Cross-licensing agreements in presence of technological improvements

This study investigates the relationship between technologies that firms expect to achieve after cross-licensing (CL) and their incentives for signing CL agreements in a multiproduct-firm setting. Results indicate that if markets are bounded substantial technological improvements that result in removal of firms’ current products from the market may in fact reduce firms’ incentives to negotiate a CL deal. This may also give firms an incentive to agree upon a tacit collusion by which they limit the utilization of CL technologies. However, when markets are unbounded, the prospect of capturing new markets and charging royalty fees can significantly increase firms’ incentives for CL. The rationale behind our modeling assumptions is discussed using example from agriculture biotechnology industry.     

Evaluating virtuality in teams: a conceptual model

Major parts of teams deployed in contemporary organisations to some extent possess the attributes of virtuality. In this context, at high levels of virtuality, team requirements become quite different from those of face-to-face teams. Thus, evaluating virtuality in teams is a key prerequisite for assessing its requirements and defining the applicable managerial policies. Nonetheless, the concept of virtuality in teams has remained elusive within the extant literature. To address this, this paper deploys a qualitative meta-analysis to synthesise the relevant findings drawing upon an exhaustive review of the literature. The study conceptualises the phenomenon of virtuality through proposing a conceptual framework for evaluating the level of virtuality in teams. This paper contributes to the field by offering further insight into the concept of virtuality and directs future investigations by providing the ground for validating the presented conceptual model.     

The Archaic, the Obsolete and the Mythical in Neoclassical Economics

A bstract . The assumptions of omniscient rationality and of optimizing behavior of neoclassical economics are serious flaws in that theoretical system. By imitating Newtonian mechanics , by going back to 18th century psychology and philosophy and to Benrtham's rationalism and hedonism, and by assuming the ideal world of perfect competition , neoclassical economics had to ignore its psychological dimension and thus focus on the behavior of a simple and abstract "economic man" , who lacks social, ethical and political dimensions, and who is not a creature of habit, hunches, impulses, etc. The rationality postulate cannot be tested empirically and economic behavior is much too complicated to warrant use of the classical optimization techniques of Newtonian mechanics. Economics , dealing with open systems and being an evolutionary science , once again is not logically consistent with the application of classical Newtonian optimization techniques.     

Least-cost cheap-food policies: some implications of international food aid

Many low-income countries pursue cheap-food policies in which consumers pay subsidized prices for bread, rice and other staples. This paper addresses the issue of why different governments select different food subsidy policies, using multiple instruments rather than a simple across-the-board subsidy to provide consumers with access to cheap food. It examines the optimal structure of cheap-food policies in the context of a partial equilibrium model in which the country may he large in trade, and is able to combine import subsidies or tariffs, and output taxes or subsidies, to transfer income to consumers through the market. The model allows for a marginal opportunity cost of government revenues greater than one dollar. In addition, in the model, food aid from overseas may be either given away to the consumer, or given to the government for subsequent sale in the domestic market. The results indicate that only by happenstance will a country choose to use a pure consumption subsidy or a pure import subsidy to transfer income to consumers. In addition, an increase in international food aid does not necessarily lead the government to reduce producer and consumer prices for a commodity.     

From Buchanan to Khomeini

A bstract . Nobel Laureate James Buchanan and his colleagues and followers have applied the tools and methods of neoclassical economics to the study of politics , developing the theory of Public Choice , the economic study of non market decision-making. In an effort to subject this hypothetical system to empirical validation, it is confronted with the phenomena of Ayatollah Khomeini's "ideal" Islamic State as described in the leader of Iranian theocracy's writings and as developed in contemporary Iran. The prophet Muhammad recognized no separation of politics and religion , of church and state. Faith in Islam required faith not only in the oneness of God and Muhammad's prophethood but also in the prophet's religious, moral, legal and political commands. Khomeini's revolutionary heterodoxy views his theocratic despotism as establishing the rule of the "just jurists"—the upper echelons of the clergy—and makes them and property owners the beneficiaries. Thus it is not "class neutral" as Public Choice theory requires.     

The Effect of Perceived Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Human Resources on Employee Engagement with the Moderating Role of the Employer Brand

Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal - Employee Engagement (EE) is an important aspect of human resources management, which is instrumental in the financial success of an organization....