John Wyld, Geoffrey Pugh and David Tyrrall
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between SME suppliers and large buyers, and so better inform competition policy in cases where market power resides with…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between SME suppliers and large buyers, and so better inform competition policy in cases where market power resides with buyers.
Design/methodology/approach
The theories of monopsony and oligopsony are applied to intermediate markets to set out a model of profit appropriation by large buyers from small suppliers. The main focus of the illustrative examples used is on the relationship between supermarkets and their suppliers.
Findings
The authors' main prediction is that powerful buyers are able to “exploit” SME suppliers by restricting their number, the price paid to individual suppliers and the quantity purchased from each supplier.
Practical implications
Governments seek to encourage small businesses because of their ability to generate innovation and create future growth opportunities. Any investigations of the continued growth of buyer power in intermediate markets should consider the effects not only upon consumer welfare but also upon the welfare of the SME sector. Governments may wish to counteract monopsonistic markets as they may inhibit SMEs that could otherwise provide innovation and growth within the economy.
Originality/value
This model gives a theoretical framework to analyse the interaction between small suppliers and large buyers. Furthermore, it may provide a counter to the argument that low consumer prices are the sole legitimate aim of competition policy.
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Natural selection—survival of the fittest—is as old as life itself. Applied genetics which is purposeful in contrast to natural selection also has a long history, particularly in…
Abstract
Natural selection—survival of the fittest—is as old as life itself. Applied genetics which is purposeful in contrast to natural selection also has a long history, particularly in agriculture; it has received impetus from the more exacting demands of the food industry for animal breeds with higher lean : fat and meat : bone ratios, for crops resistant to the teeming world of parasites. Capturing the exquisite scent, the colours and form beautiful of a rose is in effect applied genetics and it has even been applied to man. For example, Frederick the Great, Emperor of Prussia, to maintain a supply of very tall men for his guards—his Prussian Guards averaged seven feet in height—ordered them to marry very tall women to produce offspring carrying the genes of great height. In recent times, however, research and experiment in genetic control, more in the nature of active interference with genetic composition, has developed sufficiently to begin yielding results. It is self‐evident that in the field of micro‐organisms, active interference or manipulations will produce greater knowledge and understanding of the gene actions than in any other field or by any other techniques. The phenomenon of “transferred drug resistance”, the multi‐factorial resistance, of a chemical nature, transferred from one species of micro‐organisms to another, from animal to human pathogens, its role in mainly intestinal pathology and the serious hazards which have arisen from it; all this has led to an intensive study of plasmids and their mode of transmission. The work of the Agricultural Research Council's biologists (reported elsewhere in this issue) in relation to nitrogen‐fixing genes and transfer from one organism able to fix nitrogen to another not previously having this ability, illustrates the extreme importance of this new field. Disease susceptibility, the inhibition of invasiveness which can be acquired by relatively “silent” micro‐organisms, a better understanding of virulence and the possible “disarming” of organisms, particularly those of particular virulence to vulnerable groups. Perhaps this is looking for too much too soon, but Escherichia coli would seem to offer more scope for genetic experiments than most; it has serotypes of much variability and viability; and its life and labours in the human intestine have assumed considerable importance in recent years. The virulence of a few of its serotypes constitute an important field in food epidemiology. Their capacity to transfer plasmids—anent transfer of drug resistance— to strains of other organisms resident in the intestines, emphasizes the need for close study, with safeguards.
Whether we think of management training as a defensive strategy or as a missionary strategy, we need some way of relating our methods of teaching individual skills to what we deem…
Abstract
Whether we think of management training as a defensive strategy or as a missionary strategy, we need some way of relating our methods of teaching individual skills to what we deem to be the needs of the organization. The idea put forward here is that the successful manager and the successful organization deal effectively with information by varying their behaviour in accordance with certain attributes of the information itself. Those who teach problem solving techniques have tended to emphasize the value of a systematic intellectual approach, and those who teach interpersonal skills have tended to emphasize authentic social relations. These criteria are not the only ones, however, and may even be dysfunctional at times. There are occasions when, for example, imaginative thinking or diplomatic behaviour are needed. The volume of information, its complexity, and the degree to which it is restricted, may provide some indication as to which criteria should be applied. These same information characteristics may also point beyond the exercise of individual skills to the climates of opinion and organization structures which individuals create by their collective activity. The relationships suggested have not been fully established by research, but are consonant with much that has been written on the subject.
