Interaction capability development of smaller suppliers in relationships with larger customers

The purpose of this paper is to examine the interaction capabilities developed by smaller suppliers in relationships with larger customers. The contribution of the paper is the development and application of an interaction capability framework to evaluate the types of interaction capabilities developed by smaller suppliers that enable them to cope and better manage in relationships with larger customers. The paper reports on eight in-depth case studies comprising forty-eight interviews with smaller UK textile suppliers in relationships with larger customers. The findings identify the features of the smaller suppliers' interaction capability set comprising four elements: human interaction, technological interaction, managerial systems interaction and cultural interaction capability. The paper concludes by evaluating the lessons from the application of the interaction capability framework and highlighting how smaller suppliers can focus on the development of their interaction capability set to gain positioning advantages in their relationships with larger customers and offer superior customer value.     

Incentive compatibility and information superiority of the core of an economy with differential information

Summary We analyse the coarse, the fine, and the private core allocation of an exchange economy with differential information. The basic questions that we address are whether the above concepts are: (i) coalitionally incentive compatible, i.e., does truthful revelation of information in each coalition occur; and (ii) taking into account the information superiority or information advantage of an agent. Moreover, the above three concepts are examined in the presence of externalities and a comparison and interpretation of all of these core notions is provided.We wish to thank Stefan Krasa, Frank Page, Wayne Shafer, Anne Villamil, and Myrna Wooders for several useful comments, discussions, and suggestions. The comments of two referees were also helpful and we thank them for their careful reading. Obviously, we are responsible for any remaining errors.     

Empirical economics acknowledges the cooperation of

Empirical economics acknowledges the cooperation of     

Do Agricultural Commodity Prices Respond to Bans against Bioengineered Crops?

Bans against bioengineered food ingredients by major food companies have been broadly reported and have been often taken to signal demand shifts away from commodities in favor of identity-preserved non-bioengineered crops. Yet, the impacts of such bans have not been quantified and, indeed, the market size for non-bioengineered crops remains unknown. We tested whether either the Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures prices (commodity) or the Tokyo Grain Exchange non-GMO soybean futures prices (identity preserved market) responded to firm bans of bioengineered food ingredients. Neither the Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures prices nor the Tokyo Grain Exchange non-GMO soybean futures prices respond to bans.     

A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON INDIGENOUS SOCIOECONOMIC OUTCOMES IN AUSTRALIA, 1971–2001

Current debate in Indigenous affairs in Australia often involves the assertion that the last 30 years has been a period of policy failure. This article examines trends across a number of socioeconomic outcomes for Indigenous Australians from the 1967 referendum to the present, using census data. Overall, there has been steady, although not spectacular improvement in outcomes over time. These improvements are especially marked for education, which was coming from an exceptionally low base. This finding is somewhat at odds with the common perception of the 'failure' of Indigenous policy.     

ICT and Productivity Growth in the United Kingdom

This paper develops new estimates of investment in and outputof information and communication technology (ICT). These newestimates imply that GDP growth has been significantly understated,particularly since 1994. A growth-accounting approach is employedto measure the contribution of ICT to the growth of both aggregateoutput and aggregate input. On both counts, the contributionof ICT has been rising over time. From 1989 to 1998, ICT outputcontributed a fifth of overall GDP growth. Since 1989, 55 percent of capital deepening (the growth of capital per hour worked)has been contributed by ICT capital; since 1994 this proportionhas risen to 90 per cent. ICT capital deepening accounts for25 per cent of the growth of labour productivity over 1989–98and 48 per cent over 1994–8. But even when output growthis adjusted for the new ICT estimates, both labour productivityand TFP growth are still found to slow down after 1994.     

Competition on the London Stock Exchange

This paper investigates the determinants of the level of competition on the order–driven market organised by the London Stock Exchange. In contrast to previous empirical market microstructure studies, we treat the level of competition as an endogenous variable. The statistical nature of the measures of competitive activity used in this paper necessitate use of a count regression model. Using a sample 50 stocks, we find that users of the system tend to follow the lead of other users (termed the 'herding effect') and that competition is greater during the period when the US exchanges are open (termed the 'US effect'). In addition, the level of competition is positively related to the bid–ask spread pertaining to a particular stock (termed the 'spread effect'). The latter result is most likely due to traders following a strategy where trade immediacy is traded off against price advantage. Finally, we find that the magnitude of the herding effect, the spread effect, and the fit of the count regression models (termed the 'fit effect') vary in a predictable manner across the liquidity of stocks.