Technological limits to forecasts of doom: Science,technology, and the sustainable economy

In this paper some of the catastrophist literature that was prevalent in the 1960s and 1970s is surveyed. It is still being published but now seems to have a diminished following. The focus is on two major areas, on food and population and on mineral resources. To the catastrophists, the various ills that allegedly plagued the world were attributed to technology. Their solution was a new appropriate technology that would allow us to live within limits. I counter with the argument that technology is the creator of resources which it uses, and that the data on food supply show that world development has been positive. The alternate technologies that were offered are found to be, in my judgment, self-limiting and therefore selfdefeating. I argue that life in general and human life in particular has not survived by living within limits but by devising means of transcending them. Technologies that allow us to live within limits lead to stagnation and inevitable decline. The sustainable economy is one that continually evolves in the use of science and technology to create new resources.     

Decision making in the multiproduct firm: Adaptability and firm organization

This study presents an explicit model of the choice process by which decision makers within a multiproduct firm would optimally allocate their firm-specific inputs. The first-order conditions of the model indicate the kind of information required for efficient transfer of these inputs. Transfer within the firm can be more efficiently accomplished than contracting over markets. Consequently, one may demonstrate the superior efficiency of the multiproduct firm over a comparable group of single-product firms independent of any production externalities. Further, this superior efficiency results only if the central administration of the firm controls the exchange of these inputs.     

The cost of capital in the international firm

This paper argues that the international firm should use the firm's global weighted average cost of capital to evaluate investment decisions, domestic and international, and to judge the performance of affiliates at home and abroad. The paper discusses the adjustment necessary to quantitate exchange risk and to account for financing that is subsidized or tied to particular investments. Foreign subsidiaries, it is argued, do not have an independent capital structure because their liabilities are explicitly or implicitly the obligation of the parent firm.     

Integrating sustainability practices into islamic corporate governance for sustainable firm performance: from the lens of agency and stakeholder theories

Quality & Quantity - While the literature indicates that Islamic Corporate Governance (ICG) practices enhance firm performance, there is scant research on how sustainability practices affect...     

The differences of firm resources and the adoption of teleworking

This paper studies the differences of firm resources between teleworking firms and non-teleworking firms. The results indicate that teleworking firms use more information and communication technologies, invest more resources in R&D, have a larger percentage of knowledge workers and salespeople in the workforce, and have a larger geographical market. The employees have greater access to the Internet and electronic communication, are more trained in the use of information and communication technologies, and are more involved in their job design and planning. Regarding the business organisation, teleworking firms use more human resource flexible practices and variable compensation, outsource more activities, and manage employees by objectives.     

互联网时代的商业价值观与企业平台化建设

互联网背景下的社会价值观对传统组织管理产生了强烈冲击,信息技术革命为管理创新提供了空间与动力.通过梳理归纳互联网时代商业领域的基本价值观,分析用户需求导向、个体价值实现、市场资源配置与利益共享等互联网价值链的基本逻辑,提出企业的持续创新需要用平台化的组织结构去反映市场,而企业平台化建设还应该从激活个体价值出发来设计和推动组织结构变革,以创建高效能的组织与人的共生关系和价值创造生态圈.     

The return to firm investments in human capital

In this paper we estimate the rate of return to firm investments in human capital in the form of formal job training. We use a panel of large firms with detailed information on the duration of training, the direct costs of training, and several firm characteristics. Our estimates of the return to training are substantial (8.6%) for those providing training. Results suggest that formal job training is a good investment for these firms possibly yielding comparable returns to either investments in physical capital or investments in schooling.     

Markets in the firm Ken Phillips

There is widespread acceptance of the advantages of a market economy but not yet of the next logical step of applying market principles to the internal operations of firms. The use of markets within firms would benefit companies and the economy. It would also require fundamental re-appraisal of labour market regulations which imply masterÐservant relationships.     

Markets in the firm Ken Phillips

There is widespread acceptance of the advantages of a market economy but not yet of the next logical step of applying market principles to the internal operations of firms. The use of markets within firms would benefit companies and the economy. It would also require fundamental reappraisal of labour market regulations which imply master-servant relationships.     

