Eldrede T. Kahiya and Petra Butler
This paper aims to dissect cross-border contracting practices among exporting businesses. The under-representation of exporter-importer dynamics and the superficial understanding…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to dissect cross-border contracting practices among exporting businesses. The under-representation of exporter-importer dynamics and the superficial understanding of contracts are the motivation for this exploratory study.
Design/methodology/approach
The qualitative multiple case study design focuses on 18 small to medium size enterprise (SMEs) exporting from New Zealand. The analysis encompasses coding, pattern matching and explanation building. This paper uses coding to uncover themes and pattern matching/cross-case comparison to facilitate explanation building.
Findings
The paper underlines the scant use of formal international sales/distribution contracts, the lack of knowledge concerning contracting, barriers to contract formation, misgivings about the court system and litigation and the adoption of proxy contracts. This paper depicts varieties of contracting practices, namely, no formal contract, improvisational, normative, and formal contractual arrangements and underlines the context in which each approach applies.
Research limitations/implications
Similar to most studies in this area, the dissection of contracting practices derives from the exporter side of the dyad. This robs the research of a holistic view of the exchange. Nonetheless, this paper contributes to a better understanding of contract formation and formalization and to the role of context in shaping the activities of exporting SMEs.
Practical implications
Although formal contracts are vital, they are not obligatory in all exchanges. Contracts matter more for high intensity exporters with comparatively short relationship histories, selling knowledge-intensive products in predominantly non-relational cultures. Policymakers should highlight the importance of contracts in such contexts and direct SMEs to several freely available resources on cross-border contracting.
Social implications
The research casts fairness/equity and access to justice as pertinent structural disadvantages impacting the contracting practices of exporting SMEs.
Originality/value
According to the authors’ knowledge, this paper is among the first studies to provide an in-depth portrayal of the contracting practices of exporting SMEs, to detail the pervasiveness of non-contractual contracting practices and to depict contracting as nuanced and context-dependent.
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This paper aims to explore the way in which informational asymmetries between the two parties to a contract for the sale of goods are dealt with under two legal regimes designed…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the way in which informational asymmetries between the two parties to a contract for the sale of goods are dealt with under two legal regimes designed for transnational sales contracts: the UN Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and the proposed Common European Sales Law (CESL).
Design/methodology/approach
Having considered the different types of informational asymmetry that can exist in a contract of sale, the paper undertakes a doctrinal legal analysis of the relevant provisions first in the CESL and then the CISG to identify what, if anything, has been done to deal with informational asymmetries. The paper primarily exposes and analyses these rules and compares the approaches taken under both legal regimes.
Findings
The CESL has a more detailed set of rules which address informational asymmetries. This might be because the genesis and context of the CESL (being limited to the EU) might make it easier to agree on more extensive rules. However, the CESL has not yet been adopted.
Practical implications
A seller in a contract of sale governed by CESL will be subject to more detailed (and onerous) requirements when it comes to the disclosure of information.
Originality/value
This is a first attempt to compare the treatment of informational asymmetries under the CISG and CESL, and will be of interest to scholars of both transnational and EU private law.
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Marcel Jacobs and Scott L. Graves
Black boys report experiencing more school-based racial discrimination than any other group (Butler-Barnes et al., 2019). Additionally, Black boys are viewed as older and less…
Abstract
Black boys report experiencing more school-based racial discrimination than any other group (Butler-Barnes et al., 2019). Additionally, Black boys are viewed as older and less innocent than their peers beginning as early as 10 years old (Goff et al., 2014). Black boys are also suspended and expelled at much higher rates than other students (Graves & Wang, 2022). As such, there needs to be an investment in asset-based research designed to understand the factors that can help Black boys cope with these perceptions. Consequently, this chapter will discuss strengths based protective factors that will aid in the promotion of positive outcomes in Black boys.
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Constantinos S. Mammassis and Petra C. Schmid
To facilitate innovative software development, more and more software development teams (SDTs) turn to agile methods. Such agile methods develop both extensive and efficient…
Abstract
To facilitate innovative software development, more and more software development teams (SDTs) turn to agile methods. Such agile methods develop both extensive and efficient software responses to a client’s requirement change. However, the antecedents of successful agile software development are poorly understood. The authors goal is to propose a model of how power asymmetry and paradoxical leadership interact and affect agility in SDTs, which in turn affect their capacity to innovate. By leveraging insights from research on individuals’ cognition, the authors argue that developers with relatively higher power evaluate their contributions to their teams more ambivalently, which increases their delay or postponement of their contributions to their teams’ tasks. As a result, power asymmetry is negatively related to software teams’ response extensiveness and efficiency. Second, and drawing on leadership studies on behavioral complexity, the authors consider the moderating role of paradoxical leadership that a team receives as an important moderating factor to this effect. The authors argue that, when team leaders exhibit paradoxical leadership behaviors, high-power individuals’ ambivalence is less likely to emerge; hence, transforming power asymmetry to an asset for the enhancement of agility in the SDT.
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US consumers admit they are not knowledgeable about the global apparel industry; however, they hold positive beliefs about US apparel industry labour practices. Consumers have…
Abstract
US consumers admit they are not knowledgeable about the global apparel industry; however, they hold positive beliefs about US apparel industry labour practices. Consumers have much less regard for the foreign industry. There is a slightly higher level of concern for US workers versus foreign workers. Governmental regulations, labelling and store boycotts are agreed upon solutions for abolishing sweatshops. Implications of consumers' beliefs and attitudes to the global apparel industry and governmental policy are discussed.
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Margaret McCabe and Margaret Nowak
The purpose of this paper is to examine the views of directors of public‐listed Australian companies regarding the role of the independent director and the significance of that…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the views of directors of public‐listed Australian companies regarding the role of the independent director and the significance of that role in relationship to the composition of the board of company directors.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative study using a grounded research approach was used and 30 directors of Australian public‐listed companies were interviewed.
Findings
The analysis indicates that participating directors were convinced that a majority of non‐executive directors (NEDs) provided a safeguard for a balance of power in the board/management relationship. The difference between NEDs, who are also independent directors, and NEDs who are not independent, was highlighted as an important distinction. The capacity for board members to think independently was seen to be enhanced, but not necessarily ensured, with majority membership of NEDs. However, a majority of independent minds expressing multiple points of view was perceived to reduce the board room hazard of “group think.”
Research limitations/implications
The study was conducted within the context of the preferred model for board composition in Australian public‐listed companies which requires a majority of NEDs.
Originality/value
Conflicting evidence surrounding the claim that a majority of independent members in the board structure contributes to “best pratice governance” makes the paper relevant to governance issues being debated in the global arena.