bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Stemming the exodus of women managers
Authors: Rosen Benson , Miguel Mabel , Peirce Ellen
Published: May 2007

Survey findings based on a national sample of CEOs and human resource managers indicate that over 50% of organizations have experienced moderate to great difficulty attracting and retaining women managers and professionals. Respondents perceived that the most serious career problems encountered by women revolve around organizational politics, career development opportunities, and family conflicts. Existing and needed human resource management policies in response to these problems are reported. A series of additional analyses highlight differences across industries, and according to company size and stage in the corporate life cycle. Based on survey findings, recommendations are discussed for human resource management practitioners concerned with increasing their companies' abilities to actively compete for and retain women managers.
Mentoring as an antidote to stress during corporate trauma
Authors: Kram Kathy E. , Hall Douglas T.
Published: May 2007

This article examines mentoring as a potentially useful resource in an organization's adaptation to global competition and the need for improved learning capabilities. We were surprised to find that mentoring relationships were perceived as more desirable under conditions of corporate stress, low job challenge, and low job involvement. We were further surprised to find that individuals in early and later career stages were as likely, or more likely than, their midcareer colleagues to embrace the mentoring role. Thus, it appears that mentoring may be more readily available as an antidote to stress than previously considered, and that it may be an important form of coping with the stressful, nonrewarding conditions that typically characterize corporate downsizing. Not only is mentoring an important form of promoting development (for self and for others), but it also may represent a valuable vehicle for social support and learning during times of major corporate change.
Continuity and change in the evolution of work and human resource management
Authors: Bass Bernard M.
Published: May 2007

This essay is a brief review of the evolution of work and human resource management, an evolution that parallels the development of civilization. Both continuity and change are apparent in the role of work in society and in its management. There has been continuity and change down through the centuries in motivation to work, in the sense of equity, and in how work is organized. For instance, early on much of work was self‐service; it is moving in that direction again. Tradition and sentiment shaped the work organization. Gradually, tradition and sentiment were replaced by rationality. Currently, we see in the sociotechnical design of work the continuity as well as a coming together of both the rational and the socioemotional aspects of work in organizations. Looking at the past may help human resource managers to frame the issues involved and the expectations of future developments.
Contrast–dose relation in first‐pass myocardial MR perfusion imaging
Authors: Utz Wolfgang , Niendorf Thoralf , Wassmuth Ralf , Messroghli Daniel , Dietz Rainer , Schulz‐Menger Jeanette
Published: May 2007

Purpose

To determine the regime of linear contrast enhancement in human first‐pass perfusion cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging to improve accuracy in myocardial perfusion quantification.

Materials and Methods

A total of 10 healthy subjects were studied on a clinical 1.5T MR scanner. Seven doses of Gd‐DTPA ranging from 0.00125 to 0.1 mmol/kg of body weight (b.w.) were administered as equal volumes by rapid bolus injection (6 mL/second). Resting periods of 15 minutes were introduced after delivery of Gd doses >0.01 mmol/kg b.w. For each subject, two series of rest perfusion scans were performed using two different multislice saturation‐recovery perfusion sequences. Maximum contrast enhancement and maximum upslope were obtained in the blood pool of the left ventricular (LV) cavity and in the myocardium. The range of linear contrast–dose relation was determined by linear regression analysis.

Results

MR signal intensity increased linearly for contrast agent concentrations up to 0.01 mmol/kg b.w. in the LV blood pool and up to 0.05 mmol/kg b.w. in the myocardium. For Gd concentrations exceeding these thresholds the signal intensity response was not linear with respect to the contrast agent dose.

Conclusion

Quantitative evaluation of cardiac MR perfusion data needs to account for signal saturation in both the LV blood pool and the myocardium. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2007;25:1131–1135. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Dependence of vessel area accuracy and precision as a function of MR imaging parameters and boundary detection algorithm
Authors: Jiang Jing , Haacke E. Mark , Dong Ming
Published: May 2007

Purpose

To determine the appropriate image acquisition parameters for an accurate measurement of vessel cross‐sectional area from MR angiography (MRA) images.

Materials and Methods

A series of images with different vessel cross‐sectional areas, resolutions, and signal‐to‐noise ratios (SNRs) were simulated and validated experimentally. Dynamic programming (DP) was employed to determine the accuracy and precision of the vessel cross‐sectional area as a function of vessel size, sampling matrix, acquisition time, and postprocessing parameters such as zooming and bias correction.

Results

We show that there is an optimal value of λ (the ratio of vessel diameter to resolution) for a given intrinsic SNR that yields the most accurate and precise area measurement. Specifically, when the SNR is ≥10:1, this value of λ is 8 and yields a cross‐sectional area error of <5% with a zoom factor of ≥2.

