Business Commons^™

The Organisational Climate Of Sustainability: A Survey, Anke Arnaud, Janet K. Tinoco, Dawna L. Rhoades

Dr. Anke Arnaud

This study describes three dimensions of the climate of sustainability and the development of a survey for assessing these dimensions. The authors report the results of two studies conducted to measure the climate of sustainability dimensions of sensitivity to sustainability (six items), motivation for sustainability (six items), and responsibility for sustainability (five items). Results support that the climate of sustainability is a reliable instrument and demonstrate the convergent and discriminant validity of each survey dimension. Furthermore, results show the criterion-related validity of the climate of sustainability with respect to innovation strategy and employee attitudes including satisfaction and turnover intentions. Implications …

Case Study: Sexism In Advertising And Airlines, Tamilla Curtis, Anke Arnaud Ph.D., Blaise Waguespack

Dr. Anke Arnaud

This case study outlines an ethical dilemma faced by a young female student who is planning to buy airline tickets. Her purchase decision is influenced by cost and advertising strategies. The case discusses advertising ethics, ethical moral philosophies, including teleology and deontology, and sexist advertising with examples from the airline industry. This case will be beneficial for marketing students to discuss the topic of advertising ethics, and for business students to discuss the topic of organizational ethics. Students enrolling in aviation related classes will also benefit from this case. The teaching notes for instructors are available upon request.

Case Study: Sexism In Advertising And Airlines, Tamilla Curtis, Anke Arnaud Ph.D., Blaise Waguespack

Dr. Tamilla Curtis

This case study outlines an ethical dilemma faced by a young female student who is planning to buy airline tickets. Her purchase decision is influenced by cost and advertising strategies. The case discusses advertising ethics, ethical moral philosophies, including teleology and deontology, and sexist advertising with examples from the airline industry. This case will be beneficial for marketing students to discuss the topic of advertising ethics, and for business students to discuss the topic of organizational ethics. Students enrolling in aviation related classes will also benefit from this case. The teaching notes for instructors are available upon request.

Locked In: The Competitive Disadvantage Of Citizen Shareholders, Anne M. Tucker

Anne Tucker

In this Essay, I challenge the conventional corporate law wisdom that unhappy mutual fund investors paying high fees don’t need litigation or regulation to protect their interests because they should simply exit a fund and reinvest elsewhere. The exit solution, advanced by Professors John Morley and Quinn Curtis in Taking Exit Rights Seriously provided an elegantly simply solution to the problem of unhappy indirect investors (e.g., mutual fund investors) given that they are often low-dollar, low-incentive, rationally-apathetic investors facing enormous information asymmetries and collective action problems. According to their view, competition produced by exit, or the threat of exit, is …

The First Year: Integrating Transactional Skills, Lynnise E. Pantin

Lynnise E. Pantin

No abstract provided.

By Design: Ethics, Theology, And The Practice Of Engineering, Brad Kallenberg

Brad J. Kallenberg

Both engineering and human living take place in a messy world, one chock full of unknowns and contingencies. "Design reasoning" is the way engineers cope with real-world contingency. Because of the messiness, books about engineering design cannot have "ideal solutions" printed in the back in the same way that mathematics textbooks can. Design reasoning does not produce a single, ideally correct answer to a given problem but rather generates a wide variety of rival solutions that vie against each other for their relative level of "satisfactoriness." A reasoning process analogous to design is needed in ethics. Since the realm of …

Prof. Vibhuti Patel Safe Cities And Gender Budgeting Peoples Reporter Vol. 28 No. 15 2015, Professor Vibhuti Patel

Professor Vibhuti Patel

Abstract Urbanisation often goes hand in hand with a rise in urban violence and crime that manifests in terms of street harassment of women and girls, stalking, sexual violence, blackmailing and extortion rackets. Children and women are seen as soft spots who can be victimized by predators. One such incident in the city is enough and the feeling of insecurity is spread like wild fire. It not only frightens girls and women, it controls every act they consider doing then onwards (UN Women, 2015). Smart cities have to be Safe cities. Town planners, policy makers and budget experts need to …

