bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Regulation and Coordination of International Environmental Externalities with Incomplete Information and Costly Public Funds
Authors: Mansouri Faysal , Youssef Slim Ben
Published: March 2003

In this article, we study cross‐border externalities in a game played by two principal‐agent pairs with adverse selection. Each firm/agent is located in one country and generates pollution by producing complementary or substitute goods, sold on a common market. A fraction of pollution is transferred from one country to another. Each regulator/principal is imperfectly informed about the marginal cost of his domestic firm and accordingly uses secret incentive contracts with costly public funds. We show the necessity of cooperation between competing regulators to effectively internalize all the damages caused to the environment, while reaching the first best. If the level of uncertainty is sufficiently low, we obtain an infinity of noncooperative Bayesian differentiable equilibria, which may necessitate competing regulators to coordinate on an equilibrium. Such coordination constitutes an incentive for competing regulators to cooperate. Our major result states that under some circumstances asymmetric information relaxes the transborder externality problem. Indeed, we show that, when there is a major transfer of pollution and firms' marginal costs are sufficiently high, competing regulators are better off under uncertainty. Therefore, asymmetry of information can have the very consequence of generating regulation that is too strict from the domestic viewpoint but that improves social efficiency when the benefits to both countries are taken into account.
Product Differentiation and Public Education
Authors: Hoyt William H. , Jensen Richard A.
Published: March 2003

We demonstrate that differentiation in public services can arise as a way of reducing competition among cities. Quality differentiation can be particularly relevant to the provision of education. If cities finance education through a property tax that generates “tax competition,” we find that quality differentiation in education changes the amount of educational services provided. In the case of property‐value maximization, this means a reduction in educational services in both the city with high quality and that with low quality. The reduction in educational services means that under reasonable conditions property values in both cities can increase.
Optimal Categorical Transfer Payments: The Welfare Economics of Limited Lump‐Sum Redistribution
Authors: Viard Alan D.
Published: March 2003

Despite their importance in tax‐transfer systems, categorical transfer payments, based on (nearly) exogenous characteristics such as disability or date of birth, have been deemphasized in optimal‐tax analysis. I use the well‐developed theory of first‐best redistribution to clarify the welfare economics of categorical transfers, which are a form of limited lump‐sum redistribution. The comparison to first‐best redistribution explains how categorical transfers affect groups' labor supplies and utility levels, why the use of categorical transfers is inversely related to the planner's inequality aversion, and why their use reduces the optimal income tax rate.
Profit Maximizing in Auctions of Public Goods
Authors: Alboth Dirk , Lerner Anat , Shalev Jonathan
Published: March 2003

A profit‐maximizing auctioneer can provide a public good to a group of agents. Each group member has a private value for the good being provided to the group. We investigate an auction mechanism where the auctioneer provides the good to the group only if the sum of their bids exceeds a reserve price declared previously by the auctioneer. For the two‐bidder case with private values drawn from a uniform distribution we characterize the continuously differentiable symmetric equilibrium bidding functions for the agents, and we find the optimal reserve price for the auctioneer when such functions are used by the bidders. We also examine another interesting family of equilibrium bidding functions for this case, with a discrete number of possible bids, and show the relation (in the limit) to the differentiable bidding functions.
The Role of Company Stock in 401(k) Plans
Authors: VanDerhei Jack L.
Published: March 2003

The Enron situation has caused the retirement income policy community to focus increased attention on the desirability of current law and practices regarding company stock in 401(k) plans. Several proposals have been advanced to limit the exposure of 401(k) participants to company stock. I suggest that, contrary to conventional wisdom, the introduction of company stock into 401(k) plans is not simply more risk for no additional (expected) return. Rather, the introduction of this asset class into the 401(k) participant's portfolio may have beneficial influences via the differential asset allocation. I create a model to simulate the likely financial impact of prospectively eliminating company stock from 401(k) plans and find that average balances are expected to be between 4.0 and 7.8 percent larger if company stock is retained.
Prosecuting Insurance Fraud—A Case Study of the Massachusetts Experience in the 1990s
Authors: Derrig Richard A. , Zicko Valerie
Published: March 2003

