Bhopal,India and Union Carbide: The second tragedy

The paper examines the legal, ethical, and public policy issues involved in the Union Carbide gas leak in India which caused the deaths of over 3000 people and injury to thousands of people. The paper begins with a historical perspective on the operating environment in Bhopal, the events surrounding the accident, then discusses an international situation audit examining internal strengths and weaknesses, and external opportunities and threats faced by Union Carbide at the time of the accident. There is a discussion of management of the various interests involved in international public relations and ethical issues. A review of the financial ratio analysis of the company prior and subsequent to the accident follows, then an examination of the second tragedy of Bhopal — the tragic failure of the international legal system to adequately and timely compensate victims of the accident.The paper concludes with recommendations towards public policy, as well as a call for congressional action regarding international safety of U.S. based multinational operations.Clayton Trotter is a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law and College of Business Administration. Currently, he teaches in both the College of Business and the School of Law at Texas Tech University; and was formerly Associate Professor of Law at the Coburn School of Law in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He has taught courses in Real Estate Law, Corporations, International Business Transations, and Business Law.Mr. Trotter has been attorney of record in a number of contested civil cases and has appeared in the Fifth and Seventh United States Circuit Court of Appeals on such cases. He is licensed in Texas, Florida and the Supreme Court of the United States.He has authored a number of articles on business related legal matters.Susan G. Day is a Texas Real Estate Broker, Escrow Agent, and Insurance Agent. She graduated from Texas Tech University with a major in Business Administration with an emphasis on Management. She currently attends Texas Tech University pursuing a graduate degree in Education.Susan is Past President of the Toastmasters International group at Texas Tech University giving speeches and lectures on real estate and law. In addition, Susan is a member of the following associations at Texas Tech University: Society for Advancement of Management, Marketing Association, Tech Management Association, Lubbock Legal Secretaries Association, National Association for Female Executives and the Ex-Students Association.Amy E. Love graduated Magna Cum Laude in December, 1988 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Management from Texas Tech University. Her long range goals include graduate school where she would like to emphasize finance. Amy is a member of the Society for Advancement of Management, Golden Key National Honor Society, Gamma Sigma Honor Society, and Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society.     

The effect of customers' emotional responses to service failures on their recovery effort evaluations and satisfaction judgments

This study examines the role of customer emotions in the context of service failure and recovery encounters. It investigates how customers' emotional responses to service failures influence their satisfaction judgments after accounting for cognitive antecedents of satisfaction. The study also considers how customers' emotional responses to service failures influence how they evaluate an organization's recovery efforts. The research is conducted by surveying customers about their satisfaction judgments in two service settings, restaurants and hotels. The results suggest that customers' emotional responses to service failures will influence their recovery effort evaluations and satisfaction judgments in some circumstances and that the effects of emotion vary across industry settings. This study identifies the types of efforts that are most effective in helping customers “recover” from the negative emotions caused by service failures. Amy K. Smith (Ph.D., University of Maryland) is currently an assistant professor of marketing at George Washington University. Her research focuses on customer assessments of services, customer satisfaction and retention, customer service, serice failure and recovery, and customer-service provider relationships in both business-to-consumer and business-to-business markets. Her research has been published in the Journal of Marketing Research and the Journal of Service Research. Ruth N. Bolton is currently a Ruby K. Powell Professor of Marketing in the Michael F. Price College of Business at the University of Oklahoma. Her research focuses on how organizations can growth the value of their customer base through customer service and support. Her research has been published in the Journal of Retailing, the Journal of Marketing, Marketing Science, Marketing Letters, the Journal of Marketing Research, and the Journal of Service Research.     

Market share and price determination in the contemporary airline industry

This paper examines airline pricing and market structure determination for domestic airport-pair routes. The model includes variables to control for the effects of congestion, consumer brand preferences, barriers to entry into airports, and multiple airport availability within a city. The results indicate the noncontestability of airline markets, but certain factors can mitigate a carrier's endpoint dominance. Additionally, the need for policies addressing airport congestion is indicated by several aspects of model results.     

