The importance of structure and process to strategy implementation

A study involving over 200 senior managers demonstrates that overall firm performance is strongly influenced by how well a firm's business strategy is matched to its organizational structure and the behavioral norms of its employees. The authors identify a taxonomy comprised of four different combinations of structure/behavior types, which they label as: Management Dominant, Customer-Centric Innovators, Customer-Centric Cost Controllers, and Middle Ground. These alternative structure/behavior types are then matched with specific business strategies (i.e., Prospectors, Analyzers, Low Cost Defenders, Differentiated Defenders) in order to identify which combination(s) of structures and behaviors best serve to facilitate the process of implementing a specific strategy.     

Rights and risks

A satisfactory normative theory of acceptable risk would be useful in resolving current disputes over government safety regulation of the workplace, consumer products, and technology. Alan Gewirth has attempted to develop such a theory, arguing from the individual's right not to be harmed by the risk-imposing activities of others. His theory is analyzed in detail, and the difficulties faced by such rights-based (deontological) approaches are pointed out. It is argued that a satisfactory theory will not be of a simple rights-based form. Reason is also given for doubting that it will be of a simple utilitarian form. Eric Von Magnus is Assistant Professor of Humanities at the University of New Haven, and Fellow at the Center for the Study of Values, University of Delaware. His most important publication is: Risk, State, and Nozick, Midwest Studies in Philosophy, Vol. 7, Social and Political Philosophy.The author gratefully acknowledges support from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Center for the Study of Values, University of Delaware.     

Openness,Ownership, and Regional Economic Growth in Vietnam

ABSTRACT

In this article, we examine the influences of exports, multinational corporations (MNCs), and the share of state-owned enterprise (SOE) production in regional economic growth in Vietnam for the years 1996–2006. Various estimations, without and with considering the endogeneity problem, confirm that exports and the presence of MNCs are influential factors on promoting economic growth. Crucially, provinces with a higher ratio of SOE production have experienced higher economic growth. However, the positive relationship between SOE share and economic growth should be carefully interpreted.     

Creating Backward Linkages from Multinationals: Is there a Role for Financial Incentives?

We investigate whether government subsidies encourage foreign multinationals to create linkages with domestic suppliers. To this end we use a unique panel dataset of foreign multinationals located in Ireland for which we have exhaustive information on grant receipt. Our results indicate that while European and US foreign plants develop backward linkages independently of grant receipt, multinationals from other parts of the world respond positively to government support. Our results hold even when controlling for the possible endogeneity of grants and the boundedness of the linkage variable. We conclude that governments should not apply a “one‐size‐fits‐all” approach to incentivizing foreign multinationals.     

Analysis of a Generalized Penalty Function in a Semi-Markovian Risk Model

Abstract

In this paper an extension of the semi-Markovian risk model studied by Albrecher and Boxma (2005) is considered by allowing for general interclaim times. In such a model, we follow the ideas of Cheung et al. (2010b) and consider a generalization of the Gerber-Shiu function by incorporating two more random variables in the traditional penalty function, namely, the minimum surplus level before ruin and the surplus level immediately after the second last claim prior to ruin. It is shown that the generalized Gerber-Shiu function satisfies a matrix defective renewal equation. Detailed examples are also considered when either the interclaim times or the claim sizes are exponentially distributed. Finally, we also consider the case where the claim arrival process follows a Markovian arrival process. Probabilistic arguments are used to derive the discounted joint distribution of four random variables of interest in this risk model by capitalizing on an existing connection with a particular fluid flow process.     

Implications of biotech traits with segregation costs and market segments: the case of Roundup Ready(R) Wheat

Roundup Ready^® Wheat (RRW) is one of the first geneticallymodified (GM) traits for the wheat sector. We develop a spatialpartial equilibrium model of the higher-protein hard wheat marketand assess the changes in the distribution of welfare associatedwith release and adoption of RRW. It incorporates segments forGM aversion in each market and segregation costs for each segment.In the most likely scenario, producer and consumer welfare increasesby $301 and $252 million, respectively. Producers of hard redspring wheat in the US and Canada gain. There are welfare lossesto hard red winter wheat growers in the US and to EU consumerswho have to import at a higher cost.     

Long-run Causality, with an Application to International Links Between Long-term Interest Rates

In this paper we give a precise definition of long-run causality in a multivariate non-stationary, possibly cointegrated, framework. A variable is said to be causal for another in the long-run if knowledge of the past of the former improves long-run predictions of the latter. In a VAR framework, we show that long-run non-causality can be easily tested with a Wald statistics, conditionally on the cointegration rank. The methodology is used to study long-run causal links between US, German, and French long-term interest rates from January 1990 to June 1997.