International alliance commitment and performance of small and medium-size enterprises: The mediating role of process control

Improving alliance performance is a critical issue that both managers and researchers have attempted to resolve. Recently scholars have suggested that firms can use alliance commitment and process controls to improve alliance performance. Yet research has only found weak support for these direct effects. In this paper we examine the mediating role of process controls on the relationship between alliance commitment and alliance performance. When tested on samples of SMEs we find support for our theoretical predictions. We then discuss the managerial implications of using commitment and process controls in SME international alliances.     

Going most of the way: “Technical virginity” among American adolescents

Reports from academic and media sources assert that many young people substitute non-vaginal sexual activities for vaginal intercourse in order to maintain what could be called “technical virginity.” Explanations for technical virginity, however, are based on weak empirical evidence and considerable speculation. Using a sample of 15–19-year-olds from Cycle 6 of the National Survey of Family Growth, we examine technical virginity and its motivations. The results suggest that religious adolescents are less likely than less-religious ones to opt for non-vaginal sex over total abstinence. Abstinence pledgers who are virgins are neither more nor less likely than nonpledgers who are virgins to substitute non-vaginal sex for intercourse. Moreover, religion and morality are actually the weakest motivators of sexual substitution among adolescents who have not had vaginal sex. Preserving technical virginity is instead more common among virgins who are driven by a desire to avoid potential life-altering consequences, like pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.     

A characteristic function approach to the biased sampling model,with application to robust logistic regression

Many sampling problems from multiple populations can be considered under the semiparametric framework of the biased, or weighted, sampling model. Included under this framework is logistic regression under case–control sampling. For any model, atypical observations can greatly influence the maximum likelihood estimate of the parameters. Several robust alternatives have been proposed for the special case of logistic regression. However, some current techniques can exhibit poor behavior in many common situations. In this paper a new family of procedures are constructed to estimate the parameters in the semiparametric biased sampling model. The procedures incorporate a minimum distance approach, but are instead based on characteristic functions. The estimators can also be represented as the minimizers of quadratic forms in simple residuals, thus yielding straightforward computation. For the case of logistic regression, the resulting estimators are shown to be competitive with the existing robust approaches in terms of both robustness and efficiency, while maintaining affine equivariance. The approach is developed under the case–control sampling scheme, yet is shown to be applicable under prospective sampling logistic regression as well.     

Bias Reduction through First-order Mean Correction, Bootstrapping and Recursive Mean Adjustment

Standard methods of estimation for autoregressive models are known to be biased in finite samples, which has implications for estimation, hypothesis testing, confidence interval construction and forecasting. Three methods of bias reduction are considered here: first-order bias correction, FOBC, where the total bias is approximated by the O(T^-1) bias; bootstrapping; and recursive mean adjustment, RMA. In addition, we show how first-order bias correction is related to linear bias correction. The practically important case where the AR model includes an unknown linear trend is considered in detail. The fidelity of nominal to actual coverage of confidence intervals is also assessed. A simulation study covers the AR(1) model and a number of extensions based on the empirical AR(p) models fitted by Nelson & Plosser (1982). Overall, which method dominates depends on the criterion adopted: bootstrapping tends to be the best at reducing bias, recursive mean adjustment is best at reducing mean squared error, whilst FOBC does particularly well in maintaining the fidelity of confidence intervals.     

Boardroom Operational and Financial Control: an Insider View*

This study examines the control processes and their dynamics at the board level of two non‐profit organizations with a view to penetrating and exploring directors' control orientations, discourse and decisions in their holistic context. In comparison with the predominantly survey‐ and interview‐based prior research on board‐level control, this study offers a distinctly processual view through its employment of a longitudinal complete member researcher participant observer methodology. Three primary themes of boardroom control focus are identified and analysed. These are control reporting, director's control orientation and the board's budgetary control approach. Directors' strategic orientation is found to be the primary driver of their exercise of control, with reporting systems and routine monitoring emerging as adjuncts to their primary strategic control focus. Strategy‐triggered control activity exhibits itself largely via directors' cost–benefit and risk management analyses communally developed in the course of board meeting exchanges.     

A case-based distance method for screening in multiple-criteria decision aid

Screening is a process of multiple-criteria decision aid (MCDA) in which a large set of alternatives is reduced to a smaller set that most likely contains the best choice. We propose screening using a distance model calibrated on the basis of the decision-maker's own judgement. Viewing MCDA as preference aggregation based on consequence data, we define consequence and preference expressions (values and weights) and describe how they are aggregated. Then we define screening and explain some of its properties. Using an appropriate definition of distance, our case-based distance method screens a set of alternatives using criterion weights and a distance threshold obtained by quadratic optimization using the decision-maker's selection of alternatives from a test set. This case-based method can elicit the decision maker's preferences more expeditiously and accurately than direct inquiry. An application in water supply planning is used to demonstrate the procedure.     

Risk of Error and the Kappa Coefficient of a Binary Diagnostic Test in the Presence of Partial Verification

The accuracy of a binary diagnostic test is usually measured in terms of its sensitivity and its specificity, or through positive and negative predictive values. Another way to describe the validity of a binary diagnostic test is the risk of error and the kappa coefficient of the risk of error. The risk of error is the average loss that is caused when incorrectly classifying a non-diseased or a diseased patient, and the kappa coefficient of the risk of error is a measure of the agreement between the diagnostic test and the gold standard. In the presence of partial verification of the disease, the disease status of some patients is unknown, and therefore the evaluation of a diagnostic test cannot be carried out through the traditional method. In this paper, we have deduced the maximum likelihood estimators and variances of the risk of error and of the kappa coefficient of the risk of error in the presence of partial verification of the disease. Simulation experiments have been carried out to study the effect of the verification probabilities on the coverage of the confidence interval of the kappa coefficient.     

The muse as mother

This paper suggests that the concept of the muse in relation to the creative process is more than a myth or cultural artifact. It is argued that the muse is a psychic recollection of our memories of the female who presided over our first experiences of consciousness as we traversed the borders of inner and outer reality—that is, the mother. The shift of consciousness required in creative activity triggers recall of this figure. Object relations theory, recent findings from infant research, and the intuitive observations of several authors are used to support this thesis. Clinical examples illustrate the application of this concept in treatment.