THE BUS INDUSTRY IN DANGER

After seeking to placate the local government lobby while retaining the benefits of private enterprise, the Labour government's policy for bus services is slipping into a dangerous compromise which will neglect the market while seizing assets from commercial operators. Behind this lies a policy leading to the return of bus services to public ownership.     

PROMOTING INNOVATION IN THE ELECTRICITY INDUSTRY

Smart metering can bring significant benefits to electricity markets by allowing customers to reduce demand or increase supply when generation capacity is temporarily scarce. To reap the full efficiency and environmental benefits of this technology, regulators must allow price volatility and free entry into the market. The efficiency gains are enormous as both demand and supply will be affected by both temporary and longer‐lasting price changes. Experiments have shown the value of this approach.     

THE CHOICE OF MODEL IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF INDUSTRY COEFFICIENTS MATRICES

Kop Jansen and ten Raa's (1990) characterization of product-by-product input–output tables was adopted by the United Nations (1993). Recent OECD and several EU funded projects, however, used industry-by-industry tables, which raises comparable issues concerning their construction. We show how their two main construction models are instances of the transfer principle, with alternative assumptions on the variation of input–output coefficients across product markets. We augment the theory by formulating desirable properties for industry tables and investigate the so-called fixed product and fixed industry sales structure models, which are used by statistical institutes. The fixed industry sales structure model is shown to be superior from an axiomatic point of view.     

MARKET POWER AND THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY IN SOUTH AFRICA

This paper examines the social cost of the pharmaceutical industry in South Africa. From a regulatory perspective the industry is seen to exhibit monopolylike behaviour resulting in monopoly prices on the supply (manufacturing) side and diminished consumption on the demand (consumer) side. The evidence presented here, which is complementary to that of previous studies, does not support that view. The findings contained here are relevant to the highly contentious subject of access to drugs.     

THE ADOPTION OF JAPANESE MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES IN BRAZILIAN INDUSTRY*

Changing competitive conditions in Brazilian industry are leading companies to seek Japanese management techniques as a means of rapidly raising productivity and quality. Macroeconomic instability, low levels of educational achievement and poor labour relations would seem to present barriers to the use of these techniques. Case studies of firms in the motor components industry show that firms in Brazil can make radical changes to their production systems, overcome educational deficiencies and also secure reverse past employment relations practices in order to obtain some degree of acceptance of change by labour. However, there are reasons for supposing that these successes may be difficult to sustain in a difficult and turbulent macroeconomic environment.     

STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN THE IRISH CHEMICAL/PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

Business strategy publications about decision-making have provided a large amount of information on decision-making relating to market share, competitive advantage, managing change and achieving quality. Nevertheless, little research has been carried out on strategic environmental management. Four in-depth case studies of environmental strategy formation and implementation in chemical/pharmaceutical companies in Ireland are presented here. A continuum describing the differing levels of strategic environmental management among the companies is developed. The dimensions for the continuum include attitude towards environmental management, compliance record, level of environmental training, environmental department structure and community relationship, among others. The findings suggest that environmentally proactive companies follow a decentralized or holistic approach to environmental management. Furthermore, these companies have developed an environmental philosophy which has been adopted throughout the organization. This philosophy is identified as environmental caring     

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN THE MINERALS INDUSTRY: THEORY AND PRACTICE

The minerals industry has a high public profile and applications for new planning permissions often attract considerable controversy. Minerals operations generate a wide range of environmental impacts from the extraction, processing, storage and transportation of the mineral and mineral products. Minerals operators have long recognised the importance of environmental issues and the industry associations have published a number of environmental codes of practice which give general guidance for performance in this field. The recent development of the BSI and CEC standards for environmental management systems (EMS) has provided a mechanism for operators to achieve better control of environmental performance and to demonstrate this through certification. The paper reports on a study of 100 UK minerals companies, carried out by questionnaire, to investigate the rate of progress in this industry with development of EMS and preferences in relation to the two standards currently available. The findings of the survey indicate a relatively high level of activity in the EMS field, perhaps suggesting that many companies have been developing systems based on environmental policies and practices already adopted. Despite this, the survey identified a clear need for more detailed guidance on common standards of environmental performance. Few companies have undertaken any assessment of the cost benefits of the EMS work carried out and some possible interpretations of this are discussed.     

ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF THE MAQUILADORA INDUSTRY IN MEXICO: AN INTERINDUSTRY ANALYSIS

Maquiladora industries, composed of assembly plants, play a central role in Mexico's development strategy. The author establishes that current low usage of domestic inputs by the maquiladora industries prevents Mexico from enginning the rest of the economy through secondary impacts to expand the national market. Furthermore, the economy is also affected, through diminished domestic linkages, from increasing the value added in Mexico and tax collection. An interindustry input-output model for the Mexican economy with emphasis on the maquiladora industries was developed. Among the findings, it is stressed that input purchases linkages are more effective than worker spending as a way to generate secondary output, income and jobs. This implies that increasing domestic input purchases by maquiladora industries could represent important potential advantages for the Mexican economy.     

INDUSTRY AND STRATEGIC GROUP DYNAMICS: COMPETITIVE STRATEGY IN THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY, 1970–84

This article focuses upon dynamic aspects of strategic groups in the context of the US insurance industry from 1970–84. It examines the longitudinal structure of industry strategic groups and identifies the strategic patterns followed by these strategic groups over time. the mobility rates of firms between strategic groups are also assessed. It appears that three dominant groups are present throughout the period of the study while other group positions emerge and disappear over time. the evidence suggests that the quantum theory of strategic adaptation (i.e. dramatic and concerted change) satisfactorily models the processes of strategic group change. And, a low level of firm mobility is found to exist between strategic groups consistent with the presence of inertia and mobility barriers.     

STATE TECHNOLOGY PROGRAMS AND INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE IN THE UNITED STATES*

Because of the growth of new technology based economic development policies at the state level in recent years, this research project provides an assessment of the experiences of users of one such program: the technology research center in microelectronics. A survey of a large number of companies gave us results that should be of interest to decision makers in universities, private industry as well as the public sector. Access to students as future employees was seen as a major reason why companies get involved with universities, more so than research enhancement per se. A univerisity's inability to protect what companies see as confidential research is seen as a major disincentive to further university-industry relationships, while most companies did not see federal or state tax incentives as encouraging collaboration. Among companies who had direct experience with state-funded technology center programs, most reacted positively to their experiences. Such collaboration was seen to stimulate related research within many participating companies, while also leading to improvements in the quality of products and production methods. While the majority of companies thought that states should continue to fund technology development programs, particularly at universities, neither universities nor government were seen as important sources of technical knowledge by many companies. A lack of information about state programs was seen among many companies that responded to the survey.     

STRATEGIC ENTRY DETERRENCE: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE ECONOMICS OF INDUSTRY

Abstract. This paper reviews the recent developments in the economics of industry with respect to strategic entry deterrence. Starting from Bain's (1956) classical analysis, a simple two-stage game between an incumbent firm and a potential entrant is used to present the general structure of the entry deterrence problem. Commitments, credible threat and sub-game perfection are illustrated in this context. The various strategic variables that an incumbent firm can use to bar entry are discussed. The issue of whether a group of incumbents can non-cooperatively deter entry is taken up and some empirical evidence is reviewed.     

钕铁硼产业变阵

根据国家863计划领域功能组组长周少雄博士提供的数据,2003年,我国钕铁硼磁材产量已达到9500吨,占全球总产量的50.1%;日本钕铁硼磁材产量只有7500吨,占全球总产量的39.5%,美国是1090吨,占全球总产量的5.7%,而欧洲更是少得可怜,只有区区900吨.