Global Poverty Essay

Poverty is the condition of not having the means to afford basic human needs e. g. nutrition, clothing, shelter, clean water, healthcare etc. Mahatma Gandhi has previously referred to it as the worst form of violence. Prior to the industrial revolution, poverty had been mostly accepted as inevitable as economies produced little thus making wealth scarce. Today, rises in the cost of living makes poor people less able to afford basic human needs e. g. poor people spend a big portion of their budgets on food in comparison to the rich. It is, however, not enough to blame the poor for their predicament. Governments have also been culpable as they pursue policies that harm successful development. Globalization leads to decisions, policies and practices that are typically influenced, driven or formulated by the rich. These have resulted in a few people getting wealthy while the majority struggle. Poverty is determined by finding the total cost of all essential resources that an average human adult consumes in a year. Poverty threshold or the poverty line is the minimum level of income that is necessary to achieve an adequate standard of living in a given country. It is significantly higher in developed countries than it is in the developing world. Poverty threshold is a useful economic tool which measures poverty on a global scale. Poverty was identified by the United Nations early this century as the first of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that each country was to work towards eradicating by 2015. Statistically, this goal still seems a long way off going by current indicators. According to the World Bank Development Indicators 2008, at least 80% of humanity lives on less than $1 a day with more than 80% of the population living in countries where income differentials are widening. It is also prudent to note that the poorest 40% of the world’s population accounts for 5% of global income. The richest 20% account for three-quarters of world income. There are various causes that have been identified as contributing to global poverty. From a historical perspective, most poor countries were vassals of the great colonial powers of the 19th and 20th centuries. At independence, exit strategies by the colonial masters resulted in geographical boundaries that were inspired more by politics than the creation of new states. Too many countries found themselves lacking a critical mass of resources or with the population being landlocked thus explaining why a significant portion of today’s global poverty exists in war torn and post-conflict countries e. g. the Democratic Republic of Congo. Also, the newly independent countries were also denied fair representation in international negotiations either by exclusion or lack of capacity. Global trade rules have obstructed developing countries from reproducing proven models of industrialization with Agriculture, a mainstay of most African economies, being impeded by massive subsidies. Many developing countries have been architects of their own misfortune with self perpetuating kleptomaniac governance which fails to invest in agriculture. The broader lack of institutional capacity and infrastructure hinders delivery of aid programmes and business investments and is responsible for perpetuating global poverty. To aggregate global poverty on a consistent basis, the World Bank calculates an international poverty line by reference to the average of the national poverty lines in 10-20 of the world’s poorest countries. Using data from 2005, the international poverty line of $1. 25 resulted. However, two countries with the largest populations in the world i. e. India and China have adopted national poverty lines which are even lower. India’s approach, for example, is based on the food poverty line which gives a national poverty rate of 28% compared to 42% on the international basis. Based on World Bank figures, the number of people living below the international poverty line of $1. 25 fell from 1. 8 billion to 1. 4 billion between 1990 and 2005. China accounted for 465 million of this reduction implying that poverty had increased elsewhere within the period e. g. in Sub-Saharan Africa, the increase was 100 million. The need to eradicate global poverty stems from religious teaching which finds secular expression in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights which asserts that ‘everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of himself and his family’. Another reason that calls for the eradication of global poverty lies in self interest as in a globalized world, countries large and small are interdependent. Extreme poverty leads to international labor migration which on its own can lead to other problems such as spread of disease. International solutions to global poverty include anti-poverty campaigners pressing rich governments to honor promises made in the Millennium Declaration, lobbying for the removal of agricultural subsidies that protect rich farmers at the expense of poor ones. Countries should also be at the fore front of embracing MDG programs so as to build capacity of national and provincial institutions. Two countries with the greatest success in poverty reduction are China and Vietnam even though their strategies are often at odds with western models. The medical profession, which is in the business of saving life and reducing suffering, should lead the world out of the trap of poverty and death from starvation and preventable diseases. The World Bank Development indicators of 2008 point out that infectious disease continue to blight the lives of the poor across the world with an estimated 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS. Also, every year there are 350-500 million cases of malaria with one million fatalities. Africa thus accounts for 90% of malarial deaths with African children accounting for over 80% of malaria victims worldwide. With such grim statistics, it is clear that the medical profession plays a vital role in saving lives in developing countries and this can ultimately lead to poverty eradication as the population which is a critical resource to any country will not be wiped out. Medics are also actively involved in the health of children worldwide especially in poor countries. With 2. 2 million children dying worldwide due to lack of immunization and a greater number of 10. 6 million children dying worldwide before they reach the age of 5, the role of medicine cannot be gainsaid. Further, lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation leads to the annual deaths of 1. 4 million children. By training more health professionals especially in developing countries, curbing such alarming statistics would be made possible. Averting children’s deaths builds a firm foundation for a country in its attempts to escape the clutches of poverty. Doctors can also get involved in highlighting and tackling water problems affecting half of humanity as some 1. 1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water with 2. 6 billion lacking basic sanitation. Sanitation issues have been known to cause 1. 8 million child deaths each year as a result of preventable ailments such as diarrhea. Doctors can help in educating communities on how best to tackle such relatively straightforward problems thus avoiding attendant problems caused by water and sanitation deficits. In conclusion, poverty has the effect of creating a ‘poverty cycle’ which operates across multiple levels i. e. individual, local, national and global with the affected sectors mostly being health, education and housing. Although poverty reduction has historically come about as a result of economic growth, medicine and the medical profession in general ought to be at the forefront of fighting this global scourge as results have shown how much of an impact the programs they run have had an impact on communities around the globe. In the words of Anais Nin ‘If all of us acted in unison as I act individually there would be no wars and no poverty. I have made myself personally responsible for the fate of every human being who has come my way’. In a sense, this is the hallmark of the medical profession.

Explaining benefits of HRM practices within Unilever Essay

1. Benefits for Employer: For an employer, it is beneficial for its company growth that its workers perform well. An employer will always try to find the suitable candidates for suitable positions. It is always important for a company to get its job done efficiently and with less time which HRM practices help (Brewster and Hegewisch, 2017). HRM helps in the management of performance through proper business planning which is the first stage. It is designed for performance standardization along with budget outputs. HRM practices monitor the Performance of employees to ensure accuracy, communication, and discipline among workers. Overall it adds to the global company image and perception towards other competitive companies. 2. Benefits for Employee: HRM is involved not only in securing and enhancing the efficiency of each worker but also in providing definite plans for efficient communication between different workers in order to make organizational development (Obeidat and Abdallah, 2014). The importance of introducing individuals to the ethics of the company is emphasized by value-based interviewing. The employees are given progressive activities from coaching, training, projects, mentoring, and assignments. All these activities help an individual to enhance its efficiency. For the employee, it is beneficial because it nurtures the qualities within. M3 Different methods used in HRM Practices within Unilever 1. Strategic Planning: The first stage is Strategic planning is detailed planning of the business. The business planning steps are designed in such a way so as to extract standardized performance is generally conducted through a 6month mid-year period, the planning process of strategic business is crucial to the assessment of present capability and performance of a business. 2. Training and development: HRM practices regarding training and development specializes coordination in forming a strong relationship between the employer and employee. The area for training and development of HR also focusing on training that emphasizes the company’s fair trade practices and employee growth to prepare promising leaders for management and supervisory roles. 3. Employee satisfaction: A positive relation between the employee and HR help the company to achieve its objectives, morale and improves performance. This mainly comprises of achieving satisfaction, levels along the workforce (Zibarras and Coan, 2015). It helps to create ways to give strength to the employer-employee relations. Opinion surveys of employees are administered, a focus group is conducted related to job satisfaction and the steps the employer can maintain proper working relationships. 4. Recruitment: Employment process is being managed by the HRM department from examining resumes to scheduling interviews to new employees processing. They determine the most efficient for recruiting candidates. 5. Selection: professional HRs work with managers so as to effect good recruitment decisions, according to what the organizations need. They work together regarding standard hiring methods to ensure that the companies extend offers to suitable persons. 6. Compliance: HR workers need to make sure that the organization complies with legal regulations. They complete the necessary paperwork for documenting that the employees eligible to work in the country. They also comply with the organizational laws receive state or federal government contracts by ensuring flow logs of the applicant. References Brewster, C. and Hegewisch, A. eds., (2017).  Policy and Practice in European Human Resource Management: The Price Waterhouse Cranfield Survey. Abingdon: Taylor & Francis. Obeidat, B.Y. and Abdallah, A.B., (2014). The relationships among human resource management practices, organizational commitment, and knowledge management processes: A structural equation modeling approach.  International Journal of Business and Management,  9(3), p.9. Zibarras, L.D., and Coan, P., (2015). HRM practices used to promote pro-environmental behavior: a UK survey.  The International Journal of Human Resource Management,  26(16), pp.2121-2142.

HUMAN RESOURCE Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

HUMAN RESOURCE - Term Paper Example There are five factors to be analysed in the porters five forces and they are analysed below in correlation with the Apple Computers. The threat of the entry of new competitors The personal computers industry is the major threat for Apple Computers including the old competitors for Apple Computers. Competitors are coming up with innovative products that may cause the Apple Computers to face tough king of competition in the future. The intensity of competitive rivalry The intensity of competitive rivalry tends to focus on the elements such as the price of the product, the innovation and quality level of the product. All these factors are compared with the competition in the market. Companies that use advance technology tend to be stable in a competitive environment such as Apple Computers. Competitive rivalry faced by Apple Computers is from Dell incorporation, Hewlett Packard Company, and Microsoft Corporation. Dell computers have one of the most unique strategies in providing custom ized notebook and laptops to its customers, according to their needs and wants. Apple faces intense competition from Microsoft in areas of portable music players and other type soft software. The threat of substitute products or services Apple faces one of the biggest threats from its substitute products & services. The era of converging to the digital types of devices such as MP3’s, cell phones, playing games, and picture taking along with the internet has challenged Apple to a very large extent. iPod franchising protection is the biggest challenge for Apple computers. The bargaining power of customers Customers have a lot of choices from which they can choose their computer devices. The switching costs of customers are high and they have a lot of information available of other competitor products, but Apple computers have made their mark in all fields and they may not be facing high competition from the bargaining power of customers. The bargaining power of suppliers Apple computers although does not provide low quality products but still companies like IBM and Motorola may work intensively on every inch of computer production and therefore cause a threat from the bargaining power of suppliers. High switching costs are faced when Apple opts for changing suppliers. Generic business strategies The generic strategies from the Porter’s framework being practiced by Apple Computers are mostly the differentiation element and the focus element of the strategy framework. Apple computers imposes the differentiation strategy through their use friendly graphic interface and the integration of products and services is the main focus and target of Apple computers that makes them successful and is few of the sources that allow them to gain a competitive advantage. For having a stable focus, Apple computers segment their target market according to consumer characteristics so that consumers of their products are satisfied. HR policies of Apple Computers

RBC Centura Bank Groups and Teams Research Proposal

RBC Centura Bank Groups and Teams - Research Proposal Example task within an organization because failure to deliver may suggest that the different organizational controls are not properly placed within the organizations which are allowing gaps into the performance of different individuals working as a team. Many research studies successfully demonstrated that the gaps in the performance of the teams largely depend upon the structure and configuration of the team. (Stewart & Barrick, 2000). Structure and configuration of the teams therefore indicate towards the different dynamics involved in the organization as well as formation of the teams and then converting such teams into high performing teams. As such organizations must take into account different factors such as team leadership, cohesion, structure as well as configuration of the team to expect high performance from the proposed teams. This paper will discuss as to how a group can become a high performance team besides discussing the ethical considerations of globalization and its impacts on the team dynamics by evaluating RBC Centura Bank as a case study. Team dynamics require the effective formation of teams in order to extract best performance however, before expecting such high performance, it is imperative that all the ingredients of converting a group of individuals into a high performance team shall be put into place. Team structure is defined as the configuration or allocation of the roles, responsibilities as well as authority within the team. (Stewart & Barrick, 2000). Team structure is important for extracting high performance because by providing interdependence and autonomy to the teams, teams tend to perform better because both factors provide an in-built channel for effective communication and grievance handling besides being self regulated in their orientation. Thus, in order to successful convert a group into a successful and high performance team; it is critical that the overall structure of the team is wisely built so that coherence and

Best Practices Manual for New Supervisors Essay

Best Practices Manual for New Supervisors - Essay Example Supervisors may not be primarily responsible for all of the staffing activities, but they are usually involved in one or more of them. Thus, if supervisors are to be effective in the staffing function, they must understand each of these activities. How does one become a good supervisor Among the primary factors that distinguish supervisors from operative employees are the level and types of decisions that they must make. A supervisor must be concerned with how a decision might affect his or her employees and the organization. An operative employee, in contrast, is primarily concerned with how a decision affects him or her individually. People who don't like making decisions usually do not make good supervisors. The purpose of this chapter is to acquaint the supervisor with the activities and procedures of the staffing function. It also takes a look at the various training programs that best matches the selected workforce in an organization that is into production and another that is in retail business. Communication is an important factor in understanding and interpreting information between individuals and groups. A clear, precise and effective communication is what makes a person stand out in a crowd. It is best to talk to the point than describe in detail which could ultimately create a doubt in the mind of the listener. Effective communication determines how to influence negotiations more effectively and build confidence, staying in control when negotiating, and avoiding manipulation. Communication skills also include listening and empathy; Appreciative inquiry, a major breakthrough in organization development, training and development and in "problem solving," in general. Communication can also be non-verbal, that is, it could be also sign language. Good posture and clear language are hallmarks of good communication skills. It is imperative that any individual who believes in a good communication and shows real concern and respect for the other person's view listens with inte rest and care. During training, supervisors take it upon themselves to teach their trainees the art of proper communication. It must be understood that it is these same trainees who will be representing the organization while addressing customers. If an employee is found to be rude or uncooperative, customers will leave the company without doing any business, which is detrimental to the business. Thus, communication plays an important role in the development of business. 2.1 Technical Systems in Communication Another method of communication to enhance production is by the use of the electronic media. This could be termed as the "Productivity Paradox". To solve the productivity paradox (Brynjolfson [1993]) implied obtaining a better understanding of the relationship between the spread of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and the organizational transformation of firms, markets and other

Play and Learning in Early Childhood (A comparative study between Dissertation

Play and Learning in Early Childhood (A comparative study between Scotland and Saudi Arabia) - Dissertation Example In order to accomplish these research objectives, the researcher selected primary and secondary data collection methods. Primary research was conducted in the form of interviews at Cranstonhill Nursery School, Glasgow involving two staffs. On the other hand, secondary data was collected through past research papers, academic journals and newspaper articles. Primary data revealed that early year education based on learning through playing activities is a good step to improve the cognitive abilities of children. Secondary data analysis also confirmed the fact as majority of academicians and researchers agreed that in spite of exposing children to direct education; it is important to make them a part of early year education offering good amount of exposure and learning experiences. On the basis of these findings, it was concluded that countries like Scotland and Saudi Arabia has been offering great attention to develop more numbers of early year education but lacks uniformity. ... the end based on acknowledgement- Ludwig Wittgenstein The purpose and importance of every research is enhanced by the cooperation and support of many people. The research starts with a general idea and thought that further becomes a complete work showcasing results and analysis pertaining to a particular subject. Results and analysis is dependent on the efforts and cooperation of many people. The researcher would like to express his deep gratitude towards his supervisor†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ for guiding him and supporting him the research process. His compassionate approach of offering guidance and support helped in conducting the research in a systematic and zealous manner. The researcher would also like to thank his professors for supporting and guiding him through their knowledge and skills that helped in gaining confidence and clear insights over the research topic. The University also helped in allowing the researcher to access the library and other internet sources that further helped in collecting valuable information and data pertaining to the research subject. The researcher feel blessed to be part of the University of†¦.. where class mates and faculties helped in developing critical insights over the research topic. The role of family is of great importance in initiating any activity and the researcher was guided and supported by his family in a positive manner that helped in achieving the goals and objectives of the research. The role of the family and friends proved to be more impactful in gaining mental toughness while the role and support of the supervisor and professors helped in developing cognitive abilities to deal with the research topic. Overall, the researcher would like to thank everybody who supported and guided him in the research process along with

