ABSTRACT The focus of this paper is to analyze the meanings of color and the variety of product color choices of different genders and ethnic teenagers who use the products on a daily basis in the USA. In this research paper, data was collected in two high schools and the majority of respondents were 16-18 years old. The author will do a literature review and analyze the collected data for implications for the marketing field. The results and conclusion will then be presented. Keywords Marketing, Consumer Behavior, Teenagers; Meanings of Color, Product Color Choice
INTRODUCTIONOnline learning enrollment has been growing at an annual rate of 16.4% from 2002-2014, while the total student enrollment for higher education has increased at an average annual rate of 3.7%. A most recent survey conducted by Babson Survey Research Group and the College Board (Allen & Seaman, 2013; Allen & Seaman, 2015) revealed that the number of students taking at least one online course from emerging markets already surpassed 7.2 million, an increase of almost five million from when the study was started 2002. A trend chart for total and online enrollment is given in Figure 1.1:The advent of the Internet and the upsurge in the use of technology in education over the past decade has made it possible for colleges and universities to offer distance and online courses. Numerous studies have shown that online learning has become one of the most popular methods for delivery of course content because it provides more scheduling flexibility to address the time constraints of students in higher education (Allen & Seaman, 2015; EDUCAUSE, 2015; Hogarth, 2010; King & Cerrone, 2012; Kose, 2010). More importantly, online learning gives students a contemporary skill set that many employers find desirable in potential employees (Chamberlin, 2014). These skills include online communications, research ability, digital literacy and computer use. Online learning also helps develop self-discipline, motivation and initiative, which are real world skills that employers value and look for in potential hires.Literature ReviewBenefit and Challenges of Online Learning: The development and increase in the use of technology has played a major role in the popularity of online courses in colleges and universities. As with all other learning models, online learning has its own benefits and challenges. An examination of the literature revealed that the benefits of online learning fall within four areas: flexibility, access, student engagement, and interaction (Alexander & Levine, 2008; Hargadon, 2008; McLoughlin & Lee, 2008, Siemens, 2008). Studies show that the current generation of learners prefers online or blended courses because of the greater time flexibility, freedom and convenience of working on their coursework anywhere due to varying locations (Hogarth, 2010). Online or distance learning affords students the ability to interact more with the instructors and their peers because the class does not start and end in a set time within the classroom, unlike the traditional (face to face) F2F. In their study, Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia, & Jones (2009) found that students in OLE performed better than students in F2F environments.In online learning, instructors have the ability to provide numerous opportunities for interaction through emails, online discussion forums, blogs, and posts on social media and collaboration tools. Set up correctly, an online learning environment allows students to express themselves through the creation of digital content such as online media, podcasts, webcasts, and recorded videos (Burch & Nagy, 2007). Research suggests that in the online learning environment, students feel that they have more time to reflect and refer to relevant course materials when working online than in the classroom (Hargadon, 2008; Hogarth, 2010). With more time on task, students are motivated to learn and to interact with each other in team based situations when using blogs in business OLE (Hazari, O'Meara Brown, & Rutledge, 2013). Students are also motivated when they are satisfied with the instructor and how they (instructors') use technology in class including the overall course assignments (Bolliger and Martindale (2004). Student learning and satisfaction are influenced by their expectations of the course, the frequency and quality of group interaction, and the technological design of the course. (Liaw, 2008; Lin, Lin, & Laffey, 2008).Nevertheless, online learning has its challenges and these are often in the areas of technology competence, student expectations and motivations, and time management (Torrisi-Steele & Drew, 2013; Sorden & Munene, 2013). …
(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)INTRODUCTIONIncreasingly, firms have decided to implement call service center (CSC) offshoring. Studies suggest that the primary purposes of CSC offshoring are cost reduction, service improvement, access to skilled people, and establishment of a foothold in a foreign market (Lewin and Peeters, 2006; Manning, Massini, and Lewin, 2008). This has led to consideration of offshoring as a strategic decision to improve service level or reduction of costs associated with sales, marketing, and customer care activities (Robinson, Kalakota, and Sharma, 2005; Sharma, Iyer, and Raajpoot, 2009; Thelen and Shapiro, 2012; Roza, Van den Bosch, and Volberda, 2011). There are variations in the manner in which companies benefit from CSC offshoring. Those who have benefited are likely to maintain their current offshoring and to perhaps launch new offshore endeavors. Those who have not benefited may try to change their offshoring provider, offshore in another location where cultural or geographic distance is closer to their home country (known as nearshoring), or withdraw to their home country (known as inshoring or backshoring) (Benito, Dovgan, Petersen, and Welch, 2013; Kinkel, 2014; Tate, 2014). Some firms can evaluate offshoring outcomes in early stages but others have a difficult time evaluating outcomes even much