Personal characteristics of salespeople and the attractiveness of alternative rewards

How do personal characteristics of salespeople affect their desire for the various rewards available to them? Do younger salespeople desire different types and levels of rewards than older salespeople? Are there differences due to job tenure, marital status, family size, and so forth? In this article, the authors attempt to answer these questions. Based on an extensive investigation of the industrial sales forces from two large companies, the authors examine the relationship between personal characteristics and the sales force's valence for various rewards. Although some of the findings are consistent with current sales management practices, some are not, suggesting that present day thinking with respect to the design and administration of rewards may need more careful scrutiny.     

Kapitalizm: Russia’s Struggle to Free Its Economy

Contrary to the situation prevailing in most of Europe and North America, Brazilian economics can be justly described as pluralist, an outcome frequently ascribed to the role played by the Brazilian economics association (ANPEC) as conflict mediator. A crucial episode took place in the early 1970s, when ANPEC chose to welcome the filiation of the heterodox program at the University of Campinas (Unicamp) against threats of withdrawal from one of its most prestigious members, the Getúlio Vargas Foundation. After characterizing the nature of pluralism in current Brazilian economics, the article uncovers the process that led ANPEC to adopt a “pluralist” attitude, and how this related to the Brazilian political context from the 1970s. The outcome was significantly influenced by the actions of other institutions involved in Brazilian economics at the time, notably the Ford Foundation and the team of Vanderbilt University economists working in Brazil under a USAID contract. Choices made within a delicate political context opened the door to the institutionalization of theoretical plurality as a stable feature of the scholarly community of Brazilian economists.     

企业技术创新路径依赖的盛宴与陷阱研究——以福特公司为例

从产品设计、生产技术、低价战略及组织和管理等方面,分析了T型车时代的福特汽车企业技术创新路径依赖的盛宴与陷阱,找出了福特汽车因路径依赖最终影响其技术创新成败的因素。因此,寻找企业突破路径依赖的对策与发展战略,对企业的技术创新管理具有重要而深远的意义。     

The Cost of a Structural Change: A Large Automobile Plant in the State of Bahia

SUMMARY

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the costs and benefits associated with establishing a large automobile plant in the Brazilian state of Bahia, in one of the poorest macro-regions of the country. It is argued that behind Ford's decision to establish a plant far from the economic center of the country are not only the large incentives package offered at the Federal and State levels, but also the 1999 Southern Common Market (Mercosur) crisis and the company's own global strategies. The incentives package given to Ford at the state level is estimated at about R$ 2,642 billion, or 75% of the total investment. Although high in absolute terms, when the total incentives are divided by the investment, they appear to be similar to the incentives given by other Brazilian states to automobile assemblers during the 1990s. It is shown that the largest part of the incentives resulted from tax breaks, which represented more than three quarters of their total value. Despite the large absolute number of jobs created by the assembler and first tier suppliers, it is argued that the main benefit associated with the project is a likely structural change in the state's economy as a result of the backward and forward linkages to be created. The strength of these linkages, however, depends upon the success of the project itself, but the state government actually has little control over this issue.

RESUMEN. El objeto de este estudio es evaluar los costos y beneficios asociados al establecimiento de una gran fábrica automotriz en el estado brasileño de Bahía, en una de las regiones macroeconómicas más pobres del país. Se suele decir que, por detrás de la decisión de la empresa Ford de establecer su planta lejos del centro económico del país, no se esconde apenas el atractivo paquete de incentivos fiscales ofrecidos en los distintos niveles federal y estatal, sino también la crisis de 1999 sufrida por el MERCOSUR–Mercado Común del Cono Sur, y las propias estrategias globales de la empresa. El paquete de incentivos otorgado a Ford en esos niveles gubernamentales ronda los 2.642 mil millones, o 75% de la inversión total. Los incentivos otorgados, a pesar de ser altos en términos absolutos, no difieren mucho de los otorgados por otros estados brasileños a los ensambladores automotrices durante los años 1990, al dividir el total de los incentivos por la inversión. El estudio muestra que la porción más grande de los incentivos provenía de ventajas fiscales, que representaban más de la tercera parte de su valor total. Sin embargo, a pesar del gran número absoluto de empleos creados por la montadora y por los proveedores de primera línea, queda en discusión si el mayor beneficio asociado con el proyecto es un probable cambio estructural en la economía del estado, como resultado de los vínculos progresivos y regresivos que tendrán que crearse. Por otra parte, la fuerza de dichos vínculos depende del éxito que logre el propio proyecto, auque el gobierno del estado tenga en realidad poco control sobre esta cuestión.