There is widespread agreement that insurance fraud is a major problem in the United States. There is little agreement, however, in what constitutes insurance fraud in the many articles and research papers published on the subject during the past ten years. The term ‘‘fraud’’ carries the connotation that the activity is illegal and, hence, that prosecution and conviction are potential outcomes of a specific fraud. Accepting that premise allows us to adopt the legal definition of fraud in the insurance context and to examine the experience of dealing with insurance fraud in terms of property‐liability insurance lines. Specifically, we examine ten years of data on referrals and disposals of incidents of suspected fraud as processed by the Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts to provide estimates of the distribution of types of people who perpetrate a variety of insurance frauds. We compile conviction rates, sentencing outcomes, and recidivism rates in detail to illuminate the law enforcement process and to gauge the deterrent effect of prosecuting insurance fraud in the criminal courts. The Massachusetts data lead us to conclude that the number of cases of convictable fraud is much smaller than the prevailing view of the extent of fraud; that the majority of guilty subjects have prior (noninsurance) criminal records; and that sentencing of subjects guilty of insurance fraud appears effective as both a general and specific deterrent for insurance fraud but ineffective as a specific deterrent for other crime types, as the recidivism rate appears no different from the general property criminal's recidivism rate.
The history of Russian psychoanalysis and the problem of its periodisation
Authors: Ovcharenko Victor
Published: March 2003

The formation and spread of the psychoanalytic teaching of Sigmund Freud and his followers is one of the most significant events in the life of the spirit in the twentieth century.

The recognition of this as an historical fact – irrespective of its relation to Freud and his ideas – assumes of course the need to gain a proper understanding and appropriate interpretation of psychoanalysis in all its dimensions.

Generally speaking, the history of psychoanalysis and the psychoanalytic movement has been researched quite fully, although for a variety of reasons and circumstances there are a number of gaps in it. Perhaps the most important of these is the history of Russian psychoanalysis, which has developed within a country where, at the beginning of the century, Freud's works were translated and published in a most effective and representative way, and where psychoanalytic ideas drew a response both from specialists and among the public at large, although in content and inclination the Russian mentality did not at heart suit a psychoanalytical treatment of man and his culture.
Jung's analysis of Sabina Spielrein and his use of Freud's free association method
Authors: Hoffer Axel
Published: March 2003

This paper examines Jung's use of Freud's free association method and his own association experiments in his analysis of Sabina Spielrein in 1904–1905. Jung's gradual rejection of the Freudian free association method is noted. By the time of their split in 1913, Jung came to view Freud's method of using associations to analyse personal complexes as reductive, limiting and backward‐looking. He also felt that the Freudian method threatened the analysand by creating confusion and a regressive dependency on the analyst. Jung's early approach inclined away from personal pain in favour of analysing autonomous, impersonal and collective phenomena. The historical question is raised whether Jung's rejection of the use of the free associations of the individual analysand might be as fundamental as their well‐known disagreement about Freud's belief in the central role of sexuality in neurosis.
A cacophony of theories: contributions towards a story‐based understanding of analytic treatments
Authors: Ekstrom Soren R.
Published: March 2003

The article addresses problems associated with analytic formulations from the founders of psychoanalysis, including C. G. Jung. Although no longer able to claim a scientific basis for these theoretical constructs, analytic practitioners still use this outdated terminology when presenting their work with patients. By now there is a cacophony of theories often concealing rather than explaining. Denial of loneliness, notions of special knowledge, and idealization of the ‘The Founder’ seem to perpetuate formulations which no longer carry a clear meaning. The article explores three proposals for describing analytic treatments based on the works of the psychoanalyst Roy Schafer and the cognitive psychologist Roger Schank: analytic attitudes, therapeutic narratives and specific treatment perspectives. The first addresses findings from psychotherapy research about the centrality of analytic attitudes. The second applies the findings about story‐based memory and narratives to therapy relationships, and the third takes note of the fact that analytic attention often is more complex than can be described with terms such as transference/countertransference.
Inflation and Growth: Stories Short and Tall
Authors: Temple Jonathan
Published: March 2003

This paper reviews the stories that economists tell about the growth effects of inflation. Informal accounts are common, but there are few models that get to grips with the effects that are probably central. Partly as a result of this, and partly as a result of many econometric problems, much of the empirical evidence remains unconvincing. The paper assesses the various contributions, and suggests possible improvements.
Corruption: A Review
Authors: Jain Arvind K.
Published: March 2003

As is increasingly recognised in academic literature and by international organisations, corruption acts as a major deterrent to growth and development. The aim of this survey is to organise and summarise existing theoretical and empirical work on corruption with a view to identifying opportunities for further research. The paper begins with a brief overview of key definitions of corruption, and then turns to a review of the factors that favour or deter the growth of corruption together with a brief look at related models. This is followed by an examination of the consequences of corruption for society, and the consideration of measures that might help to reduce corruption. The paper ends with suggestions for future research and includes summaries of data sources and key variables for use in this research.
Various Concepts of Hysteresis Applied in Economics
Authors: Göcke Matthias
Published: March 2003