later.This paper develops a simple but comprehensive conceptual framework to explain the variation in outcomes. Prior studies have identified three factors that affect the success or failure of offshoring (Ito and Gehrt, 2014; Lampel and Bhalla, 2011; Roza, Van den Bosch, and Volberda, 2011; Schmeisser, 2013). These include offshore processes (i.e., back office operation, front office operation, more advanced work, etc.), offshore providers (i.e., subsidiary, joint venture, outsourcing, etc.), and offshore locations. While most prior studies have developed frameworks to understand performance implication of offshoring as a static strategy, there is little research on the dynamic process of identifying the optimal offshoring strategy (e.g., Benito, Dovgan, Petersen, and Welch, 2013; Ito and Gehrt, 2014; Jensen and Pedersen, 2011; Murray, Kotabe, and Westjohn, 2009). This paper develops a conceptual framework to capture the dynamic aspect of offshoring strategy, especially in the context of CSC offshoring.Youngdahl and Ramaswamy (2008) categorized the services that are the target of offshore outsourcing into two dimensions; the degree of knowledge (solution/transaction) and degree of customer (back office/front office). Knowledge embedding refers to the degree of routinization in service delivery system. Customer contact refers to the degree of presence of the customer in a service delivery system. This is not the physical presence of the customer inside the service delivery system, but instead signifies customer involvement via information communication technology (ICT). The focus of this paper is on front office services. In services of this type, customers directly interact with offshore agents.CSC offshoring involves four types of stakeholders that are related to each other (see Figure 1) including the offshoring firm, CSC service provider, offshore CSC agents, and consumers (e.g., Jeong, Bekmamedova, and Kurnia, 2012). The offshoring firm is the organization that provides products or services to consumers. This offshoring firm searches for a CSC service provider that can provide CSC services to customers on its behalf. The CSC service provider is an organization that is located in the offshore location and provides the CSC services. The CSC service provider has internal employees who are CSC agents. The agents are the actual providers of the CSC services and directly interact with the offshoring firm's consumers. Finally, consumers are the customers of a given offshoring firm. Consumers generally interact with agents via the telephone. …
INTRODUCTIONThis study examines the factors associated with pension freezes involving labor unions around the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA). In 2006, SFAS 158 and the Pension Protection Act significantly changed how firms were required to report the financial position of their defined benefit pension (DBP) plans. The new rules required firms to make additional contributions to their pension funds if the funding status, as measured by the difference between fair value of assets and projected benefit obligation (PBO), was under-funded. As a result of the increase in pension contributions for firms with under-funded pensions, many companies faced the choice of freezing their pensions and/or filing for bankruptcy (e.g., the airline industry and steel industries).Our overall goal was to compare firms' freeze choices before and after the new pension rules of 2006. We obtained data from the 5500-CRR database (Form 5500 Annual Reports Data Base compiled by Center for Retirement Research in Boston College) and Compustat to identify firms with DBP plans with labor unions (i.e., collective bargaining agreements) during 2004 to 2008, which is the most recent year of available data from the center. Our initial search identified 311firms, and data requirements reduce the sample to 230 firms. Of these firms, we noted that there were only two firms that decreased their service costs (as measured by Compustat data item #331) to zero in fiscal year 2007; this suggests these firms decided to freeze their DBP plans in 2007, the year after the pension rules took effect. These two firms were Delta Airlines Inc., which was in bankruptcy, and Blonder Tongue Lab Inc., which was in more stable financial health.What is notable about Delta and Blonder Tongue is that, at the time they decided to freeze their pensions, the firms were in very different states of financial health. As both SFAS 158 and the Pension Protection Act of 2006 were taking effect, Delta was in bankruptcy. Delta explicitly stated that its motivation in freezing its pension plan was to save costs and emerge from bankruptcy. In contrast, Blonder Tongue Labs was just returning to profitability. Blonder Tongue announced in its 10K that it was freezing its pension plan, and one factor briefly mentioned was its desire not to violate financial covenants.These two firms serve as a real-world example that financial health may not be the main determinant of the decision to freeze pension plans. Using these two firms, we conduct a case study to explore why financial health is not the deciding factor in the choice to freeze defined benefit pension plans. Our study contributes to the literature in that this is one of the first to examine the choice to freeze pension plans before and after the 2006 time period with the SFAS and PPA requirements.BACKGROUNDSFAS 158 and the Pension Protection Act of 2006: In September of 2006, the FASB issued SFAS 158, Employers' Accounting for Defined Benefit Pension and Other Postretirement Plans. Prior to SFAS 158, firms with defined benefit pensions plans (DBP) only had to report the pension fund status (i.e., whether it was funded or under-funded) in a footnote. After SFAS 158, firms with DBP plans had to recognize the fund status as either an asset or liability to be reported in the body of the balance sheet. This rule was argued to cause a significant increase in pension liabilities on firms' balance sheets.Pension Protection Act of 2006 requires companies with under-funded pension plans to pay higher premiums to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), which is a federal agency created under the ERISA. This funding requirement is a mandatory contribution for the firm, which increases costs and the likelihood that firms will choose to freeze their defined benefit pension plans.Pension Freezes: Prior studies have examined the freeze decision around regulation changes. Beaudoin, et. al. (2010) examine whether freeze announcements of DBP plans made during 2001-2006 were motivated by accounting concerns due to the pending adoption of SFAS 158. …
