Vol. 4(6) June 2011
Research Articles:
Cross-Cultural Importer-Exporter Relationship Model
Ha Jungbok
The proposed dissertation extends the buyer-seller literature in the context of
international channels. It focuses on the relationship between exporters and importers,
incorporating behavioral factors to propose a process by which exporter-importer
relationships develop. Dwyer, Schurr and Oh6 proposed a five-phase relationship
development process by identifying the difference between discrete and relational
exchange, based on MacNeil’s23 contractual relationship. Previous buyer-seller relationship
studies focusing on behavioral aspects have found several factors that affect the
long-term relationship development process. Some of the frequently mentioned factors
in buyer-seller relationship studies are trust, dependence, satisfaction, cooperation
and commitment. The interrelationships among these variables in the exporter-importer
relationship form the scope of this research. In the proposed model, trust and dependence
are exogenous variables, which lead to the endogenous variable cooperation. The
logic behind this causal relationship is that both trusting and dependent relationships
lead to more cooperation in the relationship. Furthermore, a highly cooperative
relationship leads to another endogenous variable satisfaction. Finally, a more
mutually satisfying relationship results in a more committed relationship.
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Inward FDI Stock in the U.S. Economy and State Based Determinants
Kornecki Lucyna* and Ekanayake E. M.
Inward foreign direct investment (FDI) represents an integral part of the U.S. economy.
The flow of international capital has been a key factor expanding economy. The inward
U.S. FDI flow constitutes important factor contributing to the U.S. output growth.
The paper examines inward U.S. FDI and includes analyzes related to inward U.S.
FDI flow and stock as a percentage of GDP and inward U.S. FDI flow and stock as
a percentage of the World FDI.
The empirical part of this paper investigates locational determinants of the inward
FDI stock among fifty states of the United States. The analysis uses annual data
for the period from 1997 to 2007. The study identifies several state-specific determinants
of FDI and investigates the changes in their importance during the study period.
Our results show that among the major determinants, the real per capita income,
real per capita expenditure on education, FDI related employment and real research
and development expenditure are found to have a significant positive impact on inward
FDI. There is also evidence that manufacturing density and unionization exert a
small positive impact on inward FDI. In addition, per capita state taxes, the share
of scientists and engineers in the workforce, real capital expenditure and unemployment
rate exert a negative impact on FDI.
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An Analysis of the Impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on Earnings Management
Liu Caixing and Yang David
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOA) is expected to deter financial frauds and improve financial
reporting quality. Prior studies have demonstrated that earnings management significantly
influences financial reporting quality. This study examines whether SOA mitigates
earnings management and therefore improves financial reporting quality. By examining
the change of discretionary accruals, this study finds evidence that SOA significantly
mitigates earnings management. This study also finds that SOA mitigates income-increasing
earnings management more significantly than income-decreasing earnings management
and affects high-discretionary accrual firms more than low-discretionary accrual
firms. These results hold when different discretionary model is used to estimate
discretionary accruals.
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Case Study:
Transformational Teams and their Impact on Customer Satisfaction at One Firm
Crader Timothy and Brown Stephen
This study examined the relationships between core selling teams (CSTs) and customer
satisfaction within the mission critical power design industry. The literature indicates
that CSTs, which are considered a state of the art sales model, deserved further
research. The SERVQUAL survey was used to measure customer satisfaction with Company
X’s most strategic customers. The differences in customer satisfaction for customers
serviced by CSTs and traditional sales personnel were compared. The investigation
found support indicating that a CST approach had a positive relationship to increased
customer satisfaction levels. Based on the results of the study, it is recommended
that sales leaders within the specialized service industry consider a CST approach
when formulating future revenue growth and relationship strategy.
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Website Management:
Improving Website Navigability using Web Log Analysis
Lee-Post Anita1 and Basu Vedabrata
Website management is crucial for successful sustenance in the realm of e-commerce.
Web content and web design are two very important components of website management.
