A Risk Analysis of the Ontario White Bean Sector

This paper examines the sources of variability in Ontario white bean production. Utilizing variance decomposition procedures, it shows that the changes over time in the average and variance of production are due largely to changes in the corresponding measures for acreage rather than yield. The increase in the variance of real revenue per acre over time is also decomposed to reveal that the increase in price dispersion is the largest contributor to the increase in revenue variance. Accurate measurements of the sources of increased variability can help target policies to reduce or offset the effects of instability.
Les auteurs tentent d'expliquer la variabilityé de la production de haricots blancs en Ontario. Aprés décomposition de la variance, on constate que les fluctuations de la moyenne et de la variance de la production résultent en grande partie d'une modification des mesures de la superficie plutôt que du rendement. On a également décomposé le relévement de la variance du revenu réel par acre, et constaté que la dispersion accrue des prix est le principal facteur à l'origine de la plus grande variance du revenu. Une mesure précise des sources de variabilityé accrue pourrait faciliter l'élaboration de politiques susceptibles d'atténuer ou de compenser les conséquences d'une telle instabilityé.     

DELPHI Findings about Internet Systems Problems, with Implications for Other Technologies

This article first reports the results of an on-line DELPHI Questionnaire study of the management problems of Internet/Web systems development. The study results indicate two "most important' clusters of problems: those that are concerned with strategy-related issues, and those that are concerned with data integrity and privacy issues. The first group is generally rated as being more important than the second. The article briefly discusses the overall results of the study. Thereafter the article is devoted to the "strategy' category of problems, with attention to the findings of other studies, including six prior similar-methodology DELPHI studies involving problems of managing technologies in other technology realms. Strategy problems are ranked among the most important technology management problems in all of the fields of these studies. A broad industry and academic effort to deal with the strategy and planning problem seems necessary to establish strategy theory and best practices for planning that are useful across many technology fields.     

EXPENSE PREFERENCE AND MINORITY BANKING: A NOTE

Previous research has concluded that, in comparison to nonminority institutions, minority-owned banks have lower profitability and higher operating costs. This note examines such findings in the context of the expense preference theory of managerial behavior. Rather than focusing on the effect of regulated product markets, however, this research investigated whether imperfections in the capital markets, introduced through government deposit programs making low-cost funds available to participating minority banks, were associated with expense preference practices by minority bank managers. The results suggest that managers of minority banks did not practice the traditional forms of expense preference but instead appeared to act in a manner consistent with public policy objectives.     

The perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility on organizational effectiveness: A survey of marketers

A necessary but insufficient condition for marketers to act ethically and be socially responsible is that they must perceive ethics and social responsibility to be important. However, little is known about marketers’ perceptions regarding the importance of ethics and social responsibility components of business decisions. The objectives of this study are (1)to assess the marketing practitioners’ perceptions regarding the importance of ethics and social responsibility in achieving organizational effectiveness, and (2) to analyze the relative influences of selected personal characteristics and organizational factors underlying a marketer’s perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility. The results from a mail survey of American Marketing Association members indicate that the marketers generally believe that ethics and social responsibility are important components of organizational effectiveness. The results partly indicate that there is a positive relationship between a marketer’s corporate ethical values and his or her perceptions regarding the importance of ethics and social responsibility. The results also indicate that the marketers’ perceptions regarding ethics and social responsibility can be explained by idealism and relativism. He has also served on the marketing faculty at Thammasat University, Thailand. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Mississippi. His research focusing on marketing ethics and social responsibility has been published inJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Macromarketing, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, and elsewhere. He received his D.B.A. in management from the University of Maryland. His work on business ethics, organizational design, and strategic planning has been published inAcademy of Management Review, American Business Review, andJournal of Business Ethics. His current research interest centers on the measurement of moral intensity. He received his Ph.D. from Texas Tech University. His work has appeared inJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Macromarketing, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, Research in Marketing, and elsewhere. He received his Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Mississippi. His research has been published inJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management, Journal of Social and Administrative Pharmacy, and elsewhere. His research interests include marketing ethics, health care marketing, international marketing, and direct marketing.     

Resolving large financial intermediaries: Banks versus housing enterprises

This paper examines the policy issues associated with resolving the possible failure of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac (housing enterprises). It compares and contrasts these issues with those raised in the context of large bank failures and also identifies important differences in the extant supervisory authorities. Based on these discussions, a number of policy suggestions are offered to minimize the cost of resolution and protect taxpayers from loss should a large bank or housing enterprise fail.     

Equity Issuance,CEO Turnover and Corporate Governance

There is substantial evidence on the effect of external market discipline on chief executive turnover decisions in poorly performing companies. In this study we present evidence on the role of institutional monitoring in these decisions through the equity issuance process. We find that firms which undertake equity offerings are associated with an increased rate of forced CEO turnover that is focused on the managers of poorly performing companies. At the same time, equity offerings increase the likelihood of a new CEO being appointed from outside the current management team. We also provide evidence that independent boards are more likely to forcibly remove CEOs from their position, although this is not conditional on poor performance.     

Economies of Scale and Scope in Australian Telecommunications

This paper employs a composite cost function toexamine the cost structure of Australian telephoneservices. The composite cost model combines thelog-quadratic input price structure of the translogmodel with a quadratic structure for multiple outputs. Quadratic output structures permit the measurement ofeconomies of scale, economies of scope, andsubadditivity without prejudging their presence. Model estimates, on Telstra system data from 1926 to1991, show that the production of Australian telephoneservices exhibits economies of scope but no rayeconomies of scale.     

A positive analysis of corporate capital budgeting practices

Although the academic literature has long argued that discounted cash flow methods are superior to other capital budgeting rules, these methods have only fairly recently come into widespread use. This article points out that there are both costs and benefits to using discounting rules such as net present value. Therefore, they may often not work better in practice than nondiscounting methods. Empirically, the use of discounting methods is positively correlated with market interest rates and the dissemination of information about these tools and negatively correlated with the degree of uncertainty in the economy, which is consistent with our hypotheses.