RESUMO. Este estudo tem por objetivo avaliar os custos e benefícios associados à criação de uma montadora de automóveis grande no estado brasileiro da Bahia, em uma das macrorregiões mais pobres do país. Argumenta-se que por trás de decisão da Ford de criar uma montadora longe do centro econômico do país estão não apenas o grande pacote de incentivos oferecidos nos níveis federal e estadual, mas também a crise de 1999 do Mercado Comum do Sul (Mercosul) e as próprias estratégias globais da empresa. O pacote de incentivos oferecido à Ford no nível estadual está estimado em cerca de R$ 2.642 bilhões, ou 75% do investimento total. Embora alto em termos absolutos, quando os incentivos totais são divididos pelo investimento, parecem semelhantes aos incentivos oferecidos por outros estados brasileiros às montadoras de automóveis durante a década de 1990. Mostra-se que a maior parte dos incentivos resultou de brechas fiscais, que representaram mais de três quartos de seu valor total. Apesar do grande número absoluto de empregos criados pela montadora e pelos fornecedores de primeiro nível, argumenta-se que o benefício principal associado ao projeto é uma provável mudança estrutural na economia do estado como resultado dos vínculos progressivos e regressivos a serem criados. A força desses vínculos, porém, depende do sucesso do próprio rojeto, mas o governo do estado na verdade tem pouco controle sobre esta questão.     

Market Overreaction to Product Recall Revisited—The Case of Firestone Tires and the Ford Explorer

We revisit the issue of market reaction to product recall and evaluate the magnitude of market reaction to the news of recall. We also examine how the competitors' stock prices are affected by the product recall. Specifically, we evaluate the stock price effects of events relating to the recall of Firestone tires by the Bridgestone Corporation, which were linked to the rollover accidents of the Ford Explorer SUVs. Our results indicate that the initial loss in the market value both for the Bridgestone Corporation and Ford Motor Company was far in excess of direct costs associated with recall. The market losses are approximately equal to the near worst-case estimates of direct and indirect costs, litigation costs, regulation compliance costs and costs associated with future losses in sales. The firms recovered their market value as more information on actual costs became available. These results suggest that the market initially overreacts negatively to the recall news and this reaction is generally based on all potential losses associated with recall. This reaction is corrected as information on actual costs becomes available. With regard to the competitors, our results show that the major competitors in the tire and auto industries experienced a significant gain in the market value of their stocks probably because their products were substitutes for the products affected by recall.     

Buyer/seller relationships in international industrial markets

This article examines the hypothesis that industrial purchasers' assessments of their suppliers are not based on views of suppliers' technical and commercial skills in isolation. Instead they are closely associated with their assessment of suppliers' skills in developing a relationship with them.     

Radials,Rollovers and Responsibility: An Examination of the Ford-Firestone Case

In August of 2000, Firestone executives initiated the second largest tire recall in U.S. history. Many of the recalled tires had been installed as original factory equipment on the popular Ford Explorer SUVs. At the time of the recall, the tires and vehicles had been linked to numerous accidents and deaths, most of which occurred when tire blowouts resulted in vehicle rollovers. While Firestones role in this case has been widely acknowledged, Ford executives have managed to deflect much of the attention away from themselves, mainly by claiming that the Firestone tires were not its product, and therefore not its responsibility. In this paper, we examine the extent to which Ford can be held morally responsible for the incidents at issue. In so doing, we develop an approach for determining when an item is a product in its own right, as opposed to a component of another product. We argue that such an analysis not only provides a better understanding of this case, but also more properly accounts for the extent to which evolutions in technology and business relationships can affect issues of moral responsibility in business contexts.     

从《好兵》看福特的伦理观与骑士情结

<好兵>是英国现代主义小说家福特的代表作.凯罗林·戈登认为:"它是一部堪与海明威的<永剐了,武器>一样的佳作,是一部题材最古老但却是用最娴熟的技术写成的最好的罗漫史."小说通过描写贵族绅士爱德华在追求骑士道德理想的过程中,与工业社会的理性精神冲突时演绎的一幕幕道德悲剧,反映了福特对导致人性异化的工业精神的担忧,对工业社会产生的物质主义和个人主义伦理思想的批判.而福特创作中表现出的骑士情结,又反映了他改良这种社会现状的伦理乌托邦.     

企业生产组织形式的演化及管理职能的社会化

20世纪以来,企业生产组织形式经历了福特制到精益生产模式再到大规模定制模式的转换,每一次转换都在不同程度上改变了企业内部生产管理的权力结构及其与外部协作企业之间联系,并催生了大量的独立化的生产服务机构和社会协调组织,使得生产管理职能的社会化程度不断提高。     

Involuntary Unemplyment in Imperfectly Competitive General Equilibrium Models

This paper is about 'involuntary unemployment' in general equilibrium models with imperfect competition. It surveys papers written after the seminal work of d'Aspremont, Dos Santos Ferreira and Gérard‐Varet (1984). This unemployment is called involuntary because it exists at any wage. It results from imperfect competition in the product markets, more specifically from firms' excessive market power. These papers have focussed their attention on the conditions required for involuntary unemployment. In our presentation, we characterise this form of unemployment through three elements: consumers' preferences, price expectations and Ford effects. Each element is important because it influences the demand for the good and hence its price elasticity, the latter being central in the definition of firms' market power. JEL Classification. D43, E24.