Different types of hysteresis are applied in order to describe persistence phenomena in micro– and macroeconomics. On the microeconomic level sunk adjustment costs generate ‘genuine’ hysteresis where temporary exogenous shocks lead to switches between different ‘branches’ of an entire input–output–relation (i.e. ‘multibranch non–linearity’). The shape of the hysteresis loop changes when an adequate aggregation towards a macroeconomic relation is conducted over heterogeneous micro elements. Hysteresis–relations are based on a local structural instability in the case of a branch–to–branch–transition. However, the persistence characteristics of first order difference (differential) equations with unit (zero) roots — which are based on a global indifference–instability — are in economics commonly labelled as ‘hysteresis’ as well. JEL Classification: C62.
Fundamentalism, Gender and Family Therapy
Authors: Frosh Stephen
Published: March 2003

Adherence to religiously and culturally defined communities is a complex affair, likely to be misconstrued by those perceiving such communities from the ‘outside’. This is a major reason why multiculturalism has failed to deal with the threat posed by religious fundamentalism. In particular, dissenting voices within these communities are marginalized. Fundamentalism is understood here as a specific anti‐modern movement, a response to the crisis of rationality that draws on the same emotional forces as do postmodernism and feminism but to different ends. It is characterized by acceptance of the existence of absolute authority, militancy and anti‐humanism. It casts women as both ‘ideal’ (as mothers and bearers of the culture) and ‘other’ (as sexual subjects). It embodies a failure of the imaginative capacity to tolerate difference and otherness, linking it with other narcissistic responses to the tensions of modernity. Challenging fundamentalism, in therapy and in politics, requires a more subtle understanding of the dynamics of dissent within cultural and religious communities too conveniently characterized by outsiders as homogeneous.
An empathy‐humility‐commitment model of forgiveness applied within family dyads
Authors: Worthington, jun. Everett L.
Published: March 2003

Forgiveness is described as requiring empathy for the offender, the humility to see oneself as being as fallible and needy as the offender, and courage to commit publicly to forgive. Research supports the model in individual therapy and psychoeducational groups in which the forgiver does not have to confront the offender. Family therapy, in which partners, parent–child dyads or siblings must confess their need for forgiveness and forgive face to face provides special challenges. Processes of forgiveness – empathy, humility and commitment – are understood to be the same as in any interpersonal forgiveness context; that is, they are thought to occur within dyads. Techniques compatible with several varieties of family therapies are summarized for applying the model in family therapy to encourage family members to forgive.
The development of a family forgiveness scale
Authors: Pollard Margie W. , Anderson Ruth A. , Anderson William T. , Jennings Glen
Published: March 2003

The purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable instrument to measure forgiveness in the intergenerational family. In the final scale the contructs were defined as: (1) realization, (2) recognition, (3) reparation, (4), restitution, and (5) resolution. A detailed four‐step procedure was used to provide the scale with construct, content and predictive validity. This paper describes a four‐stage process to develop the scale, data supporting the validity and reliability of the scale, and the final version of the instrument.
Lesbians, gay men and family therapy: a contradiction in terms?
Authors: Malley Maeve , Tasker Fiona
Published: March 2003

This paper seeks to review the history of discussions about lesbian and gay male sexuality in family therapy theory and practice. It examines whether homophobic and heterosexist attitudes are present in family therapy thinking. Possible connections are explored between attitudes towards lesbian and gay issues and the professional backgrounds of family therapists, wider debates on homosexuality within society, and conceptualizations of the family life cycle. The question of why relatively little has been written on the issues raised by lesbians, bisexuals and gay men in therapy is discussed. The implications of this oversight on practice are addressed and suggestions made for future work.
Affirming patterns of adolescent sexual identity: the challenge
Authors: Tasker Fiona , McCann Damian
Published: March 2003

Issues concerning sexual identity are not uncommon in therapy with adolescents, although they may manifest in a variety of ways. For young people who have experienced same‐gender attractions or sexual experiences there is the question of how to absorb these experiences within the construction of a coherent sexual identity. In many cases the family context plays an important role in sexual identity formation and acceptance. Therapists too may play an important role in terms of two key aspects of sexual identity formation: self‐definition and disclosure. Family therapists in particular occupy a unique position with respect to the adolescent and his or her family, opening up not only potential opportunities but also potential risks in practice. Practice issues are identified and explored in this paper.
Resilience concepts and findings: implications for family therapy
Authors: Rutter Michael
Published: March 2003

