The three US food policies: An ideological interpretation

Historically, and notably so since 1933, three ideologies have been evident, and in conflict, in the farmfood policies of the USA. The gradual transformation of US agriculture since World War II into an agribusiness industry, and into the dominant world food exporter, has necessitated the modernising of these three ideologies. How the new food politics of the Carter Administration will differ from those of the Nixon-Ford Administration is of worldwide concern. Whether the new food policy ‘agenda’ will be aggressively committed to the development of a neo-Jeffersonian food ideology will be a major US political issue in 1977.     

Institutional investors, antitakeover defenses and success of hostile takeover bids

In this study we investigate the question of whether institutional investors enhance or reduce efficiency in the market for corporate control. In particular, given unequivocal evidence that target stockholders gain in successful takeover bids, we investigate the impact of institutional ownership in target firms on the adoption of the type of antitakeover defense as well as the outcome of takeover bids. We find that target firms are more likely to adopt value-reducing antitakeover defenses and successfully thwart takeover bids when a higher percentage of target common stock is owned by ‘pressure-indeterminate’ investors (investment counsel firms in particular). On the other hand, the probability of a successful takeover rises with the ownership of both ‘pressure-sensitive’ and ‘pressure-resistant’ investors. The above findings support the view that institutional investors do not play a homogeneous role in the market for corporate control.     

Cooperation strategies in port-oriented bulk supply chains: aligning concept and practice

It seems intuitively obvious that firms in supply chains may have more to gain than to lose from learning to cooperate; but it is now more than two decades since Poirier [1999. Advanced Supply Chain Management. San Francisco, CA: Barrett-Koehler] and others called for cooperation in order to capture mutual gains in supply networks and even now ‘cooperation is neither common nor easy’. The simple fact is that not only are supply chains exceptionally complex but so too is the ‘process of cooperating’ – often in the context of antitrust legislation and competition policy. This paper argues that there is a critical need to rethink the principles and processes of cooperation within the broader framework of the competitive behaviour of firms and business strategy. Particularly, it suggests that the relatively recent thinking of Greenwald and Kahn [2005 Greenwald, B., and J. Kahn. 2005. Competition Demystified A Radically Simplified Approach to Business Strategy. New York, NY: Portfolio, The Penguin Group. [Google Scholar]. Competition Demystified A Radically Simplified Approach to Business Strategy. New York, NY: Portfolio, The Penguin Group] in their ‘radically simplified approach to business strategy’ offers sound conceptual insights into cooperation and cooperative strategies for firms not only in markets but also in chains. Furthermore, it notes that the analytical framework for cooperation and cooperative strategies which the authors develop is far removed from the notion of cooperation as ‘commitment and trust and shared thinking’ and from ‘buyer/seller reciprocity’ and ‘collaborative attitudes’ which tend to underwrite much contemporary thinking and research. The paper also argues that the Greenwald and Kahn framework – its single intelligence model of cooperation and cooperative strategies – resonates with real-world relevance, at least for particular supply chains. The paper focuses attention on research into globally significant export coal chains from major east coast Australian ports and in brief case studies finds substantial alignment between concept and practice.     

Method for identifying strategic objectives in strategy maps

This paper describes a simple tool for identifying strategic objectives as part of the design of strategy maps, based on the balanced scorecard, and meant to be used in organisations to establish performance indicators. To design the tool, a number of companies that implemented the balanced scorecard were analysed, in order to obtain their methodologies to create strategy maps. Three types of methods were found, different from each other in the way the strategic objectives are defined. By studying the benefits and drawbacks of the three methods, a simple, method was obtained. Basically, the method identifies general and specific strategic objectives and uses a modified SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis. This paper also makes an analysis of the type of strategic objectives that the studied companies defined as part of the balanced scorecard implementation process.     

Pro‐Poor Tourism in a First World Urban Setting: Case Study of Glasgow Govan

This research investigates pro‐poor tourism (PPT), which has only been considered in a third world context, in a first world country, determining whether PPT principles are being used to alleviate poverty in a developed location, Glasgow Govan, in Scotland. The research develops and applies a new PPT principles tool to regeneration projects in the area and reveals a significant level of PPT application there. The findings suggest that PPT can be an over‐complication of a common sense development approach that any responsible government should promote. The results also question the validity of community based tourism initiatives. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Viewpoint: Canadian competition policy: progress and prospects

Abstract.  This paper discusses the state of competition policy – in particular the economics of competition policy – in Canada today and considers its prospects going forward. It argues that: (i) the importance of competition policy has become accepted widely in Canada and indeed throughout much of the world; (ii) competition policy design and enforcement is in general well done in Canada; (iii) economists, including many Canadians, have played a central role in the development of an efficient and effective competition policy in Canada and elsewhere; and (iv) competition policy in Canada is today facing very serious challenges, and economists should be concerned.     

The effects of climatic variation on rice production in Sri Lanka

We study the responsiveness of rice production to climatic variation using a recent pseudo-panel data set from Sri Lanka. Output per farm is modelled as a non-linear function of temperature and rainfall (and other standard controls) using fixed effects regressions. We find that both climatic variables have concave, non-monotonic effects upon production, and that output is close to maximized at current climatic values. This implies that variations in growing conditions are likely to have negative effects upon production. Random simulations are used to model these impacts under various climate change scenarios, and we find that increasing temperatures will adversely affect rice production much more than varying rainfall, although the effects of a small ceteris paribus rise in temperature are positive. As rice production is a key component in economic output for Sri Lanka and other developing countries, our results have implications for food policy and poverty management in the future.