Ethnocentricity in academic marketing journals: a study of authors, reviewers, editorial boards and editors

Purpose – This paper aims to examine and compare a set of key characteristics of ethnocentricity that influence the policy of academic marketing journals, and hence the provenance, authorship and nature of articles in academic marketing journals.

Design/methodology/approach – The “fundamental” characteristics of three major marketing journals, published in the USA, the UK and New Zealand, were examined for the six-year period from the start of 2000 to the end of 2006. Data were collected from editorials and web homepages. Analysis was conducted of 811 articles, 1,676 authors, three editorial teams and three sets of reviewers

Findings – There is a challenging academic ethnocentricity in the management and implied policy of the three journals. The extent varies, but the inescapable conclusion is that the world-wide research community in marketing is not properly represented by leading journals.

Research limitations/implications – The sample was intentionally small, and unrepresentative of any category except “leading quality”. The findings are intended to add momentum to a debate and point ways forward, not to provide generalisable answers.

Practical implications – The findings suggest that: the editorial boards and reviewing teams should be made more representative geographically; editorships should be organized around the concept of a team of geographically differentiated editors; editorial and review teams should be ethnographically representative of individuals who do research and wish to publish it, particularly beyond the English-speaking world. In general, the world-wide research community in marketing would benefit from less ethnocentricity in academic journals, and these leading examples should strive to reduce it.

Originality/value – The impact of ethnocentricity is underestimated in this context. The issue needs to be discussed, because of paradigmatic influences that it can have on a journal and the profile of its authors, and hence on journal ranking and perceptions of journal quality.

Korea's developmental alliance : state, capital and the politics of rapid development

South Korea is often cited as a case of miraculous transformation from poverty to prosperity. Korea’s achievement of moving from one of the world’s poorest countries as recently as the early 1960s to the ranks of the ten biggest economies only four decades later has rightly attracted interest from policymakers and scholars alike.

This book identifies the factors that shaped relations between the state and big business in Korea, the ‘developmental alliance’. These factors offer a cogent framework in which to identify and predict changes in power relations between government and business. Rather than merely offering a means of explaining the rapid-growth phase of Korean development, the politics of the developmental alliance also help us understand how and why the Korean miracle turned to crisis in 1997 and why the subsequent recovery has been so uneven. In this way, the book highlights the political power of business, which is often underplayed in discussions of the development of Korea. It also sheds light on the constraints on policymakers during modernisation, and how power is shared among a small number of powerful parties.

Illustrating the tumultuous politics of the ‘developmental alliance’ between business and government during the rise and decline of South Korea’s economic miracle, this book is an essential read for anyone interested in Korean politcs, economics and development,

Policing, rule of law, state capacity and sustainable peace in Timor-Leste

This paper sets out to demonstrate the link between development, state capacity and peace, employing Timor-Leste as the case study. It employs the association between state capacity and development to illustrate where if state capacity is lacking or functions improperly there is likely to be a low level of state legitimacy. This in turn manifests as lack of respect for or failure of rule of law, developing as generalised lawlessness and anti-state activity and eventually manifesting as intra-state or civil conflict. In particular, policing is seen as a critical component in state legitimacy, being the 'front line' of the judicial system from which legitimacy ultimately derives. This issue is particularly critical in states emerging from traditional legal and judicial structures, but which have not yet articulated into 'rational-legal' structures. Ipso facto, key state institutions, such as the judicial system and police are required to function well, while these are alone not enough to guarantee peace, they are significant contributors to and guarantors of peace.

Gender and ethnic diversity on boards and corporate responsibility : the case of the arts sector

This study provides insights on sector-specific characteristics, challenges and issues that affect corporate responsibility (CR) in relation to ethnicity and gender on arts boards. Using stakeholder theory, the study explores how arts board composition (e.g. gender and ethnicity) sets the scene for dynamics that affect CR. Data analysis is based on interviews with 92 board members and stakeholders sitting on 66 arts boards in Australia. Results suggest that the dynamism of gender and ethnic diversity on arts boards makes them responsive to CR; however, their presence does not always lead to CR. For diverse boards to lead to CR, our findings indicate the significance of board member attributes of passion, skill and capability of developing networks, irrespective of gender and ethnicity. The article advances understanding of the implications and relevance of ethnic and gender diversity on non-profit boards and contributes to an important yet under-researched body of literature.

