PRODUCT MARKET STRUCTURE,CAPITAL INTENSITY,AND SYSTEMATIC RISK: EMPIRICAL RESULTS FROM THE THEORY OF THE FIRM

Product market concepts from industrial organization economics are integrated with financial valuation models of the firm to investigate relationships among systematic risk, capital intensity, and product market power. The theory of the firm facing uncertain input and output prices is extended to provide empirical models. Empirical results coincide with hypotheses derived from the theoretical model and pose questions about traditional single period hypotheses found in the finance literature.     

AN EXAMINATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF MIDDLE-LEVEL MANAGERS IN FORMULATING AND IMPLEMENTING STRATEGIC DECISIONS

The upward influence of middle-level managers (MLMs) on strategic planning and decision-making is examined. It was found that: (1) upward influence activity was more prevalent in low risk/return types of strategic decisions than in high risk/return decisions; (2) upward influence activity was more prevalent during the implementation of strategic decisions than during the formulation of such decisions; (3) managers most often used rational arguments in their influence attempts; (4) managers were more likely to be successful than unsuccessful in influencing their superiors in strategic decisions; (5) managers most often attributed their success in influencing their superiors to internal causes and their failures to external causes; (6) managers from private sector organizations exerted influence in both high risk and low risk strategic decisions more frequently than did managers from public sector organizations; and (7) the number of years working with the superior was the best predictor of successful interactions and of risky decisions. Some insight into the development of widespread strategic thinking in an organization is provided.     

Measuring minority business formation and failure

Conclusion The formation, growth, and failure model appears to have wide appeal to government officials responsible for minority business development. And this model has provided a much needed vehicle for focusing research and policy analysis. This new file is a rich data source capable of providing empirical content to the model. There is a need for additional exploration of potential deficiencies in the file as described earlier. And efforts should be made to develop comparable data from the economic census for nonminority firms.     

Regression Revisited

Sir Francis Galton introduced median regression and the use of the quantile function to describe distributions. Very early on the tradition moved to mean regression and the universal use of the Normal distribution, either as the natural ‘error’ distribution or as one forced by transformation. Though the introduction of ‘quantile regression’ refocused attention on the shape of the variability about the line, it uses nonparametric approaches and so ignores the actual distribution of the ‘error’ term. This paper seeks to show how Galton's approach enables the complete regression model, deterministic and stochastic elements, to be modelled, fitted and investigated. The emphasis is on the range of models that can be used for the stochastic element. It is noted that as the deterministic terms can be built up from components, so to, using quantile functions, can the stochastic element. The model may thus be treated in both modelling and fitting as a unity. Some evidence is presented to justify the use of a much wider range of distributional models than is usually considered and to emphasize their flexibility in extending regression models.     

Psychographic constructs and demographic segments

As marketers attempt to place advertisements based on demographic profiles, the use of psychographic information becomes more important. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the validity of selected psychographic measures as well as to then relate these constructs to demographic segments. The analysis, using LISREL VI, assesses the constructs, which then, based on MANOV, are related to demographic segments. Implications of the study for validating psychographic measures and for applying this knowledge are discussed. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Food aid and nutrition: The case of Botswana

Food aid is widely used to stimulate and sustain nutrition projects. Christopher Stevens examines the link between the two by reference to a single case study. Botswana has received more WFP food aid per head than any other state, and has used much of it on continuous feeding projects. While the programmes are potentially very important for the poorest groups, they miss many who are in need. Nevertheless, they have achieved a good deal, possibly in ways that are not yet fully recognised, and represent an interesting use of foreign aid to support recurrent expenditure.