This chapter summarizes, schematically, several of the outstanding theories of management. It draws some distinctions between various theories of normative ethics. The chapter addresses two topics at the theoretical intersection of management and ethics: moral monism versus moral pluralism, and the degree to which management conduct is guided by considerations of rationalized theories. It focuses on treating the state of the discipline regarding the critical importance of understanding the organized complexity of theoretical issues in management ethics. One theoretical issue of management ethics is the difference between moral monism and limited moral pluralism. Moral monism maintains that moral conduct is and ought to be determined on the basis of a single management theory linked to a single ethics theory. Management and ethics theories matter to managerial moral performance. Increased awareness of the opportunities and challenges presented by theoretical issues in management ethics can contribute to improved managerial moral performance in the future.
As health issues have been increasingly valued by the public, the role of fitness clubs has become more important. The study focused on examining the relationship between experimental marketing, brand image, satisfaction, and loyalty in fitness clubs. This study used data from five branches of a large chain of fitness clubs with a total of 341 valid questionnaires. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used for empirical testing. Results show that under the impact of the two mediating variables, namely brand image and satisfaction, experimental marketing and loyalty do not passively affect each other, and one must use brand image and satisfaction as the mediator. The results indicated that during the running of fitness clubs, the subjective perception of the customers on brand image and customer satisfaction is of great importance. In addition, results from the study also indicate that experimental marketing has a positive effect on brand image. As a result, experimental marketing plays an important role in establishing brand image for fitness clubs.
In this manuscript, the authors examine the current state of workplace health and safety in Croatia during the recent recession and highlight efforts by international and regional organizations to assist the relatively young Croatian government with efforts to provide a safer work environment for Croatia's workers. Responsible managerial actions in the public, private and nonprofit sectors to address Croatian worker safety and health issues are provided. INTRODUCTION Occupational safety and health issues impact governments, labor and business organizations throughout the world affecting economies, profits and most importantly, the lives of residents. In addition, the recent world economic downturn labeled ‘The Great Recession’ exposed structural problems in many countries. Croatia is an independent country that was established when Yugoslavia broke apart following the end of the Cold War. The country has made a formal application for membership in the European Union and is now a candidate for membership after signing the EU Accession Treaty in December 2011. Croatian citizens are awaiting ratification of their country's EU status from the current 27 EU countries, with a target date of July 2013 (CIA World Factbook, n.d.). Current economic problems in Croatia include a drop in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), decreased personal income, high unemployment and a weak governmental financial balance sheet. These problems have led to a weakened and unstable government and to problems both within the country and to a lesser extent with other nations. The effects of this financial crisis on occupational safety, occupational health and motor vehicle safety have yet to be fully explored. The purpose of this article is to provide a preliminary overview of this subject so that data collection and further analysis can be undertaken in a subsequent project. THE CROATIAN ECONOMY To understand the fragility and tumult of the “Great Recession” in Croatia, it is helpful to have a snapshot of this young country. Croatia is currently a country of 4,416,000 people (United Nations Data, 2009) and is considered part of Southern Europe(see Figure 1: Map of Croatia). The country achieved independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 and subsequently transitioned through four Prime Ministers from 1991 until 2000. In 2000, a parliamentary republic system was implemented and the Prime Minister’s position became the official head-of-government. The longest serving Prime Minister from 2000 – 2012 was Ivo Sanader (December 23, 2003 – July 6, 2009) and he is currently awaiting trial on corruption charges. His party’s (Croatia Democratic Union, abbreviated HDZ) successor, JadrankaKosor, served as Prime Minister until December 23, 2011 when the Social Democratic Party (SDP) put in place ZoranMilanović. The SDP has also controlled the Croatian Presidency since January 2010 when Ivo Josipović was elected. In a span of 20 years, the Croatian government has been led by eight Prime
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of two basic types of learning in contemporary organizations – incremental (knowledge exploitation) and radical learning (knowledge exploration) – in making organization’s strategic decisions. In achieving this goal a conceptual model of influence of learning types on the nature of strategic decision making and their outcomes was formed, on the basis of which the empirical research was conducted, encompassing 54 top managers in large Croatian companies. The paper discusses the nature of organizational learning and decision making at strategic management level. The results obtained are suggesting that there is a relationship between managers' learning type and decision making approaches at strategic management level, as well as there is the interdependence between these two processes with strategic decision making outcomes. Within these results there are interesting insights, such as that the effect of radical learning on analytical decision making approach is significantly weaker and narrower when compared to the effect of incremental learning on the same approach, and that analytical decision making approach does not affect strategic decision making outcomes.
