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A temporal XML database could become an inconsistent model of the represented reality after a retroactive update. Such an inconsistency state must be repaired by performing corrective actions (e.g. payment of arrears after a retroactive salary increase) either immediately (i.e. at inconsistency detection time) or in a deferred manner, at one or several chosen repair times according to application requirements. The purpose of this work is to deal with deferred and multi-step repair of detected data inconsistencies.

A general approach for deferred and stepwise repair of inconsistencies that result from retroactive updates of currency data (e.g. the salary of an employee) in a valid-time or bitemporal XML database is proposed. The approach separates the inconsistency repairs from the inconsistency detection phase and deals with the execution of corrective actions, which also take into account enterprise’s business rules that define some relationships between data.

Algorithms, methods and support data structures for deferred and multi-step inconsistency repair of currency data are presented. The feasibility of the approach has been shown through the development and testing of a system prototype, named Deferred-Repair Manager.

The proposed approach implements a new general and flexible strategy for repairing detected inconsistencies in a deferred manner and possibly in multiple steps, according to varying user’s requirements and to specifications which are customary in the real world.

This study investigates whether management's choices of adoption timing and transition method are associated with factors influencing their economic incentives in the case of early adoption of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 96 (SFAS 96), Accounting for Income Taxes. SFAS 96 provides an interesting setting for this model because firms needed to make a choice of not only whether to adopt the standard earlier than required, but also of the transition method (cumulative effect versus retroactive restatement). The results support the political cost hypothesis and the debt and compensation contract hypotheses for both the early adoption decision as well as the transition method choice decision. The results also indicate the superiority of the interactive effects models thus confirming the results of Ali and Kumar (1994).

This study aims at developing and testing a conceptual model that shows the antecedents of the recall of a former sponsorship.

Primary (n = 1,146) and secondary data from German professional soccer build the empirical base for this research. Multilevel logistic regression is used for data analysis.

The results show that retroactive interferences in the form of replacement sponsors for the same object reduce the recall of a former sponsorship, while the mere passage of time does not have a significant main effect. To counteract such forgetting, the empirical analysis shows that sponsor managers can influence recall of a former sponsorship positively after sponsorship termination by switching to a lower-level sponsorship for the same object or by engaging in subsequent sponsorships with other congruent objects in the same context.

The focus on one type of sponsorship (sport sponsorship) in one country (Germany) is the main limitation of this research.

The findings of this paper should encourage managers to consider the long-term consequences of sponsorship engagements beyond the duration of the sponsorship contract. Managers can influence the recall of a sponsorship not only prior to and during an engagement, but also after the loss of sponsorship rights.

Previous research on former sponsorships has mainly focused on the phenomenon of former sponsor recall per se, without considering the determinants of the construct. This paper contributes to sponsorship literature by showing that the number of replacement sponsorships, a construct unique to the former sponsorship context, dominates the time since sponsorship ending as the main driver of forgetting. Moreover, it provides managers with new post-sponsorship strategies that help maintaining the recall of a former sponsorship at a high level.

The purpose of this article is to present a framework that allows an ampler understanding of the evolution process tracked by companies in the pursuit of strategies for sustainable development, taking into account the increasing awareness of the social and environmental pressures facing business.

The article adopts an interdisciplinary approach, using the complexity standpoint, allowing the articulation of the main axis of this study: sustainable development, organizational strategies and organizational learning.

Consideration of the type of learning undertaken by companies to advance in the direction of strategies oriented to sustainability. This is analyzed in light of the complexity theory, showing the need of transformations in the individual values, a transformation that will reflect itself in the organization and in society.

No empirical research is conducted to analyze the importance of the learning type for the orientation to sustainability in companies. Future research may verify this importance.

The article points to the need for sustainable business actions that are oriented to people and society in general. Some propositions can help managers to manage the considerable difficulties dealing with sustainable development pressures.

The text deepens the understanding about the evolution towards sustainability oriented strategies, considering the learning type as a key concept. It operationalizes the contributions of the complexity theory, according to the view of Edgar Morin (a French perspective). This allows a different comprehension of the non linear behavior patterns that are common in the organizations.

