Business Commons^™

Organizational Alignment And Supply Chain Governance Structure: Introduction And Construct Validation, Bryan Ashenbaum, Arnold Maltz, Lisa Ellram, Mark Barratt

Management Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to introduce and validate two new constructs with the potential to sharpen our understanding of how and why firms integrate their internal supply chains and assess the governance structure of their supply chains. The first construct, organizational alignment (OA), is a reflective scale measuring the extent to which upper management attempts to foster integration between internal supply chain functions. The second, supply chain governance structure (SCGS), is a formative index, and is a first attempt at developing a measurement instrument to assess SCGS along multiple dimensions.

Design/methodology/approach

– Following a literature review, …

Generating Opportunity From Uncertainty, David R. King

Management Faculty Research and Publications

Learning to deal with uncertainty makes organizations more robust. Leaders can take steps to help their organizations take advantage uncertainty. When continued success transitions from informed decision to luck, small differences in the ability of organizations to handle uncertainty can have a large impact. An example from military history is used to outline current day lessons for military and business leaders.

Panel: Exploring Approaches To It Project Management Pedagogy, Robert Brookshire, Monica Adya, Katia Passerini, Karen P. Patten, Carol E. Pollard, Russell W. Robbins

Management Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Achieving High Performance Outcomes Through Trust In Virtual Teams, Bonnie S. O'Neill, Todd Nilson

Management Faculty Research and Publications

Developing trust among team members is critical for achieving high performance outcomes. Recently, global business operations necessitated working in a team environment with colleagues outside traditional organizational boundaries, across distances, and across time zones. In this article, we discuss how human resource practices can support organizational initiatives when business operations mandate increased virtual teamwork. We examine the role of HR in enhancing relationship building and the development of trust among workers who may rarely, if ever, meet face-toface. Using research from teamwork, social exchange theory, and knowledge sharing, we discuss how four areas of human resources management—recruitment, training, performance appraisal, …

How Offshore Outsourcing Is Perceived: Why Do Some Consumers Feel More Threatened?, Srinivas Durvasula, Steven Lysonski

Marketing Faculty Research and Publications

As globalization intensifies, multinational companies are not only compelled to expand their operations, but are also facing greater pressure to enhance productivity and concomitant return on investment (ROI). One way to achieve cost efficiencies is by offshoring selected business operations to overseas firms. Such offshoring, however, has generated public concern and, in some cases, outrage. Angst against offshoring is based on many perceptions, including perceived job losses and damage to domestic industries. In the wake of this threat, multinational firms in Europe and North America confront a public relations problem in justifying their offshoring activities. Yet, no systematic study has …

Flexible Global Software Development (Gsd): Antecedents Of Success In Requirements Analysis, Vanita Yadav, Monica Adya, Varadharajan Sridhar, Dhruv Nath

Management Faculty Research and Publications

Globalization of software development has resulted in a rapid shift away from the traditional collocated, on-site development model, to the offshoring model. Emerging trends indicate an increasing interest in offshoring even in early phases like requirements analysis. Additionally, the flexibility offered by the agile development approach makes it attractive for adaptation in globally distributed software work. A question of significance then is what impacts the success of offshoring earlier phases, like requirements analysis, in a flexible and globally distributed environment? This article incorporates the stance of control theory to posit a research model that examines antecedent factors such as requirements …

An Examination Of The Use Of The Board Balanced Scorecard By Large Public Corporations, Qianhua L. Ling, Don E. Giacomino, Michael D. Browne, Michael D. Akers

Accounting Faculty Research and Publications

While the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) developed by Norton and Kaplan has gained global prominence as a management tool and there is qualitative accounting literature that discusses the benefits of the Board BSC, there is limited empirical evidence that examines the use of the Board BSC. We surveyed Chairs of large public companies to determine the extent to which they use the Board BSC and the reasons why. Our findings suggest that the Board BSC is currently not a widely used technique by Boards of Directors. We also found that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 wasn't an influencing factor for those …

Risky Decisions And Decision Support: Does Stress Make A Difference?, Gloria Phillips-Wren, Monica Adya

Management Faculty Research and Publications

Studies of human decision making have demonstrated that stress exacerbates risk taking. Since all decisions involve some element of risk, stress has critical impact on decision quality. Decisions are found to improve with stress up to an optimal threshold beyond which deterioration is observed. However, few studies have examined the psychological experiences underlying risk-taking behavior in conjunction with stress creators. In this paper we propose a research framework that integrates pre-conditions of stress (perceptions of high gain/loss, risk, complexity, and organizational pressure) with observed psychological experiences (time pressure, uncertainty, information overload, and dynamism) that potentially result in risky decision making. …