A survey was conducted to gauge the opinions of major corporations in one of the industrial regions in the Midwestern part of USA regarding needed skills and knowledge of undergraduate business students. A sample of 50 top employers in the region participated in a comprehensive survey conducted in 2011. Employers identified crucial topics in all the functional areas of business education. Among them are working in teams, project management, cash flow analysis, financial risk analysis, cost benefit analysis, and proficiency in using popular tools such as Word, and Excel, were rated the highest. Suggestions were also made regarding curricular changes.
In this paper the successfulness of the implementation of business processes’ improvements is analyzed from the aspect of influencing factors which manifest themselves in employees’ engagement, gained experience methodology adequacy and implementation factors. The research, conducted on 73 large Croatian companies (15, 9% of state’s overall large companies population), has partially confirmed the existence of relationship between the programs of business processes’ improvements and business performances, between organizational variables and business performances as well as between the programs of business processes’ improvements and organizational variables.
The purpose of this study was to investigate Mongolian consumer perception of online shopping, as well as the factors influencing on their attitude toward online shopping and their effect on their intention toward online shopping. Sample of this study included online shopping consumers of Mongolian. The study used e-survey to collect data with 107 (10.7%) valid data. The regression analysis was used to analysis the relationship between dependent and independent variables, and discovered mediation. The results of this study found that consumer innovativeness, perceived benefits and perceived risk are important determining factors influencing online shopping. Also the findings shown that consumer innovativeness, perceived benefits had positive impact on consumer shopping attitude, and perceived risk had a negative impact on consumer online shopping attitude. Moreover, consumer innovativeness, perceived benefits, perceived risk had an indirect effect on the intention of online shopping. The results of this study nearly supported all hypotheses.
Based on social exchange and psychological contract theories, Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is anchored on the presumption of an established, long-term relationship between an employer and employees. Thus one could conclude that contingent workers lack OCB. This study demonstrates that adding a “professionalism” construct provides correspondence in the literature that previously did not exist. Given that in advancing economies professionalism will be present in a variety of degrees in all occupations, inclusion of such a dimension can signifi
112 employees of small and medium enterprise (SME) in private sector were selected randomly for assessment of gender differences in emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence was evaluated through The Emotional Intelligence Appraisal which is designed to assess behavior demonstrative of emotional intelligence skills. The Emotional Intelligence Appraisal is a 28-item performance-based assessment of emotional intelligence in Daniel Goleman's four-factor taxonomy. The four factor competencies consist of: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. The assessment provides an overall emotional quotation (EQ) score as well as a score in each of the four emotional intelligence factors. The findings disclosed that men have higher level of emotional intelligence than women.
Singapore companies are well-known for their systemic and operational efficiencies as well as technological competencies, and the city state’s renowned transparent governance adds extra credibility to their methods of business dealings, especially so for government-linked companies. This paper, as part of our series on this topic, looks at how Singapore-based companies attempt to expand beyond the region, and tests the efficacy of the ‘Singapore system’ exported to emerging economies. It is the first in this series which focuses on Singapore companies who have opened franchises in the Middle East. The research takes on a uniquely ‘Arabian allure’, as we present evidence from the gambits of Singapore’s privately-owned companies setting up franchises in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Our results show that the perceived advantages purported through these Singaporestyled initiatives remains uncertain; as well, we find that socio-political intricacies in the host environments continue to stymie efforts to import competencies and business practices.
Country of origin is an important construct in consumer decision making relative to purchasing foreign or domestic products or services. Consumer ethnocentrism has been shown to be an important determinant in purchasing foreign versus domestic products. The CETSCALE used to measure consumer ethnocentrism was introduced in the U.S. by Shimp and Sharma (1987). Given the importance of country of origin to international marketers, the role of consumer ethnocentrism in decision making has been studied in many countries in order to understand their consumer attitudes toward purchasing foreign products or services. However, the measurement properties of CETSCALE have been evaluated in only a limited number of countries with mixed results. Therefore it is increasingly necessary to examine the measurement properties of the CETSCALE in important national and regional markets The Arab Middle East is certainly an import region but it is neglected in such research. This study seeks to fill that gap by examining the measurement properties of the CETSCALE with a sample of 300 Lebanese and 164 Tunisian consumers. A modified 7item CETSCALE demonstrated very good cross-national reliability and validity in these two Arab Middle East countries.