This paper explores the utility of knowledge gathered from users’ navigation patterns
to enhance the website design. Closing the gap between physical and logical web
page linkages based on the result of web log analysis has been recommended to improve
the navigation structure of a website. A simple four-step procedure, namely, web-log
filtering, session detection, co-occurrence frequency computation and logical link
detection, is proposed to identify pairs of web pages that are conceptually related
but not physically linked. Physical links connecting these web pages are then suggested
to the webmaster for link restructuring. The proposed procedure is implemented and
subjected to two rounds of testing in a case study. Findings from the case study
confirm the utility of the proposed procedure to improve the accessibility and navigability
of a website whereby enhancing the website’s ease of use factor. The main advantage
of proposed procedure is its simplicity and ease of implementation. As such, it
serves as an informative tool for webmasters to evaluate and improve a specific
website’s hyperlink structure.
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Consumer Behavior towards Mobile Phone Service Provider – An
Empirical Research on Mobile Number Portability in India
Malhotra Gunjan*, Mukherjee Amitava, Nandi Abhishek and Sinharay Soumyadeep
India is a developing economy and we are moving ahead compared to other similar
economies in rapid speed. Communication is the key to growth and a mobile-phone
is an essential part of this communication factor. This research paper focuses on
the different purposes people use their mobile phones and their criteria of selection
of a service provider in their region. Apart from that, with the new introduction
of Mobile Number Portability (MNP) scheme there have been quite a lot of transitions
of service-providers among the customers. This research paper focuses on specific
factors pertinent to a service provider, which is fueling this transition, mapped
to a service-provider level. 250 people in India from Delhi, NCR have been surveyed
to conduct this research. The research is of strong significance to the existing
mobile service providers, marketers, new entrants in mobile communication sectors,
market analysts, policy makers and customers to understand the prevalent consumer
perception and factors for future growth. Analysis of various factors and inputs
collected in the study shows varying customer satisfaction levels across different
mobile subscribers. The research suggests certain service aspects that the existing
players should focus more closely to allure the customers with better services and
at the same time to retain the existing customers.
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Which Policy Areas foster the Greatest Conflict between Corporate
Headquarters and Operating Units of Diversified Firms?
Baugher Dan, Bucar Branko* and Weisbord Ellen
This study assessed the views of executives about areas of conflict in diversified
firms. Executives completed a survey in which they were asked to select one of seventeen
policy areas as the source of the greatest conflict between their corporate headquarters
and line operating units. Surveys were sent to four executives in 106 diversified
firms at the vice-presidential level or higher, including executives in human resources
and finance in the corporate headquarters and two operating units. In total, 424
executives were surveyed. Responses were received from 114 executives for a response
rate of 26.9%. Across the firms, 75 or 71% were represented by at least one response
including one response, two responses and three to four responses for 39%, 27% and
5% of the firms respectively. Four areas accounted for 60% of the choices: human
resources, allocation of capital, management information systems and travel and
expense reimbursement. Five other areas were also identified as a source of most
conflict, albeit less frequently, including financial reporting, pricing, marketing,
purchasing and internal accounting. Eight areas were not deemed a source of most
conflict. These were customers, facilities, personal conduct, product line, production,
public affairs, R&D and sources of capital.
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Impact of Free Online Publications on Print Media
Cherian Jacob
The print-Internet combat has dragged several traditional publishing companies into
the battleground, prompting many erstwhile print media houses to explore the hypnotic
world of new media. One such company is Saudi Research and Publishing Company or
SRPC, one of the major market players in the publishing industry across the United
Arab Emirates. A considerable percentage of SRPC’s readership has been veering towards
online editions of newspapers and/or magazines. It was concluded that there is no
association between the type of media and personal attributes. Large majority of
the respondents, irrespective of their gender, nationality, age, education and income,
prefer online media, particularly, internet. The only exception is the senior citizen
with age above 50 years who still prefer to go with the print media, specifically,
newspapers. It confirms that there is no statistically significant association between
reasons and the preference for the type of media. It means that according to the
type of media, the reasons do not vary significantly. It can empirically conclude
that online media affects print media. Impact of online media on print media happens
on the various aspects of print media viz. demand, subscription, market share, print
revenue, advertising revenue and profitability.
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Entrepreneurship and the Value Chain: Importance, Risks and Suggestions
Adoram Guy
This paper is about the value chain and its importance in the quest to achieve sustainable
competitive advantage for an entrepreneurship. Despite its importance, as time elapses,
the value chain may lose its ability to generate value for the end customer due
to competition, demand, fluctuations and discovery of weak links. These hazards
can be remedied by better fit of the firm's strategy to its customers, utilization
of operational efficiency improvements, consideration of the virtual value chain,
or outsourcing of non-core weak links operations of the value chain.
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