American Business Research Articles

Implementation of Business Excellence Models in Healthcare for Quality Assessment: A Systematic Review.

The assessment of healthcare facility quality using business excellence models provides valuable information about performance gaps, which can be used to improve performance. Within the excellence framework, the "result" domain presents more challenges in terms of improvement over time. Using European and American business excellence-based models (EFQM and Balridge, respectively), this review aims to highlight the impact of quality assessment on the improvement of healthcare performance results. A literature search was performed using PubMed, SCOPUS, and CINAHL databases. PRISMA guidelines were followed. All the articles were evaluated using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) Tool. Thematic analysis was conducted following Thomas and Harden's approach, and confidence levels were determined using the GRADE-CERQual method. Nine studies were included. Two main themes emerged: 1) the assessment highlighted improvement in some results; and 2) the assessment highlighted areas that need improvement. The assessments focused mostly on customer-based results and least on society-based results. Six out of nine included studies did not show improvement in the desired results after a one-time assessment; however, no recommendations to improve quality were given to the facility after the assessments. Unless there is continuity in the assessment process, the desired results may not improve.

Instructional methods in emergency online teaching: The case of a Latin American business school

Instructional methods have an impact on the learning process and the quality of educational services aimed at accomplishing learning objectives. The purpose of this paper is to examine the most preferred instructional methods during emergency online teaching used by instructors. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 36 full-time and part-time faculty members belonging to an accredited Hispanic business school. The results showed that faculty used many different instructional methods during synchronous and asynchronous sessions. Similarly, there is a relationship between the professors’ academic areas and the instructional methods used. Based on these results, this study proposes a reference model of instructional methods for higher education based on professors’ experiences during emergency online teaching that includes five categories: group methods, active methods to contribute to the development of competencies, methods to ascertain prior knowledge, methods that promote understanding through the organization of information and methods that use digital tools. The originality of the study lies in the fact that it analyzes the migration experience from in-person to online teaching at an accredited Hispanic business institution.

The cost of anti-Asian racism during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anti-Chinese sentiment increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, presenting as a considerable spike in overt violence and hatred directed at Asian American individuals. However, it is less clear how subtle patterns of consumer discrimination, which are difficult to directly observe yet greatly impact Asian American livelihoods, changed through the pandemic. Here we examine this in the context of restaurants-ubiquitous small businesses that sell goods that are closely entwined with ethnicity. Using a series of surveys, online search trends and consumer traffic data, we find that Asian restaurants experienced an 18.4% decrease in traffic (estimated US$7.42 billion lost revenue in 2020) relative to comparable non-Asian restaurants, with greater decreases in areas with higher levels of support for Donald Trump. Our findings are consistent with the roles of collective blame, out-group homogeneity and ethnic misidentification in explaining how anti-China rhetoric can harm the Asian American community, underlining the importance of avoiding racism and stigmatization in political and public health communications.

Robber Barons and Wretched Refuse: Ethnic and Class Dynamics during the Era of American Industrialization

Robber Barons and Wretched Refuse: Ethnic and Class Dynamics during the Era of American Industrialization

Four Frame Analysis of Disney's Affect on American Business

Four Frame Analysis of Disney's Affect on American Business

The Political Economy of American Businesses in British Central Africa, 1953–1963

This article details how and why officials in the United States and the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland developed policies and initiatives to promote US capital investments. It analyzes these policies in the context of decolonization, white minority rule, and the Cold War in Africa. It further shows how US business interests, especially in the mining industry, increased their investments and influenced policy. Drawing from Zimbabwean archives, it argues that these competing priorities produced inconsistent results that tended to support US imperialism and hinder nationalist movements in British Central Africa.

A Brief Analysis of Cross-Cultural Factors Affecting Sino-US Business Negotiations

China's market opening has deepened as a result of reform, opening up, and the operation of a market economy, and bilateral interactions have gradually increased. Successful cross-cultural business negotiations can enable companies to better participate in economic competition and cooperation between companies internationally and promote the burgeoning of international trade in their own countries. Cross-cultural business negotiations are becoming more and more important between nations. However, cultural differences are often a major factor in the failure of Chinese and Western business negotiations. Therefore, it is important to clarify the cross-cultural factors that influence business negotiations and the strategies to deal with them. The paper aims to analyze how cultural differences between China and the United States affect cross-border business talks and to pinpoint practical coping mechanisms. The paper summarizes the cross-cultural factors that generally affect Chinese and American business negotiations from the literature on international business negotiations and cross-cultural communication.

