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The article explores the significance of modern legal business entities in the U.S. Topics discussed include the organizational law changes from a rigid governance structure to flexible structure in corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies (LLC), ability of modern entities to balance financial safety, agency costs and self-determination in case of legal disability of a business owner, and redundancy of traditional forms of entity in light of the presence of the LLC.

Joint ventures undertaken by domestic corporations with other American companies engaged in manufacturing or oil and gas extraction were studied. It was hypothesized that these ventures, in which a new organizational entity was formed, were a form of interorganizational linkage used to manage interorganizational interdependence, both competitive and symbiotic. Very large firms engaged in joint projects, and patterns of joint venture activity tended to follow the exchange of resources across industrial sectors. Examining the variation in the proportion of joint venture activities undertaken within the organization's own industry, it was found that conditions of industrial concentration, related to competitive interdependence, accounted for a significant amount of the variance. An industry by-industry analysis showed that joint ventures were more highly related to purchase transactions interdependence to the extent the industry was highly concentrated and had a higher proportion of its employment engaged in research and development. Sales transactions interdependence accounted for more of the variance in the pattern of joint venture activities when the industry was moderately concentrated. And both sales and purchase interdependence were more highly related to joint venture activity to the extent that the industry was capital intensive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the proposal to redo the rules in the U.S. that now apply to S corporations and partnerships by creating a single set of rules that would apply to both partnerships and corporations. It explains why the two-track system cannot be justified. It discusses the evolution of the S corporation rules. It explores whether the elimination of the two-track system would be disruptive and would involve compliance costs.

The article describes some of the steps a franchisor must assume in preparing to enter the U.S. market, complying with U.S. franchise laws and managing the issues and concerns that will eventually spring up along the way. An overview of U.S. franchise laws is presented. It is concluded that a successful entry for a non-U.S. franchise program in the U.S. markets requires advance planning and settlement of issues that can impact time and resources if not dealt with early.

From 1997 to 2001 the number of nonemployer businesses, mostly partnerships, grew faster than conventional firms in the United States, a country with the mildest asymmetries between the two types of enterprises with respect to taxation, administrative entry barriers, and other institutional aspects. Partnerships are smaller than conventional firms, and their different speeds of net entry could be the result of internal organization that makes them swifter and better equipped to be fast-growing industries. In a continuous-time stochastic environment with sunk costs, we model entry as a growth option. Partnerships and conventional firms display specific patterns in terms of output price and size in that they appear to react in diverse fashions to market uncertainty. In most cases, the partnership is less risky and better suited to enter under conditions of high volatility, as between 1997 and 2001 in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which analyzes the strategic networking among small business in small communities in the U.S. To achieve the main objective of the study, the researchers gather qualitative data through conducting field interviews with network directors and members of small businesses. Results suggest that shared vision and resource sharing among network members significantly benefited members business. It was also found out that these benefits were associated with a general perception of the advantages of network membership.

The article focuses on how substance, form and fiction should be used in the analysis of the tax consequences of partnership mergers, divisions and incorporations in San Diego, California. According to the author, the Partnership Restructuring Election is an acknowledgement that various forms for mergers, divisions and incorporations effectuate the same substantive transactions which should and can be treated the same way for tax purposes. He added that the proposed Partnership Restructuring Election lets form be merely a reflection of the business needs of the parties and uses a single set of elective fictions to determine the tax consequences of the transaction. He emphasized that fiction can be an incredibly valuable tool for interpreting transactions to reflect coherent tax policy.

Recent joint venture (JV) studies suggest that different combinations of firm-specific and contextual characteristics lead to differences in shareholder value creation in American parents. Although these studies improve our understanding of how various firmspecific and contextual variables interact, they do not identify the locus of differential shareholder value. This study attempts to fill the above-mentioned gap, and investigates the extent to which salient firm-specific and contextual JV variables vary across eight a priori defined groups of American parents. The study defines these groups based on: i) partner nationality, and ii) nature of created shareholder value (positive; negative). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents comments prepared by the committees of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation in response to the Notice 2000-29 given by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury department. Factors that motivated business owners to utilize unincorporated business organizations taxed as partnerships; Analysis of the federal income tax treatment of two types of options; Regulations on the issuance of a capital interest in a partnership.

In the last quarter of the twentieth century, urban law practice changed markedly. Using data from two surveys of Chicago lawyers, the first in 1975 and the second in 1995, the article argues that the most consequential development was the sheer increase in the size of firms. The organization of the delivery of legal services was restructured, and the relationships between lawyers and clients changed. Growth in the power and prestige of corporate inside counsel, greater competition among law firms, and the move by those firms into broader geographic markets precipitated changes in firm management. The recent movement into the international market for legal services of large accounting firms, financial services firms, and consulting firms (creating "multidisciplinary" partnerships) suggests the possibility of more far reaching changes in the next decade or two. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the concept of a new entrepreneurial role in services that we call the frantrepreneur. This is based on two case studies of the internationalization of two US franchisors, one in temporary services (Sweden) and the other in computer training (Australia). The frantrepreneur is defined as a franchisee who innovates by adapting a standard service concept to meet local conditions. This role is a further refinement of a series of earlier concepts concerning entrepreneurship roles such as the intrapreneur. This paper provides an indepth evaluation of the roles adopted by the frantrepreneurs and how they changed the original service concept. They did not passively accept the standard service concept and they developed an unusual partnership role with their franchisors with a two-way influence over the business. Although the innovations of frantrepreneurs were mostly in the form of small and incremental changes they standardized their developments to facilitate further adoption. The frantrepreneurs appear to play an important role in smoothing the adaptation and adoption of innovation in the internationalization of a franchise operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the negative consequences of commercial ties of major health charities in the U.S. by investigating their product endorsement initiatives as of 1997. The criticisms in this paper involve the specific case of product endorsements by charities that tie the income of the charity directly to the profitability of its commercial partner. Maintaining the public's trust is crucial to the nation's charities, for they are increasingly being called on to provide social services in light of growing disillusionment with the public sector. Commercial endorsements by major health charities are jeopardizing their reputations. Major health charities are in the process of eroding the trust in them that has been built up over decades by essentially shifting for various corporate interests.

