Creating Economic Advantage By Setting Compatibility Standards: Can ‘Physical Tie-Ins’ Extend Monopoly Power?

The paper deals with the micro-economics of interface manipulation, i.e. the design of the interface between two products to enhance the profits accruing to the firm controlling the design. Taking several alleged instances of ‘physical tie-ins’ as a reference point, it argues that economist's usual treatment of ‘tie-ins’ and bundling is inappropriate for these cases, and it proposes an alternative model. The model identifies the circumstances under which interface manipulation will yield competitive advantages to an integrated system designer. It also focuses on the limits placed on such behavior by the demand for ‘backward compatible’ components. The model's implications are then examined for the light they shed on arguments about the plausibility of ‘leveraging’–i.e. the use of monopoly power in one component market to gain monopoly power in a complementary component market. The paper concludes that the notion of leveraging can be given analytical substance, but emphasizes that the concept should be used with some care.     

The Current Link Between Management Behavior and Ethical Philosophy

The current linkages between ethical theory and management behavior are investigated. The vignettes used in this investigation represent ethical dilemmas in the areas of coercion and control, conflict of interest, physical environment, and personal integrity. Overall, even with heightened ethical awareness the link between ethical philosophy and management behavior remains similar to that of the early 1990s. Generally, practitioners still rely heavily on the utilitarian ethical philosophy when making business decisions. However, more managers are now likely to select ethically appropriate actions either because it is ethical to do so, or because the consequences or risk of not doing so are too great. This shift could positively impact the ethical climate of business decision-making.     

Accessible tourism and sustainability: a discussion and case study

This paper explores the concept of accessible tourism and its links with triple-bottom-line (TBL) sustainability. Accessible tourism is reviewed through some of its central features including dimensions of access, universal design and the nexus between ageing and disability. The TBL is then examined to better understand the financial, environmental and social considerations that arise from accessible tourism. The research design used in this explorative research incorporated a case study approach, where a business case study instrument was developed. Methods included a Delphi group, review of management information systems, in-depth interviews with key informants, observation and participant observation. The study results revealed that rather than accessible tourism being a single construct, it forms one critical dimension of a series of interrelated, overlapping and interdependent business arrangements that extend beyond the business entity through a series of social networks within the destination region. It is argued that to properly satisfy the accessible tourism market, a more sophisticated understanding of accessible destination experiences is needed by tourism operators. The case study illustrates the considerable size and multi-niche markets served by accessible tourism destinations, the good fit between accessible tourism and TBL sustainable tourism, and the need for further research.     

Values and Beliefs Related to Ethical Decisions

Although there is reason to suspect thatpeople's values and beliefs influenceintegrity-related decisions, few studies haveexamined the values and beliefs related tomanagerial integrity. In the present study,197 students were asked to complete measures ofvalues and beliefs as manifest in theirpreferred courses of action when confrontedwith ambiguous situations. Subsequently, theywere asked to work on a managerial ``in-basket'task where the decisions made might result inharm to others or harm to the organization. Itwas found that values and beliefs were relatedto both types of decisions producing multiplecorrelations in the 0.40s. People whose valuesstressed growth and contributions to others, asopposed to personal gain, and believed actionswere under their control, as opposed toexternal control, exhibited greater integrity. The implications of these findings forunderstanding leader integrity are discussed.