Resilience is a term used to describe relative resistance to psychosocial risk experiences. There is abundant evidence that there is enormous variation in children's responses to such experiences but research to determine the processes underlying the variations needs to take account of several crucial methodological issues. The findings emphasize that multiple risk and protective factors are involved; that children vary in their vulnerability to psychosocial stress and adversity as a result of both genetic and environmental influences; that family‐wide experiences tend to impinge on individual children in quite different ways; that the reduction of negative, and increase of positive, chain reactions influences the extent to which the effects of adversity persist over time; that new experiences which open up opportunities can provide beneficial ‘turning‐ point’ effects; that although positive experiences in themselves do not exert much of a protective effect, they can be helpful if they serve to neutralize some risk factors; and that the cognitive and affective processing of experiences is likely to influence whether or not resilience develops. The implications of these findings for family therapy are considered in terms of the need for therapists to look carefully at the ways in which different risk factors interact; to assess and take account of individual differences in susceptibility; to consider the extent to which risk factors impinge on the individual and, in that connection, to note the importance of patterns of social interaction outside as well as inside the family; to appreciate the role of both the peer group and individual characteristics in the development of negative and positive chain reactions; and to pay attention to the ways in which individuals process their experiences.
Depression and power in mariage
Authors: Byrne Michael , Carr Alan
Published: March 2003

To investigate the association between depression and power within marriage, fourteen couples in which the female partner was depressed were compared with fourteen non‐depressed couples on a range of variables which assessed power bases, processes and outcomes, three domains identified in Cromwell and Olson's (1975) analysis of marital power. Compared with non‐depressed couples, those containing a depressed female partner had distinctive profiles, and a subset of the characteristics of these couples was uniquely associated with depression and quite distinct from the couples' levels of marital satisfaction. The results are discussed in terms of theories of power in relationships and are seen to highlight the importance of including marital therapy as part of a treatment package for married women with depression.
Why narrative therapy need not fear science and ‘other’ things
Authors: Amundson Jon K.
Published: March 2003

Narrative psychotherapy was developed to question traditional, essentialist, foundational epistemologies of clinical practice. However, the very practices it sought to take on may be sneaking in through the back door. Narrative however might escape historical tendencies of reification and dominance. In fact these tendencies are only a slight miscue in its development. Instead of succumbing to old habits of perfectability, or certainty, narrative can relax, and just learn to relate. This article presents three key points in this regard: concentrate on what is useful, work backwards from what people want to achieve and ‘widen the circle’.
Postmodern collaborative and person‐centred therapies: what would Carl Rogers say?
Authors: Anderson Harlene
Published: March 2003

Among the most frequent comments and questions about my postmodern collaborative approach to therapy are ‘It sounds Rogerian’ and ‘Is it any different from Carl Rogers' client‐centred therapy?’‘Yes,’ I usually say, ‘there are similarities and differences.’ Here I overview the Collaborative and Rogerian approaches, highlight selected similarities and distinct differences, and comment on the relationship of each to family therapy as I see them.
Client‐centred therapy and family therapy: a review and commentary
Authors: Bott David
Published: March 2003

This article sets out to redress the relative neglect of the client‐centred tradition within family therapy. A review of the limited literature emanating from both client‐centred therapy and family therapy is provided, supported by a commentary. An argument is made for the relevance of client‐centred principles in responding to contemporary concerns about disrespectful practice.
How the British Working Class Became White: The Symbolic (Re)formation of Racialized Capitalism
Authors: Bonnett Alastair
Published: March 2003

This article offers an explanation of how and why the British working class, from being marginal to white identity in the nineteenth century, came to adopt and adapt this identity in the twentieth century. The changing position of whiteness within the symbolic constitution of capitalism is discussed. More specifically, the transition from whiteness as bourgeois identity within Victorian, relatively laissez‐faire, capitalism to whiteness as a popular, or mass, identity, within the more state interventionist capitalism of the twentieth century is used to exemplify the mutable nature, and political complexities, of the relationship between working class and white identities. The paper concludes with some observations on the implications of this argument for the theory and practice of anti‐racism.
Accuracy, Bias, and Dispersion in Analysts' Earnings Forecasts: The Case of Cross‐Listed Foreign Firms
Authors: Das Somnath , Saudagaran Shahrokh M.
Published: March 2003