Conclusion

The predicted ideal result of λ = 8 is within reach with current technology to image vessels such as the carotid artery or aorta. It is possible to determine the ideal resolution that minimizes errors in the measurement of the vessel cross‐sectional area for a given SNR, processing algorithm, and vessel of interest. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2007;25:1226–1234. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Empirical orthogonal functions and related techniques in atmospheric science: A review
Authors: Hannachi A. , Jolliffe I. T. , Stephenson D. B.
Published: May 2007

Climate and weather constitute a typical example where high dimensional and complex phenomena meet. The atmospheric system is the result of highly complex interactions between many degrees of freedom or modes. In order to gain insight in understanding the dynamical/physical behaviour involved it is useful to attempt to understand their interactions in terms of a much smaller number of prominent modes of variability. This has led to the development by atmospheric researchers of methods that give a space display and a time display of large space‐time atmospheric data.

Empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) were first used in meteorology in the late 1940s. The method, which decomposes a space‐time field into spatial patterns and associated time indices, contributed much in advancing our knowledge of the atmosphere. However, since the atmosphere contains all sorts of features, e.g. stationary and propagating, EOFs are unable to provide a full picture. For example, EOFs tend, in general, to be difficult to interpret because of their geometric properties, such as their global feature, and their orthogonality in space and time. To obtain more localised features, modifications, e.g. rotated EOFs (REOFs), have been introduced. At the same time, because these methods cannot deal with propagating features, since they only use spatial correlation of the field, it was necessary to use both spatial and time information in order to identify such features. Extended and complex EOFs were introduced to serve that purpose.

Because of the importance of EOFs and closely related methods in atmospheric science, and because the existing reviews of the subject are slightly out of date, there seems to be a need to update our knowledge by including new developments that could not be presented in previous reviews. This review proposes to achieve precisely this goal. The basic theory of the main types of EOFs is reviewed, and a wide range of applications using various data sets are also provided. Copyright © 2007 Royal Meteorological Society
Hepatic Encephalopathy As a Predictor of Survival in Patients with End-Stage Liver Disease
Authors: Stewart Charmaine A. , Malinchoc Michael , Kim Ray W. , Kamath Patrick S.
Published: May 2007

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is an important component of hepatic decompensation, which reduces survival in patients with cirrhosis. The Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score has been used to predict survival of patients with cirrhosis. The aims of this study were to determine whether HE is a predictor of survival of patients with cirrhosis and to examine the degree to which HE may add to the survival prediction of MELD. Patients with end-stage liver disease whose data were included in 2 databases were included in the analysis: 223 patients undergoing transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) insertion, and 271 patients hospitalized with hepatic decompensation. In univariate analysis, HE grade 3 or higher was associated with a 3.7-fold (95% confidence interval, 1.9–7.3, P < 0.01) increase in the risk of death in the TIPS patients and HE grade 2 or higher was associated 3.9-fold increase (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 2.6–5.7, P < 0.01) in hospitalized patients. As expected, MELD and Child-Turcotte-Pugh scores (with and without HE included) were also markedly associated with survival. When HE (grade 2 or higher) and MELD were considered together, HE remained strongly statistically significant in the hospitalized patients (hazard ratio = 2.6, 95% CI, 1.7–3.8, P < 0.01). The effect became smaller in the TIPS patients (hazard ratio = 1.1; 95% CI, 0.7–1.6, P = 0.76). In conclusion, this retrospective study demonstrates that HE is an important event in the natural history of cirrhosis that affects subsequent survival of patients. HE may provide additional prognostic information independent of MELD, which warrants prospective validation. Liver Transpl, 2007. © 2007 AASLD.
Research into public attitudes and the attitudes of the public to inflation
Authors: Behrend Hilde
Published: May 2007

The purpose of this paper has been to compare research evidence related to consumer attitudes to specific price increases and to inflation as a general phenomenon with attitudes of British governments as expressed in government anti‐inflation policies. In carrying out the enquiries the aim was to bridge the gap between economics and psychology. The findings indicate that the learning and relearning of prices in time of inflation presents considerable problems; so does communication between governments and the public. One message which would appear to have got through to governments is that of consumer discontent with rising prices. In response governments have at times introduced price restraint policies. The author suggests that the existence of inflation has shifted the focus of attention from satisfactions to dissatisfactions and that it may be necessary therefore to examine which factors are most important for consumer studies and for government policies: consumer attempts to maximize their satisfactions or their attempts to minimize their discontents?
Concentration and performance: The new thinking and some Canadian evidence
Authors: Beck Roger L.
Published: May 2007

