This work is based upon the findings of de Mooij (2005), Okazaki (2007), Cavallone (2007; 2012), Michiels (2010), and Reinoza (2011) related to the concepts of adaptation versus standardization and culturally and cross-culturally customized communication. It considers the theoretical constructs associated with these ideas, specifically focusing on the communication of Italian companies foreign markets.This research takes a step forward with empirical assessment of the perceptions and experiences of potential American consumers of Italian products contrast to a corresponding target market of Italian nationals Italy. The objective is to identify cultural convergences and divergences emerging from the analysis of commercial advertising the American media by testing their efficacy and comparing the acceptances among similar targets residing different countries.The article falls within the adaptation versus standardization debate and emphasizes the importance of the former, both from the point of view of satisfying technical needs and from the cultural and crosscultural standpoint. The research hypotheses are linked to the desire to discover how an advertising message created for a certain is perceived by different ethnic groups and how cultural aspects influence this perception. Those elements the different communications that are not culturally acceptable and those that encourage acceptance have been pinpointed.Beginning with a review and update of the recent literature on the subject, the article continues with a description of the method proposed and adopted for the empirical analysis and a presentation of the results that emerged and led to the confirmation of the majority of theoretical assumptions initially made.From an operative point of view, focus groups were conducted with Americans and Italians who were shown commercials that had been broadcast the U.S. by Italian companies. The results, of efforts to pinpoint and isolate the factors that were modified compared with the in country communication that made the commercials either culturally customized (acceptable to the Americans) or cross-culturally customized (acceptable at the same time to both the ethnic groups), formed the subject of the analysis.Finally, the article concludes with the implications for management and with the proposed steps to be taken for further development of the research.Review of Recent LiteratureFor some time, international literature has dealt with the afore-mentioned diatribe. Elinder (1961) was the first to enquire into adapting the lever of communication, a subject that was then investigated by Elinder (1961,1965), Roostal (1963), Fatt (1964), and Buzell (1968). Globalization has continued to add fresh fuel to the debate and led several authors to highlight the benefits of standardization (Agrawal, 1995; Belch, 1998; Chan, Li, Diehl,& Terlutter, 2007; Hite & Frazer, 1988; Levitt, 1983). On one hand, Chan et al. (2007) point out,[m]any marketers all over the world believe that consumers around the world have similar needs and desires and that the global market is becoming homogeneous.On the other, scholars such as Usunier (1990) and Vardar (1992) have highlighted the low level efficacy of this option, especially when it is compared with the cultural factor (Walliser & Usunier, 1998). As Vrontis (1999) states, the latter variable represents a significant restraint and is the most difficult to control. This position is confirmed by Jain (1996) and Chan et al. (2007) who underline particular the need to personalize advertising messages, bearing mind the culture of the public to whom they are directed. What emerges from the literature is the conviction that [b]oth processes, internationalization and globalization, coexist (Dicken, 1998: 5) and the certainty that, of the various factors that can orient management toward the adaptation of the marketing mix and, particular, of communication, culture plays a leading role (Solberg, 2002). …
The removal of barriers to interstate expansion and the need for competitive size in banking have increased banks' incentives to create banking institutions that stretch across multiple states through merger or acquisition. This merger and acquisition activity has increased the focus on bank valuation. Potential bank merger targets could strive to develop specific characteristics either to hold off acquiring banks or to command a good price from acquiring banks.One way to either hold off mergers and acquisitions or command a good price from acquiring banks is by increasing size. Another way would be to increase profitability (Edwards, 1986). Size and profitability are the two most important variables in bank valuation models.Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) standards are intended to minimize the ability of management to manipulate earnings. Despite these standards, the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) questions whether the financial statements reflect the economics of the merger. Therefore, the SEC would be interested in whether merged banks manipulate earnings just before the merger. In addition, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) uses the Capital Adequacy Ratio (shareholders' equity plus loan loss reserves to total assets plus loan loss reserves) as one of its criteria for authorizing mergers. Generally, increasing earnings by a reduction of the loan loss provision results in a reduction in capital. This also implies that an increase in the loan loss provision increases regulatoiy capital. Managers of banks with low regulatoiy capital have incentives to increase the loan loss provision (Moyer, 1990). In addition, Ahmed, Takeda, and Thomas (1999) found that capital management is an important determinant of the loan loss provision. Annual reports identify the loan loss reserve as a subjective determination of loan losses (Cortland Bancorp, 1999). Therefore, the FDIC would be interested in whether managers are manipulating the loan loss provision to manage regulatoiy capital.The purpose of this study is to test whether merged1 banks have previously been engaged in earnings management using an Industiy Specific Model. This article uses the model to empirically test for earnings management in the three years prior to the merger.2 In addition, the article compares the Industiy Specific Model with the Modified Jones Model in its ability to detect earnings management. This research differs from prior research in that most other earnings management studies used manufacturing samples or non-merged bank samples in their studies (Key, 1997). Key (1997) tested a variation of the Modified Jones Model on a service, cable TV. The article uses the Industry Specific Model to test for earnings management in a specific industiy such as financial institutions and found that merged banks overall manage earnings in all three years. The magnitude of earnings management increases in the two years prior to the merger in comparison to Year -3 indicating that controls do not have an effect on minimizing earnings management. The results show that the Industiy Specific Model is the better model to detect earnings management. In addition, sensitivity tests conclude that merged national banks are driving the results of the full sample, i.e., merged national banks have an increasing magnitude of earnings management as the merger approaches while merged state banks have a decreasing magnitude of earnings management as the merger approaches.Literature ReviewIn early accrual studies, several studies (Healy, 1985; DeAngelo, 1986; 1988; Liberty & Zimmerman, 1986) examined the effects of events on management's manipulation of accounting accruals in multi-industiy manufacturing. These studies provided mixed results for event studies indicating that accrual methodology may not have been powerful enough to detect earnings management.The results of these methodology studies on multi-industiy samples lead to testing of the Modified Jones Model on specific industiy samples, such as Cahan, Chavis, and Elemendorf (1997) and Key (1997), who tested their models on specific industiy samples such as chemicals and cable TV, respectively. …