Trade Associations Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Trade Associations Paper - Essay Example Today, the association represents a total of 400 companies, 9,000 brands, and over one hundred billion dollars in advertising and marketing. In many ways, the ANA is the prime example of a working regional trade association. The association is headquartered in two distinct locations, where both locations perform two different functions. The first location, in New York City, regulates the practices of marketers and sets forth industry initiatives. The second location, in Washington D.C., manages industry affairs and the relationship between marketers and legislative rights, as well as a focus on public policy. Because ANA membership is open only to client-side marketing organizations, agencies and media companies are not eligible for membership. Joining the association brings client-side marketers several advantages, including marketing/media committees, workshops, national conferences, advocacy initiatives, dedicated research experts, and marketing insights in an online database. Thus, ANA membership is beneficial to all sorts of marketing companies. With 45 companies looking to advance the interests of advertisers and their clients, the Association of National Advertising Managers evolved nearly a century ago in 1910. In 1914, with prominent clients such as Macey Company, Burroughs Adding Machine Company, and Sherwin Williams Company, the trade association adopted the current title of the Association of National Advertisers. Since its creation, the goals of the organization have not changed. The organization set out to support positive relationships between advertisers and agencies and regional and national industries. The association’s purpose is to maintain advertising as a necessary and valuable economic factor, as well as to promote efficiency and responsibility in advertising, which includes advancing the interests of its individual members. At the time of its formation, the ANA was structured to handle industry relationships and the interests

Ergonomics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Ergonomics - Research Paper Example (Berkeley University, 2008) This text is an outline for a research proposal concerned with ergonomic principles, ergonomic issues in the workplace and their effective solution through research. Ergonomic principles and problems will be discussed followed by the research methodology for finding solutions. This will be followed by the solutions and an accompanying conclusion. Background Ergonomics can be broadly classified into three major distinctions: 1. Physical Ergonomics: related to human’s anatomical, biomechanical, physiological and some anthropometric activities. 2. Cognitive Ergonomics: related to mental processing in human beings. 3. Organizational Ergonomics: related to optimizing social and technical systems along with organizational structure, processes and policies. This research focuses solely on physical ergonomics in general and on physiological and anatomical issues in particular. The ergonomic problem under focus is carpal tunnel syndrome. Carpal tunnel syndro me has been chosen as it is a common and well investigated problem. The chances of locating reliable sources for carpal tunnel syndrome are high. A discussion is available below for carpal tunnel syndrome in context of applicable ergonomic principles. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) is experienced as pain, numbness, burning or tingling sensation in the hand and fingers. Repeated actions of the hand and wrist in certain postures are known to cause CTS in certain workers. (Hutson, 1997) The carpal tunnel is a narrow passageway that connects the lower palm to the wrist’s bottom. This passageway houses various tendons that aid finger movement as well as the median nerve. The median nerve is responsible for movement of the hand as well as for sensation in it. The carpal tunnel is enclosed on the inner side of the wrist by tissue better known as transverse carpal ligament. If CTS sets in, the passageway is made narrower by the surrounding tissues. This could occ ur due to increased pressure on tissues or due to fluid buildup inside tissues (also known as oedema). As the tissue size increases, the median nerve is stressed out. Pressure on the median nerve is enhanced whenever flexion (bending of the fingers and wrist) occurs. Pain and numbness are felt as the median nerve is stressed and compressed. (NHS, 2010) Symptoms of CTS The biggest symptom of CTS is sporadic numbness experienced within the thumb, index finger, long finger and in the radial half of the ring finger. (Walker, 2010) In most cases, the numbness is more pronounced at night because most people sleep with their wrists flexed. As the wrist is flexed, the median nerve is compressed more thereby causing the numbness. (Shiel, 2010) The persistence of CTS over a long period is known to cause permanent nerve damage. This results in a constant feeling of numbness as well as loss of picking power of the wrist. (Uemura, Hidaka, & Nakamura, 2010) The pain experienced in CTS is actually numbness that is intense enough to cause a person to wake up from sleep. Causes behind CTS Currently the causes behind CTS are classified as idiopathic1. Investigation over the years has revealed that CTS arises from a variety of causes that pressurize the median nerve present at the wrist. These conditions can be common such as the use of oral contraceptives, diabetes, obesity, arthritis, trauma and hypothyroidism. (Katz & Simmons, 2002) Other than these causes, intrinsic and extrinsic complications that exert pressure on the carpal tunnel may cause CTS too.

Securities regulation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Securities regulation - Essay Example As such, it reduces the events of unwarranted lawsuits. Additionally, the regulation is perceivably accurate, owing to its elimination of unjustifiable errors. However, there may be events of complexity in the preparation of financial statements emanating from this procedure. Besides, the principles-based regulations usually employ the commonly conventional accounting principles as their accounting foundations. Set objectives aid in the creation of accurate financial records. There is usually an example that serves as a guideline in the preparation of such financial statements. A significant merit in this principle is the fact that it may be applicable in the effortless creation of financial records in numerous accounting circumstances as opposed to its rules-based counterpart. However, its key setback may emanate from its lack of uniformed guidelines, thereby producing inconsistent information, thereby making it difficult in the comparison of dissimilar organizations. Besides, in cases of litigation, the accountants may compel themselves into unwarranted legal

Tax Treatments for Individual Returns Essay Example for Free

Tax Treatments for Individual Returns Essay A. Recommended Tax Filing Status The tax filing status that I would recommend is Married Filing Joint. The reason for this is that the IRS has various tax breaks for married persons that file together that are unavailable if you file married filing separate. It also affect the tax rate, they will pay a lower rate of taxes if they file together than they would if they filed separately. A2a. Taxable and Non-Taxable Income Taxable Income for the couple would include the following items: Spouse A’s income from the partnership, Spouse A’s income from the part time job, Spouse B’s income from the electronics firm, and the dividends that were received by Spouse A from Company E. Their Non-Taxable Income items would be: The child support that spouse B receives (child support is nontaxable because it was taxed as income on the parent that is paying it), the interest received on Municipal Bonds (municipal bonds are tax exempt), and the income on the sale of their personal residence is tax exempt because it was their primary residence and they lived there for the required amount of time for the exemption of 500,000 (since they are joint filers). A2b. Capital Gains and Losses The couple has 5,000 in short term capital losses from the day trading while spouse B was unemployed. These losses can be netted against any capital gains that may exist. For example if the sale of the rental property resulted in a long term capital gain, however the rental property is a passive activity so the short term loss can only be claimed for 3,000 and the remaining amount would be carried forward. A2c. Profit or Losses from Sale of Property The profit from sale of the couple’s personal residence would not be taxed. Their personal residence was lived in for at least 2 of the last 5 years and  was under the cut off of the exemption of 500,000 after their adjusted basis calculation was deducted from their sale price. The profit from the sale of the rental property would be taxed as mention in the paragraph above. Depending on how the adjusted basis came out it would either be an ordinary loss or a capital gain. A2d. Partnership Income and Losses Spouse A received a K-1 reporting the share of the partnership income as 142,000. This amount will be reported by the couple on their schedule 1040 as income. The cash withdrawal of 83,500 would most likely not be considered a gain (the determining factor for this is whether or not the amount of Spouse A’s interest in the partnership is higher or lower than the withdrawal amount.) A2e. / A3. Passive Activity Gains and Losses The couple has passive activity from the rental properties that they own but are managed by a local realty company, which means they are not actively participating. Their gross rents are 23,000 and their expenses/depreciation total 29,200. The result of this activity is a passive loss of $6,200.00 The couple also has the gain on the sale of the rental property that could be passive because again it is from their rental properties that they do not actively participate in. The maximum amount of loss they could claim from rental properties is 25,000 per the IRS regulations. A4. Adjustments to Income (on the 1040 form this area is called Adjusted Gross Income) There are multiple adjustments and deductions available to the couple in the 1040 AGI section. The alimony that Spouse A pays can be listed in this section as an adjustment, this will lower their income. Because alimony paid is a deduction to the payer. Alternatively the child support amount that they have listed will not affect anything; you do not need to include it in your income so it is not an adjustment to income. Spouse A’s health  insurance would qualify them for a self-employed health insurance deduction. The contributions to Spouse A’s Keogh plan are also an adjustment to income, this is because they can be deducted in the year they are contributed so that the contributions to the plan are â€Å"tax free†. However, I am unsure about the calculation of maximum because the IRS states that: â€Å"Retirement plans for self-employed people were formerly referred to as â€Å"Keogh plans† after the law that first allowed unincorporated businesses to sponsor retirement plans. Since the law no longer distinguishes between corporate and other plan sponsors, the term is seldom used.† (Retirement Plans for Self-Employed People, 2014) The moving expenses are not an adjustment to Income, the reason for this is that on form 3903 there is a distance test worksheet, when the calculation is done it shows the move was not a difference of 50 or more miles since the move was 52 miles minus the distance to her previous job of 3 miles it is only 49. This does not qualify them to deduct their expenses. A5. Deductions The itemized deductions that the couple would be allowed to take are a deduction for their medical expenses in the amount of expenses that exceeds 10% of their Adjusted Gross Income (line 38 on 1040). So they would take their 10% of their AGI and subtract that number from their total medical expenses and the remaining amount is the available deduction. I don’t believe this would result in much of a deduction if any in their situation. The 6,000 in charitable contributions would be an itemized deduction. However, the 2,600 in business suits is not a valid deduction because you can wear a business suit as everyday clothing. If the clothing were a uniform or something more specifically required by the job that she would not be able to wear in place of her everyday clothes then the amount would be deductible. Due to these calculations, I would recommend to the couple that they take the standard deduction of 12,200 because I believe this would be higher than  their total for itemized deductions. A6. Tax credits Because the couple has a dependent that is in college and living at home they may be eligible to take the American opportunity credit or the lifetime learning credit these credits are available to someone that pays college expenses for themselves or a dependent. They cannot take both however, only one education credit is allowed per year so they would want to calculate which is more beneficial. The couple has dependent children, so they might also be able to take a child tax credit of up to 1,000 per child however, their adjusted gross income may be too high which would phase the credit out to 0. Without doing all of the calculations I am not certain as to whether or not they would actually get this credit. It is also possible that they would qualify for a savers credit which is based upon contributions to a qualifying retirement plan, but again I am not sure if they would end up being over the adjusted gross income limit to receive this credit. References Partners Instructions for Schedule K-1 (Form 1065) (2013 ). (n.d.). Partners Instructions for Schedule K-1 (Form 1065) (2013 ). Retrieved March 10, 2014, from http://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1065sk1/ch02.html Publication 523 (2013), Selling Your Home. (n.d.). Publication 523 (2013), Selling Your Home. Retrieved March 10, 2014, from http://www.irs.gov/publications/p523/ar02.html Publication 544 (2013), Sales and Other Dispositions of Assets. (n.d.). Publication 544 (2013), Sales and Other Dispositions of Assets. Retrieved March 10, 2014, from http://www.irs.gov/publications/p544/index.html Ten Facts about Capital Gains and Losses. (n.d.). Ten Facts about Capital Gains and Losses. Retrieved March 10, 2014, from http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/Ten-Facts-about-Capital-Gains-and-Losses1 1040 Central. (n.d.). 1040 Central. Retrieved March 13, 2014, from http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/1040-Central Retirement Plans for Self-Employed People. (n.d.). Retirement Plans for Self-Employed People. Retrieved March 13, 2014, from http://www.irs.gov/Retirement-Plans/Retirement-Plans-for-Self-Employed-People

