Neoliberalism and the Crisis in Higher Education: The Cost of Ideology

A number of factors have contributed to the crisis in higher education, including the long‐term transformation in funding. In this article, I argue that neoliberalism can explain many of the processes leading to our changing commitment to colleges and universities and the cost increases that this change has produced. A number of neoliberal assumptions firmly rooted in conventional wisdom have contributed to a “student‐as‐customer” phenomenon, which is, itself, a cost driver. I look at the development of the student as customer as a vehicle for exploring tuition increases. I also examine the tension between education as a public and a private good and the marketization of higher education as crucial drivers of these transformations. In doing so, I emphasize that the student as customer has been created by the changes in the way we think about, organize, and fund education, rather than any fundamental change in young people.     

The Impact of Relational Supplier Exchange on Financial Performance: A Study of the Hospital Sector

In the hospital context, when responsiveness is high, relational exchange with suppliers associates with better financial performance. But when a hospital’s responsiveness is low, relational exchange has no effect on performance—the hospital’s inability to adopt “things that are new” and extirpate “things that are old” eclipses the potential financial benefits of long‐term, relational exchange with suppliers. Furthermore, the quality orientation of the hospital and supplier uncertainty associate with relational supplier exchange—these effects are not moderated by hospital responsiveness. The net effect is that a quality orientation in a hospital impacts financial performance only when hospital responsiveness is high.     

A Global Analysis of Orientation,Coordination, and Flexibility in Supply Chains

Global supply chains are growing rapidly, and the ability to manage cross border logistics operations has become a necessity to maintain a competitive advantage in a dynamic environment. This research addresses current gaps in the literature by investigating the buyer–supplier integration dynamics in a global context with a focus on the antecedents and outcomes involved in the process. Empirical data from 320 U.S. based manufacturing companies that source from overseas was collected and used to test the framework. In addition to providing empirical evidence for the importance of orientation on collaboration, operational coordination, and integration this research explains how manufacturing companies can enhance the flexibility of their global suppliers and how that impact their logistics as well as overall firm performance. Managerial and research implications are provided as well as areas for future research.     

On the definition of differentiated products in the real world

Summary. This paper proposes an abstract model of commodity differentiation that incorporates manufacturing imprecision and dimensioning and tolerancing standards. The potential consistency of such a model based on engineering consideration is analyzed. For a large pure exchange economy, competitive equilibria exist and are Pareto optimal. Production issues such as the derived demand for intermediate products, continuity of cost functions, and product selection and technology issues such as mass customization, agile manufacturing, and manufacturability are discussed.Received: 21 June 2003, Revised: 1 March 2004, JEL Classification Numbers: D51, L15, D21.This work was supported by the National Science Foundation through research grants DMI-9816144 and DMI-0070257. This paper was presented at the Institute of Economics, University of Copenhagen in Fall 2000. As always, Birgit Grodal was an energetic and enthusiastic academic host during my month-long visit. I wish to thank Marcus Berliant for a long, pleasant, and helpful conversation. An anonymous referee read the paper carefully and provided helpful comments.     

COMPETITION AND CROWDING OUT IN THE MARKET FOR OUTPATIENT SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT*

U.S. markets for outpatient substance abuse treatment (OSAT) include for‐profit, nonprofit, and public clinics. We study OSAT provision using new methods on equilibrium market structure in differentiated product markets. This allows us to describe clinics as heterogeneous in their objectives, their responses to exogenous market characteristics, and their responses to one another. Consistent with crowding out of private treatment, we find that markets with public clinics are less likely to have private clinics. In markets with low insurance coverage, low incomes, or high shares of nonwhite addicts, however, public clinics are relatively likely to be the sole willing providers of OSAT.     

State of the registered nurse workfore in the United States

In this final installment of this exclusive six-part series on the state of the RN workforce in the United States, the authors summarize the major findings of each piece and offer specific and actionable recommendations for nurse leaders, educators, and policymakers.     

从穿孔卡片到PC再到iPods

30年来,分销业发生了翻天覆地的变化有一句谚语说道:总有一些事情不会改变。然而,电子分销业几十年来却发生了翻天覆地的变化,即使是同样的概念,其应用范围、复杂程度和理解方法都与以往大不相同,以“货架共享”为例,20 世纪50年代和60年代,由于竞争激