A comparison of product costing practices in discrete-part and assembly manufacturing and continuous production process manufacturing

Research into product costing practice has not studied whether there are differences in product costing practice between different types of manufacturing. This paper compares the product costing practices of operating units in discrete-part and assembly manufacturing, and continuous production process manufacturing. The results show that there are few differences in product costing practices between these two manufacturing methods. Similar proportions of operating units in these two manufacturing environments use similar methods to treat overheads and have similar experiences of activity-based costing. The only area of difference is in the use of overhead rates where significantly more units in discrete-part and assembly manufacturing use a direct labour hour rate and significantly more units in continuous production process manufacturing use units produced and production time-based rates.     

Walking and chewing gum at the same time: Australia's free trade area strategy

The pursuit of free trade area agreements (FTAs), according to some, does not impede the multilateral trade negotiations process. It is argued to the contrary in the present paper that the FTA approach does impede the multilateral one. Comments are offered on common approaches to the analysis of the impact of FTAs, on the reasons why, despite concerns evident in these comments, the FTA strategy has become so popular, and on ways out of a dilemma of FTA proliferation, or at least ways to avoid the risks associated with it.     

Export Processing Zones and Economic Development in Asia: A Review and Reassessment of a Means of Promoting Growth and Jobs

Abstract . Nearly every developing country in Asia has established export processing (EPZs) and free trade zones (FTZs) to promote economic development. EPZs and FTZs have created new employment, generated foreign exchange, expanded national revenues and increased export flows. But not all have thus benefited. Adverse effects of these industrial enclaves, not offset by national benefits, are varied. The zones mostly have high construction and maintenance costs, primarily employ low-wage, unskilled female labor, offer an unstable employment base, generate little domestic added value, develop few labor or managerial skills, transfer little modern technology or know-how and have weak links to domestic manufacturers. Large EPZs may promote undesirable in-migration from rural areas, produce more dependence on foreign-owned firms that tend to move or cut back production when wages, costs or international trends change. Policy options to prevent or mitigate adverse effects are presented.     

Insulating countries against fluctuations in domestic production and exports: An analysis of Compensatory Financing schemes

For several years the IMF has operated a Compensatory Financing Facility (CFF) whose aim is to smooth out the effects of a shortfall in export receipts in a particular country. In 1981, the Facility was extended to cover imports of foodstuffs, with the objective of reducing food insecurity. The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical analysis of the CFF, interpreted as an international scheme whose object is to stabilise some domestic policy target, such as consumption, by providing loans based on the value or volume of a country's exports or imports. The paper shows that, under certain assumptions, the IMF's CFF for exports provides net gains to individual countries. The extension of the scheme to include food imports could provide further gains, but only if it is appropriately redesigned.     

Models for the probability of concordance in cross-classification tables

For cross-classification tables having an ordinal response variable, logit and probit models are formulated for the probability that a pair of subjects is concordant. For multidimensional tables, generalized models are given for the probability that the response at one setting of explanatory variables exceeds the response at another setting. Related measures of association are discussed for two-way tables.     

The luxury of despair: A reply to Robert Heilbroner''s : Human prospect

Professor Freeman diagnoses Heilbroner's Human Prospect as a neo-Malthusian interpretation of world trends. He focuses on the possibility of hope for mankind and the responsibility of intelligentsia in this debate. First he challenges Heilbroner's projections of population growth, particularly in the Third World, which he finds unjustified both factually and logically; second, he argues with the presentation of socio-economic and environmental global futures. From this stance he questions the political prospects, viewed by Heilbroner as a future of conflict and totalitarian regimes.     

Sensemaking and sensegiving in strategic change initiation

This paper reports an ethnographic study of the initiation of a strategic change effort in a large, public university. It develops a new framework for understanding the distinctive character of the beginning stages of strategic change by tracking the first year of the change through four phases (labeled as envisioning, signaling, re-visioning, and energizing). This interpretive approach suggests that the CEO's primary role in instigating the strategic change process might best be understood in terms of the emergent concepts of ‘sensemaking’ and ‘sensegiving’. Relationships between these central concepts and other important theoretical domains are then drawn and implications for understanding strategic change initiation are discussed.