Technology,organizations and incrementalism:high rise system building in the UK

Since th problems of inflexible technologies are well known, we may ask why they are selected. The case study here agree with others in a wider research programme in that there was a great deal of pain surrounding the inflexible innovation of high rise system built flats; there were technical alternatives which were more flexible; the technology was supported by a centralized bureaucracy whose perception of risk was distored; and there were organizaional alternatives which were less centralized. Lessons are drawn about the problems of developing inflexible technology and the degreee of organizational centralization appropriate for technological innovation. These are restated in terms of incrementalism. A good technology is one which can be developed incrementally, by a relatively decentralized organization.     

Consumer demand for nutrition versus taste in four major food categories

This study addresses the trade‐off between nutrition and taste in expenditure on breakfast cereal, milk, bread, and soft drinks. Within each category, products have similar cost and convenience, but have markedly different flavor and nutritional content. Using annual expenditure data for a large sample of households participating in the ACNielsen Homescan system, we regress a measure of “healthiness” on household demographics and market prices, and find that households with college‐educated heads and higher incomes made significantly healthier choices in all four categories. These effects are puzzling in that the nutritional differences between products were well known to consumers, and there are no cost or convenience differences between them. The presence of children was associated with less healthy choices, especially for cereal and bread, while older households made healthier choices in all categories except milk.     

Do Community Supported Agriculture programmes encourage change to food lifestyle behaviours and health outcomes? New evidence from shareholders

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programmes have recently received attention for their potential to influence food lifestyle behaviours and health outcomes, though studies have mostly drawn from small samples (n?t-tests assess if paired means are statistically different, and multiple regressions of paired differences on socioeconomic factors, self-reported health, and years of CSA enrolment estimate the effect of respondent characteristics on behaviour change. The results strongly suggest that CSAs have the potential to positively impact shareholders’ food lifestyle behaviours and health outcomes, and that those reporting ‘poor health’ prior to CSA enrolment exhibited the most change overall. These results should be taken as an initial, yet promising, analysis of the impact of CSA participation on shareholder food lifestyle behaviours and health outcomes.     

Dysfunctional executive behavior: What can organizations do?

Much has been made of dysfunctional executive behavior in recent years. As such, the purpose of this article is to assist organizations in the design of executive work. To better construct a work environment that diminishes self-serving and unethical behavior, we propose that organizations structure an executive's work around three factors: the accountability environment, managerial discretion, and relationship composition. These factors are used to describe how organizations can better design executives’ work so as to promote more desirable executive behavior. We describe how these factors should be calibrated, as well as how they affect each other.     

Perceptions and Willingness to Adopt Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point Practices among Goat Producers

The major food safety issue confronting federal policymakers is to ensure that consumers can purchase foods acceptably free of microbial contaminants and hazardous chemicals. While these concerns are not new, added dimensions to the problem continually challenge regulators. In most cases, control at the farm level may provide the most cost-effective means of eliminating the pathogens or problems of animal origin. Focusing on the goat industry, this research examines whether goat producers are willing to voluntarily adopt Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) practices. Results reveal a diversified set of preferences, with more than half of the respondents indicating willingness to adopt HACCP practices.