How does a leading executive in today's complex business world go about creating a climate of effectiveness and innovation? A good candidate for providing valid insight into this issue is a gentleman who has served as a high-level corporate officer at a well-known international company, Mr. Al Carey. As immediate past president and chief executive officer, Mr. Carey led PepsiCo's Frito-Lay North American Division of snack and convenience foods-the company's largest producer and most profitable operating division on this continent. Mr. Carey previously served as president of PepsiCo's successful Power of One Program, a cross-divisional customer-service strategy that leverages the combined strengths and capabilities of all its businesses under a unified approach to serving customers. He is currently CEO of PepsiCo Beverages, the single largest entity under the Pepsi umbrella of companies.To illuminate the strategies and leadership-related activities he implements at one of the world's most-recognized international firms, the following interview with Mr. Carey covers four distinct areas of specific significance to modern leaders: 1) The concept of speed of and how this affects both internal teamwork and external alliances; 2) How a leader's coachability helps in developing both knowledge and talent; 3) A global firm's ability to incorporate environmental sustainment as a key factor for success; and 4) The manner by which innovation creates value for all stakeholders, especially customers.The Speed of TrustAs they conduct their daily lives, people place an extraordinaiy amount of trust in eveiy person they encounter. trust that drivers will remain in the proper traffic lanes on the interstate, that elevators will ascend and descend safely, and that their children will come home from school eveiy day unharmed. Eveiy working individual conducts countless daily business transactions which are largely dependent on trusting both internal team members (such as employees, supervisors, and management team members) and external stakeholders (such as customers, and supporting partners).Interviewer:In his landmark article two decades ago, Butler (1991) addressed extant conditions that can lead to trust. These conditions were availability, competence, consistency, discreetness, fairness, integrity, loyalty, openness, promise fulfillment, and receptivity. More recently research has examined and supported Butler's work in different settings including Li's (2013) look at relational trust and Olson and Olson's (2012) study on virtual team trust. Mr. Carey, based upon your experience at Frito-Lay and PepsiCo, which of Butler's ten conditions seem most relevant, and why?AC:When it comes to trust, character, and competence are important components. Character comprises several of the conditions you mentioned. For example, I would say that character involves fairness, integrity, and openness. It goes back to the old saying, They don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care. How much you care is based on character. Leaders must demonstrate over and over how much they care about eveiyone they come in contact with. This includes customers, employees at all levels, vendors, consultants, supply-chain partners, and shareholders. With equal parts competence and character, you have a solid leader.Interviewer:Butler (1991) also mentions that critical incidents can lead to destruction of trust, and that sometimes power differences can affect reciprocal trust conditions. What challenges have you seen in this regard?AC:Command-and-control leadership style is one that is broadly practiced but not effective long term. It is veiy top down but will not empower employees to own their results. Sometimes, when performance lags, empowering leaders can drift back and forth from empowerment and command and control. When that happens, employees get confused and credibility is lost. …
As modern day organizations are becoming more competitive, a greater need exists to focus on employee expectations beyond the boundaries of the (Katz and Kahn, 1966). Determinants of workplace performance are an area of interest for both individuals and the organization. Individual performance can be conceived either as in-role behavior or extra-role behavior (Katz 8 Kahn, 1966). Subsequently, interest in discretionary prosocial behavior increased leading to conceptualization of different concepts ranging from organization citizenship behavior (Organ, 1988) to proactive behavior (Bateman 8 Grant, 1993). Katz and Kahn (1966) point out that, in several situations, the functioning of an organization depends on supra-role behavior; i.e., those behaviors that cannot be conceived in advance or articulated in advance for a given job. These behaviors lubricate the social milieu of the organization but do necessarily pertain to actual task performance (Bateman 8 Organ, 1983). Though such behaviors are critical for effective performance of the job, they cannot be anticipated in advance as they are beyond the expectation of formal role deliverables.As organizations are characterized by rapid change, competition, and downsizing, employees are expected to move beyond the confines of their descriptions to engage in broader work roles (Parker, 2000). Despite the importance of performing wider scope of responsibilities, the antecedents of extra-role behaviors have been well understood (Parker, Williams, 8 Turner, 2006). Previous research has examined motivation to engage in proactive behavior (Axtell, Holman, Unsworth, Wall, 8 Waterson, 2000; Parker, Williams, 8 Turner, 2006; Morrison 8 Phelps, 1999) mostly using self-ratings of respondents. This article attempts to examine pro-social motivational predictors of proactive behaviors to replicate and extend previous studies using a different rating source; i.e., supervisors. The authors choose to focus on extra-role behavior because it emphasizes proactive as well as pro-social behaviors (Pearce 8 Gregersen, 1991). The literature review did reveal any studies that have been made in the Indian information technology (IT) sector relating to extra-role behavior. More specifically, the objectives of the study are(1) To learn the impact of flexible role orientation on extra-role behavior and(2) To examine the effect of role breadth self-efficacy in mediating the relationship between flexible role orientation and extra role-behaviorLiterature ReviewFlexible Role OrientationBorrowing from the concept of role orientation (Parker, Wall, & Jackson, 1997) that is concerned with meanings given by people about their specific roles in the work environment, role orientation refers to the activities, events, and competencies relevant for successful performance in a given role. In other words, role orientation represents the psychological boundary for a role. The concept of role orientation is similar to Davis and Wacker's (1987: 433) description of roles compared to jobs, which they define as,[i]n a narrow 'job description sense,' one's is a particular task assignment that may change daily; in a broad 'role' sense, one's is to help carry out the responsibilities assigned to the team, to participate in team decisions, to crosstrain, and to use one's judgment to contribute to the team's productivity, maintenance, and development.Individuals with flexible role orientation define their roles broadly and take ownership of goals beyond their immediate responsibilities viewing them as job rather than not my job (Parker et al., 1997). Role orientation focuses on the tasks, activities, problems, and competencies that are relevant to one's role that one should consider for effective performance in the role. Flexible role orientation (FRO) has been operationalized as having concern for production ownership and importance of production ownership (Parker et al. …
Credit unions are an important financial intermediary with a long history. The first U.S. credit union was established in 1909. x Today, there are more than 7,500 U.S. credit unions with total assets approaching $1 trillion,2 and more than 90 million Americans are members of credit unions representing penetration rate of 44 percent.3 Nevertheless, despite their important role in the financial sector, credit unions have not received a great deal of attention in the academic literature.The economic performance of credit unions is understudied for two reasons. First, credit unions are non-profit institutions, and so their performance is not encapsulated in summary measures such as net profit and stock price. Instead, their performance must be assessed by simultaneously considering an array of inputs (e.g., operating expenses) and outputs (e.g., loans), which pose methodological challenges. Second, credit unions have unique characteristics that make comparisons with other depository institutions such as commercial banks difficult. For example, banks are subject to taxation while credit unions are not, and banks are permitted to offer a much wider array of products and services than credit unions. Nevertheless, a niche literature has evolved in which a variety of parametric and nonparametric approaches are used to assess the impact of industry characteristics on relative credit union performance both cross- sectionally and across time. This study contributes to this literature by assessing the impact of credit union expansion on the relative efficiency of university credit unions.In an early study of credit union efficiency using data from 1990, Fried, Lovell, and Turner (1996) found that university credit unions were more efficient than other types of credit unions. In the ensuing twenty years, the financial markets have changed substantially, and the financial services industry has become more competitive. This study argues, as do others (e.g., Mohanty, 2006) that credit unions compete with banks and other financial institutions. Indeed, this perspective is supported by the extensive and continuing lobbying efforts by banks against the tax-free status of credit unions. In this competitive environment, both regulatory and legislative changes have permitted credit unions to expand the scope and geographic reach of their memberships. In particular, the Credit Union Membership Access Act of 1998 (hereafter, CUMA) allowed credit unions to expand by serving multiple bond groups. Now, credit unions are fewer, but they are larger on average, and many have a more diversified membership base. It is an empirical question whether, in