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Most Americans consume diets at odds with nutrition recommendations, contributing to our ongoing epidemics of noncommunicable diseases. One strategy for accelerating progress toward healthier diets involves formal agreements between companies and nongovernmental organizations to develop new products, reformulate existing products, and implement new marketing strategies. Although the general intention for industry agreements is to generate public health benefits, their goals and activities may not align with this intention. Based on a literature review and technical assistance we provided to organizations engaged in industry agreements, we believe that increasing scientific scope and rigor in evaluations of voluntary food and beverage industry agreements could improve potential public health benefits and understanding of their actual effects. We provide recommendations for external, unconflicted funding that permits comprehensive, independent, and rigorous evaluation of voluntary industry agreements.

Mergers and Acquisitions are just part of life in business. For example, in the health care technology field in 2012, Veritas Capital Partners acquired Thomson Reuters' Healthcare. Other major active acquisition companies included: Medical Transcription Billing, T-System Technologies and Sharecare. In this case study, a larger health technology company (Global Medical) acquires a smaller health technology company (Health Tech). But, as the case unfolds, there are major problems with getting the smaller company integrated into the larger company--including decreased in production and falling behind on deliveries

This study investigated the impact of two approaches to research-led education on students' learning and their understandings of research in the context of two university courses in international business involving third year undergraduate and graduate students. One approach involved the lecturer using his research as the basis for a case-study assignment involving an intercultural business negotiation. In the second approach students conducted a research project in which they reviewed the academic literature to identify practical implications for business and theoretical gaps as the basis for future research. A questionnaire was used to explore students' perceptions of the impacts on their learning and understandings of research. Students' understandings of research were most informed by the research based learning project which was presented to them as an experience of doing research. Students valued the lecturer using his research in the course because of his enthusiasm and his expertise and mentoring in doing research. However many students developed only limited understandings of research in the subject area, despite their direct experience of the lecturers' research. The implications for the design of research-led education approaches are explored.

Since 2004, a number of Canadian provinces have initiated comprehensive reviews of their respective public post-secondary education systems. This paper examines the ways in which these provincial post-secondary education reviews are consistent with the pervasive influence of economic globalization on higher education and a more market-driven and commercially-oriented ideological outlook on post-secondary education's raison d'etre. Taken together, these provincial reviews provide an informative and interesting repository of the current tendencies in Canadian post-secondary education policy. (Contains 1 table and 2 footnotes.)

The present study investigated the processes information professionals, working in a business environment, follow to meet business clients' information needs and particularly their involvement in information synthesis and analysis practices. A combination of qualitative and quantitative data was collected via a survey of 98 information professionals across North America and follow-up interviews with eight Canadian information professionals. It was found that there is an increasing need for value-added services, which incorporate synthesis and analysis but the level of information professionals' involvement differs depending on a range of factors such as clients' needs and attitudes, information professionals' knowledge of the subject area and their length of time working in a particular organization. Information synthesis and analysis in a business context is mostly a collaborative process and principles of analysis are required throughout the entire cycle of information seeking. For the effective transition of information professionals to information synthesists and analysts more effective support may be required to develop a set of essential skills and knowledge. (Contains 4 figures.)

How do social movements influence corporations? Recent work suggests that movements can inflict material damage on their targets and shape categories of evaluation in organizational fields. Extending these ideas, we examine the effects of anti-sweatshop campaigns on sales, stock performance, reputation and specialized ratings of U.S. firms, using fixed-effects regression models and event study methods. The analysis demonstrates that social movements can in some circumstances shape both the markets and fields that firms inhabit. Specifically, anti-sweatshop campaigns (1. had negative effects on sales (though only among certain types of firms), (2. influenced stock prices, and (3. shaped specialized ratings of corporate responsibility. They also diminished previously positive corporate reputations (to a modest degree) but did not radically alter reputational hierarchies in the business community.

The author describes how investment research workshops were used to prepare students at Texas A&M University (TAMU) to compete in the 2008 Equitrader Collegiate Challenge. The Equitrader Collegiate Challenge is a simulated equity trading competition that enables students to match wits against the market and other contestants. This paper describes an interactive approach to investment literacy, which guided students through a logical process of utilizing professional-level investment resources, such as Morningstar and Thomson One Banker, to conduct investment research and analysis for stock selection. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)

On the basis of the connectionist model of leadership, we examined perceptions of leadership as a function of the contextual factors of race (Asian American, Caucasian American) and occupation (engineering, sales) in 3 experiments (1 student sample and 2 industry samples). Race and occupation exhibited differential effects for within- and between-race comparisons. With regard to within-race comparisons, leadership perceptions of Asian Americans were higher when race-occupation was a good fit (engineer position) than when race-occupation was a poor fit (sales position) for the two industry samples. With regard to between-race comparisons, leadership perceptions of Asian Americans were low relative to those of Caucasian Americans. Additionally, when race-occupation was a good fit for Asian Americans, such individuals were evaluated higher on perceptions of technical competence than were Caucasian Americans, whereas they were evaluated lower when race-occupation was a poor fit. Furthermore, our results demonstrated that race affects leadership perceptions through the activation of prototypic leadership attributes (i.e., implicit leadership theories). Implications for the findings are discussed in terms of the connectionist model of leadership and leadership opportunities for Asian Americans. (Contains 4 tables and 6 figures.)