Shin-Yiing Lee, Jillian C. Sweeney and Geoffrey Norman Soutar
Despite recognition of the importance of emotions and emotion regulation in service encounters, emotion regulation has been generally studied from an employee perspective. This…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite recognition of the importance of emotions and emotion regulation in service encounters, emotion regulation has been generally studied from an employee perspective. This study investigated customer emotion regulation behaviours (CEREBs) in face-to-face service encounters; arguing for a more nuanced approach through an emotion regulation matrix representing the playing up and downplaying of positive or negative emotions. Motivational factors and service-related situational conditions that influence the likelihood of emotion regulation were also examined.
Design/methodology/approach
Four focus groups and the critical incident technique method were used to obtain data from people who had interacted with service employees within the previous six months.
Findings
There was support for emotion regulation in the four facets of the emotion regulation matrix. Five CEREB dimensions, including verbal behaviours and facial expressions, were evident. Motivational factors and situational conditions that impacted on customer emotion regulation in service encounters were also identified.
Research limitations/implications
The findings were based on two qualitative methods. A quantitative approach should be used to further validate the suggested framework.
Originality/value
Most research on emotion regulation has focused on employees. We examined the phenomenon from a customer viewpoint and in a service encounter context. As customers are not bound by employment rules and conventions, a wider range of emotion regulation behaviours were found. The study used the four-faceted emotion regulation matrix to investigate this, developing a conceptual framework that provides a foundation for future research.
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Caroyln Garrity, Eric W. Liguori and Jeff Muldoon
This paper aims to offer a critical biography of Joan Woodward, often considered the founder of contingency theory. This paper examines Woodward’s background to develop a more…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to offer a critical biography of Joan Woodward, often considered the founder of contingency theory. This paper examines Woodward’s background to develop a more complete understanding of the factors that influenced her work.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper draws on insights gained from personal correspondence with two colleagues of Woodward, one who recruited her to the Imperial College where she conducted her most prominent work and one whom she recruited while at the college. In addition, Woodward’s original work, academic literature, published remembrances and a plethora of other secondary sources are reviewed.
Findings
By connecting these otherwise disparate sources of information, a more complete understanding of Woodward’s work and its context is provided. It is argued that Woodward’s education, training, brilliance, values, the relative weakness of British sociology and the need to improve the economy helped to make Woodward’s work both original and practical.
Originality/value
The originality of this work is to examine the work of Woodward through the lens of critical biography. Despite Woodward’s contributions, Woodward remains an underappreciated figure. The purpose is to provide her contribution against the backdrop of the British industrial and educational sphere.
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The Food Hygiene (General) Regulations, 1970, when they first appeared, seem to have attracted more notice in the daily press than in the specialist journals, although, while…
Abstract
The Food Hygiene (General) Regulations, 1970, when they first appeared, seem to have attracted more notice in the daily press than in the specialist journals, although, while re‐enacting much that was in the 1960 regulations, which they repeal, the new measures break new and important ground, as well as introducing a number of amending provisions, which experience has shown were needed. We tend to associate hygiene needs of food and drink with the thronging streets of the city and town, the hidden backrooms of restaurants, the bustling market and the mobile food van, which, in this motorized age, has ousted the bawling backstreet hucksterer.
The Daily Dispatch publishes a letter from “ One of the Guard” at a war camp, who writes as follows:—
Index by subjects, compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals: Facilities Volumes 8‐17; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐17; Property Management…
Abstract
Index by subjects, compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals: Facilities Volumes 8‐17; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐17; Property Management Volumes 8‐17; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐17.
Compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals published by MCB University Press: Facilities Volumes 8‐18; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐18;…
Abstract
Compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals published by MCB University Press: Facilities Volumes 8‐18; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐18; Property Management Volumes 8‐18; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐18.
Compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals published by MCB University Press: Facilities Volumes 8‐17; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐17;…
Abstract
Compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals published by MCB University Press: Facilities Volumes 8‐17; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐17; Property Management Volumes 8‐17; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐17.