People's satisfaction from some goods and services depends on
their relative as distinct from their absolute position as
consumers. Such items are called "positional goods", and a
restriction of their supply in the situation of general income
growth is conducive to expenditure escalation as in an arms race.
If education is a positional good in this sense, arrangements are
needed that will best prevent such an outcome. The introduction of
education vouchers of a value egual to the average per capita
public school expenditure, it is argued, will only hinder not help.
This is because some recipients will be tempted to obtain more
education with marginal additions to their vouchers from their own
pockets. Vouchers are thus welfare reducing because they encourage
rather than discourage "arms race" situations. Using a formal
median voter model we show that concerns over possible escalation
of expenditure will prompt a majority of voters to reject a
universal voucher system. We examine, as an alternative, a
selective voucher system that will remove the escalation problem.
Under this system only low-income families will receive vouchers.
We demonstrate that the median voter will favor such a selective
voucher system provided that the voucher-induced increase in
competition lowers costs and/or improves guality of education.
"I began my sabbatical research with what seemed a defined but narrow
focus: the information literacy needs of graduate students. The Information
Literacy Standards of the Association of Colleges and Research Libraries
(ACRL) provided a reasonable foundation upon which to build, and a
qualitative research design, sampling a number of graduate students at
Carleton University, is a productive strategy.
My project has since evolved in unexpected but distinctly broader and
more challenging directions. I found, through ongoing reviews of existing
literature, as well as through my own personal experience and discussions
with colleagues, that some work has already been done to identify the
concerns and needs of graduate students. Further, I discovered that there is
a growing body of research aimed at identifying gaps and suggesting best
practices." (from introduction)
Elizabeth Smart 's writings--her theory and practice of art--
present patterns of change and constancy. Art, initially
constituted in an entwined and supportive inter-relation
of nature, love/passion, God, ir.spiration :and will, is in
its maturity generated from within a dissolution of the
supportive context. Art finds its power of expression in
opposition to nature and in the absence of God. By Grand
Centnl Station I Sat Down and Wept presents art in its
true creativity: creating unity from a central visionary
perspective. From this point onwards art falls away from
its metamorphic principle of transformation, in an enforced
exile, and in the later works becomes an expression of the
radical separation of nature (and love/passion) from the
visionary perception. Art without a supportive environment is
actualized in a self-referential creation, a "magic marriage
of words," that is still, however, a transformation (of tragedy
into comedy) and an expression of a potentially redemptive
God-like wrath and will.
Older households face health-related risks, including risk of being in need of long-term care and mortality risk. How these risks affect financial portfolio choice of households depends on household preferences for long-term care and bequest. Using linked survey-administrative data on clients of a mutual fund company, this paper finds that the desire to have enough resources for long-term care and bequests are overall strong but also heterogeneous across households. The estimated relationship between actual stock share of households and the strength of these preferences is qualitatively similar but quantitatively much weaker compared to the predictions from the life-cycle model with the estimated preference heterogeneity. Based on the predictions from the model, this paper discusses what financial instruments would better meet the needs of households.
This paper investigates the relationship between stock share and expectations and risk preferences using linked survey responses and administrative records from account holders. The survey allows individual-level, quantitative estimates of risk tolerance and of the perceived mean and variance of stock returns. Estimated risk tolerance, expected return, and perceived risk have economically and statistically significant explanatory power for the distribution of stock shares. Relative to each other, the magnitudes are in proportion with the predictions of benchmark theories, but they are substantially attenuated. MBA graduates have more stable beliefs, more knowledge about their account holdings, and less attenuation.
