bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Rental arrangements and risk mitigation of crop insurance and marketing
Authors: Paulson Nicholas D. , Schnitkey Gary D. , Sherrick Bruce J.
Published: November 2010

Purpose

This study seeks to evaluate the impacts of land rental arrangements on crop insurance and grain marketing decisions.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis is conducted in an Illinois corn‐soybean setting in which optimal marketing and crop insurance decisions are estimated for a risk‐averse producer under typical cash rent and share rent agreements using numerical simulation methods.

Findings

Results indicate that the availability of crop insurance impacts the intensity of use of put options under both cash and share rent arrangements. Similar to previous work in this area, revenue insurance is found to cause a substitution away from marketing using put options, while yield insurance is complementary to price risk management alternatives. However, while insurance and marketing play a role under both types of land tenure arrangements, shifting from a cash rent to a share rent agreement provides a relatively greater degree of risk reduction.

Practical implications

The results suggest that additional research is needed to explain trends in land rental contracts. Crop insurance and other federal programs may provide incentives to switch from share leases to cash rent arrangements. Changes to the design of these programs could facilitate risk management for producers more efficiently.

Originality/value

The unique contribution of this study is the comparison of insurance and marketing decisions under both cash rent and share rent agreements for crop land.
Turning the tables: a faculty‐centered approach to integrating information literacy
Authors: Miller Ielleen R.
Published: November 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze Eastern Washington University's Student Research Skills initiative, a three‐year ongoing project, in which librarians work with faculty members from selected departments, to aid them in articulating and integrating information literacy skills into their curricula.

Design/methodology/approach

The library selected two departments in 2007‐2008 and another two departments in 2008‐2009. Librarians met with department faculty members multiple times. Librarians asked the faculty: What library research skills do you want students to demonstrate? At what point during the major will they demonstrate the skill? How will you know whether they have the skill? What should the librarian's role be in this process?

Findings

Participating faculty wrote specific information literacy learning outcomes, and revised at least three courses in order to strengthen students' information literacy skills. All of the faculty who answered the survey (12 out of 15) found value in the project, and said they would recommend this project to other faculty. Based on faculty response, the initiative has successfully increased information literacy instruction across the EWU curriculum. Also, it was found that department faculty value librarians' technological skills.

Originality/value

Many institutions do not have a campus‐wide program to incorporate information literacy across the curriculum. This paper provides a detailed strategy for librarians to work with department faculty, in order to accomplish this goal. Here, department faculty write their own information literacy learning outcomes. In addition, the EWU project is successful at least in part because the library pays faculty for their time.
The capitalisation rate of the Government Superannuation Fund
Authors: Lally Martin
Published: November 2010

Purpose

This paper seeks to compare the capitalisation rate offered by the Government Superannuation Fund (GSF) to retiring GSF members with the alternatives of borrowing and sale of the pension entitlements.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses standard discounted cash flow techniques.

Findings

The principal conclusions are as follows: first, while up to 50 per cent of a GSF member's pension claims can be effectively sold, the restriction that the buyer must be an individual implies a band of possible sale prices with an upper bound equal to that prevailing if sales were unrestricted (present value). Second, borrowing is increasingly favoured over capitalisation as the retirement age declines, and the critical retirement age below which borrowing dominates capitalisation is 64 for men and 66 for women if the GSF member has a spouse at the retirement date and otherwise about three years less. Third, the present value of the pension benefits is well in excess of both the capitalisation rate offered by the GSF and the capitalisation rate implicit in borrowing, implying sale prices even well below present value that are superior to the better of capitalisation and borrowing.

Research limitations/implications

The analysis treats the retirement age of a GSF member as exogenously determined. However, the analysis also provides insights into the optimal retirement age and this issue is currently the subject of further research.

Originality/value

The paper should provide guidance to GSF members who are contemplating capitalisation of their entitlements.
Unemployed job seekers' access to interactive service work
Authors: Cullen Anne Marie
Published: November 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to consider the impact of the shift to a service‐based economy on the employability of unemployed job seekers, specifically focussing on skill acquisition and utilisation. The article considers the provision of training opportunities for unemployed people who are seeking to re‐enter the workplace, and whether such training is taking into account the skills demanded in interactive service work. The article also considers the views of unemployed people towards interactive service work.

Design/methodology/approach

The study employs a qualitative approach drawing on interview and focus group data gathered from policymakers, training providers and unemployed job seekers.

