Negishi's contributions to the development of economic analysis: Research programs and outcomes

This paper surveys Negishi's significant contributions to economics and the research programs they have generated. In a series of papers and books, Negishi developed a number of models and methods of analysis that changed the course of modern economics and catalyzed research in areas that range from welfare and theoretical to applied and computable general equilibrium analysis, and the extension of imperfect competition to general equilibrium. trade theory and international economics. This paper shows that the Negishian research programs that emanated from his works are progressive, and still have an ongoing impact on mainstream economic analysis decades after their publication.     

Does community ownership affect public attitudes to wind energy? A case study from south-west Scotland

This paper presents the results of a study of public attitudes to onshore windfarm development in south-west Scotland. Specifically, it explores the influences of different development models on attitudes to windfarms by comparing public attitudes towards a community-owned windfarm on the Isle of Gigha with attitudes towards several developer-owned windfarms on the adjacent Kintyre peninsula. The study, conducted in 2006, used a questionnaire-based survey (n = 106) to test the hypothesis that community ownership would lead to greater public acceptance of windfarms. It also examined the attitudes of both residents and tourists towards the impacts of onshore windfarms on landscapes and seascapes, including cumulative impacts. The data show that the Gigha respondents were consistently more positive about wind power than were the Kintyre residents. However, the differences were differences of degree rather than diametrically opposing viewpoints. The most significant concerns about windfarms were intermittent production and visual impact, but majorities in both areas nevertheless regarded their visual impact as positive. The data also indicate that local attitudes could become even more positive if future windfarms were owned by local communities. The fact that the residents of Gigha have affectionately dubbed their turbines ‘the Three Dancing Ladies’ is indicative of the positive psychological effects of community ownership. These results support the contention that a change of development model towards community ownership could have a positive effect on public attitudes towards windfarm developments in Scotland.     

Strategy Communication in Family-Owned Restaurants: Ad Hoc and Ad-Lib

ABSTRACT

Most New Zealand restaurants are small family-owned businesses, which could be expected to communicate their purpose, business strategy, and goals to their employees. However, this expectation may be at odds with the informal mode of a family operation. This exploratory study therefore examines the communication of strategies in family-owned restaurants to determine the likely impact of family ownership on strategy communication. Interview data from family business owners and employees indicate that communication was largely ad hoc, relating to tactics more than strategies, and that many owners lacked the skills needed to operate a profitable and successful business. The weak understanding of strategic business skills identified may explain the high rate of failures identified in the New Zealand restaurant industry.     

Sustaining entrepreneurial business: A complexity perspective on processes that produce emergent practice

This article examines the management practices in an entrepreneurial small firm which sustain the business. Using a longitudinal qualitative case study, four general processes are identified (experimentation, reflexivity, organising and sensing), that together provide a mechanism to sustain the enterprise. The analysis draws on concepts from entrepreneurship and complexity science. We suggest that an entrepreneur’s awareness of the role of these parallel processes will facilitate their approaches to sustaining and developing enterprises. We also suggest that these processes operate in parallel at multiple levels, including the self, the business and inter-firm networks. This finding contributes to a general theory of entrepreneurship. A number of areas for further research are discussed arising from this result.     

The Dynamics of Strategy

In seeking to build and sustain competitive advantage, managers need to develop strategies which take account of likely future changes – and which will themselves change in line with circumstances. This article starts by outlining problems with a non-dynamic approach to formulating strategy and then lays out the initial frameworks of a fact-based method that can help managers understand and take control of the time-path of their firm's performance.     

The Softer Side of Strategy Dynamics

Intangible resources like the feelings of staff, customers and investors have an indirect but powerful impact on firms' performance. They grow or decline alongside the more tangible resources in the firm's armoury. Capabilities too must be accumulated and retained, and may be reinforced by learning mechanisms within the business. This third and last article on the dynamics of strategy discusses how dynamic resource system view (DRSV) techniques can be applied to these intangibles to improve the firm's performance. (The first two articles on DRSV were published in the Autumn and Winter 1999 issues of Business Strategy Review ).     

The Economic Role of Government as, in Part, a Matter of Selective Perception, Sentiment and Valuation: The Cases of Pigovian and Paretian Welfare Economics

This essay identifies and explores the role of selective perception, sentiment and valuation in the formation of economic policy, with particular reference to the conduct of policy-making under the aegis of Pigovian and Paretian welfare economics. First, we identify certain background conditions. Second, we present an argument with regard to the economic role of government. Finally, we apply the argument to Pigovian and Paretian welfare economic reasoning, showing first the equivalence of Pigovian and Paretian reasoning under particular assumptions and their non-equivalence under more realistic conditions, and then how the latter results give rise to selective perception, sentiment and valuation in the formation of economic policy.     

Ethics and the Internet Issues Associated with Qualitative Research

This paper examines the need for standards to resolve ethical conflicts related to qualitative, on-line research. Practitioners working in the area of qualitative research gauged the breadth and depth of this need. Those practitioners identified several key ethical issues associated with qualitative on-line research, and felt that there should be a common ethics code to cover issues related to Internet research. They also identified challenges associated with the profession's acceptance of a unified code. The paper concludes by offering guidance in developing and implementing such a code.