Information partnerships--shared data, shared scale

How can one company gain access to another's resources or customers without merging ownership, management, or plotting a takeover? The answer is found in new information partnerships, enabling diverse companies to develop strategic coalitions through the sharing of data. The key to cooperation is a quantum improvement in the hardware and software supporting relational databases: new computer speeds, cheaper mass-storage devices, the proliferation of fiber-optic networks, and networking architectures. Information partnerships mean that companies can distribute the technological and financial exposure that comes with huge investments. For the customer's part, partnerships inevitably lead to greater simplification on the desktop and more common standards around which vendors have to compete. The most common types of partnership are: joint marketing partnerships, such as American Airline's award of frequent flyer miles to customers who use Citibank's credit card; intraindustry partnerships, such as the insurance value-added network service (which links insurance and casualty companies to independent agents); customer-supplier partnerships, such as Baxter Healthcare's electronic channel to hospitals for medical and other equipment; and IT vendor-driven partnerships, exemplified by ESAB (a European welding supplies and equipment company), whose expansion strategy was premised on a technology platform offered by an IT vendor. Partnerships that succeed have shared vision at the top, reciprocal skills in information technology, concrete plans for an early success, persistence in the development of usable information for all partners, coordination on business policy, and a new and imaginative business architecture.     

Inflation and Stock Market Returns:Some Australian Evidence*

This paper analyzes the relationship between Australian stock returns and inflation over the period 1965-79. The effects of inflation in a ‘rational investor’ valuation framework are discussed. Empirical tests suggest that nominal stock returns and inflation are related in a significantly negative fashion, implying that stocks have been extremely poor inflationary hedges for the investor over the period. In addition, Granger-Sims tests of causality indicate a mainly unidirectional relationship between inflation and stock returns, with price level charges leading the equity index in time.     

Maximising sustainability of Dutch dairy farming systems for different stakeholders: A modelling approach

A multi-attribute sustainability function is included into a dairy farm LP-model by using Weighted Goal Programming. The created Weighted Linear Goal Programming (WLGP)-model is used to maximise sustainability of different Dutch dairy farming systems and to analyse the impact of: (1) maximisation of individual sustainability aspects (economic, social and ecological sustainability) and (2) maximisation of overall sustainability using stakeholder preferences. Maximising the individual aspects of both dairy farming systems, i.e. conventional and organic, shows the trade-offs between different aspects of sustainability. For conventional as well as organic dairy farming maximum scores are highest for external social sustainability. The conventional dairy farm achieves a slightly higher score for overall sustainability than the organic dairy farm for all stakeholders (i.e. consumers and producers). This shows that it is possible for conventional dairy farms, similar to the conventional farm used in the analysis especially regarding the stocking density and under Dutch policy conditions, to achieve equal sustainability scores in comparison with organic dairy farms. It is concluded that the WLGP model is a suitable tool to analyse the sustainability of different dairy farming systems.     

Liberation wars and tourism development in Africa : The case of Zambia

Development of Africa's immense tourism potential is severely limited for reasons including lack of capital, distance from the large North American and European markets, the cost of travel to Africa, and Africa's poor image abroad. A key factor contributing to this image problem is political instability. Since World War II, almost all African countries have achieved independence. In several countries, this decolonization process has taken the form of long and often bloody liberation wars. This paper examines the impact of Zimbabwe's protracted liberation war on tourism development in Zambia and suggests that a detailed examination of major internal and external political events associated with the decolonization process in Zimbabwe could provide important perspectives on the obstacles to tourism development in other African countries.     

Social security and saving — A critical note on the feldstein hypothesis

Zusammenfassung In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird versucht, Feldsteins Hypothese, wonach die Sozialversicherung das Sparen dämpft, an Hand internationaler Querschnittdaten zu überprüfen. Ausgehend von einem Ansatz, den Feldstein aufbauend auf das Lebenszyklusmodell in den Jahren 1977 und 1980 entwickelte, wird versucht, die Validität der Ergebnisse in bezug auf Änderungen in den Variablendefinitionen, der Zeitperiode sowie der Sampleauswahl aufzuzeigen. Weiters wird der Einfluß von geringen Modellmodifikationen (Berücksichtigung der Arbeitslosenrate als Unsicherheits-bzw. Stimmungsindikator) sowie Änderungen der Schätzmethode (gewogene oder ungewogene Regression bzw. OLS oder TSLS) auf die Resultate untersucht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, daß die Feldstein-Hypothese keineswegs als ein empirisch allgemein gültiges Gesetz angesehen werden kann, sondern eher als zufällig zustandegekommen.     

Is brain hemisphericity a correlate of performance in problem-solving courses? A case study from an HBCU

The authors set out to determine the brain dominance characteristics of students enrolled in business statistics courses in a historically Black university in a major southeastern Texas city. Thereafter, the authors investigated the relationship between a student’s brain hemispheric preference and academic performance in college courses, which emphasize problem solving. The results reported in this study reveal that left brain– and right brain–dominant students are at parity when it comes to performance in a problem-solving course. Moreover, both left brain– and right brain–dominant learners perform better than whole-brain dominant learners in a problem-solving course.     

Consumer legislation: A proactive or reactive response to consumerism?

The number and rate of development of new consumer legislation necessitates the evaluation of existing legislation. This paper summarizes and categorizes, in detail, the impact of select pieces of consumer legislation on consumer decision making. It is an implied objective of the paper to provide a perspective for future public policy formulation. The pieces of legislation evaluated in the paper are: (1) unit pricing; (2) product labeling; and (3) disclosure of interest rate provisions for consumer credit. The impact of these pieces of legislation have been minimal, indicating the need for an educational program for consumers.