this changed environment, credit unions serving universities still outperform those with other membership associations.Fried, Lovell, and Turner (1996) argue that university credit unions perform better because their members are highly educated. A more general argument is that focused, or single-bond, credit unions face an economic tradeoff. On the one hand, the homogeneity of members may serve to constrain agency costs, and managerial opportunism can be curtailed; we refer to this as the benefits of specialization. On the other hand, a limited membership may constrain the ability of university credit unions to diversify and control risk and achieve economies of scale and scope. As the overall industry moves toward greater size, other non- university credit unions may be achieving diversification and scale/ scope benefits that more focused university credit unions are not.4 This study's tests allow researchers to determine the impact of expansion - and the related effects of diversification and scope - on the relative performance of university credit unions. Overall, the study determined that university credit unions outperform non-university credit unions despite the changed landscape for financial institutions. Thus, at least in this setting and for these institutions, benefits of specialization continue to be important, even though significant benefits of scale were found as well. …
(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)For a retail store planning expansion, site selection is critical. A poorly-sited location represents lost capital, a drain on profits, and potential harm to the company's reputation. Moreover, for the past several decades, the range of choices available to a retailer has continued to expand, stretching the retailer's resources available for site selection. According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2010), between 1986 and 2009 (the most recent data published), the number of shopping centers increased every year across all sizes of shopping centers, despite potentially adverse changes in the economy, demographics, and competition during the period. As in most complex decisions, site selection involves tradeoffs that reflect the decision maker's preferences. Advances in decision analytics aid the solution of such complex problems. This article describes the development of a multiple-attribute analytic model used by a chain of retail stores to assist in the selection of new store locations.The theory underlying multiple- attribute decision models was developed in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, as summarized in Keeney and Raiffa (1976), Zeleny (1982), Dyer (1992), and Zanjirani et al. (2010) with numerous immediate applications, such as Keeney (1973b). Multiattribute models are particularly applicable in decision situations in which no single objective, such as profit maximization, exists. Stimson (1969), for example, developed a multiattribute model for decision making in a public health facility. Zanjirani et al. (2010) specifically looked at multiattribute location models.The models are also applicable in cases with a natural objective, but the alternatives being evaluated cannot be expressed in terms of that objective in any practical manner. The scoring model by Lucas and Moore (1976) is an example of such an application. Dyer et al. (1992) noted that scoring models received much attention in Eastern Bloc countries because of their suitability to central planning. Their applicability to large government projects led pioneers in the field such as Keeney and von Winterfeldt to studies such as the disposal of nuclear waste (1994). Huber (1974a, 1974b) and Dreyer (1974) reviewed early studies in these areas.Saaty, in a series of books and articles from 1980 to the present (e.g., 1980, 2008), developed and refined the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Analytic Network Process (ANP) methodologies for analyzing multi-attribute problems. Unlike most multiple-criteria decision models, which assume a single decision maker, ANP also works well in group decision making. The citations for applications of AHP and ANP from 1980 to the present are too numerous to mention. A good source is the Proceedings of the biannual meeting of International Symposium on the Analytic Hierarchy Process.Another application, the one considered in this article, involves the case in which a single natural objective exists, but other considerations such as the attitude of the decision maker, the nature of the decision process, or higher goals preclude its use as a decision variable in the evaluation of a particular project. To a retailer, site selection is critical and complex and is an important part of the firm's overall strategic policy. Because alternative sites may each excel on different dimensions, multi-attribute decision modeling provides a means of assessing and quantifying the decision maker's preferences.In this study, the attitude of the decision maker (DM) was important because implicitly he already had a set of attributes upon which he based his decisions (i.e., his intuition or gut feeling). Furthermore, the nature of the decision process often demanded that he make quick decisions based upon the immediate available information. For an excellent review of the relationship between intuition and analytical decision making, see Dane and Pratt (2007). Because of the nature of the problem (including a single DM), the need for rapid, uncomplicated decision making and the need to reflect the intuition of the DM, the researchers chose to construct a scoring model based upon multi-attribute utility theory to assist the DM in locating his new stores. …
Collegiate athletic departments are challenged to boost revenues produced by their sport programs. One innovative revenue- generating method for professional and college sports was created by legendary Stanford Tennis Coach, Dick Gould in 1986 (Dickey, 2000; Stanford University Athletics, 2011). The personal seat license (PSL) is a special, higher priced season ticket that gives the ticket holder the right to own, resell, or transfer the right to their seat (Barbieri, 2000a; Barlow, 2009a; McCarthy, 2009; Barker 2009). This recent phenomenon in professional sports requires the PSL holders to pay an extra fee to secure a guaranteed seat in addition to regular ticket prices (Fort, 2005). Today, the sale of PSL programs is commonly practiced in professional and major college sports. This ticket selling strategy has gained much recognition because it is a lucrative and acceptable method for bringing additional ticket revenue to the organizations. Starting in 2004, several Top-25 collegiate football programs (including Michigan, Iowa, and Wisconsin) implemented this pricing strategy. Under today's recessive economy, these powerhouse athletic programs need to generate more revenue. PSLs are becoming a common standard practice for all collegiate programs to increase additional ticket revenue; however, fans' feedback and responses from small and midsize collegiate programs toward this strategy has not been investigated or discussed, nor are there any published studies that address the consequences (turning the fans away and associating the sports franchise with a negative image of being "greedy"). Moreover, no research outlines the unsuccessful implementation of PSL system at small colleges and universities. For this reason, this study's primary goal is to investigate the perceptions and expectations held by sport fans of a midsized regional state university regarding PSLs and whether this practice would affect the fans' willingness to attend sporting events and purchase seat licenses. Moreover, this study may be of interest to sport marketing directors of small-market venues (National Collegiate Athletic Association Division-II affiliated and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics athletic programs).Literature ReviewPersonal Seat License ProgramsPSLs entitle season-ticket holders to purchase the right to their own specifically designated seats in an arena or stadium for any public event. Individuals, who choose to attend the event, pay for season tickets with an additional charge to own their seats (Barker, 2009; Turkcebilgi, n.d.). Owners usually obtain the right of the seat as long as they buy season tickets (Muret, 1999). The right of the seat license is often transferable (Miller, 2008). According to Barker (2009), some individuals even buy and resell PSLs as a means to generate personal income. The popularity of PSLs is not confined only to the sports industry. Barbieri (2000a 8 2000b) notes that the performance arts and entertainment businesses also embrace this ticket selling trend. As early as the 1980s, Semenik (1983) had begun to study the concept of offering exclusive season ticket privilege for art events. Since late 1990s, PSL has become a widely adopted method in major professional and college sports for boosting ticket sales and a means to secure revenues upfront for future sports seasons or construction projects (Barlow, 2009b; Levmore, 2008).In the National Football League (NFL), financial benefit of PSLs is clearly demonstrated by the new construction projects of the New York Giants and New York Jets in the Meadowlands. Twenty percent of the $1.7 billion cost of the stadium construction for these New York teams was covered by PSL sales (Barlow, 2009a). The Tennessee Titans also sold 85 percent of its available PSLs (raising $70 million) to finance the Adelphia Coliseum (Muret, 1999). The price range of various NFL PSL programs may range from $600 to $4,500 (Hill, 2008; McCarthy, 2009; Muret, 1999). …
