Does Allowing the Bells to Offer InterLATA Long-Distance Service Affect Entry into Local Telephony?

Following the 1984 divestiture of AT&T, local telephone service was provided by several Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs). The RBOCs served as monopoly providers of local telephone service in their respective territories but were prohibited from offering long-distance service to their in-region subscribers. Section 271 of the landmark Telecommunications Act of 1996 allows an RBOC to offer in-region long-distance service if it demonstrates that the local telephone exchange market is open to competitive entry. This study empirically evaluates the efficacy of this policy by considering the impact of RBOC entry into long-distance on the development of competitive entry into local telephony. The results suggest that section 271 has been successful in promoting entry into local telephony. However, aggregate price data suggest that this entry has not been realized with lower rates for residential telephone subscribers.     

Does the ADA Disable the Disabled?— More Comments

This article examines how best to identify individuals with disabilities for analysis of the impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. It also explores whether amending the ADA to broaden its definition of disability can be expected to improve the employment prospects of those who seek its protections. Answering these questions requires that we learn much more about the labor force participation decisions of those with disabilities. Our aim here is to encourage further consideration and analysis of these and related questions regarding the possible effects of the ADA and of other environmental factors that affect the labor force participation of those with disabilities.     

Industrial Companies' Evaluation Criteria in New Product Development Gates

This article presents the results of a study on the evaluation criteria that companies use at several gates in the NPD process. The findings from 166 managers suggest that companies use different criteria at different NPD evaluation gates. While such criteria as technical feasibility, intuition and market potential are stressed in the early‐screening gates of the NPD process, a focus on product performance, quality, and staying within the development budget are considered of paramount importance after the product has been developed. During and after commercialization, customer acceptance and satisfaction and unit sales are primary considerations. In addition, based on the performance dimensions developed by Griffin and Page (1993), we derive patterns of use of various evaluative dimensions at the NPD gates. Our results show that while the market acceptance dimension permeates evaluation at all the gates in the NPD process, the financial dimension is especially important during the business analysis gate and after‐market launch. The product performance dimension figures strongly in the product and market testing gates. The importance of our additional set of criteria (i.e., product uniqueness, market potential, market chance, technical feasibility, and intuition) decreases as the NPD process unfolds. Overall the above pattern of dimensions' usage holds true for both countries in which we collected our data, and across firms of different sizes, holding different market share positions, with different NPD drivers, following different innovation strategies, and developing different types of new products. The results also are stable for respondents that differ in terms of expertise and functional background. The results of this study provide useful guidelines for project selection and evaluation purposes and therefore can be helpful for effective investment decision‐making at gate‐meetings and for project portfolio management. We elaborate on these guidelines for product developers and marketers wishing to employ evaluation criteria in their NPD gates, and we discuss directions for further research.     

The ‘science’ and ‘practice’ of HRM in small firms

This paper looks at the ‘science’ and ‘practice’ of human resource management in small firms. While there is growing evidence that the practice of human resource management in small firms is characterized by informality, there is less evidence about the science, or explaining why this is the case. We look to writing on strategic human resource management, which has at its heart the resource based view of the firm, for possibilities offered to understanding the science of human resource management in small firms.     

Unraveling the Academic Productivity of Economists: The Opportunity Costs of Teaching and Service

This study investigates the relationships among research productivity, teaching, and service on the basis of individual-specific information involving approximately 715 academic economists. Responding to an online survey, these economists provided information regarding their teaching and service commitments as well as personal and institutional information. The publication record of each respondent was then obtained from EconLit. Together, these data constitute a rich field for the systematic study of research productivity. Results of a Tobit analysis reveal much about the nature of research productivity, underscoring, for instance, the importance of gender, coauthorship, presentations at conferences, and peers who publish. Among the more important findings from this analysis is that both teaching and service commitments have a significantly negative impact on the research productivity of academic economists. These relations hold across types of academic employer, though to varying degrees. Taken together, the results provide interesting insights into the roles of academic scholars, teachers, and colleagues.     

Factors affecting transfer pricing and income shifting (?) between Canadian and U.S. transnational corporations

An analysis of organizational, environmental, and financial factors indicates that income shifting may occur among TNCs in the United States and Canada. Some differences in rates of return are partially explained by the larger U.S. TNCs, which experience higher rates of return and prefer non-market methods. Smaller Canadian TNCs, with lower rates of return, prefer market methods.     

Bhopal,India and Union Carbide: The second tragedy

The paper examines the legal, ethical, and public policy issues involved in the Union Carbide gas leak in India which caused the deaths of over 3000 people and injury to thousands of people. The paper begins with a historical perspective on the operating environment in Bhopal, the events surrounding the accident, then discusses an international situation audit examining internal strengths and weaknesses, and external opportunities and threats faced by Union Carbide at the time of the accident. There is a discussion of management of the various interests involved in international public relations and ethical issues. A review of the financial ratio analysis of the company prior and subsequent to the accident follows, then an examination of the second tragedy of Bhopal — the tragic failure of the international legal system to adequately and timely compensate victims of the accident.The paper concludes with recommendations towards public policy, as well as a call for congressional action regarding international safety of U.S. based multinational operations.Clayton Trotter is a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law and College of Business Administration. Currently, he teaches in both the College of Business and the School of Law at Texas Tech University; and was formerly Associate Professor of Law at the Coburn School of Law in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He has taught courses in Real Estate Law, Corporations, International Business Transations, and Business Law.Mr. Trotter has been attorney of record in a number of contested civil cases and has appeared in the Fifth and Seventh United States Circuit Court of Appeals on such cases. He is licensed in Texas, Florida and the Supreme Court of the United States.He has authored a number of articles on business related legal matters.Susan G. Day is a Texas Real Estate Broker, Escrow Agent, and Insurance Agent. She graduated from Texas Tech University with a major in Business Administration with an emphasis on Management. She currently attends Texas Tech University pursuing a graduate degree in Education.Susan is Past President of the Toastmasters International group at Texas Tech University giving speeches and lectures on real estate and law. In addition, Susan is a member of the following associations at Texas Tech University: Society for Advancement of Management, Marketing Association, Tech Management Association, Lubbock Legal Secretaries Association, National Association for Female Executives and the Ex-Students Association.Amy E. Love graduated Magna Cum Laude in December, 1988 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Management from Texas Tech University. Her long range goals include graduate school where she would like to emphasize finance. Amy is a member of the Society for Advancement of Management, Golden Key National Honor Society, Gamma Sigma Honor Society, and Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society.     

Intended or Unintended Consequences? Resource Erosion in New Zealand's Government Departments

Internationally, a feature of public sector reforms over the last twenty years is the characterisation of negative effects as unintended consequences, yet the reform programme continues as before (Humphrey et al., 1993 and 1998). This article reports the findings from an investigation of ostensibly unintended consequences of New Zealand's public sector financial management system: resource erosion in government departments which both escapes parliamentary scrutiny and damages departments' capability to perform even core functions (State Services Commission, 1998a; and Controller and Auditor–General, 1999). The findings suggest that these effects might not be unintended. The system's structures and processes, including designed–in resource erosion processes and a surreptitious approach, are highly consistent with those advocated to facilitate privatisation.