This paper introduces the Vanguard Research Initiative (VRI), a new panel survey of wealthholders designed to yield high-quality measurements of a large sample of older Americans who arrive at retirement with significant financial assets. The VRI links survey data with a variety of administrative data from Vanguard. The survey features an account-by-account approach to asset measurement and a real-time feedback and correction mechanism that are shown to be highly successful in eliciting accurate measures of wealth. Specifically, the VRI data reflect unbiased and precise estimates of wealth when compared to administrative account data. The VRI sample has characteristics similar to populations meeting analogous wealth and Internet access eligibility conditions in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF). To illustrate the value of the VRI, the paper shows that the relationship between wealth and expected retirement date is very different in the VRI than in the HRS and SCF—mainly because those surveys have so few observations where wealth levels are high enough to finance substantial consumption during retirement.
Older Americans, even those who are long retired, have strong willingness to work, especially in jobs with flexible schedules. For many, labor force participation near or after normal retirement age is limited more by a lack of acceptable job opportunities or low expectations about finding them than by unwillingness to work longer. This paper establishes these findings using an approach to identification based on strategic survey questions (SSQs) purpose-designed to complement behavioral data. These findings suggest that demand-side factors are important in explaining late-in-life labor market behavior and may be the most appropriate target for policy aimed at promoting working longer.
In order for computer generated imagery to recreate the characteristic visual appearance of phenomena such as smoke and fog it is necessary to compute the way in which light interacts with participating media. In this work we present a novel technique for computing volumetric single scattering lighting solutions for particle-based inhomogeneous participating media data sets. We seek to calculate volumetric lighting solutions for particle-based data sets as such data sets have the advantage of being spatially unbounded and relatively unrestricted with regard to memory as compared to uniform grids. In order to perform the calculations which are required for computing such a lighting solution, we introduce a novel octree based data structure. We refer to this new data structure as a density octree. The design of the density octree allows for efficiently computing light attenuation throughout the spatial extent. Using our data structure, we are able to produce high quality output imagery of arbitrary particle data sets in the presence of arbitrary numbers of lights.
Collection space is an issue within the library. The assessment librarian examined statistics from various resources that are typically collected in the library, but not normally looked at as a whole. These Collection Growth Reports will help library staff to make evidence-based purchasing and weeding decisions.
What contributions are considered sufficient to justify authorship credit? As universities show increasing interest in both interdisciplinary work & research metrics, the library is in a unique position to help researchers across disciplines navigate through this important area of scholarly communication.
The use of open linked data in libraries is quickly developing as means of connecting digital content from the web to local library collections. In the world of cataloguing, metadata, and authority control, using controlled vocabularies through open linked data presents the possibility of providing library patrons with access to a seemingly unlimited expanse of digital resources. Encouraged by this potential, the Carleton University Library is currently implementing open linked data models within its institutional repository in order to connect users to digital content within our repository, our ILS, and beyond. This poster presents the ideas and processes behind this innovative project, and hopes to inspire other libraries to implement open linked data concepts in order to enhance the discoverability of their own digital collections.
Learning Outcomes:
• Clear explanation of open linked data concepts using diagrams to illustrate key points
• How libraries of all sizes can utilize linked data for authority control to expand access to digital collections
• How libraries can use linked data to promote and expand access to OA publications
What happens in a department when one introduces EBLIP into the daily workflow? The researcher reflects on the challenges and rewards of the first year as a Collections Assessment Librarian, a newly created position in the library.
Energy modeling and optimization studies can facilitate the design of cost-effective, low-energy buildings. However, this process inevitably involves uncertainties such as predicting occupant behavior, future climate, and econometric parameters. As presently practiced, energy modelers typically do not quantify the implications of these unknowns into performance outcomes. This paper describes an energy modeling approach to quantify economic risk and better inform decision makers of the economic feasibility of a project. The proposed methodology suggests how economic uncertainty can be quantified within an optimization framework. This approach improves modeling outcomes by factoring in the effect of variability in assumptions and improves confidence in simulation results. The methodology is demonstrated using a net zero energy commercial office building case study located in London, ON, Canada.
