnings survey nes are the most widely used data sets for analysing pay in britain the paper details the key differences between the two and assesses the impact of their use for studying geographical wage differences the pattern observed is sensitive to the differences in data sets to differences in the sample populations the questions asked about pay and working hours and how hourly pay is measured recommendations are made on which data set should be used for what purposes as well as comments on the expected improvements that will result from the introduction of the annual survey of hours and earnings ashe ma a roberts e elliott r f bell d et scott a 2006

crop insurance valuation under alternative yield distributions considerable disagreement exists about the most appropriate characterization of farm level yield distributions yet the economic importance of alternative yield distribution specifications on crop insurance valuation has not been well documented the results of this study demonstrate that large differences in expected payouts from popular crop insurance products can arise solely from the parameterization chosen to represent yield distributions the results suggest that the frequently unexamined yield distribution specification may lead to economically significant errors in crop insurance policy rating and assessment of expected payouts from policies

two moment decision models and expected utility maximization two moment decision models are consistent with expected utility maximization only if the choice set or the agent s preferences are restricted this paper identifies a restriction which is sufficient to ensure this consistency and confirms that it holds in many economic models the implications for economic analysis are then derived two different approaches to representing an agent s preferences over strategies yielding random payoffs are in wide use under the mean standard deviation ms approach the agent is assumed to rank the alternatives according to the value of some function defined over the first two moments of the random payoff while the expected utility eu criterion assumes that the expected value of some utility function defined over payoffs is used instead the fact that there are these two competing approaches has generated a considerable literature some authors are concerned with the advantages and disadvantages of each while others deal with conditions under which the potentially different approaches would yield the same results or at least approximately so space does not

devolved government and public sector pay reform considerations of equity and efficiency elliott r f bell d scott a ma a and roberts e 2005 devolved government and public sector pay reform considerations of equity and efficiency regional studies 39 519 539 public sector pay is of critical concern to the governments in westminster and edinburgh it accounts for the major part of these government s current expenditures and is a crucial determinant of the quality and range of the services they provide the paper details the current arrangements for setting public sector pay it is shown that these mechanisms are for the most part uk wide and that they result in national rates of pay that reveal little sensitivity to specific labour market conditions in scotland in consequence in scotland public sector workers toward the lower end of the distribution of pay are now significantly better paid than their private sector counterparts while those at the upper end are now paid about the same the paper uses data from the labour force survey for 1996 2002 to establish these results

organizational learning and diversification employing concepts of lateral and longitudinal learning we examined the dissolution of 462 expansions of dutch firms both acquisitions and new ventures we interpreted the endurance of an expansi

timing of investment and international expansion performance in china this study examines the multivariate and univariate performance effects of timing of fdi in an emerging economy at the business unit level a longitudinal analysis of industry wide firm specific data on fdi timing and foreign venture performance in china reveals that timing has a significant influence on overall as well as on individual aspects of venture performance it is observed that early entrants outperform late movers in terms of local market expansion and asset turnover whereas late movers are superior to early entrants with regard to risk reduction and accounting return during the initial period of international expansion factor analysis confirms that the importance of timing in affecting fdi decisions is as significant as that of internalization ownership or location factors

pests and pesticides risk and risk aversion abstract theoretical and applied literature on risk in decision making for agricultural pest control is reviewed risk can affect pesticide decision making either because of risk aversion or because of its influence on expected profit it is concluded that risk does not necessarily lead to increased pesticide use by individual farmers uncertainty about some variables such as pest density and pest mortality does lead to higher optimal pesticide use under risk aversion however uncertainty about other important variables such as output price and yield leads to lower optimal levels of pesticide use neglect of these variables in most studies has led to the false assumption that pesticides are always risk reducing inputs furthermore there is evidence that in general the pesticide dosage which maximises expected profit is lower under risk than under certainty depending on the balance of forces to increase and decrease pesticide use under risk in many circumstances the net effect of risk on optimal decision making for pest control may be minimal the effect on risk of information about pest density and other variables as in integrated pest management programmes is discussed evidence on this issue is mixed a range of analytical techniques for analysing risk in pest control is reviewed throughout the paper gaps in the existing literature are identified

