Business Commons^™

Promoting Investments In Intangible Organizational Assets Through Aligned Incentive Compensation Plans, Susan Hughes, Craig Caldwell, Kathy Paulson Gjerde

Craig B. Caldwell

Take Pride In America In Southern Nevada: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending December 31, 2006, Margaret N. Rees

Anti-littering Programs

• Don’t Trash Nevada roll-out event held on October 12, 2006.

• Program website launched.

• 74 people have taken the on-line anti-litter and dumping pledge.

• Public-private partnership with Republic Services of Southern Nevada generated $11,917.97 in donations to Don’t Trash Nevada.

• Conducted 3 volunteer and 1 alternative workforce clean-ups this quarter.

• Fulfilled deliverable of 12 clean-ups for 2006 (9 volunteer / 3 alternative workforce).

• 16 volunteer clean-ups scheduled for 2007. • Two tons of agency-generated paper recycled this quarter, saving 14,000 gallons of water, 34 trees, and almost 8 cubic yards of landfill space.

• …

Central Bank Of Nigeria Annual Report And Statement Of Accounts For The Year Ended 31st December 2006, Central Bank Of Nigeria

CBN Annual Report

This Report reviews the operations of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and macroeconomic developments during the fiscal year 2006 and appraises the major economic policy outcomes during the period. The Bank reported a stable foreign exchange market in 2006, with an average effective official exchange rate of N 128.65 per U.S dollar, an increase of 2.6% over 2005. The stock of external reserves, valued at US$12.30 billion, was 49.6% higher than in 2005, driven by high crude oil prices and lower debt-service burden. The reserves were equivalent to 28.4 months of import cover, exceeding the 6 months requirement under …

Business As A Mission; Business As A Calling (Long Version), C. William Pollard

C. William Pollard Papers

Speaking at InterVarsity's Open for Business Conference in St. Louis, MO, Pollard describes vocation as fulfilling whatever call God has placed on our lives. By drawing upon his own story as a Christian businessman, he shows how such a fulfillment requires the implementation of servant leadership.

Business As A Mission; Business As A Calling (Short Version), C. William Pollard

C. William Pollard Papers

Speaking at InterVarsity's Open for Business Conference in St. Louis, MO, Pollard describes vocation as fulfilling whatever call God has placed on our lives. By drawing upon his own story as a Christian businessman, he shows how such a fulfillment requires the implementation of servant leadership.

Taxes And Competitiveness, Michael S. Knoll

All Faculty Scholarship

Around the world, the tax laws are shaped by concerns with competitiveness. This paper provides a general theory of how taxes impact competitiveness. As part of that theory, this paper also introduces the concept of tax-based competitiveness neutrality. A tax system is competitively neutral when taxes do not cause competitors to change their relative valuations of any investments. This paper then uses that theory to evaluate tax policy in two high profile and important areas. The paper begins by describing two models of competitiveness, called the conduit or new money model and the investor or old money model. The central …

Innovation Lock-In: Unlocking Research And Development Path Dependency In The Australian Wine Industry, D. K. Aylward

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Innovation within the Australian wine industry is at a crossroads. More specifically, under the influence of fundamental paradigm shifts, the objectives, extension and uptake of R&D within the industry’s current innovation framework are being subjected to rather schizophrenic forces. At one level, industry organizations are directing the R&D agenda from within a national, ‘Brand Australia’ context. At another level, the firms that are being serviced by these organizations are demanding region-specific R&D extension in response to global pressure for differentiation and products at higher price-points. This paper will explore these contradictory forces and the degree to which they signal an …

Design As Research: Emergent Complex Activity, Helen M. Hasan

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

There is current interest in design science as a research method in the field of Information Systems. This paper explores this proposition by incorporating established theories into the design research process. These include a view of information systems as essentially socio-technical, notions of tool mediation and expansive learning from Activity Theory and the concept of emergence from Complexity Theory where good design outcomes come from non-deterministic and organic processes. A case of innovative collaborative systems development illustrates how this view of design science may be of value.

