Benefits and barriers of telework: perception differences of human resources managers according to company's operations strategy

Telework as an integration of Information and Telecommunication Technologies with Human Resources management, means a new job organisation paradigm for companies working in the New Economy. However there are very few empirical studies that have analysed the perception differences of telework benefits and barriers in industrial and service companies. This paper contributes with empirical data to the relationship between the use of telework techniques and the implementation of this new work organisation with the company's operations strategy. The paper uses data from Spanish companies to test the relationship between innovation, employee training, and other production strategy performance parameters with the feasibility of telework adoption.     

An exploratory study of exclusive dealing in channel relationships

The channel literature has paid little attention to issues related to exclusive dealing governance arrangements. Consequently, there is only limited knowledge about how exclusive dealing impacts various channel processes and outcomes. This gap is especially regrettable since exclusive dealing, in addition to being one of the most commonplace governance formats within the distribution channels, is also one of the best exemplars of viable unilateral governance formats. In this initial investigation, the authors explore the linkages among the constructs of exclusive dealing, relationalism, communication, and performance. Empirical data for the study were drawn from the photocopier industry. He obtained his M.B.A. and D.B.A. degrees from Boston University. His primary research interest includes channels of distribution, franchisor-franchisee relationships, and consumer purchase behavior in international contexts. He has published articles inJournal of Marketing Channels and the proceedings of several marketing conferences. This article was crafted when Rajiv Dant was at Boston University. He received his M.B.A. from Bombay University and his Ph.D. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. His research focuses on channels of distribution, with primary emphasis on franchise structure, franchisee-franchisor relationships, and public policy aspects of franchising growth and ownership topics. His research has been published inJournal of Marketing, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Research in Marketing, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of the Operations Research Society, Marketing Letters, Journal of Small Business Management, Journal of Economic Psychology, Southern Business & Economics Journal, Philosophical and Radical Thought in Marketing, Journal of Healthcare Marketing, Journal of Marketing Channels, andInternational Small Business Journal.     

Low Income Dynamics in 1990s Britain

This paper analyses low income dynamics in Britain using the first four waves of the British Household Panel Survey. There is much low income turnover: although there is a small group of people who are persistently poor, more striking is the relatively large number of low income escapers and entrants from one year to the next. Simulations using estimated low income exit and re-entry rates demonstrate the importance of repeated low income spells for explaining a person's experience of low income over a given period. We also document the characteristics of low income stayers, escapers and entrants.     

From weed to wealth? Prospects for medic pastures in the Mediterranean farming system of north-west Syria

Medic (Medicago spp.) pastures are widely grown in rotation with dryland cereal crops in Mediterranean climate zones of Australia. Attempts since the 1960's to introduce this system to Mediterranean west Asia and north Africa (the native region of medic) have not lead to significant adoption; farmers in the region recognize medic, but as a weed and natural pasture plant. This first detailed economic evaluation of the rotational medic system was conducted using a whole-farm linear programming model based on the agricultural system of north-west Syria. The model represents in detail impacts of rotation on yields, labor requirements of alternative farm activities, availability of family and hired labor, subsistence income requirements, livestock feed sources and uses at different times and a choice of sheep stocking rates. Biological data for the analysis are based on a large six-year cropping and grazing experiment near Aleppo on terra-rossa soil with rainfall mainly in winter and averaging about 330 mm annually. The trial compared a dryland medic-wheat system and traditional two-year rotations of wheat with: fallow, watermelon, lentil and vetch. Results indicate that, given current prices and yields from the trial, medic is less profitable than traditional rotations. The model was used to investigate situations in which medic would be economically preferred. Selection of a medic rotation by the model was found to be particularly sensitive to the area of the farm and the price of labor. On small farms, labor availability per hectare is high, favouring the production of labor intensive crops such as lentil and watermelon. On larger farms, labor costs of these enterprises are substantial, increasing the relative profitability of medic, especially if labor prices increase. Interestingly, the relative desirability of medic is more sensitive to its impact on subsequent wheat crops than to the level of pasture production. We also found that modest increases in the prices of sheep products (especially milk) have a major impact on the economic performance of medic. These insights will allow improved focusing and targeting of future research and extension activities.     

Models for which the MLE and the conditional MLE coincide

The MLE, CMLE and MMLE coincide in a linear regression model with fixed individual effects. In this case, there is no incidental parameters problem and the MLE is consistent. The equivalence of these estimators is important because CMLE=MLE implies both the consistency of the MLE and the efficiency of the CMLE. In general, we cannot expect to find a CMLE or MMLE, since there may be no fixed-dimension sufficient statistic for the effects, nor an appropriate transformation of the data whose distribution does not depend on the effects. However, we show that the MLE, CMLE and MMLE do coincide in systems of seemingly unrelated regressions and in systems of simultaneous equations. We establish this result for systems in which (exogenous) variables in addition to (or other than) the intercept may have coefficients which vary over individuals, provided that the set of such variables is the same in every equation.The financial support of the National Science Foundation is gratefully acknowledged.