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Entrepreneurs interested in entering different cultures and countries can be confronted with a bewildering array of differences in moral values. This situation is indicated by past research that has examined the moral judgements of American consumers, but has directed little or no effort towards investigating such attitudes in foreign‐market settings with the intent to assist the entrepreneur in understanding differences across cultures. Compares attitudes of consumers in two different countries (Northern Ireland and Hong Kong) who share a common environment of colonialism. Uses a theoretical three‐stage typology of moral development to establish hypotheses and explain the results of this study. The findings reveal Irish consumers to be less sensitive to consumer ethical issues and less idealistic than the Hong Kong consumers. However, there was no difference between the survey groups with regard to relativism and Machiavellianism. Culture, competition, economics, war and terrorism might be factors that explain such differences, as well as similarities, between the two consumer groups.

Disparities in transplant rates across social categories provide limited information about gatekeeping processes in access to kidney transplantation. We hypothesized that early opportunities for discussion of kidney transplantation potentially generate social capital that serves as a resource for patients as they navigate the transplantation pathway.

A national sample of first-year dialysis patients was surveyed and asked if kidney transplantation had been discussed with them before and after starting dialysis treatment. Associations between reported discussion and patient-specific clinical and nonclinical (sociodemographic) indicators of attributed utility for transplantation were investigated, and the association of reported transplant discussion with subsequent transplant waitlisting was analyzed.

Time to placement on the kidney transplant waiting list was significantly shorter for patients who reported that transplantation had been discussed with them before, as well as after, starting dialysis. Likelihood of reported discussion varied by patient age, employment and insurance status, cardiovascular comorbidity burden, and perceived health status; in addition, women were less likely to report early discussion.

It would be valuable to know more about the nature of the transplant discussions recalled by patients to better understand how social capital may be fostered through these discussions.

Indicators of attributed utility for successful transplantation were associated with transplant discussion both before and after starting dialysis, potentially contributing to observed disparities in access to kidney transplantation.

Predialysis nephrology care and patient participation in discussion of kidney transplantation may foster social capital that facilitates navigating the transplantation pathway.

The purpose of this chapter is to explain why ethical evaluation of the impact of a merger or acquisition matters, to place ethical evaluation of M&A in the wider context of knowledge of business ethics and corporate governance, and to develop and demonstrate a framework for evaluating the treatment of stakeholders during M&A. This contribution surveys the relevant governance, ethical and M&A literature. A new stakeholder framework is proposed and then applied to an important case study.

We found that M&A has important consequences for a variety of stakeholders; the strategy and finance literature has concentrated on top management and shareholders and neglected advisers, employees, customers, and suppliers. We also found that a stakeholder analysis framework can be adopted to evaluate each merger or takeover.

This chapter establishes a new framework for evaluating M&A beyond the conventional shareholder value approach; however only one case study is analyzed.

Managers and other stakeholders can use the proposed method to determine the likely impact of an M&A upon themselves and others and consequently weigh up the desirability of doing a deal in a wider context than currently.

The consequences for stakeholders following a merger or acquisition are often profound. The key protagonists ought to be more aware of these consequences which can be detrimental to stakeholders and the organization itself. The approach taken in this chapter provides a new method for both academics and practitioners to evaluate the impact of M&A.

When developing and justifying courses of study in business ethics the designer will be interested in setting benchmarks reflecting his/her understanding or appreciation of the moral views of participating members. Such considerations are often complicated by the fact, relevant in many Australian institutions of higher learning, that most of the cohorts contain overseas students from a variety of Asian countries. If insights into the ethical perceptions of students with differing ethnic origins could be measured in some objective fashion, then curriculum planners might take such matters into account when developing strategies for courses involving business ethics. This paper reports the findings of a questionnaire survey that examined the ethical perceptions of 407 second and third year students completing business courses at two Western Australian universities. Two country groupings, Australian and Malaysian students, were identified and their responses examined to ascertain whether relevant demographic factors relating to age and gender could be used to explain the strong differences in perceptions which were noted with respect to issues involving questionable practices involving consumers. Demographic factors failed to explain observed differences and a subsequent examination of the underlying constructs, using factor and cluster analyses, resulted in the realisation that the two groups demonstrated significantly variant patterns of ethical predisposition.

