Search results

This paper examines the applicable scope of United States employment discrimination law to “American” employers of U.S. citizens abroad. Through an analysis of the extraterritorial dimension of American anti‐bias, it is demonstrated that over time, it has become accepted that the full‐range of U.S. anti‐bias law applies transnationally. However, just who is considered an “American” firm is an open‐ended question under the Mas Marques test codified in the Civil Rights Act of 1991. The implications of this ambiguity could well lead to potential legal conflicts in the area of employment discrimination for a multitude of firms worldwide who may not consider themselves presently to be bound by United States employment law.

This article examines the scope of change which is likely to be brought about in the American health care industry due to the emergence of capitated reimbursement systems. As we will see, the goals, the terminology, and the operations of hospitals in the United States will be greatly affected as the shift to capitation occurs. This article explores the underlying cause of the movement of hospitals toward capitation and examines the impact of capitation on hospital management practices.

This paper seeks to investigate the fast‐growing problem of counterfeit prescription drugs and the steps being taken by both the private and public sectors to counteract it.

The author documents both the size and scope of the counterfeit pharmaceutical problem in the USA. The paper also looks at the steps being taken by pharmaceutical manufacturers and wholesalers, as well as legal efforts being undertaken by federal and state governments, to counteract the growing concerns over fake medicines being introduced into the pharmaceutical supply chain.

The paper builds the business case for radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to be employed to track pharmaceuticals in the supply chain and counter the growing threat of counterfeit drugs.

The principal limitation of this research is that it is being conducted on both a rapidly evolving problem (counterfeit pharmaceuticals) and the use of a rapidly developing technology (RFID) to counteract it. Thus, in time, the parameters of both the counterfeit drug problem and the technological solutions to it may shift dramatically.

The paper demonstrates that RFID provides the only effective method of providing “track and trace” electronic pedigrees for prescription drugs.

The paper is a valuable overview of the problems associated with the vulnerability of the pharmaceutical supply chain in the USA and the potential cost‐effective, life‐saving use of RFID to better secure prescription drugs, both in transit and in inventory.

In their book Megatrends 2000, John Naisbitt and Patricia Aburdene (1990) stated that one of the ten “megatrends for the 1990's would be the rise of “The Age of Biology.” One of the central forces behind this societal shift which is occurring right now, they say, is research into understanding human genetics and the rise of biotechnology. The scientific knowledge regarding human genetics and the technology to examine an individual's genetic makeup have grown at a rapid pace, especially in the last decade as a result of the Human Genome Project. This venture has been labelled alternatively as “mediocre science” (Roberts, 1990b: p. 804) and as “biology's Holy Grail,” (Nelkin and Tancredi, 1989: p. 14). It is indisputably a monumental scientific undertaking, likened to the drive to put a man on the moon in the sixties (“The Geography of Genes,” 1989). This knowledge and the resultant trends will likely prove to be important factors not only in our future economy, but also in the nature of how we understand ourselves.

This paper examines the potential relationship between the history of American generations and the development of American management thought. The paper reviews the recently developed generational theory of American history, along with the generational concept itself. Then, the leading thinkers in the history of the management discipline are classified according to their generational membership. The potential theoretical and research implications of the interplay of managerial and historical generations are then discussed.

Explores the use of metaphor as a particular feature of language for making sales messages more effective. Examines the concept of metaphor, its use in advertising and its use by marketing practitioners. Concludes that the effective use of language and particularly metaphor is vital for successful marketing and sales performance. Outlines a ten‐point strategy for developing metaphor skills in order to improve marketing messages and sales effectiveness.

Lawrence Kohlberg's (1969) concept of cognitive moral development (CMD) has been one of the most investigated constructs in the field of social psychology, with over one thousand studies reported investigating this construct in only two decades of research. However, what is the relationship of this theoretical construct to actual decision making and behavior? Blasi (1980, p. 4) opined for the criticality of moral judgement research to both ethical decision making and ethical inquiry, stating that “without judgement, an action, no matter how beneficial, would not be moral.” Relating Kohlberg's model to business decision making and behavior has been central to the building of theoretical frameworks of the ethical decision making process engaged in by individuals. The models of this process proposed by Trevino and Youngblood (1990), Trevino (1986), Bommer, Gratto, Gravender, and Tuttle (1987), Ferrell and Gresham (1985), Ferrell, Gresham, and Fraedrich (1989), Swinyard, DeLong, and Cheng (1989), and Jones (1991) all contained cognitive moral development as a factor in their respective models of ethical decision making.

This article explores the growing rise of behaviour‐based safety programmes in the workplace as a means of preventing on‐the‐job injuries. In it, the authors delve into the history of both incentive‐based and behaviour based safety programmes, exploring the administrative, political, and practical issues involved with each. The authors then present an analysis of a survey conducted of over a hundred practicing safety executives in the United States. While no significant differences were found between survey respondents based on the size or nature of their organisation, the authors did find that tenure on the job was positively correlated with increased receptiveness to the efficacy of behaviour‐based programmes. In the end, it was concluded that success with both behaviour‐based and incentive‐based safety efforts are dependent on top management’s support of such efforts, both through personal involvement and example setting and through provision of the necessary organisational resources to promote workplace safety.

For years behavioural researchers have debated the representativeness of research studies using students as subjects. Yet, Randall and Gibson's (1990) review of methodology in business ethics research found that student samples were used in one‐third of the studies. Hunt and Vitell (1986) framed the concern of student sample representativeness as follows:

In this paper, the author examines the growth of B2B e‐commerce, examining results from the ISM/Forrester Reports on e‐Business conducted to date. Through this analysis, the researcher demonstrates that contrary to the generally‐held perception that B2B has experienced a sharp downturn in the wake of the recession, e‐procurement has taken hold and is rapidly expanding across the American landscape. Specifically, the Reports on e‐Business are studied to look for trends in the overall use of e‐procurement methods: to reduce paperwork and cycle times; to procure direct and indirect goods and services; to collaborate with suppliers; and to reduce the total cost of procurement. The author concludes that overall, the analysis shows that the push towards e‐procurement is being led by the largest firms. This and other key trends are discussed in the conclusion of this report, along with suggestions for future research.