PRODUCT AND LABOUR MARKETS IN WAGE DETERMINATION: SOME AUSTRALIAN EVIDENCE

The study is concerned with the extent to which workplace wage drift is influenced by establishment-specific or occupation-specific factors. It demonstrates, by analysis of variance of pay data from a survey of 44 occupations in 198 workplaces, that the sources of variation are predominantly establishment-specific. There is evidence of a link between the amount of discretion an employer exercises in the labour market and the degree of concentration in his product market. It is argued that discussions of pay determination have been unduly preoccupied with labour market processes and have neglected the variation in employer behaviour arising from differences in product market.     

Measuring new product success: an empirical investigation of Australian SMEs

New product development (NPD) has long been recognised as one of the corporate core functions. However, measuring new product success has remained elusive. This paper attempts to examine several conceptual issues underlining the measurement of new product success and the measurement practice adopted in Australian small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The sample included 276 SMEs from two most innovative industries: chemical and machinery industries. Results have indicated that four factors underline the commonly used success measurement: financial performance, objective market acceptance, subjective market acceptance, and product-level measures. These four factors are related to each other and can be used to well predict the overall measurement. The most frequently used specific measures in Australian SMEs are customer acceptance, customer satisfaction, product performance, and quality.     

Regulated firms in pollution permit markets with banking

This paper examines a competitive intertemporal market for bankable emission permits, such as sulfur dioxide allowances. Without profit regulation, firms are willing to bank permits if permit prices rise over time with the rate of interest, but will not bank if prices rise more slowly.The market achieves aggregate emission targets at least total cost if there is no profit regulation, but may not do so if firms are subject to profit regulation. Firms must arbitrage differences both in abatement cost and in the regulatory treatment of permits to achieve least total cost.The impetus for this work came from research we initiated during the Summer of 1990 for the Energy Information Agency. We would like to thank Chuck Howe for his detailed comments and enthusiasm, and Jim Alm, Dave Bjornstad, Charles deBartolome, Mike Greenwood, Robert Hahn, Douglas Hale, Carolyn Lang, Jim Markusen, Edward Morey, Till Requate, and Tom Tietenberg. We are grateful to the editor and two anonymous referees for stressing the importance of regulation in these markets and for their helpful and clarifying advice.     

The professor-consultant: An important marketing resource

There has been little published on the topic of marketing consultants. The literature void is even more pronounced when a major source of outside expertise, the professor-consultant, is examined. The authors have surveyed marketing academicians to determine their attitudes toward consulting and the scope and nature of their consulting activities along with the kinds of clients for whom they work. The findings show that professors hold generally favorable attitudes toward consulting and work in a wide range of topical areas while serving many diverse clients.     

SLIPPAGE AND THE CHOICE OF MARKET OR LIMIT ORDERS IN FUTURES TRADING

Retail futures traders face uncertainty regarding the price they will obtain when trading. This price surprise, known as slippage, can be substantial. Using unique data from an introducing brokerage for Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) wheat, corn, and soybean futures contracts, we quantify time-to-clear and the magnitude of slippage. We then identify factors that affect these trade quality measures. Finally, we analyze individual trader choice between market and limit orders and find that the likelihood of placing limit orders, where regulations protect traders from slippage, is greater when order and market characteristic indicate that adverse slippage is likely.     

Capital management in mutual financial institutions

Capital management by mutual financial institutions (such as credit unions) provides a valuable testing ground for assessing the impact of capital regulation and theories of managerial behaviour in financial institutions. Limited access to external equity capital means that capital accumulation must be met primarily by reliance on retained earnings. To deal with shocks to the capital position and avoid breaching regulatory requirements, managers will aim to have a buffer of capital in excess of the regulatory minimum. Moreover, mutual governance arrangements and an absence of capital market discipline mean that managers have discretion to set target capital ratios which differ significantly from industry averages. This paper develops a formal model of capital management and risk management in mutual financial institutions such as credit unions which reflects these industry characteristics. The model is tested using data from larger credit unions in Australia, which have been subject to the Basel Accord Risk Weighted Capital Requirements since 1993. The data supports the hypothesis that credit unions manage their capital position by setting a short term target profit rate (return on assets) which is positively related to asset growth and which is aimed at gradually removing discrepancies between the actual and desired capital ratio. Desired capital ratios vary significantly across credit unions. There is little evidence of short run adjustments to the risk of the asset portfolio to achieve a desired capital position.     

An exploratory study of operational reasons to budget

Budgets are used widely but criticized, mainly for performance evaluation reasons. We find that organizations regard budgets as more important for planning and control than evaluation, thus proposing a rationale for their continued use irrespective of evaluation‐based criticisms. This finding is also important, because most extant budget research focuses on evaluation, suggesting a potential disconnect between budget research and practice. We also find that rolling forecasts are used in tandem with the annual budget in most organizations, and for the same reasons. This was unexpected, as coexistence suggests their adoption for different reasons.     

Customer evaluation of retail salespeople utilizing the SOCO scale: A replication,extension, and application

Measuring retail salesperson performance is a critical, though relatively neglected research issue. We suggest that the SOCO scale may be an appropriate tool for measuring salesperson performance from the buyer’s perspective. Therefore, a replication of the SOCO scale was undertaken by having consumers evaluate retail salespeople. The SOCO scale items were slightly modified to fit the consumer sample and retail focus of the study. In addition, the number of points on the SOCO response scale was also reduced and the verbal anchors modified to better suit the needs of telephone surveys. Despite these changes, the properties of the scale were found to be strikingly similar to those reported in prior studies. It was recommended that retailers adopt the SOCO scale to measure salesperson performance.     

Analysis of risk and risk-reduction strategies—A multiple product case

This study investigated both the amount of risk that consumers face in a new car purchase situation and the different types of strategies that they use to reduce that risk. The findings revealed that owners of different makes of cars perceive varying amounts of risk to be associated with the purchase of a new car. However, no significant differences in the overall amounts of risk associated with the different purchase situations were found. Also it was found that different strategies for reducing the risk were utilized by the different car ownership groups.     

CONCEPTS OF FAIRNESS IN THE GLOBAL TRADING SYSTEM

Abstract.  We first discuss why fairness is a condition of the agreements among governments that form the global trading system. We then suggest that fairness can best be considered within the framework of two concepts: equality of opportunity and distributive equity. We thereafter discuss what these mean as applied to market access and its supporting rules as well as to dispute settlement and trade remedy measures. Finally, we make some comments about fairness in the Doha Development Round.