Future-oriented technology analysis as a driver of strategy and policy

The methodology known as strategic foresight is an important tool to be used in long-term strategic planning activities and in support of the decision making process in public as well as private sectors. This article addresses the use of strategic foresight applied to the strategic management plan for an agency that deals with the funding and promotion for the development of science, technology and innovation in Brazil, and the logic that permeated its construction, promoting an alliance of the concepts of strategy and foresight. It has as key elements the long-term vision and the adoption of participatory approach and qualitative and quantitative methods. The methodological framework involved the use of different techniques, methods and tools, including, among others, web survey, diagnosis, SWOT, future timeline, interviews, workshops and strategic roadmap.     

Taking time to understand theory

Purpose of the paper and literature addressedThe purpose of this paper is to examine how one of the most cited theories in sociology, structuration theory, might help inform our understanding of time in business networks. Structuration theory deals with the creation and maintenance of ideas and structures as well as with change and continuity processes. It defines a social system as any set of practices, patterns of interaction and social relationships that are relatively enduring.Research methodThis is a conceptual paper.Main contributionThis paper outlines improved theoretical and methodological bases in industrial marketing research, which specifically takes into consideration time. This new understanding draws upon Giddens structuration theory, and more recent critiques of his work.     

Towards a social economy, or is it a “third sector”?

Peter Welch and Malcolm Coles, 1994: Towards a Social Economy -Trading for a Social Purpose. London: Fabian Society, Fabian Pamphlet 564, £3.50 paper.

Roger Spear, Aude Leonetti and Alan Thomas, 1994: Third Sector Care: Prospects for Co-operatives and other Small Care Providers. Milton Keynes: Open University.

Perri 6 and Isabel Vidal (eds) 1994: Delivering Welfare: Repositioning Non-profit and Co-operative Action in Western European Welfare States. Barcelona: Centre d'Iniciatives de l'Economia Social.     

Tax loss selling and the contrarian investment strategy

Tax loss selling is examined as a possible explanation for the long term price reversal patterns associated with the contrarian investment strategy. Our empirical results are consistent with a tax effect. When we adjust for size and potential tax loss selling, the abnormally high returns previously found in January are eliminated. These results suggest that short term tax effects are associated with the longer term overreaction or contrarian hypothesis, and at this point cannot be dismissed.     

Further evidence of the November effect

Tax-loss selling by individuals has long been thought to be a major factor driving the January effect. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 changed the tax-year end for mutual funds to October 31 and increased the marginal tax rate, creating a natural experiment allowing Bhabra, Dhillon, and Ramirez (1999) to empirically test the tax-selling hypothesis. They find empirical support for a postact November effect. However, a second paper by Gibson, Safieddine, and Titman (2000) finds empirical support for the November effect in only one post-act year, 1990. In this article, we respecify betas, calculate holding period returns over each tax year, construct portfolios with large, differences in mutual fund ownership, and test for the presence of a bid-ask spread bias. The empirical results offer evidence of a November effect but only in the first week of November.     

Just-in-time: maximizing its success potential

The effective implementation and use of JIT manufacturing practices depends largely on the education, training, and commitment of all levels of management to a fundamental quality-first policy. Management must transfer and demonstrate that commitment to every level and extension of the manufacturing endeavor. As a company establishes and reaches toward that goal, the move to JIT manufacturing practices becomes rational and justifiable. Failing to establish and commit to a quality directive greatly diminishes the potential benefits of JIT. If all levels of manufacturing participate in the JIT planning, implementing, and maintenance procedure, the realization of positive change and improvement drives the process. Total participation makes the task of JIT implementation not only possible, but practical. Enhanced mutual respect for all concerned is a likely consequence, advancing the productive environment.