INTRODUCTIONIn today's economy, state and local governments are more and more strapped for funds to provide services to their citizenry. Many are incurring large deficits requiring the need to raise additional revenues and/or cut expenses by eliminating or reducing the services they provide. The power to tax is an important element in their ability to raise revenues. While our governing system of federalism provides a level of sovereignty to the states, their taxing power is not without limit. The Framers of the Constitution recognized the importance of interstate commerce to the growth of the nation and were concerned with economic balkanization due to each state's taxing and regulatory powers.The Commerce Clause of Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution provides Congress with the power to regulate commerce ...among the several States. This positive grant of power was given to Congress to address economic discrimination by states through their tax or regulatory powers whereby intrastate commerce is favored over interstate commerce. Courts have inferred from this grant of power to Congress a aspect prohibiting states from discriminating against or unduly burdening interstate commerce by subjecting it to multiple taxation or unfairly apportioned taxation, even in the absence of Congressional legislation. Oklahoma Tax Comm'n v. Jefferson Lines, Inc., 514 U.S. 175, 179 (1995) (Jefferson Lines). This implicit aspect of the Commerce Clause is referred to as the negative or dormant Commerce Clause (DCC). While the DCC has many areas of application, the state taxation of interstate commerce is the focus herein.Another primary limitation the Constitution places on states' powers to tax is the Due Process Clause (DPC) of the 14th Amendment which provides [N]or shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. The Supreme Court in Miller Brothers Co. v. Maryland, 347 U.S. 340, 344-345 (1954) ruled that the DPC requires definite link, some minimum connection between a state and the person, property, or transaction it seeks to Also in Moorman Mfg. Co. v. Bair, 437 U.S. 267, 273 (1978) (Moorman) (citation omitted), the Court ruled that the attributed to the State for tax purposes ... be rationally related to the 'values connected with the taxing State'.Under the DPC, the Supreme Court has held that a state may tax its residents' income whether earned in or out of the state. It also may tax a non-resident's income if it was earned within the state. Oklahoma Tax Comm'n v. Chickasaw Nation, 515 U.S. 450, 462-63 (1995) (Chickasaw Nation) and Lawrence v. State Tax Comm'n, 286 U.S. 276, 279-80 (1932). This may lead to the double taxation of income earned as a result of interstate commerce because the state of residency or domicile may tax the income as well as the state where the income is sourced. Accordingly, interstate commerce may be adversely affected. In Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 298, 305 (1992) (Quill), the Supreme Court ruled that while a State may, consistent with the Due Process Clause, have the authority to tax a particular taxpayer, imposition of the tax may nonetheless violate the Commerce Clause. The Court reasoned that the DPC and DCC reflect different Constitutional concerns. The primary concern of the DPC is that there is sufficient nexus to provide the state with the power to tax. Clearly, in the case of residence, nexus exists, as the inhabitants of a state subject themselves to the rights and privileges of the state; for example, access to public services and the protection afforded by state law. Conversely, the primary aim of the Commerce Clause is to ensure that a state does not negatively impact interstate commerce; thus, it serves to prevent a state from impermissibly engaging in the federal realm. The DCC serves to prevent a state's power to tax from significantly burdening interstate commerce. …
INTRODUCTIONSince the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA) was enacted in 1995, a majority of securities lawsuits have been centered on accounting allegations (Cornerstone Research, 2008).1 Many of the accounting-related securities lawsuits were triggered by accounting irregularities and frauds, which resulted in settlements and market losses running into billions of dollars in some cases (Simmons and Ryan, 2008).The legal system routinely levies large monetary penalties on sued firms but the legal penalties are substantially lower than the penalties imposed by the market (Karpoff et al., 2008). Simmons and Ryan (2008) document total lawsuit settlements in 2007 to be $6.962 billion dollars while Cornerstone (2008) reports that market losses associated with securities lawsuits were approximately $669 billion in 2007.According to Griffin et al (2004) and Gande and Lewis (2009), the investor reaction around the announcement of a securities lawsuit is an important component of lawsuit-related market losses and the economic effect of a lawsuit. Studies such as Ferris and Pritchard (2001) report an average three-day excess return of -3.47 percent while Griffin et al (2004) report a mean three-day excess return of -7.2 percent around the announcement of securities lawsuit induced by accounting misstatement.Investor reaction to securities lawsuit triggered by accounting misstatement is perceived as deterring financial misreporting and enhancing the quality of financial reports (Fuerman, 2012). The literature provides