Decomposition As A Complex-Skill Acquisition Strategy In Management Education: A Case Study In Business Forecasting, Monica Adya, Edward J. Lusk, Moncef Balhadjali

Management Faculty Research and Publications

Graduate business education has been criticized for utilizing simplistic teaching strategies that compromise the presentation of real-world complex skills in the classroom. In this article, we propose that complex management functions can be effectively taught using decomposition strategies. We demonstrate the usefulness of this strategy in the domain of business forecasting by comparing the forecast accuracy of students instructed in decomposition (RBF-Instructed) with that of students not exposed to such instruction (Uninstructed), as well as with an expert system called Rule-Based Forecasting (RBF). RBF-Instructed students demonstrated significant improvements over Uninstructed students and were at least as …

International Perception Of Corruption, Bina Menon, Michael D. Akers

Accounting Faculty Research and Publications

The discussion of corruption and bribery in most auditing textbooks focuses only on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act which is an amendment to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. As the US moves toward the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and international auditing standards, an understanding of international legislation pertaining to corruption and the perception of corruption in specific countries are important. This paper provides an overview of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Anti-bribery Convention. While prior literature has discussed the impact of both the FCPA and OECD …

Trading In Co2 Credits: Tax Issues To Consider, Maureen Mascha, J. William Harden, James Trebby

Accounting Faculty Research and Publications

The issue of limiting carbon emissions has recently commanded international attention. Starting with the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, world markets have begun to coalesce around the notion that carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions should be controlled or capped. There are three generally accepted methods for limiting the emission of CO₂: 1) a carbon tax that charges producers a fee for emissions that exceed a prespecified amount; 2) an auction, in which organizations bid on credits that are then used to offset the amount of actual CO₂ emitted; and 3) a “cap and trade” system.

An Empirical Examination Of Whistleblowing Policies And Mechanisms At Universities, Michael D. Akers, Tim V. Eaton

Accounting Faculty Research and Publications

This study empirically examines the implementation of whistleblowing policies and mechanisms at universities.

Foundations In Wisconsin: A Directory [28th Ed. 2009], Marquette University - Funding Information Center, Mary C. Frenn, Melanie Baier, Jeremy Blackwood, Anne Carpenter, Joseph Flipper, Sarah Martin, Greg Sikora

Foundations in Wisconsin: A Directory

The 2009 edition of Foundations in Wisconsin marks the 28th production of the print directory and the 9th year of the online version. The directory is designed as a research tool for grantseekers interested in locating information on private, corporate, and community foundations registered in Wisconsin. Each entry in this new edition has been updated or reviewed to provide the most current information available. Most of the data was drawn from IRS 990-PF tax returns filed by the foundations. However, additional information was obtained from surveys, foundation Web sites, annual reports, and newsletters. Wisconsin foundations have continued to grow in …

Effective Basemetal Hedging: The Optimal Hedge Ratio And Hedging Horizon, Michael Dewally, Luke Marriott

Finance Faculty Research and Publications

This study investigates optimal hedge ratios in all base metal markets. Using recent hedging computation techniques, we find that 1) the short-run optimal hedging ratio is increasing in hedging horizon, 2) that the long-term horizon limit to the optimal hedging ratio is not converging to one but is slightly higher for most of these markets, and 3) that hedging effectiveness is also increasing in hedging horizon. When hedging with futures in these markets, one should hedge long-term at about 6 to 8 weeks with a slightly greater than one hedge ratio. These results are of interest to many purchasing departments …

Who Could Best Complement A Team Of Family Business Researchers—Scholars Down The Hall Or In Another Building?, Alex Stewart

Management Faculty Research and Publications

This study explores which fields might potentially collaborate in family business research. It compares 14 research fields for their structure of topical attention. The most convenient collaborations, such as those between entrepreneurship, family business, and strategy researchers, prove to be the most appropriate for some research purposes. However, less common collaborations, particularly with scholars from law, history, and anthropology, appear to be the most appropriate for other projects. Family and marital therapy prove to be a less promising collaborator than one might expect because of their strong skewing to familial rather than commercial topics. Correspondingly, entrepreneurship also proves to be …