Findings

The data suggests there is little existing training provision for interactive service work for unemployed job seekers and that where it does exist it is not geared towards the skills demands of employers. It is also apparent from the research that unemployed job seekers hold a negative view of employment in the interactive service sector, due to both objective and subjective factors.

Research limitations/implications

The research is limited to one geographical region and research in other regenerating cities could offer potentially different insights.

Practical implications

The article enjoins with policy debates which are focussing on skills training to enhance employability, considering the importance of apposite skills training. The article also examines the practical and attitudinal barriers to employment that prevent many unemployed jobseekers from gaining access to service sector employment.

Originality/value

The article offers a valuable contribution to ongoing debates surrounding access to employment in the service sector for unemployed job seekers.
Offshoring of white‐collar jobs in the United States and gendered outcomes
Authors: Kongar Ebru , Price Mark
Published: November 2010

Purpose

Since the mid‐1990s, offshore production has become increasingly important in white‐collar, service sector activities in the US economy. This development coincided with a stagnant gender wage gap in the service sector and a slowdown in the narrowing of the overall US gender wage gap over this period. This paper aims to categorize white‐collar service sector occupations into two groups based on whether an occupation is at risk of being offshored and to assess the relative contribution of these two groupings, through their employment and wages, to the trends in the gender wage gap within the service sector and the US economy between 1995 and 2005.

Design/methodology/approach

Standard occupational decomposition methods are applied to Current Population Survey and Displaced Workers Survey data.

Findings

The findings show that in occupations at risk of being offshored, low‐wage women's employment declined, leading to an artificial increase in the average wage of the remaining women thereby narrowing the gender wage gap. This improvement in the gender wage gap was offset by the relative growth of high‐wage male employment in at‐risk occupations and the widening of the gender wage gap within not‐at‐risk occupations.

Originality/value

These findings contribute to the growing literature on the causes of the stagnation of the US gender wage gap in the 1990s.
The challenges of open access for Korea's national repositories
Authors: Shin Eun‐Ja
Published: November 2010

Purpose

Korea has been at the forefront of the open access movement since 2003, with four nation‐wide repositories built to date. This study seeks to review their current status and to make proposals for further progress.

Design/methodology/approach

The study reviews the current status of the four nation‐wide repositories in Korea and identifies their drawbacks and solutions.

Findings

Korea's repositories were all built and are operated by government agencies. Their software is superb in contrast with the small volume of contents accumulated. If those repositories are to be invigorated, coordinated efforts are required to publicise the objectives of the repositories, and to try to have all research outputs contributed to the repositories with the cooperation of the operating agencies and researchers.

Originality/value

The study suggests several strategies for invigorating Korea's nation‐wide repositories. If the strategies are implemented in a calm and orderly way, Korea's nation‐wide repositories are expected to be more successful.
Defining the content domain of intercultural competence for global leaders
Authors: Bird Allan , Mendenhall Mark , Stevens Michael J. , Oddou Gary
Published: November 2010

Purpose

Research on expatriation and global leadership has been characterized by wide variations in defining what constitutes intercultural competence. Greater progress can be achieved if a comprehensive definition of the intercultural competence domain can be established, particularly with regard to the specific context of global leadership. This paper aims to focus on the issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conduct an extensive review of the global leadership and expatriation literatures, integrating and synthesizing prior theoretical and empirical efforts to develop a comprehensive domain definition for intercultural competence in the context of global leadership.

Findings

The domain of intercultural competence in the context of global leadership comprised three dimensions – perception management, relationship management and self management. Each dimension is characterized by facets that further delineate aspects of intercultural competence.

Research limitations/implications

The domain definition of intercultural competence for global leadership appears to be well supported in prior theoretical and empirical work focusing on expatriation and global leadership; however that work was fragmented in nature. A test of the comprehensive model, i.e. all three dimensions and 17 facets, is called for, as well as the validation of an instrument that measures them.

Originality/value

The paper integrates and synthesizes the extensive body of theoretical and empirical work related to intercultural competence and clearly establishes the content domain, thereby enhancing the efficacy of future theoretical and empirical efforts.
Reference tools in Second Life®: implications for real life libraries
Authors: Tang Florence
Published: November 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide an in‐depth discussion of reference tools in the virtual world of Second Life.

Design/methodology/approach

A description is given of the scripted functions employed by the author, a community virtual library reference desk volunteer of three years.

Findings

The paper finds that each tool can meet the information needs of community virtual library patrons.