Despite limited amounts of available free time, Americans continue to volunteer at a wide variety of Nonprofit Organizations (NPOs). Religious organizations remain the top beneficiaries, receiving 35. 1 percent of these hours, with educational and service groups (26%) and social/ community service organizations (13.5%) rounding out the top three. Donors provide an average of one hour per week to their chosen causes, yielding approximately 4 billion volunteer hours per year or the equivalent of roughly 2 million full-time employees (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008).Given the constrained resources available to most NPOs, it is no exaggeration to state that many of these groups depend on this unpaid workforce for their survival, and several factors have aligned to make volunteers even more critical. As the economy has slowed in recent years, demands for services have skyrocketed. Related to this downturn, state and local budgets have been slashed, reducing funds available for many NPOs. Finally, as an expanding base of organizations seeks to recruit a limited pool of individuals, pressure to retain volunteers has intensified (Wilson, 2000; Butrica, Johnson, & Zedlewski, 2009). Growing demand for volunteers, coupled with extremely low exit barriers, suggests that individual organizations may soon find themselves competing with one another for a constrained labor supply. As NPOs have become increasingly aware of their dependence on their volunteer labor forces, many have sought a deeper understanding of the reasons that individuals initially volunteer and choose to continue volunteering. This study examines one aspect of that process, focusing on volunteer motivation and the role of rewards in volunteer retention.Rewards and their motivational value have been extensively examined within the field of economics (Benabou & Tirole, 2003; Lazear, 2000a, 2000b). These studies focused almost entirely on motivation within workplace environments, and dealt almost exclusively with companies and paid employees, with motivation typically taking a monetary or similar form. Although some writers in this field acknowledge the potential importance of nonmonetary rewards (Bartol & Srivastava, 2002; Merchant, Stede, & Zheng, 2003), the unquantifiable nature of nonmonetary rewards makes them inherently more difficult to empirically examine. Given the limited resources of most NPOs and their typical inability to offer monetary rewards, these studies' findings offer relatively limited utility in understanding why volunteers choose to participate.A second factor that makes the existing economic literature less applicable to the study of volunteer motivation involves the numerous differences between volunteer and paid workers. Even though the number of individuals volunteering each year is substantial, individual volunteers are not representative of the general U.S. population; volunteers are more likely to be female, middle-aged, college-educated, and above average in annual earnings (Auslander & Litwin, 1988; Smith, 1994; Garland, Myers, & Wolfer, 2008). In addition, since most volunteers hold paying jobs, their volunteer work may fulfill only those motivational needs that are not being met at work. Because of these and other differences between paid workers and volunteers, researchers have found it necessary to specifically examine volunteer motivation, rather than attempting to apply workplace motivational findings to this distinct group.As previously noted, NPO managers are often squeezed between their need to retain and care for volunteers, and their extremely limited resources. As a result of this convergence, these managers have developed a wide array of symbolic rewards that acknowledge volunteer contributions at little or no financial cost to the organization. Some of the more common rewards include thank-you letters, small prizes, publicity, appreciation dinners, and invitations to conferences. The diversity of the rewards being offered suggests that these organizations have become quite resourceful in caring for their volunteers. …
A consensus among business educators is course work must move beyond merely teaching students the skills of conducting specific functions. It must also address professional relationships and effective communication in accomplishing results with peers and through subordinates in an organization. Generally, educators rely on traditional textbooks and related materials to teach basic business skills and employ a wide variety of approaches to enhance the classroom experience as described in numerous articles found in the business education literature. Such enhancements to traditional coursework are becoming of even greater importance as educators engage a new generation of students, presenting an opportunity to transform the educational experience in a manner that directly addresses the needs of this new generation.This article describes an innovative approach for going beyond teaching traditional management skills, designed to increase students' awareness of themselves and the environment in which they live and will work. The objective of this approach is to help students appreciate the technological and cultural influences that have shaped their perceptions and lifestyles, and to manage those influences as enlightened individuals. The article describes a course in sales management, but this approach would be appropriate in numerous courses in the area of management and interpersonal communication.Contemporary Course Work EnhancementsThe literature is replete with examples such as Bennis and OToole (2005) about how business schools have fallen short in preparing students, with descriptions such as Tsurumi (2005) of the consequence of dysfunctional American corporations. In recent years, educators have responded to these criticisms by moving beyond relying solely on textbooks and functional skills. Many have instituted case studies to demonstrate applications of general principles and concepts, as described by Hoag, Brickley, and Cowley (2001). Others, including Kalliath and Laiken (2006) have helped students appreciate the need to work together to achieve shared objectives by employing team-based projects. Collins and Kearins (2007) enhanced the learning of negotiation through a simulated classroom exercise, an approach creatively utilized by Joshi, Davis, Kathuria, and Weidner (2005), who simulated the situation of a midwinter plane crash in Minnesota to create a teambased approach to problem solving. Casile and Wheeler (2005) added an artistic component to a business simulation, having students create and market sentences using Magnetic Poetry.Auster and Wylie (2006) addressed the need to complement content-based lectures to create learning environments that engage, inspire, and motivate students to learn. Such an environment was described by Weick (2007), who urged educators to move beyond traditional left-brain tools based on logic and rationality to embrace intuition, feelings, stories, and improvisation. Along these lines, Trocchia, Swanson, and Orlitzky (2007) identified values which influence choices to help students achieve a better understanding of their own values. As an application of that concept, Chavez and Poirier (2007) sought to help students become culturally intelligent and appreciate diversity. O'Connor and Yballe (2007) employed a classroom exercise to bring light to the multiple dimensions of nature: physical, social, individual, and spiritual.Several educators have enhanced coursework through alternative mediums. Boggs and Holtom (2007) employed interactive drama to expand the experiences of traditional role play exercises. Kimball (2007) used contemporary literature to help build personal skills and an ethical foundation, an approach also utilized by Short and Ketchen (2005) in applying Aesop's fables to the principles of management. Similarly, Comer and Holbrook (2005) used Dr. Seuss to illustrate management concepts and good citizenship. Finally, Bumpus (2005) employed motion pictures to generate an appreciation of diversity. …
