International Tax Aspects of Providing Consulting Services on the Premises of the Client

Among the most important issues in contemporary accounting practice is the handling of independent consultants who work for a firm but who are not officially employed by it and who therefore do not pay withholding taxes. This loss of revenue has important economic consequences, particularly in the developing world. In this article, the author considers the case of consultants who may or may not have an official office in the country in which they practice

The Added Value of Corporate Brands

This study shows that different types of associations regarding a company have different effects on customers' product evaluations. Associations with a company's ability influenced quality perceptions of products marketed by the company's subsidiaries, but not intentions to actually buy those products. In contrast, corporate social responsibility associations influenced product purchase intentions, but not quality perceptions.corporate image;survey;Corporate branding;brand strategies;product evaluations

Building Stronger Channel Relationships Through Information Sharing

Does sharing market information help channel partners to buildstronger mutual relationships? Is low initial trust really animpediment for further relationship development by means ofinformation sharing? How do connections with other competingchannel partners affect the relationship building process? Toaddress these questions, we conducted an experimental study.Our findings show that retailer information sharing helps todevelop higher quality supplier relationships. Interestingly,even if the initial level of trust in the retailer is low, therelationship quality substantially improves. In a morecompetitive situation the suppliers respond more favorably tothe retailer?s information-sharing initiative.experimental design;information-sharing;interfirm collaboration;marketing channels

Effect of rotation of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) with fonio (Digitaria exilis) and millet (Pennisetum glaucum) on Macrophomina phaseolina densities and cowpea yield

Macrophomina phaseolina, the causal agent of charcoal rot, causes great damage to cowpea in the Sahel. One of the few options to manage the disease is by cropping nonhosts that may reduce the soil inoculum below a damage threshold level. To test this, fonio (Digitaria exilis) and millet (Pennisetum glaucum) were cropped continuously for 3 years in plots with a natural infestation of 24-53 microsclerotia g(-1) soil at the onset of the experiment. Next, a susceptible cowpea variety was grown to quantify disease incidence and severity on these soils. Fonio and millet both reduced microsclerotial densities in soils from the first year onwards. Reductions under fonio (81% after the 2(nd) year; 86% after the 3(rd) year) were significantly stronger than under millet (56 and 66% for the 2(nd) and 3(rd) year respectively). Fonio was not infected by M. phaseolina, while the root systems of millet had low densities of microsclerotia. Cowpea yielded significantly more hay and pods after 3 years of fonio than of millet. Cowpea yields and disease incidence (dead plants) could be explained well by pre-planting microsclerotial densities. We conclude that rotation of cowpea with a gramineous crop may lead to a relatively fast decline of inoculum density. In the case of a high inoculum density, fonio can be grown for three years to reduce M. phaseolina densities in soi

Informants in Organizational Marketing Research

Organizational research frequently involves seeking judgmental data from multiple informants within organizations. Researchers are often faced with determining how many informants to survey, who those informants should be and (if more than one) how best to aggregate responses when disagreement exists between those responses. Using both recall and forecasting data from a laboratory study involving the MARKSTRAT simulation, we show that when there are multiple respondents who disagree, responses aggregated using confidence-based or competence-based weights outperform those with data-based weights, which in turn provide significant gains in estimation accuracy over simply averaging respondent reports. We then illustrate how these results can be used to determine the best number of respondents for a market research task as well as to provide an effective screening mechanism when seeking a single, best informant.screening;marketing research;aggregation;organizational research;survey research

Spatial variation in biodiversity, soil degradation and productivity in agricultural landscapes in the highlands of Tigray, northern Ethiopia

There is a growing concern about food security and sustainability of agricultural production in developing countries. However, there are limited attempts to quantify agro-biodiversity losses and relate these losses to soil degradation and crop productivity, particularly in Tigray, Ethiopia. In this study, spatial variation in agro-biodiversity and soil degradation was assessed in 2000 and 2005 at 151 farms in relation to farm, productivity, wealth, social, developmental and topographic characteristics in Tigray, northern Ethiopia. A significant decrease in agro-biodiversity was documented between 2000 and 2005, mainly associated with inorganic fertilizer use, number of credit sources and proximity to towns and major roads. Agro-biodiversity was higher at farms with higher soil fertility (available P and total N) and higher productivity (total caloric crop yield). Low soil organic matter, few crop selection criteria and steep slopes contributed to soil erosion. Sparsely and intensively cultivated land use types, as determined from satellite images, were associated with high and low agro-biodiversity classes, respectively, as determined during on-farm surveys in 2005. This study gives insight into the recent changes in and current status of agro-biodiversity and soil degradation at different spatial scales, which can help to improve food security through the maintenance of agro-biodiversity resource

