Business ethics today: A survey

This essay surveys the state of business ethics in North America. It describes the distinctive features of business ethics as an academic sub-discipline and as a pedagogical topic, and compares and contrasts three rival models of business ethics current among philosophers. William H. Shaw is professor of philosophy and chair of the philosophy department at San Jose State University. Among other writings, he is the author of Business Ethics (Wadsworth 1991) and, with Vincent Barry, of Moral Issues in Business, 6th ed. (Wadsworth 1995).     

The impact of social norms on entrepreneurial action: Evidence from the environmental entrepreneurship context

Using insights from institutional theory, sociology, and entrepreneurship we develop and test a model of the relationship between centralized and decentralized institutions on entrepreneurial activity. We suggest that both decentralized institutions that are socially determined as well as centralized institutions that are designed by governmental authorities are important in promoting firm foundings in the environmental context. In a sample of the U.S. solar energy sector we find that state-sponsored incentives, environmental consumption norms, and norms of family interdependence are related to new firm entry in this sector. Our findings also suggest that the efficacy of state-level policies in the sponsoring of entrepreneurial growth is dependent upon the social norms that prevail in the entrepreneur's environment. We expand entrepreneurship theory and the study of institutions and the natural environment by demonstrating the integral role that social norms play in influencing the creation of new firms and by illustrating the potential effect social norms have on the effect of policy that seeks to encourage environmentally responsible economic activity.     

Adoption of Biotechnology in Thailand and the Threat of Intellectual Property Piracy

The King, upon a representation from His Subjects in the West Indies, that the introduction of the Bread Fruit Tree among them would be a Universal good to constitute an article of food…
I was therefore directed to sail forthwith … for the Society Islands …
And there … to procure of the Natives as many Plants as I could stow on board Ship.
… I was to proceed … to St Vincent, one of the Windward Islands, and depositing One Half of my Plants there, I was to go immediately to Jamaica.
William Bligh
Captain of HMS Bounty, 1789     

The Economics of Anaerobic Digester Operation on a Minnesota Dairy Farm

Anaerobic digesters for livestock operations are receiving attention for energy production and odor control. A farm-based digester went into operation in September 1999, on an 800-cow dairy farm in Minnesota. The goals of this paper are to analyze the contribution that a digester system can make to dairy farm profitability, and to demonstrate the impact of government and utility subsidies on profitability. Results indicate that the current selling price of electricity is not sufficient to justify building an anaerobic digester in most cases unless there is a subsidy or significant nonenergy market benefits.     

The erosion of the liberal economic order

Atlantic Economic Journal -     

Technical efficiency and ownership characteristics of manufacturing firms in a developing country: A Brazilian case study

Zusammenfassung Technische Leistungsf?higkeit und Eigentumsmerkmale von gewerblichen Unternehmen in einem Entwicklungsland: Eine brasilianische Fallstudie. — In diesem Aufsatz wird versucht, zwei Dinge zu tun: (1) eine qualitative Beurteilung der Leistungen verschiedener Gruppen von Unternehmungen vorzunehmen, die nach den Eigentumsverh?ltnissen klassifiziert wurden, und (2) Analysen und Sch?tzungen auf der Basis von Produktionsfunktionen durchzuführen, um die relativen Unterschiede zwischen ausl?ndischen, einheimischen und Staatsunternehmungen in bezug auf Leistungsf?higkeit und Skalenertr?ge zu ermitteln. Es wurde festgestellt, daβ für unterschiedliche Eigentumsklassen unterschiedliche Produktionsfunktionen gelten. Es werden Belege dafür vorgelegt, daβ Firmen in ausl?ndischem Eigentum gr?βere Skalenertr?ge erzielen und gr?βere Substitutionselastizit?ten besitzen als Industrieunternehmen, die im Eigentum von Inl?ndern stehen.

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Résumé L’efficience technique et les caractéristiques propriétaires des entreprises manufacturières dans un pays en voie de développement: Une étude de cas Brésilien. — Cet article essaie de faire deux choses: (1) d’entreprendre quelques jugements qualitatives sur la performance économique des groupes différents des entreprises comme classifiées par la propriété et (2) d’employer une analyse de la fonction de production et une estimation pour déterminer la différence relative d’entreprises possédées par des étrangers, le gouvernement et les privés locaux concernant l’efficience technique et les économies d’échelle. Nous avons trouvé qu’il y a des fonctions de production existantes pour des classes différentes et nous présentons quelque évidence que les entreprises possédées par les étrangers ont des rendements d’échelle plus grands et des élasticités de substitution plus grandes que les entreprises manufacturières locales.

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Resumen Eficiencia técnica y características de la propiedad de empresas manufactureras en un país en desarrollo: un estudio de caso del Brasil. — Este artículo représenta un intento para hacer dos cosas: (1) emitir juicios cualitativos sobre el desempe?o económico de diferentes grupos de empresas clasificadas según su propiedad y (2) emplear el análisis y la estimación de funciones de produción para determinar la diferencia relativa de firmas de propiedad extranjera, estatal y doméstica privada con respecto a su eficiencia técnica y economías de escala. Se encontró que existen diferentes funciones de producción para las distintas clases de propiedad. Se presenta alguna evidencia que firmas de propiedad extranjera poseen retornos de escala más grandes y elasticidades de sustitución mayores que empresas manufactureras de propiedad doméstica.