Showtime for American Business: General Motors and American Look (1958)

The Chevrolet-General Motors–sponsored film American Look (1958) harnessed technologies of Hollywood spectacle to make their production bigger and bolder than many previous sponsored films. Beyond merely selling a car, the film engaged its viewers with an exhibition of General Motors' corporate persona, aligning its products with the prestige of good design on a grand scale in a Technicolor, widescreen, sponsored epic. Locating my analysis within the cultural and geopolitical context of the Cold War era, this paper argues that American Look expands current rubrics for understanding sponsored and industrial films.

Emersonian Self-Reliance and Inherent Contradictions in American Business Management

Emersonian Self-Reliance and Inherent Contradictions in American Business Management

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor

Graduating college students apply here: Communicating family firm ownership and firm size

Attracting business college graduates is a major challenge for the growth and transgenerational success of family firms. Moreover, the institutional context of countries is critical in explaining family firms’ potential advantages and/or disadvantages in attracting nonfamily talent. This study aims to elucidate how communicating firm ownership (family vs. nonfamily), firm size (large vs. small), and type of job offered (professional vs. nonprofessional) influences the perceptions and attitudes of Latin American business graduates toward working in such firms. In an experimental study that uses job advertisement stimuli, we found that communicating family ownership positively influences career development’s perceptions of firm prestige. Large (vs. small) firm size also has a positive influence on job seekers’ perceptions of firms. Importantly, both firm prestige and career development positively influence the attraction of working in family firms. In this paper, we discuss the differences in the results among countries and professional vs. nonprofessional job positions advertised. The results have several implications for family firm owners and managers.

The US chamber and chambers of commerce respond to Black Lives Matter: Cheap talk, progressive neoliberalism, or transformative change?

AbstractThis article examines the responses of the US Chamber of Commerce and state- and local-level chambers of commerce to Black Lives Matter (BLM). The US Chamber of Commerce's Equality of Opportunity Initiative stresses the business case for racial equity and the economic benefits that can be attained by overcoming race-related inequalities. Many chambers are adopting racially progressive positions, often at some cost to themselves. This article contributes a typology of stances and actions and draws on interviews with American business leaders to characterize American business organization responses to BLM. There is some movement beyond a progressive neoliberal vision of nondiscrimination to acknowledge that it is necessary to “level the playing field.” And the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives of state- and regional-level chambers suggest that they are making genuine and, in some cases, bold and meaningful attempts to advance the cause of racial equity. The evidence suggests that popular mobilization and social pressure following George Floyd's brutal murder played a critical role in enabling this progress. However, the parallels and similarities between current chamber and business DEI efforts and business stances in the tumultuous 1960s and 1970s raise the question: Can current efforts succeed where previous efforts have failed?

The politics of palaeontology: the creation, reduction, and restoration of Grand Staircase–Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments

Grand Staircase–Escalante and Bears Ears are tracts of U.S. federal lands in Utah that were designated as national monuments in 1996 and 2016 respectively in part for the importance of their geological and palaeontological resources. In the 25 years since it was established, Grand Staircase–Escalante became known as the “science monument” for its strong emphasis on palaeontological science, including coordinating activities of its palaeontological manager. Synthesis of the hundreds of research papers there transformed scientific understanding of Mesozoic ecosystems. Before a management plan could be implemented at Bears Ears National Monument, President Donald Trump reduced the boundaries of both monuments to less than half their originally designated area. His action was arguably the first major rollback of palaeontological resources in the United States, underscoring the position of palaeontological science in the political debate about federal lands. Palaeontologists joined Native American tribes, conservation groups, and businesses in a joint effort to re-establish the monuments, an effort that was partially realised when President Joseph Biden restored their boundaries in 2021 but was not immediately able to reinstate previous management priorities. The palaeontological significance of these national monuments intersects with many other perspectives on the value and use of these lands, including indigenous and religious groups who faced oppression, the conservation of wilderness, economic and industrial development, and political struggle between state and federal, and executive and legislative aspects of government. This article explores the scientific significance and political context of the palaeontology of these two monuments as an example of how scientific priorities intersect with other societal pressures in the management of public lands.