A Response To Peter Singer: The Logic Of Effective Altruism, András Miklós

András Miklós

The Pricing Decision: Balancing The Cost-Based And Market-Based Approaches In Different Industries, Shawn M. Kain, Kenneth Yale Rosenzweig

Kenneth Y. Rosenzweig

The objectives of this paper are to discuss cost estimating and pricing issues in four different industries, to analyze methods and strategies that are used in the costing and pricing of products in those industries, and to make general comparisons about costing and pricing techniques. Accurate projection of costs is essential to the survival of any firm because cost estimates often determine whether a project will be authorized to begin or continue, the amount of resources that will be allocated to a particular product or product line, the prices of products, and the firm's and product line's profitability. Many management …

Earnings Manipulation: A Report By Robert Lavine On The Business Ethics Research Of Kenneth Rosenzweig And Marilyn Fischer, Kenneth Yale Rosenzweig, Marilyn Fischer

Kenneth Y. Rosenzweig

This column by Robert LaVine in the Chartered Accountants Journal of New Zealand reports on the research of University of Dayton professors Kenneth Rosenzweig and Marilyn Fischer, "Is Managing Earnings Ethically Acceptable? Surveys Show Age and Seniority Affect Attitudes on Earnings Management," >>> published in the journal Management Accounting.

Why Toyota And Honda Topped The 2002 J.D. Power Quality Study, Susan Lightle, Kenneth Yale Rosenzweig, John Talbott

Kenneth Y. Rosenzweig

Toyota again topped the annual J. D. Power and Associates quality study released in late May of 2002. Toyota scored the highest mark ever with l 07 defects per l 00 vehicles, while Honda came in second with 113 defects. The study was based on responses of approximately 65,000 new car owners queried during their first 90-days of ownership. These results do not surprise us, as we have been fortunate to make numerous sojourns to the Toyota plant in Georgetown, Kentucky, and observe the manufacturing processes. These trips were normally facilitated by a former Japanese student of ours, Minako Yanke, …

User-Friendly Financial Statements: A Proposed Model, Kenneth Yale Rosenzweig, Andrew A. Fioriti

Kenneth Y. Rosenzweig

In contrast to early bookkeeping systems whose only role was to assist the resident owners, financial reporting today serves to protect various nonresident parties with interests in the enterprise, such as absentee shareholders. It provides them with information useful for monitoring the operations of the enterprise and for making decisions concerning it. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) formalized this concept of usefulness when it stated: Financial reporting should provide information that is useful to present and potential investors and creditors and other users in making rational investment, credit, and similar decisions. The information should be comprehensible to those who …

Education, Certification, And The Earnings Of Industrial Accountants, Kenneth Yale Rosenzweig, Lawrence Hadley

Kenneth Y. Rosenzweig

Utilizing a model of the relationship between skill accumulation and earnings known as human capital theory, we analyzed the incremental earnings associated with various educational and professional credential for a sample of members of the National Association of Accountants (NAA). Data were collected by means of a questionnaire survey of NAA members and were analyzed utilizing a multiple regression technique. Earnings is regressed on various education and certification variables. Employment characteristics and personal characteristics of the respondents are included as control variables. Our analysis documents positive earnings increments for the bachelor’s and MBA degrees and the CPA certificate. For the …

Report Earnings Accurately, Kenneth Yale Rosenzweig, Marilyn Fischer

Kenneth Y. Rosenzweig

As authors of the March article, “Is Managing Earnings Ethically Acceptable?,” we wish to thank Alfred M. King for his letter in the April issue questioning some of the contentions in our article. In a time when corruption seems to be rampant in many aspects of our national life, it is important for accountants to discuss openly what are their ethical responsibilities, and what are the limits to those responsibilities. The credibility of accounting numbers is vital to our success as a profession and as individual accountants. There will be no demand for accounting service if accounting information is not …

Company Resistance To Complex Fasb Statements: The Case Of Sfas 33, Kenneth Yale Rosenzweig

Kenneth Y. Rosenzweig

Over the past fifteen years, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has issued numerous pronouncements designed to narrow the differences in accounting practice and thereby increase the usefulness of financial statements by making them more comparable among different enterprises. Though questions have often been raised over the years about the complex and prescriptive nature of these pronouncements, Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 33, “Financial Reporting and Changing Prices” (SFAS 33), has perhaps been the most controversial. The above statement required subject companies to generate and publish information that was radically different from that produced in accordance with conventional financial …