This paper examines differences in analysts' earnings forecast characteristics for foreign incorporated non‐U.S. firms cross‐listed in the U.S. stock markets relative to a control sample of purely domestic firms. Examining summary earnings forecasts over the calendar years 1984 through 1989, this paper provides evidence that there are statistically significant differences in bias and accuracy between domestic and cross‐listed foreign firms. Consistent with prior research, we find a horizon effect in accuracy; i.e., accuracy improves as we get closer to the actual earnings announcement for both types of firms. However, the differences in accuracy between the cross‐listed and domestic firms persist only in the earlier forecast horizons where analysts' forecasts are less accurate for foreign cross‐listed firms compared with domestic firms. The evidence is also consistent with analysts' exhibiting less optimism with respect to cross‐listed foreign firms compared with the domestic firms. Finally, the paper also documents that there is a greater consensus among analysts for foreign cross‐listed firms than for domestic firms.
Management Motivation and Market Assessment: Revaluations of Fixed Assets
Authors: Jaggi Bikki , Tsui Judy
Published: March 2003

The study examines Hong Kong managers' motivation for upward revaluation of fixed assets. The results show that revaluations are positively associated with the firms' future operating performance, suggesting that the managers' primary motivation for upward revaluation of fixed assets has been to signal fair value of assets to financial statements users. Another motivation for revaluations has been to improve the firm's borrowing capacity. The results also indicate a significantly positive association between revaluations and stock prices and returns, suggesting that the market's assessment aligns with the managers' revaluations.
Voluntary Disclosure by State‐owned Enterprises Listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong
Authors: Ferguson Michael J. , Lam Kevin C. K. , Lee Grace Meina
Published: March 2003

This study examines the impact of international capital market pressures on the voluntary disclosure of three types of information (strategic, financial, and non‐financial) in the annual reports of former wholly state‐owned People’s Republic of China (PRC) enterprises, listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK). Consistent with a costÂ­benefit framework, we find that PRC H‐Share firms disclose significantly more strategic and financial information than other SEHK firms. Additional analysis of disclosures in their home listings on the PRC exchanges, however, suggests an alternative explanation. The fact that these firms have been selected for “showcasing” in international capital markets may also play a role in our findings. While H‐Share firm disclosures in the PRC also appear sensitive to management’s assessment of the associated costs, the magnitude of differences across listing locations suggests that disclosure practices on the SEHK may also reflect the effects of state‐encouraged disclosure policies. Our findings contribute to the understanding of disclosure behavior among former wholly state‐owned enterprises and to the emerging literature on the efficacy of the privatization process.
Legal Aid in the Eye of a Storm: Rationing, Contracting, and a New Institutionalism
Authors: Moorhead Richard
Published: March 2003

This article discusses possible rationales underlying a legal aid system through an articulation of theories of distribution in the legal services market, considers the idea of prioritization and planning or, in the political vernacular, rationing of public funding, and addresses the impact of economic and social theories of the professions on legal aid structures. Finally, the emerging concepts of '‘new‐institutionalism’ and ‘new public management’ are introduced to indicate the organizational and sociological complexity of reforming the legal services market. Each of these threads illustrate competing values and institutional influence on publicly funded legal services. Bureaucratic rules mix with professional and economic incentives to articulate entitlement to public money in a predominantly private forum. Drawing on research in the field of rationing health care, sociological and economic work on legal services, and organizational theories, it will be demonstrated that conceptual, policy, and research tools need to play closer attention to this competition of values.
‘Condemn a Little More, Understand a Little Less’: The Political Context and Rights’ Implications of the Domestic and European Rulings in the Venables‐Thompson Case
Authors: Haydon Deena , Scraton Phil
Published: March 2003

In 1993 Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were found guilty of the abduction and murder of two‐year‐old James Bulger. Aged ten at the time of the offence, the children were tried in an adult court before a judge and jury amidst a blaze of publicity. They were named by the trial judge and sentenced to detention at Her Majesty's Pleasure [HMp]. The Home Secretary set a minimum tariff of fifteen years imprisonment. In December 1999 the European Court of Human Rights held that, in the conduct of the trial and the fixing of the tariff, the United Kingdom government was responsible for violating the European Convention on Human Rights. This article maps how the case became a watershed in youth justice procedure and practice influencing Labour’s proposals for reform and the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act. Examining the progression of appeals through the domestic and European courts, it explores the dichotomous philosophies separating the United Kingdom and European approaches to the age of criminal responsibility, the prosecution and punishment of children, and the influence of political policy on judicial decisions. Finally, the ‘backlash’ against ‘threatening children’, the affirmation of adult power and knowledge, and the implications of the European judgments in the context of a rights‐based agenda are analysed.
Patterns of Courtroom Justice
Authors: Silbey Jessica
Published: March 2003

