Showing papers by "Oklahoma City University published in 1999"

Business strategy and CEO intelligence acquisition

Abstract: When top executives gather information for making strategic decisions, they pay more attention to some sectors of the environment than others. The authors were curious about which sectors are important to CEOs pursuing different strategies. They also wondered whether CEOs change their patterns of information search if their firm's strategy changes. Finally, they wanted to know if CEOs of higher-performing firms that follow a particular strategy scan the environment differently than lower performers? These questions were evaluated by studying the scanning practices of CEOs of single-business manufacturing firms. The authors conducted an experiment in a field setting, wherein CEOs responded in their offices to interactive, computer-delivered information search tasks. These data were combined with information from surveys. The authors found that business-level strategy was related to the focus of both external and internal scanning, and that CEOs' scanning patterns changed when business-level strategy changed. The CEOs of firms that were the highest performers matched certain aspects of both their external and internal scanning to their business-level strategy. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Acquisition of Culturally Loaded Words in EFL.

Abstract: Although vocabulary learning has begun to gain due attention in L2 acquisition research, studies have been scarce on 12 acquisition of culturally loaded words—those that are similar in primary meaning but different in connotation between LI and L2. This study attempts to determine empirically whether or not EFL students' understanding of culturally loaded words approximates that of native speakers of English, and how much English proficiency level may account for the extent of this approximation. The study involved 125 EFL students (all English majors with 64 being intermediate-level and 61 advanced-level students) from a university in China and 61 native-speaker students from an American university. The three groups were asked to rate the appropriateness of six culturally loaded words and four culturally neutral words in sentences that provided adequate contextual information. Statistical analysis of the three groups' ratings indicates that there is some limited but inadequate EFL approximation towards the target model in the understanding of culturally loaded words and that even advanced EFL students' understanding of most of the words differs significantly from that of the native speakers. The findings suggest that EFL/ESL educators and researchers should pay more attention to this special type of vocabulary and that vocabulary should be taught in adequate and appropriate social and cultural context.

Owning the Law: Intellectual Property Rights in Primary Law

Abstract: Over the past decade, the impact of electronic technologies, in conjunction with the Supreme Court's clarification of copyright's originality standard, has caused a series of judicial and legislative conflicts over the appropriate scope of intellectual property protection for compilations of primary legal information, such as case reporters and annotated codes. The unsettled nature of the law complements an upheaval in the legal information industry as a prolonged period of intense acquisition and merger activity consolidates the former assortment of independent legal publishers into a handful of imprints largely controlled by two multi-national conglomerates. This article assesses the appropriate scope of intellectual property protections for primary law compilations, viewed against the backdrop of the changing industry structure. The article proposes a comprehensive, and relatively stringent, reading of the originality standard as applied to primary law compilations, reviews legislative proposals for enhanced protections for compilations, and applies economic and public policy analyses to the alternative proposals. I argue that the current copyright regime provides more than adequate incentives for primary law publishers and that present initiatives for expanded sui generis protections for databases and other compilations are overbroad and fundamentally unnecessary in the context of this particular industry.

Executive Insights: The Harmonization of Product Country Marking Statutes—Strategic Implications for International Marketers:

Abstract: The country marking displayed by a product repeatedly has been found to affect consumer product evaluations. This study provides a detailed examination of the “tests of transformation” statutes, which form the international basis for determination of country marking. Four major legal tests (name, character, and use; essence; value-added; and article of commerce) are presented, and practical examples are provided to illustrate their strategic uses. Finally, strategic guidelines are provided for global marketing strategists for obtaining appropriate country markings.