Originality/value

The paper reveals that reference desk tool programs that run in the virtual world have implications for real world reference desks of the future.
Impact of culture on supplier selection decision making
Authors: Carter Joseph R. , Maltz Arnold , Maltz Elliot , Goh Mark , Yan Tingting
Published: November 2010

Purpose

Source location decision making is a contemporary problem facing many businesses as they globalize their supply chains. This paper seeks to empirically determine the influence of culture on the industrial procurement manager's perception of the different characteristics of potential global sourcing locations, with a view to integrating the influence of culture operating at different levels into a global sourcing location decision framework; thereby enhancing managerial insights to the role played by culture in making decisions.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper applies factor analysis and multiple regression on a survey sample of 181 responses gathered from native eastern and western procurement managers. The authors investigate how 12 procurement attributes drawn from the literature relate to each other with respect to low‐cost regions.

Findings

The research results show that procurement managers select regions for low‐cost sourcing based on both specific measures and individual and/or group perceptions of the region, whether these perceptions are correct or not. This paper recommends a novel way to look at culture, as a bias of thought that impacts decision making. The research has clearly shows that cultural orientation impacts geographical perceptions which in turn impact criteria ratings of locations.

Practical implications

The authors have demonstrated that a two‐stage supplier selection decision model is justified as such a model appears to be a practical reality even though not advocated by previous sourcing literature and research. The authors point out the need for both western and eastern managers to be aware of their differences in geographic evaluation, as this could be an effective strategy for minimizing the effects of prejudged reality.

Originality/value

In this research culture is viewed as a fundamental decision‐making construct. Most research on this construct is found in the social psychology literature. Applying these theories to the business discipline of sourcing is both novel and inter‐disciplinary in nature.
Co‐creating logistics value: a service‐dominant logic perspective
Authors: Yazdanparast Atefeh , Manuj Ila , Swartz Stephen M.
Published: November 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore logistics service value through the theoretical lens of service‐dominant (S‐D) logic with a focus on the creation of logistics value jointly by the provider and the customer.

Design/methodology/approach

A cross‐disciplinary literature review including supply chain management, logistics, marketing, and strategy is conducted to integrate existing knowledge on value of service and antecedents and consequences of value creation in a process framework for co‐creation of value in a logistics context. This framework is grounded in the S‐D logic perspective and supported by transaction cost analysis (TCA), resource‐based view (RBV) and knowledge‐based view (KBV) of the firm.

Findings

The process of co‐creation of value in a logistics context has three phases: learning, innovation and execution, and outcomes. These phases and their key elements are integrated into a comprehensive framework of co‐creation of logistics service value. A total of 12 propositions are offered to describe the process for achieving competitive advantage through co‐creation of logistics service value.

Research limitations/implications

The proposed framework adds to the current knowledge on logistics service value by exploring the concept from the S‐D logic perspective and suggests guidelines for managers on developing a process for co‐creation of logistics service value that leads to competitive advantage and enhanced customer satisfaction. Follow‐on qualitative research such as grounded theory is needed to emerge a theory grounded in empirical data that explicates how the co‐creation of value can occur.

Originality/value

This study is novel in that it applies the S‐D logic perspective in a logistics context. This research leverages existing knowledge through a deeper understanding of the concept of logistics service value and use of well‐accepted theoretical perspectives such as TCA, RBV, and KBV.
The evolution of a luxury brand: the case of Prada
Authors: Moore Christopher M. , Doyle Stephen A.
Published: November 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is twofold. In its initial stages it undertakes a review of the key fashion industry‐related themes emerging from the IJRDM. Subsequently, it reflects upon these themes in the context of luxury fashion brand Prada and in so doing identifies four key change phases in the evolution of the brand.

Design/methodology/approach

Review of literature spanning 20 years.

Findings

The paper identifies five overarching general themes. These comprise fashion retailer brands, the internationalisation of fashion retailing, the emergence and challenges of on‐line fashion retailing, changes in the supply chain and changes in consumption.

Originality/value

The paper provides a valuable overview of the main research themes within the context of fashion retailing. In addition, it provides a critical insight into the changing nature of Italian luxury fashion brand Prada.
Improvement gap analysis
Authors: Tontini Gérson , Dagostin Picolo Jaime
Published: November 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present the improvement gap analysis (IGA), a simple method to direct improvement opportunities in services that overcomes limitations of the traditional IPA regarding excitement and basic attributes.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed method is theoretically developed and simulated. The theoretical simulation explains why IGA overcomes limitations of the traditional importance performance analysis (IPA) and how it could identify the impact of excitement innovative attributes. A case study with 287 customers of supermarkets was used to empirically test IGA and compare it to IPA.

