B.C. Ghosh, Sam Fullerton and David Taylor
Recent initiatives in business curricula have included emphases on global business communication and ethics. Combines these issues by comparing the ethical predisposition of…
Abstract
Recent initiatives in business curricula have included emphases on global business communication and ethics. Combines these issues by comparing the ethical predisposition of business students in New Zealand and Singapore with their US counterparts. A sample of 373 students indicated that the students in the three countries generally hold high expectations for the behaviour of business. Of the 14 scenarios evaluated, only four exhibited significant differences between the two groups, i.e. USA compared with Singapore and New Zealand. In each of these four, students from New Zealand and Singapore expressed greater tolerance for the questionable business practice. However, there are several instances where Singapore is significantly different from the USA, but New Zealand is not. The relationship between ethics and business communication is well established, for instance ethical issues in advertising including Federal Trade Commission of the USA's concerns with advertising (and similar concerns elsewhere). Although this research was not designed to show this interconnection in an express manner, this relationship was borne in mind during the questionnaire design. The focus of this research is elsewhere but assumes that the interconnection is well understood.
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B.C. Ghosh and Ho Ho
Claims that brand image is not the same as corporate image, and that companies must actively promote company and brand names. Reviews relevant literature before addressing the…
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Claims that brand image is not the same as corporate image, and that companies must actively promote company and brand names. Reviews relevant literature before addressing the case of a company in Singapore. Examines proactive image building as a communications strategy, assesses the corporate image and makes recommendations for the company.
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Like the cross-country convergence or divergence analysis in incomes to address the global phenomenon, the same analysis is also required to be done in the case of a group of…
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Like the cross-country convergence or divergence analysis in incomes to address the global phenomenon, the same analysis is also required to be done in the case of a group of states within a national territory. Further, it is also required to see whether convergence or divergence in incomes of the states is attributable to the convergence or divergence in their allocations of bank credits. Thus, this chapter aims at examining whether the selected major states in India are converging or diverging in the allocations of bank credit, and if so, what will be the magnitudes of decreases or increases in the level of disparities and inequalities in credit allocations. This study concludes that there is a clear diverging tendency of credit allocations of the states of India during the post-reform period so far as the absolute convergence hypothesis of the neoclassical theory is concerned. Further, in terms of the framework of σ convergence, the study observes that all phases of the Indian economy have produced converging paths of the inter-state credit allocations, and the path becomes diverging during the post-reform phase. Based on the quantifications of the magnitudes of disparities and inequalities in terms of CV, C4 concentration, HHI and Gini values, this study thus reveals that there are significant increases in the levels of disparities and inequalities in the allocations of credit to the states from the pre-reform to the post-reform phases. Therefore, the persistence of divergence in income or rising income inequality during the phase of the major reform program in India may be due to the persistence of divergence and rising inequality in the allocation of bank credit.
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Cheryl Leo, Rebekah Bennett and Charmine E.J. Härtel
This article compares consumer decision‐making styles between Singaporeans and Australians. Utilising Hofstede’s framework, the paper argues that cultural dimensions influence…
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This article compares consumer decision‐making styles between Singaporeans and Australians. Utilising Hofstede’s framework, the paper argues that cultural dimensions influence consumer decision making styles. It is essential that managers understand cross‐cultural consumer decision‐making styles to make strategic decisions or effectively handle members of these nationalities. Marked differences were found between the two populations for: brand consciousness, innovativeness and overchoice confusion. The results suggest that some consumer decision‐making styles differ due to consumers’ cultural values. Managerial implications and future research directions are discussed.
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Paola Ferretti, Cristina Gonnella and Pierluigi Martino
Drawing insights from institutional theory, this paper aims to examine whether and to what extent banks have reconfigured their management control systems (MCSs) in response to…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing insights from institutional theory, this paper aims to examine whether and to what extent banks have reconfigured their management control systems (MCSs) in response to growing institutional pressures towards sustainability, understood as environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted an exploratory study at the three largest Italian banking groups to shed light on changes made in MCSs to account for ESG issues. The analysis is based on 12 semi-structured interviews with managers from the sustainability and controls areas, as well as from other relevant operational areas particularly concerned with the integration process of ESG issues. Additionally, secondary data sources were used. The Malmi and Brown (2008) MCS framework, consisting of a package of five types of formal and informal control mechanisms, was used to structure and analyse the empirical data.
