Pharmaceutical Policy in the UK

For many years drug price regulation posed few public management problems. However, the overall NHS drugs budget has been increasing by almost 9% per annum over the past decade. Governments in the 1990s tried to control this growth by introducing new pharmaceutical policy instruments. This has led to an element of instability in the regulation of the pharmaceutical industry, which is affecting NHS financial programming, as well as R&D investment decisions by companies. This article recommends the creation of an office for drug regulation (an 'OFDRUG') to reintroduce stability into pharmaceutical policy.     

Factors Affecting Lodging Career Success: An Analysis of Management Philosophies

This research investigates the impact of lodging professionals' management philosophy practices on career success. The study assesses the practice of management philosophies and examines if these practices differ among respondent groups, as well as explores the influence of practiced philosophies on career success. Findings indicate that differences exist among respondents based on age, property affiliations, and position. Moreover, executives who instill in employees customer-centeredness and engage in open sharing of information with employees experience relatively high monetary success. However, results suggest that lodging professionals' practices of these management philosophies are not rewarded until reaching senior status.     

Seeing a new side to seasides: culturally regenerating the English seaside town

The ‘buzzword’ for the 1990s was undoubtedly the concept of sustainability in all its various manifestations, not least in the field of tourism development. Its successor for the 2000s looks set to become the phenomenon of cultural regeneration, which is already dominating the urban landscape of much of western Europe. However, the extent to which regeneration through cultural development and the revival of tourism can become the new panacea for declining resorts is open to debate. This issue will be discussed in more depth in the context of English seaside towns, focusing in particular on a case study of Southend‐on‐Sea. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley &Sons, Ltd.     

‘Jesus,take the wheel’: the appeal of spiritual products in satiating concerns about randomness

ABSTRACT

Why are consumers drawn to spiritual products? Leveraging theorising regarding the psychological need to perceive the world as orderly and non-random, we posit that products imbued with religious/spiritual significance help manage concerns about randomness and uncontrollability (e.g. when a product is unreliable or exposes the consumer to random uncontrollable processes). When randomness concerns were salient, religious consumers showed increased desire to attach religious significance to secular objects (e.g. having item blessed, physically attaching a religious symbol). For spiritual consumers, spiritual products (vs. non-spiritual physically equivalent products) were seen as having (i) non-material efficacy (i.e. efficacy not bound to the purely material world) and (ii) unfalsifiable efficacy (i.e. efficacy that is immune to contrary evidence). Evidence is found across a variety of religious and spiritual contexts.     

The Ethics of the Complete Management Buyout Cycle: A Multi-Perspective Analysis

Management buyouts occur when incumbent managers (typically in association with third party investors) purchase all of a firm's outstanding stock and remove it from public trading. Prior ethical analyses of such activities have ignored the fact that large numbers of such buyouts return to public trading. The ethical implications of management buyout activity can be more fully understood if the entire buyout process is considered, beginning with the time the firm is taken private until it is returned to public trading. Using a widely employed strategic management ethical framework developed by Hosmer (1994), this paper examines the ethics of the complete buyout cycle.     

Talent and publicity as determinants of superstar incomes: empirical evidence from the motion picture industry

By drawing on the two prevailing economic stardom theories, the paper investigates the sources of superstardom in the US movie industry. For the econometric analysis, we use income and popularity data of screen actresses and actors from the annual Celebrity 100 lists as published by Forbes Magazine. The empirical findings indicate that Hollywood, in contrast to other professional settings, supports two different types of stars. While ‘talent stars’ exploit acting merit, it is media exposure that drives the income of ‘publicity stars’. Apparently, in the motion picture industry both underlying resources are equally important and equally valued. Based on these insights we develop concrete recommendations for the career management of artists and the management of film projects.