Bargaining with Voluntary Transmission of Private Information: Does the Use of Final Offer Arbitration Impede Settlement?

We identify two features of final offer arbitration (FOA) whichmay impede settlement in a bargaining game where asymmetricinformation drives the failure to settle. First, under FOA theinformed party has an incentive to conceal private informationabout the expected outcome in arbitration from his bargainingpartner. Revealing this information allows the previously uninformedparty to submit a more advantageous offer to the arbitratorto the detriment of the informed party. Second, in a two-typemodel, the uninformed player may choose to arbitrate all cases,a result which never occurs in a simple litigation game. Eachplayer's offer directly affects the outcome of arbitration underFOA, and it is this feature that generates impediments to settlementthat are not observed in a simple litigation game. Both impedimentsto settlement are removed if bargaining is allowed to take placeafter potentially binding offers have been submitted to thearbitrator.     

Transitions Off Welfare: An Examination of Demographic, Socioeconomic, and Motivational Predictors

A three-wave longitudinal study of 1071 female Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP) recipients was conducted to examine predictors of welfare outcomes in the context of the 1996 federal welfare reform act. In addition to the demographic and socioeconomic variables that typically have been examined in the welfare literature, motivational variables (i.e., achievement motivation and goal commitment) that have been touted to be important by the popular press and in qualitative studies but never systematically measured were examined.     

Operating NPD innovatively with different technologies under a variant social environment

Under the increasingly competitive global market, a firm simply can not survive without new products developed under network cooperation, especially for high-tech industries. Even though new product development (NPD) can be carried out in customer–supplier collaboration, only some products can be developed successfully at the end. Therefore, how to increase the possibility of having more successful NPD is a critical issue for a firm. This paper, by reviewing literature and analyzing theories, first analyzes the characteristics of strategic project of NPD, including knowledge creation model, development process, product and technology maturity. Then, three-dimension elements, consisting of knowledge management methods, linkage adjustment positioning and development process differentiation, are proposed to be adopted in the NPD process in order to obtain an optimal integration effect in network cooperation. As a result, an innovative, efficient and effective NPD can be elevated and achieved. Finally, the balanced scorecard (BSC) associated with fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) is used to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Licensing versus direct investment: implications for economic growth

We develop a symmetric two country model of foreign direct investment (FDI) that captures the internalization decision and its implications for both the rate and magnitude of innovations. When mode choice (licensing versus FDI) is fixed, a subsidy to multinational production increases the rate but decreases the size of innovations. When mode can switch, the rate and size of innovations both increase, provided the subsidy is not too large. Although innovation size decreases for industries where firms already were choosing FDI, innovation size increases for industries where firms switch from licensing to FDI because multinationals choose larger innovations than licensors.     

Linking business education,campus culture and community: The Bentley Service-Learning Project

This article describes the service-learning project at Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts. The Bentley Service-Learning Project (BSLP) has served as a catalyst for instituting the value of social responsibility into the business curriculum. With over 25% of the full-time faculty integrating service-learning into their courses, Bentley has had over 3000 students using their business skills to assist community agencies. The BSLP has helped to create an environment where business students, faculty, staff and administrators come together to work with and learn from the surrounding communities.Amy L. Kenworthy is the Administrative Coordinator of the Bentley Service-Learning Project. Her primary responsibilities include supervising the grant and scholarship student programs, developing service-learning course components through faculty outreach, integrating concepts of TQM into the BSLP, coordinating college/community partnerships and facilitating program development for Bentley faculty and staff. Her research interests include social responsibility, business ethics and corporate contributions.     

An examination of cost management behavior in small restaurant firms

The purpose of this study is to test cost management behavior of small restaurant firms and identify whether managers of these small restaurants behave differently depending on their management and ownership structure. The sample was comprised of 87 small restaurant firms identified from the 1998 Survey of Small Business Finances (SSBF). Cost of doing business, size of staff, and five performance measures were used as dependent variables. Independent variables included management and ownership type. Study findings identified significant differences in the profit margin depending on management type and ownership percentage of the primary owner. We also find that the cost of doing business (total expenses) varies depending upon single-family majority/minority ownership and the ownership percentage of the primary owner. The results support the notion that small restaurant firms are operated differently depending on their management and ownership structure.     

A simultaneous equations model of the hotel room supply and demand in Hong Kong

The purpose of the study is to identify the important factors that influence the hotel room supply and demand, and their overall impact on the Hong Kong hotel industry. Nineteen years of time series data are used and a simultaneous equations econometric model is employed. The overall goodness-of-fit of both demand and supply models is very high, suggesting high predictive power. Empirical results indicate that “hotel room price” and “tourist arrivals” are significant factors driving the demand for hotel rooms. In addition, “1990–91 recession” and “the 1997–98 Asian financial crisis” had a significant negative impact on the demand for hotel rooms in Hong Kong. At the same time, “hotel room quantity demanded”, “room occupancy rate”, “last period's room price”, “labor cost”, “last period's average price of Grade A private offices”, and “the Asian financial crisis” all have a significant impact on room price in the short run.