MAKING ARCHIVAL CHOICES FOR BUSINESS HISTORY

To become more proactive in their acquisition of the archives of Victorian business, the University of Melbourne Archives adapted a methodology pioneered by the Minnesota Historical Society. This enabled them to establish criteria to identify industrial sectors, and target specific companies within them, which match the strengths of the Victorian economy; and to determine the type of records required to adequately document both company and sector.     

Efficiency in public schools: Does competition matter?

The focus of many recent school reforms has been on changing the incentives faced by school administrators, mainly through increased competition. In this study, we assess whether competition amongst public schools influences the efficiency in which these schools operate, using a two-stage estimation procedure and data from the state of Illinois from 1997–1998. We find some evidence that public school districts become more efficient as neighboring districts become more efficient. However, such spillovers only occur if districts operate within a financially flexible environment.     

Internal trade,productivity and interconnected industries: A quantitative analysis

Does trade within a country affect welfare and productivity? What are the magnitude and consequences of costs to such trade? To answer these questions, we exploit unique Canadian data to measure internal trade costs in a variety of ways—they are large and vary across sectors and provinces. To quantify their consequences for welfare and productivity, we use a recent multi‐sector trade model featuring rich input–output relationships. We find interprovincial trade is an important contributor to Canada's GDP and welfare, though there are significant costs to such trade. Reducing interprovincial trade costs by 10% yields aggregate gains of 0.9%; eliminating our preferred estimates of costs, gains average between 3% and 7%—equivalent to real GDP gains between $50 billion and $130 billion. Finally, as policy reforms are often sector specific, we liberalize sectors one at a time and find gains are largest in highly interconnected industries.     

Job satisfaction in teams

This paper analyses and discusses the results of a large sample survey of job satisfaction among clerical employees working in teams. The relative strengths of association between several variables and job satisfaction are assessed and the results support the importance of on-the-job training, participation in decision making and management leadership. Questions are raised about first-line supervisors as team leaders.     

Developing trends in the marketing of life insurance

The personal financial services industry is being changed drastically by a number of legislative and other measures. As a result, life assurance companies are having to reappraise their use of marketing methods in a highly competitive environment. This paper investigates the major industry marketing trends which are occurring particularly in the areas of advertising, distribution, new product development and price. The role of IT is highlighted.

The trends are set against a backcloth of an analysis of market penetration by a range of personal financial services products. The paper ends by outlining likely future trends in the use of marketing methods by assurance companies as part of their competitive strategies.

Data are presented from published sources and from a series of personal interviews with marketing executives in the industry.     

Conceptual approaches to the transfer of employment practices in multinational companies: an integrated approach

This article examines the transfer of employment practices across borders within multinational companies. We contrast market‐based, cross‐national comparative and micro‐political perspectives on this issue and argue for an integrated approach that focuses on interrelationships between markets and institutions on the one hand and the material interests of actors on the other. We develop this argument using data from a multi‐level case study of a multinational in the US and Britain.