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This is the fourth in a series of articles about case research, writing, teaching, and reviewing. In this article, the protagonist, Prof. Moore, consults experienced case teachers and learns many different approaches to use in the classroom. The article is written as if it were a case; it is fictitious.

Purpose – To develop an alternate metaethical framework based upon a specific modality of difference.

Methodology/approach – A radicalisation of Moore's naturalistic fallacy and the application of the open question argument within the broader context of the continental tradition allow one to direct the ethical question away from non-naturalism and towards a speculative ethics.

Findings – Suggesting an ethical modality irreducible to ontological description or political prescription, the chapter argues for a metaethics of ‘exhortation’.

Originality/value of chapter – The chapter opens a new space for thinking ethics, and further encourages the continuing rapprochement between continental and analytical traditions in philosophy.

Practical implications – Questions of practical ethics will find new modes of engagement and expression in the context of a hortative metaethics.

The Center for Women’s Business Research estimates women are now the majority owners in 6.7 million privately held businesses in the United States and equal owners in another 4.0 million firms. When part owners in multiple businesses are included the female ownership total climbs to an estimated 15.6 million businesses. Women majority owners account for nearly half (48 per cent) of the privately‐held firms in the United States. Their businesses generate $2.46 trillion in sales. They employ 19.1 million people and spend an estimated $492 billion on salaries and $54 billion on employee benefits. The number of women‐owned firms increases at twice the rate of all new firms (14 per cent versus 7 per cent) and the number of employees nearly as fast (30 per cent versus 18 per cent). Women owners are rapidly moving into all industries, with the fastest growth percentages in the fields of construction (30 per cent), transportation, communications and public utilities (28 per cent) and agricultural services (24 per cent). Worldwide, with women entrepreneurs in under developed countries leading the way, women‐owned firms now comprise between one‐fourth and one‐third of all businesses. Given the numbers, it would be almost impossible to overestimate the impact of women owned businesses in today’s global economy.

The economic science is again in a crisis and a new solution prolegomena to any future study in economics, finance and other social sciences has just been published by the International Institute of Social Economics in care of the MCB University Press in England. The roots of the major financial and economic problems of our time lie in an open conflict between theory and practice. In the 1930s and before the conflict was between classical theory and given realities. In the 1990s the conflict appears between the now prevailing modern, Keynesian theory and the actual realities. In addition during the twentieth century a great argument developed between the two schools of thought, argument which is not yet settled. In one sentence, the prolegomena tried and was successful to solve the conflict between theory and practice and the big doctrinal dispute of the twentieth century. It was a struggle of research and observation over half a century between 1947 and 1997.

The purpose of this paper is to propose and validate a public value-based framework for evaluating the performance of electronic government (e-government), leading to the identification of the critical factors in creating public value through e-government in developing countries.

A comprehensive review of the related literatures is conducted for developing a public value-based framework. A survey of e-government users is conducted, and the survey data are analysed using structural equation modelling.

This study shows that information quality, e-services functionalities, user orientation, efficiency and openness of public organisations, equity, citizens’ self-development, trust, and environmental sustainability are the critical public values of e-government in developing countries. It reveals that the use of the public value concept is effective in evaluating the performance of e-government in developing countries.

This study provides a comprehensive investigation of the e-government performance for better understanding the value of e-government in developing countries. The findings can guide the development of e-government in developing countries.

This is the first study in testing and validating a public value-based framework for evaluating the performance of e-government in developing countries. It demonstrates how the concept of public value can be adopted for evaluating the performance of e-government.

The justification of punishment is an age-old debate which continues unresolved. In late twentieth century several attempts were made to reconcile the two opposing justifications: retributivism and consequentialism. But these attempts focused narrowly on merely one manifestation of punishment, i.e.: criminal punishment carried out by the state. To the extent that these mixed justifications are successful, they relate to only one (undoubtedly important) manifestation of punishment. But clearly punishment can occur in many different institutional contexts, and the institutions in each context vary dramatically in complexity and relevance. I recommend analyzing punishment in its manifold manifestations.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the role that elapsed time and culture may play in affecting intergenerational influence (IGI) on brand preference. The results of an empirical study conducted in Mexico reveal that coincidence in family life‐cycle stage emerges as an important factor in determining IGI strength.