What Are The Uses Of Phenoxybenzamine Hydrochloride Biology Essay

What Are The Uses Of Phenoxybenzamine Hydrochloride Biology Essay Phenoxybenzamine Hydrochloride (RS)-benzyl(2-chloroethyl)1-methyl-2-phenoxyethylamine hydrochloride is a alpha-adrenoceptor blocker that covalently binds and irreversibly inhibits the activity of alpha-1 alpha -2 adrenoceptors.3,4 Phenoxybenzamine Hydrochloride is mainly used to treat episodes of high blood pressure and sweating related to phaeochromocytoma. Phaeochromocytoma is a rare catecholamine-secreting tumour of the adrenal medulla. Patients with phaeochromocytoma are usually hypertensive and suffer headache, palpitations, and excessive sweating.3 However it is rarely prescribed due to it unfavourable side effects. One of the side effects of Phenoxybenzamine is that block the ejaculation. Also some studies are under investigation to use Phenoxybenzamine as male contraceptive pills.11 , HCl Fig. 01 Molecular structure of (RS)-N-benzyl-N-(2-chloroethyl)-1- phenoxy-propan-2-amine Phenoxybenzamine hydrochloride is white, odourless, crystalline powder that is sparingly soluble in water; soluble in ethanol, chloroform, and propylene glycol; and insoluble in diethyl ether. Neutral and alkaline solutions are unstable; sensitive to oxidation and photo degradation.6,7,8 Molecular Weight9: 303.82638 [g/mol] Molecular Formula : C18H22ClNO MonoIsotopic Mass9: 303.138992 CAS-No. : 63-92-3 The stability studies for Phenoxybenzamine injection concentrate were carried out by Zeta Analytical Ltd. for their Clients. Also analytical method for related substance of Phenoxybenzamine Injection has been validated by them. During the stability studies, it has been found that some stability batches contain more than 0.1% of unknown impurities. Already there are three identified, process related impurities were reported in their clients analytical methods.10 Those three impurities A, B, and C are reported as shown below. 1. Impurity A: N-benzyl-N-(2-chloroethyl)-2-phenoxypropan-1-amine Fig. 02 Molecular structure of N-benzyl-N-(2-chloroethyl)-2- phenoxy-propan-1-amine 2. Impurity B: N-benzyl-N-(2, hydroxyethyl)-1-phenoxypropan-2-amine Fig. 03 Molecular structure of N-benzyl-N-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-phenoxypropan-2-amine 3. Impurity C: N-(2-chloroethyl)-1-phenoxypropan-2-amine Fig. 04 Molecular structure a of N-(2-chloroethyl)-1-phenoxypropan-2-amine According to the International Conference on Harmonization1,2 (ICH) guidelines any component of a pharmaceutical product which is not the chemical entity of active substance or excipients, present at levels higher than 0.1% or 1 mg/day intake (whichever is lower) for a maximum daily dose of 2 g/day or less, need to be identified and qualified with appropriate toxicological studies. For a daily dose of greater than 2 g of drug substance, the identification threshold is 0.05%.1 ,2 Also British (BP), European (EP) and United states (USP) pharmacopeia texts refers the ICH criteria on impurity profiling for new drug substance and new drug products.5,6,7 Hyphenated techniques such as LC-MS and LC-NMR methods as an effective tool for characterization of impurities and degradation products in drug molecules. Therefore, Zeta Analytical proposed this project to perform LC-MS analysis on Phenoxybenzamine injection for structural elucidation of unknown impurity. This project involved method transferring (Tech transfer) from Zeta to Kingston University and developing a LC-MS compatible chromatographic method structural identifications of unknown impurity. Literature Study: There are no chromatographic methods have been reported in the literature describing the analysis of Phenoxybenzamine and its related substances using UV detection. The chromatographic Conditions mentioned in United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) monograph7 (refer Appendix) and Zetas method quiet similar apart from the detection wavelength, which is 268nm for USP and 220 nm for Zeta. Both methods are not compatible for LC/MS analysis. Because phosphate buffer is a one component that mobile phase consist in both methods. There are no reports available on the investigation using LC/MS/MS and isolation of related substances in Phenoxybenzamine active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). However, in order to analyse the sample in LC/MS and to get better chromatographic resolution the method has been modified for use in the present investigation. A synthesis route of Phenoxybenzamine has been mentioned in Vardanyan and Hruby,18 and slightly different route of synthesis for phenoxybenzaime related amines has been reported in Giardink et al.13 EXPERIMENTAL Material and Methods Chemicals used (all anal. Grade )were: Phenoxybenzamine Hydrochloride ( Sigma- Aldrich) , Impurity B (PBA) from med alchemy S.L Spain, HPLC grade Acetonitrile (Sigma- Aldrich), Potassium phosphate dibasic, Potassium phosphate monobasic, Ammonium formate, Ammonium Hydroxide, MilliQ grade water Samples Phenoxybenzamine injection concentrate ; Each 2 ml ampoule contains 100 mg Phenoxybenzamine Hydrochloride BP and excipients are absolute ethyl alcohol, hydrochloric acid AR and propylene glycol. Sample Preparation for HPLC and LC-MS Whole contents of ampoule was transferred to a 100mL volumetric flask and dissolved with 30 mL of acetonitrile. Then it was shacked for few minutes to mix well and added more acetonitrile to volume up the level of volumetric flask. HPLC analysis at Zeta Analytical Ltd. HPLC analysis was proceeded at these chromatographic condition : Column Phenomenex Gemeni-NX 5Â µm C18 110A 250-4.6 mm. Mobile phase used : pH 7.5 20mM Phosphate buffer (Dissolved 2.4g of K2HPO4 in 1L of water and adjusted to pH 7.5 with KH2PO4) : Acetonitrile = 30% : 70% (Isocratic mode ) .Column temperature 25C , flow rate 0.9 cm3min-1 , detection at 220nm . HPLC system used at Zeta analytical Ltd : Pump , Auto sampler ,UV detector and thermostat are Agilent 1100 series with Agilent Chemstation for LC data system. HPLC analysis at School of chemistry and pharmacy, Kingston University: HPLC analysis was proceeded at these chromatographic condition : Column Phenomenex Gemeni-NX 5Â µm C18 110A 250-4.6 mm. Mobile phase used : pH 7.5 20mM Phosphate buffer (Dissolved 2.4g of K2HPO4 in 1L of water and adjusted to pH 7.5 with KH2PO4) : Acetonitrile = 30% : 70% (Isocratic mode ) .Column temperature 25C , flow rate 0.9 cm3min-1 , detection at 220nm . HPLC system used at Kingston University: Pump , Auto sampler ,UV-VIS detector and thermostat are Perkin Elmer series 200 with Totalchrom v6.2 software. LC- MS analysis at School of chemistry and pharmacy, Kingston University: LC-MS analysis was proceeded at these chromatographic condition : Column Phenomenex Gemeni-NX 5Â µm C18 110A 250-4.6 mm. Mobile phase used : pH 8.3 20mM Ammonium formate buffer (Dissolved 1.3g of NH4HCO2 in 1L of water and adjusted to pH 8.3 with NH4OH) : Aceotonitrile = 30% : 70% (Isocratic mode) .Column temperature 25C , flow rate 0.9 cm3min-1 , detection at 220nm . LC system : Pump , Auto sampler ,UV-VIS detector and thermostat are Perkin Elmer series 200 with Totalchrom v6.2 data system. Mass detetectors used : Two different mass detectors were employed : Waters Micromass LCT ESI-TOF-MS system with Mass Lynx 4.1 software Thermo TSQ Quantum Access system ( MSMS ) with Thermo Excalibur software RESULTS AND DICUSSION HPLC Analysis at Zeta Analytical Ltd. Initially the sample was analyzed in Agilent HPLC in Zeta Analytical Ltd. Based on the Zetas Analytical Method validation report for the related substance of Phenoxybenzamine HCl injection, the three identified impurities and one unidentified impurity were confirmed. Below the fig.05 (Appendix A-1) shows the peaks of Phenoxybenzamine and its impurities and the table 01 shows the retention time of those peaks. Fig. 05 HPLC chromatograms of Phenoxybenzamine HCl injections Table 01: Peaks and its retention time of Phenoxybenzamine (zeta) Peaks Retention Time / min Impurity C 5.2 Impurity B 7.3 Unidentified Impurity 8.6 Impurity A 18.2 Phenoxybenzamine 19.6 HPLC Analysis at Kingston University: (Method Transfer) The above results obtained at zeta were replicated again with Perkin-Elmer HPLC system in Kingston University. Same chromatographic condition was employed with same Phenomenex Gemeni-NX 5Â µm C18 110A 250-4.6 mm column . The fig.06 below show chromatogram of Phenoxybenzamine HCl injection analysis repeated at Kingston University(Appendix A-2). The peaks were interested and its retention times are shown in the table 02 below. Fig.06 HPLC chromatogram of Phenoxybenzamine HCl Injection (Kingston) Table 02. Peaks and its retention time of Phenoxybenzamine (Kingston) Peaks Retention Time / min Impurity C 5.0 Impurity B 7.0 Unidentified Impurity 8.4 Impurity A 17.9 Phenoxybenzamine 19.5 LC-MS Analysis of Phenoxybenzamine Injection Concentrate: Phosphate buffers are not compatible for LC-MS due to their non volatile nature. Since it was necessary to replace the phosphate buffer to a volatile buffer. Mean while the chromatographic development should not be changed. The ammonium formate buffers are widely used in LC-MS analytical methods and has buffering pH range (8.2-10.2) close to the previous phosphate buffers used which is pH 7.5 . 20mM ammonium phosphate buffer was prepared adjusted the pH to 8.3. The HPLC analysis previously performed was repeated with mobile phase of Ammonium formate buffer : Acetonitrile =30: 70 instead of mobile phase of phosphate buffer : Acetonitrile = 30:70 . The isolation of peaks and the resolution obtained in previous analysis was replicated. Fig. 07 Show the HPLC chromatogram of replicated results with Ammonium formate buffer and the table 03 show retention time and its corresponding peaks. Fig.07 HPLC chromatogram of PBA Injection Sample ( Modified Mobile phase for LC-MS analysis) Table 03: Peaks and its retention time of Phenoxybenzamine (Ammonium formate as buffer)The samples were run on HPLC several times and constant chromatographic development was observed. Hence the sample fractions of unknown impurity was collected several time during HPLC run for LC-MS (accurate mass measurement) and LC-MS/MS (selective ion monitoring) analysis. Peaks Retention Time / min Impurity C 5.3 Impurity B 7.3 Unidentified Impurity 8.7 Impurity A 18.5 Phenoxybenzamine 19.8 Accurate mass measurement with Time of Flight (ToF) mass detector Feasibility of TOF mass detectors has made it to be used widely for measurement of accurate mass. Several unknown impurity sample fractions were analyzed for the accurate mass measurement on Waters micromass LCT ESI TOF-MS and obtained the average of the accurate mass value of unknown impurity. Ionization technique is Electron spray Ionization and mass analyzer is Time of Flight analyzer in this instrument. Results were taken on positive mode ( M + H + ). Hence mass of one proton must be deducted from the spectral mass value to obtain the exact mass value of unknown compound. H1 mass is considered to be 1.007 Da in the calculation below. Table 03: m/z value of Peaks observed its corresponding calculated monoisotopic mass M + H + / Da Mass of Unknown Compound / Da 344.215 343.208 344.216 343.209 344.216 343.209 344.219 343.212 344.211 343.204 344.209 343.202 344.215 343.208 344.214 343.207 344.215 343.208 344.213 343.206 344.215 343.208 344.22 343.213 344.213 343.206 344.221 343.214 344.223 343.216 The average molecular weight and standard deviation of results are found to be 343.2086667 and 0.003754363 respectively. Above results were subjected to statistical evaluation using Microsoft excel spread sheet. At 99% confidence level the molecular weight of the unknown impurity is found to be 343.2086667 0.002497. Determination of Elemental Composition of unknown impurity. Using Mass Lynx 4.1 MS data management software possible elemental composition was obtained for the molecular weight of 343.209 with 200.0 mDa tolerance . It was able to exclude a large amount elemental composition to narrow findings. That is elimination of Chlorine in the composition . Because the mass spectrum of unknown impurity does not show the isotopic pattern for chlorine. i.e. When one Chlorine atom is present in a molecule, that will show a n/n+2 ratio of 100/32.4 (35Cl/37Cl ratio of 100/32.4). 15,16 Hence only C,H,N and O elements were limited on search. Still hundreds of composition are left to be examined to find correct elemental composition . The second exclusion that is Nitrogen rule14 which was used to eliminate many of those composition. Since the unknown impurity molecular weight is odd number, we can eliminate all the composition with the even number of nitrogen in list. The following table shows considerable elemental composition left after above two exclusions . Table 04. Possible elemental composition and its Monoisotopic mass Elemental Composition Calculated Monoisotopic mass C12H25N9O3 343.2080 C16H29N3O5 343.2107 C23H25N3 343.2048 C21H29NO3 343.2147 C12H29N3O8 343.1955 C15H29N5O4 343.2220 C24H25NO 343.1936 The monoisotopic mass of main active compound is 303.14 and it contains 18 carbon on that molecule. Unknown impurity has the monoisotopic mass value 40 amu higher than the active compound. Therfore if it is been assumed that unknown impurity has more than 18 carbon on its molecule, only two elemental composition would be remained. i.e. C23H25N3 (343.2048) and C24H25NO (343.1936). LC -MS/MS (Tandem mass )Analysis of Phenoxybenzamine HCl Injection Concentrate Thermo TSQ Quantum Access LC-MS/MS was employed for the selective ion monitoring. The unknown impurity fractions , Phenoxybenzamine HCl standard (sigma ) and Impurity B standard were analysed. Analysis of Phenoxybenzamine HCl standard Parameter used: Parent mass: 304.4 Scan time: 0.5000 Collision energy: 16 Collision gas pressure: 1.1 Barr Spray Voltage: 4000 Scan Mode: Product Ion Scan Fig. 08 Product ion scan mass spectrum of Phenoxybenzamine Standard Peaks at m/z 63, 84, 91,107,120, 135 and 212 were observed. The base peak is observed at m/z 91 benzyl fragment . It is stabilized by the resonance form of benzene.17 The following figure illustrates the break downs and its corresponding mass units observed in the product ion scan spectrum. Fig. 09 Illustration of break downs of Phenoxybenzamine Apart from the peaks illustrated on above figure, the peaks at m/z 120 arise due to mass unit CH2NCH2CH2Cl + H+ . This is the middle portion after the mass unit at m/z 91 and 93 break apart from the whole Phenoxybenzamine molecule. i.e M + H+ the molecular ion is m/z 304, but 304 (91+93) = 120 . Analysis of Impurity B standard Parameter used: Parent mass: 286 Scan time: 0.5000 Collision energy: 16 Collision gas pressure: 1.1 Barr Spray Voltage: 4000 Scan Mode: Product Ion Scan Fig. 09 Product ion scan mass spectrum of Impurity B Standard Product Scan spectrum shows peaks at m/z 84, 91,102,107,135,178,194 and 285. The base peak is m/z 91and the molecular ion is m/z 286. The following figure illustrates the break downs and its corresponding mass units observed in the product ion scan spectrum. Fig. 09 Illustration of break downs of Impurity B As seen in the Phenoxybenzamine product ion scan spectrum the removal of mass units m/z 91 and 93 also is observed in this Impurity B spectrum. i.e . there is a peak arise at m/z 102 , this is due removal mass units m/z 91 and 93 from the molecular ion m/z 286. [286-(91+93)=102] Analysis of Unknown Impurity Parameter used: Parent mass: 286 Scan time: 0.5000 Collision energy: 16 Collision gas pressure: 1.1 Barr Spray Voltage: 4000 Scan Mode: Product Ion Scan Fig. 10 Product ion scan mass spectrum of Unknown Impurity Product ion Scan spectrum shows peaks at m/z 84,91,107,119,135,152,160,178,251,267 and 344 . Here the molecular ion peak and base peak are same at m/z 344. This mass spectrum shows quiet similar fragmentation pattern with Phenoxybenzamine and the impurity B were analysed before. Peaks at m/z 84, 91, 93, 107, and 135 are found in all three , Phenoxybenzamine , Impurity B and unknown impurity product ion scan spectrum. Also as studied previously in the spectrum of PBA and impurity B, the deduction of the mass units m/z 91 and 93 from the molecular ion (m/z 344) results a obvious sharp peak at m/z 160. From the facts studied above in product ion scan mass spectrum and accurate mass measurement for elemental composition using TOF -MS , It can be hypothesized a structure of the unknown impurity . The proposed structure for unknown impurity is shown below in figure. Fig. 11 The Molecular Structure proposed for unknown impurity, N-benzyl-N-[(E)-2-phenylethenyl] -1- phenoxy-propan-2-amine The proposed structure can be rationalized with the product ion mass spectrum of unknown impurity. Following fig.12 shows the break downs of the unknown impurity that correspond to the peaks observed on mass spectrum. Fig. 12 Illustration of break downs of Unknown Impurity Most of the impurities found in pharmaceutical compounds usually process-related compounds; they are most probably structurally similar to the synthesized target drugs. It is prominent to study the synthesis route of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), when the unknown impurity of drugs substance is been identified. Unfortunately the original synthesis route followed by the API manufacturer of Phenoxybenzamine is not known. The prediction for synthesis route of Phenoxybenzamine with possibilities for arising of other 3 Identified process related impurities (A, B, and C) is shown in the following scheme below based on Giardink(1995).13 + (a) (ii) (iii) (iv) (b) (v) (c) (d) (vii) (vi) (a)Oxidation ;(b) 1-phenylmethanamine, HC1/EtOH,molecular sieves 4A, NaBH3CN; (c) Br(CH2)2OH, K2CO3, EtOH; (d) SOCI 2, HCI (g), Benzene (i)phenol; (2)2-methyl oxirane ;(3)1-phenoxypropan-2-ol;(4) 1-phenoxypropan-2-one; (5) N-benzyl-1-phenoxypropan-2-amine; (6) 2-[benzyl(1-phenoxypropan-2-yl)amino]ethanol;(7) N-benzyl-N-(2-chloroethyl)-1-phenoxypropan-2-amine (Phenoxybenzamine) Scheme 1. Predicted synthesis route for Phenoxybenzamine Formation of Impurity A The reaction between phenol (i) and 2-methyl oxirane (ii) is SN2 nucleophilic substitution. Nucleophiles are more reactive to most substituted carbon of epoxides under acidic condition and least substituted carbon is favoured under basic condition.19 In this case carbon position 2 (fig.13) is favoured under basic condition and its form 1-phenoxypropan-2-ol ,which is the precursor molecule for PBA . Fig. 13 Structure of 2-methyl oxirane To very few extent the nucleophiles react at carbon position 3 will form 2-phenoxypropan-1-ol, which will lead to the formation of Impurity A along synthesis process of PBA. Fig.14 Structure of 2-phenoxypropan-1-ol Formation of Impurity B and Impurity C Impurity B, 2-[benzyl(1-phenoxypropan-2-yl)amino]ethanol is intermediate product during synthesis. Refer structure (vi) of scheme 01 . Impurity C, N-(2-chloroethyl)-1-phenoxypropan-2-amine formed due to chlorination of intermediate product 1-phenoxypropan-2-ol (refer structure (iii) of scheme 01). The unoxidised 1-phenoxypropan-2-ol left over is chlorinated by SOCI 2, HCI during last step of the synthesis. Refer (d) of the scheme. CONCLUSIONS Preliminary structural assignments for unknown impurity of Phenoxybenzamine Injection were made on the basis of mass spectral data. Initially the works started with transferring HPLC method from Zeta Lab to Kingston university and developing a LC-MS chromatographic method. Ammonium formate volatile buffer was replaced for phosphate buffer in HPLC method . Same chromatographic development was able to replicated with ammonium formate buffer. Accurate mass measurement was carried out on ESI-TOF LC-MS . Also this studies led to determine possible empirical formula . Then LC-MS/MS analysis was performed. The Product ion Scan mass spectral data are very vital information in final structural elucidation of unknown impurity. The structure deduced from MS/MS confirms the empirical formula C24H25NO that derived with LC-TOF-MS spectral data. Eventually the impurity identified in this this preliminary structural assignments , which eluted at retention time of 8.7 minute was predicted as N-benzyl-N-[(E)-2-phenylethenyl] -1- phenoxy-propan-2-amine . The proposed molecular structure for unknown impurity is shown in fig.11 . The formation of impurities A, B and C those had already identified by manufacture were described based on the predicted synthesis route for Phenoxybenzamine . The formation unknown impurity was not able to explained at this stage of this project since the reaction would have occurred found to be more complicated. This project work was wrapped up at this stage due to time limitation. Further to these preliminary structural assignments various spectroscopic studies such as LC-NMR and IR need to be carried out to complete the characterization of the unknown compound. Ultimately the proposed st ructure can be confirmed by synthesizing N-benzyl-N-[(E)-2-phenylethenyl] -1- phenoxy-propan-2-amine in future.

