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Analyzing three sets of video data collected in one Maya community, we examined apprenticeship and learning of backstrap loom weaving over three generations spanning the years 1970 to 2012. Like many cultural groups, the Maya of Chiapas are experiencing rapid sociodemographic shifts. Three generations of girls (N = 134) were observed at their looms: in the 1970 subsistence economy; in the transition to a commercial economy in the 1990s; and in 2012, when the commercial economy required formal education. Multilevel models showed that intergenerational sociodemographic change -- increased time in school, greater involvement in the money economy, and decreased family size -- changed weaving apprenticeship, which, in turn, was related to changes in characteristics of learners. In 2012, weaving learners received more explanations, praise, and body instruction from their teachers. Learners, in turn, asked more questions. However, these changes came at a cost -- the gradual loss of weaving as an everyday subsistence practice and art form. Tracing intergenerational change over three generations, this study makes a unique contribution to an understanding of cultural evolution.

This article provides instructions for an engaging classroom activity when discussing the Equal Pay Act of 1963. Students are asked to consider how to approach pay decisions when hiring a new employee for their business. Issues arise when the new hire asks for a higher wage than a current employee of a different sex. Legal Environment of Business/Business Law, Business Communication, and Business Ethics are all tied together in a discussion of what it means to pay someone more or less money based on their sex.

Project-based experiential business education seeks to provide students with lessons that are meaningful, practical, and enduring. While previous research has sought to understand how students and faculty members react to such educational experiences, it is also important to understand the perceptions of the business clients who engage with programs employing project-based education. The aim of this study was to better understand the experiences of business clients with whom students engaged as part of an undergraduate business capstone course. Two hundred fifty-three previous clients were surveyed with a 22.4% response rate. Responses were subjected to content analysis to cluster replies into representative themes, which were subsequently checked by comparison with responses from a focus group comprised of five of the original respondents. Sentiment analysis was then utilized to compare the prevalence of positive and negative statements associated with the themes. Responses related to working with the students and student learning were substantially positive (89% and 73% of statements, respectively). Student contributions were positively noted by many clients, with 86% reporting that changes were made based upon student recommendations. Seventy-seven percent reported that student engagement resulted in value creation for the client's organization. Notably, 71% of the clients reported long-term, positive impact from the engagement with the students. These responses indicate that the business clients perceive engagement with students in project-based experiential learning to have substantial value. When coupled with previous research, these results suggest a mutually beneficial experience for the clients, students, and faculty for project-based, experiential learning.

Purpose: This article explores the interconnection between Paraguayan consumer behavior and products from Argentina and Brazil, situating the study within the context of past hostilities (animosity) and present uneven relations among the three nations. Methodology: Employing snowball sampling methodology, we conducted surveys with 385 middle- and upper-class Paraguayans from the greater Asunción area, both in-person and online, during the first half of 2022. The survey included questions on country-of-origin scales (specially consumer animosity), product preferences, and demographics. We developed and estimated a conceptual model connecting antecedents with Paraguayan consumer attitudes toward Argentina and Brazil using multiple regression. Findings: The impact of acculturation and the receipt of household remittances is significant on consumer animosity (CA). Elevated levels of acculturation intensify CA, while receiving household remittances acts as a mitigating factor against CA feelings. Practical Implications: Novel antecedents of consumer animosity inform and may guide decision-making for businesses and policymaking in addressing consumer animosity in Paraguay. Originality: This is the first study of consumer animosity in Paraguay.