some evidence of a negative valuation effect around accounting-related securities lawsuit announcement after the PSLRA but there is limited evidence on the factors that explain the cross-sectional variation in the announcement returns (Gande and Lewis, 2009).The financial misreporting period may influence investor perception of the severity of negative earnings-related news, which in turn could impact the market's perception of investor losses associated with a lawsuit. When a firm delays the disclosure of negative earnings-related news, its stock price is inflated over the concealment period and on the revelation of the true financial condition of the firm, shareholders could incur substantial losses (Bardos, Golec and Harding, 2011). Management of a sued firm has a duty to promptly disclose material adverse information and failure to do so in a timely manner may be perceived as an indication of intent to perpetrate fraud.2 Following the passage of the PSLRA, securities lawsuits are required to show intent to commit fraud or scienter to avoid dismissal, thus financial misreporting period could influence the perceived merit of a lawsuit as well as the investor perception of shareholder losses.Using a sample of 301 accounting-related securities lawsuit filings between 1996 and 2005, this study examines the relation between financial misreporting period and investor reaction to accounting-related litigation announcement. The empirical results indicate a negative relation between financial misreporting period and investor reaction to litigation announcement.This study adds to our knowledge of factors that explain the cross-sectional variation in investor reaction to securities lawsuit. The study complements and extends the literature on the reputational consequences of financial misreporting such as Alexander (1999) and Fich and Shivdasani (2007). The findings of this study suggest that the longer the concealment period, the more the market perceives a securities fraud lawsuit as being meritorious. Accordingly, the results of this study provide support for regulation that enhances the timeliness of material event disclosures.The remainder of this study is organized as follows. In section 2, we review related literature and develop the hypothesis. Section 3 describes the research design. Section 4 describes the empirical results and Section 5 presents the summary and conclusion. …
INTRODUCTIONInternational tourist arrivals to Thailand grew from 14.58 million in 2008 to 24.81 million in 2014 with an average growth rate of 9.80%. The hotel industry had also seen a rise in hotel supply to accommodate an increase in visitor arrivals. The number of hotels increased from 5,502 to 6,996 during the same period. The occupancy rate of hotels in Thailand averaged at 56.36% (Table 1).From 2015 onwards, inbound tourism demand in Thailand and the whole region has risen to meet up with trade opportunities brought about by the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has forecast that in 2020 approximately 400 million tourists will travel to Asia-Pacific and around 160-200 million to ASEAN countries (World Tourism Organization n.d.). The hotel industry in Thailand has to prepare for the emerging opportunities and challenges. The surge in investment to the region is expected, and tourism businesses in ASEAN will become more rigorously competitive.The study addresses Thailand's hotel sector for two reasons. First, the hotel industry has high potentials as the country boasts high service quality, relatively low transportation costs, and developed supporting industries (i.e., restaurants and retail). Secondly, in the face of the AEC, Thailand's hotel sector needs to find ways to sustain its competitiveness in the changing business landscape. The scope of the study concerns hotels listed on the Stock Market of Thailand (SET) as they stand a good chance to benefit from freer flow of capital. The purpose of this study is to assess relevant ratios of the Thai listed hotels during 2010 - 2014. Among many assessment tools, the study employs a set of financial and operational performance measures commonly used in the hotel industry. Additionally, the study aims to produce comparative data in hotel industry.LITERATURE REVIEWA firm's various stakeholders, for instance, managers and investors, use various types of indicators to evaluate the firms' performance and highlight areas of improvement. The meta-analysis undertaken by Sainaghi (2010) reviewed 101 academic papers on hospitality management and identified 3 dimensions of hotel performance; namely, financial, operational, and organizational.Several kinds of financial and operational ratios have been developed and widely used by practitioners and scholars alike. The important measures of hotel financial performance are liquidity, solvency, activity, profitability, and operating ratios (Jagels, 2007; Andrew and Schmidgall, 1993). Liquidity ratios measure the firm's ability to meet its short-term obligations. The key liquidity indicators are current ratio, quick or acid-test ratio, accounts receivable turnover, and average collection period. Solvency ratios measure the ability of the firms to cover long-term obligations. The common solvency indicators are debt ratio, debt to equity ratio (D/E), and time interest earned. Activity ratios measure the firm's efficiency in managing its assets. Activity ratios used in the hotel industry are inventory turnover, inventory holding period, fixed asset turnover, and total asset turnover. Profitability ratios measure overall performance of the firm's ability to generate income and the return on revenue and investment. These ratios include gross profit margin, operating profit margin, net profit margin, return on assets (ROA), and return on equity (ROE). Listed companies usually take into consideration additional ratios such as price - earnings ratio (P/E), market value to book value ratio (P/BV), and dividend yield.Various measures have been suggested to evaluate hotel operational performance. The most common ones are occupancy rate, average daily room rate (ADR) and revenue per available room (RevPAR). All of these are revenue related. Operating ratios that are cost related include food cost percentage, beverage cost percentage, and labor cost percentage. They assist managers in analyzing and controlling hotel's operations. …
