Legal Entrepreneurship and the Strategic Virtues of Legal Uncertainty

The field of law and strategy (LAS) has advanced our understanding of the law's role in competitive advantage. To date, however, LAS has neglected low rule of law environments—countries characterized by expansive degrees of legal uncertainty. LAS should account for these settings, too, since environmental uncertainty is a strategically significant factor for any company. This article situates the strategic relevance of legal uncertainty in the Chinese context and fills an important gap by illustrating how LAS principles apply in low rule of law jurisdictions. Specifically, this article develops the construct of legal entrepreneurship—the notion that attorneys may apply an entrepreneurial mind-set and skill set to position the client favorably and legitimately within the uncertainties of the legal landscape, thereby creating legal competitive advantages for the client. Drawing upon interviews with expert attorneys and executives, this article presents a typology of legal strategies available to U.S. companies in China, uniquely modeling these approaches along the two fundamental dimensions of legal strategy. Additionally, this article identifies two basic types of legal uncertainty in the cross-border context and offers guidelines for the exercise of legal entrepreneurship. Together, these arguments demonstrate that legal entrepreneurship is an empirically viable construct within the LAS project. In low rule of law jurisdictions that have embraced foreign enterprise, legal entrepreneurship will generally optimize the American company's pursuit of both legal value creation and legal risk management.     

Patterns of breaks in umbilical cords by different mechanisms*

Investigations of perinatal deaths often result in discrepancies between autopsy findings and witness accounts. The mechanism by which the umbilical cord is severed after delivery is a common quandary. Confirming or refuting the mother's stated method frequently has significant investigative importance; however, a surprising paucity of data currently exists to allow an objective opinion about the likely mechanism. Ninety-nine placentas with umbilical cords were examined. By random selection, each cord was severed by one of the following tools or mechanisms: knives, scissors, traction, or crush. Each break was examined and photographed, and a tissue section from the broken end examined microscopically. Differentiation of mechanism was best done grossly based on specific pattern recognition. Umbilical cords severed by blunt force have distinctly different morphology from those severed by sharp force. Even similar-appearing sharp force transections frequently have mechanism-specific distinctive patterns of injury.     

Place-based differences in the commission of recurrent animal cruelty

Despite the recent surge in research linking animal and human acts of violence, relatively few studies have been conducted examining animal cruelty itself. Although several researchers have begun to identify some of the correlates of animal cruelty, few have attempted to understand how differences in the backgrounds of rural and urban residents have led to their abuse of animals. Using survey data from 180 inmates, this study examines how demographic characteristics, exposure to animal cruelty in childhood, and the target animal's relationship with the abuser have contributed to the frequency of acts of animal cruelty in urban- and rural-based settings. Unlike their urban counterparts, rural respondents who engaged in recurrent animal cruelty were more likely to have witnessed family members and/or friends abuse an animal. Moreover, rural respondents who engaged in recurrent animal cruelty abused pet and stray animals, whereas recurrent animal abusers who grew up in urban areas tended to abuse pets only. These findings suggest possible place-based differences in the etiology of recurrent animal cruelty.     

Book reviews

Bryan S. Turner, Orientalism, Postmodernism and Globalising (Routledge, London 1994). 208pp. ISBN 0–415–10861–6, 0–415–10862–4 (pb).

Mir Zohair Husain, Global Islamic Politics, (Harper Collins, London 1995). 282pp. ISBN 0–06501484–7 (pb).

Sondra Farganis, Situating Feminism: From Thought to Action, (Sage, London 1994). 195pp. ISBN 0–8039–4650–3

Tom Mayer, Analytical Marxism, (Sage, California 1994). 371pp. ISBN 0–8039–4681–3 (pb).

Ian Adams, Political Ideology Today, (Manchester University Press, Manchester 1995). 369pp. ISBN 0–7190–3347–0.

