Dilemmas of an Economic Theorist

What on earth are economic theorists like me trying to accomplish? This paper discusses four dilemmas encountered by an economic theorist: The dilemma of absurd conclusions: Should we abandon a model if it produces absurd conclusions or should we regard a model as a very limited set of assumptions that will inevitably fail in some contexts? The dilemma of responding to evidence: Should our models be judged according to experimental results? The dilemma of modelless regularities: Should models provide the hypothesis for testing or are they simply exercises in logic that have no use in identifying regularities? The dilemma of relevance: Do we have the right to offer advice or to make statements that are intended to influence the real world?     

Organizing for strategic management

In this paper, the author—a well-known Dutch academic and consultant—discusses the factors which make ‘strategic management’ effective. Among these, a dominant factor is the organization climate which, in its turn, is determined by the quality of the managers and the availability of alternatives. He suggests that to improve the organization climate in which strategic management can be effective, the quality of the managers is a crucial factor. The scope for alternatives is an important constraint. This article assesses common problems and failures in strategic management and gives some suggestions for organizing it, including the use of consultants and the role of formal procedures.     

A Quantitative Test of the Cultural Theory of Risk Perceptions: Comparison with the Psychometric Paradigm

This paper seeks to compare two frameworks which have been proposed to explain risk perceptions, namely, cultural theory and the psychometric paradigm. A structured questionnaire which incorporated elements from both approaches was administered to 129 residents of Norwich, England. The qualitative risk characteristics generated by the psychometric paradigm explained a far greater proportion of the variance in risk perceptions than cultural biases, though it should be borne in mind that the qualitative characteristics refer directly to risks whereas cultural biases are much more distant variables. Correlations between cultural biases and risk perceptions were very low, but the key point was that each cultural bias was associated with concern about distinct types of risks and that the pattern of responses was compatible with that predicted by cultural theory. The cultural approach also provided indicators for underlying beliefs regarding trust and the environment; beliefs which were consistent within each world view but divergent between them. An important drawback, however, was that the psychometric questionnaire could only allocate 32% of the respondents unequivocally to one of the four cultural types. The rest of the sample expressed several cultural biases simultaneously, or none at all. Cultural biases are therefore probably best interpreted as four extreme world views, and a mixture of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies would generate better insights into who might defend these views in what circumstances, whether there are only four mutually exclusive world views or not, and how these views are related to patterns of social solidarity, and judgments on institutional trust.     

Are they Surgeons? or are they Plumbers? Assessing the Role of Private Sector Consultants in Place Branding and Other Place-Based Economic Development Strategies

Public Organization Review - This study takes an in-depth look at the roles and utility of consultants in local economic development, focusing on whether there is ultimately a need for this...     

Remuneration Committees,Pay Consultants and the Determination of Executive Directors' Pay

This paper explores how Board Remuneration Committee (Remco) decisions about executive pay are influenced by pay consultants. Drawing on resource dependency theory and case study evidence from five companies, the paper illuminates the complexities of the pressures and processes confronting both Remcos and pay consultants in the determination of executive pay awards. In contrast to ‘managerial power’ arguments, it demonstrates that the Remcos are proactive in managing pay policy, conscientious in seeking to ensure that pay is appropriate and not over‐generous, and that pay consultants are independent and take their instructions entirely from the Remco. Nevertheless, Remcos' understandings of the wider pay environment, informed by the comparative data supplied by pay consultants, constructs a climate in which the Remcos come to perceive a need for periodic upward pay adjustments to ensure that executive remuneration is consistent with external benchmarks if they are to avoid recruitment and retention problems.     

政府在废旧电子产品逆向物流管理中的经济责任机制

我国的废旧电子产品逆向物流管理已成为紧迫的问题,本文讨论了政府在废旧电子产品逆向物流管理中的经济责任机制。首先分析了政府在废旧电子产品逆向物流管理中实施经济责任的必要性,定量确定了政府对回收处理厂商的最优投资补贴率,最后讨论了政府实现经济责任的经费来源。     

Towards intellectual globalization: A theoretical exploration and its implications for research

Globalization is a complex process which changes as well as has the potential to change the various events in the world at multiple levels. It is widely recognized that there are multiple facets of globalization including political, economic and cultural. In this paper, I advance the concept of intellectual globalization—a process of knowledge creation, transformation, and diffusion that goes beyond the immediate theoretical confines of knowledge management. The roots and functioning of this process are examined at the level of the nation, organization, and the individual. Implications for future research on the relationship of this aspect of globalization with various cultures of the world are discussed.     

A historic, geographic, cultural, and economic guide to Australian health care

This is the first in a series of articles that will explore the health care systems of countries around the world. To begin the series, the President of the Royal Australian College of Medical Administrators describes the current status of the health of his country's people, its health care delivery system, and how it has responded to historic, geographic, cultural, and economic factors that characterize the growth and development of Australia.     