There is no more pervasive economic doctrine than the belief that an increase in industrial concentration results in greater monopoly power and higher profits, but some recent American research contradicts that traditional hypothesis. This paper summarizes that research and presents new Canadian evidence, taking the first step toward ending Canadian dependence upon cross‐section data. Time‐series analysis shows that changes in concentration between 1948 and 1965 did not bring the traditionally expected changes in profit rates. Most cross‐section tests with the new evidence also contradict the traditional hypothesis. These findings encourage further open‐minded questioning and suggest some avenues for additional research.
Financial institutions and the ownership and control of British Industry
Authors: Dobbins R. , Lowes B. , Pass C. L.
Published: May 2007

This paper shows the growth in the ownership of British equity capital by financial institutions and examines the “control” implications of this development. Various aspects of the ownership versus control debate are highlighted, and data on the control potential of financial institutions are presented. The findings suggest that fund managers had pursued policies of extreme portfolio diversification, using their growing funds to acquire more and more small shareholdings in a greater number of companies rather than concentrating their holdings in a few companies.
Patterns and performance of multinational and domestic food wholesale firms
Authors: Constas Kimon J. , Vichas Robert P.
Published: May 2007

This is a study of comparative efficiencies of domestic Puerto Rican firms and subsidiaries of multinational corporations, all food wholesalers, operating under similar environmental dimensions during a period of distinct opportunity for total market expansion and an unexpected threat to market shares. Using a linear model, the relationship between value added and operating expenses demonstrates that foreign subsidiaries were distinctly superior in resource management initially but that by the last year of the study local management showed greater improvement in lowering operating expenses and a tendency to imitate the models of technological and managerial efficiencies of the foreign firms.
Consumer demand theory, goods and characteristics: Breathing empirical content into the Lancastrian approach
Authors: Mark John , Brown Frank , Pierson B. J.
Published: May 2007

To begin with, it is argued that consumer demand theory has resulted in narrowly econometric more than broadly managerial applications. Further, Lancaster's recognition of the intrinsic attributes of goods has not been adequately exploited. Lancaster is summarized and appraised and empirical work to date reviewed. Finally a test of the characteristics hypothesis is given, using survey data on beer consumption. Subjectivity of choice is explicitly recognized and factor analysis is used to evaluate the components of demand of which quality and price variables appear to dominate. With the matching of the people‐characteristics features (demand) and the technical goods‐characteristics attributes (supply) a method of predicting demand is derived. This methodology may be used for a wide range of consumer goods.
Uncertain availability, spatial location and regulation: An application to the airline industry
Authors: Spiller Pablo T.
Published: May 2007

This paper presents an analysis of industries characterized by both uncertain availability and spatial location of the product. The analyis is applied to the US airline industry and is used to analyze the differential effect of price regulation on different markets and firms. From this analysis we obtain insights into which firms and markets may have benefited most from the deregulation of the industry in 1978. Previous works on the regulation of the airline industry implicitly assume that markets have the same demand structure. If airline services are of homogeneous quality, men we do not expect the unregulated solution to depend on demand structures. If on the other hand airline services vary in their quality component, then different markets may have different equilibrium price‐quality combinations depending on the characteristics of demand. This paper explores the implication of different demand structures on the impact of (de)regulation.
A quantitative approach to stakeholder interests
Authors: Luffman George A. , Witt Stephen F. , Lister Steven
Published: May 2007

In an age when the role, behaviour and performance of the firm are under greater scrutiny than ever before, it is important to pursue quantitative empirical research in the area of social auditing. Using data relating to one particular company, the various inputs and outputs attributable to the firm's different stakeholders, (shareholders, employees, consumers and the community) are examined and corresponding rates of return calculated. Considerable methodological and data problems arise and consequently the results need careful interpretation.
Competition, innovation and regulation in the pharmaceutical industry
Authors: Backhaus Jürgen
Published: May 2007

This article discusses the impact of regulation on competition and innovation in the pharmaceutical industry. Prompted by concern over attempts at regulating the industry on the European level, we discuss the two basic forms of regulation which we observe to be typical, quality regulation (licencing) and price regulation. In doing so, the analysis focuses on the research segment of the pharmaceutical industry and discusses forms of competition by innovation. Following a recent paper by Nelson, the specific characteristics of competition in the pharmaceutical industry are developed as well as their welfare implications. Regulatory behavior vis‐á‐vis the industry is analysed in terms of a behavioral model initially proposed by Stigler, and an attempt is made to incorporate into the analysis the experience of regulation in both Europe and the United States of America.
Business strategy and investment behavior
Authors: Matluck Edward
Published: May 2007