A total of 600 questionnaires were collected from 300 dyads of mothers/daughters. This research extends Moore et al.'s basic methodology and findings to the Mexican context by including daughters at different stages of their family life cycle covering a time frame of up to 15 years out of the parents' household.

The findings support results from previous research conducted in the USA, signaling IGI as influencing brand preferences. However, the results diverge by demonstrating that in certain cultural contexts (e.g. Mexico), coincidence in family life‐cycle may have a stronger influence on IGI than the amount of elapsed time not living with parents.

Understanding how IGI evolves in different cultural contexts may be applicable in the design of product and communication strategies leading to brand preference.

This study contributes to the literature by providing knowledge about the factors affecting consumers' brand preferences in Mexico, a country sharing cultural values with an important number of nations (including Latin America) where research conducted on these issues is scarce and where effective brand strategies need to be developed.

Mobility has wide‐range impacts on the financial management of property issues, such as consumption and investment. In the literature of residential mobility, household life cycle is widely acknowledged as an important concept. An array of household demographic factors such as age has been repeatedly found to be significant in influencing mobility. Many previous researches offer few verifi able hypotheses or propositions and their results are conflicting. Some of them also suffer methodological inadequacies. This paper is an attempt to rectify this situation. There are two important contributions by the current research. One is a methodology that employs multivariate methods, which fills the gap of previous research. The second contribution is the large census dataset of Hong Kong which is rare in previous studies. The research is conducted under the framework of life cycle models with emphasis on economic and demographic variables of households. Demographic determinants are found to be more important in explaining population mobility among rental households while economic factors are more pertinent for owners. This may be explained by the different strategies adopted by renters and owners in satisfying their housing needs. Renters are envisaged to base their mobility decisions more on demographic factors. Owners, on the other hand, tend to view home buying as an investment as well and hence put more emphasis on economic factors. It is hoped that this research can shed more light on the topic of residential mobility by drawing on the experience of a large population residing in a small place, Hong Kong

This study aims to analyze the short-, medium- and long-term impacts of natural-resources-seeking foreign direct investment (FDI) in the form of foreign multinational enterprise (MNE) land acquisitions on agricultural labor productivity in developing countries. The authors analyze if these land acquisitions disrupt fair and decent rural labor productivity or if the investments provide opportunities for improvement and growth. The influence of different country characteristics, such as economic development levels and governmental protection for the rural population, are acknowledged.

The study analyzes 570 land acquisitions across 90 countries between 2000 and 2015 via a generalized least squares regression. It distinguishes short- and long-term implications and the moderating role of a country’s economic development level and government effectiveness in implementing government protection.

The results suggest that natural resource-seeking FDI harms agricultural labor productivity in the short term. However, this impact turns positive in the long term as labor markets adjust to the initial disruptions that result from land acquisitions. A country’s economic development level mitigates the negative short-term impacts, indicating the possibility of finding alternative job opportunities in economically stronger countries. Government effectiveness does have no influence, presumably as the rural population in which the investment is partaking is in many developing countries, not the focus of governmental protectionism.

The findings provide interesting insights into the impact of MNEs on developing countries and particularly their rural areas that are heavily dependent on natural resources. The authors identify implications on employment opportunities in the agricultural sector in these countries, which are negative in the short term but turn positive in the long term.

Moreover, the findings also have utility for policymakers. The sale of land to foreign MNEs is not a passive process – indeed, developing country governments have an active hand in constructing purchase contracts. Local governments could organize multistakeholder partnerships between MNEs, domestic businesses and communities to promote cooperation for access to technology and innovation and capacity-building to support employment opportunities.

The authors urge MNE managers to establish new partnerships to ease transitions and mitigate the negative impacts of land acquisitions on agricultural employment opportunities in the short term. These partnerships could emphasize worker retraining and skills upgrading for MNE-owned land, developing new financing schemes and sharing of technology and market opportunities for surrounding small-holder farmers (World Bank, 2018). MNE managers could also adopt wildlife-friendly farming and agroecological intensification practices to mitigate the negative impacts on local ecosystems and biodiversity (Tscharntke et al., 2012).

The authors contribute to the debate on the positive and negative impact of FDI on developing countries, particularly considering temporality and the rural environment in which the FDI is partaking.