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To determine whether French and English Canadians had different information search patterns prior to automobile purchase, 210 buyers of 1983 and 1984 Ford and Toyota automobiles in two Ontario and two Quebec cities were surveyed. We hypothesised the English‐Canadian car buyers prefer printed sources of information, while French‐Canadian buyers prefer personal sources, consider fewer alternatives, devote less time to the search process, and generally search less extensively for a new car than do English Canadians. Three of the five hypotheses were supported. Compared to their English counterparts, French Canadians evaluated ten per cent fewer alternative car makes, spent 30 per cent fewer days in the search process, took 67 per cent fewer test drives, and scored eight per cent lower on a measure of overall depth of search. As the French search pattern perhaps entails a greater risk, marketers in Quebec may need to provide better warranties and after‐sales service than in Ontario.

US military contracting has been plagued by systematic corruption, fraud, and waste during both times of peace and war. These outcomes result from the inherent features of the US military sector which incentivize unproductive entrepreneurship. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Drawing on the insights of Baumol (1990) as their base theoretical framework, the authors explore how the industrial organization of the US military sector creates incentives for unproductive entrepreneurship. Evidence from US government reports regarding US efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq is provided to illustrate the central claims.

The military sector is characterized by an entangled network of government bureaus and private firms whose existence is dependent on continued government spending. These realities, coupled with a dysfunctional procurement processes, reward unproductive behaviors during peacetime. During wartime these incentives are intensified, as significant emergency resources are injected into an already defective contracting system. The recent experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq illustrate these dynamics.

The authors make three main contributions. First, contrary to common treatments by economists, much military spending fails to meet the definition of a public good. Second, waste, fraud, and abuse in military contracting is a result of rules and the incentives those rules create. Third, the only way to change the situation is to change the overarching rules governing the people operating in the military sector.

Simon Cowell, the impresario behind The X Factor, a popular television talent show, has often been compared to P.T. Barnum, the legendary nineteenth century showman. This paper aims to examine the alleged parallels in detail and attempts to assess this “Barnum reborn” argument.

Putative parallels between the impresarios are considered under the aegis of two long‐standing, if contentious, historical “theories”: time's cycle and the great man thesis.

Seven broad similarities between the showmen are identified: vulgarity, hyperbole, rivalry, publicity, duplicity, liminality and history. In each case, the arguments pro and con are explored, as is humanity's propensity to personify.

In accordance with the iconic literary critic Harold Bloom, who “strikes texts together to seek if they spark”, this paper strikes two celebrated showmen together to generate historical sparks.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of agile manufacturing (AM) on business performance and operational performance (OP) dimensions in manufacturing companies in Jordan. It also explores the indirect effect of AM on business performance through OP dimensions of cost, quality, delivery and flexibility.

The study analyzes survey data collected from 282 manufacturing companies from different industries in Jordan. Validity and reliability analyses were performed using SPSS and Amos, and the research hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling.

The results demonstrated that AM positively and directly affected business performance. It also positively affected OP dimensions of quality, delivery and flexibility. However, cost performance was not significantly affected by AM. In addition, quality performance and flexibility performance fully mediated the relationship between AM and business performance, whereas cost performance and delivery performance did not show mediating effects.

To the best of the knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the mediating effects of OP dimensions on the relationship between AM and business performance. In addition, a limited number of previous studies investigated the performance outcomes of AM. Furthermore, this area is under-investigated in the Middle East in general and in Jordan in particular.

Information system projects often go awry and when they do internal auditors are often in a position to bring the problems to management’s attention. However, managers are not always receptive to risk warnings, even when internal auditors who are role prescribed to carry out this function deliver such warnings. This phenomenon is known as the deaf effect. This paper aims to examine the actions that internal auditors take to resolve the deaf effect and how these actions affect the auditor–manager relationship.

Based on a multiple case study approach, the authors conducted in-depth interviews with auditors and examined ten cases of the deaf effect from the auditor’s perspective.

The findings revealed three categories of actions that auditors took in response to the deaf effect and how these actions immediately affected the auditor–manager relationship. Further, by analyzing the subsequent sequence of actions taken by the auditor in each case, the authors identified three distinct patterns that capture the dynamics of the auditor–manager relationship over time until the deaf effect was, ultimately, resolved.

Several practitioner studies have shown that internal auditors and managers struggle to build effective relationships, even under the most favorable circumstances and the authors suggest that deaf effect situations are likely to pose an even greater challenge to the auditor–manager relationship. The study contributes to the discourse on internal audit effectiveness in several ways. First, the authors identified three categories of actions that internal auditors took in response to the deaf effect. The authors found that two of these categories of action are related to the two distinct roles that internal auditors can play (inspector or consultant). Second, the authors examined how these categories of actions played out over time, influencing the auditor–manager relationship dynamics.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the relationship between police use of force and citizen complaints alleging improper use of force.