Corporate corruption has dominated the business new s over the last decade. While large businesses gar ner much of the attention, small businesses also face a dist inct threat from fraudulent activities. In this article, we discuss the impact of fraud on small businesses. We present th e classical theory of fraud and describe how pressu re, opportunity and rationalization facilitate fraudulent activity. Finally, we propose clear practical steps that ca n be followed to help prevent fraud in small businesses and we offer futu re research opportunities.
The study of diversification and firm performance lies at the heart of the strategy literature (Dess, Gupta, Hennart, & Hill, 1995). Nevertheless, in spite of all the efforts of researchers to untangle the diversificationperformance relationship milieu, there is still much confusion surrounding this vital issue. One potential source of confusion centers on the type of diversification being pursued. It has often been assumed that diversification is a onedimensional construct that exists along a single continuum. In addition, diversification-performance is usually tested under the hypothesis of linearity. Separating diversification into two major types, product and international (market), the present study employs an international sample (U.S., Japan, and EEC firms) in assessing the impact of diversification on firm performance.
The process of winning and retaining investors who establish businesses in a particular place is under-researched. The purpose of this study is to analyze the extent to which place marketers (seller) and potential investors interact in order to establish, develop and maintain a win- win exchange relationships. A cross-country study, with multiple case studies, was used as method. The result shows that the seller has been able to win and maintain clients. The seller-client exchange relationships have been influenced by interaction with third parties. The seller-client interactions have been going on before, during, and after clients location of operations.
The main objective of this conceptual paper is to e xamine the role of perceived organizational support (POS) to link the four (4) human resource management practi ces namely pay satisfaction, career development opp ortunities, work/family support and leader-member exchange and affective organizational commitment, professional c ommitment and turnover intention of faculty members working for private higher education institutions in Malaysi a. This paper will mainly be driven theoretically by the social e xchange theory, the concept of perceived organizati onal support (POS) which is the commitment of the organization to the employee, the norm of reciprocity, the organizatio nal support theory as well as the other relevant literature in the human resource management and organizational be haviour research. This paper contributes to the limited body of knowledge about the psychological processe s underlying the formation of organizational commitment through the perspectives of the social exchange theory (Blau, 1964) and the organizational support theory (Eisenberger, et al., 1986; Eisenberger et al., 2001).
What is the effect of capital structure policy on credit spreads? In a widely cited paper by Huang and Huang (2003), a few representative structural models of credit spreads have been calibrated and compared. Among them are the model by Collin-Dufresne and Goldstein (2001) and the one by Leland and Toft (1996). The former assumes exogenously given stationary mean-reverting leverage, the latter optimizes its capital structure endogenously. Their study shows that all the models they calibrated perform similarly in that they all explain a very small portion of the observed spreads. We make three improvements based on that study. First, we correct a mistake in their calibration for the CG model. Second, the Leland (1994) model of perpetual bond was used for simplicity. We strictly calibrate the LT model with finite maturities. Third, we use the same set of targets, so the model comparison is more meaningful. We argue that leverage ratio cannot be an appropriate target for calibrating the Leland-Toft model. This differentiates our calibration approaches. All these three issues have not been recognized thus far and we address them in this paper.
Growth in IT outsourcing is expected to remain high in the coming years as there have been widespread market claims that IT outsourcing can re duce firms’ costs by over 30 percent. The scope and range of IT outsourcing services are also increasin g, as evidenced by the promotion of ASP (applicatio ns service providers), global outsourcing, software de velopment outsourcing, and web and e-business outsourcing. However, management of IT outsourcing evaluation is particularly under-studied, especiall y in how these firms measure their IT outsourcing con tracts and ensure that benefits expected from these contracts are delivered. The main objective of this paper is to examine and compare the current management practices in IT outsourcing evaluation a nd benefits realization by Australian and Taiwanese firms. The paper first reviews relevant literature with respect to IT outsourcing, the evaluation of I T outsourcing, and IT benefits realization. Key surve y findings from the Australian and Taiwanese firms will be presented.