Any one film can sustain a myriad of compelling intepretations. A collection of films, however, sharing formal and substantive qualities, reveals a common effect more than a diversity of meanings. This essay traces the shared formal and substantive qualities of a group of films, as I name them ‘trial films’. It documents this genre of film by identifying the genre’s norms of viewing and identification. It also investigates peculiar hybrid discourse of the trial film genre that combines both filmic and legal discursive practices to show how trial films cultivate support for the American system of law through its constitution of a specific viewing audience. In so doing, I broach the following questions: how do images of law in film help sustain the power and legitimacy of legal institutions? How does the study of film genres, like the courtroom drama, reveal the way law lives beyond its formal processes?
A Revised Role for Trade Unions as Designed by New Labour: The Representation Pyramid and ‘Partnership’
Authors: Novitz Tonia
Published: March 2003

A key objective of British unions is to develop their representative role so as to establish their relevance to the workforce and thereby reverse the overall decline in trade union membership. To many, the legislative reforms undertaken by New Labour since 1999 offer some hope that this can be achieved. These reforms seem to provide a pyramid of representation, whereby trade unions can establish their relevance when they ‘accompany’ individual employees in grievance and disciplinary proceedings, and when they act as recipients of information and consultation. By attracting members in this fashion, there would seem to be the promise that unions can reascend to the position of recognized and effective parties in collective bargaining. However, this paper suggests that a barrier to the achievement of this objective is the particular conception of ‘partnership’ adopted by New Labour, which deviates from that of the TUC. This ‘partnership’ is essentially individualistic in character, procedural in form, and unitary in specification. These characteristics are reflected in the relevant statutory and regulatory provisions and are therefore likely to inhibit the progression of a trade union to recognition in collective bargaining.
Managerial Sensemaking and Occupational Identities in Britain and Italy: The Role of Management Magazines in the Process of Discursive Construction
Authors: Watson Tony J , Bargiela‐Chiappini Francesca
Published: March 2003

Processes of discursive construction in a British and an Italian personnel management magazine are analysed to show the ways in which the magazines, both as genre forms and providers of narratives and discursive resources, provide ‘story boards’ for their readers which are helpful to them when it comes to making sense of the tensions and dilemmas associated with their managerial roles. Tensions and occupational dilemmas generally associated with personnel management work are identified and variations found in the discursive constructions associated with the two magazines are related, with reservations, to cultural and institutional differences between British and Italian human resource management
A Comparison of Slack Resources in High and Low Performing British Companies
Authors: Greenley Gordon E , Oktemgil Mehmet
Published: March 2003

Theory predicts that slack resources provide the means for achieving flexibility in developing strategy options. The outcome of generating and investing slack resources to achieve flexibility should be improved company performance. There is also a prediction that low performing companies are likely to have lower levels of slack than high performing companies, and therefore are likely to have less potential for achieving flexibility to impact on performance. However, as the literature features several inadequacies a comparative study of high and low performing British companies was carried out to address these inadequacies. While multiple measures of slack were found to be predictors of company performance in high performing companies, they seemingly have negligible impact on performance in low performing companies. Also, only certain types of slack resources are seemingly more prominent in high performers than in low performers. The results provide a development and refinement of the previous limited knowledge about slack resources.
Baudrillard and the Metaphysics of Motivation: A Reappraisal of Corporate Culturalism in the Light of the Work and Ideas of Jean Baudrillard
Authors: Hancock Philip
Published: March 2003

This paper considers the implications of the work of the French social theorist, Jean Baudrillard, for contemporary strategies of employee management which focus upon the centrality of culture and its purposeful organization and dissemination. Starting with an exploration and consideration of the philosophical assumptions which underpin classical conceptions and models of employee motivation, it charts the ongoing refinement of these ideas, up to and including, the current fascination with the promise of corporate culturalism to deliver levels of high employee motivation and commitment. The work of Jean Baudrillard is then outlined and employed to develop a critical analysis of not only the philosophical presuppositions which continue to underlie the management of motivation but, also, the potential consequences of the current fascination with the management of organizational culture as a means towards increased levels of employee commitment and output.

In conclusion, it suggests that the same postmodernizing process which Baudrillard identifies as the outcome of the intense mediatization of society is also produced and reproduced within the domain of the contemporary work organization, due to the championing of similar strategies of cultural management, especially by personnel or human resource academics and practitioners. Such a development is not, however, greeted with optimism. Rather, it is suggested that this particular diagnosis of the postmodern condition views the result as the production and reproduction of a deeply disinterested and enervated workforce; one which demonstrates enthusiasm neither for corporate goals nor indeed the furtherance of their own life‐projects.
Developing a Market Oriented Culture: A Critical Evaluation
Authors: Harris Lloyd C. , Ogbonna Emmanuel
Published: March 2003

