Burhan F. Yavas

Reconciling culturalist and rationalist approaches: leadership in the United States and Turkey

This article empirically investigated the invariance and discriminant validity of a six-factor leadership model across two very divergent cultures: the United States and Turkey. In conjunction with the rationalist approach to international management, it was hypothesized that the same range of six leadership styles would appear in both cultures. However, coinciding with the culturalist approach to international management, it was also hypothesized that managers would emphasize different styles in each culture. Turkish and US managers each completed the Leadership Effectiveness Questionnaire measuring degree of emphasis placed on six leadership styles. Results of the test of model invariance indicated that the six styles existed in both cultures; however, discriminant analysis demonstrated that the Autocratic and Consensus styles differentiated managers best. Turkish managers emphasized the Autocratic style to a greater extent and the Consensus style to a lesser extent than did US managers. Implications for international management are discussed. ©1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Return and volatility spillovers in equity markets: An investigation using various GARCH methodologies

Abstract This paper investigates linkages among equity market returns and volatility spillovers in the following countries: Germany, United Kingdom, China, Russia, and Turkey. MARMA, GARCH, GARCH-in-mean, and exponential GARCH (EGARCH) methodologies are applied to daily data on country exchange-traded funds (ETF) based on the MSCI indices from 31 March 2011 to 11 March 2016. The results of the analysis show the existence of significant co-movements of returns among the countries in the sample. ETF returns in Germany, UK, and Russia affect returns in all of the other sample countries. Implications of these findings are explored in terms of portfolio diversification. In addition, the highest volatilities are exhibited by Russia and Turkey. On the other hand, the UK and the Chinese markets have the lowest volatilities. Also, there is a strong evidence of volatility spillovers. All of the countries in the sample, with the exception of UK and Turkey, experience volatility spillovers from other markets. Finally, because of the risk-return trade-off, we analyzed the effect of volatility of the market on its returns and found that only in the UK volatility of the market had a positive effect on its future returns: that an increase in volatility leads to a rise in future ETF returns in the UK.

Country ETF returns and volatility spillovers in emerging stock markets, Europe and USA

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the linkages among equity exchange traded funds (ETF) returns and transmission of volatilities of the USA, Europe and key emerging countries’ stock markets. Standard & Poor’s 500 (spy) and iShares Europe are used to represent the USA and European stock markets, the emerging market part of the data set consists of daily returns of equity ETF representing broad equity market indices of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China); the mist countries (Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey) and South Africa and covers the period of February 3, 2012-February 28, 2014. Design/methodology/approach – The paper utilizes multi-variate auto-regressive moving-averages (MARMA) methodology to study equity market returns and spillovers. Second, generalized auto-regressive conditional heteroskadasticity (GARCH) modeling is employed to model volatility persistence and transmissions. Findings – The findings include the existence of significant co-movement of...

Cross-National Stability of a Quality Management Model: A Comparative Study of the United States and Turkey

This study explores the perceptions of American and Turkish managers with respect to difierent dimensions of product quality. Survey data on perceptions of prod- uct quality were obtained from managers in both countries. Analyses using structural equation modeling and mean comparison tests were performed to evaluate flve research hypotheses. Results provided partial support for the hypothesized difierences in quality perceptions. The data indicated that although the conceptualization of quality did not difier across the two samples, there were some difierences in terms of importance assigned to various aspects of quality. In particular, Turkish managers rated aspects pertaining to communication and shared deflnition, quality execution, and quality control higher than American managers. Implications for the rationalist and culturalist approaches to international management are discussed.