Joseph Hellers Catch 22 Essay -- Comparison Compare Contrast

Catch 22 Comparison Paper Catch 22 by Joseph Heller is a complex and intricate novel. Heller uses many themes, does not have the story line in chronological order and often uses irony in his descriptions. Many of the themes can be compared to other literature. One of the themes that can be compared is fear in war. The idea is that the evils and cruelty of war can make a grown man go back into a "fetal" state. This can be seen in The Ball Turret Gunner by Randall Jarrell and can be compared to the metaphor used in chapter five of Catch 22. In this chapter Yossarian talks about the tight crawl space which led to the plexiglass bombardier’s compartment. This can be looked at as the passageway to fear. Every time Yossarian climbs down he is entering a womb. Yossarian is depicted as being scared and that is why he goes down in the "womb" to feel secure. There, he is nothing but a scared child in a mother’s womb wanting to come out but he can’t. This can also be said for the character in the Ball Turret Gunner. The first lines the speaker says that he has had no choice but to be in this position of being in the belly of the bombardiers compartment. There he too feels as if he is nothing but a small child in his mother womb. He describes his helplessness when he says that he is "six miles form earth and loosed from the dream of life". However, the speaker in Ball Turret gunner goes to a further extent when he says that after the "nightmare", and he is killed and washed out of the compartment with a hose. Another theme addressed in Catch 22 was religion. In Catch 22 the characters questioned whether or not God was real. Many points are brought out by this question. One question is if God loves us so much, why are human lives va... ... kill. So no matter how patriotic Clevingers tear filled speech was death is death and nobody wants that fate. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest McMurphy tries to make the outside world seem so good which is true to the reader because of the reader’s knowledge of the evil plans that Nurse Ratchet has in store. However, the characters are not mentally ready for the outside world. They have been locked up for so long in the "prison" that they could not handle the evils presented to them by other people. Nurse Ratchet has taken away their self-confidence and they can not deal with other people criticism. In the part of the novel when McMurphy takes them on a fishing trip, it is seen how fragile they are. In the bait shop they are torn down buy the loafers there and they really loose confidence. The prison has impacted them and will leave a permanent scar mentally.

Gospel :: essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gospel   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gospel is defined as the good news. In the New Testament times, gospel did not attribute to a book or manuscript, but to a proclamation or message. It was normally referred to as a proclamation of the good news. The good news usually consisted of a victory in battle or other news for the Romans. It also had an effect on the Hebrews by proclaiming the good news to them, especially of Israel’s victory over God’s victory. More broadly, it can proclaim all of God’s glorious acts over Israel.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jesus’ followers used â€Å"gospel† to describe the good news to the people, with extra effort that the good news involved what God did in Jesus. However, some are not sure whether Jesus used gospels to spread his proclamation. Paul described the center of his gospel as Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Marks gospel opens with, â€Å"The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.† He writes that all the good news through God will be put through Jesus Christ for all the nations to hear. His good word is put through human encounter for the real life to interact with and learn. It also involves that God is the almighty who makes Jesus the king over the real world. Matt and Luke do not begin their gospels the same way that Mark does, but they all share the same ideas. Matt shows Jesus proclaiming the kingdom’s gospel and Luke describes activity through verbal use. The use of messages separates the gospel according to John from the others.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The life of gospels beyond the canonical is a puzzling question. Very few uncanonical works are called gospels. However, gospel has been used to refer to uncanonical works independently of their self-identification. It may be better to keep two different categories because of the complications. One should be â€Å"Jesus material† and the other should be called â€Å"gospels†. This would make the distinctions much easier because makes the material easier to categorize.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The origin of a gospel genre arises from many early Christian writings both inside and outside of the standard known as the canon. Gospel is not used in the idea of the New Testament, and Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John did not put together part of the original writings. The idea of writings being referred as gospels probably came about in the 2d century and was established by the 4th century.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Most of the writings outside of the canon were called gospels. Gospel :: essays research papers fc   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gospel   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gospel is defined as the good news. In the New Testament times, gospel did not attribute to a book or manuscript, but to a proclamation or message. It was normally referred to as a proclamation of the good news. The good news usually consisted of a victory in battle or other news for the Romans. It also had an effect on the Hebrews by proclaiming the good news to them, especially of Israel’s victory over God’s victory. More broadly, it can proclaim all of God’s glorious acts over Israel.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jesus’ followers used â€Å"gospel† to describe the good news to the people, with extra effort that the good news involved what God did in Jesus. However, some are not sure whether Jesus used gospels to spread his proclamation. Paul described the center of his gospel as Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Marks gospel opens with, â€Å"The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.† He writes that all the good news through God will be put through Jesus Christ for all the nations to hear. His good word is put through human encounter for the real life to interact with and learn. It also involves that God is the almighty who makes Jesus the king over the real world. Matt and Luke do not begin their gospels the same way that Mark does, but they all share the same ideas. Matt shows Jesus proclaiming the kingdom’s gospel and Luke describes activity through verbal use. The use of messages separates the gospel according to John from the others.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The life of gospels beyond the canonical is a puzzling question. Very few uncanonical works are called gospels. However, gospel has been used to refer to uncanonical works independently of their self-identification. It may be better to keep two different categories because of the complications. One should be â€Å"Jesus material† and the other should be called â€Å"gospels†. This would make the distinctions much easier because makes the material easier to categorize.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The origin of a gospel genre arises from many early Christian writings both inside and outside of the standard known as the canon. Gospel is not used in the idea of the New Testament, and Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John did not put together part of the original writings. The idea of writings being referred as gospels probably came about in the 2d century and was established by the 4th century.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Most of the writings outside of the canon were called gospels.

The Impact of Classical Literature on Machiavellianism Essay -- Litera

In offering his own world view and knowledge to the Medici family, Machiavelli draws a considerable amount of his resources from classical figures and ideology. While Machiavelli is writing for a prince, whose goal would be to gain in territory, power, and control; his philosophy ties simply into less vital victories in the lives of common people. In this paper I will explain the points where he differs and conforms from/to the classical ideology in the generalized context of a leader. He uses these in one of two ways, by agreeing with and reinforcing them, or by refuting them. While Machiavelli keeps the need for a leader to have independence, seriousness, loyalty, and intellect; he rejects the necessity of generosity, mercy, and honesty, in favor of the outward appearance of these virtues. While Machiavelli’s viewpoint differs from the common ideology of his time and of classical antiquity, he does not disagree with all of the virtues. One such virtue is independence. Machiavelli spends the beginning of his treatise discussing principalities and defending them. A wise and successful leader, he says, should not use auxiliaries or mercenaries, as they will always lack unity and their true loyalty is always uncertain. For auxiliary troops, their loyalty is always to a rival, whom may betray the leader at any time. Wise leaders also do not consider a victory with outside help to be a true victory. (The Prince, Chapter 13, pg.49) For mercenaries, their loyalty is to whoever can offer them the most. (The Prince, Chapter 12, pg.43) Machiavelli reinforces this key idea with two examples. The first is in the Old Testament when Saul offered David his weapons and armor, which he rejected as he would be unable to fight well w... ...re the leaders that maintain a faà §ade of honesty, while being skillful in deceiving rivals and enemies. He advises that a leader cannot and should not keep his word when it would harm him. He goes on to say that men are so naà ¯ve and focused on the present that any skillful deceiver would have little difficulty finding people to deceive. (The Prince, Chapter 18, pg.61-62) Despite some of Machiavelli’s more provocative and shocking statements in The Prince, upon a close reading, his values are not very different from those of the classical period. Although he rejects the genuine need for generosity, mercy, and honesty in return for the appearance thereof; he keeps the more significant remaining values the way they are. The changes that he makes in explaining his view of the world are based on his examination of humans as inherently corrupt and self-serving.

First Day of High School Essay

Walking into a brand new school for the first time with a bundle of happiness and a twisted knot in your stomach indicating just how nervous you really are, sure is a way to start your first day of high school. It is natural on the part of every student to remember the first day at school. Recently, I just became a 9th grader. I remember the day as a unclear haze, that resembled a impossible puzzle to complete. The night before was spent with stories of high school back in the last couple decades or so. Ever so often was an, â€Å"Oh you’ll blend in,† â€Å"You’ve grown so much,† and â€Å"I cannot believe you’re already in high school.† Eventually the praise died down and it was time to climb into bed. The first thing I came to realize was a large building pacted tightly together within a compound wall. As small as I am, i couldn’t not seem to put the puzzle pieces together but luckily a map became my bestfriend. The schedule was confusing at first, since it was a long summertime before I had last read one. Nothing felt stable or ordered, everything seemed like it was going to be chaotic any minute. A few seconds later the bell rang, as I thought to myself how much I did not ever recall a harsh stop and ponder during the summer about miss the bell itself. The pattern went throughout the day as a class began, and after a long period a bell ended the period and began a new class. This went on for what felt like years. I walked through the halls and tried to categorize exactly what type of people I would be dealing with and I’ve realized the fact high school is anything but the type of events they describe in movies. Everyone seemed to fit each category perfectly, however it wasn’t quite the match. These faces appeared more normal and friendly. I remember my imagination of what high school was like when I was younger. I was just dying to experience all the new and exciting things that awaited me. From sports to boys to all the partying, I just wanted to know what everything was like and now that I’m finally here, I feel like I want to go back to when I was younger and not wish to grow up so much. As time goes on you find yourself getting to class earlier and earlier each day. Finding new routes, talking a little more, taking more time between  classes and the tension eases. The days do not get harder, but the work and study habits do. Later days of the school year are always easier then the first few. Some say that â€Å"high school was the best time of my life†, just like others say that high school was the worst time in their lives. To be honest, I am not sure which category I fall into yet. I’ve had a good start but I know high school won’t be picture perfect for me. The only thing I can say is that I am learning.

Criminal Justice Administration in New Jersey Essay

Spending is an important aspect of criminal justice administration in any jurisdiction. In many instances, budgeting in public administration is a crossroads between policy issues and politics which makes prioritizing very essential. According to New Jersey Policy Perspective (2003), the spending in the state’s criminal justice system especially the correctional facilities has increased tremendously in the last few decades. This has been as a result of the rapid increase in the number of incarcerated offenders in the state correctional facilities where the number has tripled since early 1980s. Consequently, spending in the correctional facilities in the state of New Jersey has been the fastest growing compared to other departments in the states and was estimated that the figure in the 2005 fiscal year would surpass the amount spent by all states in 1975. Moreover, since late 1990s, the correctional facilities in New Jersey have been operating at over capacity and are rated the sixth most crowded facilities in the country. However, this increased spending due to increased incarceration has taken place as the rate of crime in the country is on a downward trend. The correctional facilities in New Jersey consists of fourteen state facilities, nine of which houses male offenders, one reserved for female offenders, three for juveniles while the one is designated as a reception and intake center. It is also the responsibility of the same department to manage offenders who have completed their sentence but are considered dangerous to the society (NJPP, 2003). As the number of offenders housed in New Jersey states correctional facilities from under capacity in the early 1980s to over 135 percent in 2003, the spending in the correctional department increased proportionally. The large number of convicts incarcerated translated into a need for more staff to manage the systems. For example, the number of employees in the correctional facilities and related jobs were about 13,685. This number of employees was only second to the Department of Human Services. However, the parole officers were needed due to the increased number of individuals under parole in the states surpassed the number of prison officers required in the correctional facilities. The number of offenders under parole rose from under ten thousand to over thirteen thousand between 1983 and 2003 (NJPP, 2003). As the number of individuals under incarceration and parole has increased over the years, the need for more budgetary allocation to the state correctional department has been inevitable. According to the New Jersey Policy Perspective report, the money allocated to the correctional programs in the states rose by about 555 percent in twenty years hitting 1. 1 billion dollars in 2003 up from 203 dollars in 1983. There are many factors including changes in the law that are considered responsible for the increased number of inmates in the states correctional facilities and consequently increased spending. Some of them include changes in the law and statutes within the state’s jurisdiction such as the criminal code and drug laws enforcement statutes (NJPP, 2003). In conclusion, the increased spending in the New Jersey correctional facilities is inevitable. Just as in other states and federal correctional institutions that have been overwhelmed by the increased number of incarcerated offenders or individuals under paroles in the last three decades, the New Jersey facilities have been equally affected by the trends. The increased need for more prison and parole staff, training and caring for offenders in the states facilities has skyrocketed spending in the New Jersey correctional department.