impact of bt cotton in china abstract a sample of 283 cotton farmers in northern china was surveyed in december 1999 farmers that used cotton engineered to produce the bacillus thuringiensis bt toxin substantially reduced the use of pesticide without reducing the output ha or quality of cotton this resulted in substantial economic benefits for small farmers consumers did not benefit directly farmers obtained the major share of benefits and because of weak intellectual property rights very little went back to government research institutes or foreign firms that developed these varieties farmers using bt cotton reported fewer pesticide poisonings than those using conventional cotton

damage control productivity why econometrics matters cet article consiste d une part en une critique de l approche de lichtenberg et zilberman 1986 pour l explication de la surestimation habituelle de la productivite marginale des pesticides les auteurs montrent que l argument selon lequel les fonctions de production standard cobb douglas translog ne seraient pas adequates pour la modelisation de l action des pesticides sur les rendements agricoles n est vraisemblablement valide que dans des cas tres particuliers d autre part on propose une autre explication potentielle de cette surestimation de la productivite marginale des pesticides l existence de biais d heterogeneite tels qu ils ont ete mis en evidence par mundlak 1961 ces discussions theoriques sont illustrees a l aide d estimations et de tests realises dans le cadre de la methode des moments generalisee a partir d un panel issu du rica de 496 agriculteurs suivis de 1987 a 1990

the economics and econometrics of damage control concern for the potentially harmful side effects of agricultural chemical inputs especially pesticides highlights the need to accurately determine the economic levels of their use we consider three model specification issues interaction of direct production inputs with damage control inputs in damage abatement justification for a priori exclusion of production inputs from the abatement function and the motivations and consequences of alternative stochastic specifications empirical analysis using farm level data shows that misspecification of the stochastic element in the production function can overestimate the marginal physical productivity of pesticides and grossly underestimate the responsiveness of demand to increases in pesticide prices

bt cotton in india field trial results and economic projections abstract the performance of bt cotton in india is analyzed on the basis of field trial data from 2001 the amounts of pesticides applied during the trials were reduced to one third of what was used in conventional cotton while under severe pest pressure yield gains were 80 productivity effects are modeled econometrically with a damage control specification the first approval for the commercial cultivation of bt hybrids was given in 2002 by 2005 the technology is expected to cover one quarter of total indian cotton area medium term projections show sizeable welfare gains for the overall economy with farmers being the main beneficiaries

interactions between agricultural and resource policy the importance of attitudes toward risk using a method proposed by meyer for deriving comparative statics results in the presence of risk this paper analyzes the effects of various agricultural and environmental policy alternatives on the choices of a risk averse producer with a just and pope production function many commonly held beliefs about policy effects are not supported unambiguously by economic theory for example a tax on pesticides will not necessarily reduce pesticide use or average output and a reduction in price of agricultural output will not necessarily lead to a reduction in use of water or agricultural chemicals

sequential decision making in production models single equation estimates of production models usually are justified by the assumption that production inputs are chosen as part of a one period decision problem yet most production decisions in agriculture are made sequentially in this paper the farmer s optimal input choices are modeled as optimal controls in a stochastic control problem a two period cobb douglas example is used to show that sequential solutions to production problems may yield models which require either single equation or simultaneous equation estimators functional separability stochastic specification and behavior under uncertainty are discussed in the context of dynamic production models

should business ethics be different in transitional economies this paper builds on a debate between velasquez and fleming do multinational enterprises mnes have ethical obligations to their host countries velasquez applies thomas hobbes realism approach in arguing that mnes have no special moral obligations to host countries a obligations do not exist independently in a state of nature b mnes exist in a state of nature independent of any sovereign authority or power c therefore mnes cannot be compelled toward moral or ethical behavior