The impact of just-in-time manufacturing on firm performance in the US

Just-In-Time manufacturing has been subjected to numerous studies both empirical and methodological. This work attempts to measure the impact of JIT on accounting measures of performance. Most technologies and investments are justified on the basis of their impact on financial and accounting measures which are not easily quantified. Our empirical methodology, simultaneous equation estimation, allows us to isolate the partial effects of JIT on various accounting measures thus gauging the true impact of this method on firm performance. Our results show that after JIT adoption firms reduced the labor content in facilities, increased inventory turnover and enhanced earnings. There was no significant impact on prices charged by the firm. These results support the anecdotal evidence on JIT and the theoretical work done by various authors. Even though the firms studied experienced a downturn in their performance our empirical methodology could identify positive benefits resulting from JIT adoption.     

The impact of the WARN Act on firm value

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act of 1989 mandated that at least 60 days advance notice be given to employees. Critics argued that its passage would decrease managerial flexibility in closing plants, subsequently reducing firm values. This study addresses this issue by examining the stock market's reaction to announcements leading to the eventual enactment of the WARN legislation. We find evidence indicating negative effects of the legislation on stock returns of small firms.     

人本工程在保险经纪公司中的应用

随着社会的不断发展,人们的思想观念也在不断地转变。文章从保险经纪公司企业管理说起,针对现有企业面临的突出问题——人才和知识管理问题,进行分析,找到今后企业在员工管理上的出路,以及坚持"以人为本"的核心精神,从而使得员工为企业带来更高的经济效益。     

The firm under uncertainty: real and financial decisions

This paper examines the interplay between the real and financial decisions of the competitive firm under output price uncertainty. The firm faces additional sources of uncertainty that are aggregated into a background risk. We show that the firm always chooses its optimal debt–equity ratio to minimize the weighted average cost of capital, irrespective of the risk attitude of the firm and the incidence of the underlying uncertainty. We further show that the firm’s optimal input mix depends on its optimal debt–equity ratio, thereby rendering the interdependence of the real and financial decisions of the firm. When the background risk is either additive or multiplicative, we provide reasonable restrictions on the firm’s preferences so as to ensure that the firm’s optimal output is adversely affected upon the introduction of the background risk.     

Costs and goals of the multiproduct firm

A profit-maximizing multiproduct firm's optimum production and pricing decision rules are different if the firm's fixed resources are fully employed than if they are underutilized. If they are fully employed, the opportunity cost of using a fixed input affects the firm's pricing decisions. The way for a multiproduct firm to maximize profit is to lose money on a product if large volume and low price of that product increases sales or reduces cost for other products sufficiently. Decision rules are different for a revenue-maximizing firm than for a profit-maximizing one.     

Monopsony and the production-location decision of the firm

This paper incorporates monopsony power in one of the input markets within the context of the Weber-Moses triangular framework and examines the effect of an increase in monopsony power on the production-location decision of the firm. In particular, this paper shows that the optimum location of the firm is independent of monopsony power if the production funstion is homogeneous of degree one. However, if the production function is not homogeneous of degree one, the firm possessing monopsony power will have an incentive to move its location away from the monopsonized input market towards other markets under certain reasonable assumptions. Finally, some important policy implications are generated from the analysis.     

Multiple objectives in the theory of the firm

An objective function with measures for two objectives is maximized to determine production decisions. These are shown to be analogous to production decisions under pure profit maximization, but using prices which include internally determined prices, different from market prices. The standard case of pure profit maximization results as a special case—as a testable hypothesis—by particular restrictions on parameters.A first draft of this paper was presented at the Philadelphia ORSA/TIMS Conference in 1990. The first draft was coauthored by Wolfgang Schwander, who contributed the empirical part to it, which has been deleted. Matthew S. Goldberg of the Institute for Defense Analyses and Götz Uebe of Universität der Bundeswehr, Hamburg, provided helpful comments on the first draft. The revised versions benefitted substantially from the very constructive comments by three referees. The refereeing process of this paper was handled through Knox Lovell.