Estimates of the prevalence of AS in children throughout the entire population of the United States are highly limited and greatly variable. Ozonoff, Dawson, and McPartland (2002) stated that estimates of AS range from 0.2 to 0.5% (or 2–5 individuals in 1,000), while Volkmar and Klin (2000) cited studies reporting rates of 36 in 1,000 to approximately 1 in 10,000. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (2000), fourth edition (DSM-IV-TR), states that “definitive data about the prevalence of Asperger Syndrome does not exist.”

The main objective of this study is to identify the determinants of TV ads avoiding behavior between light and heavy avoiders in greater Cairo. To achieve the study objective, five hypotheses have been developed and tested by such statistical techniques as discriminant analysis, t‐tests, MannWhitney tests, and Chi Square tests. A questionnaire has been designed to collect data from a systematic random sample of adults in social clubs and shopping centers in greater Cairo. The number of usable questionnaires in data analysis was 364. The study findings show that all respondents except 3 were doing one or more of TV ads avoiding behavior. Cognitive avoiding represents the most frequently used avoiding behavior by light and heavy TV ads avoiders. The results also demonstrate that perceptions, attitudes toward advertising, and some motives were determinants of TV ads avoiding behavior. On the other hand, it was found that all demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, except types of channels, were not determinants of TV ads avoiding behavior between light and heavy TV ads avoiders. The study concludes with a number of academic and practical recommendations.

Little attention has been paid to prospective customers who defect before buying. This paper examines the almost customer phenomenon. It reviews literature on service quality, customer satisfaction, retention, relationships, loyalty and defection. It also categorizes the causes of almost customer experiences into a series of themes. The almost customer phenomenon and its effects are presented in the context of implications for managers and for future research. The almost customer phenomenon may appear to be a study of early customer defection, but the almost customer defects before buying. The customer defection literature assumes that a firm has attracted customers. But, not every attempted transaction leads to a purchase. Sometimes, elements of the interaction have an impact on whether or not the individual buys. This paper examines defection before a customer becomes a customer. Reducing the incidence of almost customer episodes represents an opportunity for firms to optimize growth and profitability.

We review academic journal articles, scholarly book chapters, and dissertations in global leadership published in the last five years to map trends in the field in terms of multiple authorship, nature of overall methodologies used, linkage of global leadership to other constructs, and the degree to which theories outside of the field are used to study global leadership. We conclude with a discussion of potentially fruitful ways in which the field can move forward more rapidly and more productively through the integration of efforts by scholars from various camps within the wider management domain.

Jürgen Habermas is one of the most important authors in contemporary philosophy. In this chapter, we analyse his contribution to the philosophical debate on universalism and relativism and consider its implications for organization studies and organizations operating in an intercultural environment. We briefly describe the critique of a universal concept of reason that has been forwarded by sceptical and postmodern philosophers. As a response to this critique, we outline the contribution of discourse ethics and analyse the theories of Jürgen Habermas and his colleague Karl-Otto Apel. We explore the justification of discourse ethics and point out some problems in its argumentative logic. In the light of this critique, we outline some characteristics of an intercultural ethics that is based on constructivist philosophy and point to some encouraging prospects on the consolidation of the debate between relativistic and universalistic philosophers.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of a course in data mining as an example of an interdisciplinary mechanism of bridging the academic/practitioner divide in marketing.

The academic/practitioner divide in marketing education is first examined along with current challenges for increasing curricular relevancy. Alternative approaches for pedagogically satisfying marketing academicians and, at the same time, meeting practitioner needs is explored.

Developing a course in data mining is presented as a holistic way of providing subject knowledge in relationship marketing, information technology and analytics coupled with experiential learning.

The course in data mining provides practical skills in information technology, marketing analytics and problem‐solving that provide students with a strong point of differentiation in the job market that has proven attractive to employers.

This paper provides a description of a course in data mining offering that helps students position themselves at the nexus of marketing, information technology, and analytics.