An Economic Analysis of Requirements to Prevent Handheld Hair Dryer Water Immersion Electrocutions in the USA

Before 1987, when handheld hair dryers were not required to protect against water immersion electrocutions, there were almost 16 such electrocutions annually in the USA. This article presents a retrospective evaluation of the benefits and costs of the 1987 and 1991 immersion protection requirements of the voluntary hair dryer safety standard in the USA. The benefits are based on estimates of the reduced risk of electrocution resulting from the requirements, and the valuation of the reduced risk derived from willingness to pay studies of the “value of statistical life” found in the economics literature. The costs were defined as the incremental costs associated with incorporating the immersion protection technology into handheld hair dryers. The study found that the requirements were highly effective and may have reduced the immersion-related mortality rate by almost 97%. The expected present value of the estimated benefits of the requirements amounted to about $4.56 per dryer in 2014 dollars and substantially exceeded the costs of about $2 per dryer. The primary outcome measure, the expected net benefits (i.e., benefits minus costs) of the requirements, amounted to an average of about $2.56 per hair dryer, over the hair dryer’s expected product life. Given sales of about 23 million handheld hair dryers annually, the present value of the expected net benefits associated with 1 year’s production would have amounted to about $58.9 million. A sensitivity analysis showed that the major findings were robust with respect to changes in the underlying parameters of the analysis. The study also discusses the factors leading to a high rate of effectiveness estimated for the immersion protection requirements.     

Patterns of Aging-Related Changes on the Way to 100

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to investigate dynamic properties of age trajectories of physiological indices and their effects on mortality risk and longevity using longitudinal data on more than 5,000 individuals collected in biennial examinations of the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) original cohort during about 50 subsequent years of follow-up. We first performed empirical analyses of the FHS longitudinal data. We evaluated average age trajectories of indices describing physiological states for different groups of individuals and established their connections with mortality risk. These indices include body mass index, diastolic blood pressure, pulse pressure, pulse rate, level of blood glucose, hematocrit, and serum cholesterol. To be able to investigate dynamic mechanisms responsible for changes in the aging human organisms using available longitudinal data, we further developed a stochastic process model of human mortality and aging, by including in it the notions of “physiological norms,” “allostatic adaptation and allostatic load,” “stress resistance,” and other characteristics associated with the internal process of aging and the effects of external disturbances. In this model, the persistent deviation of physiological indices from their normal values contributes to an increase in morbidity and mortality risks. We used the stochastic process model in the statistical analyses of longitudinal FHS data. We found that different indices have different average age patterns and different dynamic properties. We also found that age trajectories of long-lived individuals differ from those of the shorter-lived members of the FHS original cohort for both sexes. Using methods of statistical modeling, we evaluated “normal” age trajectories of physiological indices and the dynamic effects of allostatic adaptation. The model allows for evaluating average patterns of aging-related decline in stress resistance. This effect is captured by the narrowing of the U-shaped mortality risk (considered a function of physiological state) with age. We showed that individual indices and their rates of change with age, as well as other measures of individual variability, manifested during the life course are important contributors to mortality risks. The advantages and limitations of the approach are discussed.     

Human factors in the transfer of the ‘Japanese best practice’ manufacturing system to Singapore

A detailed examination of the practices reported by managers in thirty-one affiliates of Japanese companies engaged in manufacturing in Singapore revealed a high degree of conformity with the Japanese best practice (also known as ‘lean production’) model in the way work is organized and in the shop-floor level manufacturing practices, but greater conformity to host country norms in the HRM practices applied to the local work-force. This is consistent with the patterns reported in the existing literature regarding Japanese transplants in other countries, including the US and the UK. Strong statistical relationships were found in the Singapore study among the work organization cluster, the manufacturing practices cluster, and the performance outcomes. No significant relationships were found between the HRM cluster and any of the ‘downstream’ variables (work organization, manufacturing practices or performance outcomes), but relatively heavy reliance on expatriates was found to be highly related to work organization, manufacturing practices and performance outcomes. These findings suggest that heavy reliance on expatriates may function as an alternative to Japanese-style HRM practices in situations where it would be unduly difficult or costly to extend the whole package of Japanese-style HRM practices to the local work-force.     