Testing the Cultural Theory of Risk in France

Cultural Theory, as developed by Mary Douglas, argues that differing risk perceptions can be explained by reference to four distinct cultural biases: hierarchy, egalitarianism, individualism, and fatalism. This paper presents empirical results from a quantitative survey based on a questionnaire devised by Karl Dake to measure these cultural biases. A large representative sample (N = 1022) was used to test this instrument in the French social context. Correlations between cultural biases and perceptions of 20 social and environmental risks were examined. These correlations were very weak, but were statistically significant: cultural biases explained 6%, at most, of the variance in risk perceptions. Standard sociodemographic variables were also weakly related to risk perceptions (especially gender, social class, and education), and cultural biases and sociodemographic variables were themselves inter correlated (especially with age, social class, and political outlook). The authors compare these results with surveys conducted in other countries using the same instrument and conclude that new methods, more qualitative and contextual, still need to be developed to investigate the cultural dimensions of risk perceptions. The paper also discusses relationships between perceptions of personal and residual risk, and between perceived risk and demand for additional safety measures. These three dimensions were generally closely related, but interesting differences were observed for some risk issues.     

Alien tutelage: on generalizability and contextualization in leadership development

There has been sustained argument for contextualization of leadership development, none more so than when working with Indigenous and other marginalized peoples. Leadership development programmes are predominantly conducted by ‘outsider’ educationalists and consultants and the question of contextualization, of how much or how little, is a decision that is ultimately made in classrooms around the world under conditions of alien tutelage. Employing an autoethnographic approach, the article examines three examples of leadership development programmes in order to think about generalization and/or contextualization. Overall, this study finds that arguments for and against ‘generalizability’ and ‘contextualization’ might depend more on the skill and experience of the teacher rather than the corpus of knowledge over which so many battles are fought. It suggests that the potential embedded in generalizable programmes can be realized if there is sufficient pedagogic engagement and space created by culturally competent teachers and facilitators for local testing of generalized knowledge claims for their adaptation: personally, organizationally, nationally and globally. It also finds that the people and outcome focus aspects of leadership development seem to be more influenced by culture than other aspects such as personal leadership style preference that would appear to transcend ethic cultural background.     

The adoption of deferred share unit plans for outside directors: economic and social determinants

This paper investigates the antecedents of adopting deferred compensation plans for corporate directors. Relying on agency and network theories, we compare the economic and social characteristics of firms that have adopted a deferred share unit plan for their directors over the 1997–2005 period (130 firms) to a control sample. Our findings show that firms where outside directors have higher agency costs, firms having a block holder that owns a significant voting power, firms whose outside directors serve on other boards having adopted deferred compensation plans, and firms that hire compensation consultants are more likely to adopt a deferred share unit plan for their directors than other firms. These findings highlight the importance of integrating economic and social perspectives when investigating the diffusion of compensation practices.     

裁员决策的经济理性分析

本文从员工行为取向角度对裁员决策的经济理性进行了分析.裁员决策的依据是员工能否忠实地履行自己的职责.裁员是一把双刃剑,虽然裁的是员工,最受伤的往往却是企业.无论企业的经营状况如何,裁员都应该是一种最后的、不得已的选择.本文探讨了裁员的经济因果,分析了裁员决策中的薪酬策略和目标策略等补救措施,指出了应该如何把握裁员的时机,理性地选择裁员对象.     

Belonging at work

As a developing and most populous nation in the world, the People's Republic of China (P.R. China) faces unique challenges and opportunities in developing its tremendous human resources. Since its policy of ‘reform and open-door’ was initiated in the late 1970s, China has moved steadily towards establishing a nationwide policy of developing human capital and adopting practical measures of implementation. The paper identifies key themes of developing human capital at different levels: in government, business and families. The paper also discusses unique historical, social, political and cultural influences on the determination of such national policies and strategies. Different approaches to developing human capital are discussed for different sectors: state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and private-owned business.     

Cultural Industries: Product–Market Characteristics,Management Challenges and Industry Dynamics

During the last decade, cultural industries have grown in economic importance, and research interest in them has increased. Despite prolific research, there is a lack of a comprehensive view on the subject. The purpose of the present paper is to offer a reconceptualization of cultural industries by tracing their boundaries, their features and the dynamics that follow from these features. This is achieved through a review of 314 cultural industries studies, whereby a classification system of three main and six sub‐categories is constructed. On the basis of the review, a framework for future research is presented. Most importantly, future research should examine selection criteria and selection performance, and explore the relationships between tastes, sales, diversity and quality. In this way, researchers might be able to create some order in the extreme uncertainty that cultural industries managers face.     