A Double Edged Sword: Understanding Vanity Across Cultures, Srinivas Durvasula, Steven Lysonski

Marketing Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose – Based on their size, disposable income, and purchasing power, generation Y (Gen Y) consumers are viewed as the Holy Grail for marketers. Conversely, some of this group's behavior disturbs public policy officials, particularly when dealing with issues such as poor financial planning, bulimia and anorexia nervosa. The key question for both marketers and policy makers is what is the best way to understand the Gen Y segment? The vanity concept is used in this study as a way to understand the Gen Y consumer segment. The purpose of this paper is to examine vanity perceptions (cross-nationally and by …

Predatory Lending Laws And The Cost Of Credit, Anthony Pennington-Cross, Giang Ho

Finance Faculty Research and Publications

Various states and other local jurisdictions have enacted laws intending to reduce predatory and abusive lending in the subprime mortgage market. These laws have created substantial geographic variation in the regulation of mortgage credit. This article examines whether these laws are associated with a higher or lower cost of credit. Empirical results indicate that the laws are associated with at most a modest increase in cost. However, the impact depends on the product type. In particular, loans with fixed (adjustable) rates are associated with a modest increase (decrease) in cost.

A Multiple Server Location–Allocation Model For Service System Design, Siddhartha Syam

Management Faculty Research and Publications

Service systems are endemic in a service economy, and effective system design is fundamental to the competitiveness of service organizations such as retailers, distributors, and healthcare providers. This is because system design may significantly facilitate (or hinder) the attainment of important organizational objectives such as minimizing system cost and maximizing service level. This paper develops and solves a comprehensive nonlinear location–allocation model for service system design that incorporates several relevant costs and considerations. These include, for instance, transportation, facility, and waiting costs, queuing considerations, multiple servers, multiple order priority levels, multiple service sites, and service distance limits. The model is …

A Face Can Launch A Thousand Shares—And An 0.80% Abnormal Return, Matteo P. Arena, John S. Howe

Finance Faculty Research and Publications

In this paper we examine the market reaction—price and volume—to the appearance of a firm in the Who’s News column of The Wall Street Journal. We differentiate between those firms whose articles are accompanied by a picture of an executive and a control set of firms whose articles on the same day are not accompanied by a picture. The results show a more pronounced market reaction to the “cum picture” articles, consistent with the incomplete information theory of Merton [1987] and the heuristic-based familiarity hypothesis. There is no evidence of significant long-run abnormal performance for the sample firms.

Price Momentum And Idiosyncratic Volatility, Matteo P. Arena, K. Stephen Haggard, Xuemin (Sterling) Yan

Finance Faculty Research and Publications

We find that returns to momentum investing are higher among high idiosyncratic volatility (IVol) stocks, especially high IVol losers. Higher IVol stocks also experience quicker and larger reversals. The findings are consistent with momentum profits being attributable to underreaction to firm-specific information and with IVol limiting arbitrage of the momentum effect. We also find a positive time-series relation between momentum returns and aggregate IVol. Given the long-term rise in IVol, this result helps explain the persistence of momentum profits since Jegadeesh and Titman’s (1993) study.

Psychological Climate And Work Attitudes: The Importance Of Telling The Right Story, Bonnie S. O'Neill, Lucy A. Arendt

Management Faculty Research and Publications

In this field study, the authors explore how choosing one context over another influences both research results and implications. Using both quantitative and qualitative data, the authors examine context from both an organizational and a business-unit perspective by studying relationships between five psychological climate variables and outcomes of job satisfaction, affective commitment, and intent to leave. Results show different contextual influences between the organization and two business units, suggesting that different bundles of psychological climate variables yield similar outcomes depending on the context studied. These results bolster the contention that researchers need to identify the right context in field research.

Covert Marketing Unmasked: A Legal And Regulatory Guide For Practices That Mask Marketing Messages, Ross D. Petty, J. Craig Andrews

Marketing Faculty Research and Publications

Masked marketing—one form of covert marketing—involves marketing communications that appear to be from independent third parties rather than from product marketers. This article presents a typology of masked marketing practices, illustrating whether they may be deceptive to consumers. To accomplish this, the authors apply the Federal Trade Commission’s three-part definition of deception (i.e., misleadingness, reasonable consumer, and materiality) in the evaluation of such practices. The article concludes with policy recommendations including areas for further research.