While firearm-related injuries are the leading cause of death among US children between 1-18, and account for nearly half of suicides among young people, public health experts continue to struggle in identifying efficacious mechanisms to reduce and prevent firearm access for children. Currently 4.8 million children live in a home with a loaded and unlocked firearm and more than a third of adolescents nationwide say that they can access a loaded firearm within five minutes. However, the risk of unintentional or self-inflicted firearm injury is lower if all household firearms are stored locked. It is imperative for parents to be counseled on safe firearm storage practices, and this has been studied within various healthcare settings. Yet, little is known about the impact on the education of safe firearm storage counseling within the community. Also, temporary emergency storage can be a vital option for families in crisis. We identified 130 firearm retailers and 31 firearm ranges in the Greater Houston Area and were able to successfully contact 66 retailers (51%) and 19 ranges (61%). Only 9% (n=8) of retailers and ranges contacted reported offering temporary emergency firearm storage. At point-of-sale, there was wide variation in the communication mechanisms employed in educating individuals on safe firearm storage practices including informational handouts, videos, posters, training classes, and verbal counseling. Collaborating with firearm retailers and ranges to introduce more consistent messaging on firearm safe storage at point-of-sale represents a novel approach to community-based interventions to firearm counseling and potentially suicide prevention.

According to the cliché, it is not what one says so much as how one says it. In the business world, those words ring particularly true. How one presents information can influence all forms of business decisions, from level of investment to expansion to downsizing and everything in between. This brings up significant questions relating to the manipulation of data and data integrity in general -- particularly since the presentation of data is, in effect, the creation of knowledge. It is therefore vital to be able to look at data, its analysis, and its presentation, using an ethical framework. This article presents the students with two scenarios, one focusing on how data is presented and the other focusing on the credibility of the data. In both cases, the "clear" answer is to present the information honestly, but the looming question is "how?" Due to extenuating factors in both cases, students are forced to think about how a seemingly simple decision can have a significant impact on not only a business and its employees, but also the clients, customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders.

Dominant research streams in management conclude that knowledge transfer between managers and associated patient groups is accomplished through compatible instructions and/or socially assembled practices. Underlying these views is the belief that any texts and practices carry with them the codes necessary for their decoding and, therefore, enable an unproblematic knowledge transfer to naturally occur. The research asked if this relationship could be improved from both a personal and organisational perspective by developing a better understanding of the various knowledge transfer mechanisms at work. These findings show that in an organisational context, different perspectives to knowledge must be comprehensively understood before any technique to reduce transfer anomalies is introduced within an environment.

Business-inspired school reform policies in the United States date back to the late 19th century. In the last four decades, however, while school reformers have continued to borrow policies and practices from the business world, the dominant business model itself has changed dramatically as part of the financialization of the economy. Once a bureaucratically governed social institution, focused on long-term stability and committed to multiple stakeholders, the corporation has become a destabilized network of temporary contracting relationships, singularly focused on maximizing shareholder value. This conceptual article explores what it means for schools, as public and democratic institutions, to emulate business in the era of financialization. Through analysis of several recent trends in business-inspired school reform policy, I demonstrate the diffusion of financialization logic and practices into public schools. I argue that while business may have "historically" been a problematic model for educational policy, business is now a uniquely unqualified model.

This study investigated the macro discourse markers used by TED speakers to signal ideas to listeners. 150 TED transcripts from six talk genres: technology, entertainment, design, business, science, and global issues were compiled to identify the frequency and distribution of macro discourse markers. This investigation was conducted to confirm the hypothesis that genres of talks did not affect the distribution of discourse markers. The study also hypothesized that a number of macro discourse markers which explicitly containing the word 'idea' or 'ideas' in them could be found. The results confirmed that the occurrences of macro discourse markers were not subject to talk genres and that 51 markers containing the word 'idea' and 'ideas' were found.

Purpose – This study examines the role of market orientation in the relationship between internal marketing and entrepreneurial orientation within private sports clubs. Design/methodology/approach – The research is a descriptive-correlational study based on private sports clubs employees within Iran (Sanandaj). A theoretical model was developed based on the literature and tested using SPSS and PLS-SEM software. Findings – The findings indicate a positive relationship between internal marketing and employees' entrepreneurial orientation. Market orientation has also played a positive mediating role in the relationship between internal marketing and entrepreneurial orientation. Originality/value – The results suggest a higher level of market orientation in the organization can increase teamwork and, consequently, entrepreneurship development among employees. This is important in sports clubs as employees have a significant role in the success of the sports club. Club employees' satisfaction, generated through internal marketing, provides is a prerequisite for customer satisfaction. This therefore creates an environment supportive of entrepreneurial orientation in the club.

