The meta-crisis of secular capitalism

The current global economic crisis concerns the way in which contemporary capitalism has turned to financialisation as a double cure for both a falling rate of profit and a deficiency of demand. Although this turning is by no means unprecedented, policies of financialisation have depressed demand (in part as a result of the long-term stagnation of average wages) while at the same time not proving adequate to restore profits and growth. This paper argues that the current crisis is less the ‘normal’ one that has to do with a constitutive need to balance growth of abstract wealth with demand for concrete commodities. Rather, it marks a meta-crisis of capitalism that is to do with the difficulties of sustaining abstract growth as such. This meta-crisis is the tendency at once to abstract from the real economy of productive activities and to reduce everything to its bare materiality. By contrast with a market economy that binds material value to symbolic meaning, a capitalist economy tends to separate matter from symbol and reduce materiality to calculable numbers representing ‘wealth’. Such a conception of wealth rests on the aggregation of abstract numbers that cuts out all the relational goods and the ‘commons’ on which shared prosperity depends.     

The Multilevel Approach to Repeated Measures for Complete and Incomplete Data

Repeated measurements often are analyzed by multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). An alternative approach is provided by multilevel analysis, also called the hierarchical linear model (HLM), which makes use of random coefficient models. This paper is a tutorial which indicates that the HLM can be specified in many different ways, corresponding to different sets of assumptions about the covariance matrix of the repeated measurements. The possible assumptions range from the very restrictive compound symmetry model to the unrestricted multivariate model. Thus, the HLM can be used to steer a useful middle road between the two traditional methods for analyzing repeated measurements. Another important advantage of the multilevel approach to analyzing repeated measures is the fact that it can be easily used also if the data are incomplete. Thus it provides a way to achieve a fully multivariate analysis of repeated measures with incomplete data. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Demand-side inertia factors and their benefits for innovativeness

Inertia reflects a firm’s inability to change or innovate and may be fostered by many sources. Though researchers have focused on internal inertia factors, we examine inertia factors within a firm’s customer base: switching costs, customer preference stability, and network externalities. New products at 279 firms are examined to assess the role of these demand-side inertia factors in determining innovativeness and, ultimately, financial performance. The inertia factors are hypothesized to have differential innovativeness effects for early and late entrants. Overall, demand-side factors affect innovativeness positively, contrasting with firm-based factors (e.g., routines or assets), which typically inhibit innovativeness. Consumer preference stability is the only factor negatively related to innovativeness, though only for early entrants. Network externalities and switching costs increase innovativeness (particularly for early entrants). Demand-side inertia factors are critical determinants of innovativeness and may now be placed within the previously internally focused set of factors engendering early mover advantage.     

Creatine and entrepreneurship

Creatine is a nitrogenous organic acid which supplies energy to body cells and enhances physical performance. Using the Young Finns Study combined with the Finnish Linked employer-employee data we show that quantities of creatine measured in 1980 prior to labour market entry affect entrepreneurial success as measured by capital income accumulation over the period 1993–2010 (in particular for females). However, we do not find evidence that creatine affects the propensity to become an entrepreneur. Our study contributes to the emerging literature on biomarkers and entrepreneurship.     

Designer stories: a commentary on the community of design practice

This research explores the design practice of three prominent New Zealand designers. It seeks to identify the key elements and methodologies they employ and to answer the research question: How do designers design? The need to gain understanding on how designers work, gave me occasion to visit and speak with designers about their approach to design. To look inside a designer’s practice has left me with an overriding impression that these designers know and trust their own way of working, they do not map their thoughts onto a pre-existing process; rather, each new work dictates its own direction. Their understanding has come about through a wealth of design experiences, a way of seeing, and perceptive reflection-in-action.     

The industrial brand personality scale: Building strong business-to-business brands

To remain distinct and build strong business relationships in a competitive business-to-business (B2B) environment, an increasing number of industrial marketers attempt to exploit the potential of branding. However, brand management in the industrial sector is still at its starting point. For this reason, the authors introduce the concept of brand personality to industrial markets. Based on a series of qualitative and quantitative studies, the authors develop and validate an Industrial Brand Personality Scale. Furthermore, they examine whether brand personality perception differences exist among different types of industrial transactions and among different members in the buying center. The analysis yields a framework for theoretical discussion and provides B2B managers with a tool to build strong B2B brands in an increasingly competitive industrial market.