Japanese/U.S. technological competitiveness and strategic alliances in the biotechnology industry

This paper analyzes the reasons for Japanese/U.S. collaborations in the biotechnology industry, and considers the question of whether such alliances pose a threat to the North American industry. Japan's technological competitiveness in biotechnology is examined in terms of its strengths and perceived weaknesses. Ways in which Japan is attempting to overcome these weaknesses are identified. As well, the strengths and weaknesses of the North American biotechnology industry are assessed. The paper concludes with recommendations for government and R&D managers on how to preserve U.S. competitiveness. R&D managers must keep abreast of their techno-global competitive environments. While organizations can enter into alliances to improve their competitiveness they must be aware of the dangers of collaboration, and to benefit from their alliances they must enhance their organizational learning. Organizations must be aware of the pitfalls of alliance formation, and any alliance must be viewed in its national context. Last, but not least, managers must be more effective in their management of the processes of technological innovation.     

A Spatial Cross–Sectional Analysis of Elasticity of Demand for Soccer

Several studies estimate the demand for watching English professional football (soccer) as highly inelastic, a puzzling result given that clubs appear to possess a degree of monopoly power. We discuss weaknesses in earlier studies and offer an alternative method of assessing elasticity based on travel costs of spectators living different distances from the grounds. We find that elasticity varies across the 20 senior clubs for which data were available but in almost every case demand is more elastic than reported in the existing literature and pricing policy appears therefore to be more orientated towards profit maximisation than previously thought.     

Accidents will happen: safety-critical knowledge and automated control systems

This article presents findings from a study of control operators that raise concerns about safety-critical knowledge, culture and training. It is argued that the adoption of automated control systems can hinder the transfer of knowledge amongst operators, and this becomes an increasingly serious hazard as tacit knowledge is lost because of employee turnover.     

Using FTE and RVU performance measures to assess financial viability of academic nurse-managed centers

Financial performance measures are essential to improve the fiscal management of academic nurse-managed centers (ANMCs). Measures are compared among six ANMCs in a consortium and against an external, self-sustainable, profitable ANMC and national data for family practice physicians. Performance measures help identify a center's strengths and weaknesses facilitating the development of strategies aimed at a variety of targets (business practices related to revenue and costs) to improve financial viability. Using a variety of financial performance measures to inform decision making will aid ANMCs in keeping their doors open for business.     

Is it worth subsidising regional repertory theatre?

Subsidies to the performing arts are usually justified by referenceto externality and public goods arguments that are hard to quantify.We suggest that subsidies to theatres may be appropriate becauseof their inability to engage in spatial price discriminationto capture consumer surplus. For one major theatre, we use audiencedata and the Clawson-Knetsch travel cost method to assess theextent of consumer surplus and find that it exceeds the levelof subsidy received from public sources. On the basis of thisexample, current subsidy levels are justifiable even withoutrecourse to traditional externality/public goods arguments.     

Using Difference in Differences to Estimate Damages in Healthcare Antitrust: A Case Study of Marshfield Clinic

In calculating damages in healthcare antitrust cases, the difference-in-differences (DID) approach provides a potentially valuable means of controlling for lawful factors that influence prices, such as case mix and quality of care, as distinct from price differentials due to unlawful behavior. After comparing DID to traditional methods of estimating damages, this paper uses DID to analyze data from a well-known case against Marshfield Clinic, a large multi-specialty group practice that was found to have illegally allocated markets for physician services in Central Wisconsin. Using a specification similar to what was used in the case, we find that illegal behavior accounted for about one-half of the Clinic’s extra increase in costs per patient during the damage period. The courts, however, were not persuaded that the analysis adequately controlled for legal factors. We discuss potential pitfalls in using DID to estimate damages suggested by the case, as well as possible ways around them.     

Freedom of Entry,Market Size,and Competitive Outcome: Evidence from English Soccer

A primary prediction of the theory of sports leagues is that teams with higher revenues will have higher league positions or winning percentages than teams with smaller revenues. Behind this prediction lies the key influence of market size, yet this has been underexplored in the empirical literature on sports leagues. This paper combines detailed census of population data with panel data on team performance for an open sports league, the English Football League, to test the hypothesis that market size matters for team performance. We find a particularly important role for population close to the team's location. The impact of local population is reduced but not eliminated when allowance is made for entry in the form of competition from neighboring clubs. We assess implications of these findings for both European and North American sports league structures.     

The Impossibility of Financial Autarky

Mr Roy Hattersley has called for the establishment of a national investment bank to secure funds for economic growth in Britain. Forrest Capie, of the City University Business School, and G.R. Steele, Lecfurer in Economics of the University of Lancaster, examine, in two complementary articles, the practical obstacles, logical inconsistencies and objectionable morality of Mr Hattersley's proposal.     

Reflections on longitudinal action research with the English National Health Service

This paper reflects on a longitudinal collaborative action research programme between the Centre for Research in Strategic Purchasing and Supply and the UK National Health Service Purchasing and Supply Agency that has operated since 1995. During the collaboration, research has changed practice and practice has changed research. A framework for analysing change is introduced as a means of examining how supply strategy has changed during the course of the research. The framework is applied to three supply strategy cases of prosthetics, clinical waste and cardiology, illustrating how practice and research have changed and influenced the production of knowledge over time. The methodological, theoretical and managerial implications of such longitudinal action research programmes are reflected on.     

Hierarchical Zoning, Incompatible Uses and Price Discounts

This study examines an aspect of hierarchical zoning. Hierarchical zoning, unlike mutually exclusive zoning, is uni-directional in that it protects upper-level residential uses from nonconforming, non-residential uses but not vice versa. The result is that the lower-level zones can be a mixture of several nonconforming, incompatible uses. This unique attribute of hierarchical zoning offers a window of opportunity for choices for affordable housing at affordable locations. Using hedonic analysis, empirical evidence shows that huge price discounts (over 15%) are associated with apartments that are situated in nonconforming zones. Arguments here support more flexible zoning.