Book review

Built by Japan: Competitive Straegies of the Japanese Construction Industry, Fumio Hasegawa & Shimizu Group FS New York, John Wiley & amp; Sons, 1988, 204 pp., US$25.00.

Technological Change at Work Ian McLouglin & Jon Clark Milton Keynes, Open University Press, 1988, 202 pp., Pb £9.00, Hb £25.00.

Enterprising Innovation: An Alternative Approach Veronica Mole & Dave Elliott London, Frances Pinter, 1987, pp. 180.

Flexible Automation: The Global Diffusion of New Technology in the Engineering Industry Charles Edquist Jacobsson Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1988, Hb £35.00.

Expert Systems: Strategic Implications and Applications A. Beerel Chichester, Ellis Horwood Ltd, 1988, 173 pp., £22.50.     

Unemployment Insurance and the Business Cycle: What Adjustments are Needed?

During the 2007–2011 economic downturn, the duration that one could collect unemployment insurance (UI) in the United States increased to an unprecedented 99 weeks, and the UI benefit amount increased by $25. This article explores the policy of increasing the generosity of UI during recessions using a model that accounts for the insurance and moral hazard implications of UI as well as the program's impact on job creation. When limited to adjusting the duration of benefits, a more generous UI system is optimal. However, due to UI's negative impact on job creation and the increased cost of providing benefits when unemployment is high, the optimal extension is just 1.3 months. When the government adjusts both the benefit amount and its duration, the optimal policy during downturns is a reduction in the replacement rate. This mitigates the decline in job creation and funds a UI extension of 4.3 months.     

Mind the Gap: Information and Communication Technologies,Knowledge Activities and Innovation in the Pharmaceutical Industry

The paper explores the specific challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry regarding the exploitation of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the context of developing new frameworks supporting knowledge activity and the wider innovation process. The paper seeks to provide a framework to view these changes but also highlights gaps in our current conceptualization of the role of ICTs in facilitating and effecting change within the pharmaceutical industry.     

Sports Marketing

Although text messaging as a communication tool in society is rampant, research on its effects within print advertisements is lacking. To help fill this void, we employ three between-subject experiments (i.e., Study 1: text message vs. no text message; Studies 2 and 3: text message vs. traditional language). We posit that using text message copy in print ads is a unique (as grounded in distinctiveness theory) and fitting (as grounded in communication trust theory) approach to commune with targeted viewers and, therefore, should lead to favorable advertising outcomes. The experimental results confirm this notion. For example, responses concerning ad novelty, attention toward the ad, attitude toward the ad, purchase intention, and perceived brand trust are more favorable toward the text message condition ads. Implications and directions for future text message-related research are discussed.     

Studies of the 1987 stock market crash: Review and appraisal

Within four months of the stock market crash on October 19, 1987, there were six studies of what happened. The Brady Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the General Accounting Office, the New York Stock Exchange, and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange all produced reports that described and analyzed the Crash, and in some cases made recommendations for additional regulation. This paper examines the conclusions and analyses contained in these reports and provides a summary of their recommendations. Particular attention is given to the allegation that stock index futures trading was a significant factor in the Crash. In addition, the recommendations that higher margins be imposed on futures transactions and that formal trading halts be instituted in both the futures and stock markets are discussed in depth. A major conclusion of this review is that new market-making procedures are needed to cope with the growing institutionalization of trading in equity and equity-derivative markets. Columbia University     

Financial comparability and environmental diversity: an international context

Accounting and environmental management both hold improved resource‐use efficiency as an ultimate goal, but intermediate processes and objectives vary and consequently it is separately assessed within each discipline. This paper intends to make visible the globalizing trends in accounting practice, which aim to standardize financial reporting to produce comparable information so that shareholders can maximize their economic wealth. This paper seeks to contrast this comparability strategy with the apparent need for diversity in accounting information exhibited by actual accounting practices, the information needs of environmental management and, ultimately, the cultural needs of sustainable development. We argue that a more pluralistic model, that enables a holistic assessment of corporate performance and balances diverse stakeholder objectives, is better suited to an uncertain future. Implementation requires accountants and environmental managers jointly to create and test a new order of reporting. There are many practical challenges but most significantly accountants and environmental managers must combine to enhance the visibility and credibility of these diverse performance measures. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment     

Pharmacy discount card programs: catching up with the health markets

Pharmacy costs continue to rise, as does the number of senior citizens. One of the ways of containing costs may be the pharmacy discount drug card program, for both seniors and the general population.     

Gender Effects of Social Security Reform in Chile

In 1981 Chile replaced a mature government-run social securitysystem that operated on a pay-as-you-go basis with a privatelymanaged system based on individual retirement accounts. Thenew system is more fiscally sustainable because pension benefitsare defined by contributions. The minimum pension guaranteedto beneficiaries with at least 20 years is funded from generaltaxes, preserving the tight matching between contributions andbenefits. The new system also eliminates several cross-subsidies.Men and women with less than secondary education gain underthe new system, but single women with more education lose. Comparisonof the old and the new systems reveals a complex set of factorsthat cause gender effects given constant behavior or changebehavior across genders.