Human resource management strategies in declining industries

The conceptualization presented in this article suggests that top management should take into account the role of the human resource function in formulating and implementing strategic responses to decline. Such responses must be formulated within the context of the skills and knowledge available to the organization and according to the type of environmental conditions encountered. These influences will force the human resource manager to focus on sharpening competencies existing within the organization, consolidating competencies so that only those currently required by the organization are retained, adding new competencies, or replacing existing competencies so that the organization can move to a new domain activity. The emphasis on human resource processes such as recruitment and termination, training and development, and evaluation, reward, and retention for purposes of development and maintenance of the competencies needed to implement strategic responses to decline will vary according to the nature of the environmental conditions encountered.     

Customer service as a marketing strategy

Customer service in distribution is increasingly becoming a requirement for an integral part of marketing strategies for physical distribution. Customer services, many of which herefore were considered ancillary in allowing shippers and other transportation users to differentiate product/service offerings, are now necessary in order to compete successfully in the marketplace. This trend should gain considerable momentum as prices become higher and use of discretionary prices decreases. Therefore, it is imperative for marketing and distribution managers to accurately appraise and reevaluate the role of customer services.     

Vacancy Rates and the Future of Office Rents

This research confirms the existence of a strong vacancy rental adjustment mechanism in the market for office space, such as has been found in housing markets. Using national time-series data, we find that real office rents drop approximately 2% annually, for every percentage point of "excess vacancy" in the market. We also find that the definition of "excess vacancy" has been trending upward over time. Using a recent vacancy forecast suggests that office income streams seem likely to decline in both real and nominal dollars over the next few years.     

AN ESTIMATE OF THE SIZE ANL STRUCTURE OF THE NATIONAL PRODUCT OF THE EARLY ROMAN EMPIRE

On the basis of rough estimates from the expenditure as well as from the income side, it is suggested that the national product per head of the Roman Empire at the death of Augustus (AD 14) was somewhat below 400 sesterces (31 g gold) yielding an aggregate national product of fully HS 20 billion for a population of 55 million and that these figures were approximately valid from the late first century BC to the mid-second century AD. The share of government expenditures in national product was very low, probably not above five percent, and that of gross capital expenditures even lower, probably not in excess of two percent. An attempt is also made to appraise the concentration of personal income and it is estimated that the 600 senatorial families, representing approximately the top 0.04 per m of the population, received about 0.6 percent of total personal income while the share of the top three percent of income recipients was in the order of 20–25 percent of total personal incomes. The second part of the article compares these estimates as well as a few indicators of the standard of living and of welfare in the early Roman Empire with the corresponding figures for a few countries before the industrial revolution and for mid-20th century less developed countries.     

Westward Thrusts the Pioneer Zone in Venezuela: A Half Century of Economic Development Along the Llanos-Andes Border

A bstract . Observations in the Llanos-Andes border area of Venezuela were summarized by the writer in the Geographical Review in 1932 and again in 1956. After further held investigations in 1982, he chronicles some of the changes that have taken place during the last quarter century, collates observations made over the last halt century, and places this major physiographic boundary zone in a broader national context. Several coactive factors are in large measure responsible for the rapid thrust westward of the pioneer zone along the Llanos-Andes border: highway construction has proceeded apace, public education and health services have been introduced, and large government credits and subsidies have been made available to farmers and ranchers with large holdings. Many colonists have been provided with titles to small holdings on frontier land. New technologies are being introduced in agriculture and animal husbandry as well as in mining and industry. From this position of strength, the country should gradually be able to supply the domestic demand for staple foodstuffs.