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This paper aims to examine the impact of crude oil prices on Australian industry stock returns. With rising energy prices, it is important to consider oil as a pricing factor in asset pricing models.

Multifactor static and dynamic models consider crude oil and other macroeconomic factors as pricing factors in industry excess returns from January 1980 to August 2006. The macroeconomic factors comprise the market portfolio, oil prices, exchange rates and the term premium. The industries consist of banking, diversified financials, energy, insurance, media, property trusts, materials, retailing and transportation.

Oil prices are an important determinant of returns in the banking, energy, materials, retailing and transportation industries. The findings also suggest oil price movements are persistent. Nonetheless, the proportion of variation in excess returns explained by the contemporaneous and lagged oil prices appears to have declined during the sample period.

Macroeconomic factors are important for multifactor asset pricing at the industry level. Apart from oil prices, the market portfolio is a significant pricing factor in all industry excess returns. Exchange rates are also an influential factor for excess returns in the banking and diversified financials industries, and the term premium as a proxy for future real activity is a priced factor in the energy, insurance and retailing industries.

While past studies have provided some evidence that oil prices constitute a source of systematic asset price risk and that exposure varies across industries, no recent work is known in the Australian context.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between cultural distance (both perceived and objective), innovation and firm export performance.

Hypotheses were tested here by structural equation modeling using data from 186 export ventures into 23 international markets by Swedish companies.

The results indicate that managers’ perceptions of substantial cultural differences as well as objective cultural differences (gauged using Hofstede’s (1980, 2001) scores for dimensions of national culture) and subsequent environmental uncertainty when expanding into culturally distant markets triggers strategies for interacting and integrating with the market environment. These include producing and adopting innovations to processes and products and to organizational strategy, structure and administrative procedures to cope with the new environment and overcome uncertainties. These innovations and the associated competitive advantages improve firm export performance.

Despite much research into the relationship between firm internationalization and innovation, little attention has been paid to the effect of the characteristics of the foreign markets (specifically cultural differences) on firm innovation strategies. Moreover, much research has been devoted to the effect of innovation on firm export performance, but such research has mainly focused on one type of innovation, i.e. technological innovation, while the influence of organizational innovation on firm export performance has been basically ignored. The present study validates the explanatory of cultural distance (both perceived and objective) in relation to innovation strategies (technological and organizational) and export performance.

This paper aims to present a profile of innovation in food sector SMEs in the UK, exploring specifically the degree and types of innovation employed, and engagement with activities that support innovation orientation, or organisational innovativeness.

A questionnaire‐based survey was conducted to gather data from food sector SMEs in the UK. The questionnaire design was informed by previous studies on degree and types of innovation, and the characteristics of innovativeness. Questionnaires were distributed and gathered by hand and online in order to optimise response. A total of 221 usable responses were received and analysed using SPSS.

Food sector SMEs are more focused on incremental innovation as opposed to radical innovation, and they are also more engaged in product and process innovations than in packaging, position and paradigm innovations. In terms of innovation characteristics, SMEs agree that they are usually committed to the majority of a wide range of factors that affect innovation orientation, but most important amongst these are a commitment to encouraging new ideas, and cultivating innovative employees.

Although the food and drink sector plays an important role within the UK economy, innovation in food sector SMEs has received little previous attention. This paper makes an important contribution by profiling innovation, according to type, and innovation characteristics in food sector SMEs in the UK. In addition, it demonstrates the importance of developing understanding of the management of innovation portfolios embracing a range of types and degrees of innovation.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to knowledge and theory on innovation in small and medium-sized organisations (SMEs) by exploring the role of size and age on organisational engagement with position and paradigm innovation.

Data on organisational characteristics, including age and size, and engagement with position and paradigm innovation was collected as part of a questionnaire based survey of food sector SMEs in the UK. Structural equation modelling was used to identify the existence of any significant relationships between engagement with position and paradigm innovation and organisational age and size.

Findings suggest that organisational engagement with position and paradigm innovation is not affected by either age or size.

Prior research, based primarily on process and product innovation, has generated contradictory results regarding whether size or age effect innovation. This study contributes by focusing on the previously unexplored concepts of position and paradigm innovation.

This article aims to offer insights into the range of innovations in food sector SMEs, and demonstrate the way in which managers classify their innovations on the basis of Francis and Bessant's classification of innovations into the following four types: product, process, position, and paradigm.

As part of a larger questionnaire‐based survey on innovation in food sector SMEs, respondents were asked to provide examples of their recent innovations and to categorise them as product, process, position, or paradigm innovations.

Food sector SMEs offered a wide range of examples of innovation. They were able to classify their innovations into product, process, position or paradigm innovations. Further, there is evidence that food sector SMEs are engaged in a range of innovation types, although a greater number of examples were offered for product innovation than for other types of innovation. Additionally, there is evidence of overlap and complementariness between different types of innovation.

Although the food sector plays an important role within the UK economy, innovation in food and drink sector SMEs has received relatively limited attention. This article offers interesting insights into the reality of innovation in food sector SMEs. In addition, it demonstrates the applicability of Francis and Bessant's model of types of innovation to SMEs in this sector.

Develop an integrated model to analyze conflicts at work and apply it to a case study. The core of the conceptual model is constituted by the interpersonal relationships modalities using the Palo Alto school theorization (symmetrical and complementary relations framework in people's relative positioning). This model also articulates inside this interpersonal relationships structure five other dimensions: Perception processes, Life dynamics, Habitus from Bourdieu and developed by Lahire, psychosociological processes and sociological factors (including cultural ones). We apply this model to the case study of a Community center in a French city where a serious conflict happens with the final consequence of the closure of the center.

In-depth case study by long conversations (more than interviews) with the main protagonists of the Community center and of the conflict. These talks have been completed by secondary sources and extended review of newspaper articles.

Our model revels to be pertinent to enlighten the multiple dimensions of the conflict. In particular, we show that the dynamics of interpersonal relationships is central in the conflict development and is embedded in multiple psychosociological processes (perceptions processes with deep perceptive divergences between people, personal construction of Social Identity by protagonists, group thinking, active minority construction, etc.). The sociological factors, as well of personal habitus, have an effect but are not determinants of people's behavior. People are partially conscious of the occurring phenomena but cannot be considered as omniscient, purely strategic actors.

1-Application of the conceptual model is applied only on one case study. 2-More attention should be given to prospective dimension of stories and storying (antenarrative).

The case analysis based on our reactional model of conflicts leads to point out several mistakes in the management of the considered organization and more precisely in the management of the conflictual relationships. Change of level 2 has been misconducted by the top manager of the Community center and we show which alternative decisions could have been made in order to avoid the burst of the conflict. More general conflict management methods can be deduced from our analysis.

Articulation of these different concepts in an integrated model has never been previously made neither applied in a case study.