Environmental policy and stable collusion: The case of a dynamic polluting oligopoly

We show that the imposition of a Markovian tax on emissions, that is, a tax rate which depends on the pollution stock, can induce stable cartelization in an oligopolistic polluting industry. This does not hold for a uniform tax. Thus, accounting for the feedback effect that exists within a dynamic framework, where pollution is allowed to accumulate into a stock over time, changes the result obtained within a static framework. Moreover, the cartel formation can diminish the welfare gain from environmental regulation such that welfare under environmental regulation and collusion of firms lies below that under a laissez-faire policy.     

Foresighting FLOSS (free/libre/open source software) from a developing country perspective: The case of Turkey

Since free/libre open source software (FLOSS) promotes collaboration and contributions from different parties in software production and innovation processes, it can create a unique opportunity for developing countries, by generating an innovative capability in software technology. To benefit from this opportunity, it is important to understand the strategic factors and future trends that affect the development of an efficient FLOSS economy in developing countries.This paper aims to examine the strategic factors and future trends that are likely to affect the development and deployment of FLOSS in Turkey. Based on the internal and external factors identified through the practice of technological foresight, a SWOT analysis will be carried out to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for Turkey in creating a competitive software industry that can benefit from the advantages of FLOSS. Accordingly, with regard to the required technical infrastructure, an innovative/competitive business climate, skilled human resources and support for institutional structures, policy suggestions are outlined here that could be usefully implemented by government, industry and universities.     

The conditions for international human resource management: two case studies

A move towards the transnational or global corporation is widely canvassed. Rather less attention has been devoted to how the multinational company

actually organizes its HR activities or to the conditions which permit a transnational form of organization to emerge and survive. The paper explores these two issues, using case study evidence from two British-owned companies. The model of the transnational suggests that authority is devolved and control is dispersed. The paper shows, however, that central control was greater than is often thought. As for the conditions for transnationality, key immediate influences were the length of time for which the firms had been multinationals and the routes taken to attain this state; these influences were underpinned by differences in market structure. Even where a transnational approach had been developed, future competitive trends suggested that it might be under threat. The implication is that the‘transnational solution’may be attainable only in certain types of firm and that it may prove to be unstable.     

Believing in employment discrimination: The case of Forrest Mims,Scientific American,and title VII protection

This article reviews the law regarding Title VII employment discrimination protection from religious discrimination. The issues surrounding the principal legal protection in this regard are explored in the context of a recent controversial case in which an author, Forrest Mims, was not hired as a regular contributor forScientific American magazine, ostensibly because of his belief in the theory of creation over the theory of evolution. The definition of what constitutes a protected religious belief or practice is seen to have expanded over time. However, a belief in creationism is not necessarily seen as being tantamount to a religious belief under present legal interpretation of Title VII. The implications of this finding for future needed Title VII revision are discussed.     

Competency rallying for technical innovation—The case of the Virtuelle Fabrik

Technology improves at an ever-increasing rate, but the speed at which firms can adapt their strategies and competencies to develop technological innovations and exploit market opportunities remains limited. While networks provide an option to increase agility through collaborative access to relevant external competencies, we know little about systematically managing such networks. This paper identifies a collaborative network process that we label competency rallying. We describe the set of inter-organizational routines involved in competency rallying in a case study of the interactions among the partners of the Virtuelle Fabrik, a case of an organized regional network in the manufacturing industry in Switzerland. We describe competency rallying as the (1) identification and development of competencies, (2) identification and facing of market opportunities, (3) marshalling of competencies, and (4) short-term cooperative effort for technological innovation and commercialization. The paper contributes a model that furthers the understanding of the organizational character of networks based on specific, learned network capabilities and which allows prediction of the likelihood of success of practical collaboration projects in networked organizations.     

The functioning of co-opetition in the health-care sector: An explorative analysis

The doctrine on the management of the health-care sector has mainly considered cooperation and competition to be opposite models. However, several recent studies of the private sector have stressed the positive effects of balancing competitive and cooperative stimuli in inter-firm relationships. Since many public health-care sectors are often characterized by the presence of both cooperative and competitive forces, this explorative analysis is aimed at identifying the possible determinants of these stimuli and analyzing the likely results of the interaction between these forces within a network of health-care trusts. A better understanding of how simultaneous cooperation and competition impact one another could help regulatory bodies to avoid implementing policies that could produce inconsistent results.     

On estimating the reliability after sequentially estimating the mean: The exponential case

Sequential estimation problems for the mean parameter of an exponential distribution has received much attention over the years. Purely sequential and accelerated sequential estimators and their asymptotic second-order characteristics have been laid out in the existing literature, both for minimum risk point as well as bounded length confidence interval estimation of the mean parameter. Having obtained a data set from such sequentially designed experiments, the paper investigates estimation problems for the associatedreliability function. Second-order approximations are provided for the bias and mean squared error of the proposed estimator of the reliability function, first under a general setup. An ad hoc bias-corrected version is also introduced. Then, the proposed estimator is investigated further under some specific sequential sampling strategies, already available in the literature. In the end, simulation results are presented for comparing the proposed estimators of the reliability function for moderate sample sizes and various sequential sampling strategies.     

The adoption,character and impact of strategic human resource management: a case study of two large metropolitan Vietnamese public hospitals

In this paper the researchers set out to explore the adoption, character and impact of strategic human resource management (SHRM) in two large metropolitan Vietnamese public hospitals using a multi-level qualitative research design. Data are analyzed from 21 interviews and 5 focus groups with key players from the hospitals and government authorities. Findings show that the State controls many of the core day-to-day HR functions of public hospitals, curtailing local autonomy and management innovation. This is compacted by inadequate government funding, poor training of medical staff, and inadequate management and business skills of hospital managers. Inhibiting greater experimentation with SHRM is the fear of developing management initiatives out of sync with the State. Consequently, many managers and clinicians held negative views of the HR department and their relevance for the day-to-day management of healthcare services. Respondents reported that they perceived these factors had a negative impact on the well-being of medical staff and the quality of patient care. The paper concludes with a discussion on the necessity for continued State reforms that can enable greater autonomy of the hospitals' HRM functions and greater investment in local HR capabilities to materialize the link between SHRM, employee well-being and quality of patient care.