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Agricultural markets for commodities have tended to be unstable with high variability in prices received by producers from year‐to‐year. These conditions have always made production planning very risky over time. For this reason and others, since 1933, the federal government has supported commodity prices in one fashion or another at or near break even. Support programs have put pressure on the annual federal deficits and subsequently have added to the national debt. This paper investigates the use of private agricultural options contracts as a price risk management tool. Use of put options was compared for four commodities to the use of forward pricing, the use of cash prices at harvest and the use of futures as commodity pricing strategies. Private put options were found to be a useful alternative to the use of government prices upports in some commodity situations. The paper suggests that the use of option contracts provides additional flexibility in price risk management and in dealing with uncertainty. This knowledge was found to be especially useful in light of current cuts in federal price supports in current federal budgeting activity.

Powder coating in the car industry. “The future for powder coatings in the car industry is bright”, Chrysler Corporation's Ernie McLaughlin said in the keynote address at the recent Powder Coating '94 in Cincinnati.

THE serious and intractable housing problem persists to plague governments and embitter citizens. Why this is so can be gleaned from a few statistics.

In a full blaze of comings and goings, it is unnecessary to remind ourselves that the holiday season is upon us; mass travel to faraway places. The media have for months, all through the winter, been extolling a surfeit of romantic areas of the world, exspecially on television; of colourful scenes, exotic beauties, brilliant sunshine everywhere; travel mostly by air as so‐called package tours — holidays for the masses! The most popular areas are countries of the Mediterranean littoral, from Israel to Spain, North Africa, the Adriatic, but of recent years, much farhter afield, India, South‐east Asia and increasingly to the USA.

May we start by discussing the reasons that you have changed your company name? We have done so partly for the obvious reason that the Maxwell connection is no longer valid. But, in addition, it is the software part of our business which is growing fastest. I expect it will soon reach parity with our online activities on a revenue basis. So both parts of ‘Maxwell Online’ needed changing.

GENERAL REFERENCE ‐ Encyclopedias Shapiro, Max S. THE CADILLAC MODERN ENCYCLOPEDIA. New York, Cadillac, 1973. (Dist. by Derbi books). 1954pp. cloth. $24.95. ISBN 0–87445–0004. LC 73–81377.

Although the term “energy efficiency” is technologically focused, it has a behavioural content due to the associated energy conservation practice involved. The technology aspect applies essentially to the application of new or better technology in order to derive same output or level of service for less input energy, while the conservation aspect is attributed to behaviour. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

In an attempt to expound on this understanding, a social survey of some households in Bauchi town, Nigeria was undertaken so as to seek ways of improving the energy use situation of the country. The principal objective is to determine the influence of human behaviour in energy efficiency delivery in the households.

The result reveals a much low level of energy efficiency practice by the occupants due largely to lack of awareness and requisite knowledge on the phenomenon of energy efficiency.

Finally, the study highlights on the implications of good energy efficiency practice in household energy use as derived from the present as well as past studies in a bid to attain energy sufficiency.

The purpose of this paper is to reframe human resources' (HR) systems and practices as HR signals drawing from conceptualizations of signals. The construct of the strength of signal is developed to quantify the attributional ability of HR signals. To examine the role of HR signals in influencing employee behaviours and firm performance, human resource management (HRM)-firm performance relationship is considered as a framework to develop a firm-level conceptual model which integrates factors affecting HR signals and its consequences.

The paper examines the existing literature on the relationship between HRM and firm performance. In the process, the paper considers the concept of HR signal and makes a case for the strength of HR signal. Finally, the paper offers a conceptual model in order to link the antecedents and consequents of HR signals.

The paper offers a conceptual model to address the gaps in the relationship between HRM and firm performance. It also brings into focus an understanding of HRM as signals and its importance in understanding firm performance.

The paper enriches the existing literature by examining HRM as HR signals. It adds to the literature by considering the attributional ability of HR, through the construct of the strength of HR signals.