Empirical tests using the PIMS data base reveal a significant correlation between a firm's performance and strategic position and the rate at which it grows as measured by additions to capital stock. To the extent that the results are valid, then public policy measures to encourage capital investment will not be firm netural. The cost of capital will be lowered for all, but they will further stimulate investment in firms whose strategic position they improve. This may have an outcome detrimental to other firms better placed to contribute to the overall economy.
A deterministic profit attribution model: The postal service, a case study
Authors: Guy Charles E. , Brown George F. , O'hara Donald J.
Published: May 2007

This paper derives a positive model relating changes in profitability to output levels, price, input quantities, and costs. The model involves decomposition of profit changes to define contributions associated with changes in the product market and production input variables. It can be derived from basic profit concepts without additional assumptions regarding the organization's behavioral decisions or about the shapes of the demand or production functions. It therefore avoids all normative underpinnings and is based strictly on measurable changes in the environment. The model is applied to results obtained from the United States Postal Service income statement. Changes in the Service's productivity and its components (e.g., labor, materials, and capital) are fully reconciled in an accounting sense with reported changes in net income. This reconciliation permits the identification of the sources of net income change.
Princing flexibility in British Manufacturing Industry
Authors: Shipley David D.
Published: May 2007

This article explores pricing flexibility among a sample of 728 manufacturing firms surveyed during a period of severe business adversity. It addresses attention to the nature and prevalence of alternative pricing techniques, the temporal frequency of mark‐up adjustments, the application of marginalist principles in pricing and price discount practices. Three general conclusions emerge. Pricing flexibility is widespread and probably more so than hitherto. The degree of flexibility is not influenced significantly by the extent of commitment to cost‐plus pricing techniques. Pricing flexibility varies substantially and systematically with firm size but not with numbers of ‘serious’ competitors.
International big business revisited: On the size and growth of the world's largest firms
Authors: Droucopoulos Vassilis
Published: May 2007

This paper explores the association between the growth of sales and the size of the world's largest industrial firms for the period 1967–77. The tests follow the methodology introduced by Rowthorn and Hymer (1971) who, for an earlier period, had remarked that although there was slight evidence amongst smaller firms of a negative relationship between growth and size, at no time, and in no area, were there signs of a positive relationship. Our results are, in general, similar to those of Rowthorn and Hymer. The main difference being the large numbers of firms (mostly American) exhibiting a positive relationship between size and growth for 1972–7.
The construction of an international investors' perception model for corporate published forecasted financial reports for the USA, the UK and New Zealand
Authors: Rushinek Avi , Rushinek Sara F. , Chang Lucia S. , Most Kenneth S.
Published: May 2007

Although the utility of corporate published forecasted financial reports to investors has been investigated, the findings are inconclusive. These inconclusive findings may have resulted from the ambiguity of defining the forecasted financial reports or its components. The clarification of the definition of forecasted financial reports or its components is the main objective of the present study. In addition, an investor's utility function is used to measure the utility of such reports for investors regarding the entire forecasted financial reports or their components.
Energy consumption and economic growth
Authors: Nguyen The‐Hiep
Published: May 2007

The present paper discusses methods originally proposed by Adams and Miovic in 1968 (then refined and used later by many other authors) for calculating the output elasticity of useful energy consumption (ϵ). We first show that this methodological approach is quite dubious. Better alternative methods of estimation are then proposed. We also stress that, since the marginal rate of interfuel substitution depends on the GDP functional form, the simulataneous use of several functional forms of GDP in energy studies leads obviously to misleading interpretations. Using thermal efficiency coefficients and OECD countries figures for the 1959–73 period, we finally found that ϵ did steadily fall from high values to values which are still higher than one.
Slack and strain in efficient budgeting and resource allocation by organizations
Authors: Tisdell Clem
Published: May 2007

Outlines conditions under which the interest of a whole organization is best served by its central management allocating more funds or resources to a sub‐unit or sub‐centre than is optimal (on average) under certainty, or budgeting fewer funds or resoruces than this. Slack is efficient in the former case and organizational strain in the latter one, a possibility neglected by Leibenstein in his theory of organizational slack and X‐efficiency. The solution to the problem is simplified, in comparison to Hart's and Theil's approach, by using random net benefit functions. Optimal budget bias is shown to depend on rates of change of marginal net benefit.
Returns to corporate diversification in the 1970s
Authors: Ciscel David H. , Evans Richard D.
Published: May 2007