Findings

The case study confirmed that the traditional IPA may lead to wrong improvement decisions for basic and excitement attributes. It happens because IPA is based on current attributes' performance and considers the relationship between attribute performance and customer satisfaction as a linear one. Also, it cannot identify the impact of excitement innovative attributes on customer satisfaction. Using only information about the company's customers, IGA could differentiate neutral from excitement attributes in the case study and, differently from IPA, it correctly identified improvement decisions for basic and excitement attributes.

Research limitations/implications

Although IGA can theoretically distinguish between excitement innovative and neutral attributes, the case study presented in the paper did not test any innovative attribute. All attributes were already experimented or known by the subjects. Future research should empirically test IGA's real capability to identify excitement innovative attributes.

Practical implications

Managers should be aware that IPA may lead to wrong improvement decisions. It may leave excitement attributes unnoticed or direct the company to the improvement of basic attributes that already have adequate performance. IGA can be a good substitute for IPA with the additional advantage that it does not need information about competitors in the analysis. Also, since service quality evaluation depends heavily on customer perception, IGA is particularly suitable to this industry, but it could also be used for product improvement.

Originality/value

The literature presents several papers discussing IPA's problems. Some papers present the possible decision errors of IPA when dealing with excitement and basic attributes. Fewer have tried to propose methods to overcome these problems. This paper confirms the problems of IPA and presents a simple method that overcomes these limitations, distinguishing between excitement and neutral attributes. Also, because it does not use information about competitors, it can be easily used by companies that have difficulties in gathering such information.
The importance of corporate environmental reputation to investors
Authors: Hussainey Khaled , Salama Aly
Published: November 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how corporate environmental reputation (CER) affects the association between current annual stock returns and current and future annual earnings. In particular, it seeks to examine the potential usefulness of CER to investors in predicting future earnings.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses the returns‐earnings regression model introduced by Collinset al.to examine the importance of CER for investors. It uses a sample of 889 non‐financial firms listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1996 to 2004.

Findings

The paper finds that firms with higher levels of CER scores exhibit higher levels of share price anticipation of earnings than firms with lower levels of CER scores.

Originality/value

This paper is the first direct evidence that CER contains value‐relevant information. Such information is potentially useful to investors in anticipating future earnings.
Are socially responsible investment markets worldwide integrated?
Authors: Roca Eduardo , Wong Victor S.H. , Anand Tularam Gurudeo
Published: November 2010

Purpose

This study seeks to investigate the extent and structure of equity price interdependence among the socially responsible investment (SRI) markets of Australia, Canada, Japan, UK and USA over the period 1994‐2010.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper examines the degree of price co‐movement between SRI markets by using a vector autoregression analysis to identify the markets which have significant price co‐movements. Subsequently, a variance decomposition analysis is conducted among the markets which are significantly related in order to determine the extent of interaction between these markets and to identify the markets that are most and least influential.

Findings

The results show that the SRI markets are significantly interdependent and have become more so over the years. The USA and the UK are the markets most linked to others while Canada and Australia are the most influential. However, although the markets are significantly integrated, the level of integration is still at a low level.

Originality/value

This is the first known study to examine price linkages among international SRI markets. This knowledge is important for investors as the benefits from international diversification depends on the extent of linkages between different SRI markets. Such knowledge is also valuable for policymakers and regulators if they are to address international contagion risk between markets. The study found that SRI markets are significantly linked; however, the level of linkages is still at a relatively low level. This implies that there are still significant benefits to be derived by SRI investors through international diversification.
Asymmetry and time variation in exchange rate exposure
Authors: Brooks Robert D. , Di Iorio Amalia , Faff Robert W. , Fry Tim , Joymungul Yovina
Published: November 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide some insights into the exchange rate exposure of Australian stock returns.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a dynamic econometric approach that allows for both asymmetry and time‐varying risk exposures in both the exchange rate variable and the market variable, a large sample of Australian firms were tested over the period of January 2001 and December 2005. The data were analysed using three different classification methods, forming portfolios according to industry sector, size deciles, and censoring deciles.