Gender-diverse boards and properties of analyst earnings forecasts

Using a sample of 2,200 U.S. listed firm-year observations (2001-2007), this study shows a positive (negative) relation between gender diversity on corporate boards and analysts' earnings forecast accuracy (dispersion), after controlling for earnings quality, corporate governance, audit quality, stock price informativeness, and potential endogeneity. Our findings are important as they suggest that board diversity adds to the transparency and accuracy of financial reports such that earnings expectations are likely to be more accurate for these firms.

State ownership and corporate governance

State ownership of publicly-traded corporations remains pervasive around the world, and has been increasing in recent years. Existing literature focuses on the implications of government ownership for corporate governance and performance at the firm level. This Article, by contrast, explores the different but equally important question of whether the presence of the state as a shareholder can impose negative externalities on the corporate law regime available to the private sector. Drawing from historical experiments with government ownership in the United States, Brazil, China, and Europe, this study shows that the conflict of interest stemming from the state’s dual role as a shareholder and regulator can influence the content of corporate laws to the detriment of outside investor protection and efficiency. It thus addresses a gap in the literature on the political economy of corporate governance by incorporating the political role of the state as shareholder as another mechanism to explain the relationship between corporate ownership structures and legal investor protection. Finally, this Article explores the promise of different institutional arrangements to constrain the impact of the state’s interests as a shareholder on the corporate governance environment, and concludes by offering several policy recommendations.

Amphibia, Anura, Hylidae, Dendropsophus melanargyreus (Cope, 1887): distribution extension, new state record and geographic distribution map.

We present the first record of Dendropsophus melanargyreus for the state of São Paulo and a distribution map for this species. This new record represents the southeastern limit of distribution, which is 106 Km from the nearest locality previously recorded for this species and is the fourth new register of anuran to northwestern region of São Paulo in the last two years, increasing species list of the region from 33 to 36 species. This results evidence the importance of this region as priority area for inventory.

Quantum state density and critical temperature in M-theory

We discuss the asymptotic properties of quantum states density for fundamental p-branes which can yield a microscopic interpretation of the thermodynamic quantities in M-theory. The matching of the BPS part of spectrum for superstring and supermembrane gives the possibility of getting membrane's results via string calculations. In the weak coupling limit of M-theory, the critical behavior coincides with the first-order phase transition in the standard string theory at temperature less than the Hagedorn's temperature T-H. The critical temperature at large coupling constant is computed by considering M-theory on manifold with topology R-9 circle times T-2. Alternatively we argue that any finite temperature can be introduced in the framework of membrane thermodynamics.

Timelike and spacelike hadron form factors, Fock state components and light-front dynamics

A unified description of spacelike and timelike hadron form factors within a light-front model was successfully applied to the pion. The model is extended to the nucleon to study the role of qq pair production and of nonvalence components in the nucleon form factors. Preliminary results in the spacelike range 0 <= Q(2) <= 10 (GeV/c)(2) are presented.

Aspects of solid state formation and properties of Sn(0.9)Ti(0.1)O(2) system doped with CoO and Nb(2)O(5)

The effect of calcination temperature during the formation of the solid solution Sn(0.9)Ti(0.1)O(2) doped with 1.00 mol % CoO and 0.05 mol % Nb(2)O(5) is presented. The structural characteristics of this system were studied using X-ray diffraction, and the changes in phase formation were analyzed using the Rietveld method. With an increase in calcination temperature, there is increasing miscibility of Ti into the (Ti,Sn)O(2) phase and near 1000 degrees C, and the remaining TiO(2) (anatase) was transformed into the rutile phase. The sintering process, monitored using dilatometry, suggests two mass transport mechanisms, one activated close to 900 degrees C associated with the presence of TiO(2) (anatase) and the second mechanism, occurring between 1200 and 1300 degrees C, is attributed to a faster grain boundary diffusion caused by oxygen vacancies. (C) 2008 International Centre for Diffraction Data.

Structural studies of AgPO3-MoO3 glasses using solid state NMR and vibrational spectroscopies

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)