ABSTRACTS

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Countertrade: Substitute or Comple~nent for Standard Commercial Trade

HAMDI BILICI AND BURHAN FATIH YAVAS
California State University at Long Beach and Dominguez Hills

A review of the literature on countertrade indicates that lack of liquidity, among other factors,
provides a motivation for international barter [Samonis, 1990; Yavas & Vardiabasis, 1988]. After
presenting the most prevalent forms of countertrade along with recent examples, this study
provides, in a two-commodity two-factor setting, an example of how lack of liquidity may limit the
volume of international trade. A standard single country neoclassical economic model employed
shows that countertrade may be a rational response to conditions which restrict standard trade.
Therefore, countertrade (particularly barter trade) can supplement money-mediated trade and
contribute to the growth of international business.

Technology Creating Unemployment

STANLEY J. LAWSON AND HOURMOUZIS G. GEORGIADIS
St. John's University and George Mason University
This research investigates technologically-inducedunemployment. As more automated production
techniques are introduced into the nation's factories, it is only possible to achieve a higher volume
of production without any expansion of the work force. The manufacturing work force is expected
to decline permanently, and displaced workers, unless they are absorbed by the service sector of
the economy, will remain unemployable.
Countries in which large-scale investment is required for automated facilities will gain a
significant competitive advantage in the process. It is anticipated, however, that: 1) There will be
fewer production jobs on the assembly lines and more jobs in supportive-programming and
maintenance services; 2) an abundant supply of labor and low-wages will become less of an
advantage in the manufacturing sector since labor is becoming a smaller input into the physical
production of goods; and 3) the location of production facilities will be progressively more
separated from the locus where new techniques, methods, and products are developed.
The study finds that capacity use is negatively correlated with unemployment rate, i.e., the less
the capacity use, the higher the unemployment rate. Capacity utilization was associated, as a result
of structural shifts, with a permanently higher level of unemployment indicating a new
technological production process which is labor-displacing.
Leader Control versus Member Compliance: Power in the Organization
MARIAN C. SCHULTZ
University of West Florida

There is no clear road for the leader to follow which will guide him correctly down the road to
success. Today, more than ever, leadership has become the key to the success of every organization
and the successful leader, a priceless commodity. Your mission, should you choose to accept it,
Ms. Leader, is to mold your organization into a cohesive unit, which will carry out any directives
that you dictate or take any action that seems necessary to achieve the organization's goals. This
is not an easy task. There are several things to consider: the organizational goals, the availability
of the resources to attain those goals, and the ability of the personnel required to use those
resources and bring about the realization of those goals, to name a few. The most difficult task is
to shoulder the responsibilities and play the role of the leader, directing the organization through

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the various stages to mission accomplishment. What then does the leader face in modem
organizations? What are his tools and his limitations? What role does power play in leading the
modem organization? Although each situation and organization will differ, this paper suggests
universally applicable solutions to these questions.
Social Accounting and Measurement: A Management Accounting Perspective
PATRICIA A. EVANS AND SHEILABELLAMY
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
Traditionally, social accounting disclosures in corporate annual reports have had a short-term
focus. However, with the emergence in recent years of the concept of ecologically sustainable
development (ESD), a longer term perspective is required.
The arguments in this paper challenge traditional accounting at two levels: 1) capital maintenance
and intergenerational equity and 2) ecological unit versus economic unit.
There needs to be a recognition that economic activity is interwoven with the environment.
Thus, capital maintenance needs to be extended to include natural resources as well as manmade
resources. The task facing management accountants will include having to recognize the full
resources cost of any service or product over its whole life-for example, the reduced productivity
of the soil resulting from overuse should result in future calculations of production including the
costs to bring it back to a state of fertility for the future. In contrast to the economic model of the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this paper proposes that the twenty-first century may use
ecology to best describe the underlying values of decisions which are made and thus include
interconnected natural resource usage in the cycle of production and consumption.

The Evaluation of Pension Accounting and Post Employment Retirement Benefits in an

Agency Theory Setting
GERALD H. LANDER, ALAN REINSTEIN, AND AUGUSTIN K. FOSU
University of South Florida, Wayne State University, and Oakland University
Two recent Financial Accounting Standards supersede all other methods of accounting for
pension transactions. Statements of Financial Accounting Standards Nos. 87 and 106, respectively,
developed authoritative standards for accounting for defined benefit pension plans and postretirement benefits other than pensions. However, many accountants believe that these statements can
be superseded because they contain several theoretical inconsistencies. The purpose of this article
is to use agency theory as an organizing principle to show that both of these types of pension costs
represent a sharing of future cost savings in the employee-employer relationship. Some implications
of the derived model are then applied to the provisions of these authoritative pronouncements. The
derived model should be useful in developing a consistent economic theory for pension accounting.

Repeated R & D Cooperation With Spillovers

K. KESTELOOTAND R. VEUGELERS
Katholieke University at Leuven-Belgium
It is well established by now how factors such as product differentiation, know-how spillovers,
the costs of R & D, and the number of firms influence a firm's willingness to set up cooperative
ventures. It is argued that factors improving on cooperative profits stimulate cooperation, while
elements that reduce profits will hamper cooperation. What is, however, not incorporated in this

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