INTRODUCTIONCredit reports are generally viewed as precursors to determine one's creditworthiness. Borrowers are accustomed to lenders mandating the disclosure of credit history as a condition to determining whether or not credit should be extended. Credit assessments are increasingly used to assist employers making hiring and promotion decisions. Few would doubt that in industries such as banking, finance and law enforcement, credit and criminal background checks may be necessary to ensure the integrity of those who are hired. The nexus between routine credit history and criminal background checks should be determined based upon a standard of job relatedness. However, employers who conduct routine credit history and criminal background checks and are unable to determine a connection between such checks and the type of employment may encounter legal challenges. One such challenge is that the use of credit and criminal background checks in making hiring and promotion decisions may have a discriminatory impact on the basis of protected class status. It is axiomatic that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits hiring and promotion practices which have a disparate impact on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin or sex unless the employer shows the practice is job related and consistent with business necessity. This article will examine employers' use of credit reports and criminal background checks in making hiring and promotion decisions. This article will also examine the use of statistics and statistical analysis by plaintiffs in establishing a prima facie case and by defendants in attacking the validity of such data.TITLE VII of the 1964 Civil Rights ActTitle VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act provides in pertinent part thatIt shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to:(1)fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privilege of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; or(2)to limit, segregate, or classify his employees or applicants for employment in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin (Title VII Civil Rights Act of 1964).Since the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, racial discrimination in the employment arena has undergone a metamorphosis from blatant, to the gun, to the sublime and subdued. The forms of blatant and overt discrimination were pervasive during the pre-Title VII period, and its likely roots are traceable to the appalling era of the Black Codes. After the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment which abolished slavery, nothing in the Constitution prevented a state from enacting laws - Black Codes, as they came to be known - that were blatantly discriminatory . (Goldstein, 2011).The is a form of direct evidence which generally does not involve a written policy of discrimination. Indicia of discriminatory intent is demonstrated by an employer' s tolerating or encouraging an environment that condones discriminatory conduct and activity that thwarts job opportunities for members of protected classes or discourages them from seeking employment opportunities. In such circumstances, it is not likely that the punitive employer will admit involvement in promoting discriminatory activity by its workers. The smoking gun usually involves racially or sexually insensitive remarks, jokes or slurs.The sublime and subtle form of discrimination is exemplified in cases involving neutral selection criteria which have a discriminatory impact on protected class members. Discrimination, in the general sense, is the denial of an employment opportunity based upon an individual's protected class status or characteristics. …
INTRODUCTIONThe financial landscape has changed dramatically as a result of the globalization of commerce and the internet. There is an interdependence of world economies and capital markets more extensive than has ever existed before. A catastrophic failure of one market system potentially has effects worldwide with huge losses on an international scale. Given the dramatic changes in worldwide economies and globalization of financial markets, preventing corporate fraud is not strictly a domestic issue but has significant implications for financial markets internationally.Across the globe we have seen instances of corporate accounting frauds. In 2002, the highly publicized United States fraud of Enron Corporation rocked the capital market system. Around the same time in Europe, Vivendi Universal (France), the world's second largest media group, was in the midst of a financial accounting scandal. In 2003, the multinational company Parmalat (Italy) had more than $8.5 billion in missing assets. Parmalat's fraudulent activity significantly affected insurance companies in the U. S. In the Netherlands, Royal Ahold, the world's third largest supermarket operator, was found to have overstated its 2001 and 2002 income by more than $500 million. In 2009 Satyam Computer Service (India), a company responsible for more than one-third of the outsourcing services provided to Fortune 500 companies, was found to have inflated earnings and assets in excess of $1 billion. These examples illustrate that there are no geographical limits to fraud.National and international surveys on fraud indicate that the financial magnitude of fraud is significant and remains a problematic issue for businesses worldwide (Kroll Report, 2013/2014; ACFE report, 2014; Ernst & Young, 2014). Preventing and detecting fraud has become paramount for both domestic and international businesses. Lawmakers and standard setters have responded with increased regulatory requirements, including AICPA Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 99, Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the creation of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), SEC Post-Madoff reforms (2008) and Dodd Frank Act (2010). These requirements address corporate governance, internal controls, and auditor/accountant responsibilities for detecting and preventing fraud.Educators must similarly respond by raising student awareness of fraud schemes, detection methods, and prevention tools. Consequently, there is an increased demand for graduating students to possess the requisite skills to detect fraud and consider the global implications of fraud.The accounting curriculum should keep pace with the dynamic ever-changing complexities of the profession (AECC, 1990) so that graduates are prepared to detect and prevent fraudulent activities (NCFFR, 1987). Students must be exposed to domestic and global economic organizations in order to understand the roles and responsibilities of accountants in a global context (AACSB, 2015). A broader view, one taken by the NCFFR, recommends that the entire business curriculum reflect a focus on understanding factors related to fraud. Integrating fraud awareness across the business curriculum will better prepare students to combat fraudulent activities in this global economic environment.The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) publishes the Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse (hereafter, The Report). The Report reflects the results of survey responses from thousands of professionals predominantly with accounting related backgrounds (fraud examiners, internal auditors, and accountants) in various industries. The Report's survey results detail the financial losses that result from fraud by industry and by the type of fraud scheme. It also discusses the anti-fraud control mechanisms implemented by companies and the methods used to detect fraud. The Report details the perpetrators of fraud based on several factors, including by department and by gender. …
INTRODUCTIONAs individuals, in general, we all log in to the corporate website of the bank we work with, shop, buy books, flight, bus and concert tickets over the Internet. In contemporary times, aside from reading news, it is not unforeseen to decide what to cook for dinner, order food or check traffic updates, and weather forecasts over the Internet yet perhaps the majority of time spent on the web goes to hovering over social networking sites. As consumers and investors become progressively more tech-savvy and media-oriented, advances in technology coupled with new wave of web services continue to remodel online platforms to serve for new business models. Deriving on the fact that an average user visits 89 websites per month, it can be expected for a user to visit about ten webpages a day (Newswire.com, January 01, 2010). With the adaptation of innovative business models to new advances in technology, more and more people adopt new Internet habits. As Internet removed time and space constraints, making borders virtual and continents connect, a novel way of thinking emerged to carry out marketing operations; thinking digital. With the development of new modes of communication, new issues, concepts, shifts in the communication landscape are introduced; spotlighting specifically changes in consumer constructs, the introduction and evolution of digital marketing as well as digital content marketing all of which index to the introduction of the digital consumer and the rise of a new paradigm for marketing. In light of these advances, this paper aims to reveal how social media can be used for better visibility and exposure through promoting dialogue, fostering advocacy, forwarding support and inciting innovation on the digital platform by way of audience engagement which is vital if brand awareness and recall are to be established so that top of mind awareness and brand loyalty can be implemented.Advances in technology and the digitization of the public domain led to the formation of information society enabling users to reach information anywhere, anytime and anyhow which in return brought a new perspective to firms regarding how they deliver marketing mix operations. In fact, the fast-changing digital landscape has created great complexity for a wide range of sectors majorly due to the hyper-connected consumer, leaving marketers with a matrix of vendors and channels that has been quite strenuous for brands to manage. Internet and digitization has greatly altered the way practitioners disseminate information, communicate with key figures of community, handle crises, and deal with issues. PR started to be considered even more crucial as consumers and investors become increasingly more tech-savvy and media-oriented. With the onset of around the clock news connectivity, and specifically with the surge in press covering businesses, PR has become an increasingly fundamental part of doing business within the span of past couple of decades.Even though content marketing is a relatively new concept and that contentbased marketing activities are known to be carried out across the world for years, in Turkey it is a novel trending PR strategy. This research illustrates case studies of national as well as global brands carrying out PR campaigns across online platforms in Turkey. The cases are selected among the award winning PR campaigns as granted by Mediacat Felis Awards 2014. It is necessary to note that Mediacat Felis Awards is yet the only award ceremony in Turkey granting digital PR practices. This fact accounts for the selection of case studies elaborated in this paper. While the theoretical review spotlights elements impacting contemporary marketing dynamics, factors impelling businesses towards content marketing, key performance indicators utilized in maintaining social business objectives to complement content marketing theories, the practical review presents case studies selected from the digital PR category with an integrated marketing communications focus that brand and coordinate marketing efforts to deliver consumer value. …
