The Effects of Multi-unionism: a Survey of Large Manufacturing Establishments

Multi-unionism is a distinctive feature of British industrial relations, which is often criticized for reducing the effectiveness of trade unions and also for reducing the efficiency of British business. It is commonly argued that multi-unionism increases strikes, leads to inefficient working practices and complicates the conduct of collective bargaining, although evidence to support this is sparse. This article investigates the process by which multi-unionism reduces business efficiency by a random sample survey of large manufacturing establishments in the North-West of England. Semi-structured interviews with the manager responsible for dealing with trade unions were held in those establishments that were multi-union. It was found that the typical pattern of multi-unionism is for each union to represent distinct groups of workers, rather than competing to represent the same group of workers, and this restricted union competition for members. Even in the minority of establishments that did experience union competition for members, the nature of this competition meant that multi-unionism did not reduce competitiveness. Nor did multi-unionism prevent most employers from introducing efficient working practices. The main implications of multi-unionism are for the conduct of collective bargaining, but any view that this necessarily reduces a firm's efficiency is far too simplistic.     

WHY DO RATES OF β‐CONVERGENCE DIFFER? A META‐REGRESSION ANALYSIS

The roles played by differences in study design and methodology in influencing the estimates of β‐convergence have been hinted at in narrative reviews of the empirical convergence literature. While such reviews are useful, they only provide informal evidence as to the reasons for the study‐to‐study variation in reported convergence rates. In contrast, meta‐regression analysis is a way of formally measuring the roles played by study design and methodology in influencing β‐convergence. In cross‐national studies, convergence rates are found to be higher when panel estimation methods are used, and when human capital development, investment rates and spatial factors are controlled for. The longer the time span covered by the estimation, the lower the rates. In intra‐national studies, β‐convergence is higher when the investment rate is included as a conditioning variable and when GMM estimation methods are used. Rates are found to be lower in studies of developing countries.     

Managerial efficiency and human capital: an application to English association football

The problem of hidden action in organizations makes direct measurement of managerial performance problematic. But in English association football hidden action is unlikely to be as serious a problem because the owner observes the manager's performance each time the team plays. In this situation production frontier analysis may be used to measure managerial performance and analyze the variation in performance across managers in terms of manager human capital. Having some kind of prior affiliation with the club and achieving international recognition as a player are especially important. Overall, initial experience matters more than specific and general managerial experience. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Undergraduate students' attitudes towards food shopping and attitudes to time

The objectives of the study are to identify the dimensions underlying two constructs (students' attitudes to food shopping and students' attitudes to time), to use these dimensions to identify student segments and to profile them in terms of the construct dimensions, shopping behaviour and students' characteristics. The study employs a web‐based questionnaire. The useable sample was 744 full‐time undergraduate students at Newcastle University. Results indicated that there are six and seven dimensions underlying attitudes to food shopping and attitudes to time respectively. Three student segments are identified with different attitudes to food shopping, attitudes to time, shopping behaviour and students' characteristics. The implication for marketers is that the student market should not be considered en masse, but that segmentation, targeting and positioning is an appropriate strategy for food retailers to adopt.     

Aesthetic Style as a Postructural Business Ethic

The article begins with a brief history of aesthetic theory. Particular attention is given to the postructuralist ‘aesthetic return’: the resurgence of interest in aesthetics as an ontological foundation for human being-in-the-world. The disordered individual-as-emergent-artist-and-artifact, who is at the centre of this ‘aesthetic return’, is then translated into the ‘dis’-organization that is the firm. The firm is thus defined in terms of its primal sensory impact on the world. It invokes a myriad of aesthetic relations between its disorganized self and others: its essence resides within these relations; its power of being is determined by its ability to project a unified aesthetic ideal – a ‘mirror fantasy’. The firm thus emerges as a style: where style is defined as an organizing – a sculpting – of aesthetic chaos. In order to achieve a grand style, the firm projects itself through time as a unified aesthetic ideal; as an ongoing work of art. The article concludes with a discussion of how this aesthetic theory of the firm relates to other accepted theories of the nature and purpose of business organizations.     

The Patterns and Implications of Increasing Concentration in European Food Retailing

Across the European Union, concentration in food retailing at the national level has been increasing for some time, but increasingly multinational retailers have been extending their international reach. In the process, aggregate concentration has risen sharply over the last few years. In addition, the presence of buyer groups, representing different retail interests, adds to the characterisation of procurement markets as highly concentrated. Also at the aggregate level, cross‐border buyer alliances amongst large retailers have emerged. We consider the implications of these features for the changing patterns of retail competition and the impact on food producers, supplier competition and economic welfare.     

An empirical comparison of the Tucker-Messick and INDSCAL models: Measuring viewpoints about transit attributes

This investigation sought (1) to identify perceptually homogenous respondent groups by two individual differences scaling models initially proposed by Tucker and Messick, and Carroll and Chang, (2) to reveal the significance of group percepts with respect to anticipated satisfactions and socio-economic and activity pattern characteristics of group members, and (3) to test empirically the significance of formal distinctions between the two individual differences models. The study utilized judgments about 12 transit attributes of three innovative urban, public transportation modes from a sample of 243 respondents. It was possible to specify seven perceptually homogenous groups, which were distinct in terms of a qualitative analysis of their perceptual spaces and a quantitative convergent-discriminant validity analysis predicated on the distances between pairs of attributes in their spaces. The perceptual groups were shown to have interpretable links to socio-economic and activity pattern characteristics of the respondents. In addition, it was possible to statistically account for the satisfaction ratings of the respondents by the dimensions of their corresponding spaces. Since the Tucker-Messick model was shown to derive more distinct spaces for the separate groups than the INDSCAL model of Carroll and Chang, the Tucker-Messick spaces more uniquely tied a group's percepts to its corresponding satisfactions.     

The UK Development Aid Programme and the British domestic economy

The effects of development aid programmes on the domestic economy of donors are relatively infrequently examined. This study reviews the impact of the United Kingdom’s Development Aid Programme on the British economy over the period 1975–79 with particular attention to employment creation and multiplier effects both in aggregate and by industrial sector. Some comparisons are made with German experience. Also examined are the types of companies which benefit from aid-financed orders, the implications for the donor’s own assisted regions and potential benefit to normal commercial trade. It is argued that a greater awareness of these effects should create a more favourable climate for the increase in aid levels.     

Product Range and Interfirm Competition

We develop a simple model in which there is both interfirm (or intraproduct) and intrafirm (or interproduct) competition. The purpose is to develop a classificatoy framework in order to understand product-range or diversification decisions alongside conventional competition. The equilibrium outcomes commonly involve a limited range of the available goods being produced. Deterrence equilibria and other strategic actions are also examined.