Christie H. Amato

Enhancing Student Team Effectiveness: Application of Myers-Briggs Personality Assessment in Business Courses.

This article examines the relationship between student perceptions of team learning experience and communication style. Student group learning perceptions were evaluated and team communication style was measured using dyads derived from Myers-Briggs personality profiles. Groups containing similar personalities were classified as compatible, whereas groups that blend individuals with different talents and preferences were deemed complementary. Our sample included two sections of Marketing Strategy and one Principles of Macroeconomics section. Macroeconomics students reported greater satisfaction when the group is compatible, whereas Marketing Strategy students preferred complementary groups. The number of group learning experiences and differences in group homogeneity provides likely explanations. Principles of Macroeconomics students, with little or no prior group experience, preferred the comfort of a compatible group. Alternatively, drawing on their considerable group experience, Marketing Strategy students preferred to blend the diverse talents available in a complementary group.

Corporate Commitment to Quality of Life: Evidence from Company Mission Statements

This paper examines the relationship between commitment to Quality of Life and firm size, profitability and industry. Mission statements were content analyzed for Day’s (1987) societal QOL goals and Maslow’s hierarchy. Including firms from Forbes Best Small Businesses and the Fortune 200 insured firm size diversity. Findings include significant (a=.05) relationships between firm size and several Maslow’s criteria. ROE is positively correlated (a=.05) with workforce well being, supporting literature regarding internal marketing. Industry effects suggest that financial services often include societal goals in mission statements, while ecological and safety goals are frequently mentioned in mining, metals and construction.

Changing retail power and performance in distribution channels

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between manufacturer profit rate and large retailer market share for five matched retailer‐manufacturer groupings.Design/methodology/approach – Basic structure‐performance modeling is used to relate manufacturer return on assets to large retail market share and a group of control variables. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Corporate Statistics of Income size class data provide a sample that covers the full range of firm sizes from the smallest to largest firms in the USA.Findings – Large retail share negatively impacts small manufacturer rate of return for shopping goods, while in convenience good markets large retail share has no impact on manufacturer return.Practical implications – Shopping goods retailers have opportunities to gain market power from expertise in merchandising, sales assistance, and product expertise. Strong private brands may offer leverage for convenience good retailers in negotiations with national brand manufacturers....

Firm size, strategic advantage, and profit rates in US retailing

Abstract Recent industrial economics and marketing strategy literature focuses on the importance of firm size in explaining cross-sectional variations in profit rate. Porter (Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, Free Press, New York, 1985; and Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, Free Press, New York, 1998) argues that advantages accrue to large and small firms, while mid-sized rivals often find themselves “stuck in the middle”. For the general merchandize, apparel and restaurant industries, estimation of a cubic relationship between firm size and return on assets reveals the positive, negative, positive pattern for the linear, squared and cubed firm size terms that is consistent with Porters hypothesis. Moreover, model coefficients indicate an increased dominance of large firms in certain retail markets.

Corporate Commitment to Global Quality of Life Issues: Do Slack Resources, Industry Affiliations, and Multinational Headquarters Matter?

Global markets challenge multinational corporations to harmonize quality of life (QOL) commitments across a broad spectrum of stakeholders with different corporate responsibility perspectives. Few studies have examined strategic planning issues associated with international quality of life (IQOL). This research investigates the importance of slack resources, industry affiliation, and multinational headquarter location (U.S. or non-U.S.) on commitment to societal and individual QOL for Fortune U.S. and global companies. Content analysis of corporate mission statements provides the vehicle for assessing QOL commitment. Models are estimated using logistic regression with instrumental variables included to address potential problems with simultaneity between QOL commitment and return on assets, a proxy for slack resources. Findings include a positive and significant relationship between environmental QOL commitment and slack resources as well as industry and cultural differences in QOL commitment issues.

The Impact of High Tech Production Techniques on Productivity and Profitability in Selected U.S. Manufacturing Industries

This paper examines the impact of high technology onmultifactor productivity and price-cost margins. Principal components obtained from five technologyvariables are related to multifactor productivityand price-cost margin. A negative and significantrelationship between price-cost margin and hightechnology methods when industry effects areexcluded, becomes insignificant in the industryeffects specification. The price-cost marginequations suggest that prior findings of a negativerelationship between profitability and hightechnology may result from omitting industryeffects. For multifactor productivity, there is apositive impact from high technology regardless ofwhether the specification includes industry effects.

The Effects of Global Competition on Total Factor Productivity in U.S. Manufacturing

This paper utilizes an instrumental variables approach to investigate the relationship between growth in total factor productivity and growth in imports and exports. Empirical models are based on a sample of Census years covering the period 1977–1992, with 1986 substituted for Census year 1987. The most important finding is that export growth positively impacts growth in total factor productivity for the pooled model and for every year of the sample. Growth in imports has a positive impact on TFP for the pooled model and in two of four sample years.

Building a fan community through the folklore of NASCAR

Seventy-five million fans contribute nearly

Corporate environmental claims: a game theory model with empirical results

3.0 billion annually to NASCARs profitability. From 1997 to 2004 NASCAR saw a 24.6% increase in their fan base while other professional sports organisations declined. Identification and perceived intimacy with NASCAR drivers may partially explain heightened fan commitment; but, is there also a role for the fan community? This paper examines how fan communities and their folklore strengthen fan commitment to NASCAR and its drivers. Using qualitative analyses of folklore surrounding NASCAR drivers we identify and discuss the lore of identity and of shared and clashing values. Findings suggest that empathy with a driver, expressed in stories fans tell from their experiences and observations, enhances their commitment and contributes to the folklore of the larger fan community. Fans differentiate between drivers based on shared and clashing values, creating stories of conflict, heightening the drama of NASCAR and building fan commitment to drivers with shared values.

Toward an Understanding of Consumers’ Perceptions of Wireless Advertising

Purpose - – This paper aims to examines whether firms’ eco-friendly advertising claims are supported by environmentally friendly behavior. Design/methodology/approach - – The paper develops a game theory model to determine the circumstances under which firms’ environmental claims will be supported by the adoption of best environmental practice. Least squares regression is used to test major theoretical implications. Findings - – The theoretical model suggests that the credence good nature of un-monitored environmental claims prohibits consumer validation; firms have an incentive to advertise green but no incentive to adopt best environmental practice. Third-party monitoring transforms the game, making eco-friendly outcomes possible. Empirical models based on North American data suggest that firm profit rates are related to verifiable environmental claims and to easily accessible external ratings of environmental performance. Originality/value - – Unlike previous game theoretical models for similar goods, the eco-friendly outcome does not require a repeated game. The importance of the single period game is that continued patronage is not required for the firm to produce goods containing the desired attributes.