This paper presents a critical evaluation of the notion that a market oriented culture can be developed and managed. It documents a critique of prescriptive‐based literature of market oriented culture and argues that such literature is flawed in that its conceptualization of organizational culture is incomplete. The paper suggests and discusses five principal areas which are either ignored or insufficiently addressed by extant literature on market oriented culture. These are: (1) the view that organizational culture is pluralistic, (2) the understanding that market oriented culture can be viewed as a family of concepts, (3) the notion of cultural dominance, (4) the question of whether culture can be managed, and (5) the problems of cultural entrenchment. The paper develops a series of conclusions and implications centred on the need for further conceptual and empirical development of the content and processes of a market oriented culture.
Cognitive Biases and Strategic Decision Processes: An Integrative Perspective
Authors: Das T.K. , Teng Bing‐Sheng
Published: March 2003

Previous studies have not adequately addressed the role of cognitive biases in strategic decision processes. In this article we suggest that cognitive biases are systematically associated with strategic decision processes. Different decision processes tend to accentuate particular types of cognitive bias. We develop an integrative framework to explore the presence of four basic types of cognitive bias under five different modes of decision making. The cognitive biases include prior hypotheses and focusing on limited targets, exposure to limited alternatives, insensitivity to outcome probabilities and illusion of manageability. The five modes of strategic decision making are rational, avoidance, logical incrementalist, political and garbage can. We suggest a number of key propositions to facilitate empirical testing of the various contingent relationships implicit in the framework. Lastly, we discuss the implications of this framework for research and managerial practice.
The National Health Service Manager, Engineer and Father? A Deconstruction
Authors: Learmonth Mark
Published: March 2003

This paper presents the findings of deconstructing a short extract from a report written by a National Health Service Trust chief executive.

Changes in National Health Service management since the early 1980s are briefly discussed. This is followed by a theoretical discussion of deconstruction and metaphorization. The text is analysed focusing on the ‘binary opposites’ reason and emotion. It is argued that reason is given hierarchical pre‐eminence and that emotion is hidden or marginalized but that both concepts are central in order to arrive at an understanding of the text.

The chief executive appears to constitute his role in ways which might be characterized as engineering (reason) and as traditional fatherhood (emotion). Metaphors in the text are used in order to provide evidence to support these characterizations. One implication which is particularly highlighted is that management in this text is seen as a distinctively masculine practice – perhaps surprisingly within what is presumed to be the caring and supportive environment of a health care organization.

The paper ends with some reflexive reflections on the analysis.
Enactment, Sensemaking and Decision Making: Redesign Processes in the 1976 Reorganization of US Intelligence
Authors: Orton James Douglas
Published: March 2003

Weick’s theories of organizing and sensemaking help enrich the assumptions in the organization design school. This study builds on Weick’s theories of sensemaking to illustrate how three fundamental organization design assumptions — dominant variables, causal laws and executive dictates — were found to be restrictive in the explanation of redesign processes in the 1976 reorganization of the US intelligence community. The assumption of dominant variables was challenged by the appearance of a multitude of events, or enactments, which were selected by organization members for further attention. The assumption of causal laws was challenged by the appearance of individual‐level cause maps which were filtered, through sensemaking processes, into organization‐level workable realities. The assumption of executive dictates was challenged by the appearance of attempts to punctuate redesign processes as organizational decisions. The study suggests value in moving from simple organization design assumptions to more reliable findings drawn from detailed observations of redesign processes.
The Resource Dependence Role of Corporate Directors: Strategic Adaptation of Board Composition in Response to Environmental Change
Authors: Hillman Amy J. , Cannella Albert A. , Paetzold Ramona L.
Published: March 2003

Most research on corporate directors has focused on two roles: agency and resource dependence. While these two roles are theoretically and practically distinct, previous research has used the same classification scheme for measuring board composition regardless of role examined. Our paper examines the resource dependence role of directors and posits that the widely used insider/outsider categorizations do not adequately capture this role of directors. A taxonomy of directors is presented specifically for studying the resource dependence role. We then apply the taxonomy to a sample of US airline firms undergoing deregulation, and examine how board composition changes parallel the changing resource dependence needs of the firms. We conclude that the board’s function as a link to the external environment is an important one, and that firms respond to significant changes in their external environment by altering board composition.
Consequences Of The Psychological Contract For The Employment Relationship: A Large Scale Survey*
Authors: Coyle‐Shapiro Jackie , Kessler Ian
Published: March 2003