What makes a good teacher

Teachers play a crucial role in the continues growth of society. The goal of every teacher is to pass his/her teachings to his/her students for their personal benefit. As a student I was assigned the task of analyzing and defining the differences of a teacher and a good one, comparing the virtues of a good teacher with many others things, and making clear what a good teacher is not. In order to understand what a good teacher is, first we need to analyze what is a teacher. A teacher is an individual who can be either male or female. A teacher is an adult who has mental ability. Teachers are individuals who have educated and prepared themselves such as going through a university degree, plus two years teachers college. Now, who is a great teacher? Being a good teacher does not ensure his or her to be a good one. Good teachers need to be wise people with enough experience and knowledge. Also, good teachers are patients and humorous with the main purpose that their teachings are easily understood by their students. Good teachers are sociable individuals who can interact with all their students in order to understand and respect their students` opinion. Good teachers could be compared with many things in this world. Good teachers are physiologists, as they are able to deduce their students’ problems. Good teachers are similar to parents given that they play a role model for students to become very successful in their future life. Good teachers are a great source of knowledge and experience. Good teachers are as coaches given that they encourage their students to achieve what they really want. In addition, good teachers can be considered as an encyclopedia because they have a broad knowledge, which they transmit to their students. By defining, what a good teacher is not, improve the understanding of a good teacher. Good teachers are not individuals who are only interested in making money because their commitment is to play an important role model for students. Good teachers are not magician; they cannot do miracles to incentive the students to study as the result depends on how eager the students have to meet their goals. In addition, good teachers are not robots because they also can get tired and have problems as students do. In conclusion, there are many differences between a teacher and a good one. However, the major task of a good teacher is to guide their students through the right path in order to make the students become successful in their future life. What Makes a Good Teacher What Makes a Good teacher? To teach or not to teach that is the question Teacher is not only a person, who should teach, it is a person who must lead the pupil on the way to the knowledge. Teacher shows the world and explain the laws of this world. He is often a tutor, a preceptor, a person that you respect. This profession is very hard and important. But, what makes a good teacher? There are many things which make a teacher great and they all can`t be defined. However i`ve always considered several of them essential.In my opinion a good teacher is someonewho first of all creates interest in studying,doesn`t underestimate the children,has equal expectations of siccess from everyone and last but not least likes his job. A good teavher always has a sense of purpose. He chooses very carefully the teaching programme and adjusts it to the needs of his students. Children always come first and that`s why the decision he makes are based on how they will affect them. He shares experience with other teachers and thus is always learning new things.It is very important for a teacher to be a good communicator. my mind, teacher is at first a man, a person and if he is a difficult person with inner problems, with bad character – he can’t be really good teacher because teacher works with people, not with machines. He should know how to socialize, how to help others. Good teacher must understand their pupils, their feelings. Teacher’s purpose is giving knowledge, but people don’t take knowledge easily, they want to convince themselves in necessity and importance of this information.Good teacher can make so that pupils let pass the studies throw their hearts. Most of all, it is very important for teacher to love his subject. His mood, opinion irrationally hands on his pupils. If person love something – his feelings, his example will be better than any words. So, what makes a good teacher? I think, a good teacher is a vocation, a gift of God bec ause sometimes a person have excellent qualities, wonderful character, loves his subject, but we can’t say that he is really good teacher. To be a good teacher is a talent and a miracle. What Makes a Good Teacher A person may be blessed with natural abilities, but through human nature, we desire personal connection and motivation. The movie Stand and Deliver told the story of a high school class that fell short of academic requirements. Jamie Escalante was a new, influential teacher who made an impact on inner city students by simply demonstrating interest and faith. Jamie showed attention to the students outside of the classroom and did not give them the opportunity to make excuses. Mr. Escalante cleverly manipulated his students into success with various techniques, a majority of which would help me thrive in math class.Angel was a student, first introduced as a trouble maker. As the audience realizes that there is more to Angel than his tough guy routine, so does Mr. Escalante. He is a compassionate grandson, taking care of his sickly grandmother. Angel showed up to Mr. Escalante’s house on Christmas Eve with his grandma, and although it was an act of resentment, they were welcomed in for dinner. Personally, when I was younger my grandpa was very sick; I would spend nights in the hospital with him and my family unable to complete homework assignments which ultimately set me behind in classes.However, like Mr. Escalante, my teachers understood that my life did not always revolve around the classroom. I had other responsibilities and worries on my mind. However, Mr. Escalante also did not allow his students to let their worried minds become excuses for their lack of success or sloppy work ethic. All Mr. Escalante asked of his students was ‘ganas’ or the desire to learn. He held them to a higher standard than they ever had been before which motivates me well because it gives me something to prove.I want to join the Navy after high school and a friend of my sister’s said that I do not have the desire for it. After I heard that, I became more encouraged than ever. Also no excuses were tolerated in his classroom which I believe is a fantastic tac tic. Students know exactly how to manipulate teachers, whether there is a sincere justification for something or just an excuse. When Angel is late to class, Mr. Escalante kicks him out, since his tardiness shows that Angel does not see the value in learning.Later, Angel again comes into class tardy, this time after being with his grandmother in the hospital. Although Angel’s excuse is genuine, Mr. Escalante does not accept it and asks Angel to leave. It is this attitude that inspires the students to attend class regularly and on time. In life, excuses get you nowhere except back where you started. Teachers who do not accept excuses are the ones who care about you enough to get you ready for the real world. Mr. Escalante was very successful. He started with a class of students who did not care about grades or math at all.However, through his tactics, within a few years, those same students passed the advanced placement calculus final. Mr. Brechlin, I will do better in math an d school in general if I am forced to be all I can be just as Jamie’s students were. I am a slacker†¦ and need to be pushed! Like Angel I do have personal and family issues and need help and guidance at times. However, as Mr. Escalante put it, when I’m getting hired for a job they will not want to hear my problems. In the real world, there are no such things as excuses, only my work ethic and ability to succeed.