This research analyzes the performance of large corporations during the business cycles of the 1970s. The analysis identifies the level of diversification preferred by a risk‐averse investor at different stages of the business cycle. The data base is a group of 222 large industrial corporations for which the number of four‐digit SIC production areas has been determined for each firm. The analytical method used is that of second‐degree stochastic dominance, a method that is sensitive not only to mean differences in corporate performance but also to the skewness of profitability distributions. The findings indicate that risk‐averters would prefer the ten‐year performance of moderately diversified firms to the performance of firms with low levels of diversification. In addition, moderately diversified firms were preferred to highly diversified firms. Finally, the experience of the 1970s suggest that there are serious managerial diseconomies of diversification in recessions.
Drug innovation and price competition
Authors: Dao Thi D.
Published: May 2007

This study is designed to examine the relationship between drug innovation and price competition. The empirical results presented here support the hypothesis that new drugs‐as measured by new chemical entities‐exert downward pressure on the prices of existing competitors within the same therapeutic class. The implication of this finding for public policy is that drug innovation not only provides new therapy but also stimulates price competition.
Bankruptcy, interest tax shields and ‘optimal’ capital structure: A cash flow formulation
Authors: Schnabel Jacques A.
Published: May 2007

This paper presents a cash flow formulation of the capital structure problem in the presence of corporate taxes. In contrast to the classic result of Modigliani and Miller, it is shown that an optimal capital structure does not involve exclusive reliance on debt financing.
Demand relationships and pricing decisions for related products
Authors: Manes Rene P. , Shoumaker Francoise , Silhan Peter A.
Published: May 2007

This paper presents in terms of price changes the theoretical conditions for optimal pricing when products are demand‐related. It then suggests an approach which could be used by companies to provide guidance in the pricing of such products over time.
Managerial utility‐maximizing operating decisions under compound demand risk
Authors: Harris Frederick H. Deb. , Dennis Richard L.
Published: May 2007

This paper examines the demand and cost conditions under which utility maximizing pricing‐risk and advertising‐risk relationships are determinate. The structure of the firm's demand uncertainty captures both uncertain customer arrivals and uncertain individual customer demand. In addition to standard demand restrictions and constant marginal cost, determinate results depend upon the degree of managerial risk‐aversion, the correlation between individual demand and customer arrival disturbances, the firm's cost fixity, and bounded product differentiation effects of advertising. The symmetry between price‐cuts and advertising as demand‐increasing costs is extensively examined; firm equilibrium requires that price‐cuts not be an inferior input for increasing demand.
Tax incentives and investment policy: A survey report on the United Kingdom manufacturing industry
Authors: Alam K. F. , Stafford L. W. T.
Published: May 2007

This paper is concerned with the effects of tax incentives on the investment policies of companies. The issue is examined on the basis of a questionnaire survey conducted among a large sample of firms in the United Kingdom manufacturing industry. The main findings from the survey are that taxation and tax incentives are not major factors in the investment decisions of companies. Although taxation does not appear to be a major factor in companies' investment decisions, it does emerge as a subordinate element in a complex decision situation and large companies are shown to be more alert and responsive to tax advantages than medium‐sized or small companies.
The role of economic analysis in media‐planning
Authors: Liebermann Yehoshua
Published: May 2007

One of the most important problems in advertising strategy is the allocation of overall advertising budgets among alternative media. This paper shows how economic analysis can be applied to offer an improved solution to this problem. In particular, the present study claims that income‐elasticity is one of the variables that should be considered when making media‐mix decisions.
Environmental quality standards: A general equilibrium analysis
Authors: Willett Keith
Published: May 2007

The increasing importance of pollution controls as a part of government regulatory activities has motivated considerable concern about the economic impact of these activities. This question is of considerable importance, because environmental quality goals are sometimes in conflict with other objectives such as full employment and economic growth. Policy‐makers are thus faced with the task of identifying and measuring the trade‐offs between these various objectives. But the measurement of these objectives requires information on their economic impacts. This paper develops a general equilibrium model with pollution specifications which can be used to identify the economic impacts of pollution‐control policies. The particular pollution‐control policy addressed is an environmental standards approach. The model is based on a technique that combines an explicit representation of consumer demand behaviour vis‐à‐vis linear aggregate demand functions with activity analysis.
The joint determination of ‘Quality’ and price in standardized products: A comparative dynamic analysis
Authors: Aislabie Colin
Published: May 2007

Every supermarket provides many examples of attempts lo develop more economical standardized products which will attract additional customers while guaranteeing the user that the quantity will be acceptable. We assume this process involves development costs incurred in reducing the amount incorporated in a monopoly product of its dominant product‐characteristic. A comparative dynamic analysis is used to explore the search for lower prices and higher output. The heightened vulnerability of the firm to market forces and some policy implications of the analysis are brought out.
Conglomerate mergers, mutual forbearance behavior and price competition
Authors: Strickland Allyn D.
Published: May 2007