Findings

Although the evidence of exchange rate exposure is limited across the sample of industries, the following were found: a time‐varying asymmetric effect primarily in the utilities sector, time‐varying exposure in the materials and energy sectors, and an asymmetric effect in the technology sector. Further, some time‐varying asymmetric exchange rate exposure was found across most size and censoring deciles and also substantial evidence of a positive asymmetric effect in the market beta across all three classification methods.

Originality/value

This approach varies from previous studies in this area that only allow for asymmetry and time variation in exchange rate exposures. The paper also examines the Australian stock market, a market which has not been extensively tested in this area of empirical research.
Leadership behavior, satisfaction, and the balanced scorecard approach
Authors: Hu Yu‐Jia , Yang Yi‐Feng , Islam Majidul
Published: November 2010

Purpose

A literature review has revealed that a sales manager's transformational leadership has a positive impact on the job satisfaction of salespeople, while job satisfaction has significant influence on salespeople's work behaviors. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the transformational leadership of sales managers and the job satisfaction of salespeople.

Design/methodology/approach

The research was designed as a quantitative study, and the population was identified as salespeople in the consumer product industry in Taiwan, resulting in 123 individual surveys for analysis.

Findings

The findings supported the hypothesis that there is a positive and statistically significant relationship between sales managers' transformational leadership and sales associates' job satisfaction. The result identified the predictors of sales managers' transformational leadership on the sales associates' job satisfaction through regression analysis.

Originality/value

The balanced scorecard (BSC) was originally intended to solve problems related to the historical nature of financial measures in accounting approaches. The purpose of this paper is to make a contribution to this literature by focusing on a major issue that has been less investigated, namely, the linking of the BSC perspective to the empirical investigation of leadership behaviors using statistical and technical tools and to predict employee satisfaction. The paper suggests applying Kaplan and Norton's BSC, which includes the perspectives of financial, customer, internal business, and innovation and learning measures to consider the effects of leadership behaviors on employee job satisfaction.
Evaluating course design principles for multimedia learning materials
Authors: Scott Bernard , Cong Chunyu
Published: November 2010

Purpose

This paper aims to report on evaluation studies of principles of course design for interactive multimedia learning materials.

Design/methodology/approach

At the Defence Academy of the UK, Cranfield University has worked with military colleagues to produce multimedia learning materials for courses on “Military Knowledge”. The courses are part of Officer Career Development training for junior officers in the army. The courses were developed following clearly defined course design principles believed to be best suited for the delivery of resource‐based learning materials. Evaluation studies included focus groups, interviews, questionnaires and observation studies.

Findings

The overall findings suggest that the course design principles are indeed regarded by students as supportive of effective learning.

Originality/value

The findings of this research are being fed back to MOD colleagues with the view to discussing how the course might be improved.
Integrating ICT skills and tax software in tax education
Authors: Ming Ling Lai , Hidayah Ahamad Nawawi Nurul
Published: November 2010

Purpose

This study aims to examine the ICT skills needed by a fresh accounting graduate when first joining a tax firm; to find out usage of electronic tax (e‐tax) applications in tax practice; to assess the rating of senior tax practitioners on fresh graduates' ICT and e‐tax applications skills; and to solicit tax practitioners' opinion regarding integrating ICT skills and tax software into a tax course.

Design/methodology/approach

An online survey method was used to collect the data. An online survey was distributed to 385 tax practitioners who worked in the accounting/tax firms that participated in the university's internship programs. A total of 112 usable questionnaires were analyzed.

Findings

The survey found that the three most important ICT skills with which fresh graduates should be familiar before graduating were spreadsheet software, word‐processing software, and e‐mail. The result shows that the usage of e‐tax applications is still not pervasive in tax practice. Overall, senior tax practitioners rated fresh accounting graduates' ICT skills as “average”. Both senior (75 percent) and junior (73.7 percent) tax practitioners agreed that ICT skills and tax software should be integrated in the tax course offered by the universities.

Practical implications

This study has provided insights to policy makers and tax educators to revamp the existing tax curriculum, and to introduce learning tax software in classes, and to place more emphasis in imparting ICT skills in tax education.

Originality/value

Scholarly study on tax education and ICT is scant. Little is known about whether the existing tax education is adequate in meeting the needs of the employers in the job market. This paper has emerged to fill a knowledge gap.
Standard‐setting institutions' user‐oriented legitimacy management strategies
Authors: Durocher Sylvain , Fortin Anne
Published: November 2010

Purpose

The objective of this paper is to critically examine the Canadian Accounting Standards Board's (AcSB) legitimacy management strategies directed toward financial statement users.

