Supplier Partnerships and the Small, High-Growth Firm: Selecting for Success

Strategic partnerships are commonplace in today's global economy. Effective use of partnerships are viewed increasingly as an important issue facing small, growth-oriented firms. A key debate is how small firms should manage supplier partnerships. Contrasting the debate about the extent to which small firms are inertial versus adaptive, the impact of growth on value chain partnerships with suppliers was investigated. Data collected from 91 pharmaceutical-related firms is used to test the proposition that firm growth is related positively to maintaining or to expanding relationships with suppliers, not to terminating partnerships. The paper further posits that this relationship between firm growth and the amount purchased from a supplier is moderated by the perceived effectiveness of the value-chain partnerships such that when effectiveness is higher, the relationship between sales growth and the amount purchased from a value-chain partner is stronger. The propositions, which are tested with regression analysis, are supported partially.     

Teaching the Golden Rule

The Golden Rule is endorsed in oneform or another by most cultures and majorreligions and is still espoused byphilosophers, business ethicists, and popularbusiness authors. Because it also resonateswith undergraduate business majors, it can bean effective teaching tool. This paperdescribes a way of teaching the Golden Rulethrough a series of business-oriented examplesintended to bring out its strengths andweaknesses. The method described alsointroduces students to some basic moralreasoning skills and acquaints them with a widerange of moral issues that arise in business. Kant's Formula of Humanity is discussed in thefinal section as a principle that overcomes atleast some of the Golden Rule's defects.     

Evaluating the stabilisation degree of digested sewage sludge: investigations at four municipal wastewater treatment plants.

Further reduction of volatile suspended solids (VSS) during a post-stabilisation step was applied to evaluate the stabilisation degree of digested sewage sludge. For this purpose digested sludge was collected at four municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and further stabilised in lab-scale chemostat reactors either under anaerobic or aerobic conditions. Experimental results showed that even in adequately digested sludge a consistent amount of VSS was degraded during aerobic post-stabilisation. It seems that aerobic conditions play a significant role during degradation of residual VSS. Additionally, specific VSS production (gVSS/peCOD110.d) as well as specific oxygen uptake rate were shown to be suitable parameters to assess the degree of sludge stabilisation at WWTPs. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to reveal changes in the sludge composition. Spectra of treated and untreated sludge samples indicated that the major component of residual VSS in stabilised sludge for instance consisted of biomass, while cellulose was absent.     

Increasing the corrosion resistance of equipment due to the use of film-forming amines

Results of a study of tube specimens cut from hot-water boilers show that film-forming octadecyl amine (ODA) used in the process of preservation removes deposition from the surface of the metal. An ODA film is preserved on the surface after repeated washing of the latter with hot water. The concentration of chlorides at the surface of the metal after treatment with ODA is lower than before the treatment. __________ Translated from élektricheskie Stantsii, No. 11, November 2005, pp. 15–18.     

Managerial Equity Ownership and the Demand for Outside Directors

This paper examines the linkage between the use of outside directors and managerial ownership. We conjecture there are two linkages: the standard incentive‐alignment demand for monitoring when managers own little stock and an entrenchment‐amelioration demand when managerial stock ownership is high. As a consequence, we predict the association between managerial ownership and board composition will be nonlinear (U‐shaped if the entrenchment effect is sufficiently pronounced). Using UK data, we find that both quadratic and logarithmic models outperform the simple linear relationship assumed in prior research and that the substitution between managerial ownership and board composition is stronger than hitherto supposed.     

Experience with Siberian Centralized Dispatch Regulation regarding location determination of damages sustained by intersystem high-voltage transmission lines

A set of measures that can be implemented by the Relay-Protection and Automated-Equipment Service for Centralized Dispatch Regulation (CDR) in Siberia to determine the location of damage sustained by inter-system 550-and 220-kV transmission lines maintained by the United Power System (UPS) of Siberia, and the methodology and technology of damage-location determination (DLD) are described. The damage sustained by the 500-kV high-voltage lines (HL), and the accuracy of DLD relative to zero-sequence emergency parameters are analyzed statically. __________ Translated from élektricheskie Stantsii, No. 5, pp. 59–62, May, 2006.