Usable security has unique usability challenges because the need for security often means that standard human-computerinteraction approaches cannot be directly applied. An important usability goal for authentication systems is to support users in selecting better passwords, thus increasing security by expanding the effective password space. In click-based graphical passwords, poorly chosen passwords lead to the emergence of hotspots ' portions of the image where users are more likely to select click-points, allowing attackers to mount more successful dictionary attacks. We use persuasion to influence user choice in click-based graphical passwords, encouraging users to select more random, and hence more secure, click-points. Our approach is to introduce persuasion to the Cued Click-Points graphical password scheme (Chiasson, van Oorschot, Biddle, 2007). Our resulting scheme significantly reduces hotspots while still maintaining its usability.
Libraries are quickly becoming spaces for more than just books and journals. At Carleton University MacOdrum Library, we used Minecraft to introduce elementary and high school students to the power of gaming as a tool to foster education, research and collaboration. In May 2015, we encouraged students to take part in a project that engaged them with a local project called the LeBreton Flats Redevelopment Project. The redevelopment project led by the National Capital Commission (NCC), shortlisted four developers and published their proposals for the community to see. Using the criteria presented by the four pre-qualified proponents, the students were asked to research and propose their own ideas for the space. Using a scale version of the space in Minecraft, the students built their proposed plan for the space in a 1:1 scale replica of LeBreton Flats.
The ethnographic treatment of "rites de Passage" is discussed with reference to
material relating to religious initiation. It is suggested that the major transitions
engendered through the Tibetan Buddhist Tantric W a n g Kur rituals may be profitably
analyzed not simply as changes in social status but rather as tools for the re-ordering
of phenomenology which are designed to engender long-term alterations in the
initiates' experience of the world. The initiation provides a rationale and instruction
conjunctive with ritual technique which is consciously designed to globally and
permanently alter the consciousness of the practitioner. Suggestions for studies of
rites of passage which take into account this dimension of the ritual control of
experience are offered.
This survey study of senior municipal administrators examines the use of evaluative criteria in managerial performance evaluation and extends previous findings in the public sector context. The results reveal that the use of evaluative criteria is very similar to that found in Otley and Pollanen's (2000) public-sector study, but significantly different from those reported in several private-sector studies. Substantially lower proportions of budget-based criteria are found in both public-sector studies than in private-sector studies. Performance is higher under low- than high-uncertainty conditions and in larger than smaller organizations. The findings suggest that different evaluative criteria may be appropriate in the public and he findings suggest that different evaluative criteria may be appropriate in the public and private sectors, and that uncertainty and organizational size may affect performance.
Partial least squares (PLS) is sometimes used as an alternative to covariance-based structural equation modeling (SEM). This paper briefly reviews currently available SEM techniques, and provides a critique of the perceived advantages of PLS over covariance-based SEM as commonly cited by PLS users. Specific attention is drawn to the primary disadvantage of PLS, namely the lack of consistency of its parameter estimates. The instrumental variables (IV) /two stage least squares (2SLS) method of estimation is then described and presented as a potential alternative to PLS that might yield its perceived advantages without succumbing to its primary disadvantage. Preliminary simulation results show that: PLS parameter estimates exhibit substantial bias when the number of items is moderate; SEM-based methods yield lower bias; and IV/2SLS estimates may indeed provide a viable ordinary least squares (OLS)-based alternative to PLS.
Since 2014, Carleton University Library has been adding to the ways it practices collection development. In addition to the subject liaison firm order model, we have added 3 successful user-centred ways to acquire material. We ended our approval plan and used its selection framework to create a DDA plan. We started a textbook purchasing program in Reserves, and we instituted print purchase on demand procedures in ILL. This poster provides an overview and key takeaways for each initiative.
Research emphasizing evolutionary and resource-based perspectives of the firm highlights the importance of core capabilities as sources of superior performance, and views capabilities in computer-based IT systems as instrumental in leading to strategic advantage. However, the asymmetrical results from such systems present a somewhat confusing picture as to the key issues that managers should be addressing. We present an approach to IS capability development that applies a combined evolutionary and resource-based perspective. We propose that IS capability is determined along three strategic dimensions and will result from effective and sustained efforts in three complementary areas that are discussed in this paper. We use three case studies to illustrate the use of the proposed IS capability framework in analyzing information systems in organizations.