Performance Implications Of Firm Resource Interactions In The Acquisition Of R&D-Intensive Firms, David R. King, Rebecca J. Slotegraaf, Idalene Kesner

Management Faculty Research and Publications

We explore the role of resource interactions in explaining firm performance in the context of acquisitions. Although we confirm that acquisitions do not lead to higher performance on average, we do find that complementary resource profiles in target and acquiring firms are associated with abnormal returns. Specifically, we find that acquiring firm marketing resources and target firm technology resources positively reinforce (complement) each other; meanwhile, acquiring and target firm technology resources negatively reinforce (substitute) one another. Implications for management theory and practice are identified.

Distributive Justice: Pressing Questions, Emerging Directions, And The Promise Of Rawlsian Analysis, Gene R. Laczniak, Patrick Murphy

Marketing Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Determinants Of International Equity Entry Mode: An Empirical Analysis, Ruth Clarke, Fernando Robles, Syed H. Akhter, Marcilio Machado

Marketing Faculty Research and Publications

This empirical paper tests hypotheses exploring the use of equity investment in international market entry by US-based firms. We first establish the respondents' use of equity or non-equity, and their international presence, and then proceed to test for determinants of investment. Using transaction cost theory and resource base theory we examine the influences of asset specificity, tacitness of strategic resources, country similarity, business similarity, environmental uncertainty and behavioral uncertainty on firm decisions to make equity investments. Six hypotheses are presented and tested on a sample of self-identified firms engaged in international business. The results for the exploratory study are significant …

The Impact Of State Anti-Predatory Lending Laws: Policy Implications And Insights, Raphael W. Bostic, Kathleen C. Engel, Patricia A. Mccoy, Anthony Pennington-Cross, Susan M. Wachter

Finance Faculty Research and Publications

The subprime mortgage market, which consists of high-cost loans designed for borrowers with weak credit, has grown tremendously over the past ten years. Between 1993 and 2005, the subprime market experienced an average annual growth rate of 26 percent. As this market emerged, so did allegations that subprime loans contained predatory features or were the result of predatory sales practices.3 In the worst cases, brokers deceived borrowers about the meaning of loan terms or falsely promised to assist them in obtaining future refinance loans with better terms. In other situations, borrowers entered into loans with low teaser rates, not aware …

Measuring The Drivers Of Metropolitan Growth: The Export Price Index, Michael Hollar, Anthony Pennington-Cross, Anthony Yezer

Finance Faculty Research and Publications

The Export Price Index (EPI) is a measure of exogenous price shocks to a city’s export industries. Thus far the EPI has been used to estimate models of metropolitan statistical area employment demand and appears to capture exogenous demand shocks to the regional economy. This article explains the intuition behind and construction of the EPI. Glaeser (2008) has noted that because “the economic theory of cities emphasizes a search for exogenous causes of endogenous outcomes like local wages, housing prices, and city growth, it is unsurprising that the economic empirics on cities have increasingly focused on the quest for exogenous …

Project Quality Of Offshore Virtual Teams Engaged In Software Requirements Analysis: An Exploratory Comparative Study, Dhruv Nath, Varadharajan Sridhar, Monica Adya, Amit Malik

Management Faculty Research and Publications

The off-shore software development companies in countries such as India use a global delivery model in which initial requirement analysis phase of software projects get executed at client locations to leverage frequent and deep interaction between user and developer teams. Subsequent phases such as design, coding and testing are completed at off-shore locations. Emerging trends indicate an increasing interest in off-shoring even requirements analysis phase using computer mediated communication. We conducted an exploratory research study involving students from Management Development Institute (MDI), India and Marquette University (MU), USA to determine quality of such off-shored requirements analysis projects. Our findings suggest …

Teaching Business Ethics: The Departmental Perspective, David S. Krause, Sarah Peck

Finance Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

State And Local Anti-Predatory Lending Laws: The Effect Of Legal Enforcement Mechanisms, Raphael W. Bostic, Kathleen C. Engel, Patricia A. Mccoy, Anthony Pennington-Cross, Susan M. Wachter

Finance Faculty Research and Publications

Subprime mortgage lending has grown rapidly in recent years and with it, so have concerns about predatory lending. In response to evidence of predatory lending, most states have enacted new laws or expanded existing laws to address abuses in the subprime home loan market. The effect of these statutes is a matter of debate. This paper seeks to improve the understanding of this increasingly important issue and pays particular attention to the role that legal enforcement mechanisms play in this context. The results of the analysis are consistent with the view that anti-predatory lending laws influence subprime lending markets and …