The research examines perceptions of top management in U. S. Multinationals (MNCs) about strategic management processes involving social responsibility, particularly issues on plant and employee safety, education and human resources, and health delivery and services. Strategic management processes consider setting objectives, environmental analyses, and evaluation of social responsibility programs emphasizing planning activities. The study focuses on firms' decision making in planning and execution of social responsibility programs and their impact on foreign country environments as perceived by company executives, at corporate headquarters and regional/subsidiary offices.

One purpose of the dissertation was to determine what theoretical justification exists to support the description of problem recognition. Homeostatsis was found to be a well documented and accepted theory of tension reduction in both physiology and psychology. It was proposed as a proper theoretical foundation for problem recognition. It also implied that people develop styles as they repeatedly deal with similar problems. Another purpose of the dissertation was to develop a method for typifying consumers in the way they recognize problems. Scales were constructed to measure consumers' tendencies to recognize problems due to a change in one of their states. Three scales were developed: one to measure types sensitive to changes in the desired state, one to measure types sensitive to changes in the actual state, and a combined scale to measure tendencies to recognize problems due to changes in either state. The product category chosen to test the scales was clothing. The results indicated that all scales were extremely reliable and moderately valid.

One of the critical issues that face the accounting profession today involves choosing among alternative accounting information modes. This dissertation provides comparative empirical evidence on the predictive power of accrual-based accounting signals versus cash-flow accounting signals versus both of these signals jointly. The empirical hypotheses compare the degrees of association between the market evaluative criteria, market beta and security price behavior, and the different accounting signals. The research methodology employed includes the following. 1. Market beta and changes in security prices are used as the evaluative criteria. 2. Two regression models are developed and used to test the predictive power of the alternative accounting signals. 3. Several specifications for each model are used. These specifications are simple regression, multiple regression, interaction effect, partial correlation, incremental correlation, and time series and cross sectional analysis.

The success of any retail institution depends upon many factors including personal selling effectiveness. Traditional sales training has focused primarily on the selling process with emphasis on how to close a sale. The idea of using behavioral style awareness training with salespeople has emerged only recently when behavioral training began to be recognized in the literature as a tool for sales training as well as for management training. The Social Style of Behavior concept developed by Dr. David Merrill was selected for use in this research study. Utilizing this concept, a behavioral style awareness training program was developed involving twenty hours of classroom training. Training methods used were lecture, role play, and videotaped materials with emphasis on behavioral identification and using versatility with applications to personal selling in a retail situation.

The general purpose of the study was to determine, analyze, and evaluate the basic nature of the distribution processes involved in the marketing of antique furniture in Dallas, Texas. The study utilizes the marketing mix components as a framework for understanding the nature of the industry. Various aspects of the channels of distribution and physical distribution, the products themselves, pricing mechanisms, and the promotion methods, as well as the market itself and distribution problems, were examined. The primary data were gathered from 29 retail antiques dealers in the Dallas metropolitan area.

Materials management is an integrative approach to control the flow of production materials. It has been successfully practiced by numerous manufacturing firms to decrease materials cost and improve the employment of scarce resources. The need for better utilization of resources is also prevalent in service sector industries. This dissertation focused on the public utilities industry and its practices in the materials management area. Major emphasis of this research was to (1) define the state-of-the-art of materials management within the gas and electric utilities in Texas, (2) determine its impact on the corporate structure, and (3) identify opportunities for materials management in the future of the Texas utilities industry.