This paper tests the hypothesis that conglomerate mergers lessen price competition through the creation of mutual forbearance behavior. This hypothesis is tested by estimating the impact of multi‐market contacts on price competition in manufacturing industries. Potential interfirm contacts are computed for 195 of the top 200 American manufacturers in 1963. Measures of multi‐market contacts are then constructed and introduced as additional explanatory variables in a three‐equation model of the determinants of industry price‐cost margins. The empirical results do not support the mutual forbearance hypothesis, and suggest that conglomerate mergers should not be proscribed on that basis.
The emergence of shop‐floor trade union power in South Africa
Authors: Jones Robert A.
Published: May 2007

This is the first of two papers dealing with the emergence of black shop floor union power and the changing structure of industrial relations in South Africa. This paper examines the evolution of black and white trade unions and their attitudes towards the officially sanctioned system of industrial relations. The observation is made that black unions are placing greater emphasis on shop‐floor organization, leading to the development of an additional, but unofficial, tier in the negotiation structure in the form of work pi ace‐level union recognition and bargaining.
The profitability of vertical integration
Authors: Maddigan Ruth J. , Zaima Janis K.
Published: May 2007

This paper examines the profitability of vertical integration using alternate indices of vertical integration Our results suggest that the profitability‐vertical integration relation is highly sensitive to the specification of the vertical integration measure used.
Monetary instability and share‐market risk: Canadian evidence
Authors: Schnabel Jacques A.
Published: May 2007

This note presents Canadian evidence on the linkage between the level of risk exhibited by the share market and instability in monetary policy. Recent findings for the US financial market which establish such a relationship are corroborated using this new data set.
A note on an application of the trade‐off method in evaluating a utility function
Authors: Mehrez Abraham , Gafni Amiram
Published: May 2007

In this note we suggest a possible use for the trade‐off technique to exclude possible forms of the utility function that are common to the same set of assumptions. Out discussion is focused on the specific case of two attributes. This case is becoming more common in coping with practical problems in the healthcare field, where the two attributes are life years and health status.
A rationale for planning: Implications from the economic theory of the firm
Authors: Morgan George Emir , Martin John D.
Published: May 2007

This paper undertakes the development of a foundation for a theory of why firms plan. The theory of the firm literature provides a useful starting‐point and provides insight into the factors which have an effect on the planning function of the firm. Those factors include transactions costs, uncertainty and asset‐specificity. The fact that some firms should not plan even in the face of uncertainty and transactions costs emphasizes the importance of the relative magnitudes of various costs and demonstrates the relevance of standard economic analysis for the study and practice of business planning. Examples illustrate the role of planning for human, financial and physical resources.
Declining prices and optimality when costs follow an experience curve
Authors: Hodder James E. , Ilan Yael A.
Published: May 2007

There is a widely held notion that as production costs decline with experience, prices should follow more or less in parallel. Although this notion has been an important factor in estimating experience curves and in formulating corporate strategies, we show that it is generally inconsistent with published multiperiod optimal pricing models. The paper then goes on to demonstrate that this apparent conflict can be reconciled by allowing the demand process to exhibit increasing price elasticity over time. Since this demand characteristic is very plausible for innovative products, we suggest it be incorporated into optimal pricing models.
International dissemination of new drugs: A comparative study of six countries
Authors: Berlin Hans , Jönsson Bengt
Published: May 2007

The times at which new drugs were licensed since 1960 have been compared for Sweden and five other countries, and the differences in licensing time between these countries have been evaluated statistically. Also, the time required for the Swedish authorities to process the licence applications has been studied and compared with the small number of similar studies available from other countries. A relationship between the delay in licensing and the processing time is discussed.
Adimpact—a multi‐media advertising effectiveness‐measurement method
Authors: Corder Clive
Published: May 2007

Recall and recognition are the methods which are usually used to establish if a person has been exposed to advertising or not. Recall tends to greatly underestimate exposure. Recognition, though coming much closer to actual exposure, has severe practical limitations, especially for radio commercials and in terms of the number of advertisements that can be tested at a time. Adimpact is a method offering an alternative way of establishing probable exposure to advertising, which is independent of the respondents' ability to recall or recognize the advertisements they have seen or heard.
Can export performance be explained by attitudinal differences?
Authors: Schlegelmilch B. B.
Published: May 2007

There are striking differences in the performances of the UK and West German mechanical engineering industries. This paper suggests that attitudes of senior management of both countries can explain a large proportion of these differences. Focusing primarily on export performance, 81 variables collected from 210 companies are analysed. In seven major areas the attitudes of both groups of executives are significantly apart. Based on these results, it is possible to correctly classify 89 of the companies as belonging to the UK or West German mechanical engineering industries.
Managerial objectives of symphony orchestras
Authors: Lange Mark , Luksetich William , Jacobs Philip
Published: May 2007