The article examines labor cohabitation between blacks and Jews, specifically relations between blacks and Jews, within the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) in the United States. Three levels of analysis is aimed at. The historical analysis looks at a particular record of labor alliance, how it functioned, and areas of conflict. Second, the language of crisis provides a clue on the dynamics of coexistence. Third, there are several interpretations of the black-Jewish cohabitation.

This paper demonstrates the use of computer-aided text analysis to investigate a sensitive issue in organizations: hostile conflict. The context is American expatriate managers in the People's Republic of China. The text analyzed is from interviews of American expatriate managers describing conflicts with other Americans in the Sino–American joint venture and with their Chinese counterparts in the joint venture. We use interpretive categorization techniques and multidimensional scaling analysis, frequency counts and context ratings of the conflict descriptions to develop and investigate research questions regarding the use of hostile words in a sensitive setting (communist China). We discuss the disparities among the text analysis methods and why some may not be appropriate for examining organizational conflicts in foreign countries. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the challenges in furthering partnerships between public schools and businesses in the United States. Case example of the New York City Partnership; Strategies in offering hands-on experience for students. INSETS: DOUBLE DISCOVERY: A WELL-BUILT BRIDGE BETWEEN SCHOOL AND...;LIVING THE DREAM;ASHLAND OIL FIGHTS RISING DROPOUT RATE.

Focuses on the existence of permanent establishments in the United States. Application of the permanent establishment concept; Taxation of foreign corporations; Laws on corporate partnership.

Today's strategic challenge of doing more with less has lead corporations to look outward as well as inward for solutions to the competitiveness problem. To improve their ability to compete without adding internal capacity, Kanter says, companies can stretch in three ways: by (1) pooling resources with others, (2) allying to exploit an opportunity, and (3) linking systems in a partnership -- that is, becoming "PALs" with other organizations. In this article, adapted from her newest book When Giants Learn to Dance, Kanter examines how and why, in the face of heightened competitive pressures and the worldwide scope of both technology and markets, many U.S. firms have established cooperative ventures with companies both here and abroad that involve high levels of sharing and commitment -- an approach that is in sharp contrast with the adversarial system ingrained in U.S. business practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research upon the Waltham system was originally directed toward tracing the movement of recent Irish immigrants into the work force of the Boston Manufacturing Company in Waltham, in the period of 1850 to 1865. The conclusions suggested by the data were strikingly at odds with those of other investigators on a number of points. In particular, it was discerned that the supposedly "docile" Irish did not become willing partners in the deterioration of the Waltham system, except in a most extraordinary way.

The article presents information about the major gaps in the empirical literature on business negotiations in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. The importance of these groups rests in the high volume and the value of economic interactions among these three economies. Mexico is U.S.' third most important trading partner, with two-way merchandise trade amounting to $30 billion in 1984. Canada is the largest trading partner of the U.S. Because researchers often find outcomes of business negotiations difficult to measure and compare, negotiator satisfaction is important, measured both on the interpersonal level and within the context of the organization. The specific hypotheses begin with common assumptions that French speakers will be more contextual and thus more interested in the setting of negotiations than the English speakers. The authors establish a set of predetermined goals that are used to frame the expectations of each party in a negotiation. The authors also conclude that competitive bargaining determines the outcomes of negotiations between and among English-speaking negotiators, regardless of their nationality. Clearly, issues associated with cultural factors influencing international negotiations are pivotal to international business operations.

This article presents a survey on the evolution of European groups of advertising agencies. European networks controlled by U.S. agencies dominate the business accounting for more than 50% of billings of major agencies in all the leading countries except France where they have 30%. European agency networks are a minor factor with a high of 21% in Italy ranging down to 4% in Britain. Five stages of U.S. agency growth are traced: the pre-World War II era in which a few big firms came in with major U.S. clients, e.g., McCann with Coca-Cola; a wave right after the war in which other big firms entered and attracted important local customers by their size and sophistication; a third period when U.S. agencies stressed the purchase of existing agencies; a fourth wave in which late comers have acquired existing European networks; and now a new movement with U.S. firms on the lookout to assist young advertising men anxious to create their own agencies. Of the top 30 advertising groups in Europe, 9 are European controlled. They have evolved in varied ways. The first efforts were cooperative arrangements among agencies which retained their independence.