A multistage method to measure efficiency and its application to Japanese banking industry

When measuring technical efficiency with existing data envelopment analysis (DEA) techniques, mean efficiency scores generally exhibit volatile patterns over time. This appears to be at odds with the general perception of learning-by-doing management, due to Arrow [The economic implications of learning by doing. Review of Economic Studies 1964; 154–73]. Further, this phenomenon is largely attributable to the fundamental assumption of deterministic data maintained in DEA models, and to the difficulty such models have in incorporating environmental influences. This paper proposes a three-stage method to measure DEA efficiency while controlling for the impacts of both statistical noise and environmental factors. Using panel data on Japanese banking over the period 1997–2001, we demonstrate that the proposed approach greatly mitigates these weaknesses of DEA models. We find a stable upward trend in mean measured efficiency, indicating that, on average, the bankers were learning over the sample period. Therefore, we conclude that this new method is a significant improvement relative to those DEA models currently used by researchers, corporate management, and industrial regulatory bodies to evaluate performance of their respective interests.     

On Weitzman's ‘recession resistant’ employee compensation arrangements

This note presents a slight modification of the alternative pay systems discussed by Weitzman (1983). The modification preserves the recession resistance property, yet guarantees that the workers already in the firm, will not become worse off by the conversion to the new pay system even when no other firm converts to it.     

A Question of Power: Hydro-Quebec and the Great Whale Controversy a 35 Minute Video for in-Class Use

A very large hydroelectric generating project has been proposed for the northern regions of Quebec. Numerous benefits will be derived from this project: inexpensive power, reduced pollution, and improved quality of life. The native peoples living in the region object strongly, however, and claim that the project will destroy their culture. A 35-minute video describes this conflict and challenges students to make the build/don't build decision.     

Somebody Out There Doesn't Like Us: A Study of the Position and Respect of Business Ethics at Schools of Business Administration

This article is the result of a survey taken to determine the respect and position of Business Ethics as a field of study within Schools of Business Administration. 379 questionnaires were delivered to individual, not institutional, subscribers to Business Ethics Quarterly. 158 were filled out and returned, for a response rate of 41.6%. The general finding from an analysis of those responses is that many persons active in the teaching and research of Business Ethics at large (over 10000 students) and very large (over 30000 students) universities, both public and private, believe that neither their teaching nor their research "count" for merit salary increases and promotion/tenure decisions at their institutions, and that few enjoy high levels of support from deans, faculty, or students.     

The use of rented farmland in an area of intensive agricultural production in Norway

The amount of rented farmland in Norway has increased steadily since the 1950s. Concerns have been raised questioning whether farmland is treated less well by tenants compared to landowners. This study aims to investigate how farmers perceive their treatment of rented farmland, which factors impact their decision-making related to this and if farmers are concerned about farmland elements that are less important for productivity but mainly of interest for cultural heritage or environmental management reasons. Semi-structured interviews with a group of randomly selected farmers were carried out in an area dominated by intensive agriculture. Independent of, for example, amount of rented land or duration of the rental agreement, all farmers agreed that rented land was treated well. A strong competition for farmland in combination with farmers being dependent on renting land was the most important reason. Results from this study may be transferrable to other farming areas, at least where competition for farmland is comparable. We do suggest, however, that any further research on treatment of rented farmland in Norway should take a regional approach, since national statistics may cover significant regional differences.     

Ethical Analysis and Human Resource Management

Ethical problems arise almost continually in human resource management. Human resources are people, and when people suffer some harm or loss for which they are not themselves responsible, as in a plant closing or corporate re-structuring, then ethical analysis is needed in addition to the more common financial, legal, and behavioral forms of reasoning. Ethical analysis involves an evaluation of the impacts of the proposed managerial action upon the members of the organization and the members of the society, and then justification of those impacts according to one of the first principles or essential values of normative philosophy. None of these first principles or essential values are adequate by themselves to justify a decision in an ethical dilemma, but taken together they do help in arriving at a decision that can be considered to be “right” and “proper” and “just”.     

The consumerism of ‘voice’ in Norwegian health policy and its dynamics in the transformation of health services

The policy of voice consumerism in Norwegian health policy has enabled patients to be involved in discussions about professional practice. Principles of openness have been successfully introduced in services bound by professional autonomy and discretion. This article demonstrates the influence that Norwegian patients and their representatives have been able to have on service provision in brain injury rehabilitation and mental healthcare.     

Learning to communicate in cheap-talk games

We study learning in communication games. Our main finding is that a simple forward-looking learning rule leads to communication in a large class of games. This class is characterized by a partial-common-interest condition. In contrast, we show that a variety of purely backward looking dynamics may fail to guarantee communication. Memory is a partial substitute for looking forward: With long memory, backward-looking learning leads to communication in a class of games with perfect incentive alignment.     

Some models and measures for evaluating performances with DEA: past accomplishments and future prospects

This paper covers some of the past accomplishments of DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) and some of its future prospects. It starts with the “engineering-science” definitions of efficiency and uses the duality theory of linear programming to show how, in DEA, they can be related to the Pareto–Koopmans definitions used in “welfare economics” as well as in the economic theory of production. Some of the models that have now been developed for implementing these concepts are then described and properties of these models and the associated measures of efficiency are examined for weaknesses and strengths along with measures of distance that may be used to determine their optimal values. Relations between the models are also demonstrated en route to delineating paths for future developments. These include extensions to different objectives such as “satisfactory” versus “full” (or “strong”) efficiency. They also include extensions from “efficiency” to “effectiveness” evaluations of performances as well as extensions to evaluate social-economic performances of countries and other entities where “inputs” and “outputs” give way to other categories in which increases and decreases are located in the numerator or denominator of the ratio (=engineering-science) definition of efficiency in a manner analogous to the way output (in the numerator) and input (in the denominator) are usually positioned in the fractional programming form of DEA. Beginnings in each of these extensions are noted and the role of applications in bringing further possibilities to the fore is highlighted.