DEVELOPING SOCIAL IDENTITY AND SOCIAL CAPITAL FOR SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Competition involves not firm against firm but rather supply chain against supply chain, but few studies explain theoretically the subsistence of a supply chain as a social entity or the operating mechanisms through which firms socialize to obtain better business performance. On the bases of social identity theory and social capital theory, the authors suggest that the salience of supply chain identity accumulates social capital in a supply chain, which then facilitates supply chain management and improves business performance.     

Einzelbesprechungen

Ohne ZusammenfassungÜbersetzt von Gerhard Tintner, WienÜbersetzt von Ragnar Nurkse, z. Zt. Wienaus dem Italienischen übersetzt von Dr. Hans Fried, WienÜbersetzt von Paul Brüll, Wien.Aus dem Italienischen übersetzt von Dr. Hans Fried.     

An analysis of R&D objectives in Indian manufacturing companies

The need for R&D has been well recognized by the manufacturing companies in India, but it is felt that R&D has not been generally effective in having a marked impact on the growth of their business. One of the reasons for this could be discrepancies in their R&D objectives. This paper presents the results of an empirical study of the R&D objectives of a few manufacturing companies in India viewed against the background of their environments. The analysis points to the discrepancies observed in R&D objectives and hints at suitable corrective measures.     

Are Private Sector Standards Enough? An Example From Public Sector Hospitals in New Zealand

The aim of this paper is to assess whether and to what extent public sector hospital reports in New Zealand disclose information which best support the public interest. We analyse the content of the annual reports of Crown Health Enterprises (CHEs) for 1994, 1995 and 1996. It is concluded that the developments in public sector accounting, with respect to the public interest, have not permeated these reports to any significant extent. The following changes would improve these reportings: Reports providing costs relative to non-financial accomplishments; removing the traditional 'revenue' disclosure; disclosing non-financial as well as financial resources and obligations; providing further disaggregation in the reports; disclosing budgetary information and valuing assets alternatively. Implications of the lens used for the analysis are also considered.     

Credit constraints and smallholder dairy production in the East African highlands: application of a switching regression model

Accurate assessment of farmers' credit constraint condition is important in order to understand the circumstances under which credit would have its greatest impact. In this study a switching regression model was used to determine the impact of credit on smallholder dairy farms in the East African highlands using farm level data from Ethiopia and Kenya. Farmers were classified as credit constrained or credit non-constrained based on their responses from the farm level surveys. No consistent relationship was found between farmers' credit constraint condition and their borrowing status. Most of the variation in milk output per farm was explained by the number of crossbred milking cows in the dairy herd. As credit is likely to facilitate investment in crossbred dairy cows it will have substantial impacts on smallholder dairy farms especially if it is targeted to credit constrained farms.     

NON-LEARNING ORGANIZATIONS

Whereas organizational learning and unlearning enjoy a well-established reputation in organization theory, non-learning has rarely if ever been discussed. In this article organizational non-learning is characterized, and techniques for non-learning are identified. It is argued that nonlearning organizations have developed a proficiency in ignoring. They may ignore problems and solutions to problems, as well as their own attitudes to these problems and solutions. Non-learning organizations accomplish this essentially by placing problems and potentially problematic issues with somebody else, to be attended to in the future. Their behavior is supported and reinforced by procedures: by the particular distribution of responsibility that procedures entail, and by the fact that procedures recur. A non-learning option allows for organizational discretion. Organizations are free to account for their work in a contradictory manner — realistic and idealistic at the same time. They are free to learn slowly and to take advantage of their learning.     

The information content of option implied volatility surrounding the 1997 Hong Kong stock market crash

This study examines the information conveyed by options and examines their implied volatility at the time of the 1997 Hong Kong stock market crash. The author determines the efficiency of implied volatility as a predictor of future volatility by comparing it to other leading indicator candidates. These include volume and open interest of index options and futures, as well as the arbitrage basis of index futures. Using monthly, nonoverlapping data, the study reveals that implied volatility is superior to those variables in forecasting future realized volatility. The study also demonstrates that a simple signal extraction model could have produced useful warning signals prior to periods of extreme volatility. These results indicate that the options market is highly efficient informationally. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 27:555–574, 2007