The competitiveness of Russian industries: Current state and outlook

Based on its definition of industrial sector competitiveness the paper presents a “competitiveness chart” of branches of industry as per postcrisis status and points out key contributing factors in the success/failure of industry groups. Development opportunities and threats of branches of industry are analyzed, leading to a long-term industry “competitiveness chart.” A detailed SWOT analysis is made of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for a number of key industries.     

Regulation and technological change in the American meat industry

The effects of regulation upon technological change in the American meat industry in the period between 1950 and 1978 are examined in terms of the relationship between three alternative models — neoclassical, X-efficiency, and technological exogeneity —and the behavior of regulatory agencies. The paper is based upon patent data, equipment approvals by the United States Department of Agriculture and interviews with meat equipment and meat processing firms. Each theory was found to account for some of the observed transactions between regulation and technological change. Conversely, no single theory encompasses all observed effects.Regulations have added to the cost of developing new products. Increased uncertainty in the late 1970s over the standards sought by regulatory agencies have similarly increased the uncertainties of the profitability of R&D in selected product lines. This uncertainty was also found to be inducing firms to substitute product development via mergers for their own R&D. The Humane Slaughter Act was the proximate spur for technological advances that lead to a rationalization of production processes. The innovations that resulted from this act and from other regulatory standards highlighted, in accordance with the X-efficiency framework, technological opportunities that existed prior to and independent of changes in regulatory standards. Much of the momentum for technological change in the industry was shaped by an initial set of technological advances and the subsequent working through of production bottlenecks in an interrelated production system. These advances were largely independent of and unaffected by regulatory standards.Indeed, there is reason to believe that regulatory standards may themselves have an element of endogeneity in terms of the feasible set of best practice techniques. Thus at any particular time, technological change may serve to generate a production frontier towards which a regulatory agency might seem to propel an industry.Overall, our judgment is that regulation had little discernible impact on the pace of technological change related to the production and distribution of ground beef in the period between 1950 and 1978. If there has been any net effect, regulation probably served more to stimulate than to inhibit technological change.     

Änderungen der durchschnittlichen Blutdruckwerte in den Jahren 1956–1968

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Revenue Sharing and Vertical Control in the Video Rental Industry

Revenue sharing contracts, in which retailers pay a royalty on sales to their suppliers, are now widely used in the video rental industry. We show that revenue sharing is valuable in vertically separated industries in which demand is either stochastic (unpredictable) or variable (e.g., systematically declining), downstream inventory is chosen before demand is realized and downstream firms engage in intrabrand competition. Unlike two-part tariffs, revenue sharing achieves the first best outcome by softening retail price competition without distorting retailers' inventory decisions. Our theories are also consistent with trends in prices and availability following retailers' adoption of revenue sharing contracts.     

Consumer legislation: A proactive or reactive response to consumerism?

The number and rate of development of new consumer legislation necessitates the evaluation of existing legislation. This paper summarizes and categorizes, in detail, the impact of select pieces of consumer legislation on consumer decision making. It is an implied objective of the paper to provide a perspective for future public policy formulation. The pieces of legislation evaluated in the paper are: (1) unit pricing; (2) product labeling; and (3) disclosure of interest rate provisions for consumer credit. The impact of these pieces of legislation have been minimal, indicating the need for an educational program for consumers.     

The Impact of Socialization on Youth Program Outcomes: A Social Development Model Perspective

This study employs a mixed-methods design and a social development model (SDM) to examine the role of socialization processes within an international immersion program for adolescents. Longitudinal data from 108 participant and 49 comparison group members are analyzed using structural equation modeling procedures. Qualitative data are also used to assess participants’ perceptions of these processes. The quantitative findings indicate that the SDM fits the data well and partially mediates the growth of observed recreation program outcomes. The qualitative findings offer additional insights into the role of within program socialization processes.     

The Playful Advantage: How Playfulness Enhances Coping with Stress

Research on playfulness has long focused on children, while the study of its expression in adulthood has only recently been undertaken. This cross-sectional study investigated the interrelationship between playfulness in young adults, perceived stress, and styles of coping with 898 students from three universities. Findings revealed that playful individuals reported lower levels of perceived stress than their less playful counterparts, and more frequently utilized adaptive, stressor-focused coping strategies and were less likely to employ negative, avoidant, and escape-oriented strategies. The results suggested that playfulness serves a strong adaptive function with university students, providing them with specific cognitive resources from which they can manifest effective coping behaviors in the face of stressful situations. Speculation as to the role of playfulness in fostering resilience is encouraged, and further empirical research on the therapeutic benefits of playfulness should be undertaken from a causal perspective.     

The Role of Cognitive Development and Socialization in the Initial Development of Team Loyalty

Using Piaget's (1970) theory of cognitive development, the present study examines when children first begin to demonstrate team loyalty. An interview and testing protocol was administered to children aged 5-6 and 8-9. Preoperational, transitional, and concrete operational children were capable of demonstrating a psychological commitment to a favorite team that was resistant to change, but not the behavioral consistency indicative of loyalty. The current study demonstrates that children form preferences for sports teams early in life and that they are capable of forming a commitment to a sports team as young as age 5. The present study is one of the first efforts to include a transitional phase in the assessment of cognitive development. Results from the interviews showed that fathers were the most influential socializing agent relative to introducing children to sports teams and that the gender stereotype associating sports with males was prevalent among children in both age groups.