Measuring the diffusion of housing prices across space and over time

How fast and how long (and to what magnitude) does a change in housing prices in one region affect its neighbors? In this paper, I apply a time series technique for measuring impulse response functions from local projections to a spatial autoregressive model of housing prices. For a dynamic panel of California counties, the data reveal that the diffusion of regional housing prices across space lasts up to two and half years. This result, and the econometric techniques employed, should be of interest not only to housing and regional economists, but to a variety of applied econometricians as well. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implications of game theory for theoretical underpinning of cooperative relations in workplace partnership

This article clarifies the ongoing debate over the key factors underpinning cooperative relations between management and trade unions by drawing on the once‐off and repeated prisoner's dilemma models. It argues that the lower the risk to achieve a ‘win‐win’ outcome and the longer the time horizon for workplace partnership, the more likely is for the two parties to cooperate.     

Concentration history and market power in US manufacturing industries

For a 1963–1992 panel of US manufacturing industries, the relationship between seller concentration and both price-cost margins (PCMs) and prices is investigated for industries divided by whether concentration has recently increased or decreased. Regressions of PCM in levels and first differences, and price equations in first differences, establish that the positive effect of concentration on prices and profits is always weaker in industries where concentration has recently increased and always stronger in industries where concentration has recently decreased. These results are attributed to the different endogeneity biases in the two samples. Increasing concentration industries are more likely the ones where leading firms have lowered prices to gain share, while decreasing concentration industries are more likely the ones where smaller firms have lowered concentration by lowering prices. An additional conclusion is that the cost-reducing effects of changes in concentration are greater for increasing concentration industries, meaning that increasing concentration industries have lower price increases compared to decreasing concentration industries.     

An Economic Model of Faculty Grading Practices

The statistical evidence examined by the author indicates that faculty members with relatively few students tend to assign higher grades than would be expected otherwise. In evaluating student achievement and faculty performance, therefore, one must not only be aware of this association, but also be able to assess its significance.     

Management — according to a wild animal?

Know anyone who talks about the business world using phrases like "a new broom sweeps clean" or "cheeky monkey" while excitedly jumping around (much to the dismay of many left-brained business executives)? If you're nodding yes, chances are you've met, read or heard L. Vaughan Spencer. If you're nodding to sleep, wake up! Stuart Crainer wants to introduce you to a whole new genus of management guru.     

The characteristics and attributes of UK firms obtaining accreditation to ISO 14001

Environmental policy in the UK has tended to reflect orthodox textbook responses, focusing upon standard setting and taxation, both impacting upon the supply side of the economy. In addition, economic agents have the option of legal recourse to settle environmental disputes. Complementing this command and control framework is a growing tendency for firms to subscribe to additional voluntary environmental standards by, for example, registering with an appropriate agency, thereby signalling to others that they have adopted a particular scheme. This growing trend has far reaching consequences for future policy decisions and for financial and environmental performance of the firms. We aim here to identify the attributes of many firms which participate in ISO 14001. We use a probit model to determine, from a vector of firm and industry characteristics at one point in time, what factors influence the probability of firms registering with ISO 14001. We then utilize survival analysis to analyse how these characteristics impact upon the ‘hazard’ of accreditation over time. If significant differences exist between 14001 firms and others, important questions arise for academics and practitioners alike. Are certain types of firm hindered by their firm characteristics? Does the scheme favour larger firms over smaller firms, or high tech firms over low tech? Why do some industries have many accreditations whilst others have none? The analysis of such issues is not only an under‐developed area of academic debate, but also of direct relevance to practitioners within the field of environmental management and policy. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

An empirical study of ethical predispositions

Using a two-part instrument consisting of eight vignettes and twenty character traits, the study sampled 141 employees of a mid-west financial firm regarding their predispositions to prefer utilitarian or formalist forms of ethical reasoning. In contrast with earlier studies, we found that these respondents did not prefer utilitarian reasoning. Several other hypotheses were tested involving the relationship between (1) people's preferences for certain types of solutions to issues and (2) the forms of reasoning they use to arrive at those solutions; the nature of the relationship between utilitarian and formalist categories; and the possibility of measuring ethical predispositions using different methods. F. Neil Brady is Professor of Public Management and Associate Director for the Center for the Study of Values in Organizations in the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University. He is the author of Ethical Managing: Rules and Resultsand has published numerous articles on business ethics, ethical theory, and moral reasoning.Gloria E. Wheeler is Associate Professor of Public Management and Associate Director of the Institute of Public Management at Brigham Young University. Her primary areas are research methodology and human resource management. She has extensive survey research experience in many substantive fields and has published articles in journals covering such diverse areas as taxation, teaching, marketing, and human behavior in organizations.     

The determinants of voluntary investment decisions

This paper analyses investments by firms into areas of corporate social responsibility, focussing on the decision by firms whether or not to invest in compliance with voluntary environmental standards. Theoretical predictions of the compliance decision are tested using discrete time survival analysis on a large dataset of UK manufacturing firms. The rate of voluntary compliance is found to have increased since the introduction of the International Standards Organization (ISO) scheme. Further, voluntary compliance is found to be negatively associated with rates of return and industry share, and positively associated with capital intensity and industry export intensity. In contrast to theoretical predictions on corporate social responsibility, there is no evidence that investment in intangible assets, either at the firm or the industry level, is positively associated with the compliance decision. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Organizing for solutions: Systems seller vs. systems integrator

This paper aims to examine how firms are organizing to provide integrated solutions: a business model for the supply of capital goods based on the provision of products and services as integrated solutions to individual customer's needs. The industrial marketing literature suggests that the origins of this business model can be traced back to early 1960s when firms adopted strategies and organizations for ‘systems selling’. The marketing literature helps us to identify two contrasting types of organizations: (1) the vertically-integrated systems seller that produces all the product and service components in a system; and (2) the systems integrator that coordinates integration of components supplied by external firms. The paper uses these two ideal types to analyse the strategies and organizations of five case study firms that have recently attempted to move into the provision of integrated solutions. It argues that there is no evidence to support the continuing dominance of the systems seller or a simple transition from systems selling to systems integration. A more complex pattern of organizational forms is emerging, combining elements of both systems selling (i.e. vertical integration into services) and systems integration.