Managing The Cost Of Federally Sponsored Research At Educational Institutions, Mary J. Brown, Kenneth Yale Rosenzweig

Kenneth Y. Rosenzweig

In an era of weak economic ·growth, budget deficits and government spending reductions, limited government resources must be utilized in a manner that maximizes the public welfare. One major use of such resources in recent years has been to fund research and other activities at universities. To shed light on this important area, this article examines current practice in government contracting with educational institutions, reviews recent governmental efforts to control contract costs and investigates ramifications for the affected educational institutions.

How Corporate Culture Impacts Unethical Distortion Of Financial Numbers, Joseph F. Castellano, Kenneth Y. Rosenzweig, Harper A. Roehm

Kenneth Y. Rosenzweig

The recent accounting scandals have highlighted the critical role that investor confidence in the accuracy and lack of distortion of accounting data plays in the health of capital markets and, indeed, the whole economy. The legal and moral culpability of top-level company managers (as well as auditors) is an issue that will be addressed by the nation in the coming months. Whether or not legal sanctions are imposed on managers, it would be well to examine some of the reasons managers may feel compelled to distort accounting numbers as well as engage in other actions that damage the interests of …

Companies Are Not Using Fas 33 Data, Kenneth Yale Rosenzweig

Kenneth Y. Rosenzweig

How is price-adjusted information required by FAS 33, “Financial Reporting and Changing Prices,” being used for management decision-making purposes? I mailed a questionnaire survey to the controllers of all companies in the FASB's Statement 33 bank to find out the answers and to examine the company characteristics associated with such use. The questionnaire was designed to find out the extent of use and reporting of FAS 33 information for internal company purposes such as management decision making and the factors that might be associated with that use and reporting. The controllers were asked about the extent of internal use and …

Leadership And Crisis Management In Modern Organizations, Chris D. Bellamy

Dr. Chris D. Bellamy

Leadership in modern organizations is complex. This research identifies how leaders in modern organizations can effectively deliver results through crisis management, while maintaining organizational culture. The author addresses leadership through organizational culture, the actions leaders must take, corporate policies and practices. In addition, this research directly contributes to leading organizations through crisis management and maintaining organizational culture today.

Subordinates' Perspective On Ethical Leadership And Managerial Effectiveness, P.A -. Obicci

Peter Adoko Obicci

The aim of this study is to examine the dimensions of ethical leadership and managerial effectiveness for quality performance in public sector organization. The data were obtained from the interview of 42 subordinate employees using critical intensive technique. Results reveal that ethical leadership and managerial effectiveness are very important for quality performance of an organization. The study contributes to turning ethical leadership and managerial effectiveness processes into management realities for the promotion of organizational success.

A Primer On Copyright And Fair Use, Ann E. Biswas, Charles J. Russo

Charles J. Russo

One student creates a video for class using a Lady Gaga song. Another puts together a PowerPoint presentation about the Vietnam War using images she found online. A third student adds a link to a YouTube video in a blog post for an English class. One teacher photocopies and distributes articles from a national newspaper. Another teacher records a television documentary at home and shows it to her class. Did those students and teachers violate copyright law? The complex, evolving laws governing copyright and fair use are muddied by the rapid growth and use of technology in schools, yet it's …

Shareholder As Ulysses: Some Empirical Evidence On Why Investors In Public Corporations Tolerate Board Governance, Lynn A. Stout

Lynn A. Stout

This Article evaluates two possible explanations for why shareholders of public corporations tolerate board control of corporate assets and outputs: the widely accepted monitoring hypothesis, which posits that shareholders rely on boards primarily to control the "agency costs" associated with turning day-to-day control over the firm over to self-interested corporate executives, and the mediating hypothesis, which posits that shareholders also seek to "tie their own hands" by ceding control to directors as a means of attracting the extracontractual, firm-specific investments of such stakeholder groups as executives, creditors, and rank-and- file employees. Part I reviews each hypothesis and concludes that each …

The Organisational Climate Of Sustainability: A Survey, Anke Arnaud, Janet K. Tinoco, Dawna L. Rhoades