COVID-19 has significantly impacted Australia's attractiveness as an international study destination and affected public university budgets, which have increasingly relied on attracting international students through business education. The notion of business schools as an onshore export business has long been a constraint to business schools' claims of public legitimacy. COVID-19 has effectively removed the 'cash cow' status, meaning business schools must turn to other sources of support and legitimacy to secure their future. A Delphi of expert panel members was conducted to determine how this and other key drivers of change will impact business education in Australia over the next 10 years. It is clear from the findings that public business education is now irrevocably changed and that, without dramatic shifts in policy and strategy, it will confront even more significant challenges to its legitimacy into the future.

The purpose of the study is to determine factors influencing millennial consumers’ response towards travel packages and services advertised online. Analyzing data from the Philippines using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling, results indicate that consumer awareness influences purchase decision while consumer awareness affects consumer perception. Moreover, consumer perception has a significant influence on purchase decision. The findings in this study can be the basis of managers and marketing communication practitioners for producing efficient online marketing communication programs, i.e., to launch informative advertisements that raise the millennial group’s awareness about travel offerings, advertisements that establish positive impressions, and advertisements that translate buying interest to actual purchase.

Questionnaire design is routinely guided by classic experiments on question form, wording, and context conducted decades ago. This article explores whether two question order effects (one due to the norm of evenhandedness and the other due to subtraction or perceptual contrast) appear in surveys of probability samples in the United States and 11 other countries (Canada, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom; N = 25,640). Advancing theory of question order effects, we propose necessary conditions for each effect to occur, and found that the effects occurred in the nations where these necessary conditions were met. Surprisingly, the abortion question order effect even appeared in some countries in which the necessary condition was not met, suggesting that the question order effect there (and perhaps elsewhere) was not due to subtraction or perceptual contrast. The question order effects were not moderated by education. The strength of the effect due to the norm of evenhandedness was correlated with various cultural characteristics of the nations. Strong support was observed for the form-resistant correlation hypothesis.

Purpose: Learning and development are critical to a business's success. This paper aims to focus on organizational factors at multiple organizational levels that facilitate learning culture in a small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) in northwestern China. Design/methodology/approach: This study is qualitative in nature. A single case study method is used to explore an SME's organizational factors that facilitate learning culture. Findings: This paper categorizes the organizational factors into seven dimensions: shared vision, creating continuous learning opportunities, informal learning that promotes inquiry and dialogue, collaboration and team learning, knowledge management systems, work-family enrichment and encouragement and support. This paper also compares the findings with learning culture models from Western research. Research limitations/implications: Chinese culture has far-reaching and fundamental effects on many East Asian countries and regions. For SMEs in similar cultural settings with a collectivist orientation, future research may focus on the effect of the work-family enrichment on learning culture. Originality/value: Work-family enrichment was found to be an important factor that influences learning effectiveness in this Chinese small business based on traditional values in Chinese culture.

Drawing on generational theory and the concept of a boundaryless career, this research explored how sport management students conceptualize a career within the field of sport. Using focus groups and interviews, qualitative data was collected from undergraduate sport management students (n = 47) at two American institutions. Data analysis illuminated both student motivations for entering the major and the ways in which they envision their career trajectory within the sport industry. Specifically, motivations for choosing the sport management major can be classified into three main themes: (i) interest in business and management, (ii) general passion for sport, and (iii) participatory sport experiences. Analysis also showed that students' career aspirations demonstrate a level of uncertainty, combined with an overall optimistic outlook and some reservations regarding future family-work considerations. Further, nuanced differences due to gender emerged within the data. Collectively, these findings lead to interesting theoretical considerations and practical implications for educators.

