Registration of longitudinal data by means of musical notation: some applications

Graphic representation of complicated courses is often necessary to detect patterns that may be worth analysing. Examples are given to show how musical notation or modifications of musical notation may be used to register courses (or cross-sectional data) with more variables than usual. One can register courses with known duration of components (and then also simultaneities); the time scale may be defined according to data. One can also register sequences without known duration of components. Finally the method can be modified so as to suit cross-sectional data. The method can be used to register a single case but also a group of cases that are thus rendered comparable. It is a method of registration, not of analysis but one that may help prepare a refined analysis.     

A short history of algebraic statistics

In algebraic statistics, computational techniques from algebraic geometry become tools to address statistical problems. This, in turn, may prompt research in algebraic geometry. The basic ideas at the core of algebraic statistics will be presented. In particular, we shall consider application to contingency tables and to design of experiments.     

Competitive strategy and skills: working out the fit in the fitness industry

It is widely accepted that creating quality products and services requires a well‐trained and skilled workforce. This article seeks to contribute to unpicking the relationship between business strategy and skills in the service sector by presenting research findings from the UK fitness industry. This sector has grown quickly and includes companies that compete on the basis of high‐quality services, alongside those competing largely on cost. If the route to a high‐skills economy is to shift more firms towards the higher‐quality end of the market, we would expect to find employers in these companies making use of a workforce with higher levels of skill. The research from the fitness industry questions this simple relationship, finding that there is no clear link between competitive strategy and skills. As market position is not necessarily the impetus for improving the skills of the workforce, the article then briefly explores what other factors may also be required.     

Evaluation of drought management in irrigated areas

This paper focuses on the economic consequences of droughts for the irrigation sector. We develop a dynamic‐recursive mathematical programming farm model that assumes imperfect mobility of capital and labour as well as rational expectations about future water availability. The model is calibrated to 12 representative farms belonging to three irrigation communities of the Guadalquivir Basin (south Spain) and used to simulate the 1991–1997 period, which included 3 years of intense drought. Results indicate that the drought imposed significant costs on farmers, but show also that water managers partly exacerbated these costs by allocating excessive amounts of water to irrigators in the abundant years. The model is also used to evaluate the benefits of a perfect water supply forecast and to simulate the economic gains of a voluntary water banking scheme. Results show that the benefits resulting from the perfect forecast of water supply 1 year ahead would represent a relative gain of 5%. However, a voluntary banking system would allow farmers to increase their benefits by 32–82% depending on the supply system.     

Conditional beta pricing models: A nonparametric approach

We propose a two-stage procedure to estimate conditional beta pricing models that allows for flexibility in the dynamics of asset betas and market prices of risk (MPR). First, conditional betas are estimated nonparametrically for each asset and period using the time-series of previous data. Then, time-varying MPR are estimated from the cross-section of returns and betas. We prove the consistency and asymptotic normality of the estimators. We also perform Monte Carlo simulations for the conditional version of the three-factor model of Fama and French (1993) and show that nonparametrically estimated betas outperform rolling betas under different specifications of beta dynamics. Using return data on the 25 size and book-to-market sorted portfolios, we find that the nonparametric procedure produces a better fit of the three-factor model to the data, less biased estimates of MPR and lower pricing errors than the Fama–MacBeth procedure with betas estimated under several alternative parametric specifications.     

Managing the environmental adaptation process in supplier–customer relationships

This paper details the results and managerial implications from four case studies, which examine how the environmental adaptation process (EAP) is managed within business‐to‐business relationships. The research uses models of supplier–customer interaction and inter‐organization cooperation in order to explore inter‐firm relationships and the process of adaptation. The research findings show that either party might pursue adaptations and also establishes features of the process itself as well as identifying factors that can facilitate or hinder the introduction of environmental changes. Arriving at a satisfactory outcome to the adaptation process can be determined by individual company and relationship characteristics, as well as the behaviour and experience of those managers involved in the process. Guidelines for the management of the process of environmental adaptation are proposed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Tactical Redistribution Between Regions When Parties and Voters Care About Ideology

In this paper, redistributive transfers between regions are examined in a political economy model where both parties and voters are led by selfish as well as ideological motives, the latter taking the form of egalitarian objectives. Parties announce election platforms about how to distribute funds between regions and different income types, and voters react to these platforms when casting their vote. It is found that regional transfers are completely tactical; it is the political power of a region that decides if it will be a receiver or a contributor. Ideological goals are reached by redistributive transfers between different income types.