Did anyone in Congress read the fine print of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Act) of 2010? The authors have to imagine those that read the Act in its entirety failed to grasp the complexity Section 9006 will have on the business community Form 1099 reporting requirements. The burden will be extremely costly and time prohibitive.To understand the complexity of the issue and how cost prohibitive it will be to implement, the authors researched the fiscal impact on one realm of the economy: the microcosm that is law firms. The irony of the selection is not lost on the researchers. While attorneys are custodians of the law and modern civil society, they are notorious for failing to grasp the nuances of federal tax reporting compliance. On an annual basis, failure to properly account and report federal tax is a top five disciplinary action against attorneys. Due to the drastic modification of Form 1 099 reporting format and history of the legal profession with federal tax compliance reporting, the potential pitfalls to the legal profession are worth discussing.BackgroundTo begin, under current Internal Revenue Code (IRC) guidelines, Form 1099 is used to document and report non-wage income (e.g., contract work), dividends, interest, and pension distributions. The most common version of Form 1099 reporting to and from attorneys is non-wage income paid to non-employees. Current guidelines require a Form 1099 to be issued for payments made to non-employee individuals for services provided if the total annual payments to the individual exceed $600 a year. Current guidelines exempt from Form 1099 filing requirements for payments for goods as well as non-employee contract work fees paid to corporations.Under the Act, payments in excess of $600 made after December 31, 2011, for services and/ or goods (without differentiation between individuals and corporations) must be reported via Form 1099. Amendments required by the Act revise IRC §604 1(a) to state (modifications dictated by the Act are italicized in bold)(a) Payments of $600 or moreAll persons engaged in a trade or business and making payment in the course of such trade or business to another person, of rent, salaries, wages, amounts in consideration for property, premiums, annuities, compensations, remunerations, emoluments, or other gross proceeds, fixed or determinable gains, profits, and income (other than payments to which section 6042(a)(1), 6044(a)(1), 6047(e), 6049(a) or 6050(a) applies, and other than payments with respect to which a statement is required under the authority of section 6042(a)(2), 6044(a)(2), or 6045), of $600 or more in any taxable year, or, in the case of such payments made by the United States, the officers or employees of the United States having information as to such payments and required to make returns in regard thereto by the regulations hereinafter provided for, shall render a true and accurate return to the Secretary, under such regulations and in such form and manner and to such extent as may be prescribed by the Secretary, setting forth the amount of such gross proceeds, gains, profits, and income, and the name and address of the recipient of such payment.The revised IRC §604 1(a) has two major changes that will create an avalanche of paperwork. First, payments for goods and property in excess of $600 which are excluded under current guidelines will be reported via Form 1099 under revised guidelines. The second change modifies the current Form 1099 reporting exemption for payments in excess of $600 to corporations. Under revised guidelines, all payments in excess of $600 for services, property and/or goods will be required to be reported via Form 1 099.Survey Results - How Does this Affect the Attorneys, Law Firms and the Legal Profession?Under the drastic modification to Form 1099 reporting requirements, all payments in excess of $600 to any vendor will be reported via Form 1099. …
Significant interest has been focused on the importance of nurse staffing levels on hospitals' performance (Evans, 2006; Stanton & Rutherford, 2004). In spite of this interest, little attention has been focused on understanding the implications of how this staffing is obtained (Page, 2008; Stanton & Rutherford, 2004). While evidence suggests nurse staffing levels are positively related to hospitals' performance (e.g., Needleman, Buerhaus, Mattke, Stewart, & Zelevinsky, 2001), virtually no attention has been devoted to the implications of various staffing options, such as the use of contract or registry nurses to sustain high staffing levels (Page, 2008; Stanton & Rutherford, 2004). This article will investigate the performance implications of using contract or registry nurse personnel in the context of a hospital's nurse staffing strategy. Specifically, the article will address whether the source of nurse staffing (i.e., contract or regular staff) affects the performance outcomes of hospitals' nurse staffing levels? Theoretically, this article will further develop understanding of the implications of using contract workers in the context of staffing strategies. Practically, it will help hospital managers evaluate decisions regarding the use of temporary versus permanent nurses when attempting to achieve a particular nurse staffing level.Staffing LevelsIncreased staffing levels generate positive benefits as they decrease the overall work load of individual employees (Brown, Sturman, & Simmering, 2001). In a hospital setting, increased nurse staffing allows nurses to pay greater attention to individual patients and their needs, allower nurses to closely monitor patient condition and response to treatment (Kovner & Gergen, 1998). This increased monitoring is clinically beneficial as it facilitates quicker detection of potential complications and adverse patient outcomes.Higher nurse staffing levels also permit nurses to exercise more attention to detail in their patient care and treatment activities. Patient care mistakes are a well recognized source of adverse outcomes in hospitals (Aiken, Clarke, Sloane, & Sochalski, 2001). By increasing nurse staffing, hospitals can decrease errors and improve patient care outcomes. Thus, increased nurse staffing is not only beneficial to the extent it gives nurses the opportunity to closely monitor patients, but also as it allows nurses greater opportunities for attention to detail in their patient care activities.The Use of Contract StaffingAlthough nurse staffing levels are an important contributor to patient care quality, the method used to obtain and maintain a specific nurse staffing level may influence their (i.e., the staffing levels) effectiveness. While hospitals have traditionally used staff nurses (i.e., nurses who are regular employees of the hospital) to maintain specific nurse staffing levels, recent shortages in nurses, combined with competitive nurse labor markets have led hospitals to increasingly use contract nurses to achieve specific staffing levels (Page, 2008).Contract nurses are nursing staff who are not regular employees of the hospital. Although contract nurses must have the same credentials and licensure as a hospital's staff nurses, contract nurses - due to their nonpermanent status - lack of the unique policies and procedures a specific institution may employ. This lack of local knowledge may adversely influence contract nurses performance. For instance, a contract nurse may be unfamiliar with a specific brand of equipment a hospital employs. Although the nurse understands the purpose of the equipment, they may not understand the uniqueness of operating the unfamiliar equipment. This unfamiliarity may either slow or introduce opportunities for errors in patient care. Patient care errors are a documented source of poor hospital performance and negative patient outcomes (Aiken et al., 2001). …
The key to innovation is creativity, which like a widely-used idiom is more intuitively understood than defined.Torrance, an eminent psychologist, defined creatively asa process of being sensitive to problems, deficiencies, gaps in knowledge, missing elements, disharmonies, and so on; identifying the difficulty, searching for solutions, making guesses, or formulating hypotheses about the deficiencies: testing and retesting them; and finally communicating the results (Jalan 8c Keliner, 1995).Others have described creativity as an idea that is novel and adaptive to reality (Jalan & Keliner, 1995).Some people decide that creativity is not one of their attributes even though psychologists generally believe that creative potential is innate to human nature (Winslow, 1990). It could be argued that circumstances beget creative behavior. Further, writings in the literature of business may neglect instances of extraordinary creativity. For example, exceptional creativity can be observed in accounts of organized escape attempts from prisoner of war camps. Others may feel that creativity or the ability to innovate is an event and not part of a process that can either be learned or institutionalized. Outside high technology firms, many small business owners equate innovation with expensive and arcane research that only large firms can afford (Innovation: You have genius, 2002).Just as those researching entrepreneurship dealt with the issue of whether entrepreneurship could be taught, psychologists and management scholars have been wrestling with a working definition of creativity and innovation to deal with the issue of whether innovation can be learned and whether organizations are capable of institutionalizing an innovative environment (Willis, 1991). This article looks at innovation and creativity as they apply to small business concerns. It has the ambitious goal of proposing a framework with which to analyze the complexity of innovation and its implications for small business.Distinguishing the Terms Creativity and InnovationWhile much of the literature equates creativity with innovation, it is useful to separate the two when building a framework for injecting innovation into an enterprise. For this purpose, creativity is defined as ideas that are imaginative, novel or artistically appealing. Creativity, in this context, may