Determinants of Ethical Behavior: A Study of Autosalespeople

This study proposes a model that explains the ethical behavior of automobile salespeople in terms of their ethical perception, legal perception, method of compensation (commission-based or salary-based), age, and education. The model is estimated by using five scenarios that involve ethical issues commonly found in the automobile industry and responses from 184 automobile salespeople in a mid-Atlantic metropolitan area. The findings suggest that ethical perception is the most important determinant of ethical behavior. Also, method of compensation is a major determinant in four of five scenarios, and legal perception in two out of five scenarios. However, age and education are not significantly related to ethical behavior. A discussion of the results, limitations, and implications is presented for managers.     

Solutions for customer complaints about offshoring and outsourcing services

In order to provide the highest quality services at lower costs, global firms have shifted their customer service functions offshore. Despite the apparent advantages of offshoring services, customers tend to object to the practice based on concerns about private/personal information being sent overseas. Additionally, executing service exchanges with overseas providers can be challenging because of perceived communication difficulties and cultural differences. The purpose of this article is to offer managers of firms that offshore services a clearer understanding of consumer concerns and provide guidance for alleviating these concerns. Specifically, suggestions are proffered regarding how to (1) minimize communication and cultural misunderstandings between customers and service providers, (2) assure customers that personal/private information is secure, and (3) restructure service activities to alleviate customer dissatisfaction. Unless such customer concerns are successfully identified and addressed, companies may not benefit from pursuing a services offshoring strategy.     

TAX POLICIES TO INCREASE FARM PRICES AND INCOME: A QUANTITATIVE SIMULATION

In previous periods when agricultural production was large relative to demand in North America, supply control through limitations in production and markets has been used. Large cropfalls and mammoth international purchases by the USSR during the early 1970s depleted North American grain stocks and caused major supply control programs to vanish. With more favorable worldwide weather, however, grain production and carryover have increased to levels where farmers may demand supply and market controls to improve prices and income. In contrast to conventional models, we make a quantitative analysis for the United States to three tax policies which might be used to restrain production and improve prices and farm income. All tax alternatives do so if the taxes collected by the government are returned to farmers. The tax alternatives examined include a tax on inputs, a gross sales tax, and a tax-in-kind similar to a share rent. The tax policies are applied through an econometric simulation model. Certain limitations of the tax policies are explained. Aux époques antérieures, lorsque la production agricole était grande compareée à la demande dans l'Amérique du Nord, on a contrôlé les stocks de réserve par moyen de limitations de production et de vente. Les récoltes inférieures et les énormes achats par l'URSS pendant la premiére partie des années 70 ont diminué les réserves des céréales de l'Amérique du Nord, ce qui a rendu superflus les programmes majeurs de contrôle. Toutefois, un climat global favorable a augmenté la production et l'accumulation jusqu'au point oú les agriculteurs peuvent considérer nécessaires des contrôles sur la production et la vente afin d'améliorer les prix et leurs revenus. Faisant contraste avec les modéles conventionnels, nous présentons une analyse quantitative pour les Etats-Unis de trois systémes d'impôts qui pourraient etre appliqués pour diminuer la production et pour améliorer les prix et les revenus agricoles. Tous les trois systémes sont effectifs à ce but, pourvu que les impôts perçus par le gouvernement soient rendus aux producteurs. Les alternatifs examinés comprennent un impôt sur les frais de production, un impôt en gros sur les ventes et un systéme d'impôts payables par une quantité des céréales produites, semblable au métayage. Les systémes sont appliqués par moyen d'un modéle de simulation économétrique. Certaines limitations des systémes sont presentées.     

Do disclosure attempts influence claim believability and perceived advertiser credibility?

Comparative messages, two-sided messages, and messages containing product performance test results represent several methods by which advertisers may attempt to provide greater amounts of information to buyers. The use of one or more of these methods may have positive or negative influence on several dimensions of advertisement effectiveness. The purpose of the factorial-designed laboratory study reported here was to explore the effects on these information disclosure attempts in print advertisements on a reader's confidence in product claims and on his or her perceived credibility of the advertiser.     

The purchase of components: Functional areas of influence

The Webster and Wind model of organizational buyer behavior enjoys considerable popularity. However, not all of its constructs and relationships among constructs have been validated by empirical research. The purpose of this study was to provide empirical evidence concerning the relationships between three of the model's critical constructs: buying center membership, purchase situation, and purchase phase. The relationships studied were variations in the perceived relative influence of different functional areas (e.g., production, marketing, purchasing, etc.) across three purchase situations and four purchase phases. The results of the study clearly indicate that the functional areas are generally perceived to have varying amounts of influence across both the purchase situation and purchase phase. These results have specific implications for developing effective industrial marketing strategies.     

The Intervention Principle

This paper investigates efficient policy interventions in market economies, establishing a general policy intervention result and explaining why more general results are not possible. The paper shows the applicability of the methodology to a number of new results in the theory of international trade, including policy intervention in the presence of increasing returns to scale. The analytical tools are not based on calculus, but set theory, agent optimization, and market clearing. They apply to discrete comparisons as well as for small changes.     

RESOURCE PRODUCTIVITY,RETURNS TO SCALE AND FARM SIZE IN INDIAN AGRICULTURE: SOME RECENT EVIDENCE*

A perceptible technological transformation has been under way in India during the last few years. The output of total foodgrains increased sharply between 1967-68 and 1970-71 over previous years. There is enough evidence to show that the technological change has resulted in an upward shift in production functions for major crops, especially for wheat.     

The Link between Domestic Investment and Domestic Savings in Open Economies: Evidence from Balanced Stochastic Growth

What relationship between domestic and foreign variables could explain the observed high correlation between domestic savings and investment in OECD countries with perfect capital mobility? Is such an explanation empirically supportable? This paper constructs a stochastic continuous-time optimizing model of a small open country. It finds the formula for the implied theoretical correlation between domestic savings and investment—of interest in its own right—and calibrates the model using regression coefficients and stock market data from the US and Canada. The model accounts quite well for the observed investment-savings correlation, even in the presence of perfect capital mobility.     

Patent replacement and welfare gains

Patents were chosen in an era when modern public finance tools were unavailable. The same innovation outcomes can be achieved with higher welfare, if patent elements are replaced by modern features. This paper constructs two theoretical models of product innovation and simulates the welfare effects of replacing patents with an intertemporal-bounty arrangement. We find that replacing patents with this alternative has the potential to increase welfare in the United States through reform of pharmaceutical patents by $43.9-$194 billion when measured in present value terms (this is 0.3-1.3% of annual GDP) based on simulations involving four selected drug sectors. The potential to increase welfare would be higher if applied to the larger sector of drugs as a whole. In principal, patents could be replaced in other sectors as well.