Brett R. Wilkinson, Chris H. Durden and Katherine J. Wilkinson
This study examines the research behavior of Australian and New Zealand accounting faculty to determine the characteristics that influence research productivity. University…
Abstract
This study examines the research behavior of Australian and New Zealand accounting faculty to determine the characteristics that influence research productivity. University reputations are integrally linked with research performance and determining the qualities that predict research behavior may be of particular value in the selection and recruitment process. The study finds that two key factors significantly impact performance: holding a Ph.D. and having an academe-oriented rather than profession-oriented background. These results may be interpreted as affirming the U.S. model of developing specialist academic researchers through doctoral education programs rather than employing faculty with strong professional experience.
Richard Beilock, Katherine Wilkinson and Vera Zlateva
Uses experiences in Bulgaria to exemplify market entry and control strategies employed by franchisors in a business environment that is geographically and culturally remote from…
Abstract
Uses experiences in Bulgaria to exemplify market entry and control strategies employed by franchisors in a business environment that is geographically and culturally remote from the West. Carries out interviews in 1996 with Bulgarian franchisors and franchisees to test a number of hypotheses relating to issues including the type of franchisor, system densities, market entry strategies and monitoring tactics. Identifies 17 environmental factors ‐ cultural, organisational, political and legal ‐ which represent possible areas of conflict between the franchisor and franchisee. Establishes that franchisors adapt to a remote business environment in a variety of ways in respect of both market entry and monitoring strategies ; establishes some significant correlations between different types of franchisors and their strategies. Finds that western franchisors and Bulgarian owned firms often place different emphasis on the relative importance of environmental factors. Observes a broad variation in market entry tactics. Recommends that franchisors need to establish criteria to establish risks in remote business environments and devise appropriate strategies prior to entry.
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Alexandra L. Ferrentino, Meghan L. Maliga, Richard A. Bernardi and Susan M. Bosco
This research provides accounting-ethics authors and administrators with a benchmark for accounting-ethics research. While Bernardi and Bean (2010) considered publications in…
Abstract
This research provides accounting-ethics authors and administrators with a benchmark for accounting-ethics research. While Bernardi and Bean (2010) considered publications in business-ethics and accounting’s top-40 journals this study considers research in eight accounting-ethics and public-interest journals, as well as, 34 business-ethics journals. We analyzed the contents of our 42 journals for the 25-year period between 1991 through 2015. This research documents the continued growth (Bernardi & Bean, 2007) of accounting-ethics research in both accounting-ethics and business-ethics journals. We provide data on the top-10 ethics authors in each doctoral year group, the top-50 ethics authors over the most recent 10, 20, and 25 years, and a distribution among ethics scholars for these periods. For the 25-year timeframe, our data indicate that only 665 (274) of the 5,125 accounting PhDs/DBAs (13.0% and 5.4% respectively) in Canada and the United States had authored or co-authored one (more than one) ethics article.
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Katherine Leanne Christ, Roger L. Burritt, James Guthrie and Elaine Evans
The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of boundary-spanning organisations as intermediary institutions potentially able to close the gap between applied research and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of boundary-spanning organisations as intermediary institutions potentially able to close the gap between applied research and practice in sustainability accounting.
Design/methodology/approach
A review of the literature reveals that boundary organisation theory provides a potential way of understanding the role of boundary-spanning organisations in the context of the research–practice gap. The theory is applied in the context of three cases of potential boundary-spanning organisations involved with sustainability accounting – Chartered Accountants in Australia and New Zealand, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the International Federation of Accountants.
Findings
Findings from the three cases, which consider the application of boundary organisation theory, indicate the potential for professional accounting associations to act as sustainability accounting boundary-spanning organisations has not been realized for four main reasons. These relate to the need for finer granularity in relation to boundary objects and problem-solving; uncertainty about the range of parties to be involved as boundary-spanning organisations; the importance of reconciling views about different incentives for academics and practitioners in the sustainability accounting space; and the necessity for collaboration with other boundary-spanning organisations to address the transdisciplinary nature of sustainability accounting.