solve a problem or may simply be appreciated for its aesthetic value. Not all creative efforts result in innovation. Creativity may also arise not so much from purposeful effort, but rather, from one's unique point of view. For example, people of color who may encounter products that were designed for consumption in a cultural context associated with Caucasian origins might long for greeting cards, children's toys, or personal care products that are representative of their own ethnicity. The lack of market choice may result in creative insight without effort or intent, per se. In interpreting this latter case one might argue that while it is difficult to impose serendipity, conditions may be identified wherein it is more likely to occur.The reason for making the distinction between creativity and innovation is that there are those who promote various approaches to the former term such as brainstorming, mind mapping, Lotus blossom technique and other exercises to encourage organizational creativity (How to manage creativity, 2003). Innovation, on the other hand, is oriented toward solving a problem and has a very high utilitarian value. Viewed within this context, an individual who feels that they are "not creative" may none-the-less be capable of being "innovative."An industrial designer, Arnold Wasserman, a partner of the Idea Factory explains thatPeople always tend to use the terms innovation and creativity interchangeably.We're very clear about the linkages and the distinction. Creativity is getting the great ideas, it's sort of the R&D, and everybody is creative. …
Brand extensions are among the most important and popular strategies followed by the companies in recent days. A major part of brand value stems from its contribution to launching a new product in the market. Brand extension is the "use of established brand name to enter into new product categories" (Aaker & Keller, 1990). Brand extension strategies are most extensively used in marketing because, by launching a new product under the established brand name, firms hope consumers will respond favorably to the new offering through developing and communicating strong brand positioning, augmenting brand awareness and quality associations, and increasing the probability of trial by shrinking new product risk for consumers (Reddy, Holak & Bhat, 1994; Chowdhury, 2001; Taylor & Beardon, 2002). Brand extension strategy has been considered to be more profitable than introducing a new brand in the market. The reasons for extending brand across sectors includei. The escalating cost of establishing brands in a competitive market, as consumers become immune to promotional activities, creates greater pressure to leverage existing brands into new product categories (Aaker & Keller, 1990);ii. In an increasingly busy market place, brand extensions allow manufacturers' brands to hold more shelf space and retain higher profiles in customers' minds (Farquhar, 1990);iii. Brand extensions can control the costs of distribution expenditures (Morein, 1975); andiv. Brand extensions help in increasing the chance of a new product's success and reducing launch costs (Kapferer, 1997; Chowdhary, 2002).The basic premise behind brand extension is the manufacturer can develop a new product or service that can piggyback on the perceptions and feeling associated with a parent brand. The best example for this is Caterpillar, whose strengths lie in the manufacturing of construction and mining equipment. When the company extended into the footwear market, that extension was considered a success story in Caterpillar's history. The reason for success is the company's ability to elicit the same association for the extended product as the parent brand.Virgin Group, a successful global company, extended its products to airline, cruises, bridal services, telecommunications, etc. Virgin's consumers with positive associations and attitude are more likely to try the brand extension than choose a completely unfamiliar brand in that product category.Yahoo began as a search engine in 1994 but has now expanded into different fields such as auctions, chat rooms, games, stock quotes, financial information, shopping portals, and many other services. Again, an example of brand extension.The article is organized as follows. First, the study reviews relevant literature on brand extension evaluation and identifies the gaps from extant literature. Second, based upon the extant literature, the study forms hypotheses. The study discusses the methodology for data collection and analysis in the fourth phase. Finally, it discusses theoretical and managerial implications, and provides some directions for future research.Review of LiteratureAaker and Keller (1990) studied the effects of certain brand and product categoryrelated aspects on the attitude consumers develop toward hypothetical extensions of reputable brands. They proposed a relationship between perceived quality of the original brand and consumers' attitude toward extensions in unrelated product categories (Aaker & Keller, 1990). The authors suggested this perceived quality transferred to the extension category to the extent that there has been sufficient congruence between the original product category and the extension category (Aaker & Keller, 1990). The transfer of positive associations is related to the extent of similarity the consumer perceived between original product category and the extension.Van Riel, Lemmink, and Ouwersloot (2001), replicated Aaker and Keller's (1990), study and extended it to the service domain. …
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (hereinafter Recovery Act) has its proponents and detractors. At a time when the United States was facing its worst recession in more than fifty years, the 1 1 1th session of the United States Congress (Congress) passed the Recovery Act to stimulate and stabilize the United States economy. The intention of the Recovery Act was to create jobs, promote additional capital investment, increase consumer spending, and minimize or avoid reductions in state and local government services. In total, more than $700 billion was allocated to the Recovery Act via federal tax cuts, expansion of unemployment benefits and domestic spending for education, health care, and infrastructure. More than a third of the money was slated for projects and activities, including construction and certain research projects. To implement a project using the allocated federal funds, agencies and funding recipients must comply with federal laws and regulations.1 This article will address whether governmental immunity to tort liability has been imputed to infrastructure projects funded via the Recovery Act. This article will summarize the Recovery Act and the background and history of governmental tort immunity while addressing the possibility that immunity at the federal and state levels has been imputed to government contractors based upon the Recovery Act While this article highlights the potential implications, final determination is beyond its scope and may not be fully resolved until federal and/ or state courts address the matter directly.The Recovery ActThe Recovery Act received bipartisan support during the transition from one administration to the next. The newly elected President stated the Recovery Actwill create or save 3.5 million jobs over the next two years. It's that we're putting Americans to work doing the work that America needs done, in critical areas that have been neglected for too long; work that will bring real and lasting change for generations to come. Because we know we can't build our economic future on the transportation and information networks of the past, we are remaking the American landscape with the largest new investment in our nation's infrastructure since Eisenhower built an Interstate Highway System in the 1950s. Because of this investment, nearly 400,000 men and women will go to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, repairing our faulty dams and levees, bringing critical broadband connections to businesses and homes in nearly every community in America, upgrading mass transit, building high-speed rail lines that will improve travel and commerce throughout our nation.2The Recovery Act was a direct response to the economic crisis, with three immediate goals:* Create new jobs and save existing ones;* Spur economic activity and invest in long-term growth; and* Foster unprecedented levels of accountability and transparency in government spending.The Recovery Act intends to achieve those goals by* Providing $288 billion in tax cuts and benefits for millions of working families and businesses;* Increasing federal funds for education and health care as well as entitlement programs (such as extending unemployment benefits) by $224 billion;* Making $275 billion available for federal contracts (over $100 billion for infrastructure projects), grants and loans; and* Requiring recipients of Recovery funds to report quarterly on how they are using the money.More than $100 billion is targeted for infrastructure development and enhancement. Of the $100 billion, more than $48 billion is slated for transportation infrastructure improvements including more than $27 billion for highway and bridge construction, $8 billion for intercity passenger rail projects, $2 billion for commercial rail infrastructure, $750 million for public transportation system maintenance, $200 million for upgrades to air traffic control centers, facilities and equipment as well as $100 million for shipyard improvements. …