The adoption of the robotic process automation (RPA) is important to perform tasks efficiently and recently to keep social distancing as way to prevent spread of COVID-19. In addition, innovation plays a vital role to be competitive in today’s market. One of the innovations that is gaining popularity is the application of automation other than manufacturing. However, because of its early development, there are limited studies to predict and analyze RPA in accounting. The purpose of the study is to examine to the effects of innovation adoption attributes on the acceptance of users and adoption of robotic process automation in accounting. Using PLS-SEM method, our findings indicate that trialability has significant relationship with RPA adoption. Trialability was also noted as the highest predictor.

Customer satisfaction management is expected to sustain firms and call centers by keeping customers. Adapting measures from the SERVQUAL model, the purpose of this research was to determine the factors contributing to the quality of customers’ experience with phone support, and their subsequent impact on the repeat purchase of products. Using Ordinal Logistic Regression method, we analyzed respondents representing American customers encountered through Filipino technical support agents in a call center in the Philippines. With ranked ratings, findings indicate that wait time, communication, attitude, product, first call resolution (one call) have significant impacts on the overall customers’ experience with the phone support. The quality of overall customers’ experience has significant impacts on the likelihood of repeat purchase. Other factors relating to quality customers’ experience and repeat purchase among call center customers of other products and services can be investigated to strengthen knowledge and strategy for a sustainable call center customer base.

Data visualization is a key component to business and data analytics, allowing analysts in businesses to create tools such as dashboards for business executives. Various software packages allow businesses to create these tools in order to manipulate data for making informed business decisions. The focus is to examine what skills employers are looking for in potential job candidates, and compare with the ability to include those technological skills in a business school curriculum. The researchers explored a variety of software tools, and reported their initial results and conclusions.

This study focuses on the effects of involving fourth grade students in an experiential learning task that improves the school and requires the students to call on community agency, area business, and high school student support. Data related to students' learning were collected by using evaluative writing surveys, student and parent conferences, observational records, and other student works. From the qualitative data analysis, it was clear that purposeful writing increased student's enjoyment of writing. Student enjoyed orally presenting their prewriting and these presentations proved to be an effective method for the revision and editing of their written work.

This study tested a three-component community prevention intervention with alcohol businesses to reduce alcohol overservice and to reduce drinking and driving crashes using a longitudinal design. The intervention involved a responsible beverage serving practices toolkit, a series of on-site visits from law enforcement, and a supporting media campaign. The effort achieved a reduction in the monthly percentage of drivers arrested for driving under the influence who cited the alcohol-licensed establishments as the place of last drink, and the number of establishments mentioned 2+ times as well as a decline in alcohol-involved crashes in the 12-month postintervention period. Results supported a conclusion that the intensive intervention media can achieve a reduction in the frequency with which drinking drivers utilized bars and restaurants and overall impaired driving-related crashes.

Increasingly, managers and employees are facing ethical issues when conducting business in the global marketplace. Business educators attempting to teach appropriate ethical behavior and develop skills for dealing with complex ethical situations need to incorporate realistic case scenarios to challenge students. Such cases should appropriately address personal, corporate and international and cultural issues students are likely to face. This paper presents realistic cases that have been used to teach ethical decision-making in international business classes.

While there is growing awareness of the existence and activities of Academic Custom Writing websites, which form a small part of the contract cheating industry, how they work remains poorly understood. Very little research has been done on these sites, probably because it has been assumed that it is impossible to see behind their firewalls and password protection. We have found that, with some close scrutiny, it is indeed possible to find some 'cracks' in these sites through which we can look to gain insights into the business processes that operate within them. We have reverse engineered the business processes that operate within some of these sites. From this we have also been able to identify three different business models that are supported by these sites. Our analysis supports important findings about how these sites operate that can be used to inform future strategies to detect and deter contract cheating.