Planning a TV advertising campaign: A crisp multiobjective programming model from fuzzy basic data

This paper proposes a crisp two-objective logarithmic programming model to help companies decide their advertising campaigns on TV networks for mature products. Both objectives are: (a) to achieve the highest audience impact and (b) to reduce advertising costs as much as possible. Information input is fuzzily elaborated from statistical data, the fuzzy variables being defuzzified to introduce them into the crisp model. This fuzzy information is elicited by TV experts (often independent consultants). Although these experts know statistical information on audience in the past, they do not fully trust its predictive ability. The approach leads to the strategic advertisement (ad) placement among different broadcasts. Users (often managers of big companies) should inform the analyst about their advertising campaign budget. From Weber and Fechner-based psychological research, the ad impact during the advertising campaign is measured depending on the logarithm of ad repetitions. The crisp two-objective problem is solved by a tradeoff method subject to TV technical constraints. A case study with real world data is developed.     

中国区域经济差异的时空变化:市场化、全球化与城市化

本文采用可以多层次分解的Theil系数测量了1952～2002年中国区域经济地带间、地带内和省际差异以及改革开放后典型年份的各省区内部地区经济差异程度。中国区域经济差异随时间波动明显,省际差异自改革开放以来呈现U型变化态势,但地带间差异则持续上升;东部沿海和西部省区内的地区差异较大,而中部省区内差异较小;总体而言,空间尺度越小,其经济差异越显著。本文进一步通过时间序列和横断面数据的统计分析探讨了影响中国区域经济差异的因素,发现改革开放政策、参与全球化程度、市场化程度以及城市化进程等是导致中国区域经济差距时空变化的显著原因。     

A Collaborative View of Knowledge in a Knowledge Society: An International Perspective

This paper focuses on key topics that rose to the fore at the `Getting the Story Right' Joint Forum Assembly Meeting between business and higher education leaders of Australia, Canada, Japan, Poland, and the United States which was held in October 1998 in Banff, Canada. Arising from participant observation notes, conversations, document analysis, and reflective writing, the work centers on four major themes: the nature of knowledge and knowledge workers, the fundamental difference between training and learning, the short-term effects of shifting workplace and economic situations, and the long-term impact of intergenerational influences. Each of these knowledge-related themes emerged in collaborative discussions that transcended national, occupational, and cultural boundaries. The paper takes the position that dialogue regarding the nature and usefulness of knowledge paradoxically takes an inward view as it develops outwardly to the case of others and the world. In a collaborative process of this nature, an important dimension of shared human meaning making becomes briefly revealed.     

Can we have global ethics in a global economy?

With the collapse of the bi-polar world, we live in an increasingly integrated global economy, which includes economic, political, and cultural dimensions. We argue that there is a need for a global ethic commensurate with a global economy, based upon the claims of interdependence, economic insecurity, multiculturalism, and shared problems. The need to identify some common cross-cultural ethical norms is asserted as an important component of a global ethic and various sources and means for such identification are proposed. Finally, we propose reasons why global corporations ought to embrace cross-cultural ethical norms within their own corporate ethics.A version of this paper was first delivered at a joint business faculty seminar co-sponsored by Anadolu University and Baldwin-Wallace College, held at Anadolu University, Eskischir, Turkey, in December 1992. I express deep gratitude to my losts from Aanadolu University and special thanks to Professor Selva Herekman, who painstakingly translated my English text into Turkish.     

Hofstede's cultural dimensions in the GCC countries: An empirical investigation

Managerial values are not the same across the world. Therefore, Multinational Corporations may be making costly decisions if they assume that corporate policies will receive the same attention, understanding or acceptance in their branches over the world. This paper applies Hofstede's four cultural dimensions to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. It also compares Hofstede's results with regard to these four cultural dimensions with our findings. The results of this study show that countries change. They reemphasize the concept that ethnocentric management theories have been untenable. This implies the necessity that Multinational Corporations should study the culture of the country they plan to do business with before starting the negotiations process that precedes the operations in that country and also to monitor changes in the life style of these countries over time. When Multinational Corporations become aware of the international workforce management and the differences between different cultures, they will save themselves costly troubles, loss of qualified personnel as well as loosing international customers. Therefore, it is important for Multinational Corporations to utilize management theories available to them through research and experience.The program leading to this article was supported in part by a grant from KFUPM.     

网络搜索与经济行为相关性研究综述

网络搜索与经济行为的相关性研究是当前国外学者的研究热点。按照研究问题的层次划分,现有研究可以分为宏观、中观及微观三个领域。本文系统整理了现有研究内容,总结了主要研究方法,指出了现有研究中存在的重点和难点问题,并探讨了未来可能的研究方向。