The year 2009 marked the 100th anniversary of credit unions in the United States. The first U. S. credit union was chartered in 1909 by the state of New Hampshire. Federal chartering began in 1934 upon passage of the Federal Credit Union Act, which provided that federal credit unions would be set up as taxable entities with a tax burden "not to exceed the rate imposed upon domestic banking corporations" (Pub. L. No. 73-467). In 1937, this act was amended to exempt both federally and state chartered credit unions from federal income taxation. The act also exempted all federally chartered credit unions from state corporate income taxes (Pub. L No. 75416). The state of Georgia, the subject area of this study, also exempts state chartered credit unions from paying corporate income taxes at the state level. Currently, credit unions are the only depository institutions that are exempt from federal corporate income taxes.Credit unions have grown and evolved over the past one hundred years. Some financial industry observers feel that the largest credit unions are now in direct competition with banks for not only individual depositors but also for business customers. Indeed, at the end of 2008, 145 U.S. credit unions exceeded $ 1 billion in asset size with the largest being Navy Federal Credit Union with an asset size of $36 billion (NCUA 2008).At the end of 2008, Georgia had 171 credit unions. Sixty-seven of these had state charters while the remainder held national charters. As reported in Table 1 , these credit unions ranged in asset size from $51,000 to nearly $3 billion. Seventy-eight of Georgia's credit unions had less than $10 million in assets. Four credit unions exceeded $ 1 billion in asset size (Online Credit Union Data Analytics System).The purpose of this study is to examine credit unions' tax exempt status by comparing credit unions headquartered in Georgia with their closest competitors, banks of similar asset sizes, within the same state. The authors analyzed quantitative metrics such as interest rates on loans and deposits and profitability ratios such as return on average assets. They also discuss qualitative measures that might justify or dispel the tax exemption that credit unions receive.Historical BackgroundThe original justification for the tax exemption of credit unions was the idea that credit unions served lower income borrowers and depositors. Savings and loans were also given this tax exemption. In 1951, the tax exemption for savings and loans was repealed. One reason that the credit unions' tax exemption was not repealed at this time is that credit union membership was limited to those with a common bond while savings and loans membership was available to everyone.Over time, the rationale that credit unions serve lower income customers and members with a common bond has been examined closely. While competing studies differ, it has been shown that members of some credit unions have higher average incomes, have achieved higher education levels, and have higher rates of home ownership than nonmembers (Chamura 2004 & GAO 2006). As a result, it is often argued that credit unions no longer fulfill the original mission of serving lower income borrowers and depositors. To combat this charge, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) has been approving new credit unions that are specifically designed to serve "under-served" residents through a Low Income Credit Union program designed to assist credit unions that can demonstrate that a majority of their members have a median household income that is less than 80 percent of the national household income.One of the problems with the Low Income Credit Union program is that an existing community credit union serving a geographic area where a majority of residents are below the annual income standard is presumed to be serving predominantly low-income members. While this may be the case, the flaw in this categorization is that banks in that geographic area are also serving customers that do not meet the national income averages. …
This work has the goal of establishing the comparative financial efficiency of the several operating composites of the U.S. property-casualty insurance industry. This industry is highly important to national private and commercial needs. Consumers need such coverage as auto and homeowners insurance. Industry needs a wide range of insurance coverage, including such lines as credit, financial guarantee, commercial, professional liability, and workers compensation. The goal of financial efficiency is important for several reasons. Solvency is vitally important to insureds and to stockholders. Cash flows need to be secure so that losses can be covered quickly. Net premiums must be sufficient to cover losses and expenses. Thus, regulators, management, stockholders and insureds all have an interest in preserving financial efficiency. This work will establish a measurement of relative financial efficiency for all of the major sectors of the U.S. domestic property-casualty industry. For the composites that are identified as relatively inefficient the nature of the inefficiency can be understood through the related slack and surplus variables of the several input and output measures.Entities, whether governmental, private or commercial, can be thought of as having a set of inputs, some processing activities and a set of outputs. There is a sense that the entity is efficient if it obtains a great amount of output while expending few inputs. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is typically used to compare the relative efficiency of each of a set of operating units. These operating units are usually called decisionmaking units (DMUs). The technique was pioneered by Chames, Cooper and Rhodes (1978) and extended by Banker, Chames and Cooper (1984). Cooper, Seiford and Tone published a text on the use of DEA (1999). Data Envelopment Analysis is steadily replacing multiple regression analysis as a tool in efficiency studies because it can simultaneously incorporate several output variables, whereas multiple regression studies permit just one dependent variable at a time.Data Envelopment Analysis ApplicationsThe cross-sectional application of the DEA technique has been applied in many environments. In the public sector McCarty and Yaisawarang (1993) did a DEA analysis of the several school districts in New Jersey. Vanden Eeckaut, Tulkens, and Jamar (1993) used the method to compare efficiencies of a group of municipal governments. An excellent application from the financial sector was the use of DEA to compare operational efficiency of the several branches of a regional bank (Lovell & Pastor (1997). Asimilar study was carried out by Barr, Seiford and Siems (1993). Siems and Banil 998) extended the work by benchmarking efficiency throughout the United States. The groundbreaking work by AIy et al. (1990) showed how to extend DEA to establish the nature of returns to scale, and then applied the method to the U.S. banking industry.An early application in the life insurance industry was that of Cummins and Zi (1998). They used the ability of DEA to provide an efficient frontier to compare the various firms. This was followed by the Cummins, Weiss, and Zi (1999) article that used DEA to compare and contrast stock and mutual property-casualty insurers. Ellis (2006) used DEA to show the consistent level of operational efficiency over time for a particular auto insurer. That work presented an innovation that created a single efficient DMU from which all existing entities can be compared. Doing so avoids the possibility that any relatively inefficient entities would be compared to differing efficient subsets. Ellis (2006-2007) also employed DEA with the single efficient DMU to track banking industry efficiency over time.U.S. Property-Casualty Insurance DataA DEA study requires comparing competing entities based upon the levels of a set of inputs that are used for the purpose of generating a set of outputs. The data was collected from Best's Aggregates and Averages (2006). …
Factors associated with business success have been pervasive topics in the entrepreneurship literature for decades and have addressed all functional areas of business, such as marketing, finance, and production (Bruno, Leidecker, & Harder, 1987; Terpstra & Olson, 1993). Business Resources are usually categorized in three groups: physical, organizational, and human (Koch & Kok 1999). The human resource has long been identified as critical, and in particular the experience of management, by affecting the other resources and functions to achieve success (Penrose, 1959, p. 5). Therefore, this paper considers specific factors in one functional area-human resources (HR) - and examines relationships to several key organizational attributes. This paper is based on a survey of firms involved in technology environments because new businesses in this sector are often seen as the engines in the so-called new economy and their distinctive human capital needs and composition may help determine their growth or failure.
