Beer and the Tie: Did Divestiture of Brewer-owned Public Houses Lead to Higher Beer Prices?

In 1989, the United Kingdom Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC) recommended measures that eventually led brewers to divest themselves of 14,000 public houses. The MMC claimed that their recommendations would lower retail prices and increase consumer choice. Since that time, however, retail prices have risen. This paper contains an econometric analysis of the transition period. The analysis is based on a model of the relationship between retail price and retail-organisational form that emphasises how exclusive-dealing clauses and strategic factors interact     

Relationship, Contribution, and Resource Constrains: Determinants of Distributive Justice in Individual Preferences and Negotiated Agreements

This laboratory study investigated the impact of relationship, relative levels of perceived contribution, and resource constraints on individuals' allocation preferences and dyads' negotiated allocations. Dyads of female undergraduates – either strangers or roommates – were given performance feedback that one member produced the majority of the resources available to the dyad; the members of the dyad faced relatively scarce or abundant resources. Subjects indicated their individual allocation preferences and then negotiated the distribution of resources as a pair. Results indicate that all three factors are important predictors of the norms of distributive justice met by the individually preferred and dyadically negotiated allocations. Results also suggest that the degree of agreement between the norms implied by individually preferred allocations and dyadic agreements affect strangers' satisfaction with outcomes to a greater extent than roommates'.     

International Cartel Enforcement: Lessons from the 1990s

The enforcement record of the 1990s has demonstrated that international private cartels are neither relics of the past nor do they always fall quickly under the weight of their own incentive problems. Of a sample of forty cartels prosecuted by the United States and European Inion in the 1990s, twenty‐four cartels lasted at least four years. And for the twenty of the cartels in this sample where sales data are available, the annual worldwide sales in the affected products exceeded US$30 billion. Prevailing national competition policies are oriented towards addressing harm done in domestic markets, and in some cases merely prohibit cartels without taking strong enforcement measures. In this paper we propose a sequence of reforms to national policies and to international cooperation that will strengthen the deterrents against international cartels. Furthermore, aggressive prosecution of cartels must be complemented by vigilance in other areas of competition policy. If not, firms will respond to the enhanced deterrents to cartelisation by merging or by taking other measures that lessen competitive pressures.     

Becoming respectable: low-income young mothers,consumption and the pursuit of value

Teenage mothers find themselves caught between two discourses: the irresponsibility of youth and the responsibility of motherhood. We unravel some of the complexities surrounding the performance of socially approved ‘good mothering’, from a social position of restricted resources. We demonstrate the relevance of Skeggs’ notion of respectability in order to forge a deeper understanding of how young, low-income new mothers seek to secure social value and legitimacy via the marketplace. We identify a number of consumption strategies centred around identification and dis-identification, yet we recognise that young mothers’ careful marshalling of resources, in relation to consumption, risks being misread and could leave young women open to further scrutiny and negative evaluation, ultimately limiting their opportunity to secure a legitimate maternal identity.     

Are two brands better than one? Investigating the effects of co-branding in advertising on audience memory

Co-branded advertising, where advertisements feature two partnered brands from different categories, should ideally benefit both brands. We test this assertion by studying the effect of featuring a second brand in advertisements on ad and brand name memorability, and the role of category context on which brand is recalled. Our test covers online display advertisements for consumer-packaged brands paired with charity and retailer brands in three markets (USA, UK, and Australia). Independent sample comparisons across 54 brand pairs show that advertising two brands has a neutral effect on ad memorability and negative effect on brand memorability. Furthermore, the advertisement’s category context determines which of the brands is recalled. Our findings support a competitive interference theory of dual-brand processing, whereby the two brands compete for attention resources. The results have implications for the return on investment from advertising expenditure, which will vary substantively depending on whether the costs of advertising are shared or borne by one brand in the pair.     

分析性叙述:为复杂的历史进程建模

Both research with case and building model are common research ways in social science.They look very different but in deep relation with each other.Unless they integrate together,there isn't a progress of social science.This paper argues the approach systemically,such as content,essence and theoretic shelf,and so on.It also argues that analytic narrative go beyond the old rational choice method and research the special institution in special historic context with game theory.So social science can explain re...     

Social Capital Initiatives: Employees and Communication Managers Leading the Way?

Organizations’ development of social capital and their decision to give back to society are becoming increasingly important to the business of managing organizations as much more than profit-driven entities. This article focuses on the rationale for an Australian–Canadian study on employees’ involvement in social capital initiatives and the communication management of these initiatives. As employees are key stakeholders, they play a vital part in achieving organizational goals. This study, a work in progress, highlights an in-depth, qualitative analysis of two organizations—one in Canada and one in Australia—committed to funding community projects as part of their corporate social responsibility development and commitment. The importance of a qualitative study that focuses on subjective components of social capital is that it develops understanding of employees’ attitudes, feelings, and viewpoints. It also begins to investigate why employees might/might not be committed, to organizations’ social capital initiatives. Using an interpretative analysis lens, an understanding of the moral, relational, and communication dynamics is explored. Questions surrounding concepts such as the moral fiber of social capital are highlighted and critiqued in the context of community engagement and what organizations’ social capital investments mean as part of their responsibility to society.     

Managing Organizational Change in Higher Education: Lessons From the University of Botswana

ABSTRACT

Utilizing data collected from a randomly selected sample of 360 academic and managerial staff, regression analysis was performed to identify the determinants of acceptance of change among employees at the University of Botswana. The results showed moderate levels of employee acceptance of innovations and revealed that, of the four categories of substantive factors analyzed, managerial features were the most important determinants of acceptance of organizational change. It was concluded that management action is needed to boost the levels of acceptance of change and that a more participative approach to the management of the change process is necessary to guarantee the involvement of all stakeholders from the decision-making to the implementation and administration stages of the process.     

An investigation of the impact of internal labour markets in the hotel industry

Maintaining a stable and competitive workforce is a key element of the role of management, and there has emerged a barrage of ‘recipes’ to achieve this. All too frequently, however, these new concepts replace the old, with little justification other than being innovative. This article investigates the concept of an internal labour market [ILM] as a strategic management tool. Past studies by labour market researchers have confirmed the value of the components of an ILM, yet none has investigated the concept of an ILM as a coherent whole. This paper investigates the impact of the components of an ILM – training, promotional opportunity and job security – on the key employee attitudes of job satisfaction, organisational commitment and employee intention to leave. It then examines the impact of this concept as a single variable on the employee attitudes. The study is conducted in the service industry, in particular, the hotel sector, and examines the responses of 297 non-supervisory hotel employees. The findings suggest that the use of a holistic ILM strategy could provide a new means for management to retain and develop a stable and satisfied workforce.