Design/methodology/approach

Suchman's legitimacy typology is used as a lens through which the AcSB's legitimacy management strategies directed toward users are analyzed. The data sources consist of documentary public information available for the overall Canadian standard‐setting process and for a sample of standard‐setting projects.

Findings

The results indicate that the AcSB devotes much more efforts to symbolic features and cultural accounts than to pragmatic concerns to ensure its legitimacy toward financial statement users. The legitimacy management strategies used mimic those in the USA and at the international level. Such an isomorphism contributes to the AcSB's cognitive legitimacy and overall cultural legitimacy.

Research limitations/implications

Future research could assess a standard‐setting institution legitimacy management strategies directed to other audiences such as preparers, auditors, or other groups that fall under a broader public interest umbrella.

Practical implications

The results provide Canadian users with a general picture of the AcSB's efforts in their regard and invite them to be sceptical and critical about the so‐called user perspective in standard setting. It also provides standard setters with a legitimacy framework that they can use to identify areas for improvement to enhance users' view of their legitimacy and to help them better fulfil their mission statement.

Originality/value

This paper innovates by studying a standard‐setting institution legitimacy management strategies directed toward a specific audience, financial statement users.
Managing free‐ride in global virtual teams
Authors: Parssian Amir
Published: November 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects and implications of free‐ride within culturally diverse virtual teams (VTs).

Design/methodology/approach

Game theoretic concepts were applied to model the phenomenon of free‐ride within global VTs. Further, longitudinal data were collected to verify the validity of the applied methodology.

Findings

It was found that less competent group members tend to engage more often in free‐ride at the cost of their fellows. Socio‐cultural factors have significant impact on the amount and timing of reporting free‐ride. Larger groups experience free‐ride at higher rates compared to smaller groups.

Research limitations/implications

The experiments are conducted in a controlled lab environment that may not mimic the real‐world global VT dynamics.

Practical implications

Business managers could use the results in this paper to form more effective and productive VTs by paying attention to group size and cultural effects on group behavior.

Originality/value

Game theoretic concepts have long been applied to traditional groups to study their dynamics. This work applies those concepts to VTs along with studying the cultural effects on the phenomenon of free‐ride.
The impact of IT on the growth and development of insular firms
Authors: Ouedraogo Alidou , Boyer Michel
Published: November 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to show if the use of information technology (IT) strengthens the growth and development of insular firms. It investigates IT usage in an ultra‐peripheral territory of the Economic Union and aims to gain a better understand between the use of the IT and the growth and development of insular firms.

Design/methodology/approach

This research examines 118 of the largest Réunionese firms and several interesting factors are identified. Certain characteristics such as size, age, diversification of activities or lack of diversification, status as a subsidiary of a larger firm, degree of computerization and if electronic communications influence IT use were specifically examined. Also looked at were certain factors that could illustrate the relationship between IT use and firm growth and development.

Findings

This paper presents findings and discusses these in terms of the degree of utilization of IT by insular firms, the development of external relationships and the importance of developing IT investment to reduce transaction costs within Réunionese enterprises. From this research, there is an assumption that the use of IT may have an impact on the growth and development of insular firms.

Research limitations/implications

This research reported in this paper focused only on Réunion Island and not on other insular contexts. Further European ultra peripheral regions must be investigated to support the findings.

Practical implications

The findings can help governments, public and private actors to increase the ICT investments of insular firms in order to reduce costs and improve the growth and development of local firms.

Originality/value

The originality of this paper is the focus on the role of IT on the growth and development of insular firms.
Court of Appeal considers FSA's use of its investigation powers to assist an overseas regulator
Authors: Gray Joanna
Published: November 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the Court of Appeal's consideration regarding FSA's use of its investigation powers to assist an overseas regulator, focusing on The Financial Services Authority and others v. Amro International and Goodman Jones LLP (interested party).

Design/methodology/approach

The paper outlines the facts surrounding the case and comments on the decision.

Findings

The FSA's argument was successful and its appeal was allowed.

Originality/value

Financial regulators the world over will welcome this decision and the level of support it shows from the Court of Appeal for their need to work together and harness each other's regulatory and investigatory powers in pursuance of piecing together patterns of activity across national financial market boundaries.
Codes of conduct: managing the contradictions between local and corporate norms
Authors: Halff Gregor
Published: November 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to find out whether, which and how international corporations use their codes of conduct to guide employees double‐bound by contradicting cultural norms.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws on integrative social contracts theory to content‐analyse the codes of conduct of the “Fortune Global 500” and the “UNCTAD 100”.