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.)

Most US post-secondary and business leaders recognize the value of industry advisors and advisory committees, and the important roles they can play with respect to post-secondary educational programmes. Most such committees, however, fall far short of realizing their potential impacts. This article provides insights and practical recommendations for individuals and organizations interested in or involved with the development, facilitation and/or evaluation of high-performance advisory boards.

This paper articulates the opportunity of using an experimental business laboratory approach as a means of accelerating the creation, incubation and testing of new venture ideas. Such a strategy leads to the establishment of a micro-ecosystem of aspiring entrepreneurs and others in a business laboratory environment. The goal is to create a mini idea-supercollider, in which a microscopic "De Medici Effect" (Johansson, 2004) can be achieved, with aspiring entrepreneurs with different ideas, experiences and disciplines meeting in a spirit of open innovation--the sum of the whole being much greater than the sum of the individual parts. The development of an ecosystem for idea generation and rapid testing using business simulation tools can accelerate the creation, mobilization and diffusion stages of the knowledge lifecycle (Birkinshaw and Sheehan, 2002) in a knowledge- driven entrepreneurship venture, while de-risking potential ventures before significant capital is applied. (Contains 2 notes.)

Universities are increasingly being seen as commercial enterprises, and are represented as particular types of business entities in manuals provided to university managers. Critical discourse analysis is employed in this paper to construct an analytical framework for the study of managerial advice, which is then used to examine the manual provided to Australian universities for the conduct of institutional audit by the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA). Institutions are represented as businesses, but contrary to the rhetoric of universities being colonised by "new managerialism", the manual constructs institutions more as localised and constrained businesses than globally networked entities. (Contains 1 table.)

This case study describes the step-by-step application of the traditional human performance technology (HPT) model at a premier kayak company located on the coast of North Carolina. The HPT model was applied to address lost revenues related to three specific business issues: misinformed customers, dissatisfied customers, and guides not showing up for tours or lessons at the kayak company. The case study includes problem statements, organizational analysis, environmental analysis, gap analysis, cause analysis, and proposed interventions. (Contains 5 figures.)

The purpose of this article is to describe an assignment for a legal environment of business course that builds upon and reinforces strong business communication practices. The assignment discusses "piggybacking," which is the unauthorized use of another person's wireless Internet connection. In this assignment, the students are required (1) to evaluate timely business issues in a critical way and (2) to produce a short report, based on a selected position, that demonstrates both skill in professional writing and an understanding of the underlying business law implications of their perspective. Further, the students must discuss and defend their positions in a persuasive, analytical, and logical manner. This assignment and activity aim to guide students to more effective forms of business communication through substantive short report writing and a simulated public meeting that emphasizes oral presentation skills. Business students benefit from as much exposure to best communication practices as possible; as such, reinforcing these practices across undergraduate and graduate business curricula is essential. Courses in the legal environment of business are well-matched to this interdisciplinarity, and the reinforcement of best practices in these courses provides opportunities to assist all students to become the most effective communicators (and, therefore, the most effective business professionals) that they can be.

As Co-Founder of the Alliance for Early Childhood Finance, it is the author's job to think about how they pay for early care and education (ECE) services in the United States. Generating the operating revenue needed to establish and sustain a high-quality ECE program has never been easy--and in a recession economy it is becoming even more difficult. To be sustainable, ECE managers must tap and blend many funding streams, deal with multiple public and private agencies, and effectively market their services to families. To keep the dollars flowing they must not only comply with a dizzying array of funding requirements, but also ensure that their program meets an increasingly complex set of quality standards. Add in all of the daily demands--staff who need supervision, a child who needs developmental screening or special health care or just won't stop biting, an anxious new parent, a clogged toilet, an ill cook--and who has the time or energy to deal with high finance? In short, running a successful ECE business can be a herculean job. The author has profound respect for directors who are able to effectively juggle these competing demands, but she also worries that their field is losing leaders who are deeply skilled in child development simply because they are tired of struggling with the business side of the equation. These worries led her to a new quest. If she couldn't make ECE finance simple, was there a way to help ECE businesses more easily manage the complexity? Was there a way to approach finance that not only generated additional dollars, but also helped ECE businesses succeed? In this article, the author discusses a strategy she has come to call "shared services."