The Politics of Standards in Modern Management: Making ‘The Project’ a Reality*

abstract In this paper, we explore the standardization of contemporary management knowledge, focusing in particular upon the role of ‘standards’ in creating and reifying ‘organizational objects’, with powerful consequences and with often unrecognized ethical implications. It is our argument that modernist beliefs in ‘general, abstract and timeless ideas’ ( Brunsson et al., 2000 , p. 173), enshrined in a universal and abstract rationality, results in the marginalization of more reflexive forms of rationality and the suppression of autonomy, creativity and discretion in organizations. To investigate the consequences of standardization, we take as the focus of our analysis a specific management model which has a significant and growing impact on many sectors of contemporary industry; that of project management. Drawing on the work of Timmermans and Berg (1997) , Bowker and Star (1999) and Brunsson et al. (2000) , we draw attention to the reification of the object of management; in this case, the project itself, as a transhistorical, ‘real world’ object. By tracing efforts to establish and institutionalize ‘standards’ in this and other fields of management, in particular through the creation and dissemination of a universal ‘body of knowledge’ for this field, we draw attention to the political and moral significance of the ‘blackboxing’ of knowledge. It is our broader intention here to help to denaturalize this organizational object, to legitimize other modes of knowledge and practice in the field, and thereby to reopen debate in this and other arenas of standardization.     

Should I advertise on the interstate?

The highway logo signing program has existed for over 20 years. Since its inception, most motorists have become accustomed to relying on these blue signs to provide information on services available at each highway exit. However, there is little, if any, literature that examines the program as an advertising source, and no formal literature that addresses the signing program from the perspective of the independent business owner. This paper provides service business owners with information about the highway logo signing program, and is directed toward independent owners who are considering the signing program as an advertising source. A five step process is described that owners can follow to first determine if the venue is viable, and then if the investment is value-added for them.     

Innovation in food service technology and its strategic role

Innovation in food service technology offers differentiation and cost leadership in strategic terms. The majority of food service businesses do not have research and development laboratories. At present, the innovations in equipment design and layout, packaging and service techniques are of a defensive or reactive nature. Examples of defensive innovation include faster and better preparation methods, improved temperature control, even heating, energy and labour savings, less waste, better sanitation, faster service and flexibility. In contrast, developments in offensive or pro-active innovation, which can radically change current practices, are rare. Novel food service processes can evolve as a result of adoption of technological breakthroughs in “high tech” fields of the economy. This justifies investments in offensive research and highlights the importance of technical competencies for a food service professional.     

Exit problems in regime-switching models

This paper provides a general framework for pricing of perpetual American and real options in regime-switching Lévy models. In each state of the Markov chain, which determines switches from one Lévy process to another, the payoff stream is a monotone function of the Lévy process labeled by the state. This allows for additional switching within each state of the Markov chain (payoffs can be different in different regions of the real line). The pricing procedure is efficient even if the number of states is large provided the transition rates are not very large w.r.t. the riskless rates. The payoffs and riskless rates may depend on a state. Special cases are stochastic volatility models and models with stochastic interest rate; both must be modeled as finite-state Markov chains. As an application, we solve exit problems for a price-taking firm, and study the dependence of the exit threshold on the interest rate uncertainty.     

When does incentive compensation motivate managerial behaviors? An experimental investigation of the fit between incentive compensation,executive core self-evaluation,and firm performance

We develop and test an integrative model that examines the fit between compensation schemes, executives' characteristics, and situational factors. We propose that a fit among all three factors is crucial to motivate desirable managerial behaviors. Using a specially designed management simulation, our study demonstrates that the effectiveness of incentive compensation to motivate managerial behaviors depends on executives' core self-evaluation and firm performance. Our results show that, relative to fixed salary compensation, executives with higher core self-evaluation respond to incentive compensation with greater perseverance, competitive strategy focus, ethical behavior, and strategic risk taking during organizational decline. However, these interaction effects are not present during organizational growth. Our theory and empirical evidence provide significant insights into the complex relationships among compensation schemes, executives' characteristics, firm performance, and managerial behaviors. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Effects of Information and Cognitive Processes on Decision Making

This article examines the efficacy of a two-stage cognitive model of decision making within the context of loan decisions. A covariance structural analysis of the cognitive processes that loan officers and MBA students used to reach loan decisions was examined through measures designed to test the proposed two-stage processing model. The results indicated that, during the first stage of cognitive processing, conceptually-driven and data-driven perceptual biases caused different assessments of loan information. The results also indicated that judgments made during the second phase of processing significantly affected decision choice. The well documented conservatism bias was also evident in the results. The result was that experienced loan officers did not out-perform novice students on most of the loan decisions. The relative usefulness of the two-stage model is discussed and general suggestions for future decision making research are offered.     

A Multi-Stage Model of Decision Bias: Implications for Expert Systems

The study of the bias processes that affect decision making is crucial in designing expert systems. This study proposes a multi-stage model for decision biases which reconceptualizes cognitive styles and decision heuristics within a framework that borrows heavily from research by Posner and McLeod (1982), Tversky and Kahneman (1973) and Ramaprasad (1987). The framework is tested within the context-bound area of loan making so that the biasing effects of prior experience on decision making can be examined. The results are analyzed with a path-modeling technique (i.e. covariance structural modeling) that allows testing for indirect as well as direct effects. The results are discussed in terms of the implications for expert systems development