AN ECONOMIC RATIONALE FOR COUNTERTRADE: Liquidity Constraints

Countertrade is a generic term for parallel business transactions linking sales contracts with agreements to purchase goods or services. Countertrade has been viewed as an inefficient way of doing business primarily because of problems associated with such things as quality variations and increases in transaction costs. A review of the international trade literature suggests that market imperfections (shortage of convertible currency, information asymmetry that may create the so-called lemon problem and moral hazard) may provide motivations for countertrade. This article focuses on one motivation: liquidity constraint. The liquidity constraint is introduced in both goods and the factor markets in addition to the production constraint. The article compares and contrasts two strategies facing the management team of a profit-maximizing firm. The model developed shows that countertrade strategy could be superior to standard money-mediated trade strategy when the liquidity constraint is binding. Therefore, cou...Countertrade is a generic term for parallel business transactions linking sales contracts with agreements to purchase goods or services. Countertrade has been viewed as an inefficient way of doing business primarily because of problems associated with such things as quality variations and increases in transaction costs. A review of the international trade literature suggests that market imperfections (shortage of convertible currency, information asymmetry that may create the so-called lemon problem and moral hazard) may provide motivations for countertrade. This article focuses on one motivation: liquidity constraint. The liquidity constraint is introduced in both goods and the factor markets in addition to the production constraint. The article compares and contrasts two strategies facing the management team of a profit-maximizing firm. The model developed shows that countertrade strategy could be superior to standard money-mediated trade strategy when the liquidity constraint is binding. Therefore, countertrade appears to be a rational response to conditions that restrict standard trade. As such, countertrade can supplement standard money-mediated trade and contribute to the growth of international business.

Uncertainty, the Lemon Problem, Asymmetric Information and Countertrade

Abstract A review of the International Trade literature suggests that uncertainty caused by the lack of perfect information and/or asymmetric information provides a motivation for countertrade (Hennart, 1990; Mirus & Yeung, 1986; Yavas & Vardiabasis, 1988). After presenting the most prevalent forms and examples of countertrade, this study shows how uncertainty can lead to some of the most common forms of countertrade; counterpurchase, buyback and offset. The paper compares and contrasts two strategies facing the management team of a profit-maximizing firm. The standard neoclassical mathematical model developed and presented shows that countertrade strategy may be superior to standard money-mediated trade strategy when there is uncertainty. Therefore, countertrade (particularly, buyback, counterpurchase and offset) may be a rational response to conditions that restrict standard trade. As such, countertrade can supplement standard money-mediated trade and contribute to the growth of international business.

Unethical Business Practices in the Foodservice Industry

This article examines how unethical management styles manifest themselves within the restaurant industry in the United States. We look at (a) individual case histories of violations committed against particular foodservice workers and (b) more general patterns of abuse that have arisen throughout the restaurant industry. The effect of slackening regulations and enforcement of labor laws by the Department of Labor, as well as other methods selected by disgruntled employees in an effort to redress abuse on the part of managers when it comes to wages and working conditions, are also examined. The problems of labor abuse in the foodservice industry are a reflection of negative leadership behavior in U.S. business as a whole. Some recommendations are made as possible considerations for solutions to these problems.

A Study of Correlation Between International Equity Markets Using Exchange-Traded Funds

ABSTRACT This study utilized weekly closing prices data from three Exchange-Traded Funds representing American, Japanese and European equity markets. The purpose was to examine the joint impact of any two on the third market. Ishares Russell 3000 (IWV), Ishares MSCI Japan (EWJ) and Ishares S&P Europe 350 (IEV) were used to represent the U.S., Japan, the European stock markets, respectively. While the findings indicate that the interdependences among the three markets are significant, there is still room for international portfolio diversification: for example, Japanese investors can realize diversification benefits by investing both in Europe and in the U.S. European and American investors, on the other hand, can diversify portfolios by investing in Japan. The application of multivariate- autoregressive-moving-aver-ages (MARIMA) to the data confirmed the above findings. Finally, the study supported the hypothesis that the international market correlations increase during times of volatility.

Product Quality Perceptions of Asian and U.S. Firms in the Electronics Industry

Survey data obtained from both U.S. and Asian firms in the electronics industry were analyzed using factor analytic methodology. The result was development of a “quality inventory” indicated by a set of factors which best represents the quality perceptions. Among the factors, communication among different departments and levels within an organization, managerial commitment to quality, responsiveness to both external and internal customers demands were found to be significant. Next, firms were classified in two groups (U.S. and Asian) using the condensed quality dimensions (factors) as the set of predictor variables to shed light into the importance of these variables in the two groups. Discriminant analysis results indicate that American and Asian managers differ in terms of different dimensions of quality. Again, such variables as commitment to quality, communication, control and responsiveness are found to be important in discriminating between the two groups.