The current study utilizes official use of force and citizen complaint data, as well as surveys of patrol officers, from the Assessing Police Use of Force Policy and Outcomes Project, a multimethod National Institute of Justice funded study.

Bivariate and multivariate analyses revealed that the number of use of force incidents that officers were involved in, as well as the types and levels of resistance they encountered from citizens, was related to use of force complaints from citizens. That is, those officers that were involved in more use of force situations were engaged in force encounters where the highest level of citizen resistance was “failure to comply,” and faced higher cumulative levels of citizen resistance, received more complaints alleging improper use of force.

Studies of citizen complaints against police officers, especially those alleging improper use of force, should consider the number of force incidents officers are involved in, as well as other theoretically relevant force correlates.

Administrators, concerned with citizen allegations for improper use of force against their officers, should work to encourage their personnel to minimize the number of use of force applications, or at least less cumulative force, to resolve encounters with citizens.

While prior studies have examined police use of force and citizen complaints independently, the current study examines the empirical connection between use of force behavior and the generation of complaints from citizens.

Concerns itself with the way in which company images are formed and disseminated and discusses work carried out among the employees, suppliers and purchasers of a heavy goods manufacturing company. Argues that company employees should be made the focus of attention, since these are potential salesmen in the widest sense of the world. Suggests a company's experience, particularly in the industrial and service sectors will rely heavily on personal contact with employees, e.g. employees will portray an image of the company as it effects them. Proposes that all people external to the company but coming into contact with it receive the same image. Pinpoints a questionnaire involving a company image profile of engineering where employees are slightly pessimistic – includes these in question and answer format. Concludes that a company's good image among its employees and subsequently among those outside it, rests in the hands of top management. – and how can this be ignored?

There is a widening gap between the expectations of internal audit stakeholders and the value the function brings to the table, for example, in the management of the risks threatening an organisation. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the views of chief audit executives (CAEs), the chairs of audit committees and senior management on the contribution of the internal audit functions to risk management in the South African public sector. This contribution is considered in the context of existing risk management structures and the level of coordination between these structures and internal auditing.

The views of heads of internal auditing, chairpersons of the audit committee and the Accounting Officer (similar to the CEO of private sector organisations) of national, provincial and local government organisations were obtained and statistically analysed.

The results indicate that the CAEs have noticeably different views from the other two parties, and that the existence of risk management structures has a minor effect on how the contribution of internal auditing to risk management is perceived.

It was decided to not include the views of heads of risk management functions owing to the immaturity of risk management in this sector with in the South African public sector.

The results of the study provide internal auditing with information on narrowing the possible gap between the perceptions of senior management and their own perceptions. Senior management could streamline the efforts of these two parties in mitigating the key risk of the organisation. The audit committee, as the independent overseer of internal auditing, will obtain information on whether internal auditing contributes to risk management, and if not, how to address these issues, taking into account the existence (or a lack thereof) of risk management structures. The legislator and regulator of public sector could be influenced to provide clearer guidance or rules in this regard in order to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of risk management policies and practices.

Limited studies have been conducted regarding the coordination of internal auditing and risk management in mitigating the key risks; especially within the public sector domain whether the existence of risk management structures would affect this coordination. Also the views of senior management, as the key stakeholder of internal auditing, on this matter have not yet been solicited.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between environmental factors, risk perception and decision-making in risk management. Specifically, using attribution theory, the authors study the influence of macro-level logistical capabilities of a host country on a firm’s actual and perceived supply chain risk, and examine if this country-level factor and the firm level perception of risk affect a firm’s decision-making in risk management.

This study uses a combination of primary data from 932 manufacturing firms from 22 countries and secondary data from the logistics performance index (LPI), and empirically tests the conceptual framework using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

Key results reveal that a country’s logistical capabilities, measured using LPI, have a significant impact on managers’ risk perception. Firms located in countries with high LPI perceive lower risk in their supply chain both in the upstream and downstream, and therefore do not invest much in external integration, compared to firms in low LPI countries, and hence are exposed to high risk.

This is one of the first empirical studies linking a country’s logistical capabilities with supply chain risk perceptions, objective supply chain risk and supply chain risk management efforts of a firm using the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey database.

There has been increasing engagement with Annual General Meetings (AGMs) in the UK during the past decade by both private investors and protesters. At the same time, proposals have been mooted to allow companies to not hold such meetings. When examined from an agency theory perspective, AGMs appear largely redundant. This paper reports a qualitative investigation of such meetings and considers their relevance both as sites for the expression of stakeholder issues and also as a means for management to (re)confirm their power and status. The paper utilises Lukes (1974) three‐dimensional model of power as an alternative to the conceptualisation of power inherent in agency theory as a means of analysing the dynamics of power at AGMs