A study of citations in four prominent journals indicates how deeply Hofstede's conceptualization dominates the understanding of culture in international business research. The implications of this intellectual hegemony for the development of the field are examined After considering some critiques of Hofstede's approach, three diverse alternatives to the value-based approach are discussed.
Potential synergies between international trade and tourism are viewed optimistically by governments, yet research to assess their association is limited. To gain an understanding of trade and tourism relationships, this paper reports on a study which examines both product-related and tourism-related place image effects on consumer behavior simultaneously. Using the U.S. as the country of focus, key product and travel relationships are measured by structural equation modeling of consumer data from South Korea. Findings support the cross-over effect between one's beliefs about a country as a destination and as a producer, and one's willingness to travel to it and/or buy its products, and most strongly, that product beliefs affect views of travel destinations.
This paper provides a critical review of literature on management controls and their context. The review indicates that more emphasis has been placed on organizational than environmental factors and that the effectiveness of different controls in different contexts remains practically unaddressed. In general, research has been ad hoc and focused on results-oriented financial controls, short-term efficiency, and individual level of analysis. Even for commonly studied topics (e.g., budget controls), evidence has often been inconsistent and limited to manufacturing organizations, with little integration and refinement of previous theoretical models based on new evidence. Further research is required to investigate the relative importance of different financial and nonfinancial controls in different types of organizations in order to develop more comprehensive performance measurement and management frameworks.
This paper examines the role of affect in marketing positioning strategy and individual positioning judgements. We examine affect in both the marketing and positioning literatures and argue that vestiges of the dual mind perspective are alive and well in positioning. Viewing 'thinking' and 'feeling' as entirely separate (as in utilitarian vs. hedonic product distinctions) runs counter to advances in neuroscience and devalues individual differences and brain functioning. As a result of our own coding of positioning dimensions, we advocate for a greater understanding of the complex interplay between affect and cognition in positioning strategy and judgements.
Information technology-based alliances are rapidly spreading in organizations, which calls upon researchers to develop an adequate theoretical lens to examine this phenomenon and its key associated outcomes, such as the business performance of alliance firms. However, strategic alliances are mostly examined from a transaction cost economics perspective, and the results on performance are inconclusive at best. This paper proposes an alternative lens - the resource-based view - and applies an extended version of it to explain the performance of firms in IT-based alliances. A conceptual model is developed that examines the impact of shared information technology resources on firm performance. Also, a measurement scale for these resources is developed and preliminarily validated.
Entrepreneurship is a recognized concept both for research and practice. It is possible to find university courses, research published in specialized journals, associations dedicated to entrepreneurship promotion and governmental support. In a regional economic development context, a special form of entrepreneurship could achieve other objectives. Social entrepreneurship is an emergent concept earning more popularity than ever around the planet. However the concept is not well known. The objective of the paper is to present an overview of the social entrepreneurship concept.
The paper identifies the characteristics of firm activities that constitute its technology scanning dynamic capability, which enables the firm to translate information about customer needs into information about tangible ways to introduce new products and services to satisfy those needs. The ability to find a specific actionable way to address customer needs is proposed to be measured by a latent construct called technology scanning. Using the literature on marketing, innovation management, knowledge management, new product development, and economics, five dimensions are identified for a technology scanning scale. A strong presence of 'technology scanning' ensures that the firm's resources are targeted to find the solution of the problems that matters most, the ones that were identified as a consequence of high level of market orientation of the firm. This work would shed some light on how managers might solve the problems and needs of the customers identified through market orientation practices. When market orientation guides technology scanning activities, the outcomes are more desirable to the firm.