The dynamics of long-term business-to-business exchange relationships

A framework for business-to-business interaction is proposed that integrates approaches to bargaining from social psychology and economics to provide a conceptual paradigm emphasizing long-term exchange relationships rather than individual transactions. The authors propose a classification of negotiation behavior along two continuous dimensions and examine the mechanics of the dyadic negotiation process that translate negotiation behavior into long-term relationships. They suggest that exchange relationships are formed by achieving mutually beneficial outcomes from a series of exchange transactions and that there is a bi-directional link between negotiation behavior and exchange relationships mediated by negotiation outcomes. The framework also explores the determinants of negotiation behavior in dyadic negotiations between businesses in terms of organizational, individual, and “other party” influences. Propositions are developed, using both role theory and economic bargaining theory, to support the overall framework. Finally, the classification of negotiation behavior is revisited to examine the evolution of exchange relationships over time. She received her Ph.D. from Georgia State University. Her research interests include attitude and choice models, services marketing, customer satisfaction, and business-to-business relationships. She has published articles in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of Business Research, Psychology and Marketing, Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction, and Complaining Behavior, and theJournal of Health Care Management, as well as various conference proceedings. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. His research interests include organizational buying behavior, negotiation strategies, small group dynamics, and cross-cultural differences in buyer-seller interactions. His research has been published in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of International Business Studies, andIndustrial Marketing Management, as well as numerous conference proceedings. She also holds an M.B.A. from the Uni- versity of Tennessee. Her research interests include consumer value determination, consumer satisfaction, and business-to-business relationships.     

A Comparison of Bundling and Sequential Pricing in Competitive Markets: Experimental Evidence

Technological advances enable sellers to identify relationships among offered goods. Sellers can leverage this information through pricing strategies such as bundling and sequential pricing. While these strategies have primarily been studied under monopoly assumptions, the strategies are available to competitive firms as well. This paper reports on a series of laboratory experiments comparing bundling and sequential pricing while varying the underlying relationship between the goods in markets where a fraction of buyers comparison shop. The results indicate that sequential pricing is generally as profitable to the seller; however, there is evidence that sequential pricing may be more harmful to consumers than bundling when the goods have complementary values or the buyer’s values are positively correlated.     

Do actions speak louder than words? An empirical investigation of corporate environmental reputation

In this study, we investigate the extent to which firms’ environmental performance is reflected in perceptions of their environmental reputation and whether environmental disclosure serves to mediate the negative aspects of poorer environmental performance associated with those assessments. We also examine whether differences in environmental performance and environmental disclosure appear to be associated with membership selection to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), a factor we also believe may be associated with perceptions of environmental reputation. Based on a cross-sectional sample of 92 US firms from environmentally sensitive industries, we find that environmental performance measured using Trucost environmental performance scores is negatively related to both reputation scores and membership in the DJSI. We argue this is due to the more extensive disclosure levels of firms that are worse performers and the finding of a significant positive relation between environmental disclosure and both the environmental reputation measures and DJSI membership. Finally, we show that the DJSI designation positively influences perceptions of corporate reputation. Overall, our results suggest that voluntary environmental disclosure appears to mediate the effect of poor environmental performance on environmental reputation. Perhaps more troubling, our results also suggest that membership in the DJSI appears to be driven more by what firms say than what they do. Thus, like voluntary disclosure, the DJSI may actually be hindering improved future corporate environmental performance.     

Partnerships and production: Agriculture and polygyny in Tanzanian households

Women make important contributions to household food production in sub‐Saharan Africa. Women's agricultural productivity is often reduced, however, by inefficient intrahousehold allocation of agricultural resources. Complex marital structures found in polygynous households may complicate resource allocation. Using three waves of the Tanzania Living Standards Measurement Survey–Integrated Survey on Agriculture, we measure the effect of the marital structure, wife position, and plot management on agricultural productivity and input allocations. We find evidence of cooperation within polygynous households. Plots managed by husbands and wives in polygynous households produce more valuable crops, have higher yields, and are more likely to use fertilizer than their monogamous counterparts. Within polygynous households, we observe that plots jointly managed by husbands, first wives, and second wives (together) have significantly more family labor than plots managed by husbands and first wives. This result may provide evidence of different production technologies across plot managers within the same households.