This paper considers the managerial objectives of not‐for‐profit symphony orchestras in the United States. Using data compiled by the American Symphony Orchestra League, an empirical analysis reveals dual attendance (quantity) and performance quality concerns for Major and Urban Community orchestras; and quality‐only concerns for Metropolitan orchestras.
Reflections on a siege economy
Authors: Jenkins Simon
Published: May 2007

The paper examines the political and economic effects for South Africa of living in a state of economic siege. It points out that most economies already exist in partial isolation, often self‐imposed. The most serious consequence of sanctions will be the granting to the government of a moral licence to react repressively, thus shutting off existing political and economic ‘safety valves’. The net result will be even more stringent political repression, and further resistance to change. The government will find it hard to retreat from this situation, and relax the repression. The result is a society without the flexibility to change.
How business transcends politics
Authors: Williams Walter E.
Published: May 2007

The paper states the importance of the free market in combating racial prejudice through the ability to offer compensating price differentials. Required withdrawal of US firms from South Africa would have a negative effect on race relations in South African workplaces.
Privatization: The thatcher case
Authors: Burton John
Published: May 2007

This paper reviews the process of privatization under successive British governments. It concludes that the Thatcher experiment has had an effect in reversing the previous trend towards nationalization. This has been part of a continuing worldwide swing away from government enterprise. The major result has been an increase in internal efficiency (as distinct from allocative efficiency) of the enterprises concerned. Purchases of shares by management and workers of privatized firms has created an important lobby which will oppose renationalization by a future government.
Business strategy and the internationalization of business: Recent approaches
Authors: Young Stephen
Published: May 2007

This paper reviews recent writings on the topic of the internationalization of business, chiefly from the viewpoint of business strategy. A distinction is made between the emerging multinational, the global multinational and ‘in‐between’ MNEs in terms of types of strategies to be pursued. Uncertainty exists over the role of the newer forms of international involvement such as licensing and management contracts, and the paper concludes that these types of contractual arrangements represent only a second level of defensive, short‐ to medium‐term supply strategy.
Regulation and health: The case of mandatory prescriptions and an extension
Authors: Peltzman Sam
Published: May 2007

The effect of requiring consumers to obtain prescriptions for pharmaceuticals on mortality is examined for a sample of middle‐income countries. In countries enforcing the requirement, infectious disease mortality is no lower and poisoning mortality is higher than in those not enforcing the requirement. A broader measure of government intervention—public expenditures on health relative to GDP—is shown to have moderately adverse effects on overall life expectancy.
Labor relations at the shop floor level
Authors: Reynolds Morgan
Published: May 2007

The tenacious myth that a free economy and free society impoverish working people undergirds modern government interference in labor markets and legal privilege for adversarial labor unions. Managers are concerned about harmony and productivity at the shop floor level. The opposite characteristics of conflict, disco‐ordination and inefficiency are anathema. Most of the union difficulties managers must cope with at the shop floor level stem from a fundamental source, namely the philosophy of collectivism. This paper analyzes the fable of labor's disadvantage, wage determination under personal and impersonal conditions, public policy toward labor contracts and the role of businessmen in making labor markets operate more efficiently.
Seasonality in asset returns: Evidence from the gold market
Authors: Tschoegl Adrian E.
Published: May 2007

In this paper we test monthly mean daily returns to gold over the period January 1975 to December 1984 against three definitions of seasonality. Weak evidence exists for seasonality under the second of the three definitions. However, this is not prima facie evidence of market inefficiency, as the pattern is consistent with seasonality in Eurodollar interest rates reported by other authors. Differences in the time pattern of returns between on‐ and off‐shore rates raises further questions.
A computable market equilibrium model with markets for transferable discharge permits
Authors: Shortle James S. , Willett Keith
Published: May 2007

This paper presents a mathematical programming model for numerically analyzing the impacts of a transferable discharge permit (TDP) system on resource allocation and the distribution of income in a competitive equilibrium setting. Key assumptions of the model are linear household commodity demands, Leontief production functions requiring both primary and produced factors, fixed primary factor supplies and linear pollution dispersion processes. A basic model is presented with discussion of how it may be modified to examine alternative TDP configurations. In addition, there is also a discussion of relationships between key primal and dual variables and of issues involved in actual numerical implementation of the model.
Trade barriers and japanese foreign direct investment in the colour television industry
Authors: Burton F. N. , Saelens F. H.
Published: May 2007