production risk pesticide use and gm crop technology in south africa technology involving genetic modification of crops has the potential to make a contribution to rural poverty reduction in many developing countries thus far pesticide producing bacillus thuringensis bt varieties of cotton have been the main gm crops under cultivation in developing nations several studies have evaluated the farm level performance of bt varieties in comparison to conventional ones by estimating production technology and have mostly found bt technology to be very successful in raising output and or reducing pesticide input however the production risk properties of this technology have not been studied although they are likely to be important to risk averse smallholders this study investigates the output risk aspects of bt technology by estimating two flexible risk production function models allowing technology to independently affect the mean and higher moments of output the first is the popular just pope model and the second is a more general damage control flexible risk mode

can gm technologies help the poor the impact of bt cotton in makhathini flats kwazulu natal abstract the results of a two year survey of smallholders in makhathini flats kwazulu natal show that farmers who adopted bt cotton in 1999 2000 benefited according to all the measures used higher yields and lower chemical costs outweighed higher seed costs giving higher gross margins these measures showed negative benefits in 1998 99 which conflicts with continued adoption but stochastic efficiency frontier estimation which takes account of the labor saved showed that adopters averaged 88 efficiency as compared with 66 for the nonadopters in 1999 2000 when late rains lowered yields the gap widened to 74 for adopters and 48 for nonadopters

what differences in the cultural backgrounds of partners are detrimental for international joint ventures an international joint venture implies that a firm has to cooperate with a partner with a different cultural background in this study hypotheses about which differences in national culture are most disruptive for international joint ventures were developed and tested using hofstede s five dimensions the study focused on how these dimensions affect the survival of international joint ventures as well as their incidence relative to wholly owned subsidiaries the hypotheses were tested on longitudinal data about 828 foreign entries of twenty five dutch multinational in seventy two countries between 1966 and 1994 the database which spans almost three decades was also used to provide new evidence on a key assumption of hofstede s work that cultural values are stable over time

on the internationalization process of firms a critical analysis even though international marketing has been challenged because of theoretical and methodological shortcomings very few researchers have actually attempted to analyze the weaknesses based on principles of theory evaluation in this article the author examines two types of models addressing the individual firm s internationalization process a theory evaluation is performed based on the explanation and the falsification criteria in order to improve the internationalization models some measures are proposed

knowledge acquisition from foreign parents in international joint ventures an empirical examination in the hungarian context in this paper we examine organizational characteristics structural mechanisms and contextual factors that influence knowledge acquisition from the foreign parent in international joint ventures ijvs we in turn relate assessments of knowledge acquisition to ijv performance the data come from a survey of ijvs in the hungarian context where learning and knowledge acquisition from the foreign parent is thought to be particularly critical adaptation mechanisms such as capacity to learn articulated goals and structural mechanisms such as the provision of training technology and managerial assistance by foreign parents all were positively associated with the degree to which ijvs reported acquiring knowledge from their foreign parents we also found limited support for the belief that cultural conflicts can impede knowledge acquisition but only for two party joint ventures with 50 50 equity arrangements we also looked at the relationship between knowledge acquisition and different dimensions for evaluating ijv performance the relationship between knowledge acquisition and performance was significant for all indicators of performance through knowledge acquisition from the foreign parent and the organizational characteristics hypothesized to enhance ijv knowledge acquisition affected assessments of some dimensions of performance more than others our findings contribute to advancing knowledge about the relationship between organizational characteristics and organizational knowledge acquisition in ijvs as well as the relationships between knowledge acquisition and different dimensions of ijv performance

international exchanges as the basis for conceptualizing ethics in international business extant business ethics literature available for application to international business demonstrates some variety but no comprehensive principles while the domains of both international business and business ethics are expanding they are also becoming increasingly divergent at the same time the primacy accorded to the multinational enterprise in both fields ignores the socio cultural and political embeddedness of economic activities and multiple agencies in international business individuals firms nations etc some international business theorists have offered the view that international exchange should be the central building block for theories on international business in this paper it is argued that international exchange could be the fundamental unit of analysis for international business ethics as well the potentially unifying features of exchange norms and ethical principles leads the author to develop some core exchange ethics principles that are tested on three recent international business practices