Working in collaborative and dispersed (C&D) settings is now common for project teams, especially for those active in multinational companies or in international contexts. The concept of "collaborative maturity" has recently been proposed by various authors in order to identify and measure the competence of a firm working in C&D mode. Many models of collaborative maturity have been proposed, reflecting the increasing importance of this area of research. However, the existing literature is spread among multiple journals in various fields of research. For a better understanding of collaborative maturity and how it is measured, a thorough literature review is conducted and an extension of existing research is proposed. This will serve as the theoretical background for future empirical research. The results should be useful for project managers and academicians with an interest in C&D projects.
Social problems, such unsustainable development, can be too large for any one organization to tackle alone so are increasingly being addressed through cross-sector multi-organizational collaborations. One of the approaches being taken is formulating and implementing a collective (alternatively named collaborative) strategy. Despite the increasing usage of collaborative strategic management in practice, there is relatively little literature on this approach, particularly when considering the implementation of the collaborative strategy. This paper builds on existing interorganizational collaboration theory and organizational strategy implementation theory to determine: 1) a conceptual process model of collaborative strategic management; and 2) factors which affect each phase of cross-sectoral social-oriented collaborative strategic managment.
Despite the prevalence of formal and informal standards for employee attire, research on its role is limited. Social psychological theories suggest that work attire can be a meaningful, expressive symbol associated with one's occupational identity. Organizational theories suggest that work attire can affect both individual and organizational outcomes. Bridging these perspectives, this study considers work attire's potential to influence micro and macro organizational dynamics. A framework of the dimensions influencing factors and outcomes of work dress is used to assess the results of a poll of members of the Canadian Forces, an organization whose work attire is highly conspicuous and rigidly homogeneous. Though a slight majority of participants responded that their uniform did not impact their operational focus, comments indicate both organizational influences and individual concerns with specific attributes of attire. Attitudes toward work attire may be indicative of broader issues of organizational identity.
This paper identifies some of the challenges facing expatriates using an autoethnographic account of situations experienced by the author during her first year of work at a financial services company in Hong Kong. These experiences reveal an erratic business world of apparent nonsense and uncertainty, incomprehensible to an outsider. The challenges facing expatriates stem from the stress and anxiety affecting their work, family and social interactions within the foreign culture. Success in the new environment is dependent on the expatriate's ability to adjust to the new culture. An overview of the current research on the expatriate experience is provided to help the reader make sense of the autoethnographic situations.
This paper will provide insight into the personality dimensions that can be attributed to performing arts awards, and thus generate a scale to measure these dimensions. This area of work rests upon the idea that there is self-concept congruency between a viewer and product or service, and that there are instances where attributes of a human nature can be, in fact, attributed to them. The study will look particularly at a mixed sample of televised performing arts awards shows (The Academy Awards, The Prime-Time Emmy Awards, The Tony Awards, The Grammy Awards and The Golden Globe Awards) and the various motivations and interests of viewers to watch, or not watch, such shows. Based upon its position in the literature and its intended contribution, this study will propose a four-step scale development process.
Available data indicate that economic conditions, exports performance and foreign direct investment from Malaysia increased significantly in the 1990s. Existing literature on the internationalization of firms is based on the study of firms from developed countries and does not directly apply to the case of firms based in developing economies, and Malaysia particularly. Based on this phenomenon, this study attempts to examine the process of internationalization among Malaysian firms into the foreign markets and compare the internationalization process of Malaysian firms with other developed countries. This study will contribute to the knowledge gap with empirical data from rapidly internationalizing firms, in respect of the Malaysian firms' experiences, organizational learning and capability creation that will offer fruitful approaches to understanding the dynamic of firms' expansion. The resulting model could assist policy makers to improve existed support programs for businesses to overcome barriers and enhance performance in internationalization process.
