GM-free private standards and their effects on biosafety decision-making in developing countries

We provide a comprehensive review of international cases where GM-free private standards set up by food companies in developed countries have influenced biosafety policymaking in developing countries. We find 29 cases where private importers have directly or indirectly affected policy decisions in 21 countries. Most of the cases relate irrational fear of export losses to excessively precautionary decisions. These cases are based on two generally misleading premises: the belief that Europe or Japan represents the only market for exports, and the perception that non-GM segregation is infeasible or prohibitively costly in all situations. Our study also demonstrates the importance of information asymmetries across countries and agents and the role of risk aversion in seemingly irrational decision-making. The combination of these four factors helps us explain why presumed but unproven expected commercial losses still represents a significant impediment to biosafety policymaking in developing countries.     

Testing interaction effects of the dimensions of market orientation on marketing program creativity

Despite the plethora of research on market orientation, our understanding of how different dimensions of market orientation interact with each other in generating new intelligence for marketing programs is limited. In this paper, we develop and test a model that examines the interaction effects of the three dimensions of market orientation—customer orientation, competitor orientation, and cross-functional integration—on generation of marketing program creativity, composed of novelty and meaningfulness dimensions. In empirically testing such effects, we illustrate how to use two-stage least squares (2SLS) estimation. We find significant positive interaction effects between customer orientation and competitor orientation and between competitor orientation and cross-functional integration in predicting marketing program novelty. We also find that competitor orientation and cross-functional integration significantly and positively interact with each other in improving marketing program meaningfulness. Our empirical results provide implications and directions for market orientation research.     

A comparison between PPSWR and chaudhuri’s IPPS procedures

Chaudhuri (1975) suggested a simple procedure for extending any IPPS procedure involving two draws to an IPPS procedure for a general sample size, provided the size measures satisfy a certain condition. It is proved that the variance of the HTE based on Chaudhuri’s procedure is smaller than the variance of the usual unbiased estimator based on a PPSWR sample in the same number of draws, if the same is true for the procedure to start with.     

Production frontier estimation to measure efficiency: A critical evaluation in light of data envelopment analysis

The ranking and measurement of efficiency of decision-making units by two methods—data envelopment analysis and frontier production function—may not always lead to identical results. In this framework we attempt here a critical evaluation of the frontier production function theory in terms of theoretical and empirical implications. It is shown that under certain conditions the two approaches to effciency measurement may lead to identical results.     

Jack-knifing the ratio and the product estimators in double sampling

Summary Almost unbiased ratio and product type estimators have been obtained with the help of the Jack-Knifing technique for simple random sampling in two phases. The mean square errors of the resulting estimators have been compared with those of the corresponding usual (biased) estimators and it has been found that they are approximately same. This study generalizes similar single sampling results ofDurbin [1959],Shukla [1976] and others.     

The measurement of productive efficiency: A robust minimax approach

Some applied aspects of robustness are formulated and empirically tested so as to generalize the Farrell efficiency measure for the frontier production function. A minimax method is used to develop a Chebyshev efficiency measure along with a stochastic production frontier. The relative insensitivity of such a measure in respect of sample size variations and outliers are illustrated by an empirical application to educational production functions.     

A Property of the Core

For any transferable utility game in coalitional form with nonempty core we show that, given any allocation outside the core, there is an allocation in the core that indirectly dominates it.Journal of Economic LiteratureClassification Number: C71.     

托盘码垛包装设备自动化技术的发展和应用

托盘码垛包装生产线技术发展的现状和创新。自动化是托盘码垛包装技术的发展趋势。我国托盘码垛自动包装生产线的应用。我国包装机械装备行业的责任。     

Some antecedents of exclusivity in bilateral interorganizational relationships

In bilateral interorganizational relationships, individual firm's self-interest is subordinate to the larger interest of the collective system. Bilateral governance is facilitated by exclusivity under certain conditions. Exclusive relationships draw partners closer and improve coordination. However, exclusivity leads to a loss of flexibility in dealing with turbulent environments. We test relationships between exclusivity and antecedent variables from transaction-cost analysis, resource-dependence theory, and organization theory. We find that while relationship-specific investment calls for more exclusivity, interdependence and rapid technological change call for less. Further, in the computer and semiconductor industry, exclusivity is negatively related to perceived effectiveness. Hence exclusivity should be used judiciously in the management of bilateral interrorganizational relationships.     

Wind of change brought by COVID-19: Exploring the response and the new normal from the perspectives of Indian flexpatriates

Drawing from the positive organizational change theory, this paper aims to explore how Indian flexpatriates responded to the change brought by the pandemic of COVID-19 and what is the new normal according to them. Thematic analysis of 19 in-depth interviews with flexpatriates from the IT industry revealed four explicit phases of change process – reflection, communication, collaboration, and transformation. Further, the analysis brought out four tenets of the new normal. First, it is time to blend physical and virtual work; second, the “personal” touch of Indians in international assignments is irreplaceable; third, working from home amidst the entire household being housebound is the new normal; and last, international travel will resume soon with some changed protocols. This is the first qualitative study combining the issue of global talent management with Indian flexpatriates vis-à-vis the impact of COVID-19, the findings of which expand the positive organizational change theory and have important implications.