Building on its substantial and sustained evolution over the past thirty-plus years, Spanish for the Professions and Specific Purposes (SPSP) should flourish in the future as a paradigmatic curricular mainstay. A characteristic of its steadily emerging theory-based maturity within the Language for the Professions and Specific Purposes (LPSP) curricular ecosystem will be the increased thickness and granularity of SPSP in continual response to evolving learner needs. Development of SPSP as an adaptable signature feature of future Spanish curricula represents a fundamental, renewable long-term investment in the relevance, and therefore the centrality, of the study of Spanish. It is a commitment to curriculum development activism.

Introduction: With a definition that is evolving, a serious component of the contract cheating issue involves individuals paying a third-party to complete assessment items for them and then submitting this work as if it were their own. The issue of contract cheating poses a significant problem for tertiary institutions. The research literature conducted to date has addressed contract cheating, yet few papers discuss theory-based prevention strategies, and even fewer still evaluate the impact of theory-based prevention strategies. Case description: This paper discusses a case study of contract cheating that was identified in a business simulation operating in a capstone unit at a large Australian university. The problem is outlined, the theory-based intervention is explained, and the impact on the contract cheating problem is quantified. Discussion and evaluation: Building on a platform provided by criminological theory and crime prevention practice, the Unit Coordinator systematically adjusted a large number of assessment elements to ensure contract cheating was less likely. Importantly, this intervention was effective but also did not disadvantage students who were not engaging in contract cheating. Conclusions: Overall, this paper connects criminological theory and crime/problem prevention practice with academic misconduct issues with the intent of demonstrating there is potential to minimise the opportunity for contract cheating by altering the opportunity structures for assessment items. Crucially, this can be done without impeding genuine student efforts and does not depend on apprehension and conviction.

Crowdsourcing is a process in which a firm parcels out work to a "crowd" and offers payment for anyone within the crowd who completes the task determined by that firm. A growing number of behavioral scientists have begun using the Mechanical Turk (MTurk) to facilitate their research and practice, but there is apparently not one academic study in social work reporting the use of crowdsourcing tools. Social work professionals have the responsibility to use research findings to improve practice, policy, and social service delivery. This article aims to (i) provide an overview of MTurk; (ii) review specific uses of MTurk in business, psychology, health care, and education; and (iii) discuss the possible applications of MTurk for social work.

Community colleges have become increasingly reliant on diversifying their revenue sources, and turning to private fund raising has become a common strategy for many of them. Although fund raising has been a common practice in higher education since its inception, it has only emerged in the two-year college sector in the past several decades. The current study sought to identify donors at a case study, suburban community college, specifically exploring giving patterns over time and testing the conceptual framework of a pyramid of giving that overlays institutional involvement and commitment with giving levels. Major infrastructure inconsistencies prevented much of the framework testing, but data were capable of creating an initial donor and giving profile for a typical community college. This profile demonstrated that board members and employees were the most loyal and consistent in making contributions, but that these gifts often were stable over time and did not increase to become major gifts. Also, private business and industry gifts were often given at the same level as individual gifts, perhaps illustrating the responsiveness and cooperation between community colleges and the local workforce.

In their collegiate studies, students are given a wide range of concepts, theories, and equations to assist them in their future endeavors. However, students have not been sufficiently exposed to practical critical thinking methodologies that will benefit them as they encounter open-ended problems. A course developed at the University of Michigan exposed upperclassmen undergraduates enrolled in the College of Engineering to strategies to develop their creativity and to enhance their problem solving abilities. These abilities, along with a number of "softer" skills necessary for student upon entering the workforce, are developed by the use of real-world examples and a course term project where students interacted with local businesses.