Janet K. Tinoco

This study describes three dimensions of the climate of sustainability and the development of a survey for assessing these dimensions. The authors report the results of two studies conducted to measure the climate of sustainability dimensions of sensitivity to sustainability (six items), motivation for sustainability (six items), and responsibility for sustainability (five items). Results support that the climate of sustainability is a reliable instrument and demonstrate the convergent and discriminant validity of each survey dimension. Furthermore, results show the criterion-related validity of the climate of sustainability with respect to innovation strategy and employee attitudes including satisfaction and turnover intentions. Implications …

A Primer On Copyright And Fair Use, Ann E. Biswas, Charles J. Russo

Ann E. Biswas

One student creates a video for class using a Lady Gaga song. Another puts together a PowerPoint presentation about the Vietnam War using images she found online. A third student adds a link to a YouTube video in a blog post for an English class. One teacher photocopies and distributes articles from a national newspaper. Another teacher records a television documentary at home and shows it to her class.

Did those students and teachers violate copyright law? The complex, evolving laws governing copyright and fair use are muddied by the rapid growth and use of technology in schools, yet it's …

Effects Of Global Competitiveness, Human Development, And Corruption On Inward Foreign Direct Investment, Tamilla Curtis, Dawna L. Rhoades, Tom Griffin

Dr. Tamilla Curtis

The purpose of this paper is to investigate which of Dunning's location-specific advantages of host countries, presented as composite indices for Global Competitiveness, Human Development and Corruption Perception, better predict the level of inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). A stepwise multiple regression method was applied on a sample of 129 countries, which was further divided into two subgroups: OECD members and non-OECD members. The study provides evidence that global competitiveness and the level of corruption of the host country are important determinants for inward FDI. For non-OECD countries the Human Development index appears to be an additional FDI determinant. More …

Surf-N-Turf, But The Sustainable Kind? The Limits And Potential Of Market-Driven Regulation In Food Production, Zdravka Tzankova

Zdravka Tzankova

This article examines the dynamics and likely effects of NGO efforts at private, market-driven regulation of antibiotics use in US agriculture. Such NGO efforts aim to eliminate the routine feeding of antibiotics to healthy animals for the purposes of prophylaxis and growth promotion. To that end, NGOs are pressing large food retailers, who are some of the most powerful market actors, to demand antibiotic- free meat and to refuse selling meat produced with sub-therapeutic use of antibiotics.

Curbing agricultural overuse of antibiotics is critically important for public health because overuse erodes the curative power of antibiotics by creating antibiotic resistant …

Family Control, Socioemotional Wealth And Earnings Management In Publicly Traded Firms, Geoffrey P. Martin Dr, Joanna Campbell Dr, Luis R. Gomez-Mejia Prof

Geoffrey P Martin

We examine the unique nature of agency problems within publicly traded family firms by investigating the earnings management decision of dominant family owners relative to non-family. To do so, we draw upon literature demonstrating that family owners are loss averse with respect to the family’s socioemotional wealth (SEW), or the affective endowment derived from firm ownership and control. Our theory and findings suggest that potential reputational consequences of earnings management lead family principals to engage in less of this practice relative to non-family firms, and that founder family firms are less likely than non-founder family firms to use earnings management. …

Book Review: The Wound And The Blessing: Economics Relationships And Happiness By Luigino Bruni (New City Press, 2012), Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

This book review critically examines this important work on the relationship between economic prosperity and happiness. The review concludes that although Professor Bruni accurately diagnoses the causes of the paradox of increased wealth but decreased appiness in the modern West, he fails to fully articulate the solution.

Envisioning A Future Without Food Waste And Food Poverty, Luis González Vaqué, A. Arroyo Aparicio

Luis González Vaqué

Different factors have contributed to what is known as the Contemporary Food Paradox. To express this more graphically, let us say that more than a third of the food in the world is wasted while almost 800 million people suffer extreme malnutrition. Now the Millennium Goals’ deadline expired, we must set the targets for the Sustainable Development Goals for the next decades. Many national and international organizations point out the imperative need to give an adequate reply to this paradox.

Food waste has important economic and environmental implications and, in addition, there is an undeniable ethical and social justice aspect. …