Speedier delivery: coastal shipping times and speeds during the Age of Sail †

There is a debate about whether coastal shipping experienced substantial productivity growth prior to the advent of steam power. To study changes over the long eighteenth century, this article uses thousands of coastal journey times culled from Board of Trade crew lists between 1835 and 1844 and coastal port books for the mid‐to‐late 1600s, along with a newly digitized coastal network. Comparisons between matched samples show that journey speeds, defined as miles sailed per day, were significantly higher in the crew lists compared to the port books, and that voyage cycle times, defined as days between starting two identical voyages, were substantially lower. The study also shows that voyage times in the east coast coal trade were substantially lower around 1840 than around 1700, but the difference was much smaller when peace years are compared. These new data imply that total factor productivity growth in the east coast coal trade was significant, especially if one accounts for gains from peace after 1815. The findings contribute to the larger literature studying the rate and sources of productivity growth during the industrial revolution.     

Understanding how technology paradoxes affect customer satisfaction with self‐service technology: The role of performance ambiguity and trust in technology

This study examines the role of consumer technology paradoxes within the context of self‐service technology and the routes by which these paradoxes influence customer satisfaction evaluation. Analysis of survey data from online banking customers indicates that three paradoxes operate in this context: control/chaos, fulfill needs/create needs, and freedom/enslavement. The study reveals further that the effects of these paradoxes on customer satisfaction are mediated by consumer performance ambiguity and consumer trust in technology. Theoretical and managerial implications of consumer paradoxical experiences for technology‐based services are discussed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

企业文化从以修理为中心转变到以可靠性为中心

本文将讨论5个关键要素，它们是从传统的以修理为中心的企业文化成功地转变为以主动的、可靠性为中心的企业文化所需要的，并讨论提高设备性能和人员素质两方面所取得的回报。这5个要素是：（1）保证有一个长期的战略目标；（2）奖励制度与战略目标相结合；（3）生产与维修之间建立密切的合作；（4）创建团队合作和企业学习的机会；（5）坚强且有献身精神的领导。根据我们的经验，大多数企业丈化改革初创者的失败原因是由于没有具备上述所有这些要素。     

Rates of Return on GNMA Securities: The Cost of Mortgage Funds

This paper examines rates of return earned on GNMA securities over the period January 1971 through June 1978. We find that over this period the mean monthly return on GNMAs was greater than the mean return on long-term government bonds and slightly greater than the mean return on high-grade corporate bonds. However, in neither case was the difference statistically significant. Thus, based on this evidence, it is not possible to conclude that the cost of acquiring funds to finance single-family housing purchases through the GNMA program exceeded the cost of acquiring funds by the U.S. treasury or financially-strong corporations.     

Root Metaphor in the Old and New Industrial Relations

Why have academic concerns and priorities within the old industrial relations paradigm seemingly wilted before the ideas of a new, more business oriented paradigm? I suggest that the answer lies partly in the relative appeal of their respective root metaphors. The metaphor of the old tends to be closed, static and pessimistic — industrial relations as trench war. The new offers a more hopeful, essentially American pioneering metaphor that conveys challenge and progress and makes a fetish of change. However, while I accept the inevitability of metaphorical devices in disseminating and even generating ideas in social science, the article warns against being seduced by the attractiveness of the metaphor rather than the robustness of the idea.