INTRODUCTIONAge is a common factor used in legislation and by society establish rights, privileges, behavioral expectations and, often pejorative stereotypes. (Eglit, 2009). Older workers are often considered less employable the longer they remain unemployed. (Manger, 2014). In recognition of these realities, Congress enacted the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) to promote employment of older persons based on their ability rather than age; prohibit arbitrary discrimination in employment; and help employers and workers find ways of meeting problems arising from the impact of on (Civil Rights Act).The ADEA's origin arose from a 1964 Executive Order issued by President Johnson declaring a public policy against discrimination in employment. In 1967, after considerable debate, Congress passed the ADEA in order eliminate discrimination. The Congressional debate addressed a balancing of the right of older workers be free from discrimination in employment with the employers' prerogative control managerial decisions. The ADEA, and its numerous amendments, are intended recognize these competing interests by prohibiting arbitrary age-based discrimination in the employment relationship. Most states subsequently adopted their own anti-discrimination laws, largely patterned on the precepts of the ADEA protecting workers. (Special Committee on Aging, 1992).But not all anti-discrimination laws are created equal. Although the ADEA has been described as ...part of a wider statutory scheme protect employees in the workplace along with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (race, color, gender, national origin and religion); the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (disabilities); the National Labor Relations Act (union activities) and; the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (sex), the ADEA has a more narrow scope than these other regulatory schemes. (Crawford v. Median General Hospital, 1996). In fact, except for the substitution of age for race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, the language defining employer practices under the ADEA and Title VII is identical. Unlike Title VII, however, the ADEA significantly narrows its coverage by permitting any otherwise prohibited activity. (Smith v. City of Jackson, 2005].Furthermore, unlike the Title VII regulatory schemes that prohibit categories of conduct that have historically plagued minority groups in society in the fields of employment, housing, consumer financing, and other social benefits, the ADEA and other age-based discrimination laws limit their applicability solely employment and labor organization matters. (Swift, 2006). Exacerbating this difference in the scope of versus Title VII forms of other discrimination is an apparent reluctance or inability by the courts enforce discrimination laws in a consistent manner. A 2004 study that analyzed age-based rulings versus racial and gender discrimination cases indicates a direct correlation between the judges' and their sensitivity discrimination. The youngest judges were less sympathetic discrimination claims than older judges. (Manning, Carroll and Carp, 2004).Thus, in the almost fifty years since the passage of ADEA, the growth of federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination suggest age-based discrimination is virtually as pernicious in American society as racial and gender discrimination. (Neumark, 2003). This problem is exacerbated by the fact that Baby Boomers appear be postponing their retirements during the economic downturn which began in 2008, thus creating greater numbers of workers who may become victims of discrimination.The U.S. is aging - individuals over the of 40 constitute 55.5% of the total population. Twenty-four percent of those employed in the workforce are 54 years old and older, and this number is expected increase at least 34% by the year 2020 (Department of Labor, 2013). …
INTRODUCTIONGlobalization is one of the most important drivers of economic conditions in developed and developing countries alike. Although it has been with us since the dawn of time (Prazniak, 2010; Elliott, 2006), as evidenced by the Silk Road or the discovery of the Americas by the Europeans, it still remains a bit of a mystery. In fact, there is still debate about what globalization is, when it started, and whether it is a good thing or a bad thing. Undesirable things seem to happen in developed countries, where economic growth is stagnant and unemployment rates are high; and developing countries do not seem to be faring better, with their workers and environment being abused. In fact, some of the developing countries suffer from very high levels of poverty; and their poverty rates are actually going up from lower rates achieved only a few years back (Mondal, 2015).One of the key issues that is at the forefront of globalization's impact is that globalization as it is practiced today relies on a phenomenon called free trade of goods and services, which is coupled with capital moving freely between countries. Furthermore, while goods, services, and capital can move freely across the globe, labor is not allowed to move freely, thus creating pools of labor trapped in a variety of different settings. These settings range from labor forces of population-dense, poorer countries like India and China, to labor pools of failed states like Haiti and Syria. People in the developed countries support globalizationled free trade pointing to benefits of lower prices paid for goods and services; however, these lower prices come with job losses. People in developing regions see the foreign investment, even when it only sets up sweatshops, as a way to get out of poverty.Whether alternatives to complete free trade can be found is seldom discussed as another stakeholder in the global economy really benefits from the free trade. Specifically, multinational corporations, which are the only entities that can operate simultaneously in developed and developing regions alike, benefit from the current situation, because