Intelligent knowledge based systems (IKBS): organisational implications

Many factors other than technology can influence the forms of work organisation at several key stages during the process of change. This article discusses developments in the design of intelligent knowledge-based systems (IKBS) and argues that these new forms of computerisation will undermine the position of a number of management functions in the enterprise.     

Under what circumstances might demand and price rise? Does such an observation contradict the law of diminishing marginal utility?

Graham Dawson, Head of Economics at Bedford School, gives the fourth in the series of Model Answers for 'A' Level economics.     

Macroeconomic Impacts on Bulgarian Agriculture during Transition

An unstable and erratic macroeconomy in an economy in transition might be expected to affect agricultural performance. This is tested for Bulgaria between 1992 and 1997 using impulse response functions from a vector autoregressive (VAR) model. Despite data limitations, it is found that shocks to the foreign exchange rate and interest rate feed into farm prices and agricultural exports but equilibrium will be re–established within 5 years. Agricultural policies may not be sufficient to counteract the wider macroeconomic forces.     

Economic information versus quality variation in cross-country data

Data quality in the Penn World Tables varies systematically across countries that have different growth rates and are at different stages of economic development, thus introducing measurement error correlated with variables of economic interest. We explore this problem with three examples from the literature, showing that the problem appears to be minor in growth convergence regressions but serious in estimating the effect of income volatility on growth and in a cross-country test of the Permanent Income Hypothesis. The results suggest, at the least, a need for performing appropriate sensitivity tests before drawing conclusions from analyses based on these data. JEL Classification: E21, O47     

World consumer lifestyles databook

A case is made that the adoption of IT in European retailing is inhearntly conservative and is not characterized by the rapid revolutionary change sometimes argued to be the case. Reasons are suggested for the slow rate of integration of IT into retail management process and the limited range of applications in use operationally. These reasons are considered as within the nature of IT and within the culture of retailing. The impact of IT in retailing is considered in respect of cost reduction, improved asset productivity, changing internal relationships and the changing external relationships of retailers. Some areas of potential research are listed.     

Participant crowding and physical contact rates of whale shark tours on Isla Holbox,Mexico

Whale shark tourism is a growing niche market within the marine wildlife tourism sector. Increased visitation and declining whale shark numbers at some tourism sites worldwide raise questions over the long-term sustainability of this industry. This study examines the social and potential biological impacts of “swim-with” whale shark tourism on Isla Holbox, Mexico. A total of 397 tour participants completed a self-administered questionnaire regarding perceived crowding, reported encounters and encounter norms, as well as self-reported physical contact rates with whale sharks. Relatively high physical contact rates suggest that tourism may cause some harm to sharks. Users who encountered more swimmers than their norm felt significantly more crowded and were more likely to perceive the industry as having a negative impact on the sharks and surrounding environment. However, the results suggest that the number of boats in the whale shark viewing area may have a greater influence on crowding than number of swimmers. Management interventions to improve the sustainability of the industry include improved interpretation and guide intervention, achieving higher compliance with existing guidelines, and limiting the number of boats allowed in the whale shark viewing area.     

The impact of patient choice and waiting time on the demand for health care: results from the London Patient Choice project

In a number of countries where health care is publicly funded, policies to introduce greater patient choice are being implemented. In most cases patient choice is seen as an instrument to reduce waiting times for elective (non-emergency) hospital services. An important issue is whether facilitating greater patient choice will increase the demand for health care and thereby undermine the achievement of reduced waiting times. A large scale pilot of choice in the London metropolitan area permits a test of the hypothesis that choice will affect demand. This paper estimates a model of the demand for elective surgery using a panel of 150 English acute hospitals over the period 1995 to 2004 for three surgical specialties. It examines whether demand shifted following the introduction of the London Patient Choice Project in 2002. The results suggest that the choice project only shifted NHS inpatient demand in orthopaedics and that this shift was inwards.     

Gender and the commercialization of university science: academic founders of spinout companies

There is a great deal of interest in Europe and the USA on the commercialization of university science, particularly the creation of spinout companies from the science base. Despite considerable research on academic entrepreneurship, female entrepreneurship in general, and the causes of under-representation of female scientists in academic institutions, there has been little research on the influence of gender on academic entrepreneurship.

The study researches female founders of UK university spinout companies using information from the Internet on company founders of spinout companies from 20 leading universities. The proportion of female founders at 12% is very low. The paper explores reasons for this low representation through follow-up postal interviews of the 21 female founders identified, and a male control sample. Under-representation of female academic staff in science research is the dominant but not the only factor to explain low entrepreneurial rates amongst female scientists.

Owing to the low number of women in senior research positions in many leading science departments, few women had the chances to lead a spinout. This is a critical factor as much impetus for commercialization was initially inspired by external interest rather than internal evaluation of a commercial opportunity. External interest tended to target senior academics, which proportionally are mostly male. A majority of the women surveyed tended to be part of entrepreneurial teams involving senior male colleagues.

As a whole both male and female science entrepreneurs displayed similar motivations to entrepreneurship, but collectively as scientists differed appreciably from non academic entrepreneurs. Women science entrepreneurs also faced some additional problems in areas such as the conflict between work and home life and networks.