Applying Commemorative Museum Pedagogy to Public Music Studies

Applying Commemorative Museum Pedagogy to Public Music Studies

Drum Rhythms and Golden Scriptures: Reasons for Mormon Conversion Within Haiti's Culture of Vodou

Drum Rhythms and Golden Scriptures: Reasons for Mormon Conversion Within Haiti's Culture of Vodou

How American Businesses Could Approach Trade with Companies in South America that Are Located in Adequate and Non-Adequate Countries

This essay discusses the legal data privacy issues faced when doing business with a European Union (EU) member or a GDPR-compliant country that is not a member of the EU. The EU data transfer requirements are briefly explained, followed by a description of the South American nations that are General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)-complaint or near GDPR- compliant, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay. The paper talks about whether the United States or any of the states in the Union can be considered by the European Commission (EC) to be an adequate country and the impacts of the United States not being an adequate country. The former United States Privacy Shield (Shield) and its predecessor, the International Safe Harbor Privacy Principles (ISHPP), both of which were invalidated by the EC. Although the United States and the EU recently announced the Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework (TADPF), the EC is anticipated to invalidate this framework. It is recommended that companies employ the pre-approved standard contractual clauses (SCCs) as the least risky endeavor to assure personal data privacy. The paper then turns to the issues involved in leveraging existing privacy policies. In this regard, the United States’ sectoral approach to privacy is examined. The leverage issues that exist when interacting with GDPR-complaint countries are considered. Two lists of recommendations are presented, the first list being more general-purposes, while the second list is specific. The paper concludes by observing that a firm should analyze the privacy laws under which it is covered, select the most inclusive policies and procedures so that the company is compliant with the GDPR and state and federal sectoral laws, and implement the resulting conservative privacy framework.

How American Businesses Could Approach Trade with Companies in South America that Are Located in Adequate and Non-Adequate Countries

How American Businesses Could Approach Trade with Companies in South America that Are Located in Adequate and Non-Adequate Countries

Practical Applications of Jack Bogle: American Business HeroTribute: My Friend Jack

The premier issue of <b><i>The Journal of Beta Investment Strategies</i></b> (Spring 2022) is a tribute to Jack Bogle (1929–2019), founder of The Vanguard Group. The issue includes several articles about Bogle, including <b><i>Jack Bogle: American Business Hero</i></b> by <b>Burton Malkiel</b> of <b>Princeton University</b> and <b><i>Tribute: My Friend Jack</i></b> by <b>Clifford Asness</b> of <b>AQR Capital Management</b>. Malkiel focuses on Bogle’s remarkable contributions from the perspective of someone who knew him well. Asness shares personal stories and anecdotes that further illuminate the character, ideas, and convictions of Jack Bogle, who dramatically transformed the investment industry for the better. Bogle’s accomplishments included founding The Vanguard Group and creating the first index fund available to ordinary investors. The articles provide insights into the significance of Bogle’s contributions at the time of their inception and in the financial world today.

Peer Mentoring and the Importance of Identity Work: A Case Study on Increasing Study Abroad Participation Among African American Students

This article presents a longitudinal case study of efforts to increase participation of African American students who study abroad within an undergraduate business program. Based on an initial assessment, programmatic efforts were put into place and the impact measured across a five-year period. Results show that specific program changes that leverage peer mentoring and identity work substantially increased study abroad participation among African American business students. Key aspects of effective and inclusive program design along with the importance of peer-to-peer mentoring and identity work are discussed ln terms of their role in reducing racial disparities in study abroad participation.

Real business cycles in emerging countries: Are Asian business cycles different from Latin American business cycles?

Most previous studies on business cycles in emerging markets have focused on elucidating the differences between advanced and emerging countries. However, the present study investigates the differences in two groups of emerging countries, namely, those in Asia and Latin America. This study first documents that Asian economies are characterized by a higher trade balance share volatility, higher autocorrelations in key macroeconomic variables, higher contributions of trend productivity shocks to fluctuations in key macroeconomic variables, and lower consumption volatility, than Latin American economies. By estimating dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models buffeted with various structural shocks and frictions and performing a counterfactual analysis, this study further suggests the key sources of the differences. First, the first three differences are mainly explained by a higher persistence of trend productivity shocks in Asia than in Latin America. Second, the differences in consumption volatility appear to arise from a higher labor supply elasticity in Asia than in Latin America. We further provide data on policy regime changes and labor markets in both regions to explain the differences in their economic structure. The differences in the contribution of trend productivity shocks in economic fluctuations of the two groups also provide a partial explanation of the discrepancy in the role of trend shocks in past studies.