“All things are in a constant state of change”, said Heraclitus of Ephesus. The waters if a river are for ever changing yet the river endures. Every particle of matter is in…
Abstract
“All things are in a constant state of change”, said Heraclitus of Ephesus. The waters if a river are for ever changing yet the river endures. Every particle of matter is in continual movement. All death is birth in a new form, all birth the death of the previous form. The seasons come and go. The myth of our own John Barleycorn, buried in the ground, yet resurrected in the Spring, has close parallels with the fertility rites of Greece and the Near East such as those of Hyacinthas, Hylas, Adonis and Dionysus, of Osiris the Egyptian deity, and Mondamin the Red Indian maize‐god. Indeed, the ritual and myth of Attis, born of a virgin, killed and resurrected on the third day, undoubtedly had a strong influence on Christianity.
The primary objective of this article is to explore the competitiveness of domestic versus foreign firms based on evidence in the U.S. used‐car market. The declining…
Abstract
The primary objective of this article is to explore the competitiveness of domestic versus foreign firms based on evidence in the U.S. used‐car market. The declining competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing has been typified by the performance of the automobile industry. During the past two decades, Japanese and German automakers dominated global competition and gained substantial shares of the U.S. market. Transcending these developments has been a resurgence of the Big Three's (GM, Ford and Chrysler) competitive positions in recent years. Arguably, these advances were attributable to the practice of total quality management (TQM) philosophy.
Intangible resources are recognized to hold the potential leading to a competitive advantage. Understanding how such resources are developed is, therefore, equally important…
Abstract
Intangible resources are recognized to hold the potential leading to a competitive advantage. Understanding how such resources are developed is, therefore, equally important. Certainly, a leader's job includes the development of intangible resources. One increasingly important area in the development of managerial expertise is a strategic organizational competence. Managerial expertise is the attainment of having master managers throughout the organization. For managers, such master manager skills include not only knowing what to do, why to do it, and how to do it; but, also knowing when to do it. On-the-job experiences often translate into tacit knowledge in areas as they relate to specific productivity tasks, however, knowing what, why, how, and when with management skills are more problematic. This is even more problematic when the skill development program is left up to the individual manager. When should one seek additional training on a regular basis? When can one forgo routine training and only occasionally brush up one's skills through training? The costs of training continue to increase and make the need to determine cost-effective training programs more important than ever before. This paper addresses the combining of assessments into a joint understanding of managerial expertise levels. It presents the results of assessment for several supervisory nursing staff in two hospital departments and the use of these assessments in communicating needed personal improvement plans.
Robert F. Eby and Nandhini Rangarajan
This study aims to describe the different elements included in campus sustainability plans (CSPs) in colleges and universities across the USA.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to describe the different elements included in campus sustainability plans (CSPs) in colleges and universities across the USA.
Design/methodology/approach
It examines the contents and specific areas of emphasis of 155 CSPs using a document analysis approach. It determines the types and characteristics of the institutions that have adopted these plans.
Findings
The first CSP was written in 2000 and at least 155 plans have been written as of 2021. Only a small percentage of US institutions of higher education have a written CSP, and among those, large public institutions had the most. The quality of these plans varied greatly, indicating a lack of standardization. Engagement was the most discussed topic, and some aspect of campus operations was mentioned in every plan. Social equity was the least prevalent topic.
Research limitations/implications
This research focusing on US colleges and universities may have overlooked plans that have other titles. Nevertheless, it is a fairly comprehensive analysis of campus sustainability planning efforts to date in the USA.
Practical implications
This study has important practical implications for institutions that aspire to craft their first sustainability plan or those that wish to revise their existing plan in a comprehensive manner.
Originality/value
This study builds on a conceptual foundation of plan review by several other authors but presents a more robust and comprehensive method of application specific to CSPs. It fills a wide gap in the literature on the quality and content of CSPs by examining over five times more plans than were analyzed in an older study and addresses some of the research questions from previous articles.
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Kenneth Traynor and Susan C. Traynor
Discusses the role that predictive fiction serves as a resource inlong‐range consumer marketing planning. Evaluates a case illustrationcomparing the scenarios depicted in two…
Abstract
Discusses the role that predictive fiction serves as a resource in long‐range consumer marketing planning. Evaluates a case illustration comparing the scenarios depicted in two major works of predictive fiction in the categories of consumer behaviour, consumer goods, environment, law, family, leisure, sex roles, technology and psychological factors. Offers guidelines for selecting and analysing the content of relevant literary works, and how to incorporate the results into consumer marketing planning process.
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The purpose of this paper is to present evidence to examine the possible psychopathy of Robert Maxwell, a notorious figure in UK business history.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present evidence to examine the possible psychopathy of Robert Maxwell, a notorious figure in UK business history.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents research which retrospectively applied a tool to measure whether leading figures in twentieth century business history could be classified as being corporate psychopaths. As background to this idea, psychopaths and corporate psychopaths are defined. A measure of corporate psychopathy is explored as an aid to identifying corporate psychopaths in business history. This measure is then used in relation to senior corporate executives who have been nominated as potential corporate psychopaths and to Robert Maxwell in particular.
Findings
The paper concludes that at least some ethical scandals and failures such as those at The Daily Mirror have been characterized by the presence of CEOs who scored highly on a measure of corporate psychopathy. Maxwell’s fraudulent raiding of corporate pension funds crossed ethical and legal borders. Furthermore, Maxwell’s fraudulent looting of those pension funds crossed generational boundaries; stealing from older people’s pension funds and thereby leaving younger people/investors with less to inherit. Maxwell also had an international business empire and so his fraud had effects which crossed geographic borders. The paper concludes that using an historical approach to the study of potential corporate psychopaths illuminates what types of organizational outcomes corporate psychopaths may eventuate.
Originality/value
The paper is the first to use an historical approach to the study of potential corporate psychopaths.
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Gerald L. Nordquist and Ross B. Emmett
Iowa City is located on banks of the Iowa River in a gently rolling region in the eastern half of Iowa, about 250 miles west of Chicago. It was the state capital until 1858, when…
Abstract
Iowa City is located on banks of the Iowa River in a gently rolling region in the eastern half of Iowa, about 250 miles west of Chicago. It was the state capital until 1858, when the government was moved to a more central location in Des Moines. In 1919, the year the Frank H. Knight family moved to Iowa City, it was a small university community of about 15,000. No doubt Knight and his wife Minerva found it a pleasant enough place to live and raise their young family. To Frank, the town and surrounding area must have seemed much like that of Bloomington, IL, near where he was born and raised. For the first few years in Iowa City the Knight family lived in an 1890s vintage house close to the campus, and just around the corner from a public elementary school.3