The Impact of Channel Function Performance on Buyer-Seller Relationships in Marketing Channels

Distributors, across sectors and countries, are faced by the threat of disintermediation. In many industries, horizontal consolidation and advances in information technology have made it easier for manufacturers to bypass distributors and do business directly with consumers. Distributors have responded to this threat or other destructive acts in a number of different ways that can be represented through Hirschman's (1970) Exit-Voice-Loyalty framework. One additional response that distributors frequently adopt is developing countervailing power through dependence-balancing actions. These actions are designed to strengthen bonds with customers and often manifest themselves in the provision of improved channel services to customers. Does this strategy work? We seek to address this in our paper. Specifically, we examine the nature and magnitude of the direct and interactive effects of (a) the performance of marketing functions and services by a distributor and (b) the dependence structure of its relationship with its customers on different dimensions of relationship quality - satisfaction, trust, commitment and conflict. Of particular interest to us is the effect of functional performance on relationship quality in situations characterized by high relative dependence of the distributor on the customer - this closely approximates the situation that many distributors, faced by the threat of disintermediation, find themselves in. Hypotheses from our model are tested using data collected from the paint industry in the Netherlands and Belgium.buyer-seller relationships;channel management;channel services;relationship marketing;empirical

Translocation of bacteria from animal excrements to soil and associated habitats

The population dynamics of Salmonella enterica var. Typhimurium MAE 110 gfp, Escherichia coli O157:H7 gfp, and Pseudomonas fluorescens 32 gfp were investigated in their introduction to cattle excrements and subsequent entering the soil, plants of cress (Lepidium sativum L.), and migration through the gastroenteric tract of French snails (Helix pomatia L.). The survival of these bacteria in the excrements and soil was investigated at cyclically changing (day-night, 25–15 °C) and constant (18 °C) temperatures. The cyclically changing temperature adversely affected the survival of E. coli O157:H7 gfp, and P. fluorescens but did not influence S. enterica var. Typhimurium. All the bacteria and, especially, the analogues of enteropathogens showed high survival in the cattle and snail excrements, soil, and on the plants under the gradual decrease in their population. On the cress plants grown in a mixture of cattle excrements and soil, an increase in the number of the introduced bacteria was observe

Influence of processing parameters and composition on the effective compatibilization of polypropylene–poly(ethylene terephthalate) blends

The effects of the addition of different functionalized compatibilizers on toughness, morphology and rheological properties of a polypropylene (PP) - poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) (85-15 wt%) blend were studied. The three compatibilizers compared were: (Styrene Ethylene Butylene Styrene)- grafted(glycidyl methacrylate); (Styrene Ethylene Butylene Styrene) - grafted - (maleic anhydryde); (polyolefin) - grafted - (glycidyl methacrylate), abbreviated to: SEBS-g-GMA, SEBS-g-MA and POE-g-GMA respectively. The effective grafting content was the same for all three compatibilizers. Before the comparison of the different compatibilizers was done, first the effects of three different processing temperatures and three different compatibilizer contents were investigated, based on the addition of SEBS-g-GMA. The compatibilization effect was significantly improved with an increase in processing temperature from 250 to 300 degrees C. The toughness was increased with almost a factor two and a decrease in the average domain size of the dispersed phase was observed. An increase in compatibilizer content from 0.25 to 2.5 wt% resulted in a finer dispersity as well as in a steep increase in toughness, which was noted to approach the brittle-to-ductile transition. The comparison of the three compatibilizers was subsequently done at the most promising processing temperature and content: 300 degrees C and 2.5 wt%. The results showed that the addition of SEBS-g-MA and POE-g-GMA had a less significant positive effect on the compatibilization compared to SEBS-g-GMA. The difference is attributed to a higher reactivity for GMA compared to MA and a higher possibility for migration towards the PP-PET interface for the SEBS chain compared to the POE chain