Purpose: The revenues for mobile data transmission overtook the revenue of voice calls for the first time in 2014 in the USA. It can be observed that demand for mobile data – largely driven by video and cloud - is increasing exponentially, while overall data revenue is rising only moderately. This will lead to insufficient revenues stream to increase investments into mobile networks and ensure quality service. Consequently, hereof network performance will deteriorate sharply. At the heart of the problem is the current global pricing regime of fixed multiple MB/GB bundles, irrespective of time of the day, intensity of usage (e.g. video vs. email) and underlying economic value of the data. A new framework is proposed as to optimize and align network capacity and implicit data value/utility, which is crucial to ensure customer satisfaction and access justice. Methodology/Approach: The fundamental differences in pricing voice and data in voice and/or data centric networks are analysed in detail. Information has been synthesized as to develop insights into the impact of different devises and type of digital traffic for the overall performance of mobile networks. Based hereupon, a new framework for mobile data has been proposed to address the increasing misalignment between network capacity, usage and underlying data value/utility. Initial solutions have been proposed and discussed. Findings: While voice calls are easily quantifiable and are largely predictable in its occurrence and network load implications, mobile data traffic shows very large variations depending on type of traffic. While social media messaging by many customers consumes very little capacity, consumption of video streaming by relatively few customers can lead already to network saturation. Research Limitation/implication: Carriers set prices for a fixed amount of data – irrespective of intensity and time of data traffic - which leads to sharp spiky type of traffic patterns essentially signalling sharp overuse during busy hours coexist with large period of underused times. Originality/Value of paper: A new framework for proposition building and particularly pricing of mobile data services is provided.

Purpose: The goal of XPRESS is to establish a breakthrough for the factory of the future with a new flexible production concept based on the generic idea of “specialized intelligent process units” (“Manufactrons”) integrated in cross-sectoral learning networks for a customized production. XPRESS meets the challenge to integrate intelligence and flexibility at the “highest” level of the production control system as well as at the “lowest” level of the singular machine.Design/methodology/approach: Architecture of a manufactronic networked factory is presented, making it possible to generate particular manufactrons for the specific tasks, based on the automatic analysis of its required features.Findings: The manufactronic factory concept meets the challenge to integrate intelligence and flexibility at the “highest” level of the production control system as well as at the “lowest” level of the singular machine. The quality assurance system provided a 100% inline quality monitoring, destructive costs reduced 30%-49%, the ramp-up time for the set-up of production lines decreased up to 50% and the changeover time decreased up to 80%.Research limitations/implications: Specific features of the designed manufactronic architecture, namely the transport manufactrons, have been tested as separate mechanisms which can be merged into the final comprehensive at a later stage.Practical implications: This concept is demonstrated in the automotive and aeronautics industries, but can be easily transferred to nearly all production processes. Using the manufactronic approach, industrial players will be able to anticipate and to respond to rapidly changing consumer needs, producing high-quality products in adequate quantities while reducing costs.Originality/value: Assembly units composed of manufactrons can flexibly perform varying types of complex tasks, whereas today this is limited to a few pre-defined tasks. Additionally, radical innovations of the manufactronic networked factory include the knowledge and responsibility segregation and trans-sectoral process learning in specialist knowledge networks.

The paper explores the form and content of economic interaction of firms based on various concepts of agglomeration and social networks. It uses a case study of the machinery sector in the region of Styria as empirical background. Starting with types of clustering – the model of pure agglomeration, the industrial-complex model and the social-network model - the paper argues that certain geographical agglomerations allow different types of networks and different patterns of behaviour. Thus different forms of learning, knowledge sharing and knowledge creation. Some “stylized facts” in support of this perspective are derived from an analysis of a regional network. This network comprises individualistic open systems consisting of several areas which overlap. Physical linkages between these networks are weak, but intersections based on cooperative R&D and R&D infrastructure, qualification and informal exchanges are evident. From a regional perspective it can be seen to dominate. Despite evident sectoral concentrations direct links to the prevailing science base appear more significant as binding factors than long term supplier networks. These relationships are interpreted in terms of their need for proximity, their durability and above all their direction of knowledge dependency.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to develop a measure of managerial caring. A review of the caring literature from nursing, education, and management formed the theoretical framework for the study. The Measure of Managerial Carator Behaviors (MMCB) survey instrument was developed from an initial conceptual framework based upon a review of literature and existing instruments which measure caring. The resulting Likert-type instrument to measure managerial caring behaviors was field-tested using a sample (N = 233) of managers. The MMCB was validated through a factor analysis procedure. (Contains 1 figure.)

