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This study aims to explore how firms can design their government affairs (GAs) units in ways that improve their ability to monitor and influence legislative developments in their firms’ corporate political environments.

This conceptual work is informed by existing research into organizational design, brought to life with illustrative examples of firms’ political actions derived from interviews conducted with practitioners in the field.

In line with organizational design thinking, the authors find that high-performing GA units need to be designed and built using a blend of mutually reinforcing organizational mechanisms. GA units should be staffed by autonomous managers with mixed skills-sets. Moreover, they should not be constrained by formal rules, but instead given autonomy and support to create lateral relations with other business units.

This study provides a “recipe” that managers can follow to create opportunities for the exchange of political information within their firms and enable and motivate GAs practitioners to monitor and influence political developments more effectively.

This research exposes important, organizational antecedents of firms’ political strategies, which have not been systematically explored in the existing literature.

This study aims to explore how firms can configure their organisational architectures in ways that limit ethical transgressions of their corporate political activities (CPAs).

This conceptual work is informed by existing research into organisational architecture and ethical decision-making, combined with illustrative examples of firms’ political actions derived from secondary and primary data sources.

Findings suggest that the ways that firms assign decision-making authority and design performance management systems can, depending on their combined configuration, either help or hinder the promotion of ethical CPA practice.

The study provides practitioners with a useful tool for reflecting on the organisational levers they can pull to shield their firms from the financial and reputation damage associated with objectionable conduct in their political activities.

Whilst previous research studies emphasise the importance of statutory guidelines, self-regulation or corporate codes for promoting ethical CPA, this study argues that organisational design is an important yet overlooked antecedent of a firm’s ability to practice CPA ethically and responsibly.

Focusing on the internationalization decisions of firms, this paper aims to investigate how managers of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) interpret and respond to exogenous shocks in their international sales markets. The authors specifically explore the effects of cognitive factors on French SME managers’ strategic decisions in response to the UK’s decision to leave the EU.

The research applies insights gleaned from the field of behavioral strategy, brought to life with illustrative examples of SME managers’ perceptions of Brexit derived from secondary and primary data sources.

The authors find that a combination of decision-makers’ previous experience and emotions can help account for their interpretations and strategic responses to Brexit.

The research highlights the need for managers to be more aware of how their personal characteristics can influence their mindsets and shape how they choose to respond to uncertain and ambiguous developments in foreign markets.

The research exposes important, behavioral dimensions of decision-making, which remain under-explored in the existing international business literature.

The purpose of this paper is to systematically investigate the fluid lag phenomena and its influence in the hydraulic fracturing process, including all stages of fluid-lag evolution, the transition between different stages and their coupling with dynamic fracture propagation under common conditions.

A plane 2D model is developed to simulate the complex evolution of fluid lag during the propagation of a hydraulic fracture driven by an impressible Newtonian fluid. Based on the finite element method, a fully implicit solution scheme is proposed to solve the strongly coupled rock deformation, fluid flow and fracture propagation. Using the proposed model, comprehensive parametric studies are performed to examine the evolution of fluid lag in various geological and operational conditions.

The numerical simulations predict that the lag ratio is around 5% or even lower at the beginning stage of hydraulic fracture under practical geological conditions. With the fracture propagation, the lag ratio keeps decreasing and can be ignored in the late stage of hydraulic fracturing for typical parameter combinations. On the numerical aspect, whether the fluid lag can be ignored depends not only on the lag ratio but also on the minimum mesh size used for fluid flow. In addition, an overall mixed-mode fracture propagation factor is proposed to describe the relationship between diverse parameters and fracture curvature.

In this study, relatively simple physical models such as linear elasticity for solid, Newtonian model for fluid and linear elasticity fracture mechanics for fracture are used. The current model does not account for such effects like leak off, poroelasticity and softening of rock formations, which may also visibly affect the fluid lag depending on specific reservoir conditions.

This study helps to understand the effect of fluid lag during hydraulic fracturing processes and provides numerical experience in dealing with the fluid lag with finite element simulation.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the cultural dimensions of corporate political activity (CPA).

The study uses a qualitative research design. Data collected from interviews conducted with the Brussels‐based Government Affairs Managers of French and British firms are analysed to examine the impact of national culture on their objectives and preferred political strategies.

The findings suggest possible relationships between the cultural dimensions elaborated by Hofstede and the different components of corporate political action: uncertainty avoidance can help explain managers' objectives when becoming politically active; the long‐term vs short‐term dimension can account for their general approaches to political activity; their level of participation in the political process can be explained by the individualism vs collectivism dimension; and their choices of specific lobbying tactics and techniques can be explained in terms of power distance.

As firms increasingly interact with foreign rivals when seeking to influence policy outcomes, knowing that corporate political strategies are in part culturally grounded can help Government Affairs Managers to anticipate, respond to and act on the strategies pursued by firms socialised in other national cultures.

While previous mainstream research into CPA is based largely on universal theories, the primary contribution of the paper is to introduce national culture as a variable to explain cross‐country differences in the types and processes of firms' political activities.