Abc on Plant Performance

Available online at www. sciencedirect. com Accounting, Organizations and Society 33 (2008) 1–19 www. elsevier. com/locate/aos The role of manufacturing practices in mediating the impact of activity-based costing on plant performance Rajiv D. Banker a, Indranil R. Bardhan b b,* , Tai-Yuan Chen c a Fox School of Business, Temple University, 1810 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA The University of Texas at Dallas, School of Management, SM 41, 2601 N.Floyd Road, Richardson, TX 75083-0688, USA c School of Business and Management, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clearwater Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China Abstract We study the impact of activity-based costing (ABC) on adoption of world-class manufacturing (WCM) practices and plant performance. In contrast to earlier research that estimates the direct impact of ABC on plant performance, we develop an alternative research model to study the role of world-class manufacturing practices as a mediator of the impac t of ABC.Analysis of data from a large cross-sectional sample of US manufacturing plants indicates that ABC has no signi? cant direct impact on plant performance, as measured by improvements in unit manufacturing costs, cycle time, and product quality. We ? nd, however, that WCM practices completely mediate the positive impact of ABC on plant performance, and thus advanced manufacturing capabilities represent a critical missing link in understanding the overall impact of ABC. Our results provide a di? rent conceptual lens to evaluate the relationship between ABC adoption and plant performance, and suggest that ABC adoption by itself does not improve plant performance. O 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction Activity-based costing (ABC) was designed with the objective of providing managers with accurate activity-based cost information by using cost drivers to assign activity costs to products * Corresponding author. Tel. : +1 972 883 2736; fax: +1 972 883 6811. E-mail addresses: [email  protected] edu (R. D. Banker), [email  protected] edu (I. R. Bardhan), [email  protected] k (T. -Y. Chen). and services. Proponents of ABC argue that it provides accurate cost data needed to make appropriate strategic decisions in terms of product mix, sourcing, pricing, process improvement, and evaluation of business process performance (Cooper & Kaplan, 1992; Swenson, 1995). These claims may have led many ? rms to adopt ABC systems. A survey of the 1000 largest ? rms in the United Kingdom showed that 19. 5% of these companies have adopted ABC (Innes & Mitchell, 1995). Another survey released by the Cost Management 0361-3682/$ – see front matter O 2006 Elsevier Ltd.All rights reserved. doi:10. 1016/j. aos. 2006. 12. 001 2 R. D. Banker et al. / Accounting, Organizations and Society 33 (2008) 1–19 Group (1998) of the Institute of Management Accountants indicated that 39% of organizations have approved ABC adoption. 1 Assessing the impact of ABC on manufacturing plant performance is recognized as an important research question. Prior research has typically focused on the direct impact of ABC while ignoring its indirect impact in supporting other organizational capabilities. While past studies have reported moderate levels of bene? s from ABC adoption (Foster & Swenson, 1997; Ittner & Larcker, 2001), few have extended this work to evaluate the linkages between ‘‘beliefs’’ that represent successful outcomes and the operational measures of plant performance. Furthermore, the de? nition of ABC success has often been vaguely de? ned in terms of subjective beliefs regarding ‘‘? nancial bene? t’’, ‘‘satisfaction with ABC’’, or ‘‘use of ABC system for decision making’’. In light of these methodological de? ciencies, we argue that a more rigorous approach is needed to measure the impact of ABC.It is also important to focus on proc ess-level performance measures, instead of ? rm-level ? nancial metrics, since the potential impact of ABC implementation may be appropriated before they are re? ected in a ? rm’s aggregate performance. Evidence of past ABC implementation failures have led researchers to suggest that ABC success depends on other contextual and process factors, such as organizational structure, task characteristics, management support, information technology, and the external environment (Anderson, Hesford, & Young, 2002).In this study, we focus on the mechanism through which ABC impacts plant performance, in terms of its role as an enabler of organizational capabilities rather than its direct impact. Speci? cally, we study the association between implementation of ABC and world-class manufacturing (WCM) capabilities, and their impact on plantlevel operational performance. Using a large cross-sectional sample of US manufacturing plants, we ? nd that ABC has a positive association with the deve lopment of process-centric capabiliImplementation of ABC has been observed not only in manufacturing ? rms but also in service sector ? rms (Cooper & Kaplan, 1992). ties required to successfully implement WCM. We also ? nd that ABC does not have a signi? cant direct impact on plant performance measures. Instead, its impact on plant performance is mediated through the development of WCM capabilities, which allow plants to leverage the process capabilities o? ered by ABC into signi? cant improvements in plant performance. Our study makes contributions in several areas. Our fundamental contribution involves the development of an empirically validated framework which indicates that the impact of ABC on plant performance is completely mediated through its enablement of WCM capabilities.Second, since ABC is implemented and used at the business process level, we focus our attention on operational process performance measures by treating the manufacturing plant as a unit of analysis. This a llows us to avoid the drawbacks associated with prior studies which have mostly focused on aggregated, ? rm-level ? nancial measures. Third, our results suggest that the conceptual lens through which prior research has traditionally studied the impact of ABC needs to be revisited and validated using di? erent types of modeling and measurement approaches. Contrary to the ? dings of Ittner, Lanen, and Larcker (2002) we ? nd that, although the direct impact of ABC is not signi? cant, ABC has a statistically signi? cant indirect e? ect on plant performance that is mediated through its support for advanced manufacturing capabilities. The rest of our paper is organized as follows. In the next section, we review the related literature on ABC, advanced manufacturing practices, and plant performance. We then present our conceptual research framework and research hypotheses, followed by a description of our research data and design.Next, we describe our statistical estimation results, followe d by a discussion of our results, contributions, and limitations. We summarize our ? ndings and the implications of our study in the last section. Background The ABC literature de? nes an activity as a discrete task that a ? rm undertakes to make or deliver R. D. Banker et al. / Accounting, Organizations and Society 33 (2008) 1–19 3 a product/service, and uses cost drivers to assign activity costs to products, services or customers related to these activities (Cooper, 1988; Ittner et al. 2002). Traditional costing systems use bases like direct labor and machine hours to allocate expenses, associated with indirect and support activities, to products and services. On the other hand, ABC segregates the expenses of indirect and support resources by activities, and then assigns those expenses based on the drivers of these activities (Cooper & Kaplan, 1991). Hence, ABC provides plant mangers with a more structured approach to evaluate the expenses associated with speci? c activitie s used to support a product.The body of prior research regarding the impact of ABC has produced mixed evidence. On one hand, proponents of ABC have argued that ABC helps to capture the economics of production processes more closely than traditional cost-based systems, and may provide more accurate costing data (Cooper & Kaplan, 1991; Ittner, 1999). Prior research suggests that implementation of ABC should lead to operational and strategic bene? ts within organizations (Anderson & Young, 1999; Cooper & Kaplan, 1991). Researchers have argued that operational bene? s may emanate from improved visibility into the (a) economics of the production processes, and (b) causal cost drivers. Strategic bene? ts may arise from availability of better information for product development, sourcing, product mix and other strategic decisions (Anderson, 1995; Shields, 1995). Researchers have claimed that, since ABC may provide greater visibility into business processes and their cost drivers, it may al low managers to eliminate costs related to non-value added activities and improve the e? ciencies of existing processes (Carol? , 1996).Improved information visibility may also enable the deployment of quality-related initiatives by identifying activities that are associated with poor product quality, and their cost drivers (Ittner, 1999; Cooper, Kaplan, Maisel, Morrissey, & Oehm, 1992). Hence, prior research suggests that ABC may be associated with adoption of process improvement activities, such as total quality management (TQM) programs (Ittner & Larcker, 1997a, 1997b; Anderson et al. , 2002). On the other hand, Datar and Gupta (1994) claimed that increasing the number of cost pools and improving the speci? ation of cost bases may increase the frequency of errors in product cost measurement. Banker and Potter (1993) and Christensen and Demski (1997) suggest that the ability of ABC to produce accurate cost estimates depends on other factors, such as the competitiveness of markets and the quality of the organization’s information technology infrastructure. Noreen (1991) suggests that ABC implementation may provide bene? cial results only under speci? c conditions. Similarly, empirical studies that have examined the impact of ABC on ? m performance have also produced mixed results (Ittner & Larcker, 2001; Gordon & Silvester, 1999). Many of these studies rely on manager’s beliefs regarding the success of ABC implementation, but they do not indicate whether ABC adopters achieved higher levels of operational or ? nancial performance compared to non-adopters (Shields, 1995; McGowan & Klammer, 1997; Foster & Swenson, 1997). Other studies have suggested that many ABC adopters have abandoned their implementations, raising concerns about the potential impact of ABC on performance (McGowan & Klammer, 1997). In this study, e explore the relationships between ABC implementation and WCM practices, and their impact on plant performance. Unlike prior studies, which focus on measuring the direct impact of ABC on plant performance, our focus is directed at the role of ABC as an enabler of WCM practices which, in turn, have an impact on plant performance. In their study on relationships between incentive systems and JIT implementation, Fullerton and McWatters (2002, p. 711) note that the shift to world-class manufacturing strategies requires accompanying changes in ? rms’ management accounting systems.They argue that by providing a better understanding of the inter-relationships between manufacturing processes, demand uncertainty and product complexity, ABC implementation allows plant managers to direct relevant process improvements which facilitate implementation of other WCM initiatives. Cooper and Kaplan (1991) also claim that ABC may help plant managers to develop a better 4 R. D. Banker et al. / Accounting, Organizations and Society 33 (2008) 1–19 understanding of the sources of cost variability, which allows them to mana ge resource demand and rationalize changes in product mix.The arguments in support of ABC are based on the presumed comparative advantage that ? rms may derive from greater transparency and accuracy of information obtained from ABC (Cagowin & Bouwman, 2002). However, Kaplan (1993) and others have cautioned that not every ABC implementation will produce direct bene? ts. Indeed, the role of other facilitators and contextual factors, such as implementation of related organizational initiatives, has gained greater importance in this debate (Anderson et al. , 2002; Henri, 2006).A fundamental motivation of our research is to better understand the overall impact of ABC on plant performance by studying its indirect impact on plant WCM capabilities. We argue that ABC implementation should impact plant performance only by supporting the implementation of advanced manufacturing capabilities, which provide managers with the ? exibility to adapt to changing product and demand characteristics. Wi thout such capabilities, ABC is unlikely to improve manufacturing performance by itself. Unlike previous studies that have studied the impact of ABC on ? rm-level performance, we bserve that isolating the impact of ABC at the plant-level allows us to trace ABC’s impact on speci? c plant performance measures, and overcomes the potential for confounding when multiple business processes are aggregated at the ? rm level. We discuss our conceptual framework and research hypotheses in the next section. Conceptual research model We posit that adoption of ABC by itself may not provide much direct value, but may facilitate the implementation of advanced manufacturing practices and other organizational capabilities which, in turn, may be associated with sustainable improvements in plant performance.Unlike previous research that has in the large part explored the direct impact of ABC, our research model allows for the possibility of plant performance improvements due to implementation o f WCM practices that may be enabled by capabilities associated with the adoption of ABC systems. WCM practices entail a broad range of manufacturing capabilities, which allow plant managers to adapt to the volatility and uncertainty associated with changes in customer demand and business cycles in agile manufacturing environments (Flynn, Schroeder, & Flynn, 1999; Sakakibara, Flynn, Schroeder, & Morris, 1997; Banker, Potter, & Schroeder, 1995).These practices include just-in-time manufacturing (JIT), continuous process improvement, total quality management (TQM), competitive benchmarking, and worker autonomy through the use of self-directed work teams. Advanced manufacturing practices provide the capabilities necessary to react to rapid changes in lot sizes and setup times, as the manufacturing focus shifts to ? exible and agile processes that are characterized by quick changeover techniques to handle production of low volume orders with high product variety (Kaplan, 1983; Flynn et a l. 1999). Traditional costing systems, which are based on assumptions of long production runs of a standard product with static speci? cations, are not relevant in such dynamically changing environments. However, proponents have argued that ABC may provide more accurate information on the activities and transactions that impact product costs in manufacturing environments characterized by production of smaller lot sizes, high broad mix, and frequent changeovers (Krumwiede, 1998). By providing timely information about the costs of esources, especially when production runs are shorter or the production method changes, ABC implementation may provide the process infrastructure necessary to support managerial decision-making capabilities in fast-paced manufacturing processes (Kaplan, 1983). Hence, we study the impact of ABC on its ability to support implementation of WCM capabilities, and examine its indirect impact on plant performance through its enablement of such capabilities. Our con ceptual research model describing the relationship between ABC, manufacturing capabilities and plant performance is shown in Fig. . The model comprises of two stages. The ? rst stage describes how ABC may facilitate implementation of world-class manufacturing practices. R. D. Banker et al. / Accounting, Organizations and Society 33 (2008) 1–19 5 Activity-based Costing (ABC) H1 ?QUALITY H2 ? TIME H3 ? COST World-class Manufacturing (WCM Plant Performance SIZE PLANTAGE DISCRETE DOWNSIZE VOLUME MIX Plant-level Control Variables Plan Fig. 1. Conceptual research model. Note: Plant performance is represented using three separate dependent variables that are grouped together in the gure for ease of representation. Our regression models are estimated using each performance variable as a dependent variable in a separate multivariate regression. The second stage describes the impact of advanced manufacturing capabilities, as embodied by WCM, on plant performance. The key di? erence bet ween our research model and that of prior studies is our focus on the relationship between ABC and WCM, and the role of manufacturing capabilities as a mediator of the impact of ABC on plant performance, as represented by the dotted arrow in Fig. 1.Impact of activity-based costing on world-class manufacturing In his early work on the challenges of implementing new types of management accounting models to measure manufacturing performance, Kaplan (1983, p. 702) noted that ‘‘. . . accounting systems must be tightly integrated with plant production planning and scheduling systems so that production managers are rewarded for e? cient utilization of bottleneck resources and reduced inventory levels throughout the plant. . . ’’. Prior research has suggested that ABC is more bene? cial when it supports the implementation of advanced manufacturing practices (Shields & Young, 1989;Kaplan, 1992; Cooper, 1994). For example, Anderson and Young (1999) reviewed several A BC studies that reported positive relations between the success of ABC adoption and implementation of various advanced manufacturing practices. They argue that ABC facilitates more accurate identi? cation and measurement of the cost drivers associated with value added and non-value added manufacturing activities, which makes it easier to develop better cost control and resource allocation capabilities – necessary prerequisites for successful implementation of worldclass manufacturing.In world-class manufacturing environments, the accounting systems, compensation, incentive structure, and performance measurement practices are di? erent from those that are used in traditional manufacturing (Miltenburg, 1995; Milgrom & Roberts, 1995). For example, traditional manufacturing processes entail the use of performance measures that track unit manufacturing costs related to (a) equipment utilization, (b) ratios of direct and indirect labor to volume, (c) number of set-ups, and (d) numb er of orders. On the other hand, erformance measures relevant to WCM implementation track (a) actual cost and quality, (b) cycle time reduction, (c) delivery time and ontime delivery rate, and (d) actual production as a percentage of planned production (Miltenburg, 1995, p. 336). By enabling the measurement of costs related to speci? c activities, products, and customers, ABC may provide more accurate identi? cation and measurement of new types of performance measures that are a critical component of successful WCM implementations (Argyris & Kaplan, 1994; Krumwiede, 1998).Proponents claim that ABC may support the implementation of WCM capabilities in several ways. First, by allowing plant managers to track costs accurately and enabling identi? cation of redundant resources, ABC may support implementation of TQM and other quality/process improvement programs. 