This article examines the politics of 'seeing' civilians in Afghanistan with a focus on the 2009 Kunduz air strike. Drawing on the literature on professional vision and professional knowledges, I ask how divergences in the 'ways of seeing' between different professional communities can be explained, and how they are resolved in practice. 'Seeing,' I argue, is based on talking. The vocabularies with which we describe the world and understand our relationships shape how we 'see'. As a consequence, Afghans gathered around a truck can appear an 'immediate threat' or not -- depending on the ideological prisms at work. The article suggests that we need to treat professional vision as necessarily contested and examine how professionals are socialized into accepting one way of seeing as valid. Seeing is based on talking, and we need to talk about how we see (violence).
In this study we will discuss the historical changes in the work and life relationship which resulted in development of new theories. After an introduction to work-life relationships, different theories of work and life are presented in the second section of this paper. These theories are categories intro three generations based on their characteristics in the historical evolution of work-life studies. In the third section measures of work and life spillovers are described. In section four, critiques of the current methodologies which is being used in the work and life studies are presented. Discussion section which is presented in following section includes some arguments regarding the ways to select the most appropriate theories for work-life studies. Also in this section some recommendations are presented for enhancing the commonly used methodologies of the research on work and life relationships. Finally, in the last section, some recommendations for future studies are presented.
Managers are often measured against an ideal that is treated as a tangible object which is stable across generations. It is the contention of this paper that the ideal manager is, in fact, a social construct that is a product of the political and social context within which it exists. Different periods in time create unique typifications of the construct, and the ideal manager is not independent of its environment. The socially constructed nature of the ideal manager will be illustrated through the analysis of the construct at one specific point in time, the internal Cold War in the years following the Second World War and ending in 1960. While widely studied in most disciplines, the Cold War has been largely ignored in the management literature, and therefore provides us with a unique perspective from which to assess the impact of context on the standard to which managers are held.
This study uses theories of motivation to analyze how performance changes over the life of a contract. Utilizing performance data for professional basketball players in the NBA for three seasons, the results show that performance does change over the life of a contract. Factors affecting how much control a player has over his performance are found to be important in how the players' performance changes as the contract completion nears.
The hospitality industry relies on front-line staff members to provide high quality service experiences to encourage repeat business. Unlike the manufacturing industry that separates the production of goods from the delivery to customers, professionals in the hospitality industry realize that customers evaluate their "product" through perceived service quality levels (Ottenbacher & Howley, 2005). Although types of service may differ, industry operators and researchers agree that both customer satisfaction and service quality are critical prerequisites for customer retention (Cronin & Taylor, 1992). Consistent service quality demands a workforce with strong emotional display management skills; however, displays of unfelt feelings, or "acting", can create intense emotional strain for service providers. This paper will examine the emotional labour pressures experienced by service workers and outline theoretical mitigating influences provided by high performance work practices (HPWP). Links will be drawn between decreased employee turnover, increased customer satisfaction and customer retention.
Academic research into codes of ethics has given us valuable information on the subject but has failed to provide an all-encompassing understanding of the contents of actual codes. This paper looks at what is presently known about this subject, presents a conceptual model that integrates the different elements that go into a code of ethics, describes the dynamics that explains why each company's code of ethics has a distinct content, and presents preliminary results obtained after having analyzed a cross-section of the code of ethics of member companies of the Ethics and Compliance Officer Association.
Labour shortages are imminent in a variety of different industries, particularly those that require high levels of skills. Organizations will need to plan for these shortages as many of the solutions will have fairly long lead times before an impact is felt. One area from which short-term gains may be achieved is the reduction of voluntary turnover, particularly the loss of productive employees. An area with potential for longer-term success in combating the labour shortage is in restructuring. Through restructuring, organizations can redesign the work processes so that when employees do leave, the position will have to be reworked and a replacement may not be needed. The organization will be shrinking in headcount, but it will remain as productive as it was before downsizing due to efficiencies gained; it will have successfully navigated "involuntary downsizing". The purpose of this paper is to develop the concept of involuntary downsizing" by expanding the definition of downsizing to include situations in which organizations are competing in diminishing labour markets. Similar to the current concept of downsizing, organizations will need to accomplish more, with fewer resources; however, the cause of the downsizing and the solutions that are available will be different.
