Static profitability as a measure of deviations from the competitive norm

Recently, several industrial-organization economists have claimed that the rate of return on sales (II/S) is superior to the rate or return on assets (II/K) as a measure of monopoly power. This paper argues that there is no reason to prefer one index over the other. To make the point, an oligopoly model of optimizing agents is derived that yields II/K as a performance measure. The derivation leads to natural interpretations of the two indices and therefore to clarification of the circumstances under which each might be preferred.     

Export oriented growth of output and employment in Taiwan and Korea, 1973/74—1983/84

Zusammenfassung Exportorientiertes Wachstum von Produktion und Besch?ftigung in Taiwan und Korea von 1973/74 bis 1983/84. — Die exportorientierte Industrialisierung in Taiwan und Korea begann in den sechziger Jahren. Jedoch gab es in den siebziger Jahren externe Schocks, welche für diese beiden dynamischen Volkswirtschaften eine Bedrohung darstellten. Die beiden untersuchten L?nder reagierten auf die externen Schocks in unterschiedlicher Weise. Korea begann in der zweiten H?lfte der siebziger Jahre, die Schwerindustrie auszubauen, w?hrend Taiwan die internationale Wettbewerbsf?higkeit seiner kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen zu verst?rken suchte. Die Autoren dieses Aufsatzes benutzen ein Input/Output-Modell, um die unterschiedlichen Wirkungen auf Wachstum und Besch?ftigung zu zeigen, die sich aus diesen verschiedenen Reaktionen in der Zeit von 1974 bis 1984 ergaben. Im ganzen scheint das Vorgehen Taiwans erfolgreicher gewesen zu sein, um Exporte, Besch?ftigung und Strukturwandel zu f?rdern.

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Résumé L’accroissement de l’output orienté vers l’exportation et l’emploi au Taiwan et en Corée, 1973/74—1983/84. — L’industrialisation qui est orientée vers l’exportation au Taiwan et en Corée a commencé dans les années 1960. Cependant, dans les années 1970 des chocs extérieurs ont menacé ces deux économies dynamiques. Ces deux pays ont réagit sur ces chocs d’une manière différente. La Corée a initié une stratégie de l’industrialisation concentrée sur l’industrie lourde dans la deuxième moitié des années 1970. Le Taiwan a mis l’accent sur l’augmentation de la compétitivité internationale de ses entreprises de taille petite et moyenne. Dans l’étude présente on utilise un modèle ?input-output? pour montrer les effets des actions différentes sur l’accroissement de la production et de l’emploi pendant les années 1974 à 1984. En général, il semble que la stratégie économique de Taiwan a eu plus de succès à stimuler l’exportation, l’emploi et le changement structurel.

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Resumen El crecimiento del producto y del empleo orientado hacia las exportaciones en Taiwan y Corea 1973/74—1983/84. — La industrialización orientada hacia las exportaciones comenzó en Taiwán y Corea en la década de los sesenta. En los afios setenta, empero, shocks externos significaron una amenaza para estas economías dinámicas. Las respuestas de ambos divergieron durante la década de shocks externos. Corea inició una estrategia de industrialización pesada en la segunda mitad de los a?os setenta. Taiwán enfatizó la creciente competitividad de sus empresas de escala peque?a y mediana. En este trabajo se utiliza un modelo insumo-producto para mostrar las diferencias en los efectos de crecimiento y empleo de estas diferentes respuestas durante el período 1974–1984. En general, el enfoque de Taiwan parece haber sido el mejor en promover las exportaciones, el empleo y el cambio estructural.

     

The ethics of corporate governance

The failure of the critics of corporate governance to agree on what should be done to improve the governance process can, in most cases, be traced to a different understanding of the role of corporate directors in that process. This article analyzes and contrasts the obligations of directors under two legal theories, the fictional person theory and the organic theory, of the corporation. A comparison of the director's obligations under each theory indicates that the organic theory provides a better basis for assessing the performance of directors and initiating reform.Among the boards of directors of Fortune 500 companies, I estimate that 95% are not fully doing what they are legally, morally, and ethically supposed to do. And they couldn't, even if they wanted to.E. Eugene Arthur, S.J., is Associate Professor of Management and Economics at Rockhurst College. He is a Visiting Fellow at Trinity Center for Ethics and Corporate Policy.     

Operationalization,a superfluous concept

This paper discusses a number of issues in the methodology of social and behavioral sciences which concern how concepts are defined and related to observations, how theories are constructed, and how we proceed in actual research. Examples are mainly taken from experimental psychology, and from social psychology, but the problems and answers apply to the whole of behavioral and social sciences. These issues are related to philosophy of science. They are, however, presented from the point of view of a researcher who asks himself how to proceed in actual research, and who is critical about the present status of social and behavioral science. The main point is a pledge for a renewed empiricism. This is close to what can be called logical empiricism but should not be identified with any particular-ism. Some issues raised by critics of logical empiricism are addressed in the final section. The first problem deals with how to clarify concepts in behavioral and social science. This will show an unresolvable circularity in operationalization of theoretical constructs. The position and role of measurement is discussed in relation to the objectives of behavioral and social research. Subsequently, it is pointed out that a clear distinction between empirical concepts and theoretical constructs solves many, if not all of the problems of defining and clarifying concepts, thereby obviating the need for a so-called operationalization. It should, however, be very clear from the beginning that we cannot do without operational definitions of theoretical concepts, and that to some extent we must return to the original spirit of operationism, although in a manner which is different from current practice. An important element of the advocated approach is the definition of the empirical domain of a theory in terms of observational categories. Guttman's facet design can be a useful tool to define domains, especially for non-experimental research.     

