Business Forum

Browse past and current articles from this publication.

China: going for the gold, silver, bronze ... green?
Linking China with Olympic medals is easy; at the 2000 Games, China received 28 gold, 16 silver, and 15 bronze medals. But China is now pursuing a new color: green, the "medal" of environmentalism. . . .

Time for a human resources credo?
An enterprise realizes fully that its workers are not accompanied by a manufacturer's manual as an operating guide as are its capital tools. Yet, the productive contributions of workers are critical . . .

When professionals become victims: the ethical implications of self-perceived victimhood.
Many professions have recently come under attack as the result of a variety of well-published scandals involving unethical or unprofessional behavior. Brokerage firms have been accused of trading st . . .

Employer beware: truth-in-hiring may be the new standard in recruiting.
During the past few years, several courts across the country, both state and federal, have imposed liability on employers who fail to deliver the kind of employment experience that was promised duri . . .

Choosing a robust quality of work life.
Business periodicals, trade journals, academic publications and even the popular press seem to offer ever-increasing prescriptions about management. Nearly all seem to agree on one point. As never b . . .

Beyond the labor shortage: poor work ethic and declining customer satisfaction.
Despite the increasing rhetoric about valuing customers, customer satisfaction is actually declining in the U.S. Experts say that on average, U.S. companies manage to lose half their customers every . . .

On the folly of leading people to do A, while hoping they will do B.
Any half-awake business manager could no doubt recite some key watchwords for winning the global competition game: vision, leadership, empowerment and teamwork. With a little encouragement they will . . .

Not according to plan: making sense of your strategies.
Take a look at your stock portfolio. What can you remember about the mission statements of any of the companies in which you have invested? How often have your decisions to do business with a compan . . .

A theoretical model for the relationship among: stress, locus of control, and longevity.
Time/budget constraints and the need to reduce costs affect decision making (Mautz and Sharaf 1961). These pressures can cause considerable stress and result in job dissatisfaction, reduced quality . . .

John Grey believes men are from Mars, women are from Venus--is it true in the business world?
John Gray, author of the best-seller Men Are From Mars: Women Are From Venus (1) maintains that there are substantial psychological disparities between men and women. While Gray deals with interpers . . .

Kissing up to the boss: what it is and what to do about it.
This article focuses on subordinate kissing up or ingratiatory behaviors. Within organizations, ingratiation is defined as illicit attempts by subordinates to increase their interpersonal attractive . . .

Work teams and unions: keeping employee involvement legal.
The nature of the American workplace has undergone a radical transformation, much of it occurring over the last decade. In the face of challenges from increasing global competition, organizations ha . . .

Employer trip reduction programs: how effective and at what cost?(Employee Commute Options)
Federal, state and local governments over the past fifteen years have either required or cajoled large employers in several metropolitan areas to reduce employee commute trips. Local growth manageme . . .

College endowment funds: who is in charge?(endowment committees)
College and university endowments have grown rapidly during the last 20 years. Today, the top 200 funds total more than $164.6 billion and are a significant funding source for many universities (Pul . . .

Capital budgeting models: theory vs. practice.
Capital budgeting decisions are crucial to a firm's success for several reasons. First, capital expenditures typically require large outlays of funds. Second, firms must ascertain the best way to ra . . .

Using risk management to avoid slip and fall accidents.
With the continual increase in the cost of liability insurance borne by industry showing no signs of decline, managers of businesses of all types and especially those in the insurance industry have . . .

The Internal Revenue Service as a stimulus to the entrepreneurial search process.
The importance of the entrepreneurial process to the health and well being of the U.S. economy cannot be overstated. During the period from 1988 until 1990 small business with nineteen employees or . . .

New Treasury regulations provide for greater scrutiny of illicit tax shelters.
In recent years, there has been a proliferation in the use of illicit tax shelters by major U.S. corporations. This development has created some concern that deliberate corporate noncompliance with . . .

What makes a highly effective marketer?("The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Marketers")
A marketing formula with seven key components offers a winning strategy for improved organizational performance. The business world has experienced incredible change over the past few years: The g . . .

Entrepreneurs beware: use caution in "professionalizing" your firm.
"To make a child easy; to raise the child ... difficult!" -- Old Chinese Proverb Entrepreneurs who successfully navigate their firms through the whitewater of the startup stage find that the rap . . .

Want to manage HR information more efficiently? Build an Intranet!
Imagine this hypothetical scenario: You're the human resource executive of a large insurance company with over 50 offices and 1,200 employees scattered across the country. The company is growing ste . . .

Confronting the "politics" in performance appraisal.
"It is foolish to believe that managers are completely rational and objective in the rating process, yet that is how many organizations approach performance appraisals ... The fact is, managers have . . .

Is there a duty to disclose in employment references? (Honesty is the Best Policy).
Employers are under increasing pressure to disclose more information in response to reference requests. Several recent court cases and new legislation challenge the acceptability of a neutral or min . . .

Stock value: the price/earnings fallacy. (U.S. Market Under the Spotlight).
The investors quest to discover a single, simple measure for stock market value appears to have ended with the popular acceptance of the price-to-earnings ratio as the arbiter of what constitutes an . . .

The need for corporate compliance programs for small- and medium-size businesses. (Because it's the Bottom Line).
"Dangers lurk in the water for unwary corporations and their officers- the courts and the government are setting more and more standards for corporate compliance. Stiff sentencing guidelines and per . . .

Business reengineering: revolutionary management tool, or fading fad?
Reengineering is one of the prevailing business themes that has been used to attempt dramatic levels of business improvement. Reengineering is a huge job that has a high failure rate. We undertook a . . .

