This paper aims to provide an assessment of the growth in marketing contracts in the US pork industry as an efficient means to control pork quality and reduce transaction costs.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide an assessment of the growth in marketing contracts in the US pork industry as an efficient means to control pork quality and reduce transaction costs.
Design/methodology/approach
Information collected from pork quality and safety summits sponsored by the National Pork Producers Council in cooperation with the National Pork Board, published surveys of large packers related to contract use, and 15 contracts submitted by producers to the Iowa Attorney General's Office from 1996 to 2001 were examined. The theoretical framework used combines branches of the industrial organization literature.
Findings
The paper provides information documenting the growing importance of addressing pork quality problems in the 1990s and how marketing contracts between packers and producers can help address these problems. Recognizes their role in reducing transaction costs associated with carcass pricing programs, reducing pork quality measuring costs, providing quality control, and reducing costs of adapting to quality uncertainty.
Research limitations/implications
The list of contracts examined is a small collection of contracts voluntarily submitted by producers, and pertains to a specific geographic section of the USA. Thus, they may not be representative of the entire industry.
Practical implications
The paper provides background information on quality issues faced by the US pork industry and a framework for better understanding the potential role of marketing contracts in addressing these issues.
Originality/value
This paper provides rather unique institutional background information on important changes occurring in the US pork industry in the 1990s and the role of the growth in marketing contracts in addressing related pork quality issues over time. Given the proprietary nature of specific contract terms, a small sample of long‐term marketing contracts is analyzed to better understand contract design.
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EDWARD A. DYL, H. DOUGLAS WITTE and LARRY R. GORMAN
We examine tick sizes, stock prices, and share turnover in eighteen stock markets in developed countries and find that differences in mandatory tick sizes explain a significant…
Abstract
We examine tick sizes, stock prices, and share turnover in eighteen stock markets in developed countries and find that differences in mandatory tick sizes explain a significant proportion of the variation in stock prices among markets, and that lower percentage tick sizes are not associated with higher turnover. We consider the implications of these findings for the recent decimalization of stock trading in the United States, and conclude that decimal trading is likely to result in lower stock prices (due to stock splits) with no substantial change in dollar trading volume.
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Alexandra Lai and Oana Secrieru
We examine the impact of multinational firms (MNEs) on exchange rate pass-through when an MNE engages in Cournot competition with domestic and foreign rivals. The MNE can locate…
Abstract
We examine the impact of multinational firms (MNEs) on exchange rate pass-through when an MNE engages in Cournot competition with domestic and foreign rivals. The MNE can locate its production for the foreign market domestically — intra-firm trade (IT) — or in the foreign country — international production (IP). In addition to incomplete exchange rate pass-through, we show that an MNE increases the sensitivity of domestic market prices and reduces the sensitivity of foreign market prices to exchange rate movements. Finally, IT prices are more sensitive to exchange rate movements than their IP counterparts and react in the opposite direction.
Paul Sergius Koku and Sharan Jagpal
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to examine the plight of a particular segment of the poor – the working poor – in the USA relative to their exclusion from traditional…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to examine the plight of a particular segment of the poor – the working poor – in the USA relative to their exclusion from traditional financial markets and their patronage of the payday loan market; and to propose a framework that offers guidance to law makers in making laws/crafting policies that help the working poor gain better access to credit.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper that reviews the literature on the payday loan market and uses its findings to propose a strategy to ameliorate the plight of the working poor.
Findings
The study integrates the findings of studies on the payday loan market with theories of corporate social responsibility. Using these findings the authors develop a framework that can guide policy makers in making policies that address the exclusion of the working poor from financial markets.
Research limitations/implications
As a conceptual paper based on theories, the study does not provide empirical validation. The paper develops a framework that could guide policy makers as they consider legislation to address the financial exclusion of the poor, particularly with regard to payday loans.
Practical implications
The paper proposes a policy framework to solve the “debt treadmill” problems of the working poor.
Social implications
The consequent improvement of the financial conditions of the working poor improves society in general.
