Pipeline management for the acquisition of industrial projects

The management and controlling of the industrial project acquisition process, with its staged, funnel-like structure, has been neglected in empirical research so far—even though an effective acquisition process is crucial for economic success. In addition to profitability, the main goal of industrial companies is to implement a pipeline process that ensures that the pipeline is always filled with acquisition projects and results in a constant stream of orders over time. The projects considered are characterized by complexity, uniqueness, and discontinuity. Based on a large-scale survey among German industrial companies, we describe the industrial project acquisition process, where the projects mentioned above are sold on a non-continuous basis to industrial customers. We assess how the industrial project acquisition process is really structured, whether a sales funnel management is applicable and utilized by sales management to monitor and control this process, and whether a sophisticated sales funnel management contributes to enhanced economic success.     

The health care employee with an "attitude"

Health care managers may encounter employees who seem to have an "attitude." The employee may have a pattern of ingrained, inflexible, maladaptive responses to anxiety indicative of a personality disorder. When the employee has a pervasive sense of self-importance, is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, and requires excessive admiration, a narcissistic personality disorder or traits may be present. Although this individual can cause havoc in the workplace, an alert manager who uses specific management techniques can enable the narcissistic employee to be productive and to be an asset in the work setting. This article provides a look at the etiology, symptoms, and management of the narcissistic employee. When the employee is willing to be assisted, the behavior can be modified and the necessary level of adaptation can occur. This can result in a more productive, less chaotic workplace.     

Bargaining with the Devil

ABSTRACT . “Bargaining with the Devil: Commentary on the Ostroms’‘Quest for Meaning in Public Choice’” provides a commentary on Elinor Ostrom and Vincent Ostrom's paper, “The Quest for Meaning in Public Choice.” This discussion focuses on the challenging tension that exists between social scientific knowledge and social practices. It suggests that historical agents may have solved the dilemma of cooperation prior to rational choice theorists’ invention of the public goods problem.     

Market domain and structure in regional manufacturing instability

A decomposition of regional sectoral manufacturing employment variances is used as a basis for allocating instability to the markets in which the instability originates, including national, regional and internal. The effects of such attributes of industry structure as market power and economies of scale upon manufacturing sector instability is also investigated. Using data for Arizona over the years 1965–1985, 43% of Arizona's manufacturing instability is attributable to instability in national markets. The hypothesis that Arizona's instability can be attributed to market power differentials is rejected, but the effect of scale economy differentials is supported.     

Biden’s Security Policy: Democratic Security or Democratic Exceptionalism?

Intereconomics - By emphasising the internal-external security nexus inherent in democratic security, the US could aspire again to lead through the example of its democracy’s resilience and...