With the existence of the Internet, manufacturers of goods and services can bypass channel intermediaries and sell directly to the final consumer. Since the mid-1990s, the Web has continued to play a greater role in channel management strategy. The purpose of this longitudinal study is to document usage of websites in terms of channel member support and vertical competition over time. We examined the websites of 251 Fortune 500 companies that produce goods and services in business-to-consumer industries. Data was collected in 1996, 2000, and 2004. The results of the study show good industries lagged behind service industries in initiating disintermediation. Overtime, however, disintermediation was equally prevalent in both industry segments. In terms of channel member support, both in initiating and overtime, firms using their websites to refer and/or connect end users to intermediaries for product purchase were equally prevalent for both industries. Finally, during the 1996 to 2000 period, the number of firms engaged in disintermediation grew faster than the number of firms providing channel member support.

This paper explores the accounting practices and cultural setting of a general merchandise store located in Natchez, Mississippi during the post-Civil War period in 1865. The store ledger records complete sales and payroll entries from January through December 1865. The facts concerning the store came from a "cash book" (referred to as the ledger) that recorded financial transactions both prior to and after the Civil War [Holland, 1837]. Our article asserts that, in spite of devastating economic conditions, merchandisers in general were able to continue as central figures in daily lives in the Natchez area.

The results of an executive Masters of Business Administration (MBA) program assessment are analyzed and interpreted against the backdrop of increasing competition between universities to attract and retain qualified students. The public education environment is currently in a turbulent state. This turbulence is in part caused by such factors as: reductions in public funding for higher education due to constrained state budgets, student expectations, requirements imposed by accrediting bodies, and other outside constituencies requesting more accountability. The pressure to hold education institutions accountable is increasing at a rapid rate. To provide a measure of accountability and quantify program quality, education institutions have placed a great deal of emphasis on program assessment. Informational results from program assessments influence a myriad of decisions made by many that ultimately impact student enrollment, program support and program funding. Despite questionable psychometric properties and potentially conflicting outcomes, student evaluations of teaching faculty continue to be a primary source of information used in program assessments. This burdens educators and administrators with the task of interpreting and utilizing incomplete and perhaps inaccurate information. Results indicate that student response rates decline with increased numbers of evaluations and influences on teaching quality assessments may be unrelated to content and presentation. Introduction According to Marsh and Roche (1993), universities have traditionally had students evaluate professor performance to improve course content and structure and for tenure and promotion decisions. Research on the topic generated more than 2000 studies by 1998 (Wilson, 1998) and the literature is rife with inconclusive outcomes associated with student evaluations. Some studies provide general support for the reliability and validity of student evaluation use (Marlin and Gaynor, 1989; Nimmer and Stone, 1991; Scherr and Scherr, 1990; Byrne, 1992; Tagomori and Bishop, 1995). Other studies indicate that student evaluations suffer from design flaws and cannot accurately capture many aspects of teaching effectiveness (Sheenan, 1975; Cashin, 1983; Rodin and Rodin, 1972; Seldin, 1993; Centra, 1993; Green et al, 1998). Despite the inconsistent results in the literature, a study conducted by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching indicated that approximately 98% of the universities surveyed used some form of student evaluations (Simpson and Siguaw, 2000). Business schools also feel pressure from accrediting bodies such as the American AssocErnest Capozzoli, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Accounting & Information Systems at Kennesaw State University. David Gundersen, Ph.D. is a Professor of Management at Stephen F. Austin State University. Journal of Executive Education Fall 2003 51 Ication of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) where 99.3% use some form of evaluation to monitor performance (Comm and Mathaisel, 1998). Student evaluation data can be used by administrators to plan strategically. Strategically, evaluation data can be used for realignment of university missions and to alter educational offerings. A more crowded and competitive education market is also forcing universities to promote and adopt a customer-driven approach to course offerings. While having great intuitive appeal, the customer-driven approach has shortcomings. Driscoll and Wicks (1998) suggest that a strong marketing orientation may be a potential threat to program quality. They indicate that a marketing approach assumes that student needs and wants are proper to satisfy, that student customers are aware of their needs and can communicate and use them as a basis to make selections. A distinction between customerled and marketoriented marketing approaches is also required (Slater and Narver, 1998). One problem in the customer-led approach is defining the customer (Bailey and Dangerfield, 2000). Is the customer the student, the taxpayer, the organization that hires the student graduate or some other third party? While acknowledgment that all the preceding may constitute “customers,” it is typically the student providing information on teaching performance. Despite potential shortcomings, a more meaningful question is what happens to the resulting data gathered and how is that data used? In a study by Comm and Mathaisel (1998), 71.8% of schools do not share the results of evaluations beyond the faculty and administration. This calls into question the notion that evaluations are used to satisfy customer demands. Also, the evidence that evaluations are used to improve teaching performance is suspect. Evaluation processes often lack followup and quality assurance checks and are often conducted on an annual basis post-facto for data gathering and reporting purposes only (Comm and Mathaisel, 1998). A research project was initiated to analyze student evaluations associated with an executive MBA program of a large regional university. Response rates and influences on ratings of instruction quality were considered in light of the importance placed on student ratings. A key investigation is to determine whether student evaluations warrant the influence universities place on them for determining program success or failure. In short, are response rates numerous enough to make program decisions based on evaluation results? Do superfluous factors influence student evaluations rendering them less useful for the strategic decisions mentioned earlier?