The Equal Pay Act 1970 (which came into operation on 29 December 1975) provides for an “equality clause” to be written into all contracts of employment. S.1(2) (a) of the 1970 Act (which has been amended by the Sex Discrimination Act 1975) provides:

The past decade, with its unprecedented surge in financial activity and financial crises, has been one of increased awareness on the part of both regulatory authorities and market participants of the potential of payment systems for propagating and amplifying financial shocks, especially in a cross‐border context. This has led the European Commission to propose, on 30th May 1996, a Directive aimed at reducing systemic risk. (This has been the subject of an earlier contribution by the same author, pub‐lished in Vol 5, No 1 of the Journal.) In the meanwhile, the European Parliament has delivered its opinion and the Council has adopted a common position. This paper examines the contents of this common position.

Limited participation of least developed countries (LDCs) in the WTO's dispute settlement system has been the focus of intensive debate among WTO scholars, diplomats and, in particular, WTO lawyers. Central to this debate are the major hurdles (financial and political) that LDCs are generally perceived to face in using the existing system of remedies in the WTO system to enforce compliance. Of the two existing compliance enforcement mechanisms, the first – compensation – is often unrealistic because the WTO Member whose measures have been found to be WTO inconsistent has to agree with it; while the second – retaliation (i.e., the suspension of concessions with regard to the non-complying Member) – is a costly and in many ways counter-productive “shooting oneself in the foot” remedy that LDCs in particular can usually ill afford.

This chapter briefly discusses proposals for reform that have been proposed to alleviate these problems. The chapter then reviews two additional instruments that LDCs could pursue to improve their ability to enforce compliance and make the WTO dispute settlement system a more viable instrument: limited use of direct effect; and increased use of the instrument of publicity and public relations, including through civil society. These instruments, whether independently, or in combination with existing mechanisms and other new compliance enforcement measures, could provide useful tools for the WTO's poorest Members to increase the chances for pay-off from WTO litigation and for compliance with WTO law by larger and more powerful trading partners.

The purpose of this paper is to argue that narrative methodology is increasingly caught in an ideological deadlock set in terms of a false choice between meaning (an unconditional respect for the voice of experience) and truth (the scientific validation of stories), which has led to an increasing dismissal of analysis in narrative research. Inadvertently, however, this development has also heightened vulnerability to ideological deception in storytelling.

Through the lens of Žižek's theory of ideology, this paper offers a reflection on narrative analysis that proposes a renewed critical perspective on “writing responsibly” about organizations by repositioning narrative analysis and its purpose vis‐à‐vis science, storytelling and ideology.

Žižek's conception of ideological fantasy highlights the impotence of cognitive forms of ideology critique in this age. He stresses how this reality is pervaded as deeply by fetishistic illusions as is thought. These illusions, disseminated through narrative, serve as the backbone of everyday practices in organizations and society, based on a process of symbolic “quilting” that is designed to cover up the traumatic emptiness of central signifiers used to make sense of experience. Semiotic analysis enables people to recognize how they constantly “re‐write” this experience in organizational narratives and science to erase from view the structural impossibility of social fantasies.

Three areas for the semiotic analysis of narratives are identified that merit special attention for the recognition of this ideological deception in stories: the entwinement of fact and fiction, the interplay of form and content and the use of perspective and voice.

Žižek's theory has not been systematically applied yet as a methodological tool in narrative research and analysis, while it affords a promising way to critically negotiate the pitfalls of representation in organization and business research.

In recent years, companies have been using brand extensions as a strategy for launching new products. The reason why this strategy has been popular is the fact that it decreases the risk of failure of new products, because consumers initially are more willing to accept products marketed under known brands. Nevertheless, this strategy is not free from risks, since it is not convenient for all the brands, and moreover it may have negative effects on the image of the extended brand. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to analyse the influence that brand extensions have on brand image. For this analysis, an experiment is performed that examines the most important variables to consider in using the brand extension strategy. After analysing the information obtained, reaches the conclusion that brand extension strategies may influence the brand image after the extension and that variables such as the brand image prior to the extension, the perceived quality of the extension and the fit between the parent brand and the new product also affect the image.