Go*Team: A New Approach To Developing A Knowledge Sharing Culture, L. Warne, Helen M. Hasan, D. Hart

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

In the ideal organisational environment, the voluntary transfer of information and knowledge would be the norm, and this understanding would underpin ongoing collective sense-making, leading to appropriate and creative actions for organizational outcomes. Workplaces are full of learning opportunities and in work life, socially based learning is occurring all the time. This paper describes Go*Team, a micro world simulation, for helping enculture the importance of collaborative processes that are at the heart of a knowledge sharing culture. The design of Go*Team and ways of playing the game are discussed, as are ways that Go*Team can be applied in order to …

Sna As An Attractor In Emergent Networks Of Research Groups, Helen M. Hasan, Hamid Pousti

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

While many progressive enterprises are becoming more network-centric, many research-oriented organisations retain a traditional hierarchy with an ego-centric culture. Paradoxically, network-centrism is associated with technology, innovation and creativity, the hallmarks of cutting-edge research. Using concepts of emergence from complexity theory, this study takes a developmental, action research approach to the application of social network analysis in legitimising a network of research groups in a traditionally managed institution. The results indicate that an emergent network is as valid an organisational structure as an imposed hierarchy for research management. The study also demonstrates the use of social network analysis and similar technological …

Leadership Learning: Building On Grounded Theory To Explore The Role Of Critical Reflection In Leadership Learning, George K. Kriflik, Lynda S. Kriflik

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

A study of eight senior managers from different organisations has combined Critical Theory and Grounded Theory approaches. This study builds on the findings of a previous substantive study (Kriflik 2002) which identified the most successful leadership strategies, as perceived by participants. The most successful strategies are those in which leaders focussed on their own behaviours, attitudes and actions. Building on these findings this study explores leadership competencies and the mechanisms which enhance, or enable, leaders’ ability to learn such competencies. Interviews were conducted and transcribed, then analysed, and became the basis for the choice of subsequent participants. The study identified …

Macroeconomic Aspects Of Substance Abuse: Diffusion, Productivity And Optimal Control, Amnon Levy, Frank Neri, D. Grass

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper deals with macroeconomic aspects of widespread substance abuse with a reference to illicit drugs as an example. Substance abuse impedes the productivity of the labor force and reduces economic growth. Workers are either nonusers and therefore fully productive, a number of whom are employed by the government in drug-control activities, or users who are only partially productive. Efficient management of the nation’s portfolio of workers involves eradicating drug use when initial user numbers are lower than a critical level, but allows user numbers to rise to, and be accommodated at, a stationary level when initial user numbers exceed …

Exploratory And Confirmatory Factor Analysis Of The Perceived Switching Costs Model In The Business Services Sector, Venkata K. Yanamandram, L. White

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Switching costs has been recognised as a primary reason why dissatisfied customers stay with their suppliers. While a validated multidimensional scale of switching costs exists in a business-to-consumer context, there has been little empirical research effort devoted to operationalising different types of switching costs in business service relationships. This research strives to develop a model taking into consideration the various types of switching costs. Data was collected online from 453 Australian businesses using a key informant approach. While the initial Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) failed to produce the hypothesised six-factor model, a re-run of EFA identified a five-factor model, with …

Customers’ Sensitivity To Different Measures Of Corporate Social Responsibility In The Australian Banking Sector, Alan Pomering, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has received considerable research attention over the past several decades, including a growing body of work examining consumer responses to firms’ socially-responsible initiatives. Much of this has been of an experimental design, with CSR narrowly focused on one or two dimensions of consumer goods. Findings from these studies suggest consumers will respond positively to firms’ CSR initiatives. Prior studies do not, however, provide any indications how sensitive consumers are to a range of different kinds of CSR activities. Furthermore, no studies have so far been undertaken in the context of fairly standardized services which are offered …

The User-Friendliness Of Alternative Answer Formats, Sara Dolnicar, Bettina Grun

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Despite the increasing resistance of consumers to participate in market research and the vast amount of literature on the methodological superiority of certain answer formats over others, the issue of user-friendliness of different answer formats has not been investigated extensively in the past. We contribute to this area of research by investigating respondents’ preferences for one of five answer formats. The preference is not measured hypothetically, respondents are invited to choose their preferred format and complete the questionnaire in the respective version. Results indicate that ordinal (polytomous and dichotomous) scales are the respondents’ favourite choices. These favourite answer formats are …

Consumer Information Privacy: A Building Block For Marketing Leadership, Sara Dolnicar, Yolanda Jordaan

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Increasingly, violations of consumers’ personal information are altering the way consumers feel about divulging their personal information to organisations. It is proposed that by identifying which consumers react in which ways to different uses of their personal information, distinct market segments could be constructed. Such segments could offer businesses an opportunity to act responsibly by discriminating their information use in dependence of the segment needs, creating opportunities for competitive advantage and market leadership. This paper provides a brief overview on information privacy, marketing relationships and market leadership; and empirically explores general and personal privacy concerns and behaviour segments in terms …

Answer Format Suitability - The Interdependence Of Answer Format And Construct Measured, Sara Dolnicar, Bettina Grun