Findings

The vast majority of international corporations' codes either does not acknowledge contradictions between equally binding norms, or lacks priority rules for employees to resolve them. Nonetheless, several codes of conduct describe how norms might contradict, give clear priority to one set of norms (local or corporate) and provide specific examples to employees of when and how to apply a priority rule.

Practical implications

The paper identifies the 33 codes of conduct which can serve as best practices for international corporations' employee and corporate communication.

Originality/value

Contradictions between cultural norms are unacknowledged or unresolved in communication practice and little explored in corporate communication research. This paper assesses the scope of this caveat in communication practice and offers solutions in the form of an existing normative theory and of newly identified best practices.
The Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy
Authors: Lombardo Robert M. , Olson David , Staton Monte
Published: November 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS), the largest community policing program in the USA.

Design/methodology/approach

The data for this research come from the 1993‐1994 Citizen Survey of the Longitudinal Evaluation of Chicago's Community Policing Program. Referred to as the CAPS Prototype Panel Survey, the data were obtained from the Inter‐university Consortium for Political and Social Science Research. Both ordinary least square and log linear regression were used to analyze the data.

Findings

The findings indicate that people living in the CAPS prototype districts had significantly higher levels of satisfaction with police fighting crime than people living in matched comparison areas who were not subject to the CAPS program. The findings also indicate that the residents of the CAPS prototype communities were only marginally more satisfied with police keeping order than those living in non‐CAPS communities.

Research implications/limitations

The findings of this research have important implications for police‐community relations. The fact that citizens were more satisfied with police efforts against crime after the implementation of the CAPS initiative supports community policing programs that center on building strong community ties. The fact that citizens in the prototype districts were not significantly more satisfied with police order maintenance efforts bears further scrutiny.

Practical implications

The paper's findings confirm earlier research that informal (non‐enforcement) contacts with the police are important for improving satisfaction with police performance, that resident's perception of the level of disorder in their neighborhood is a significant factor shaping their opinion of the police, and that community policing is an effective way of improving police citizen interaction.

Originality/value

This paper analyzes 4,078 previously collected interviews.
Chinese immigrants' attitudes toward the police in San Francisco
Authors: Chu Doris C. , Hung Linda S.J.
Published: November 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine different aspects of Chinese immigrants' perceptions in San Francisco.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data gathered from 198 Chinese immigrants were utilized to assess respondents' evaluations of the local police.

Findings

It was found that Chinese immigrants' satisfaction with police contact and perceptions imported from countries of origin were significantly associated with ratings of the police in the city. In addition, length of residence in the USA was inversely associated with evaluations of the police.

Research limitations/implications

The sampling method adopted in this study, not a probability procedure, to some extent may possibly reflect the perceptions of Chinese immigrants who were in need of cultural support and services from various social and community organizations in San Francisco. It should be noted from the descriptive statistics that the average education level for this sample is comparatively lower than it is for the overall Asian population in the USA. Also, only 11 percent of the respondents were under 24 years old. It is acknowledged that this sample may under‐represent the constituency of younger people or more established immigrants who do not need as much ethnic support or various types of services.

Originality/value

There is no other empirical research that specifically examines the Chinese community's perceptions of the police in San Francisco. The findings thus provide police administration a clear strategy to improve Chinese immigrants' perceptions of the police. Training in cultural sensitivity and communication skills, as well as professional attitudes of enforcement, may improve immigrants' satisfaction with the police during the contact, which can enhance Chinese immigrants' perceptions of the police.
W(h)ither the PCSO?
Authors: Merritt Jonathan
Published: November 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of the Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) in the UK. The development of the role is charted from its inception under the Police Reform Act 2002. The present lived experiences of PCSOs, their colleagues and middle to senior managers have been used to assess the likely future direction of the role and responsibilities of these “public auxiliaries”.

Design/methodology/approach

Structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with 39 serving officers from three police forces. The corpus of data was analysed for ideal types identified in previous academic work, varying models or complete alternatives.

Findings

It was found that the PCSO role can be viewed as a continuum from what is termed in this piece, a “Junior Enforcer” role with a remit to assist constables to a “Bridge Builder” or uniformed community development worker at the other extreme. The study found that there is a marked drift towards the role of “Junior Enforcer” but that paradoxically this can assist, rather than be an alternative to “Bridge Builder” activities.