ABSTRACT: On January 20, 2009, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released Rule 33-9002 for the phase-in of interactive data (SEC 2009a). An important component of this rule is the phase-in of detailed tagging of financial statement note disclosures. Tagging is the process of associating a taxonomy element with a financial statement concept for a particular context. While some of the filers have participated in the SEC Voluntary Filing Project and prepared instance documents tagged at the line item level most have not prepared detail-tagged notes to accompany the financial statements (SEC 2005; Choi et al. 2008). This case discusses the structure of disclosures, as they exist in the 2009 U.S. GAAP Taxonomy, followed by a discussion of dimensional extensions and concludes with an example of block and detailed disclosure tagging using Rivet Software’s Dragon Tag (Rivet 2009). The example uses the capitalized costs disclosure for Anadarko Petroleum, a publicly traded company. Following the example, the case requires students to block and detail tag the capitalized costs disclosure for Dig Deep, a hypothetical oil and gas company. By completing the case, students develop an understanding of the current U.S. GAAP taxonomy, skills relating to mapping and tagging processes, and make use of a commonly used XBRL taxonomy and instance document creation program.

XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting language) was recently, in 2008, in its 10th year.The concept was articulated in 1998 by Charles Hoffman, known as XFRML (eXtensible Financial Reporting Mark Up Language) to facilitate the business reporting process and improve financial reporting.The objective of this paper is to examine a decade (1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008) of XBRL articles published in various publications including trade, practitioner and academic journals to identify trends and patterns, milestones, and organizations actively contributed to this development.Another goal is to assess public perceptions of XBRL, its capabilities and its future.We examined published articles where XBRL appeared either in the title or abstract of the article during 1998-2008.Considering that XBRL reporting is being required only in recent years, the research shows various interest groups worked together for a long time to achieve a common goal.The academic community has also been proactive in contributing to and assessing this new reporting standard.There is a trail of research articles to document this contribution.This paper provides various charts and interesting statistics.