ESTIMATING SOURCES OF FLUCTUATIONS IN THE AUSTRALIAN WOOL MARKET: AN APPLICATION OF VAR METHODS

Vector autoregression (VAR) methods are used to analyse the contribution of supply, demand and policy shocks to unpredictable fluctuations in the market for Australian wool. VAR procedures are compared with conventional structural econometric models as methods for decomposing sources of instability. While each has advantages and disadvantages, VAR procedures might be viewed as preferable when the underlying market structure is complex and uncertain, as it is in the case of wool. Based on the results obtained, demand shocks are the dominant source of uncertainty in the wool market in the absence of Australian Wool Corporation intervention, but intervention has blunted their effects, reducing market uncertainty and increasing the average level of prices and revenues.     

PRODUCTION INTERRELATIONSHIPS IN SRI LANKAN PEASANT AGRICULTURE

Technical change and the extent to which commodity supplies and input demands are interrelated in Sri Lankan peasant agriculture are explored in this paper. Using a multiple-product dual model, a seemingly unrelated system of product supply and input demand equations is estimated for four crops and four variable inputs. Restrictions based on competitive behaviour and a twice continuously-differentiable production function are maintained in the non-linear least squares estimation. A number of important interrelationships in individual product supplies and input demands are identified, further documenting the need to account for intercommodity production relationships in econometric and simulation studies and in policy formulation. Non-joint production and Hicksneutral technical change are both rejected.     

Les effets de la note de planification,des pressions temporelles et des caractéristiques individuelles du vérificateur sur l'estimation du temps de révision par le chef de groupe en vérification*

Résumé. Cette étude se penche sur l'effort en terme de temps de révision des chefs de groupe en vérification (tel que reflété par leurs estimations du temps requis pour la révision du dossier de vérification) et la mesure dans laquelle cet effort est orienté par une autre activité importante du chef de groupe: la planification initiale de la mission de vérification. La planification initiale de la vérification est conditionnée par l'identification de certaines zones critiques dans la note de planification. Les pressions temporelles et les caractéristiques individuelles du vérificateur sont également étudiées, car les recherches antérieures en vérification semblent indiquer qu'elles sont susceptibles d'influencer la révision du chef de groupe. Cette analyse est fondée sur les réponses, provenant de soixante-treize chefs de groupe de dix grands cabinets d'experts-comptables, à un cas de vérification. Les résultats indiquent que: 1) les chefs de groupe font preuve d'un consensus raisonnable en budgétisant plus de la moitié du temps de vérification pour la révision, 2) le plan initial de vérification oriente leur révision ultérieure, 3) les pressions au niveau du temps n'influencent pas de façon significative leurs estimations relatives au temps de révision, et 4) l'appartenance à un cabinet, le niveau d'expérience de vérificateur, et l'effort de planification initiale sont reliés aux différences des pratiques et des perceptions de la révision par le chef de groupe. La fin de cet article comporte une discussion des conséquences de ces résultats en regard de la pratique et des recherches ultérieures.     

Responsibility and moral reasoning: A study in Business Ethics

This essay was written for the 1984 General Motors Intercollegiate Business Understanding Program. It consists of three sections, each responding to a separate issue posed by General Motors. The opinions expressed are not those of the General Motors management.The first section attempts to document, through the use of Harvard Business Review articles, a shift in the notion of managerial responsibility from a narrowly focused role responsibility to a more widely focused moral responsibility.The second section explicates the different conceptions of Justice behind the United States and West German economic systems. It gives examples of the consequences of the different conceptions both in methods of policy formation and results.The third section deals with business ethics in international contexts. It argues that law is by itself inadequate in the regulation of business activity and must be supplemented by public discussion, which employs the traditional methods of moral reasoning.John Davis Feldmann, John Kelsay, and Hugh E. Brown III are or have been graduate students in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia. Their essay, written under the direction of James F. Childress, Edwin B. Kyle Professor of Christian Ethics, won first prize in the 1984 General Motors Intercollegiate Business Understanding Program.John D. Feldmann, currently writing a dissertation on justice and tax reform, holds a law degree from the University of Virginia. He has practiced business law, served as a Vice-President of a banking corporation, and worked for the Center for Applied Ethics at the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business Administration.John Kelsay, an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., holds a Ph.D. in Religious Ethics from the University of Virginia and has been serving as an Instructor there. His dissertation dealt with ethics and society in Islam.Hugh E. Brown III, now preparing for the Episcopal ministry at Virginia Theological Seminary, holds an M.A. in Religious Ethics from the University of Virginia. Prior to entering graduate school, he had experience in business as a supervisor for an AT&T affiliate.