The renewed interest in the concept of the psychological contract has come to the fore in attempts to describe, understand and predict the consequences of changes occurring in the employment relationship. Recognizing that the employment relationship includes two parties to the exchange process, we set out to examine the content and state of the psychological contract from both the employee and employer perspective. The two perspectives permit an examination of the mutuality of obligations, which has not received much empirical attention to date. The research methodology consists of two surveys conducted in a large local authority directly responsible and accountable for a range of public services including education, environmental health and social care to the local population. The key findings suggest that the majority of employees have experienced contract breach. This view is also supported by managers, as representatives of the employer, who further indicate that the organization, given its external pressures, is not fulfilling its obligations to employees to the extent that it could. Overall, the results indicate that employees are redressing the balance in the relationship through reducing their commitment and their willingness to engage in organizational citizenship behaviour when they perceive their employer as not having fulfilled its part in the exchange process.
Managing Dispersed Knowledge: Organizational Problems, Managerial Strategies, and Their Effectiveness
Authors: Becker Markus C.
Published: March 2003

While there has been much progress in understanding organizational knowledge and knowledge management practices, some questions still remain unresolved. This paper argues that at least one important driver of knowledge‐related organizational problems has been rather neglected so far: that is, the dispersed nature of organizational knowledge. The paper analyses the organizational problems and managerial responses arising from dispersed knowledge. It identifies three drivers by which the dispersedness of knowledge leads to management problems: namely, it creates large numbers, asymmetries, and uncertainty. A number of managerial strategies for dealing with the different components of the problems created by the dispersedness of knowledge are identified and their effectiveness analysed, thereby informing managers as to how best to deal with dispersed knowledge. The analysis of uncertainty‐related implications of dispersed knowledge uncovers an overlooked distinction that is helpful for understanding dispersed knowledge and its managerial implications. This is the distinction between uncertainty and ambiguity, i.e. a strong form of uncertainty that cannot be remedied by the standard strategy of increasing the information available.
Managers’ Theories About the Process of Innovation
Authors: Salaman Graeme , Storey John
Published: March 2003

Despite the widely‐recognized importance of innovation to organizational competitiveness and national economic well‐being, and despite the extensive commentary on the topic, the managerial processes which contribute to innovativeness and the factors and processes inhibiting its achievement remain underexplicated. This article contributes to an understanding of the management of innovation by approaching the innovation problem from an analysis of the accounts, interpretations and theories of the actors closely engaged with the process. Focusing on a large telecommunications equipment manufacturer, this article reveals how managerial discourse may hold the key to understanding the nature of the barriers to effective innovation.
POLITICIZED MANAGERIAL CAPITALISM: ENTERPRISE STRUCTURES IN POST‐SOCIALIST CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
Authors: MARTIN RODERICK
Published: March 2003

The paper contributes to the sociological tradition of comparative institutional analysis. It argues that a distinctive form of capitalism is emerging in post 1989 Central and Eastern Europe, politicized managerial capitalism. This is a bifurcated system, one sub‐system internationally oriented, a still peripheral but increasingly integrated part of global capitalism, and a second sub‐system, more nationally oriented, dominated by managerial élites allied with weak states. Politicized managerial capitalism is founded upon the inherited practices of late Socialism, moulded by the post Socialist development process and congruent with the stage of development of capital, labour and product markets. It is unclear as to whether this is a transient or long‐term structure.
AFTER THE INK DRIES: THE INTERACTION OF TRUST AND CONTROL IN US‐BASED INTERNATIONAL JOINT VENTURES
Authors: FRYXELL GERALD E. , DOOLEY ROBERT S. , VRYZA MARIA
Published: March 2003

This study empirically examines the moderating effects of age and partner trust on the relationship between control mechanisms and perceptions of performance in 129 US‐based international joint ventures (IJVs). A reliance on formal control mechanisms and general managers’ perceptions of IJV performance were found to be positively related in younger IJVs, but this relationship became negative in more mature IJVs. In addition, social control mechanisms and perceptions of IJV performance were positively related, but only in the presence of affect‐based trust between the parents.
Micro Strategy and Strategizing: Towards an Activity‐Based View
Authors: Johnson Gerry , Melin Leif , Whittington Richard
Published: March 2003

abstract  This introductory paper provides a background to the origins, themes and papers of this Special Issue on Micro Strategy and Strategizing. Our overarching argument is that, while the field of strategy has traditionally concentrated on the macro‐level of organizations, it needs now to attend to much more micro‐level phenomena. We propose an activity‐based view of strategy that focuses on the detailed processes and practices which constitute the day‐to‐day activities of organizational life and which relate to strategic outcomes. The paper develops this view by considering two bodies of theory, those of the resource based view and institutionalism; two bodies of empirical work, those on corporate diversification and structure; and finally the process tradition of strategy research. The paper identifies the benefits of the activity‐based view and introduces some challenges for further research. It concludes by introducing the papers in this Special Issue.