Students often bemoan the fact that they can't see the relevance of the report they are asked to write or the case study they have to analyze. This paper introduces the use of attending an industry tradeshow as a means of making assessment more interesting and meaningful. Much has been written about the need to bring reality back to management education and many institutions worldwide have attempted to do this through fieldtrips, simulations and case studies. This paper explains how relevance and reality can be achieved in a simple and cost effective way. Essentially postgraduate marketing students are given an assessment task which requires them to attend an industry tradeshow. Following the tradeshow they write a marketing plan and make a presentation for a company in a business-to-business marketing context. The implementation of this approach and its effect on assessment and learning outcomes is presented in this paper. Feedback from students on their experiences of the assessment task and its impact on their learning is also presented. (Contains 1 figure.)

Throughout the last decade, companies have increased their investment in electronic commerce (EC) by developing and implementing Web-based applications on the Internet. This paper describes a class project to develop a customized computer website which is similar to Dell Computer Corporation's (Dell) website. The objective of this project is to ensure that students receive real-world experiences in the classroom. Students went through three rounds of iterative study and improvements to finalize the project design. This paper presents this customization process using the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 platform. The paper concludes with a discussion of "lessons learned" and suggestions for effectively teaching project development in an EC design course. (Contains 8 figures.)

The purpose of this paper is to report on who creates branding within institutions of higher learning, and what impact branding has on core institutional activities such as student recruitment and fundraising, as well as on socio-psychological factors such as community respect and national prestige. Eighty-nine tertiary education experts covering three world regions were surveyed in order to gather information to fulfil the paper's objectives. The nature and extent of involvement of enrolled students, alumni, higher management, external consultants, civic leaders and the business community were investigated to identify the part each plays, if any, in the development of an institutional brand. Findings indicate that institutions have a tendency to brand from the top down rather than from the bottom up. (Contains 3 figures and 1 table.)

In general, the two basic methods for recording exchange transactions are to record them at gross, and then account for the discounts that are taken, or record them at net, and adjust for discounts that are not taken (are lost). Most principles texts cover only the gross method, and some do not even deal with the discount issue at all. Others may mention the discounts but rarely illustrate both methods. At the intermediate level, several texts discuss both methods, but usually note that the gross method is most widely used in practice, for a variety of reasons. Yet both methods are weak in terms of information provided. This paper presents a simple alternative method of recording exchange transactions that is theoretically superior to the popular gross method and is more informative than either the net or gross method. (Contains 2 tables.)

The start-up has received considerable attention in the last few years. While the National Research Council of Canada has generated many start-ups over its 88-year history, the creation of a formal entrepreneurship programme in the mid-1990s dramatically accelerated the pace at which they were created. Many factors come into play in the decision to select an appropriate commercialization vehicle. While the strength and scale of the business opportunity are key factors, as are the people involved and the status of the intellectual property, there are many other internal and external factors that must be taken into consideration. This article explores these factors and discusses the risks and benefits of the start-up as a commercialization vehicle.

Presents issues concerning return on investment (ROI) and its use in education and training. Discussion includes building a feasible ROI process; criteria for an effective ROI process; a practical model for ROI, which includes preliminary evaluation, data collection, isolating program effects, converting data to monetary values, tabulating program costs, calculating the ROI, and identifying intangible benefits. (AEF)

This questionnaire is designed to assist corporations and businesses in evaluating their own policies and procedures in preparation for the Americans with Disabilities Act regulations and their implementation. The questions cover recruitment, job advertising, the application process, the conditions and benefits of employment, and accessibility to transportation, facilities, and telecommunications. (CJS)

Investigates theoretical models and research findings on organization effectiveness derived from research in business and government sector organizations. Proposes a multivariate framework for assessing effectiveness in long-term citizens' participation associations. Assesses the empirical validity of the framework with data from citizens' participation associations in an urban school system. (JS)

Provides guidelines for school librarians and educators seeking funds for information technology from service groups, corporations, and foundations. Step-by-step advice is given for researching sources, building a team, clarifying objectives and procedures to enhance proposal writing, and keeping the funding source informed and involved. (EA)

Higher education is under enormous pressure to improve outcomes and reduce costs. Information technology can help achieve these goals, but only if it is properly harnessed. This article argues that one key to harnessing information technology is business model innovation that results in more "open" and "unbundled" operations in learning and credentialing, research and development, and business management. Information technology's potential to dramatically improve the performance of higher education will be realized only when new business models arise to harness it. Especially promising are open, multi-sided, and unbundled models that involve facilitated networks. Applied to learning and credentialing services, these new models have the potential to improve performance by achieving greater economies of scale and scope and providing the basis for greater personalization, access, and choice at affordable prices. The challenge is to further develop and evaluate these potentially disruptive business models and take the best of them to scale. Going to scale will require compatible changes in higher education value networks and the larger standards and regulatory environment IT professionals can play a major role in helping all this to happen. (Contains 22 notes.)

Eight papers cover: optical storage technology; cross-cultural videodisc design; optical disk technology use at the Library of Congress Research Service and National Library of Medicine; Internal Revenue Service image storage and retrieval system; solving business problems with CD-ROM; a laser disk operating system; and an optical disk for bibliographic databases. (MBR)