Findings
The examined banks widely implemented numerous changes to their MCSs as a response to the heightened sustainability pressures from regulatory bodies and stakeholders. In particular, with the exception of action planning, the results show an extensive integration of ESG issues into the five control mechanisms of Malmi and Brown’s framework, namely, long-term planning, cybernetic, reward/compensation, administrative and cultural controls.
Practical implications
By identifying the approaches banks followed in reconfiguring traditional MCSs, this research sheds light on how adequate MCSs can promote banks’ “sustainable behaviours”. The results can, thus, contribute to defining best practices on how MCSs can be redesigned to support the integration of ESG issues into the banks’ way of doing business.
Originality/value
Overall, the findings support the theoretical assertion that institutional pressures influence the design of banks’ MCSs, and that both formal and informal controls are necessary to ensure a real engagement towards sustainability. More specifically, this study reveals that MCSs, by encompassing both formal and informal controls, are central to enabling banks to appropriately understand, plan and control the transition towards business models fully oriented to the integration of ESG issues. Thereby, this allows banks to effectively respond to the increased stakeholder demands around ESG concerns.
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Presents the findings of a survey on total quality management (TQM) practices of Singapore’s manufacturing companies. Details that the sample comprised 27 companies of different…
Abstract
Presents the findings of a survey on total quality management (TQM) practices of Singapore’s manufacturing companies. Details that the sample comprised 27 companies of different country origins, they came from different industries and together, the companies employed more than 16,000 people, which is approximately 5 per cent of Singapore’s manufacturing labour force, thus, in the view of the writers, representing a fair sample. Confirms from the findings that TQM is well established in Singapore, especially among medium‐ to large‐sized manufacturing companies, although not in all its facets, hence giving a mixed picture. Fails to confirm that the practice of TQM in companies of different country origins was significantly different, though Japan probably had an edge.
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Sequel to the results of the preceding chapter that depicted positive associations of credit with the indicators of growth and development, the present chapter aims at…
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Sequel to the results of the preceding chapter that depicted positive associations of credit with the indicators of growth and development, the present chapter aims at investigating the interrelationships of credit with GDP and HDI separately in a bivariate framework for the selected countries for the period 1990–2019. For this purpose, this chapter first develops a theoretical model in line with the Barro (1991) model where bank credit is introduced as a good institutional component of endogenous growth. Then, it goes for a time series exercise to establish the long-run relations and short-run dynamics for the pairs of variables, credit-GDP and credit-HDI, to justify the linkages between the financial sector and the real sector. The study arrives at mixed results across the countries. In many cases, credit has been identified to be strongly related to income and development indicators in the long run through cointegrated stable relationships. Furthermore, credit makes a causal influence on GDP and HDI in some developed countries whereas GDP becomes a causal factor to credit in some developing countries. It is thus recommended for further aggravation of the two sectors’ linkages under the patronisations of the governments and the monetary authorities of the countries to have high growth of income and development so that a part of the sustainable development goal can be achieved through the financial sector.
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The purpose of this research was an attempt to improve the applicability of the balance scorecard, in particular the customer perspective, in the hospitality industry. The…
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The purpose of this research was an attempt to improve the applicability of the balance scorecard, in particular the customer perspective, in the hospitality industry. The objective of the study was to investigate a more structured customer-centric performance measurement framework customized for the hotel industry. Hence, this paper presents the “Customer Calculator” which had been developed based on the Customer Equity model proposed by Rust et al. (2000a). Qualitative examinations by interviewing hotel management were conducted to test the applicability of the customer-centric measurement framework. The customer scores facilitate hotel decision-makers who can pinpoint the important drivers of customer relations, which are in need of further action and improvement. The framework can also be employed by the stakeholders to assess hotel performance in general.