Executive MBA programs have grown in popularity in the United States as well as in many other countries. These programs accept students from a broad range of professional backgrounds: corporate executives, entrepreneurs, physicians, nurses, accountants and engineers to name a few. These individuals also come from many sectors and organizations: the public sector, the private sector, for profit organizations, non-profit organizations, and more. Given the diversity of backgrounds and work experience of these individuals, it is a difficult task ensuring minimum business skill levels necessary to be successful in an EMBA program. This paper will examine the results of using an “Accounting Boot-camp” to ensure a minimum level of financial accounting proficiency in an EMBA program. Introduction Executive Masters of Business Administration degrees (EMBAs) have grown in popularity throughout the world. A 2007 survey by the EMBA Council reported that the average number of applicants per program in 2007 was up 25 percent from the previous year. Another study showing increasing interest in graduate management education was conducted by 114 Journal of Executive Education the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). Results from that study indicated that the volume of applications to MBA programs increased significantly between 2005 and 2006 (Schoenfeld 2006). Across all MBA program types, the largest increases in enrollments and applications are associated with EMBA programs (EMBA Council 2006). According to the EMBA Council (2006), 69% of executive programs had increased applications between 2005 and 2006. This translates into 195 EMBA programs where enrollments increased out of the total of 283 EMBA programs listed on the EMBA Council website. This growth warrants a closer look at what differentiates EMBAs from traditional MBA programs. EMBA Programs The traditional MBA program has a long and rich history reaching back more than 100 years at some well known universities. Two of the earliest universities to offer programs in graduate management education included Wharton which began in 1881 and Harvard which started in 1908 (Crotty and Soule 1997). As more programs were developed, MBA content evolved to encompasses a curriculum consisting of a combination of pre-set courses and a few electives providing some standardization across the degree (Crotty 1971). Admittance into MBA programs was predicated on having sufficient academic knowledge of basic business courses such as accounting, marketing, management as well as quantitative skills. The typical MBA student in a traditional MBA program is generally a younger individual with minimal managerial experience who decides to further his or her formal undergraduate business education with minimal company support or commitment (Crotty 1971). Older more experienced individuals who wanted to further their education in graduate business curricula were often not well served by most traditional MBA programs. Unlike the traditional MBA student described previously, the more experienced individuals typically have significant managerial experience often in a narrower career path where they have spent years honing their skills in a particular business function. Due to age and experience differences, they have little in common with the typical student found in the traditional MBA program. This lack of fit for older more experienced students facilitated the development of EMBA programs with the first program offered by the University of Chicago in 1943 (Byrne 1991). These programs were

The authors analyzed the reactions of various academic- level respondent groups to 14 short scenarios reflecting ethical dilemmas in higher education and research. As the authors hypothesized, groups differed in their views of the dilemmas presented. The results did not support a 2nd hypothesis predicting a linear relationship between academic achievement of respondent groups and their ethical responses. The authors expected that as respondents gained more exposure to ethical perspectives through further education, they would respond accordingly, supporting a correlation effect. Despite significant differences between groups in their assessments of the dilemmas, situational differences other than educational attainment appeared to be most influential. The authors discussed implications, which raised doubt about whether teaching ethics enhances ethical behavior.

For most academic institutions, selecting and/or designing a Program Assessment methodology for Assurance of Learning is a challenging task. This paper describes the steps taken to establish goals, values and criteria driving this process for a College of Business. In this case analysis, we document the options we explored in finding the right vehicle for our particular situation. Our experience with a beta test and full rollout of our Program Assessment is detailed. After considerable research and a trial and error process, we have implemented a hybrid Program Assessment approach for our undergraduate students. This approach includes a business simulation product that has been customized and tailored for our institution along with locally developed major field exams. Our lessons learned from this experience include issues surrounding student resistance, faculty engagement, logistics, and the need to use multiple assessment vehicles.

Internet pharmaceutical sales continue to skyrocket as healthcare providers and consumers are increasingly relying on the efficiencies and convenience that is available via such transactions. Managed care companies, increasing demands to reduce healthcare inefficiencies while maximizing the quality of patient care is a significant contributing factor to the expanding utilization and success of online pharmaceutical sales. However, with the expansion of Internet pharmaceutical sales, healthcare providers, pharmacy benefit management and insurance companies, and consumers realize new opportunities and risks. This paper will review the attributes and concerns associated with online pharmaceutical sales, discussing current and pending legislation intended to more effectively manage these parameters.

