...Work-life balance: definitions and key terms Work-life balance is the term used in the literature to refer to policies that strive to achieve a greater complementarity and balance between work and home responsibilities. These policies apply to all workers, not just working parents, and their presence or absence in an organisation may have an effect on those facing a crisis pregnancy, particularly in judging their own ability to combine both work and family life. Some of the terms used in the literature on work-life balance are not commonly used or may be unfamiliar, thus explanations and definitions are given below: WLB: Work-life Balance, also referred to as family friendly work arrangements (FFWA), and, in international literature, as alternative work arrangements (AWA). V-Time: this is voluntary overtime to meet production needs; extra hours are 'banked' and taken as time off or as extra pay. It differs from flexitime where starting and finishing times are staggered, and can mean reduced or increased weekly working hours over a period of time. Work-life balance, workplace culture and maternity/childcare issues - A literature review Zero hours contract: this is a flexible contract that does not specify the amount of time a worker will spend per year on their employment, leaving it open to meet demand. E-working: the term used to describe flexible working that can be done from any location using technologies such as laptops, wireless internet connection...
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...Pay enough, don’t pay too much or don’t pay at all? An empirical study of the non-monotonic impact of incentives on job satisfaction Pouliakas, K1 Centre for European Labour Market Research (CELMR), University of Aberdeen Business School, Scotland Keywords: Incentives, intensity, job satisfaction, non-monotonic JEL- Code: C23, J28, J33. Abstract This paper attempts to test the non-monotonic effect of monetary incentives on job satisfaction. Specifically, 8 waves (1998-2005) of the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) are used to investigate the ceteris paribus association between the intensity of bonus/profit-sharing payments and the utility derived from work. After controlling for individual heterogeneity biases, it is shown that relatively ‘small’ bonuses exert a significant negative effect on worker satisfaction. In contrast, job utility is found to rise only in response to ‘large’ bonus payments, primarily in skilled, non-unionized private sector jobs. The empirical evidence of the paper is therefore consistent with a ‘V-effect’ of incentives, suggesting that employers wishing to motivate their staff should indeed “pay enough or don’t pay at all”. 1 Research Fellow, Address: CELMR, University of Aberdeen Business School, Edward Wright Building, Dunbar Street, Old Aberdeen AB24 3QY, UK; Tel: ++44 01224 272172; e-mail: k.pouliakas@abdn.ac.uk. 1. Introduction The principal-agent model, with its convincing illustration of the trade-off that arises between risk...
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...not counted as part of the written page requirements. All graphs must be discussed and explained within the body of the text. Newspaper and magazine articles may be cited but do not count as part of the required references. 1 A REVIEW OF FRANCHISE THEORY INTRODUCTION In service based industries one of the fastest growing forms of market structure is that of franchise agreements. Certain aspects of franchise contracts tend to be idiosyncratic in nature thereby attracting a great deal of interest by academics and business analysts in recent years. Various explanations have been proposed for the widespread use of franchise contracts in certain industries. While a great deal of the franchise contract has been explained in the literature, there remains certain aspects of this form of arrangement that has yet to be addressed. This paper intends to address two of these issues as well as proposing an alternative modelling approach to franchise contracts. The second section of this paper describes the basic structure of franchise contracts. The third section discusses the various explanations that have been proposed to explain franchising. The fourth section sets two aspects of the franchise contract that has not been addressed in the literature. The …rst of these is existence of both corporate owned outlets and franchised outlets within the same organization. Some authors have predicted that one form or the other would come to dominate the organization. Others have...
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...counted as part of the written page requirements. All graphs must be discussed and explained within the body of the text. Newspaper and magazine articles may be cited but do not count as part of the required references. 1 A REVIEW OF FRANCHISE THEORY INTRODUCTION In service based industries one of the fastest growing forms of market structure is that of franchise agreements. Certain aspects of franchise contracts tend to be idiosyncratic in nature thereby attracting a great deal of interest by academics and business analysts in recent years. Various explanations have been proposed for the widespread use of franchise contracts in certain industries. While a great deal of the franchise contract has been explained in the literature, there remains certain aspects of this form of arrangement that has yet to be addressed. This paper intends to address two of these issues as well as proposing an alternative modelling approach to franchise contracts. The second section of this paper describes the basic structure of franchise con- tracts. The third section discusses the various explanations that have been proposed to explain franchising. The fourth section sets two aspects of the franchise contract that has not been addressed in the literature. The rst of these is existence of both corporate owned outlets and franchised outlets within the same organization. Some authors have predicted that one form or the other would come to dominate the or-...