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The vast majority of surveys use ordinal answer formats independently of the construct under study. We hypothesise that the ordinal scale is not optimal under all circumstances, but that the suitability of answer formats depends on the construct measured. A repeat measurement study is conducted using binary and ordinal answer formats measuring two different constructs: attitudes and behavioural intentions. A clear interaction effect between answer formats and constructs is revealed, supporting the notion that there is not a single optimal answer format, but that some constructs are naturally more suitable for certain answer formats than others. These findings call for …

The Arms Race In College Football, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Watching the BCS crash and burn again this year brings to mind a number of developments in intercollegiate athletics that have been accumulating in my memory for the past month or so. Before turning to those less significant topics-as who is number one is always the most important question in intercollegiate athletics-I would like to offer a modest proposal to solve the BCS Championship Game quandary. Given the Ohio State dominance and perfect record, and given the fact that they have already hammered Michigan, the Buckeyes should be awarded the BCS championship outright. No one is close to their level. …

Minerva 2006, The Honors College

Minerva

This issue of Minerva includes an article on the course "Honors for All Ages," an Honors course offered at Penobscot Valley Senior College; an interview with notable Honors alum, Bernard Lown; and a celebration of the life of former Honors Program Director, Ulrich Wicks.

An Overview Of The Near-Death Experience Phenomenon, David San Filippo Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Near-death experiences appear to be universal phenomena that have been reported for centuries. A near-death encounter is defined as an event in which the individual could very easily die or be killed, or may have already been considered clinically dead, but nonetheless survives, and continue his or her physical life. Reports of near-death experiences date back to the Ice Age. There are cave paintings, in France and Spain that depict possible after life scenes that are similar to reported scenes related to near-death experiences. Plato's Republic presents the story of a near-death experience of a Greek soldier named Er. In …

Leading With Timeless Values In Turbulent Times (Oak Brook, Il), C. William Pollard

C. William Pollard Papers

In this speech at the Executives Breakfast Club of Oak Brook, IL, Pollard asks whether businesses can uphold "timeless values" in a pluralistic society. He goes on to contend that they can if only managers see themselves as being moral as well as corporate leaders.

An Overview Of The Near-Death Experience Phenomenon, David San Filippo Ph.D.

David San Filippo Ph.D.

Near-death experiences appear to be universal phenomena that have been reported for centuries. A near-death encounter is defined as an event in which the individual could very easily die or be killed, or may have already been considered clinically dead, but nonetheless survives, and continue his or her physical life. Reports of near-death experiences date back to the Ice Age. There are cave paintings, in France and Spain that depict possible after life scenes that are similar to reported scenes related to near-death experiences. Plato's Republic presents the story of a near-death experience of a Greek soldier named Er. In …

Nonmarket Performance: Evidence From U.S. Electric Utilities, Jean-Philippe Bonardi, Guy Holburn, Rick Vanden Bergh

Jean-Philippe Bonardi

No abstract provided.

Simulation Of The Colombian Firm Energy Market, Peter Cramton, Steven Stoft

Peter Cramton

We present a simulation analysis of the proposed Colombian firm energy market. The main purpose of the simulation is to assess the risk to suppliers of participation in the market. We also are able to consider variations in the market design, and assess the impact of alternative auction parameters. Three simulation models are developed and analyzed. The first model (Model 1) uses historical price data from October 1995 through May 2006 to assess the performance risk of hypothetical thermal and hydro generating units. The second model (Model 2) uses historical price and operating data to assess performance risk of the …

Inside Unlv, Diane Russell, Cate Weeks, Shane Bevell, Mamie Peers, Lori Bachand

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

Variations In Dropout Rates Across Virginia, Joshua K. Bowser

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analysis, this study attempts to capture variation in dropout rates across Virginia counties and cities. With the respective dropout rates as the dependent variable, seven independent variables are used accordingly in order to provide as much explanatory power as possible. At the 10 percent significance level, four of seven variables are statistically significant with an adjusted R2 of .374. Important policy implications can be derived from the model and its statistically significant variables. The model finds that the percentage of blacks in the population, university access, the unemployment rate and single female-headed households to …

From The Editor-In-Chief, Jeanie M. Forray

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

Recent Research Of Note, Darrell Singleterry

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

Leveraging Workplace Diversity In Organizations, Alison M. Konrad

Organization Management Journal

Research identifies several substantial barriers to the building of good working relationships among diverse cultural groups, and diversity must be managed if organizations are to attain the benefits promised by the business case for diversity. Many organizations have created diversity initiatives to address the demographic changes in the labor force and customer base, but few have achieved the goal of developing a truly multicultural organization. This article tracks best practices for managing diversity as well as future trends managers should prepare for. Managing diversity successfully requires a long-term commitment, and research suggests that employees respond well to diversity best practices …

Editor's Introduction, Eric H. Kessler

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.