Originality/value
To the best of the knowledge, this is the first marketing paper that has proposed a structural framework to address the exclusion of the working poor from the credit markets.
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The dissolving trade barriers, financial deregulation, hyper‐mobility of capital and the rapid diffusion of new information technologies have ushered the Australian economy into…
Abstract
The dissolving trade barriers, financial deregulation, hyper‐mobility of capital and the rapid diffusion of new information technologies have ushered the Australian economy into the borderless world. The orthodoxy that states that centralised wage‐fixing in Australia has impeded wage flexibility and resulted in high unemployment is unconvincing. Partly, this is because in the 1980s Australian labour market institutions have been decentralised and decollectivised in response to pressures from the borderless world. The insights garnered from cross‐sectional comparative statics that, first, skill‐biased Schumpeterian technological change was the major cause of labour immiserisation and, second, adverse Stolper‐Samuelson trade played an insignificant effect need to be reviewed. Parsimonious dynamic time‐series models of trade and technology have been formulated using general‐to‐specific methods after taking account of stochastic trends through unit root and cointegration tests. Granger causality and non‐nested tests applied to these models support the contention that both trade and technology contributed to increasing wage disparity during the borderless era. Moreover the supply side factors such as female participation, immigration and institutional factors such as deunionisation have also increased wage disparity. The deregulation of the Australian labour market by the Workplace Relations Act, whilst an inevitable response to achieve competitiveness in the borderless world market, would exacerbate wage inequality. Policies aimed at skill accumulation on the one hand, and social welfare policies involving negative income taxes on the other may have to be implemented to mitigate the deleterious social effects of rising wage inequality.
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Michael P. Kelly and Ian A. Glover
The earliest human societies relied for their subsistence on the hunting of animals and the gathering of food. The small bands of people who lived together pursuing these…
Abstract
The earliest human societies relied for their subsistence on the hunting of animals and the gathering of food. The small bands of people who lived together pursuing these activities appear to have been the prototype of all human organisation. Hunting and gathering was the predominant type of social organisation until perhaps 12,000 years ago. Tools and weapons were not made of metal till around 4,000 B.C., the plough was not in use until about a thousand years later, and iron tools and weapons were not used until around 1,000 B.C. (Lenski and Lenski, 1978). The history of the human race has been intextricably bound up with that of engineering when this is very broadly defined as the making of tools and other contrivances as aids and adjuncts to life. From the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages at one end of human experience to the Steam, Jet, Atomic and Computer Ages at the other, technical‐engineering achievements have defined and delimited whatever is possible for human beings. Thus throughout the long historical transition from a predominantly agricultural to a predominantly industrial society engineers, or rather anyone whose principal activity was making and tinkering with three‐ dimensional artefacts, played a crucial role.
To review the application of the principles of benchmarking to the field of laboratory medicine.
Abstract
Purpose
To review the application of the principles of benchmarking to the field of laboratory medicine.
Design/methodology/approach
Review of the literature on performance management techniques employed in healthcare provision, and specifically in laboratory medicine, including benchmarking.
Findings
The review identifies the main performance indicators employed in quality assurance and benchmarking programmes that have been developed in laboratory medicine. Some of these have a clear benefit in improving laboratory performance, whilst others are used for more general management purposes. The emphasis of these programmes is on improving analytical performance, together with pre‐ and post‐analytical performance. The review highlights the fact that benchmarking in laboratory medicine is undertaken largely in isolation from the clinical setting in which it is applied. The benchmarking activities are, therefore, concerned with the process (dealing predominantly with efficiency and productivity) of producing laboratory results and do not probe into the way in which the laboratory services are employed in the care of patients (dealing with outcomes and value). Some examples of health outcomes studies are discussed, which demonstrate the value of the laboratory medicine service. They highlight the complexity of developing a more outcomes orientated approach to benchmarking of laboratory medicine services. These studies would show how the laboratory was used; they give a more holistic view of the role of laboratory medicine in healthcare provision.