E-Commerce is deploying computer and communications technologies to support an organization's sales process (Capozzoli, True, & Pritchett, 2000). It can be dichotomized as Business to Consumer (B2C) and Business to Business (B2B), is increasing at a rapid rate, and is expected to continue although estimates vary substantially. For example, Marketer.com (2001) estimates that B2C activity will grow from $60 billion in 2000 to $428 billion in 2005, and Goldman Sachs (Marketer.com, 2001) is estimating $2.1 trillion for the same period. In 2000, worldwide B2B Internet commerce surpassed $433 billion. That total is projected to reach $919 billion in 2001 and $8.5 trillion by 2005 (Gartner Corporation, 2001). The requirement of systems integration is being driven by this growth. The success of E-Commerce activity is directly affected by system integration efforts associated with traditional back office and web-based systems. The potential benefits of enterprise-wide E-Commerce activities (e.g., customer relationship, inventory, and process management) to an organization emphasize the need for system integration beyond individual sales transactions. Indeed, the range of business processes that represent a more complex and dynamic business arrangement in which advancing technologies should be effectively integrated into the planning process is broad. Unfortunately, many organizations are not capitalizing on the synergistic advantages of integrated systems (Maruca, 1999). Fewer than one-third of Internet retailers have integrated their back office inventory databases with their front-end web systems (Spieler, 2001). Despite the apparent lack of integration, some organizations are attempting to coordinate such customer activities. Wal-Mart has established a goods returns policy that allows a customer the option to return merchandise purchased on-line to any WalMart store (Wal-Mart, 2001). Planning for and integrating ECommerce technologies are essential to an organization's survival. The success of a strategy depends on doing many things well and integrating those activities (Porter, 1996). According to Mintzberg (1994), an organization must do three things better than the competition: it must know itself, have robust business systems, and have both an internal and external focus. Following these guidelines is made more difficult by a rapidly changing and advancing technological environment. E-Commerce capabilities have enabled both buyers and sellers of products to obtain more and better information faster. This shifting of the channel power structure is creating chaos in traditional business processes and in the development and maintenance of internal (e.g., employee) and external (e.g., customer and supplier) relationships. The goals of these systems are to improve financial performance and to create and sustain competitive advantages. Thus, organizations need to better understand the system as a whole. One means of accomplishing this is via planned periodic reviews of ECommerce activities as they relate to existing business processes and systems. Capozzoli, True, and Pritchett (2000) set forth an initial framework for describing the relationship between E-Commerce activity and systems integration that is categorized in five levels. A Level-1 company makes little or no use of computers and/or communications technology, and a Level-5 firm makes extensive, cutting-edge use of these tools (see Figure 1). The purpose of this paper is to further develop this framework for positioning organizational business processes and technological capabilities consistent with Mintzberg's and Porter's guidelines. Framework Discussion E-Commerce activities, both B2C and 13213, can address different requirements and must be identified, managed, and measured as such. Understanding these distinctions is crucial because they can influence system integration requirements, but current measurement indicators are incomplete and may give erroneous and unreliable output. …

Information is critical to an organization's performance in today's knowledge based economy‐and information systems have become a primary resource. The management of information systems in organizations is currently undergoing a transformation. Outsourcing, an integral part of corporate strategy, is now being adopted as an approach to manage information systems. This has resulted in the spawning and rapid growth of the information services industry. This article reviews this new trend in the management of information systems and evaluates its implications for management.

This paper examines the Hotel and Resort Industries' use of Electronic- Commerce as part of its overall business strategy. An assessment of the impact of the Internet on the Hotel and Resort Industries is also discussed.

This paper will explore e-commerce and discuss shortcomings associated with current definitions of e-commerce. It will then propose a continuum for defining and describing the level of computer-based systems, activities and business functions necessary to control and expand marketing and sales activities in the business organization