Practical implications

A strengthened enforcement role can assist with resolving community issues. The challenge going forward will be to maintain a balance between the extremes of the role. Too few or too less enforcement powers will undermine effectiveness, whereas a concentration on enforcement will ultimately damage the ability of the PCSO to engage with hard‐to‐reach communities.

Originality/value

Very little if any independent fieldwork is being done with UK “quasi‐police”, the most recent major studies having taken place soon after their inception in 2002. Exploration of the experiences of serving officers best illustrates the practical issues legislation, policy and procedure generate.
Using balanced scorecard in operationalising FM strategies
Authors: Rasila Heidi , Alho Johanna , Nenonen Suvi
Published: November 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how balanced scorecard approach may be utilized in implementing organizational or facilities management strategies in workplace networks. The term workplace network refers to organizational actors involved in using and maintaining physical working environments. These actors include, among others, the tenant organizations and different service providers.

Design/methodology/approach

One large Finnish organization with an existing facilities management strategy was used as a case organization. The data were gathered through interviews and a workshop.

Findings

The paper illustrates how the balanced scorecard can be used in the workplace network. An exemplary goal is derived to the level of numeric measure.

Originality/value

The balanced scorecard has been widely applied in putting the general business strategies in action. Some facilities management‐related solutions are also available. Applications including the entire workplace network are more rare and the originality of this approach comes from this perspective.
A simple parallel algorithm for large‐scale portfolio problems
Authors: Smimou Kamal , Thulasiram Ruppa K.
Published: November 2010

Purpose

Although the mean‐variance portfolio selection model has been investigated in the literature, the difficulty associated with the application of the model when dealing with large‐scale problems is limited. The aim of this paper is to close the gap by using the quadratic risk (standard deviation risk) function and finite iteration technique to remove difficulties in quadratic programming.

Design/methodology/approach

Using van de Panne' approach, this paper proposes a finite technique to optimize large‐scale portfolio selection problem.

Findings

The proposal of parallel algorithm structure to the model provides a clearer decision framework to significantly enhance the efficiency of the portfolio selection process.

Originality/value

The proposal of parallel algorithm structure to the mean‐variance portfolio selection model provides a clearer decision framework to significantly enhance the efficiency of the portfolio selection process. An empirical example that illustrates the application and benefits of the method is provided.
Average run lengths of control charts for monitoring observations from a Burr distribution
Authors: Cox M.A.A.
Published: November 2010

Purpose

The majority of quality control charts are employed for normally distributed data. In reality this assumption is not always valid, as an alternative the Burr distribution is considered here.

Design/methodology/approach

Having previously derived integral equations for the average run length, a key measure of the performance of a control chart, approximate solutions are derived using Gaussian quadrature.

Findings

Polynomials closely approximating the average run length for the three most popular control charts, using their usual parameterisation, are obtained.

Research limitations/implications

This is an extension of the Burr distribution which is noted for its ability to fit numerous scenarios.

Practical implications

These charts are widely applicable within engineering, finance, medicine, environmental statistics and many other fields. These problems are typically said to fall in the domain of risk management. It is hoped that this paper will add to the body of practitioners already employing this technique.

Originality/value

Control charts are widely employed, however, applications are usually restricted to the normal distribution. This is the first time it has been applied to the Burr distribution and original polynomials derived for the average run length.
FINRA's sanctions in 2009: a sign of things to come?
Authors: Heilizer Deborah G. , Rubin Brian L. , Gillespie Shanyn L.
Published: November 2010

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to summarize a review of all of FINRA's 2009 notices and releases to understand the areas in which FINRA has focused and to try to predict where FINRA may be going in the coming year.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper summarizes fines, disciplinary actions, and top enforcement issues; analyzes trends; and draws conclusions.

Findings

FINRA reported modest increases in fines and disciplinary actions compared to 2008; however, FINRA was less active than in 2005, 2006 and 2007. The types of cases that generated the most fines, in descending order, were mutual funds, suitability, variable products, licensing, and advertising. One may see more advertising, money laundering, an electronic communications cases in the near future. Given the recent financial crisis and market scandals, and resulting pressure on the regulators, it is perhaps more likely that FINRA's enforcement activity and fines will increase over the next few years, not decrease.

Originality/value

The paper provides expert guidance from experienced financial services lawyers.