Setting new standards for customer advocacy

Dell Computer Corporation pioneered the direct marketing of personal computers in 1984 and became the first company in the PC industry to offer manufacturer-direct technical support. According to surveys of corporate buyers, the company provides the best after-sale service and support of any computer maker. Here's how Dell has institutionalized the delivery of customer satisfaction.     

Regional development in Transkei

This paper identifies the main issues that development in Transkei must address. These are job creation, food production and the upgrading of manpower productivity through appropriate education and training.

The first section gives statistical information on unemployment and food production. The second part discusses national development priorities and strategies as determined by the economic development planners and approved by the Government. The emphasis of the plan is small scale operations that can be operated and managed by the people themselves. The third section examines the development that is actually taking place against the approved national development priorities. Finally some of the policies and practices that are in conflict with what the country is seeking to achieve are highlighted.     

Some specifics on the loss of professional personnel from the Commonwealth Caribbean

The present study is concerned with migration from the Commonwealth Caribbean to the United States. The focus is on the migration of professionals, or the brain drain.     

Exclusive Contracts And Market Power: Evidence From Ocean Shipping

There is a substantial theoretical literature on the potential effects of loyalty contracts, but relatively little empirical work. We employ the event study methodology to examine the competitive effects of exclusionary contracts in the ocean shipping industry, where they were the subject of an extended legal and political struggle. We find that some of the most important events in this conflict caused significant changes in shipping firms' stock returns, indicating exclusive contracts increased their profits. We then examine the effect of these events on net exporting industries' stock returns, and provide evidence that these contracts contributed to carriers' market power.