Work systems,corporate strategy and global markets: creative shop floors or ‘a barge mentality’?

In the US, corporate restructuring of financial and physical assets as well as work systems has been widespread. Our study examines the inter-relationship between ‘creative’ work systems and ‘destructive’ markets, using a sample of US manufacturing firms in the metalworking, jet engine production and steel processing industries.     

An exploratory study of environmental attitudes and the willingness to pay for environmental certification in Mexico

This paper explores how environmental attitudes of consumers in Mexico influence their willingness to pay a premium (or, marginal WTP) for environmentally-certified products. In addition, we also challenge the theoretical assumption that the relationship between environmental attitudes and purchasing is linear. We test our hypotheses with an analysis of marginal WTP based on a survey of 301 Mexican consumers. Using conjoint analysis to determine marginal WTP, we find support for the idea that as attitudes become more pro-environmental, they more than proportionally boost marginal WTP. We conclude our paper by discussing implications for research and practice that focus on environmental segments of consumers.     

Jumps in equilibrium prices and market microstructure noise

Asset prices observed in financial markets combine equilibrium prices and market microstructure noise. In this paper, we study how to tell apart large shifts in equilibrium prices from noise using high frequency data. We propose a new nonparametric test which allows us to asymptotically remove the noise from observable price data and to discover jumps in fundamental asset values. We provide its asymptotic distribution to decide when such jumps occur. In finite samples, our test offers reasonable power for distinguishing between noise and jumps. Empirical evidence indicates that it is necessary to incorporate the presence of jumps in equilibrium prices.     

Attitudes Towards Genetically Modified Food with a Specific Consumer Benefit in Food Allergic Consumers and Non‐food Allergic Consumers

The aim of the reported study was to investigate attitudes towards genetically modified food with a specific consumer benefit. Fifty food allergic and one hundred non‐allergic consumers took part in a telephone interview study in each of Austria, Spain and the Netherlands. Participants were first asked about their purchase intentions for an unspecified genetically modified food. Next, participants were asked about their purchase intentions for a genetically modified food with a specific consumer benefit. Food allergic consumers were asked about ‘low‐allergen food’ produced using genetic modification and non‐allergic consumers were asked about ‘food that benefits your health’ produced using genetic modification. It was found that intention to purchase genetically modified food with these specific benefits was higher than intention to purchase an unspecified genetically modified food.     

Disinvestment in health— the challenges facing general practitioner (GP) commissioners

The economic downturn is placing increasing pressure on the financing of health care. For many health care providers, this means difficult decisions need to be made over what will and will not be funded. The NHS has not typically been good at decommissioning and disinvesting in services. The recent proposed changes to the commissioning function will mean that clinicians will have a leading role in population-based priority-setting. This could well enhance the quest for legitimacy in relation to difficult resource allocation decisions. However, it is unlikely that GPs alone will be able to meet the challenges ahead, and reasonable disinvestment decisions will require GPs to engage with a number of stakeholders including government, interest groups and the wider civic society.     

Some simple mathematical models for adoption processes: The case of the comprehensive school reform in Norway

This article reviews simple mathematical models which have been or may be used for adoptation processes. Each model's role in the explanation process is analyzed.

The case of the spread of the comprehensive school reform in Norway is used to ilustrate an adoption process. The logistic, or chain-reaction model, and a normal model for independent adoption are emphasized. The fit of the curves for the provinces and the whole country favors the logistic model. Evidence of a “neighborhood effect” at the micro-level also points to a communication process.