they can engage in arbitrage as no other entity can. In fact, they can increase the value of their endeavors, by reducing their costs, increasing their revenues, and decreasing their risk exposure all at the same time, by producing and selling globally. Specifically, by using the trapped labor in developing countries, where environmental protections are also lax, they reduce their costs; by selling their products and services in mostly developed markets, as well as to the emerging middle class in poorer countries, they can increase their revenues; and the geographical diversification reduces their risk exposure.In addition, some multinational corporations are bigger than many countries (e.g., according to Wild and Wild (2010) Wal-Mart's revenues are larger than Finland's gross national product), and there are thousands of multinational corporations that operate globally. The multinational corporations are not only privy to greater resources than many countries, but they also have the ability to involve themselves in the political processes of many countries through legal means (e.g., Johnson, Mirchandani and Meznar 2015). A good example of this situation is the ability of U.S. corporations to fund U.S. political campaigns. As a result, multinational corporations pursue the encouragement of globalization and free trade with the consent and aid of many public policy makers regardless of those public policy makers' political persuasion.In previous papers (Costello and Costello, 2012a; Costello and Costello, 2012b), we proposed existing international business, strategy, and economics literatures are unable to explain these developments in the global economy. And in those papers we offered a framework, which utilizes international business, strategic management, and property rights economics literatures, as well as game theory. …
INTRODUCTIONInternational medical travel is not a new concept in the global market, as it has historically involved the wealthy elite traveling to receive the best medical treatment for their illness. This was especially true of those who lived in developing countries where the healthcare system had not sufficiently advanced enough to be able to treat them. However, a new type of international medical traveler has newly emerged - the medical tourists, typically middle-class citizens of developing countries who seek medical treatment abroad, where it is likely to be cheaper and more accessible (Hopkins et al 2010). Medical tourism, also known as wellness tourism (Hopkins et al 2010) or cross-border healthcare (Chen and Wilson 2013), has been evolving ever since.Medical tourism is now widely regarded to be the act of turning down medical services in one's own country and instead choosing to travel to foreign, often lesser developed countries in order to receive those same services at some advantage, typically a lower cost (Horowitz, Rosenweig, and Jones 2007). Indeed, there has been an increased interest in medical tourism due to its increasing popularity among the middle class. Hopkins et al (2010) found that the costs of domestic healthcare have risen at unprecedented levels, while Roehr (2010) has found that the working class is bearing the burden of the resulting increases in health insurance costs. These changes have prompted more and more citizens to seek out medical tourism as an option for their healthcare needs.In an increasingly globalized world, it is important for any citizen to understand the contributing factors of this trend and the implications it has for the countries involved. This paper will identify and examine the driving forces behind this increasingly popular healthcare trend, primarily the rising costs of the American healthcare system, with a focus on the major underlying causes of this price increase, such as health insurance, defensive medicine, and medical consumerism. The globalization of healthcare markets will also be discussed as a secondary driving force, since it is in this context that the rising prices of domestic healthcare are driving the growth of medical tourism. Finally, the consequences of this practice will also be discussed, including the economic effects, legal issues, medical problems, and ethical ramifications. With the rapid growth of the medical tourism industry comes interesting implications for the healthcare landscape. PRIMARY DRIVING FORCE: RISING COSTS OF AMERICAN MEDICAL TREATMENTThe primary driving force behind the relatively new practice of medical tourism in the United States would appear to be the rising costs of American medical treatment. The United States spends the largest percent of its GDP than any other country (Kamerow 2009) as demonstrated in Table 1 below.An overwhelming majority of the literature suggests that the primary reason for patients to travel abroad to receive medical care is the lower cost of the procedure abroad, relative to domestic costs. The reasons for this vast discrepancy in prices is not yet fully understood, but many other studies have suggested that there are underlying causes to this price disparity, most prevalently the current health insurance system, the increased practicing of defensive medicine, and the emergence of the medical consumerism attitude.Several studies have concluded that domestic healthcare is experiencing rising price levels at an unprecedented rate (Hopkins et al 2010), which is leading to higher health insurance costs and premiums. Further studies have found that the average employer is forcing their employers to bear the burden of these price increases, and Roehr (2010) notes that it may be the first time that the middle class has ever dealt with this issue in the United States. Another study by Song et al (2014) has recently analyzed the medical payment reform systems in Massachusetts, finding them to be more successful at a lower cost; thus they suggest that the overall health insurance system in the United States is too focused on quantity rather than quality, which is why the Massachusetts payment reforms are arguably more successful. …