2 Second, ABC may support process-related investments in cycle time See Ittner (1999) for an example of the bene? ts of activi tybased costing for quality improvement at a telecommunications ? rm. 2 6 R. D. Banker et al. / Accounting, Organizations and Society 33 (2008) 1–19 reduction by facilitating the timely identi? ation of non-value-added activities (Kaplan, 1992). Third, ABC may allow plant managers to make better resource allocation decisions by focusing the product line and accurately anticipating the e? ect of changes in the product mix on the pro? tability of manufacturing operations. Hence, they argue that ABC implementation may provide the process discipline necessary to analyze activities, gather and trace costs to activities, and establish relevant output measures–capabilities that are useful in ? exible manufacturing environments (Cooper & Kaplan, 1991, 1999).Implementation of ABC may be associated with greater use of self-directed teams and worker autonomy, which are also important capabilities of WCM (Anderson & Young, 1999). Similarly, ‘‘best practices’â₠¬â„¢ data on cost pools, activity centers, and cost drivers can be incorporated into the design and use of ABC systems which may improve plant managers’ abilities to make better strategic product decisions, and thereby support implementation of WCM programs (Elnathan, Lin, & Young, 1996; Atkinson, Banker, Kaplan, & Young, 2001). Therefore, we posit that ABC facilitates successful implementation of WCM capabilities.In contrast to Ittner et al. (2002), who treat advanced manufacturing practices as causal variables in explaining adoption of ABC, we posit that ABC supports implementation of WCM practices, which in turn, may improve plant performance. Accordingly, Hypothesis H1: Plants which implement ABC are more likely to implement world-class manufacturing practices. Impact of world-class manufacturing on plant performance Implementation of WCM practices can enable plants to react quickly to changes in customer demand, and thereby carry lower levels of inventory, improve cost e ? iencies, increase the ? exibility of production facilities through use of planning and scheduling software, and improve overall plant productivity (Banker, Bardhan, Chang, & Lin, 2006). Investments in JIT and ? exible manufacturing practices help to reduce setup times that permit shorter production runs, thereby allowing for more e? cient inventory control, as well as lower product defect rates (Kaplan, 1983; Hendricks & Singhal, 1997; Sakakibara et al. , 1997).Techniques that are commonly deployed, within the scope of JIT implementations, include pull/Kanban systems, lot-size reductions, cycletime reductions, quick changeover techniques, and bottleneck removal practices. Research on the performance impact of JIT has been extensively documented in the literature (Sakakibara et al. , 1997; Hendricks & Singhal, 1997). Reported bene? ts range from reduced work in progress and ? nished goods, to better quality and higher ? rm productivity. Based on prior empirical evidence, researcher s have found that ? ms which adopted JIT production are better aligned to customer needs, have shorter lead times, and faster time to market (Srinivasan, Kekre, & Mukhopadhyay, 1994). Implementation of WCM practices also entails adoption of other process improvement practices, such as total quality management (TQM) and continuous process improvement programs (Fullerton & McWatters, 2002). The fundamental elements of process improvement programs consist of competitive benchmarking, statistical process control, and employee empowerment (Schroeder & Flynn, 2001).Such process improvement practices, stemming from greater attention to product quality and time to market issues may enable manufacturing plants to develop advanced manufacturing capabilities. Based on ? rm-level data, researchers have found that implementation of TQM and other advanced manufacturing practices have a positive impact on ? rm performance, through realization of lower product cost, higher quality, and better on-ti me delivery performance (Banker, Field, & Sinha, 2001; Banker et al. , 1995; Hendricks & Singhal, 1997; Ittner & Larcker, 1995, 1997a).Hence, we posit that implementation of WCM practices in manufacturing plants may be positively related to improvements in plant-level performance as de? ned by plant cost, quality and time-to-market measures. Therefore, we hypothesize that R. D. Banker et al. / Accounting, Organizations and Society 33 (2008) 1–19 7 Hypothesis H2: Plants that have implemented WCM practices are more likely to be associated with signi? cant improvements in plant performance. H2a: Plants which implement WCM practices are more likely to realize improvements in plant manufacturing costs.H2b: Plants with WCM practices are more likely to realize improvements in plant quality. H2c: Plants with WCM practices are more likely to realize improvements in time to market. Impact of ABC on plant performance: a mediation mechanism Proponents have argued that, by enabling easier identi? cation of non-value added activities and simpli? cation of cost measurements, ABC enables implementation of advanced manufacturing practices, especially in processes that are characterized by quick changeovers and a range of support activities. Documenting and understanding activities is a necessary prerequisite to improving business processes, since activities are the building blocks of business processes. If ABC adoption results in more accurate costing then plant performance may improve because of greater ability to implement process improvement initiatives, facilitating the simpli? cation of business processes by removing non-value added activities. Successful implementation of WCM practices requires the development of business process models to identify and eliminate non-value added activities.In this respect, ABC implementation entails a priori development of such process models to identify and analyze activities, trace costs to activities, and analyze activity-based costs. Similarly, plant managers can use information gathered through ABC analyses to conduct a Pareto analyses of the major cost drivers, an important ingredient in most TQM and competitive bench3 marking initiatives. Scenario analysis related to pricing, product mix, and pro? tability is also possible, which are useful in the deployment of JIT capabilities.Hence, successful WCM implementations may leverage the streamlining of business processes due to ABC adoption. ABC analyses allow plants to develop activitybased management (ABM) business models which managers may adopt to improve their organizational e? ectiveness (Chenhall & Lang? eld-Smith, 1998). In addition, ABC implementation may be correlated with and hence serve as a surrogate for unobservable factors, such as management leadership and worker training, that are important components of successful WCM implementation. Hence, implementation of WCM may allow plants to leverage the capabilities o? ered by ABC (i. . accurate co st allocations and management support) into improvements in plant performance. Our approach di? ers from the prior literature which has primarily studied the direct impact of ABC on plant performance (Ittner et al. , 2002). Instead, we argue that it is important to view the role of ABC as a potential enabler of manufacturing capabilities, and study its indirect impact on plant performance as completely mediated by WCM. This perspective argues that ABC may support improvements in manufacturing capabilities which are, in turn, associated with improvements in plant performance (Henri, 2006).Hypothesis H3: The positive association between ABC implementation and plant performance is mediated through implementation of worldclass manufacturing practices. An alternative perspective, with respect to the role of ABC, is that the interaction between WCM capabilities and ABC implementation may jointly determine plant performance. The interaction perspective argues that advanced manufacturing ca pabilities, when combined with deployment of ABC methods, create complementarities that explain variations in plant performance (Cagowin & Bouwman, 2002). In other words, WCM and ABC may each have a direct e? ct on performance, but would add more value when used in combination (i. e. , the presence of WCM will increase the Low volume production creates more transactions per unit manufactured than high volume production (Cooper & Kaplan, 1988). 8 R. D. Banker et al. / Accounting, Organizations and Society 33 (2008) 1–19 strength of the relationship between ABC and performance). In this framework, the interaction e? ects of ABC and WCM need to be estimated to study the overall impact of ABC on plant performance. We explore the interaction perspective further when we discuss our estimation results. Fig. represents the conceptual research model that describes our hypothesized relationship between ABC and implementation of WCM practices, and the role of WCM as a mediator of the im pact of ABC on plant performance. Research design We now describe the characteristics of the data collected and approach for measuring the variables of interest in our study. Data collection Data for this research was drawn from a survey of manufacturing plants across the US, conducted in the year 1999 by IndustryWeek and PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting. The survey consisted of a questionnaire which was mailed to plants with two-digit standard industrial classi? ation (SIC) codes from 20 to 39, and that employed a minimum of 100 people. Data were collected on a range of manufacturing, management and accounting practices used within each plant. We have described the questions relevant to our research model in Appendix. The survey was mailed to approximately 27,000 plant managers and controllers from IndustryWeek’s database of manufacturing plants. Plant managers provided data on the extent of implementation of ABC and a broad range of advanced manufacturing practices and pla nt characteristics. Data on plant performance measures were based on assessments of plant records by plant controllers. A total of 1757 plants responded to the questionnaire for an overall response rate of 6. 5%. The usable sample contains 1250 plants that provided Since data on the independent and dependent variables was provided by di? erent sources, this mitigates the concerns associated with common methods bias. 4 complete responses to the variables of interest in our model. 5 We present the distribution of the manufacturing plants in our sample by industry in Table 1, and compare it to the distribution of manufacturers, reported in the Statistical Abstract of the United States and published by the US Census Bureau (2000).Since we obtained the data from a secondary data source, we did not have information with respect to the pro? les of non-respondent plants. To evaluate the generalizibility of our ? ndings, we compared the average plant productivity per employee of our sample p lants to the average productivity of all US manufacturing plants, as reported by the US Census Bureau (2000). The average plant productivity per employee of our sample was $221,698, while the average productivity in the US Census data was reported to be $225,440. The di? erence in average plant productivity was not statistically signi? cant (t-statistic = 0. 37; p-value = 0. 35).Measurement of variables The ABC adoption variable was de? ned based on the response to the survey question asking whether ABC was implemented at the plant (0 = not implemented, 1 = plan to implement, 2 = extensively implemented). For the purpose of our study, we collapsed the ? rst two categories into one category, which represents plants that have not implemented ABC at the time of the survey. Hence, we measure ABC as a 0–1 dummy variable where zero represents ‘‘no implementation’’ and one represents ‘‘extensive implementation’’. The number of plan ts that have adopted ABC extensively in our sample is 248, an adoption rate of 19. 8%.We have three dependent variables in our research model. The variable DCOST denotes the change in unit manufacturing costs in the last ? ve years. DQUALITY denotes the change in plant ? rst-pass quality yield in the last ? ve years. DTIME 5 While the net usable response rate of 4. 6% is small, it is comparable to large plant operations surveys as reported in Stock, Greis, and Kasarda (2000) and Roth and van der Velde (1991). R. D. Banker et al. / Accounting, Organizations and Society 33 (2008) 1–19 Table 1 Distribution of sample plants by industry Industry sector Non-durable manufacturing Food and kindred products Tobacco products Textile ill products Apparel and other textile products Lumber and wood products Furniture and ? xtures Paper and allied products Printing and publishing Chemicals and allied products Petroleum and coal products Durable manufacturing Rubber and plastics products Le ather and leather products Stone, clay and glass products Primary metal industries Fabricated metal products Industrial machinery and equipment Electronics and electrical equipment Transportation equipment Instruments and related products Miscellaneous manufacturing Total a b 9 SIC code Number of plants in sample 47 1 23 13 25 43 56 19 86 5 74 5 39 67 153 225 168 103 76 22 1250Percent of sample 3. 76% 0. 08 1. 84 1. 04 2. 00 3. 44 4. 48 1. 52 6. 88 0. 40 5. 92 0. 40 3. 12 5. 36 12. 24 18. 00 13. 44 8. 24 6. 08 1. 76 100% Percent of US manufacturersa 5. 76% 0. 03 1. 70 6. 45 10. 13 3. 33 1. 79 17. 19 3. 41 0. 59 0. 52 0. 51 4. 52 1. 73 10. 47 15. 54 4. 71 3. 41 3. 23 4. 97 100% % ABC Adopters in sampleb 12. 76% 100 21. 74 38. 46 16. 00 27. 91 28. 57 26. 32 26. 74 40. 00 13. 51 40. 00 20. 51 16. 42 16. 99 13. 03 19. 05 26. 21 17. 11 31. 82 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 Source: US Census Bureau (2000).The percentage equals the number of ABC adopters divide d by the number of plants in the 2-digit SIC group. represents a factor comprising of the change in manufacturing cycle time and the change in lead time during the last ? ve years, and thus is indicative of the ‘‘time to market’’ for each plant. The measurement scale of the plant performance variables was ordered in manner such that higher values represent improvements in performance over time. 6 WCM represents a composite factor that consists of six types of advanced manufacturing practices, as described in the survey questionnaire.The six indicators were measured using a 0–1 scale, where zero represents ‘‘no or some implementation’’, and one indicates ‘‘extensive implementation’’. Next, we constructed WCM as a six-item 6 A value of DQUALITY = 1 indicates that ? rst-pass quality yield ‘‘declined more than 20%’’, while DQUALITY = 5 indicates that quality yield Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬Ë œimproved more than 20%’’. On the other hand, DCOST = 1 indicates that unit manufacturing costs ‘‘increased more than 20%’’, while DCOST = 7 suggests that costs ‘‘decreased more than 20%’’. summative index that represents the degree of implementation of the six types of advanced manufacturing capabilities. This index measures both the range and depth of manufacturing capabilities in each plant. Hence, for each plant, WCM consists of seven levels and can take any value between zero and six (since the six indicators are measured as 0–1 variables). Our approach for constructing this summative measure of manufacturing capability is consistent with similar approaches in the literature (Krumwiede, 1998; Loh & Venkatraman, 1995) that use a summative index when an increase in any of the indicators is associated with a corresponding increase in the construct of interest.We note that exploratory factor analyses (EFA) sug gests that the six items load on a single factor (with Eigen value = 2. 13) which accounts for 36% of variance in the data. Furthermore, the EFA provides support for the validity and unidimensionality of the WCM factor. 7 10 R. D. Banker et al. / Accounting, Organizations and Society 33 (2008) 1–19 (0. 07) (0. 00) (0. 01) (0. 27) (0. 01) (0. 41) (0. 87) (0. 02) (0. 00) (0. 00) (0. 72) (0. 00) (0. 76) (0. 79) (0. 68) (0. 05) (0. 40) (0. 60) (0. 00) (0. 04) (0. 00) (0. 96) (0. 04) (0. 29) (0. 00) (0. 00) (0. 60) 0. 06 0. 21 A0. 00 0. 06 A0. 03 A0. 13 0. 8 A0. 01 1. 00 0. 18 0. 29 1. 00 7. 00 4. 53 5. 00 1. 46 (0. 45) (0. 20) (0. 00) (0. 22) (0. 34) (0. 00) ABC WCM DISCRETE DOWNSIZE SIZE PLANTAGE VOLUME MIX DCOST DQUALITY DTIME Minimum Maximum Mean Median Std. Dev. 1. 00 0. 12 A0. 03 0. 02 0. 05 0. 01 0. 02 0. 01 0. 06 0. 01 0. 06 0. 00 1. 00 0. 19 0. 00 0. 39 (0. 00) (0. 22) (0. 40) (0. 06) (0. 86) (0. 46) (0. 81) (0. 03) (0. 59) (0. 04) 0. 11 1. 00 A0. 01 0. 03 0. 22 A0. 03 0. 09 0. 03 0. 23 0. 25 0. 31 0. 00 6. 00 4. 00 4. 00 1. 61 (0. 70) (0. 35) (0. 00) (0. 24) (0. 00) (0. 22) (0. 00) (0. 00) (0. 00) A0. 03 A0. 03 1. 00 A0. 09 0. 03 A0. 06 A0. 8 0. 04 A0. 00 0. 01 0. 08 0. 00 1. 00 0. 59 1. 00 0. 49 (0. 00) (0. 33) (0. 02) (0. 00) (0. 15) (0. 90) (0. 74) (0. 00) 0. 02 0. 04 A0. 08 1. 00 0. 03 0. 10 A0. 02 0. 01 0. 06 0. 01 A0. 03 1. 00 3. 00 1. 75 2. 00 0. 76 (0. 29) (0. 00) (0. 38) (0. 60) (0. 04) (0. 64) (0. 28) 0. 05 0. 21 0. 03 0. 03 1. 00 0. 06 0. 20 0. 04 A0. 02 0. 03 0. 07 1. 00 5. 00 2. 73 2. 00 1. 08 (0. 04) (0. 00) (0. 17) (0. 53) (0. 35) (0. 01) (0. 09) (0. 00) (0. 30) (0. 22) 0. 02 A0. 01 A0. 07 0. 10 0. 08 1. 00 A0. 07 0. 06 A0. 12 A0. 04 A0. 29 1. 00 4. 00 3. 57 4. 00 0. 78 (0. 01) (0. 02) (0. 00) (0. 12) (0. 30) (0. 47) (0. 9) (0. 01) (0. 00) (0. 00) 0. 02 0. 08 A0. 18 A0. 02 0. 19 A0. 07 1. 00 A0. 22 0. 08 0. 02 A0. 02 0. 00 1. 00 0. 54 1. 00 0. 50 (0. 46) (0. 01) (0. 00) (0. 42) (0. 00) (0. 01) (0. 00) (0. 00) (0. 52) (0. 54) 0. 01 0. 04 0. 04 0. 01 0. 04 0. 09 A0. 22 1. 00 A0. 02 A0. 01 0. 07 0. 00 1. 00 0. 75 1. 00 0. 43 (0. 81) (0. 18) (0. 15) (0. 66) (0. 15) (0. 00) (0. 00) (0. 510) (0. 78) (0. 02) (0. 00) (0. 00) 0. 01 0. 24 0. 01 0. 01 0. 01 A0. 05 0. 02 A0. 01 0. 18 1. 00 0. 26 1. 00 6. 00 3. 14 3. 00 0. 90 p-Values are shown in parentheses. Spearman correlation coe? cients are in the top triangle and Pearson coe? ients are in the bottom triangle. (0. 00) 0. 05 0. 31 0. 08 A0. 03 0. 08 A0. 02 A0. 00 0. 06 0. 29 0. 26 1. 00 1. 00 6. 00 3. 30 3. 50 0. 86 Table 2 Descriptive statistics and correlations of model variables (N = 1250) Estimation results First, we estimate the impact of ABC on the implementation of WCM using an ordered logit regression model, where the dependent variable represents an ordered choice variable of seven possible states of WCM implementation: WCM = 0 (no or some implementation on all six indicators) and WCM = 6 (extensive implementation on all six indicators).Our methodology is cons istent with Krumwiede’s (1998) approach to evaluate the antecedents of di? erent stages of ABC implementation in ABC WCM DISCRETE We include additional variables to control for the impact of plant characteristics on manufacturing capabilities and plant performance. There are six control variables in our model, which include plant size (SIZE) measured in terms of number of employees, plant age in years (PLANTAGE), nature of manufacturing operations (DISCRETE), degree of product mix (MIX), product volume (VOLUME), and the extent of downsizing in the last ? ve years (DOWNSIZE).Larger plants are more likely to have the scale and ? nancial resources required to justify adoption of advanced manufacturing practices and activity-based costing programs. SIZE is likely to impact plant performance since smaller plants are likely to be more agile in responding to customer needs compared to larger plants ceteris paribus (Hendricks & Singhal, 1997). Plant AGE is also likely to play a signi ? cant role since older plants are less likely to adopt advanced manufacturing practices and often fail to realize the impact of technology-enabled processes on plant performance. Product MIX is de? ed as the mix of products produced and is measured as a binary variable based on low or high product diversity. Plants with high product diversity are more likely to implement ABC (Cooper, 1989) as it may provide more accurate estimates of overhead usage. DISCRETE represents a binary variable with a value of one if the nature of manufacturing for primary products is discrete manufacturing, and zero for process or hybrid manufacturing. Descriptive statistics of our model variables are provided in Table 2. DOWNSIZE SIZE PLANTAGE VOLUME MIX DCOST DQUALITY DTIME R. D. Banker et al. / Accounting, Organizations and Society 33 (2008) 1–19 1 manufacturing ? rms. Tests for multicollinearity (Belsley, Kuh, & Welsch, 1980) indicated no evidence of multicollinearity in our data (BKW index = 1 . 06, variance in? ation factor = 1. 15). Our ordered logit regression results are presented in Table 3. The ‘‘logit coe? cient’’ column reports the results of an ordered logit test for the seven states of WCM. The logit results indicate that our model has significant explanatory power (Chi-square = 82. 67; pseudo R2 = 0. 07). The ordered logit coe? cients indicate that adoption of ABC has a positive impact on WCM implementation (coe? ient value = 0. 499; v2 = 15. 15; p-value < 0. 0001). Hence, our results support hypothesis H1, and suggest that plants that implement ABC are more likely to implement WCM practices. The ordered logit results also indicate that plant SIZE and product VOLUME have a positive impact on the extent of WCM implementation. Larger plants may be more likely to implement WCM capabilities due to availability of greater plant resources, and plants with high VOLUME may be more likely to implement WCM to deal with the complexity involved in managing high volume production.The mediating role of WCM Next, we estimate the impact of ABC and WCM on the three measures of plant performance, DCOST, DQUALITY, and DTIME, using ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions. For each dependent variable, we estimate the relationships between ABC, WCM and plant performance as speci? ed by the following system of equations: DPERFORMANCE ? a0 ? a1 A ABC ? a2 A DOWNSIZE ? a3 A SIZE ? a4 A PLANTAGE ? a5 A DISCRETE ? a6 A VOLUME ? a7 A MIX ? e1 DPERFORMANCE ? b0 ? b1 A WCM ? b2 A DOWNSIZE ? b3 A SIZE ? b4 A PLANTAGE ? b5 A DISCRETE ? b6 A VOLUME ? b7 A MIX ? e2 ? 2? ?1? DPERFORMANCE ? d0 ? 