environmental risks and joint venture sharing arrangements multinational enterprises mnes have responded to the open door policies of socialist countries in recent years by investing in their economies through joint ventures mnes must formulate their investment strategies to control and manage the environmental risks peculiar to a traditional centrally planned economy cpe in which contextual and transactional environments are blurred joint venture sharing arrangements may be structured to control exposures to uncertainties and to align the interests of transactional parties mostly state owned enterprises to those of the venture this study tests the hypothesis that a foreign investor s share in a joint venture in a cpe is inversely correlated with 1 the amount of uncertainties and risks and 2 the external dependency of the venture on the contextual and transactional relationships of the host country the hypothesis is supported by empirical evidence from data on american joint ventures in china

moral ethics v tax ethics the case of transfer pricing among multinational corporations in recent years there has been an increased awareness with regards to ethics in business more specifically the abundance of well publicized examples of cheating greed and hypocrisy has created some alarm about the general state of personal ethics josephson 1988 recent examples include the oliver north ivan boesky and jimmy swaggart cases the tax practitioner probably has little direct concern for matters of misconduct and ethical improprieties as mentioned above adherence to a code of conduct appears to circumvent the ethical conflict typically found in the business environment the tax practitioner s ultimate goal is tax minimization for clients this goal has the blessings of the courts and the writers of tax law

household s risk attitudes in indonesian villages this paper estimates attitudes towards risk using data obtained through interviews of 400 households in villages in indonesia participants were invited to play investment games in order to identify household risk attitudes the game result supports the hypothesis of non decreasing partial relative risk aversion using an ordered probit model the determinants of risk attitude were investigated the results show that the variable of co residence is important an individual living with his or her parents is less risk averse than an individual in a nuclear household co residence can be viewed as a type of security blanket partial relative risk aversion decreases with the level of education and wealth

labour relations and ethical dilemmas of extractive mnes in nigeria south africa and zambia 1950 2000 this article examines the ethical characteristics of mnes employee relations in developing countries specifically it addresses various ethical issues relating to labour relations and trade unions in extractive industries in nigeria south africa and zambia data collected in these countries indicate that criticisms against mnes relating to labour issues and labour practices in developing countries are not lessening the discussion is lent focus and direction through the analysis of critical incidents from the perspectives of various stakeholders government oil and mining companies and leaders of trade unions tensions over pay expatriate employments as against the locals negotiation rights and employees well being are evident the argument advanced is that the mnes operating in the extractive industries of africa will have to improve their relations with local employees in order to bridge the legitimacy gaps that exist an improved mutual understanding between the mnes and trade unions is required for both actors to have a smooth working relationship

international exchange a foundation for theory building in international business there does not appear to be a consensus concerning what is the conceptual domain of international business this paper argues that this is due in part to an emphasis on the firm as the unit of analysis it is further argued that a comprehensive generative and theoretically integrative definition of international business could be established if exchange were made the unit of analysis by using the political economy paradigm and the various concepts of exchange adopted by the social sciences nine characteristics are identified and developed which uniquely define the conceptual domain of international business

making the shift moving from ethics pays to an inter systems model of business for several decades business has operated according to the tenets of neoclassical economic theory where the primary obligation of corporations is to maximize profit for shareholders however the larger social mandate for business has changed represented by the rise of language such as sustainable development corporate social responsibility csr and stakeholder groups nevertheless the theoretical shift implied by the use of such language has not occurred issues of sustainable development and csr continue to be justified in the terms of neoclassical economic theory through the rationalization of doing well by doing good

learning to compete in a transition economy experience environment and performance does organizational learning as measured by experience in a host country affect international expansion performance if so does such a relationship between experience and performance hold over time how do the environmental forces in the host country affect such a relationship focusing on organizational learning by multinational enterprises mnes operating in a transition economy this study answers these three critical questions by exploring the relationships among experience environment and performance at the subsidiary level based on a recent survey of 108 mne subunits operating in china we find that the intensity and diversity of host country experience is an important predictor of subunit performance while the positive effect of the intensity of experience on performance diminishes over time the impact of the diversity of experience on performance remains unchanged moreover for mnes experiencing greater environmental dynamism complexity and hostility there is a stronger positive relationship between experience and performance