Knowledge spillovers from universities and other public research institutions (PRIs) are viewed as essential for innovation. Previous studies examining the impact of such spillovers have been confined to the West, and there are no comparable studies using empirical data from Japan that explore the relationship between spillovers from PRIs and innovation in firms. The author attempts to address this gap by using data from Japanese PRIs and new technology-based firms (NTBFs). He examines several topics: the evidence that knowledge spillovers from PRIs are localized in Japan; the extent to which such spillovers are contingent on geographical proximity; whether the type of tool used to measure spillovers--patents or scientific publications--has a bearing on the results; and the relationship between spillovers and innovation in Japanese NTBFs. (Contains 19 notes, 5 tables and 2 figures.)

On 10 February 1947, A.C. Buehler, the president of the Victor Adding Machine Company presented Norden Bombsight #4120 to the Smithsonian Institute. This sight was in service on board the Enola Gay when it dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Through this public presentation, Buehler forever linked his company to the Norden Bombsight, the Enola Gay, and to history. Buehler's ultimate goal, however, was the sale of adding machines, and while significant, the presentation to the Smithsonian was essentially the final step in a long running advertising campaign designed to sell adding machines. During the War, Victor was the Army's main contractor for the production of Norden Bombsights. This work is an investigation into the dysfunctional relationship that existed between Victor Adding Machine Company, the Army, the Navy Bureau of Ordinance (BuOrd). Wartime shortages demanded that pre-war arrangements between the Army and BuOrd be reconsidered and it was agreed that the Army be allowed to build its own units. Within a year of production Victor sights were scrutinized for their inaccuracies, and ultimately Victor's contract was cancelled ending the Army's short sojourn into bombsight production. (Contains 27 notes.)

Purpose: This paper aims to focus on developing critical understanding in human resource management (HRM) students in Aston Business School, UK. The paper reveals that innovative teaching methods encourage deep approaches to study, an indicator of students reaching their own understanding of material and ideas. This improves student employability and satisfies employer need. Design/methodology/approach: Student response to two second year business modules, matched for high student approval rating, was collected through focus group discussion. One module was taught using EBL and the story method, whilst the other used traditional teaching methods. Transcripts were analysed and compared using the structure of the ASSIST measure. Findings: Critical understanding and transformative learning can be developed through the innovative teaching methods of enquiry-based learning (EBL) and the story method. Research limitations/implications: The limitation is that this is a single case study comparing and contrasting two business modules. The implication is that the study should be replicated and developed in different learning settings, so that there are multiple data sets to confirm the research finding. Practical implications: Future curriculum development, especially in terms of HE, still needs to encourage students and lecturers to understand more about the nature of knowledge and how to learn. The application of EBL and the story method is described in a module case study--"Strategy for Future Leaders". Originality/value: This is a systematic and comparative study to improve understanding of how students and lecturers learn and of the context in which the learning takes place. (Contains 2 tables.)

Russia has ratified the UN Convention Against Corruption but has not successfully enforced it. This paper uses updated GTAP data to reconstruct a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to quantify the macroeconomic effects of corruption in Russia. Corruption is found to cost the Russian economy billions of dollars a year. A conclusion of the paper is that implementing and enforcing the UNCAC would be of significant economic benefit to Russia and its people.

