Raising the bar of professionalism in futures studies

This article gives a behind-the-scenes look at how Joe Coates has been fulfilling an agent provocateur role for futures studies in the continuing high quality of his work and his watchdog-like role over the output of the field as a whole.     

Partnership with and without trade unions in the UK financial services: filling or fuelling the representation gap?

Partnership theory proposes that an appropriate integration of direct and indirect employee participation mutually benefits the workers and the company. This study explores the putative employee voice gains and the risks for union effectiveness by comparing employees' evaluation of partnership practices at two financial service companies with non‐union and union employee representation, respectively.     

21st‐century models of employee representation: structures,processes and outcomes

The 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey allows further exploration of the fate or workplace‐based forms of employee representation charted by earlier surveys. We describe the occurrence and diversity of representational forms, union, non‐union and ‘hybrid’, and the structural characteristics of workplaces where they are found. We go on to analyse a number of structural and processual differences and differences in outcomes. In particular, we try to estimate the effects of different forms for outcomes such as wage dispersion, procedural ‘fairness’ and productivity. The data show that ‘hybrid’ systems of union and non‐union representation are associated with the best outcomes, therefore, notwithstanding the continuing decline in the diffusion of the ‘traditional’ union‐based model of workplace representation, union presence is still a prerequisite for effective representation, while ‘pure’ non‐union forms serve neither employee nor employer interests.     

Location choice with delegation: Bertrand vs. Cournot competition

The conventional wisdom indicates that firms' optimal locations are sensitive to the modes of product-market competition, leading to a difficulty for firms to make concrete location decisions. This difficulty is especially crucial for the high entry-cost firms. The paper develops an uncovered-market model à la Economides (1984) to explore this sensitivity by taking into account a delegation game. It shows that firms' location configurations remain unchanged regardless of the modes of product-market competition as the owners offer the managers a contract with a relative-performance incentive scheme. Moreover, the paper shows that, by introducing a delegation game, the competition between managers under Bertrand competition is mitigated such that the managers have no incentive to choose price undercutting as they locate themselves far enough away from each other.     

Toward a theory of sustainable entrepreneurship: Reducing environmental degradation through entrepreneurial action

This article explains how entrepreneurship can help resolve the environmental problems of global socio-economic systems. Environmental economics concludes that environmental degradation results from the failure of markets, whereas the entrepreneurship literature argues that opportunities are inherent in market failure. A synthesis of these literatures suggests that environmentally relevant market failures represent opportunities for achieving profitability while simultaneously reducing environmentally degrading economic behaviors. It also implies conceptualizations of sustainable and environmental entrepreneurship which detail how entrepreneurs seize the opportunities that are inherent in environmentally relevant market failures. Finally, the article examines the ability of the proposed theoretical framework to transcend its environmental context and provide insight into expanding the domain of the study of entrepreneurship.     

Consumer stockpiling behavior in the retail gasoline market

ABSTRACT

I examine consumer stockpiling behavior in the retail gasoline market and factors that affect consumer stockpiling. Past research such as Hendel and Nevo (2006b Hendel, I. , and A.Nevo . 2006b. “Sales and Consumer Inventory.” The Rand Journal of Economics 37 (3): 543–561. doi:10.1111/(ISSN)1756-2171.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) found evidence that implies stockpiling behavior. However, they did not observe actual inventory or consumption and have to rely on simplifying assumptions about these quantities. I collected a novel data set of gasoline purchase history of consumers with actual inventory and consumption to test several hypotheses that relate consumer stockpiling to price, duration between purchases, and consumption. I found that consumers purchase more gasoline when their inventory is low and those holding high inventory are more price sensitive. Consumption habits after a purchase may change due to two forces: previous consumption habit and purchase price. The exact change in consumption and duration between purchases depends on which force is stronger.     

Show me the money: Option moneyness concentration and future stock returns

Informed traders often use options that are not in-the-money due to higher potential gains for a smaller upfront cost. Thus, trading activity by option moneyness should be a gauge of informed option trading. We construct a dollar volume-weighted average moneyness measure to capture option trading activity at different moneyness levels. Stock returns increase with this measure, suggesting more trading activity in options with higher leverage predicts future stock returns. Our results hold cross-sectionally and at the portfolio level yielding a Fama–French five-factor α of 12% per year for all stocks and 33% per year for high implied volatility stocks.     

Turnaround and failure: Resource weaknesses and the rise and fall of Jarvis

Research employing the resource-based view (RBV) has overwhelming focused on the upside of resources, namely those that provide benefit to the firm. However, an emerging research stream suggests that the downside of resources, namely resource weaknesses, may be crucial in gaining a greater understanding of the key factors that contribute to firm performance and the ability to turnaround failing companies. We examine the infamous case of Jarvis, a firm that achieved a turnaround, but then experienced catastrophic failure. In so doing we explore the emergence of resource weaknesses, their nature and ability to combine to create a fatal organisational outcome.     

In search of heterotopia? Motivations of visitors to an English cathedral

This paper explores visitor motivations at an English cathedral, and the role that heterotopia plays in their motives. More than a third of visitors to Chichester Cathedral appear to be motivated by a subconscious search for a spiritual experience, hidden by rational motives such as interest in history. It concludes by examining the management implications that arise from a potential lack of understanding about visitors' motivations. Cathedral managers should acknowledge their visitors' intrinsic sense of spirituality and recognise their spiritual motivations through interpretation, which should encourage them to explore their personal narratives around the emotional dimension of visiting a cathedral. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.