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The introduction of the industrial robot into the American workplace has been received with mixed results. Management, whose decision introduced the new technology, invariably views the robot's presence as a cure for many of the organization's production and competitive problems. Conversely, management's panacea is more often viewed as a pyorrhea by the firm's workers. To the production workers, the presence of the industrial robot is perceived as a threat to their jobs and is, therefore, treated with suspicion and resistance. In some extreme instances, disgruntled employees have even resorted to sabotage.

Despite long‐standing interest in the quality movement by marketing scholars, marketing managers have not seized opportunities to provide leadership as the quality movement has centered attention on customer satisfaction. Significant corporate investments in quality programs suggest that the recent revision of the ISO 9000 standards to focus on collection and use of customer satisfaction data may provide marketing managers an invitation to meaningfully enter the quality dialogue. Collaboration between marketing and quality management is problematic because the two functions are highly differentiated. This article draws on work in organizational learning and organizational behavior to identify criteria for successful collaboration between marketing and quality management and to propose a process for meeting the new ISO 9000 requirements.

Quality improvement decisions are the catalyst for substantial technological improvements being made in the manufacturing sector. The new technology, however, has developed faster than techniques for evaluating capital investments in such improvements. This is largely because the benefits of quality improvement technology are difficult to quantify. The Taguchi loss function is incorporated into a net present value capital budgeting technique to provide an estimate of these benefits. Describes the loss function in relation to key quality costs: appraisal and prevention costs, and internal and external failure costs. External failure cost savings are generated by reducing variability in the manufacturing process. These savings are then compared with the cost of the quality improving technology. Results indicate that these savings can be substantial, depending on the achieved reduction in the process variability, the cost of capital, and on the estimate of the cost of processing a customer’s return of the product.

In light of the increasing convergence between public and private sector accounting models, should local governments be required to adopt requirements similar to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)? Survey results from 42.2% of municipal finance officers from Ohio and Florida suggest they embrace in concept the enhanced accountability resulting from adopting principal officer certification (POC) and the independent audit committee (IAC) for larger cities. However, like their counterparts in the private sector, they have reservations regarding the benefits of implementation relative to costs. Theories of innovation diffusion and planned behavior provided a theoretical framework for multivariate analysis. The contradictions in our findings may relate to respondents’ reservations regarding the private sector financial reporting model that is becoming increasingly prevalent in public financial management.

This chapter describes three active learning activities developed for use in the introductory financial accounting class: an interview with a financial statement user, an internal control paper, and a financial statement project where students analyze two competing businesses. We gathered student surveys and direct assessment data to see if these activities add value to the introductory accounting course.

The learning activities were originally developed using Fink’s (2003) Taxonomy of Significant Learning, aligning the activities with Fink’s learning dimensions, which also support the higher order learning skills in Bloom’s revised taxonomy. Students completed surveys by comparing how well traditional class activities (i.e., homework and tests) and the new activities support the core competencies of the American Institute for Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). We also asked students open-ended questions on how they felt about these new activities. Researchers then compared pre- and postadoption assessment data to investigate the impact of the new learning activities on class completion rates and grades.

Based on faculty comments and student survey results, the three active learning assignments appear to be more effective in developing many of the AICPA’s core competencies and real world skill sets valued by professionals, providing more value than traditional teaching methods. In addition, the passing rates in the course at the Youngstown State University increased by 12% after adopting the learning innovations.

In sports consumer behaviour literature only a small amount of variance in attendance is explained by motives. One possible explanation for this is the existence of a third factor which moderates this relationship between the motives and attendance. Individuals who strongly identify with a sports team demonstrate distinctly different behavioural patterns from weakly identified individuals. Identification may, therefore, serve as a moderator. Accordingly, two hypotheses are generated: (a) the relationship between motives and attendance intention ranges from weak to moderate; and (b) the overarching construct of Identification (Team Identification) moderates the influence of motives on attendance intention. Participants were 207 United States of America National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division IA student-subjects. Instrumentation includes measures of motivation, points of attachment and attendance intention. Through hierarchical Confirmatory Factor Analysis, regression analyses and latent variable scores approach, the results largely support both hypotheses.

This study presents an analysis of the evolution of advertising's portrayal of women in motorsport. The construct of source credibility is examined and used as a framework to better understand the limitations and opportunities of female athlete endorsers in general and female racing car drivers in particular. The advertising images of pioneer drivers Janet Guthrie, Lyn St. James and Sarah Fisher are discussed and compared to that of Danica Patrick, a media star in the Indy Racing League (IRL). Patrick has been successful in capitalising on her expertise and attractiveness to enhance her image and endorse products. Attitudes towards using sex appeal to sell products are presented and discussed.

Many jurisdictions fine illegal cartels using penalty guidelines that presume an arbitrary 10% overcharge. This article surveys more than 700 published economic studies and judicial decisions that contain 2,041 quantitative estimates of overcharges of hard-core cartels. The primary findings are: (1) the median average long-run overcharge for all types of cartels over all time periods is 23.0%; (2) the mean average is at least 49%; (3) overcharges reached their zenith in 1891–1945 and have trended downward ever since; (4) 6% of the cartel episodes are zero; (5) median overcharges of international-membership cartels are 38% higher than those of domestic cartels; (6) convicted cartels are on average 19% more effective at raising prices as unpunished cartels; (7) bid-rigging conduct displays 25% lower markups than price-fixing cartels; (8) contemporary cartels targeted by class actions have higher overcharges; and (9) when cartels operate at peak effectiveness, price changes are 60–80% higher than the whole episode. Historical penalty guidelines aimed at optimally deterring cartels are likely to be too low.