Practical implications
Development of a way of seeing the relationships between academics and practitioners in the context of sustainability accounting has two messages for practice and practitioners. First, with such complex and uncertain issues as sustainability accounting, a transdisciplinary approach to resolving problems is needed, one which involves practitioners as integral and equal members of research teams. The process should help bring applied academic and practitioner interests closer together. Second, it has to be recognised that academics conducting basic research do not seek to engage with practitioners, and for this group, the academic–practitioner gap will remain.
Social implications
Two main social implications emerge from the application of boundary organisation theory to analyse the academic–practitioner gap in the context of sustainability accounting. First, development of boundary organisations is important, as they can play a crucial role in bringing parties with an interest in sustainability accounting together in transdisciplinary teams to help solve sustainability problems. Second, collaboration is a foundation for success in the process of integrating applied researchers and practitioners, different disciplines which are relevant to solving sustainability problems and collaboration between different boundary spanning organisations with their own specialised foci.
Originality/value
This paper considers boundary organisation theory and the role of boundary-spanning organisations in the context of the complex transdisciplinary problems of sustainability accounting.
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Sven‐Oliver Schmidt, Katherine Tyler and Ross Brennan
The purpose of this paper is to examine how and why business firms, both as suppliers and as customers, make specific adaptations to their products and processes to meet the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how and why business firms, both as suppliers and as customers, make specific adaptations to their products and processes to meet the particular requirements of another firm with which they are transacting business.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on qualitative interviews with key decision makers in international services business‐to‐business organisations.
Findings
The results show that adaptations cover many areas within a company, and that the explicit costs and benefits of adaptations were calculated only to a limited extent. The paper shows that most of the suppliers investigated make adaptations to meet market and customer requirements, whereas customers make adaptations following an explicit relationship management approach.
Research limitations/implications
Specific adaptation by one firm for another in the context of long‐term buyer‐seller relationships is an everyday fact of life and clearly of importance to the understanding of business marketing strategy. This aspect of business‐to‐business marketing deserves greater research attention.
Practical implications
Managers often have a narrow view of adaptation as the alteration of tangible factors, in particular the product or the production process. By taking a broader view of adaptations – to include personnel/human resources, behavioural and organisational structure changes – managers would open up a wider repertoire of strategies for relationship management, to the benefit of their firms.
Originality/value
Although adaptations are important for competitive success in business‐to‐business markets, the main types of adaptations, their costs and benefits, and the motivation of companies to make adaptations, have been subject to relatively little research, a gap, which this paper seeks to address.
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Katherine Tyler and Edmund Stanley
The purpose of this article is to investigate trust in financial services business markets.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to investigate trust in financial services business markets.
Design/methodology/approach
The article provides qualitative research, based on 147 in‐depth interviews with corporate bankers and their clients.
Findings
The article finds that perceptions of trust and the operationalisation of trust were asymmetrical across the dyads and segments. Small companies were more trusting than large corporates. Bankers used calculative and operational trust and were cynical about their counterparts' trustworthiness. Bankers were quick to eliminate clients from their portfolio who did not, in their view, provide full disclosure of pertinent facts.
Research limitations/implications
There may be different findings for other cultural contexts and financial service industries. The article encourages research in other contexts and industries and provides a platform to encourage this.
Practical implications
The article provides guidelines for bankers and their clients to understand the importance of trust in their relationships, and to understand how it is operationalised differently by the counterparts.
Originality/value
There are few studies of trust in either services business markets, or financial services business markets. Therefore, this article makes a valuable contribution. It also provides a critical review and integrates the literature on trust as applied to financial services business markets.
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SIR KENNETH KEITH, chairman of the merchant bankers Hill, Samuel & Co Ltd, has been appointed chairman of Rolls Royce (1971) Ltd and K. G. WILKINSON, previously chief executive…
Abstract
SIR KENNETH KEITH, chairman of the merchant bankers Hill, Samuel & Co Ltd, has been appointed chairman of Rolls Royce (1971) Ltd and K. G. WILKINSON, previously chief executive and chairman of BEA, has been appointed managing director.