State and national standards compel teachers to introduce historical topics through multiple diverse texts, emphasizing the use of informational texts. Trade books allow teachers to meet these standards while also meeting the needs of diverse students. Primary sources serve as an additional curricular resource filling the gaps in information not covered by textbooks and trade books and allowing students to gain a more complete and accurate understanding of historical figures and events. Standards leave the selection and implementation of appropriate trade books, primary sources, and other curricular resources to the classroom teacher. In this research, I qualify and quantify how President Andrew Jackson, a very controversial historical figure, is portrayed in trade books. Misrepresentations within trade books concerning Jackson are reported and analyzed. Suggestions and a rationale for trade book and primary source selection and implementation in elementary, middle, and secondary school are addressed.

The aim of this research is to establish students’ perceptions of the international hospitality industry and, specifically, to establish the likelihood of the student seeking employment in the industry after graduating, the region/country where the student intends seeking employment, the functional area/sector which is most attractive to the student and the position which the student expects to hold five and ten years after graduating. The research is based on a questionnaire administered at two universities offering hospitality management degrees, one in the UK, the other in The Netherlands. The main findings are that students have a distinct preference for certain hotel departments, hotel chains and sectors of the industry. Most expect to be general manager/corporate manager ten years after graduating. As the degree progresses, the students’ perception of the industry deteriorates. The paper concludes by examining issues relating to the image of the industry and the development of hospitality curricula.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of law enforcement suicide research from 1997 to 2016.

The PRISMA systematic review methodology was implemented. A SCOPUS search identified a total of 97 documents. After applying all exclusion criteria, the results included a list of 44 articles in the review.

Overall, studies investigating law enforcement suicide rates show conflicting results, with some studies showing lower suicide rates among law enforcement, some showing higher rates, and some showing no difference to comparison populations. Recurring research themes were lack of an appropriate comparison group, and small statistical power, particularly for minority and female officers. Stressors related to suicide among police included lack of organizational support, traumatic events, shift work, stigma associated with asking for help, or problems associated with fitting in with the police culture. Problems associated with domestic relationships and alcohol use were commonly mentioned as precursors to suicide or as correlates of suicidal ideation and were hypothesized to arise from stressful working conditions.

Some limitations in law enforcement suicide research include the lack of theory, under-reporting of suicides, and guarded survey responses from police officers. Future directions in police suicide research include investigating etiological factors such as past adverse life and family experiences, social-ecological variation in suicide, or differences in suicide rates within the law enforcement occupation.

Police work, given chronic and traumatic stress, lack of support, danger, and close public scrutiny is a fertile occupation for increased suicide risk. Awareness of the scope of the problem and associated risk factors can help to initiate prevention programs.

This paper provides a long-term review of literature regarding police suicidality, with suggestions for research and prevention.

The purpose of this paper is to document the wage effects associated with sexual orientation and to examine whether the wage gap has improved following recent institutional changes which favour sexual minorities.

Ordinary least squares and quantile regressions are estimated using Australian data for 2010–2012 and 2015–2017, with the analysis disaggregated by sector of employment. Blinder–Oaxaca decompositions are used to quantify unexplained wage gaps.

Relative to heterosexual men, in 2015–2017 gay men in the public and private sectors had wages which were equivalent to heterosexual men at all points in the wage distribution. In the private sector: highly skilled lesbians experienced a wage penalty of 13 per cent; low-skilled bisexual women faced a penalty of 11 per cent, as did bisexual men at the median (8 per cent penalty). In the public sector low-skilled lesbians and low-skilled bisexual women significant experienced wage premiums. Between 2010–2012 and 2015–2017 the pay position of highly skilled gay men has significantly improved with the convergence driven by favourable wage (rather than composition) effects.

The results provide important benchmarks against which the treatment of sexual minorities may be monitored.

The analysis of the sexual minority wage gaps by sector and position on the wage distribution and insight into the effect of institutions on the wages of sexual minorities.

The Milk and Cream Standards Committee, of which Lord WENLOCK is Chairman, have commenced to take evidence, and at the outset have been met by the difficulty which must necessarily attach to the fixing of a legal standard for most food products. The problem, which is applicable also to other food materials, is to fix a standard for milk, cream and butter which shall be fair and just both to the producer and the consumer. The variation in the composition of these and other food products is well known to be such that, while standards may be arrived at which will make for the protection of the public against the supply of grossly‐adulterated articles, standards which shall insure the supply of articles of good quality cannot possibly be established by legal enactments. If the Committee has not yet arrived at this conclusion we can safely predict that they will be compelled to do so. A legal standard must necessarily be the lowest which can possibly be established, in order to avoid doing injustice to producers and vendors. The labours of the Committee will no doubt have a good effect in certain directions, but they cannot result in affording protection and support to the vendor of superior products as against the vendor of inferior ones and as against the vendor of products which are brought down by adulteration to the lowest legal limits. Neither the labours of this committee nor of any similar committee appointed in the future can result in the establishment of standards which will give a guarantee to the consumer that he is receiving a product which has not been tampered with and which is of high, or even of fair, quality.