Geoffrey Pridham and Tatu Vanhanen, Democratization in Eastern Europe: Domestic and international perspectives, (Routledge, London 1994). 274pp. ISBN 0–415–11063–7(hb), 0–415–11064–5(pb).

Ash Amin (ed), Post‐Fordism: A Reader, (Basil Blackwell, Oxford 1994). 435pp. ISBN 0–631–18857–6 (pb).     

Wetlands on trial: Ontario Municipal Board decisions affecting wetlands, 1980–1993

Abstract: There has been a continued loss of wetlands in Ontario as pressurcs from conflicting land uses escalate. This paper examines the manner in which the Ontario Municipal Board has treated the issue of wetlands protcction in hearings on land-use disputes in the provinw. Bastul on a review of nine wetlands caws dating from 1980 to 1993, the decision-making process of the Ontario Municipal Board was examined with regard to wetlands prokxtion. Analysis of the cases revealed a number of issues: the lack of relevant information at hearings; the role of policy and legislation in thc decision-making process; the use of negotiation and mediation in the hearing process; and the significance of private property rights versus the public interest in wetlands protection. This paper dismsses these issues in the context of the role of the Ontario Municipal Board in the planning and management of wetlands in Ontario. Sommaire: AG mesure qu'augmentent les pressions résultant des utilisations contra-dictoires des terres, la pcrte de terres humides continue en Ontario. Cct article examine la manière dont la Commission des affaires municipales de l'Ontario a traité cette question au cours des audiences sur les disputes concernant l'utilisation des terres dans la province. En analysant neuf cas relatifs aux teres humides datant de 1980 à 1993, on a examiné le processus décisionnel de la Commission en ce qui concerne leur protection. L'analyse des cas a révélé plusieurs questions telles que le marque d'informations disponibles pendant les audiences, le rôle des plitiques et des lois dans le processus décisionnel, l'emploi de la négcriation et de la médiation dans le processus d'audience et enfin, la prise en compte des droits fonciers privés par rapport à l'intérêt public dans la protection des terres humides. L'articlc examine ces questions dans le contexte du rôle que joue la Commission des affaires municipales de l'Ontario dans la planification et la gestion des terres humides dam cette province.     

Adolescents' self-perceptions of competence in life skill areas

The perceptions of a sample of 1061 adolescents of their own competence in a number of life-skill areas were assessed. Three sets of scales were used—those concerned with competence viewed as efficacy in various life areas and situations, those concerned with competence as the satisfaction of goals based on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and assessments of the structural complexity of performance on a short essay task. In addition to comparisons among self-perceptions for different areas, a number of major comtextual and personal variables was studied for differences in self-perceptions—course type, school type, state, career aspirations and expectations, major life concerns, age, and gender. There were strong gender differences that suggested that females generally underrated their own competence. The major educational or work contexts reflected important differences in patterns of self perceptions of skill. Differences between those with different major life concerns and career hopes and expectations aligned with course type differences. Finally, there were strong indications that the self-perceptions of competence that were reported formed a strong general factor, favoring the notion of generic over domain specific self-perceptions.Reveived Ph.D. in Socio- and psycholinguistics from La Trobe Unitersity. Research interests include youth and adolescence and social policy.Received Ph.D. in educational psychology from University of Queensland. Research interests include adolescent life skills and learning and cognition.     

Alcohol addiction and perceived sanction risks: Deterring drinking drivers

This study argued that while sanctions deter offenders from being involved in future drinking-driving offenses, alcohol addiction prevents individuals from making rational choices, and, thus, increases offenders' chances of being involved in drinking driving regardless of the certain, severe, and swift punishments they had experienced. Results indicated that, individuals with more severe alcohol addiction problems had increased chances of committing multiple offenses regardless of the sanctions that they had experienced relative to those with less severe alcohol-related problems. Findings seemed to suggest that criminal justice sanctions alone might not obtain expected deterrent impacts on individuals with alcohol and other addiction problems. Drinking drivers and other drug and alcohol offenders should be screened for substance abuse problems, and, if necessary, provided with treatment.