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...Implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the Singapore Construction Industry Low Sui Pheng and Carol P.W. Loi Introduction The Goods and Services Tax (GST), to be pegged at 3 per cent across the board for the first five years, was introduced by the Singapore Government on 1 April 1994. While this may just be another tax for many businesses, the rules and regulations governing the mechanism of this tax are entirely different from what companies and individuals have so far experienced from corporate and personal income tax respectively. Because GST is a transaction-based tax, it is levied at every stage of the business process and will finally be borne by the end consumers. Businesses registered for GST purposes become in essence the taxcollecting agents for the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS). The manner in which businesses have traditionally been conducted will need to be changed. There will also be changes to both external and internal documentation to be maintained by GST-registered businesses. Like Value Added Tax (VAT), GST is a tax on domestic consumption. It is paid when money is spent on goods or services, including imports. It is not paid when money is saved and invested in productive capability. A business will therefore charge GST on the output it sells (called the “output tax”), pays a tax on materials and services it buys (called the “input tax”), and hands over to the tax authority the difference between its output tax and input tax in...
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...o c a t e / i n t f i n Unbiasedness and risk premiums in the Indian currency futures market Satish Kumar a, Stefan Trück b,∗ a b IBS Hyderabad (a Constituent of ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education), India Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t This paper explores the relationship between currency futures and realised spot rates for the Indian rupee US dollar exchange rate. Using futures contracts with maturities of one, two and three months, we examine the unbiasedness of futures quotes as a predictor of the future spot exchange rate as well as the nature of time-varying risk premiums in this emerging market. Empirical estimates, obtained using monthly data, suggest the biasedness of futures quotes as a predictor of the future spot rate for contracts with maturities of two and three months. We also find significant time-varying risk premiums in the considered futures market, while the premium is of greater magnitude and more significant with increasing maturity of the contracts. We then examine the relationship between realised risk premiums and explanatory variables such as spot currency returns, the futures basis and realised volatility, skewness and kurtosis of spot currency returns. Our results show that spot currency returns and the futures basis can be considered as significant determinants of realised risk premiums in the considered futures market. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Article history: Received...
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...University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Dissertations and Theses from the College of Business Administration Business Administration, College of 2-1-2011 ESSAYS ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT Wanasin Sattayanuwat University of Nebraska - Lincoln, wanasin@yahoo.com Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/businessdiss Part of the Business Commons Sattayanuwat, Wanasin, "ESSAYS ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT" (2011). Dissertations and Theses from the College of Business Administration. Paper 18. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/businessdiss/18 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Business Administration, College of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses from the College of Business Administration by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. ESSAYS ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT by Wanasin Sattayanuwat A DISSERTATION Presented to the faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Major: Economics Under the Supervision of Professor Craig R MacPhee Lincoln, Nebraska February 2011 ESSAYS ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT Wanasin Sattayanuwat, Ph...
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...Supplier Selection by Damian Beil Stephen M. Ross School of Business July 2009 Abstract: Supplier selection is the process by which firms identify, evaluate, and contract with suppliers. The supplier selection process deploys a tremendous amount of a firm’s financial resources. In return, firms expect significant benefits from contracting with suppliers offering high value. This article describes the typical steps of supplier selection processes: identifying suppliers, soliciting information from suppliers, setting contract terms, negotiating with suppliers, and evaluating suppliers. It highlights why each step is important, how the steps are interrelated, and how the resulting complexity provides fertile ground for ORMS research. Today the average U.S. manufacturer spends roughly half its revenue to purchase goods and services [1]. This makes a company’s success dependent on their interactions with suppliers. The role of procurement managers (buyers) within companies has become extremely important, often involving staggering dollar values: A recent cross-industry survey of companies — in areas ranging from aerospace to semiconductors — placed companies’ average total spend per procurement employee at $115 million [2]. With so much of a company’s money on the line, and increasing reliance on outsourcing of many complex services and products, the job of a buyer is not only important but also challenging. Buyers must define and measure what “best value” means for the buying organization...
