Modelling and Mapping Agricultural Output Values Using Farm Specific Details and Environmental Databases

Ongoing concerns regarding the economic losses associated with the CAP and the negative environmental impacts of present land use have led to calls for land use change and consequent efforts to identify areas which are, from both a financial and social perspective, most appropriate for such conversion. This paper develops and applies an output value modelling methodology in which site-specific biophysical factors are combined with farm level data in order to predict input usage and, subsequently, farm profit. The spatial analytic capabilities of a geographical information system (GIS) are used to combine the variety of data employed to permit analysis of a large study area (the entirety of Wales) and yield models of both the market and shadow value of output from the two principal agricultural sectors of the area: dairying and sheep farming. The GIS is then used to produce readily interpretable maps of these values across the study area. The resulting maps are highly compatible both with value maps of alternative land uses given in the recent literature and with approaches to policy formulation currently under development by a range of UK agencies. Such maps may be used to assist estimation of the extent and location of farming response to land use policy change.     

Tourism: The Use of Production Management Techniques

Manufacturing industry has over many decades achieved enormous improvements in productivity and the quality of goods through applying a wide range of techniques. Many of these techniques can find appropraite uses in a service industry like tourism and bring about the same beneficial effects as in manufacturing. Theresultsofa questionnaire survey to establish whether a selection of these techniques are used by hotels, travel agents and tour operators are presented. The findings indicate that the techniques listed are not generally in use, apparently mainly because of lack of knowledge.     

The value of intellectual property rights to firms and society

Economists view intellectual property rights (IPRs) as policytools for encouraging innovation, but they recognize that theycan also inhibit competition. There are many types of IPRs andinstitutions concerned with their administration. We begin byoutlining how these complex and varied rights are supposed towork and how they interact with other characteristics of firmsand markets. We then survey the available literature on patents,trade marks, and copyright to assess the value of these IPRsto firms and the costs to firms of acquiring and defending theirrights. The paper concludes with suggestions for topics requiringfurther research to inform public policy better.     

Employee involvement climate and organizational effectiveness

This study empirically examines the relationship between the perceived employee involvement (EI) climate and organizational effectiveness. Using a sample of insurance companies, results indicate that organizations with high levels of perceived EI climate lead to organizational effectiveness as measured through financial performance, turnover rate, and workforce morale. Implications of the results for research and practice are discussed. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Retail change: effects on employees' job demands and home life

Causes and effects of occupational stress have received research attention for several decades, with increasing focus during the 1990s as organizations and individual workers attempt to adapt to economic change. Stress arising from either the work or home domain can have a variety of outcomes in the workplace, and similarly can impact in many ways on relationships and activities at home. This paper reports the first phase of a research study to identify the impact on work and home life of changes in retailing, a sector of the economy which has experienced significant change over the past few years. A qualitative methodology was adopted, using group discussions to allow staff to identify the specific changes in retailing most important for themselves, and then to explore how these changes related to satisfactions and dissatisfactions at work, and their impact on general aspects of home life. The results suggest that the 'spillover' relationship between work and home stress seems to be the most useful in describing the impact of change. This suggests that additional role demands at work brought about by change have an impact on relationships and social life outside work. However, some individuals described instances of 'compensation' between work and home, and independence between the two domains. This suggests that the issue of stress in the home/work interface is complex, and that the demands in each domain may be positively or negatively related depending on characteristics of the demands themselves, or may vary according to individual characteristics of the people in the study.     

Interaktion mit Online-Communities — Spielregeln zur Stärkung der Marke

Zusammenfassung  Innerhalb kürzester Zeit hat sich im Internet eine gro?e Bandbreite von Online-Communities entwickelt, als fester Bestandteil der Beziehungswelt vieler Kunden. Unternehmen k?nnen für die Markenführung der Zukunft das Thema Online-Communities nicht mehr ausklammern, finden sich aber h?ufig im Internetdschungel (noch) nicht zurecht. Um Bewertungsportale, Blogs, Social Networking Sites, Virtual Worlds etc. im Sinne der Marke verstehen und nutzen zu k?nnen müsse Markenmanager eine Reihe von Spielregeln erlernen und beachten. Dr. Claudia Fisher-Buttinger Markenberaterin und Gründerin der Lemontree Brand Strategy mit Sitz in München. Dr. Christine Vallaster Dozentin an der Hochschule Liechtenstein in Vaduz am Institut für Entrepreneurship.     

Bid-Ask Spreads,Information Asymmetry,and Abnormal Investor Sentiment: Evidence from Closed-End Funds

Using a sample of closed-end equity funds listed on the NYSE from 1994 to 1999, we investigate differences in spreads and adverse selection costs between the closed-end funds and a matched sample of common stocks. We find that spreads and adverse selection costs for the closed-end funds are significantly lower than those of control stocks. The results are consistent for the subperiods both before and after the minimum tick size change on NYSE on June 24, 1997. The differences of spreads and adverse selection costs cannot be attributed to the differences in the characteristics of the closed-end funds and the matched sample of common stocks. Lastly, we find that abnormal investor sentiment and adverse selection costs of closed-end funds are positively correlated over time.     

保险业要么锁定客户，要么收购

贝恩公司调查发现,仅有1／10的保险公司成功地实现连年持续地创造价值。许多公司最终表现欠佳的主要原因在于,他们严重误判自己提供客户所需产品／服务的能力。当高级主管被问及是否认为本公司提供最佳客户体验时,77％的高管自认为是,但仅有6％的客户认同。那么,究竟什么才是保险业实现最佳股东回报的关键呢?