Originality/value
The review shows how a more comprehensive and integrated approach to benchmarking of laboratory medicine service would provide valuable information on the effectiveness of the laboratory services.
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Shelly McCallum, Melissa Ann Schmid and Lawrence Price
As companies face an ever wider range of challenges, there is growing adoption of CSR initiatives to aid company success. The business case for CSR investigates the potential for…
Abstract
Purpose
As companies face an ever wider range of challenges, there is growing adoption of CSR initiatives to aid company success. The business case for CSR investigates the potential for economic value in socially oriented company actions. This paper aims to examine one key CSR initiative, that of employee skill‐based volunteerism.
Design/methodology/approach
Researchers consider three current applications of employee skill‐based volunteerism and the potential to generate company economic value.
Findings
This concept paper suggests employee skill‐based volunteerism aligns with the four components of the business case for CSR, including the enhancement of company reputation, the reduction of costs and risk, the achievement of business strategy, and the creation of learning and partnership.
Research limitations/implications
This paper focuses on three companies' employee skill‐based volunteerism programs and does not reflect the comprehensiveness of a meta‐analysis. Hence conclusions are limited in generalization. Further investigation of company CSR program initiatives and their impact both short term and long term is suggested.
Practical implications
This paper seeks to highlight the potential for economic value within CSR initiatives. By considering the role of employee skill‐based volunteerism, this paper considers this specific CSR initiative and its potential for generating economic benefits for a company.
Originality/value
The authors suggest that employee skill‐based volunteerism can serve as a unique differentiating strategy employing the knowledge, skills and abilities of employees that are specific to any given company. As CSR initiatives continue to be adopted, there remains a need to learn which initiatives may serve as significant sources of economic value for a company, as well as how best these initiatives can be implemented.
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The purpose of this paper is to report the results of an investigation into individual investors' perceptions of the factors affecting buying, holding and selling of stock on the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report the results of an investigation into individual investors' perceptions of the factors affecting buying, holding and selling of stock on the Bahrain stock exchange (BSE). Additionally, the paper investigates the perceptions of individual investors about corporate financial statements as a source of information for individual investors' investment decisions and what specific information such investors would like firms to disclose in these reports.
Design/methodology/approach
The research method involved a mail questionnaire sent to 800 individual investors. The response rate was 42.6 percent. This research method was complemented by a series of field interviews conducted with 20 investors and six stockbrokers for the purpose of gaining additional insights into the topic.
Findings
The study found that individual investors perceived corporate financial statements as the most important source of information for their investment decisions. The results also show a relatively high degree of agreement within the groups (both large and small) as to the ranking in terms of the importance of the topics. Overall, the study found relatively high levels of consensus between the two user‐groups with regards to the majority of questions investigated. The greatest difference between the user‐groups regards the perception of the relative importance of the cash‐flow statement, the income statement and which information items are needed for investors' decision making.
Originality/value
The paper offers rich data on the perceptions and uses of financial and non‐financial information by individual investors. This is the first time this type of research has been conducted in Bahrain.
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This paper seeks to explore five forces likely to significantly affect interlending operations in the near term: the transition from print to electronic resources; management of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to explore five forces likely to significantly affect interlending operations in the near term: the transition from print to electronic resources; management of legacy print collections; mass digitization projects; competition from other information providers; and copyright.
Design/methodology/approach
The author uses data from authoritative sources to illustrate the effects these forces are having and will continue to have on libraries and ILL operations.
Findings
The author predicts that most libraries will be slow to divest themselves of print monographs on a large scale; libraries will continue to build new offsite storage facilities but put more thought into their contents; increased discoverability of digitized texts and greater copyright restrictions will drive users to print; librarians will make gray areas of copyright law work for them instead of against them; publishers, librarians, authors, lawyers, and scholars will find a responsible and fair solution to providing digital access to “orphan” works; and ILL will persist as a core operation for nearly all libraries.
Originality/value
This paper provides a unique look at forces that are shaping the future of global ILL activities.