World class manufacturing: strategies for continuous improvement.
America's manufacturing competitiveness has been in serious decline for well over a decade. The authors and many others believe that the major reason is a weakness in the way U.S. managers have guid . . .

Rival cooperative strategy and U.S. technology policy: an assessment.
Over the last decade, declining international trade barriers and the establishment of inexpensive, worldwide electronic communications have brought about the true dawning of the global marketplace. . . .

Multicultural awareness in small businesses. (Learning From the Big Guys).
The importance of multicultural sensitivity is growing rapidly in the American workplace as more ethnic minorities and women become a more integral part of most workplaces. The need for training and . . .

America addresses work force diversity. (Growing Importance).
Progressive companies understand that they must create a work force as diverse as the customer base that they serve. Recent U.S. Census Bureau data shows that America is more diverse than ever. Ther . . .

China.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Population: 1,273,111,290. Birth rate: 16.0/1000 Density per square mile: 344 Infant mortality rate: 28.1/1000 Ethnic groups: 56 Capital: Beijing, pop. 8,450,000 metro area Languages: Ch . . .

Ten Most Useful Web Sites for Conducting Business with China.
With the Chinese market finally opening to the world at large, it is important for the global business world to learn more about China, her business environment, business culture, rules and regulati . . .

The Prospects of B2B E-Commerce in China's Internet Industry.
Electronic Commerce (EC) is the exchange of business-related information using electronic formats, and it can replace traditional paper-based workflows with a better means of communication among con . . .

Appreciating the Diversity in Multicultural Communication Styles.
"In today's world, national boundaries are constantly changing, and societies are moving toward greater interdependency and interconnectedness. The propensity of this increasing globalization poses . . .

Management of Human Resources in China Under WTO.
Since the opening of China in 1978, it has been a continuing difficulty for multinational companies (MNCs) to establish business on the mainland. Access to markets has been problematic either becaus . . .

Capitalist Promotion Meets Communist Regulation: Advertising Agencies and the Media in China.
The rapid growth of China's advertising market will attract worldwide interest. However, regulatory and cultural differences compounded by dynamism make this market particularly difficult to fathom. . . .

Attempting a New Commercial Code: China's New Commercial Sale Maize.
China began to regulate internal commerce in 1986 with an amalgam of laws that were never really complete. In October 1999, China adopted a new Contract Law that is China's most recent venture into . . .

The Characteristics and Attributes Of New Chinese Entrepreneurs and Their Emerging Enterprises.
Through an empirical investigation of mainland Chinese entrepreneurs, this study explores the characteristics and attributes of new entrepreneurs and their enterprises in the Wuhan area of the Hubei . . .

Foreign Direct Investment: U.S. Executives' Perceptions of Competing Asian Nations as FDI Destinations.
Foreign Direct Investment (EDI) is an integral component of the globalization of the world's economy, as well as a key aspect of every nation's economic development efforts. Virtually all nations ar . . .

Silicon Valley Firms' Operational Tactics and Venture Performance in Greater China.(Statistical Data Included)
The factors that influenced the market entry decisions and operational tactics of 24 Silicon Valley "hi-tech" firms in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan is revealed and examined in this research. First, . . .

Chinese Banking: Challenges and Opportunities in the New Millennium.
China's economy experienced a remarkable growth rate at about 9 percent (before the 1997 Asian financial crisis) since its open-door policy was implemented in 1978. The economic growth rate is expec . . .

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LOS ANGELES.(sexual harassment prevention policy)(Brief Article)
Policy on the Prohibition of Sexual Harassment California State University, Los Angeles, will take action to prevent and eliminate sexual harassment, as man dated by the Chancellor's Executive Ord . . .

The Convergence of Technology and Individualism.(companies and contract employees)(Brief Article)
Let me introduce you to a hypothetical New Economy contract worker, Mary Lou Jones. "I am 31, single, and work for a young company producing software for the Internet. I consider contract work a b . . .

IRIDIUM: Lessons for All Companies.
"Zeal Without Knowledge is Fire Without Light" [1] --Thomas Fuller Gnomologial In 1985, Karen Bertiger, the wife of Motorola executive Barry Bertiger, was sitting frustrated on a Caribbean beach . . .

Future of the MBA in China.(Master of Business Administration)
The movement to bring China into the World Trade Organization generated much discussion about how best to take advantage of this huge and mostly untapped market. To be certain, manufacturers and ser . . .

The Future of Japanese Marketing.
The Japanese have been labeled the "world's champion marketers." These authors challenge that assertion. Japan's future as a major power is dependent upon her continuing to meet increasing global co . . .

Can We Learn Management Techniques From the Japanese Ringi Process?
A basic philosophical concept of Japanese management is ringiseido: decision-making by consensus. Are any of its practices applicable in the West? These authors make a case for useful implementation . . .

Are the Effects of Age and Gender Changing the Personal Values of Japanese Executives?
There is ample justification for research on personal values in Japan and on comparisons between Japanese and American values. Japan is a major part of the world economy and has substantial economic . . .

Personal Values of Japanese Business Managers.
Researchers have spent many years examining the Japanese business culture, but there is limited empirical evidence about the personal values of Japanese business managers. The research of these auth . . .

The Future of Japanese Innovation: Leader or Follower?
Japan is at a directional crossroads. Should the Japanese continue pursuing a policy based on the adaptation of existing technology? Or, is it the right time in its history for Japan to pursue a pol . . .