In 2008, three prominent politicians each proposed a separate legislative measure to stanch runaway CEO pay. Then U.S. Senator Barack Obama, U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton and U.S. Senator John McCain all proposed bills requiring that shareholders be given the right to an advisory vote on new executive pay packages. Whether sincere efforts or just campaign tactics, these proposals by major presidential hopefuls for a legislative answer to increasingly spectacular CEO pay reflected mounting public sentiment.The Problem: Runaway CEO PayThe impetus for these legislative initiatives is stark and unambiguous. CEO compensation at major U.S. companies continues to escalate unabated - in both absolute and relative terms.An Embarrassment of RichesIn 2005, average total compensation for the CEOs of 350 leading U.S. corporations was $11.6 million, down slightly from $11.8 million in 2004 (Lublin, 2006). To help conceptualize the relative size of CEO pay, a key reference has been the ratio of average CEO pay to average worker pay. An Institute for Policy Studies report found that this ratio rose from 42-to-l in 1980 to 411-to-l in 2006. While smaller than the 2000 peak of 525-to-l, it is nearly 10 times as large as the 1980 ratio (Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy, 2006).What major U.S. corporations pay their CEOs is also out of kilter with what is their counterparts at major European corporations. American executives continue to leave European executives in the compensation dust. According to an Associated Press survey, in 2006 the 20 highest-paid European managers made only onethird as much as the 20 highest-paid U.S. executives (Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy, 2007). In 2005, the average U.S. CEO earned 475 times the average employee's pay. In the same year, the multiplier was 11 in Japan, 15 in France, 20 in Canada, and 22 in the UK (Hermanson, 2006).The popular appeal of CEO pay reform may be due in part to a perception that the CEO/ average worker pay comparison is a microcosm of growing wealth inequality among Americans. Data from 2005-2006 indicates that income inequality is the highest it has been since 1928. The top 1/10 of lpercent (0.1%) of Americans- 3 00, 000earn as much as the bottom 150 million combined, and for every three-year period since 1981, the same top 0.1% of American taxpayers have gained, on average, $100 billion in total earnings, while the bottom 80 percent have lost $100 billion (Hindery, 2008).Even at companies faltering badly, CEOs have enjoyed extravagant compensation packages. According to the website of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee:Increasingly, research indicates that executive compensation does not appear tied to company performance. Others have noted that in many instances senior executives appear to be being paid for failure. As this Committee has seen first hand, even executives of institutions that lose money, restate earnings, and face extensive regulatory scrutiny have received (and retained) substantial compensation packages (U. S. House of Representatives , Financial Services Committee, 2007).Examples of high pay despite performance abound. Consider the severance package of Angelo Mozilo, former CEO of the recently failed Countrywide Financial Corporation - considered by many the poster child of the subprime mortgage meltdown. Mozilo was going to receive: a $36.4 million cash severance payment; $400,000 per year for consulting services; plus perks that included the use of a private airplane. He walked away from most of these after a public outcry, but still left with at least $23.8 million (Alazraki, 2008). Yet Mozilo's severance pay pales in comparison with that of former Merrill Lynch CEO Stan O'Neal, who left in 2007 with a retirement package worth more than $160 million (Heisel, 2008) after Merrill suffered the biggest losses in its 93 years (Thomas & Anderson, 2007). …
The underlying purpose of the sales organization is to generate income. While the source of clients often varies among selling situations, creating opportunities in a changing environment remains a constant challenge. Reacting to marketplace needs, successful sales organizations must create and maintain methods that retain and grow revenue streams under a variety of dynamic marketplace conditions. For example, in an effort to foster better outcomes, marketers increasingly rely on technology related tools (Agnihotri, Rapp, & Trainor, 2009) as selling strategies have become more focused on relational building efforts (e.g., Jiang et al., 2010). Yet, the complexity of emerging marketing tools has made it more difficult for sellers to manage their strategic arsenal.Because the charge of management typically remains to create and maintain economic strength, lowering costs has become a valued organizational commodity (Baumann, 2009), as pressures make it operationally unrealistic to spend excessive amounts to capture or retain clients. As a result, a great deal of attention is being directed toward creative ways to capture and retain clients. For instance, marketers direct efforts toward enhancing existing relationships (Wathne, Biong, & Heide, 2001) since long-term connections often translate into higher economic returns (e.g., Triest, Bun, Raaji, & Vernooij, 2009) and it typically costs less to maintain clients than to obtain new ones (Peppers, Rogers, & Dorf, 1999; Reicheid & Sasser, 1990). In such an environment, it becomes incumbent on the seller to initiate selling strategies that embrace competitive, sustainable methods that differentiate one seller from another. Such a foundation provides the premise of this study, which focuses on how a sales organization can cultivate such a unique strategy base. Specifically, this article discusses how incorporating an entrepreneurial orientation (Lumpkin & Dess, 1996) within the selling unit can foster a marketplace advantage. This discussion will also include a presentation of the advantages and challenges of sales professionals incorporating an entrepreneurial outlook as part of the selling strategy.Having an Entrepreneurial OrientationWhile still limited in applications, the notion of an individual or organization being entrepreneurial has grown in exposure in recent years, with an army of applications emerging from the literature. For example, discussion of entrepreneurs has expanded to include such activities as seeking creative sources to borrow money (Jean, 2010), generating networking groups among women (Wu, 2010), and developing the medical supply business (Lynn, 2007). Interestingly however, discussions continue to mostly focus on start up situations and small business applications (e.g., Townsend, Busenitz, 8c Arthurs, 2010), with little dialogue addressing strategic applications of being entrepreneurial. In the context of this concern, the premise of this article is to discuss integrating an entrepreneurial orientation to sellers.Lumpkin and Dess (1996) initially gave life to a perspective known as an entrepreneurial orientation (EO). This perspective notes differences between entrepreneurial actions and underlying processes that encourage such activities. As a cornerstone in understanding entrepreneurial perspectives, there is evidence to suggest businesses engaging in an entrepreneurial orientation can expect superior performance (De Clereq, Dimov, 8c Thongpapanl, 2010; Pearce, Fritz, 8c Davis, 2010). An EO includes being aggressive, innovative, proactive, accepting risk taking, autonomy, and problem solving. A basic tenant of the EO perspective therefore, is that being entrepreneurial is not the result of a single issue, quality, or action. Instead, it reflects a combination of factors that must mesh within a workable organizational framework that produces an integrated synergy.For instance, as a part of this, innovation reflects being able to discover new methods, processes, and ideas (Amabile, Bacharach, 8c French, 1996) to face opportunities and overcome problems an orientation that is often characterized as forward-looking (Lumpkin 8c Dess, 1996) in the pursuit of emerging opportunities. …
