TRENDS IN RURAL WAGES,WEST JAVA, 1977–83

This paper examines monthly wage data collected by the Agro Economic Survey from seven villages in the Cimanuk River Basin of West Java, where data on agricultural and non-agricultural wages and prices of nine essential commodities were collected twice monthly between 1977 and 1983. Movements in money wages deflated by both the rice price and a weighted index of basic commodities are analysed in detail and differences between lowland and upland villages are discussed.     

Book Reviews

Idris F. Sulaiman, G. Hanafi Sofyan and Shannon Luke Smith (eds) (1998), Bridging the Arafura Sea: Australia-Indonesia Relations in Prosperity and Adversity, Asia Pacific Press, Asia Pacific School of Economics and Management, The Australian National University, pp. xxi + 325.

David C. Cole and Betty F. Slade (1996), Building a Modern Financial System: The Indonesian Experience, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. xxvii + 379. Cloth: US$59.95; paper, US$25.

Chris Manning (1998), Indonesian Labour in Transition: An Indonesian Success Story?, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. xxii + 323.

Hal Hill and Thee Kian Wie (eds) (1998), Indonesia's Technological Challenge, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, and Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, paper, pp. xxv + 414.

Steven J. Keuning (1996), Accounting for Economic Development and Social Change, IOS Press, Amsterdam, Oxford, Tokyo, Washington DC, pp. x + 233. NLG100; £39; DM90;US$58.

Thomas Brandt (1996; English trans. 1997), Kunci Budaya. Business in Indonesia: The Cultural Key to Success, goasia Verlag, Bad Oldesloe, Germany.     

Small-Scale Industry in the Asian-Pacific Region

Small-scale industry has been important in the successful development of many of the economies of East and Southeast Asia, both in cases like Japan, Korea and Taiwan where import-substitution preceeded and/or accompanied the manufactured exporting phase, and in Hang Kong, the only essentially laissez faire economy in the region. An important general characteristic of the small-scale sector, and one long commented upon in the Japanese case, is the prevalence of subcontracting relationships either with larger manufacturing firms or with traders. There is considerable evidence of economic efficiency in the sector, especially perhaps in the medium-size range. Although some types of policy support appear to have paid off well, others appear not to have, so it is clear that such support must be both well thought out and carefully implemented if it is to have the hoped-for result.     

Decision delegation: A conceptualization and empirical investigation

This paper examines a purchase context in which consumers, instead of deciding on their own, delegate either a part of or the entire purchase decision to a surrogate. A path model linking the antecedent variables and delegation is tested in the context of personal computer purchases. It was found that the factors that ensure decision quality emanating from the surrogate's expertise differentials, trustworthiness, accountability, and willingness to customize increase the likelihood of decision delegation. In addition to its direct positive effect on delegation, trustworthiness mediates the effect of expertise difference, surrogate accountability, and customization on delegation. Perceived loss of control inhibits delegation, but only at the stage when the final choice decision is made. Also, if a decision task is repeatable, the high return on effort has a negative effect on delegation, but only at attribute set and choice set delegations. Contributions of the study and directions for future research are discussed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Star power in the eye of the beholder: A study of the influence of stars in the movie industry

Organizations employ various risk-mitigation strategies to cope with the uncertainty in marketing new products. In the motion picture industry, an important strategy is to cast star actors and actresses in movies. The ultimate box-office success, however, depends on multiple stakeholders involved with financing, making, distributing, and watching the movie. In pursuing different goals and interests, the stakeholders may look for different aspects of star power to mitigate their own risk. This paper examines how the influence of stars varies across key stakeholders in the movie market. The results show that, in general, stars have a greater impact on the stakeholders involved in the earlier stages of movie development and exhibition (where the risks are greater) than on those in later stages. Movie project financiers and exhibitors are strongly and directly influenced by star power, but news media and movie audiences are influenced less and only indirectly. Situated at the early stage of the movie “value chain,” the financiers are most concerned with stars’ past box-office performance. Exhibitors, however, are influenced by the “match” between a star’s genre participation history and the genre of a specific movie. By contrast, news media and movie audiences are influenced indirectly through the stars’ impact on earlier stakeholders and their decisions. The findings shed light on the value of employing star elements in new products, the marketing of stars, and movie promotion strategies.     

A DISEQUILIBRIUM INTERPRETATION OF KALDOR'S TECHNICAL PROGRESS FUNCTION*

This note examines the nature of underlying production function to Kaldor's technical progress function. It has been found that in the context of disequilibrium between planned savings and investment the history of capital accumulation becomes crucial.     

The urban informal sector

On the basis of available information, this paper debunks some of the conventional wisdom concerning the informal sector. This sector is not the major point of entry for fresh migrants from rural areas and there exist large variations in earnings within it. A disproportionately large number of informal-sector workers are (i) very young or very old, (ii) females, (iii) limited in education and (iv) not the primary household earners. Finally, the paper confronts the predictions of a dualistic urban labour market model for trends over time in output, employment, productivity and earnings with the results of a case study of Peru by Richard Webb.     

Corporate social responsibility: a boon or bane for innovative firms?

In today’s dynamic business landscape, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is considered as an important strategic initiative for attaining sustainable competitive advantage. The present study aims to examine (i) the influence of consumer’s perceived firm innovativeness (CPFI) and consumer trust on perceived CSR activities of the firm and (ii) the mediating role of perceived CSR in the relationship between (iia) consumer’s perceived firm innovativeness and purchase intention (iib) consumer trust and purchase intention. Four hypotheses were tested with the primary data (n = 287) collected through a structured questionnaire. The regression analysis revealed that CPFI and consumer trust have direct positive impacts on the perceived CSR. Further, perceived CSR mediates the relationship between CPFI and purchase intention. However, perceived CSR does not play a mediating role between Consumer Trust and Purchase Intention. Overall, the findings of this study indicate that engagement in the CSR activities tend to reduce the perceived risk associated with innovation and consequently, influence the purchase intention among consumers. Theoretical and managerial implications are further discussed.     

Investigating the impact of customer stochasticity on firm price discrimination strategies using a new Bayesian mixture scale heterogeneity model

In this paper, we study the impact of customer stochasticity on firm price discrimination strategies. We develop a new model termed the Bayesian Mixture Scale Heterogeneity (BMSH) model that incorporates both parameter heterogeneity and customer stochasticity using a mixture model approach, and demonstrate model identification using extensive simulations. We estimate the model on yogurt scanner data and find that compared to the benchmark mixed logit and multinomial probit models, our model shows that markets are less price elastic, and that a majority of customers exhibit stochasticity in purchases; our model also obtains better prediction and more profitable targeting strategies.     

凯洛格管理学院向莎翁请教管理

企业管理者应该要了解一家公司内不同的职能部门,包括生产、销售、产品组合以及人力资源等部门是如何相互联系以获得最佳组合的。这是管理理论中最为古老和基本的观念之一。企业要形成相对于其竞争者而言既有效又制胜的战略定位．也就是管理学理论所谓的”企业定位（firm positioning）”。理论上讲,不同的职能部门应该互相补充并互相支持。