Business schools must prepare students to face the world and yet maintain strong ethical convictions. The question of ethics in the business environment is not exclusive to the United States. Ethical business behavior is a multinational issue, and all business schools world-wide must deal with this issue. However, cultural differences often define acceptable ethical behavior. For example, the acceptable amount of a "token" gift from one party to another is an ethical issue. Some American businesses do not even allow employees to accept gifts from clients, while within other businesses, both National and International, it is an acceptable tradition. Bribery of foreign officials during the 1970's addressed this issue of what is acceptable in the form of gifts and/or payments between public officials when they initiated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, which prohibits the "paying, offering, promising to pay (or authorizing to pay or offer) money or anything of value.....to corrupt payments to a foreign official, a foreign political party or party official, or any candidate for foreign political office" (usdoj.gov). Ethical situations involving foreign officials and diplomats in other countries can also affect business transactions, which may ultimately be controlled by graduates from business schools in our colleges and universities. Consequently, the question is "What are the differences in ethical perceptions and values between cultures?" Once this question is addressed, business professors can adapt their teaching methods to help shape and mold the ethical values of business students. In a search for the answer to these ethical questions between cultures, the authors representing two universities, decided to conduct a small research sample on their business students. One of the colleges is a small public university located in the Southeastern United States, and the other is a university located in the Middle Eastern country of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A small sample of students from selected business classes of each school were given a 16 question ethics quiz which had been taken from The Wall Street Journal. The questions ranged from personal use of company e-mail on the job to whether or not the individuals had lied about sick days or had taken credit for another's work. The authors hoped to determine whether there were any significant differences between the answers given from the two schools pertaining to these types of ethical issues and to learn to what extent the different cultures had in shaping the ideas of these future business professionals. (Contains 2 tables.)

This essay is a critical reflection on educational standardization, particularly the standardization of assessment flowing down from major international assessment projects like the OECD's Project for International Student Assessment to national and sub-national school systems. I argue that the establishment of an increasingly uniform metric to measure educational performance has developed out of the mental measurement movement from the 19th century and scientific management from the early 20th century. As this movement is articulated with commodification and neoliberalism, I use the image of an ongoing quest for a standardized educational measurement instrument similar to a thermometer or a speedometer. I call this quest the search for an edumometer and argue that it is by now well advanced and draw on Canadian examples to illustrate the argument. (Contains 8 notes.)

Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan have adopted significant legislative changes since the fall of the former Soviet Union in an effort to attract foreign direct investment into their energy sectors. Of the three republics, Kazakhstan has been the most successful in attracting foreign interest, but all three republics face significant challenges in further development of oil and gas infrastructure. Even if these countries are completely successful in bringing in foreign investment, a question will remain: who wins and who loses in these countries. Using updated data, this paper will use a computable general equilibrium model to measure the effects of FDI into Central Asia. Results of the model suggest that the region would be better off overall from foreign investment in its natural gas sector, due mostly to improvements in overall production efficiency and its overall terms of trade. However, the gain in the natural gas sector would come at the expense of production and net exports of non-petroleum related industries.

Education is not a business! That's a typical response when anyone suggests that public schools should behave more like businesses. While this is true, one indisputable fact about businesses is that inefficiency equals failure. Education stands to benefit from the same survival tactics as its private sector counterparts. This article presents ten business practices that will help school districts maximize resources and run smoothly. These practices include asset management, business plan, digital age performance assessment, security assessment, benchmarking, a clear mission, highly competent hires, business ethics, estimating investment value, and negotiation. (Contains 10 online resources.)

The author introduces a simulation of counter-cyclical interventions that highlights important issues surrounding the practice of government intervention. The simulation provides experiential insight as to why economists have long debated the degree of persistence exhibited by disequilibrating shocks and connects this debate to discussions about policy lags. In addition, the author explores the related issues such as unintended procyclical stimuli created by the political business cycle, the importance of central bank independence, the role of automatic stabilizers, and the value of forecasting. The simulation reminds students of the real-life complexities behind curve-shifting textbook problems and cautions that even optimal strategies may fail over short time horizons. (Contains 10 figures, 4 tables, and 7 notes.)

Academic institutions have come to recognize the value of involving business students in solving real business problems, but most lack a way to systematically and reliably bring the needs of the business community and the resources of the academic community together. Responding to this need, a Web site was developed to promote linking students with real business problems. It has helped identify projects in various functional areas that aided businesses and enhanced student learning. It is capable of supporting multiple universities within the state and across multiple states. Currently, business representatives can search for student expertise. A future version will also allow business users to post their needs to the Web site. (Contains 1 figure and 3 tables.)