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...Supplier Selection by Damian Beil Stephen M. Ross School of Business July 2009 Abstract: Supplier selection is the process by which firms identify, evaluate, and contract with suppliers. The supplier selection process deploys a tremendous amount of a firm’s financial resources. In return, firms expect significant benefits from contracting with suppliers offering high value. This article describes the typical steps of supplier selection processes: identifying suppliers, soliciting information from suppliers, setting contract terms, negotiating with suppliers, and evaluating suppliers. It highlights why each step is important, how the steps are interrelated, and how the resulting complexity provides fertile ground for ORMS research. Today the average U.S. manufacturer spends roughly half its revenue to purchase goods and services [1]. This makes a company’s success dependent on their interactions with suppliers. The role of procurement managers (buyers) within companies has become extremely important, often involving staggering dollar values: A recent cross-industry survey of companies — in areas ranging from aerospace to semiconductors — placed companies’ average total spend per procurement employee at $115 million [2]. With so much of a company’s money on the line, and increasing reliance on outsourcing of many complex services and products, the job of a buyer is not only important but also challenging. Buyers must define and measure what “best value” means for the buying organization...
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...Journal of Case Research in Business and Economics Application of Six-Sigma in finance: a case study A. Ansari Seattle University Diane Lockwood Seattle University Emil Thies Zayed University Batoul Modarress Zayed University Jessie Nino Seattle University ABSTRACT In recent years, companies have begun using Six Sigma Methodology to reduce errors, excessive cycle times, inefficient processes, and cost overruns related to financial reporting systems. This paper presents a case study to illustrate the application of Six Sigma Methodology within a finance department. Specifically, the case relates to the Continuing Account Reconciliation Enhancement project undertaken by the finance department of a major U.S. defense contractor. The goal of the project was to streamline and standardize the establishment and maintenance of costing and planning for all business activities within the current financial management process. The Six Sigma implementation resulted in a significant reduction in the average cycle time and cost, per unit of activity, needed to produce the required financial reports. Key Words: Six Sigma, Process Management, Quality Management, Finance Application of Six-Sigma, Page 1 Journal of Case Research in Business and Economics INTRODUCTION In 1987, Motorola developed and organized the Six Sigma process improvement Methodology to achieve “world-class” performance, quality, and total customer satisfaction. Since that time, at least 25% of the Fortune 200, including...
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...The Savers–Spenders Theory of Fiscal Policy By N. GREGORY MANKIW* The literature on the macroeconomic effects of fiscal policy and, in particular, of government debt is founded on two canonical models. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that both models are deficient and to propose a new model to take their place. The first canonical model is the Barro-Ramsey model of infinitely-lived families (Robert Barro, 1974). According to this model, the government’s debt policy redistributes the tax burden among generations, but families, who want to smooth their consumption over time, reverse the effects of this redistribution through their bequests. Government debt is completely neutral—a proposition called Ricardian equivalence. The second canonical model of government debt is the Diamond-Samuelson model of overlapping generations (Peter Diamond, 1965). In this model, people smooth consumption over their own lifetimes, but there is no bequest motive. When the government issues debt, it enriches some generations at the expense of others, crowds out capital, and reduces steadystate living standards. In this paper, I first discuss the facts that lead me to reject these canonical models. I then propose an alternative model and develop briefly its implications for fiscal policy. consumption over time. There is much reason to be skeptical about this assumption. A large empirical literature, starting with Robert Hall’s (1978) seminal random-walk theorem, has addressed...
