A strategic human resource perspective of firm competitive behavior

Embedded within firms are unique stores of intangible human assets that likely influence the way firms compete. We argue that the human and social capital of a firm, particularly at the upper echelon and board of director (BOD) levels, contribute to the firm's awareness of the competitive environment and its motivation and ability to undertake numerous, complex, and forceful competitive actions. We also suggest that the firm's executive compensation systems moderate the effects of these intangible human assets on firm competitive behavior. By examining how human capital, intra-firm social capital, and executive compensation influence firm competitive behavior, we advance a strategic HRM perspective of firm competitive behavior and outline several implications for future research.     

Book Reviews

Leon A. Mears, The New Rice Economy of Indonesia, Yogyakarta: Gadjah Mada University Press, 1981, pp. xxiii + 605. Price US$15.

Alfian, Mely G. Tan, Selo Soemardjan (eds). Kemirkinan Struktural: Suatu Bunga Rampai (Structural Poverty: A Collection). Jakarta: Yayasan Ilmu-Ilmu Sosial (YIIS), 1980. pp. 189. Rp 2000.

Thee Kian Wie, Pemerataan- Kemiskinan- Ketimpangan (Equalization-Poverty-Uneven Distribution), Jakarta: Sinar Harapan. 1981, pp. 152. Rp 1750.

Bulletin Leknns, Year 1 No. 2, Feb. 1982, Special Edition on Employment Opportunity, Poverty and Population Mobility in Rural Areas, pp. 146.

Mubyarto (ed.), Growth and Equity in Indonesian Agricultural Development, Jakarta: Yayasan Agro Ekonomika, 1982. pp. xv + 258.

Muriel Charras, De la forêt malefique à I'herbe divine [From Malign Jungle to Divine Grain]: La transmigration en Indonesie: Les Balinais a Sulawesi, Paris: Editions de la Maison des sciences de I'homme 1982, pp, viii + 341. Price Fr. 90.00.

Yujiro Hayami and Masao Kikuchi. Asian Village Economy at the Crossroads: An Economic Approach to Institutional Change, Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1981, pp. xvi + 275. Yen 4000. Geoffrey B. Hainsworth (ed.), Village-level Modernization in Southeast Asia: The Political Economy of Rice and Water. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. 1982. pp. ix + 411. Can$34.00.

Colin MacAndrews and Chia Lin-Sien (eds.). Too Rapid Rural Development: Perceptions and Perspectives from Southeast Asia, Athens: University of Ohio Press, pp. xiv + 369. Cloth $19.95, paper $10.95.

Gary E. Hansen (ed.), Agricultural and Rural Development in Indonesia, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1981, pp. xiv + 312.

William L. Collier, Declining Labour Absorption (1878 to 1980) in Javanese Rice Production, Bogor: Agro-economic Survey, Rural Dynamics Study, Publication No. 2, 1980, pp. 120.     

CIL's experience with a computerized ammonia plant trip system

The computerized trip system has been in use since August, 1985, at the CIL Ammonia II plant. Superior reliability, essential avoiding unnecessary shutdowns, while protecting the plant from accident, is obtained through use of a fault-tolerant configuration.     

IMPACT OF PRICING STRUCTURE SELECTIVITY ON URBAN WATER DEMAND

Interest in demand management policies has intensified as residential water demand has grown in the United States. Using data from the 1984 American Water Works Association (AWWA) survey, the study here provides an empirical analysis of the differences in price elasticities of demand across water pricing block structures and examines these structures' "conservation-orientedness." However, a potential sample selection bias exists. That is, in cities where people are more interested in conservation, utility managers may be more likely to select a rate structure that they believe is conservation-oriented–an increasing block structure, for example. Managers' selectivity bias may cause research results either to understate or to overstate a particular block structure's impact on water conservation. The analysis here corrects for this selectivity bias in estimating water demand and tests whether consumers respond to average prices or to marginal prices. Correcting for selectivity bias involves an explicit analysis of the factors that influence utility managers' selection of rate structures. Estimating water demand under increasing and decreasing block structures suggests that sample selection bias remains a problem worthy of further investigation.     

A nonlinear long memory model, with an application to US unemployment

Two important empirical features of US unemployment are that shocks to the series seem rather persistent and that it seems to rise faster during recessions than that it falls during expansions. To jointly capture these features of long memory and nonlinearity, we put forward a new time series model and evaluate its empirical performance. We find that the model describes the data rather well and that it outperforms related competitive models on various measures of fit.     

Redesigning Product Lines with Conjoint Analysis: A Comment

In a recent article, Page and Rosenbaum [ Journal of Product Innovation Management 4; 120–137 (June 1987)] discuss the use of conjoint analysis at Sunbeam Corporation. Their article provides a nice illustration of a conjoint application to food processor appliance redesign decisions. In this note, Dick Wittink compares characteristics of Sunbeam's approach to both established and more recent results reported in the conjoint literature.