1 A WCM ? d2 A ABC ? d3 A DOWNSIZE ? d4 A SIZE ? d5 A PLANTAGE ? d6 A DISCRETE ? d7 A VOLUME ? d8 A MIX ? e3 ?3? In order to test our proposed model, we follow the approach prescribed by Baron and Kenny (1986). Eq. (1) estimates the direct impact of ABC on plant performance. Eq. (2) estimates the marginal impact of the mediating variable, WCM, on plant per formance. Eqs. (1) and (2) represent non-nested model speci? cations which estimate the independent impact of ABC and WCM, respectively, on plant performance. Finally, both predictor variables, ABC and WCM, are included in a single regression model speci? d in Eq. (3). We observe that Eq. (2) represents a complete mediation model, whereas Eq. (3) represents a partial mediation model where the impact of ABC is partially mediated through WCM. The dependent variable, DPERFORMANCE, represents the respective change (D) in the three performance measures: COST, QUALITY, and TIME. The system of equations estimated separately for each performance measure. We report OLS regression results in Table 4. 8 The estimated coe? cients in the three columns of each panel in Table 4 correspond to the regression models speci? ed in Eqs. (1)–(3).First, we estimate the direct impact of ABC on plant performance in the absence of the WCM variable. Estimated regression coe? cients for Eq. (1) are show n in columns (1), (4) and (7) of Table 4 (i. e. , ? rst column of each panel). The regression coe? cient of ABC is statistically signi? cant for DCOST and DTIME (p < 0. 10), and it appears that ABC has a positive impact on improvements in plant costs and time to market. 9 ABC does not have signi? cant explanatory power in the DQUALITY regression model as indicated by low R2 values. 8 We also used ordered logit regressions to estimate the system of equations in (1).The ordered logit results are consistent with our OLS estimation results. 9 The adjusted R2 for these models was low (between 1. 38% and 2. 75%) and our analysis of the F-statistics indicates that only the DCOST regression model was signi? cant at p < 0. 05. We have not included these results in our tables due to space limitations. 12 R. D. Banker et al. / Accounting, Organizations and Society 33 (2008) 1–19 Table 3 Factors in? uencing WCM implementation: ordered logit regression Variable ABC DOWNSIZE SIZE PLANTAGE DISCRETE VOLUME MIX Pseudo-R2 (%) Chi-square N ***, **, * IndicatesLogit coe? cient 0. 50 0. 05 0. 34 A0. 08 A0. 02 0. 212 0. 19 0. 07 82. 67*** (p-value < 0. 001) 1250 Chi-square 15. 15*** 0. 56 48. 56*** 1. 73 0. 02 4. 04** 2. 56 signi? cance at the 1%, 5%, and 10% (one-sided) level, respectively. Variable de? nition ABC = 1 if implemented extensively, zero if there is no ABC implementation in the plant. WCM = Six-item summative index that measures the degree of implementation of six types of manufacturing practices: JIT, TQM, Kanban, continuous process improvement, competitive benchmarking, self-direct teams. WCM can take any value between zero and six.For each manufacturing practice, 0 = no or some implementation, 1 = extensive implementation D(QUALITY): Change in ? rst-pass quality yield of ? nished products over the last ? ve years: 1 = Declined more than 20%, 2 = declined 1–20%, 3 = no change, 4 = improved 1–20%, 5 = improved more than 20%. D(COST): Change in un it manufacturing costs, excluding purchased materials, over the last ? ve years: 1 = Increased more than 20%, 2 = increased 11–20%, 3 = increased 1–10%, 4 = no change, 5 = decreased 1–10%, 6 = decreased 11–20%, 7 = decreased more than 20%.D(TIME): Factor comprised of the 5-year change in manufacturing cycle time and plant lead time: D(Cycle time): Change in manufacturing cycle time over the last ? ve years: 1 = No reduction, 2 = decreased 1–10%, 3 = decreased 11–20%, 4 = decreased 21–50%, 5 = decreased more than 50%. D(Lead time): Change in customer lead time over the last ? ve years: 1 = Increased more than 20%, 2 = increased 1–20%, 3 = no change, 4 = decreased, 1–20%, 5 = decreased more than 20%. DISCRETE = 1 if nature of manufacturing operations for primary products is discrete; else zero. DOWNSIZE: Extent of plant-level downsizing in the past ? e years. 1 = No change, 2 = extent of downsizing increased 1–10%, 3 = extent of downsizing increased 11–20%, 4 = extent of downsizing increased 21–50%, 5 = increased 51–75%, and 6 = increased more than 75%. SIZE: Number of employees at the plant location. 1 = Less than 100; 2 = 100–249; 3 = 250–499; 4 = 500–999; 5 = greater than 1000 employees. PLANTAGE: Number of years since plant start-up. 1 = Less than 5 years; 2 = 5–10 years; 3 = 11–20 years; 4 = more than 20 years. VOLUME = 1 if plant exhibits high volume production, and zero otherwise. MIX = 1 if plant exhibits high product mix, and zero otherwise.Next, estimated regression coe? cients for Eq. (2) are shown in columns (2), (5) and (8) of Table 4. The regression results indicate that the impact of WCM on all plant performance measures is positive and signi? cant at p < 0. 01. In other words, implementation of advanced manufacturing capabilities is associated with improvements in plant costs (b1 = 0. 20, p < 0. 01), quality (b1 = 0. 14, p < 0. 01), and time to market (b1 = 0. 16, p < 0. 01). Hence, our results support hypothesis H2 with respect to the association between WCM implementation and performance. Finally, we estimate the full model in Eq. 3) that includes the direct impact of WCM on plant performance and an additional direct path from ABC to the dependent variable. The full model results, as reported in columns (3), (6), and (9) of Table 4, indicate that ABC does not have a direct, signi? cant impact on any of the three measures of plant performance. When the impact of the WCM R. D. Banker et al. / Accounting, Organizations and Society 33 (2008) 1–19 2. 61 (17. 78)*** 0. 16 (11. 02)*** 0. 05 (0. 83) A0. 04 (A1. 33) 0. 01 (0. 51) A0. 02 (A0. 65) 0. 14 (2. 83)*** A0. 02 (A0. 42) 0. 09 (1. 72)* 1250 0. 102 18. 52*** 13 t-Statistics are shown in parentheses. **, **, * Indicates signi? cance at the 1%, 5%, and 10% level, respectively. Note: Plant performance is represented using three separate dependent variables. We estimated the three regression models as separate multivariate regressions. variable is included in the model, ABC adoption is not associated with any improvement in plant costs (d2 = 0. 14, t-stat = 1. 43), quality (d2 = A0. 03, t-stat = A0. 47), or time to market (d2 = 0. 05, t-stat = 0. 83). In contrast, WCM continues to have a signi? cant positive impact on all plant performance measures, and the magnitude of the WCM coe? cient is very similar to its estimate in Eq. (2).The adjusted R2 values for the complete mediation models are not signi? cantly di? erent from the R2 values of their corresponding full (i. e. , partial mediation) models. For instance, adding the ABC variable in column (3) results in an increase of 0. 1% (=0. 001) in the DCOST model’s explanatory power, compared to its corresponding R2 shown in column (2). Similarly, introducing ABC in the DQUALITY and DTIME models, results in statistically insigni? cant increases in model R2 of 0. 0% and 0. 1%, respectively. Hence, our results support hypothesis H3, indicating that WCM completely mediates the impact of ABC on plant performance.We also test an alternative speci? cation based on a perspective that the interaction between ABC and WCM implementation may have an impact on plant performance. The interaction model (Luft & Shields, 2003) is speci? ed as DPERFORMANCE ? c0 ? c1 A WCM ? c2 A ABC ? c3 A ABC A WCM ? c4 A DOWNSIZE ? c5 A SIZE ? c6 A PLANTAGE ? c7 A DISCRETE ? c8 A VOLUME ? c9 A MIX ? e4 (9) Panel C DTIME (8) (7) (6) Panel B DQUALITY (5) (4) (3) 4. 46 (17. 58)*** 0. 20 (7. 79)*** – 0. 13 (2. 47)** A0. 11 (A2. 89)*** A0. 23 (A4. 36)*** 0. 05 (0. 61) 0. 22 (2. 52)** 0. 02 (0. 21) 1250 0. 068 14. 19*** 4. 46 (17. 56)*** 0. 9 (7. 62)*** 0. 14 (1. 43) 0. 13 (2. 46)** A0. 11 (A2. 93)*** A0. 23 (A4. 38)*** 0. 05 (0. 65) 0. 22 (2. 52)** 0. 02 (0. 20) 1250 0. 069 12. 68*** 3. 28 (21. 36)*** – 0. 024 (0. 37) 0. 016 (0. 48) 0. 009 (0. 40) A0. 062 (A1. 89)* 0. 017 (0. 33) 0. 03 (0. 59) A0. 015 (A0. 24) 1250 0. 002 0. 70 2. 85 (18. 19)*** 0. 14 (8. 78)*** – 0. 016 (0. 48) A0. 03 (A1. 28) A0. 06 (A1. 89)* 0. 03 (0. 54) 0. 01 (0. 17) A0. 04 (A0. 64) 1250 0. 056 11. 74*** 2. 86 (18. 19)*** 0. 14 (8. 78)*** A0. 03 (A0. 47) 0. 01 (0. 23) A0. 03 (A1. 27) A0. 05 (A1. 64)* 0. 03 (0. 53) 0. 01 (0. 17) A0. 04 (A0. 64) 1250 0. 056 10. 29*** . 11 (21. 30)*** – 0. 11 (1. 82)* A0. 03 (A0. 96) 0. 06 (2. 53)** A0. 03 (A0. 98) 0. 12 (2. 47)** 0. 006 (0. 12) 0. 12 (2. 11)** 1250 0. 014 3. 49** 2. 61 (17. 80)*** 0. 16 (11. 15)*** – A0. 04 (A1. 32) 0. 01 (0. 53) A0. 02 (A0. 64) 0. 14 (2. 80)*** A0. 02 (A0. 42) 0. 09 (1. 72)* 1250 0. 101 21. 07*** ?4? The results indicate that the interaction term (i. e. , ABC * WCM) is not statistically signi? cant for any of the plant performance measures. The estimated magnitude of the coe? cient of the interaction term (i. e. , c3) was A0. 04 (p-value = 0. 48), A0. 02 (p-value = 0. 57), and A0. 03 (p-valu e = 0. 9) for the DCOST, DQUALITY, and DTIME models respectively. These results indicate that the interaction model is not supported by empirical evidence based on analyses of the impact of ABC on operational measures of plant performance. On the other hand, the complete mediation model provides a Table 4 Impact of WCM and ABC on plant performance (2) Panel A DCOST (1) Intercept WCM ABC DOWNSIZE SIZE PLANTAGE DISCRETE VOLUME MIX N Adjusted R2 F Value 5. 05 (20. 50)*** – 0. 22 (2. 13)** 0. 142 (2. 63)** 0. 06 (A1. 48) A0. 24 (A4. 54)*** 0. 04 (0. 48) 0. 25 (2. 84)*** 0. 05 (0. 53) 1250 0. 027 5. 93*** 14 R. D. Banker et al. Accounting, Organizations and Society 33 (2008) 1–19 Table 5 Results of likelihood ratio tests for non-nested model selection (N = 1250) Vuong’s z-statistic DCOST: ABC vs. WCM DQUALITY: ABC vs. WCM DTIME: ABC vs. WCM 4. 72*** 6. 91*** 7. 45*** p-Value 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 better explanation of variations in plant performance. Comparison of two no n-nested models We compared the R2 values associated with the ABC and WCM models in Table 4, and observe that WCM provides greater explanatory power of the variance in plant performance measures. In order to discriminate between these two competing speci? cations (i. e. , ABC !Performance versus WCM ! Performance), we evaluate them as non-nested models using Vuong’s (1989) likelihood ratio test for model selection that does not assume under the null that either model is true (Dechow, 1994). It allows us to determine which independent variable (ABC or WCM) has relatively more explanatory power, and represents a more powerful alternative since it can reject one hypothesis in favor of an alternative. We report the results of Vuong’s test on nonnested models in Table 5. We conduct the Vuong’s test for each pair of competing non-nested model speci? cations in Panels A, B, and C, of Table 4.Comparing the models in Eqs. (1) and (2) for the performance variable DCOST, w e ? nd that Vuong’s z-statistic of 4. 72 is signi? cant at p < 0. 01, which indicates that the WCM model in Eq. (2) provides greater explanatory power of the variance in DCOST, compared to the ABC model in Eq. (1). Similarly, Vuong’s z-statistic scores of 6. 91 and 7. 45 are statistically signi? cant (at p < 0. 01) for the DQUALITY and DTIME models, respectively. Our results thus indicate that the direct role of ABC in explaining variations in plant performance is relatively small when compared to that of WCM. 10 Contrary to the ? dings reported A signi? cant z-statistic indicates that ABC is rejected in favor of WCM as a better predictor of variance in plant performance. *** Indicates signi? cance at the 1% level. Table 6 Overall impact of ABC on plant performance (N = 1250) Mediated path ABC ! WCM ! DCOST ABC ! WCM ! DQUALITY ABC ! WCM ! DTIME Estimated path coe? cient 0. 08 (0. 02)** 0. 05 (0. 02)** 0. 06 (0. 01)*** p-Values are shown in parentheses. ***, **, * Indi cates signi? cance at the 1%, 5%, and 10% level, respectively. in Ittner et al. (2002), our ? ndings imply that the complete mediation model provides a superior speci? ation to study the impact of ABC on plant performance. Estimating the overall impact of ABC We next estimate the magnitude of the overall impact of ABC, based on the pathway that links ABC to DPERF through WCM, where DPERF represents the change (D) in COST, QUALITY, and TIME, respectively. We calculate the magnitude of the overall impact of ABC on DPERF as the cross-product of (a) the marginal impact of ABC on WCM, and (b) the marginal impact of WCM on DPERF. That is o? DPERF? o? DPERF? o? WCM? ? A o? ABC? o? WCM? o? ABC? ?5? 10 We also estimated the model, shown in Fig. 1, using structural equation model (SEM) analyses.We then estimated a reverse causal model (i. e. , WCM ! ABC ! Performance) to examine whether ABC is a better predictor of performance, compared to WCM. Our SEM ? t statistics for the reverse model fal l outside the acceptable range for good model ? t. Consistent with the results reported above, and contrary to the ? ndings reported in Ittner et al. (2002), this suggests that WCM has greater explanatory power than ABC to explain variations in plant performance. The path estimates for the plant performance measures are shown in Table 6. Our results indicate that the overall impact of ABC on DCOST is equal to 0. 8 which is statistically signi? cant at p < 0. 05. Similarly, the overall impact of ABC R. D. Banker et al. / Accounting, Organizations and Society 33 (2008) 1–19 15 on DQUALITY and DTIME are signi? cant, and equal to 0. 05 and 0. 06, respectively. Hence, our results support H3 and indicate that there exists an indirect relationship between ABC and plant performance, where WCM completely mediates the impact of ABC on performance. These results are consistent with our theoretical framework which suggests that, although ABC does not have a direct impact, it has a signi? cant overall impact on performance. 11Discussion We highlight the role played by WCM as a mediator of the impact of ABC on plant performance. We ? nd that ABC has a signi? cant overall impact on reduction in product time to market and unit manufacturing costs, and on improvement in quality. Our results are consistent with prior research which suggests that successful implementation of advanced manufacturing initiatives requires prior adoption of compatible management accounting systems (Milgrom & Roberts, 1995; Shields, 1995; Ittner & Larcker, 1995; Sim & Killough, 1998). Furthermore, our results indicate that WCM practices enable plants to leverage the capabilities o? red by ABC implementation and to signi? cantly improve plant performance. Our study has several limitations. First, the survey instrument measures beliefs about changes in plant performance over a ? ve-year period. These measures need to be validated through archival and ? eld data collection in future research. Seco nd, it is possible that ABC may have been in place beforehand or implemented sometime during the ? ve-year period. The secondary nature of the data did not allow us to separate the implications We also extended our research model to study the indirect impact of ABC on change in plant-level return on assets (ROA), a key ? ancial performance measure. We found that ABC has a signi? cant, positive impact on DROA which is mediated through its impact on WCM. Our ROA results are consistent with our results on the inter-relationships between ABC, WCM, and plant operational performance reported here. 11 of these possibilities. Future studies must be designed to gather more detailed data, about the timeline of ABC implementation to better understand its impact on plant performance especially since users may need training to adapt to new types of costing procedures.ABC implementation was measured as a 0–1 variable in our study. It is possible that using a more granular scale to measure the extent of ABC implementation, including the level of ABC integration and the time lag since ABC implementation, may provide greater insights on the relationship between ABC and plant performance. Our focus on plants that employ a minimum of 100 employees limits the generalizability of our results to industries with relatively large or very small manufacturing plants. We also did not account for country or cultural di? rences in manufacturing characteristics since the scope of the survey was limited to US plants. Our ? ndings must also be validated with additional data collected in industry-speci? c settings to examine the impact of industry characteristics and di? erences in manufacturing strategies. Future research may also include evaluation of other contextual factors that are associated with the success of ABC implementation, such as process infrastructure, and the extent of human resource support and outsourcing. Our study enhances the quality of the extant body of knowledg e on ABC e? ectiveness in several ways.First, our survey responses were data provided by plant managers who may represent a more objective and knowledgeable source of plant-wide operations compared to many previous studies, that relied on respondents (such as ABC project managers) with a personal stake in ABC success (Shields, 1995; Swenson, 1995). Second, ABC non-adopters were identi? ed based on the responses provided by plant managers, unlike prior studies where non-adopters were identi? ed based on the lack of public information on ABC implementation (Balakrishnan, Linsmeier, & Venkatachalam, 1996; Gordon & Silvester, 1999).Third, we treated the manufacturing plant (instead of the ? rm) as the unit of analysis, which allowed us to observe the impact of ABC implementation on changes in process-level performance metrics 16 R. D. Banker et al. / Accounting, Organizations and Society 33 (2008) 1–19 and avoid the confounding potential when only ? rm-level ? nancial measures ar e used. Acknowledgement Helpful suggestions by the Editor and two anonymous referees are gratefully acknowledged. Conclusion In contrast to prior studies (Ittner et al. 2002) that have typically focused on the direct impact of ABC on plant performance, we study the role of world-class manufacturing practices in mediating the impact of ABC on plant performance. We draw on prior research on the relationship between management accounting systems and business processes to better understand how ABC may support implementation of WCM practices. Analyzing data from a large cross-sectional sample of US manufacturing plants, we ? nd evidence supporting our model emphasizing the role of advanced manufacturing practices in improving plant performance. Our ? ndings emphasize the need for ? ms to strengthen their manufacturing capabilities when making an investment to implement ABC systems, as ABC is unlikely to result in improved manufacturing performance by itself. Our evidence also suggests th at plants can reap signi? cant bene? ts by combining ABC implementation with the deployment of advanced manufacturing practices. Using a conceptual lens that focuses on the indirect impact of ABC, the evidence supports our alternative theoretical perspective to prior research. We conceptualize ABC as only an enabler of world-class manufacturing practices, which in turn is associated with improvements in plant performance.Our ‘‘complete mediation’’ model stands in contrast with earlier models proposed by Ittner et al. (2002) who focus primarily on the direct impact of ABC on plant performance. The results indicate that our alternative conceptualization is superior in terms of its ability to explain variations in plant performance based on cross-sectional data of a large sample of plants that have implemented ABC. Furthermore, our proposed model may provide an avenue for future researchers using di? erent methodologies to explain di? erences in performance im provements following ABC implementations.It may also explain the weak or ambiguous results in prior research on ABC impact because ABC adoption may not be a su? cient statistic for WCM. Appendix: Survey questions I. Plant characteristics Variable SIZE Question How many employees are at this plant location? 1 = Less than 100; 2 = 100–249; 3 = 250–499; 4 = 500–999; 5 = >1000 employees PLANTAGE How many years has it been since plant start-up? 1 = Less than 5 years; 2 = 5–10 years; 3 = 11–20 years; 4 = >20 years MIX, VOLUME12 How would you describe the primary product mix at this plant? = High volume, high mix; 2 = High volume, low mix 3 = Low volume, high mix; 4 = Low volume, low mix What is the nature of manufacturing operations for primary products at this plant? 1 = Discrete; 0 = Otherwise (hybrid or process) What is the extent of downsizing at the plant in the past ? ve years? 1 = no change, 2 = extent of downsizing increased 1–10%, 3 = inc reased 11–20%, 4 = increased 21–50%, 5 = increased 51–75%, and 6 = increased >75% DISCRETE DOWNSIZE For our analysis, we split the data into two variables such that MIX = 1 if high mix; 0 = otherwise, and VOLUME = 1 if high volume; 0 = otherwise