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...Module 1 The Research Process * Is a scholarly activity aimed at finding new truths about a specific discipline basically designed to find solution to a problem. * Done in various fields of studies. * May be done in natural sciences like Biology, Chemistry and Physics. And in the field of social sciences such as Sociology, Psychology, Education, Anthropology, Industry and the like. Definitions of Research * a systematic patient study and investigation in some field of knowledge undertaken to discover or establish facts or principles (Webster’s New World Dictionary, 1994) * a systematic investigation in order to establish facts and new conclusions (Oxford, 1996) Definitions of Research * a systematic and objective analysis and recording of controlled observations that may lead to the development of generalizations, principles or theories resulting in prediction and possibly ultimate control of events (Best & Kahn, 1998) * purposive, systematic and scientific process of gathering, analyzing, classifying, organizing, presenting and interpreting data for the solution of a problem, for prediction, for invention, for the discovery of truth, or for the expansion or verification of existing knowledge, all for the preservation and improvement of the quality of life (Calderon, 2000) * a process of systematically examining and explaining the observables. It seeks to generate answers to questions but it also generates further questions for study....
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...basing their decisions off of incomplete data. This is causing their forecasted results to be far below the actual demand resulting in a lack of resources to produce at the levels required. Other research has been cited throughout this paper to further support the claims that it is possible for VMU to forecast their type of intermittent demand. There are two main recommendations made at the end of this analysis that, if implemented, could improve the accuracy of their models. The first suggestion is to use the SBA forecasting method on their after-sales demand. The second recommendation is to divide their data into segments based on customer type in order to have more specific forecasting parameters. Contents Introduction 3 Literature Review 3 Discussion 4 Company Background 4 Issues with VMU’s Forecasting Method 5 Recommendation 8 Conclusion 9 Introduction The ability to accurately forecast product demand is essential if a business plans to operate...
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...Teacher Salaries, State Collective Bargaining Laws, and Union Coverage Barry T. Hirsch, Georgia State University David A. Macpherson, Trinity University John V. Winters, University of Cincinnati Initial draft, June 2010 Current draft, December 2012 Abstract What are the causal effects of collective bargaining (CB) on teacher salaries? This seemingly simple question is difficult to answer because (a) national data measuring school district salaries and collective bargaining is limited in scope, while individual teacher data from the CPS mismeasure CB coverage; (b) union wage effects depend not only on coverage but also on an array of CB law provisions difficult to quantify; (c) union coverage and state CB laws are endogenous since each has been influenced by union sentiment among workers and voters; and (d) OLS estimates of the wage effect of CB coverage and laws may be biased by measurement error and endogeneity. We attempt to address these issues using measures of historical labor sentiment, by creating indices of CB law strength, and by using alternative national data sets containing information on teacher salaries and coverage. As in prior studies, we find modest union salary effects for teachers using standard methods, albeit smaller than found for the private sector. A union benefits premium estimated from SASS substantially exceeds the salary premium. Estimates of CB law and coverage effects using IV (with historical data measuring labor sentiment...
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...paper provides a summary on transaction cost economics (TCE) and recent developments thereof. After an introductory discussion of TCE’s role within the field of New Institutional Economics, a critical analysis of the contribution of the existing body of empirical literature is conducted. In recent years, researchers have continued to develop and extend TCE. Williamson (1991b) introduces the shift parameter framework which investigates how the optimal choice of governance changes in response to dynamics in the institutional environment. Nickerson (1997) develops the positioning-economizing perspective arguing that decisions regarding market position, resource investments, and governance mode are interdependent and determined simultaneously. A number of authors came up with an increasing interest in relational institutional arrangements arguing that TCE may overstate the desirability of complex long-term contracts and vertical integration in exchange settings where a substantial hold-up potential is present. JEL Codes: Keywords: D23, L22 Transaction cost economics, discriminative alignment, theories of the firm, shift parameter framework, positioning-economizing perspective, structural form model, empirical literature Dresden University of Technology, Department of Business and Economics, Chair of Energy Economics and Public Sector Management, D-01062 Dresden. The usual disclaimer applies. Corresponding author: contact@sophia-ruester.de, URL: http://www.sophia-ruester.de. ...
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