Farm household risk balancing : implications for policy from an EU perspective

Purpose - Building on the risk balancing theory and on recent discussions the appropriateness of using farm income maximization as behavioural assumption, this paper extends the risk balancing framework by accounting for business-household interactions. The purpose of this paper is to theoretically introduce the concept of farm household risk balancing, a theoretical framework in which the farm household sets a constraint on the total household-level risk and balances farm-level and off-farm-level risk. Design/methodology/approach - The paper argues that the risk behaviour of farmers is better understood by considering risk at the household level. Using an analytical framework, equations are derived linking the farm activities, off-farm activities, consumption and business and private liquidity. Findings - The framework shows that a farm household that wants to minimize the risk that total household cash flow falls below consumption needs, may exhibit a wide variety of behavioural responses to changes in the policy and economic environment. Social implications - The framework suggests multiple ways for policy makers and individual farmers to support risk management. Originality/value - Risk management is at the core of the agricultural policy and it is of paramount importance to be able to understand behavioural responses to market and policy instruments. This paper contributes to that by suggesting that the focus of current risk analysis and management studies may be too narrowly focused at the farm level

Ethical human resource management: a critical analysis

In modern day, Human Resource Management (HRM) is seen as a mere variant of management control aiming intentionally to ‘colonize’ the identity of the individual employee which points to the contradictions between the idealised HRM theories and its practice commonly referred to as the difference between rhetoric and reality. These critical analyses suggest that HRM reflects a historical shift in the way work is defined and managed and research has to be undertaken on how morality and ethics may be represented in the discourse, lived experiences, practice and broader context of HR professionals. The HR function will continue to face challenges in balancing business imperatives and ethical values but as long as the corporate and HR leadership remains committed, no challenge may be insurmountable

Economic Freedom as Political Virtue: An Insight from the Perspective of Value Pluralism

This paper considers the market process as the essence and intrinsic core of liberal democracy. It disentangles market means from welfare ends and recognises the importance, constitutional status and independent stand of the former. Freedom is placed in the same categories as rights. Each constitutional right is protected not because it is efficient, useful or self-executable. On the contrary, rights are protected as a matter of evolutionary choice, as a matter of public principle, as an ethical rather than a practical value.Economic freedom usually leads to success. Its successfulness however sometimes transforms into its biggest enemy. Economic prosperity is a category which can find supporters more rapidly than the notion of economic freedom does. Therefore the latter is often perceived as a means to reach former. The main argument of this paper is that freedom itself loses its internal legitimacy if it is constantly subordinated to the tangible outcomes which it can eventually generate. Freedom can generate welfare, indeed, but welfare maximisation is neither an unconditional nor a quintessential feature of freedom. Freedom must be perceived as a driving force for entrepreneurial discovery, and a prerequisite to democracy, rather than as a mere component of the economic success. Freedom cannot be seen as purely rational, predictable and calculable

Normative Perspectives for Ethical and Socially Responsible Marketing

This article presents a normative set of recommendations for elevating the practice of marketing ethics. The approach is grounded in seven essential perspectives involving multiple aspirational dimensions implicit in ethical marketing. More important, each basic perspective (BP), while singularly useful, is also integrated with the other observations as well as grounded in the extant ethics literature. This combination of BPs, adhering to the tenets of normative theory postulation, generates a connective, holistic approach that addresses some of the major factors marketing managers should consider if they desire to conduct their marketing campaigns with the highest levels of ethics and social responsibility

Consumer protection in the Kenyan financial sector: A case for a Twin Peaks model of financial regulation

Magister Legum - LLMThe dynamic character of the financial services industry necessitates frequent appraisal of the regulation of the sector. The main objectives for regulation of the financial sector include financial stability, promotion of competition and protection of the consumers. In ensuring consumer protection, there is need to balance this with all the other objectives to ensure optimal protection in the entire financial sector. This can be difficult as it is mostly dependent on the regulatory framework in the financial sector for the basic reason that most of the failures are associated with regulation. Key to the challenges is that consumer protection is served by measures that ensure proper conduct on the part of the service providers. Interests of the providers of the financial services may thus not be sufficiently aligned with those of the consumers of the products. There are three common models of financial regulation. They are the sectoral model, unified or integrated model and the Twin Peaks model. The financial sector in Kenya follows a sectoral model. It is a hodgepodge of institutional and functional regulation. There are five (5) government agencies that regulate specific segments of the financial sector with each of the regulators being established to operate independently within the permits of an Act of Parliament. This is without mentioning the many other segments that have no specific regulators