In the typology of harassment and aggression in the workplace, workplace incivility is situated as a non-aggressive, low intensity form of deviant behaviour with an uncertain intent to cause harm. The importance of incivility to organizational theory and human resource management is that it may have a negative effect on organizational outcomes and more importantly it may be a precursor for more overt forms of workplace violence. Two potential influences on the effects of incivility are personality and workplace context; the latter of these two has not been sufficiently explored in the literature. This paper will take one step towards addressing this gap by examining the ways in which incivility is moderated in the context of military organizations. The result of this contextual examination of incivility will be a proposal that incivility may have a positive effect through the development of coping strategies for stressful situations encountered by armed forces.
One problem faced by a profit center loyalty reward program firm is that of determining the percentage of the points (the so called "breakage factor or "breakage rate" in loyalty programs industry) accumulated each year that end up not ever being redeemed by members, and that should therefore, be recognized as revenue in the establishment of the periodical financial statements. A higher breakage rate will contribute to increase the net income and profitability on the financial statements. This in turn would offer a competitive advantage to a firm in attracting and pricing new third party partners, developing company strategic plans, and managing the overall yearly reward capacity. In this paper, we propose a quantitative methodology for determining the breakage rate in Loyalty Reward Programs (LRP). The proposed methodology is a simulation-based approach in which the accumulation and redemption of "points" is modeled as a stochastic process. An application of the approach to a real-life context is discussed.
One reason teams are seen to be a high-performance work practice (HPWP) is that the diversity of team member knowledge, skills and abilities, known as cognitive resource diversity supposedly brings new perspectives, information, ideas and resources to the solution of problems and the exploration and exploitation of opportunities. However, to date the performance of heterogeneous teams has been disappointing with the most common finding being increased conflict. Based on social identity and social exchange theories and building onto Mayer, Davis & Schoorman's (1995) classic integrative model of trust, this paper proposes that trust is a critical mediator in the relationship between cognitive resource diversity and within-team knowledge sharing.
The paper addresses important issues regarding how consumers' purchase decisions in a product category are influenced by market mix variables in other categories. We propose a structural analysis of multi-category purchase decisions, where we simultaneously model and estimate consumers' purchase incidence, brand choice and quantity choice decisions across multiple product categories. Addtionally, we study the role played by umbrella brands in influencing the decision made by consumers. We propose a structural model where all the three decisions are derived from the consumer's global utility maximization. Such structural analysis is important from the perspective of (i) a retailer whose objective is to maximize profits over all product categories, and (ii) a manufacturer whose objective is to maximize profits over its entire product line. Our analysis highlights the importance of studying consumers' purchase decisions in a multi-category context which can not be addressed by studying each category in seclusion.
Identification of effective and cost-efficient compensation practices for recruiting and retaining expatriate employees is becoming increasingly important in today's global labor market. This paper proposes a study to investigate perceptions of fair compensation for expatriate employment using the tenets of equity theory. Participants will specify an "equitable" monetary bonus for hypothetical overseas assignments of different lengths and locations. Relying on Konopaske's and Werner's (2002) propositions, the author predicts the following: 1) Short-term overseas assignments will require a larger "foreign service premium" (monetary bonus) than domestic relocation, 2) Long-term expatriate assignments will require a larger premium than short-term or domestic relocation, and 3) Relocation to a developing country will require a larger premium than relocation to an advanced industrialized nation or to a domestic location. A methodology and data analysis strategy are described.
This paper provides empirical evidence on the growth, financing activity, and operating performance of Canadian business income trusts. We find that business income trusts are growing in terms of total assets and sales revenues. They frequently acquire other businesses in post-IPO period. We also find that income trusts are likely to issue third-party debt to finance acquisitions. Median operating return on total assets decreases after an business income trust IPO, indicating an operating performance inferior to that in pre-lPO years.