This paper examines the penetration by Japanese firms of the US and West European colour television markets, initially by exports and then, predominantly, by local production. It is demonstrated that Japanese foreign direct investment was basically a defensive response to trade barriers erected in these markets to re‐locate Japanese plant from Japan and other Asian locations. A strategic oligopolistic imitative behaviour, rather than an orchestrated strategy, is identified, and a comparison is made of the effect of trade barriers in each region on industry structure and plant size.
The assessment of the expected value of information in the binary decision model
Authors: Lawrence David B.
Published: May 2007

The expected value of information represents the maximum amount the decision maker should spend on inquiry before making a decision. This amount depends upon the accuracy of the information. In many cases of inquiry, prior objective knowledge of the accuracy is not available. This paper presents and compares two methods of subjectively assessing the value of imperfect information in the binary decision model. In the first method, the decision maker provides a likelihood function for the inquiry and hence the probabilities of error. The second method is the preposterior approach, in which the decision maker provides the prior distribution for the posterior probability.
Foreign direct investment, political conflict and co‐operation: The asymmetric response hypothesis
Authors: Nigh Douglas , Schollhammer Hans
Published: May 2007

Previous empirical research has demonstrated that political factors do affect the foreign direct investment decisions of multinational enterprises. This study explores the nature of this relationship in more depth. Specifically, it examines the extent to which investors response to political conflict and co‐operation is asymmetric, i.e. investors respond differently depending on whether the political conflict or cooperation is increasing or decreasing. The asymmetric response hypothesis is tested through regression analysis of pooled time‐series (13 years) and cross‐sectional (62 countries) data on Japanese investors. The study finds evidence of asymmetry for intra‐nation conflict and co‐operation but not for inter‐nation conflict and co‐operation.
Price adjustment and market structure: A single‐industry study
Authors: Thompson R. S.
Published: May 2007

The administered price hypothesis of Gardnier Means has continued to attract a great deal of empirical attention. Unfortunately, the results of all this research have not been consistent. The present paper tries to circumvent the usual empirical difficulties by using a lagged adjustment model for a single industry with geographically separate markets. It examines the rate of price adjustment and the frequency of price changes for newspaper advertising rates for a sample of local papers in Ireland. Adjustment equations are run for each newspaper using labour and materials cost indices as explanatory variables. The partial adjustment coefficient estimates are then related to market structure and firm specific characteristics.
Concentration, subcontract and exports in Japanese Manufacturing Industries
Authors: Doi Noriyuki
Published: May 2007

This paper examines the effects of industrial concentration, subcontract and other control variables on export behavior in Japan's manufacturing industry for 1976–80. The primary findings are: (1) concentration has a positive and significant impact on exports; (2) subcontract has a positive and significant effect on exports; (3) research and development activity has no impact on exports.
Incorporating disounted cash flow contours onto a bcg portfolio matrix using limit pricing
Authors: Marshall Paul , Tomkins Cyril
Published: May 2007

Little or no attempt has been made to integrate the tools of financial investment appraisal with that of corporate strategy, despite the centrality of both of these disciplines in corporate resource allocation. This paper offers one approach which sets out, through a computer model, to explore the location of DCF values on a strategic portfolio matrix. The modelling took the BCG matrix as the basis of its text together with BCG's own assumption. It was found that the resulting DCF contours suggests a different emphasis compared with BCG's investment advice based on the matrix. The authors do not pretend, however, that the model provided is an immediate, more rigorous, solution to practical strategic analysis. Nor do they argue that the BCG advice may not be appropriate under a wider set of assumptions. The model is offered as suggesting one direction in which work might be conducted in order to link financial investment appraisal with strategic analysis portfolios in order gradually to convert the very general advice usually offered by the use of such matrices to a more precise form.
Management bonus plans in a multiple‐agent environment
Authors: Callen Jeffrey L.
Published: May 2007

This paper analyses optimal linear incentive contracts in a single‐principal multiple‐agent setting. It is proved that the second‐best share ratios are function of the other agents' effort levels as well their degrees of risk aversion and the risk aversion of the principal. It is also shown that the total bonus pool to all agents in a difficult to monitor (decentralized) firm is greater than the total bonus pool in a easier to monitor (centralized) firm.
The measurement of productive efficiency: A robust minimax approach
Authors: Sengupta Jati K.
Published: May 2007

Some applied aspects of robustness are formulated and empirically tested so as to generalize the Farrell efficiency measure for the frontier production function. A minimax method is used to develop a Chebyshev efficiency measure along with a stochastic production frontier. The relative insensitivity of such a measure in respect of sample size variations and outliers are illustrated by an empirical application to educational production functions.