Effects of the Canada-U.S. Trade Agreement on U.S. agricultural exports

This paper investigates the effects of the Canada-U.S. Trade Agreement (CUSTA) on U.S. exports of agricultural products. Econometric analysis found that CUSTA has had a large impact on many U.S. agricultural export categories. All of the consumer-oriented products (except wine and beer), five of the intermediate products, and four of the bulk products had significant CUSTA effects. It is clear that the CUSTA effects have been larger for consumer-oriented food products. There is also evidence that U.S. affiliate sales in Canada have stimulated U.S. exports of consumer-oriented products and intermediate products.     

Environmental scanning in U.S. corporations.

Environmental scanning is a new activity among corporations, because of its importance, corporations need to progress by stages to achieve a structured and formal system of scanning, and this takes time. This paper is based on a study examining the evolution and state of environmental scanning among corporations, and finds that the essential difference between scanning at the corporate and at the product/market level is not observed by all companies. Ideally, there should be a close liaison between the two levels so that each may reinforce the scanning effort of the other.     

U.K. competition policy evaluated

This paper surveys the application of U.K. monopoly policy and examines its general impact on industrial structure and market processes. It considers the effects of the Competition Act 1980 in relation to U.K. monopoly control and concludes that unless further measures are introduced, competitive pressures are likely to be weakened over the longer term.     

Aspects of quality . . . and world domination!

Training, learning and development tend to be regarded as central to the success of every organization and the nation. However, not all organizations are able or willing to invest resources in such processes. The paper presents a view that training, learning and development occur as a consequence of successful persuasive actions in a chain of talk, which draw on the discursive and rhetorical resources of an emerging learning movement. Utilizing the findings from an examination of data from the UK Department of Education and Skills-sponsored National Training Award winners, the paper provides an employment of actor-network theory and the sociology of translation to show how some organizations make the case for training, learning and development as a virtuous endeavour. It concludes by suggesting that what is needed is a more detailed understanding of how the case for the adoption of training, learning and development, or not, within organizations is made meaningful.     

Failings in U.K. transport planning

This discussion of British Government policy on transport, highlights the absence of a coherent strategic plan as a guideline for individual decision-making. Without this framework and a recognition of the close connection between transport and land use planning, conventional methods of project appraisal produce an unsatisfactory piecemeal transport system. As an example, the 1973 Channel Tunnel proposals are examined and found inappropriate for either of the main possible directions of progress sketched out.     

Medical staff relations. Creating the nexus.

Bonding of the medical staff to the hospital requires a structured leadership effort on the part of all interested groups. The participants should consist of members of the medical staff, the senior administration, and the board of trustees. The pathways to the bonding process require considerable thought, much planning, frank discussion, and, in many cases, a good deal of time to achieve success.     

Competition within the U.S. National Security Regime: A study of the U.S. Aerospace Defense Sector

This article examines the aerospace defense sector and the national export control regime within which U.S. corporations operate. While the U.S. federal government plays many roles in this industry, the focus here is on its role as regulator of defense exports from the United States. From this vantage point, ten case studies illustrate the difficulties faced by companies in this challenging environment, and highlight factors that lead to noncompliance with U.S. government regulations. Firm performance effects are investigated, including impacts on profits, share price, and reputation. The paper concludes with implications for international management practice and international business research that reflect realities in the aerospace defense sector.     

Manpower and unemployment in the U.K.

The subject of the changing pattern and levels of unemployment in the United Kingdom is a matter which has been receiving much attention. This paper examines some of the underlying trends and the related factors which have been creating those trends. The author does not only concentrate on the economic factors but also on the educational and social factors which have led to changes in the supply of and demand for labour. Indeed, some of the more interesting aspects of the relationship between the public and the private sector and the relative patterns of demand and supply of labour, and the causes of that supply are also examined. The author places the study in an international context and, albeit rather gloomily, does show us that this is not a problem unique to the U.K. Finally, the paper examines some of the possible remedies to the situation and outlines the need for examining rather more clearly the balance between capital and labour and, perhaps more fundamentally, the growing problem of the concentration of British industry. This paper does not aim to answer all the questions created by a relative economic decline and the growing problems of unemployment, particularly amongst the under-25 age group, but it does set out the problem and some possible solutions.     

The disassembly line: balancing and modeling,by S.M. McGovern and S.M. Gupta

This note addresses a problem faced by an actual firm. The problem is to decide on the optimal level of product quality. In performing the economic analysis to determine product quality level, the firm considers revenue, production costs, and research and development costs. However, this note shows that ignoring inventory costs in the analysis will lead to suboptimal product quality levels. Also, including inventory costs in the analysis will lead to reduced production lot sizes. Numerical examples are used to illustrate the results of the model.     

QALYs versus WTP.

Quality adjusted life years (QALYs) and willingness to pay (WTP) are alternative measures of the value of reductions in health risk that are often used in evaluating environmental, health, and safety practices. Although both methods are based on individual preferences, the underlying assumptions differ. The different bases yield systematically different conclusions about the relative value of reducing health and mortality risks to individuals that differ in age, preexisting health conditions, income, and other factors. The choice of which method to use depends on judgments about what constraints should be placed on individual preferences and what factors should be considered in aggregating preferences across people.     

Performance evaluations of physician executives. Interview by Barbara J. Linney.

Six senior physician executives were interviewed to see how they were doing or not doing performance reviews in their organizations. There seems to be a trend toward doing them, but it is in the beginning stages. Of the physician executives surveyed, the experience ranges from formal lengthy evaluations with rating scales to reviewing a short list of goals. Several are in the process of developing new systems or revising old ones. Probably the most useful part of a performance evaluation is the conversation between the physician executive and the person he or she reports to. If you can stop approaching performance evaluations as passing negative judgments on people, but as having a conversation to hear their concerns, learn what their goals are, and offer ways to help them achieve their potential, they can be useful, enjoyable experiences for both people.     

Lessons from industry.

Rapidly emerging in public debate as the key to the future of the health care industry is quality. One can hardly pick up a health care magazine or journal or listen to a discussion among health care professionals without quality becoming a concern. Despite virtually universal agreement on the importance of the generic term and secondary agreement on the importance of being able to measure it, discussion bogs down in either of two ways. It may become overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the task of describing all the elements of health care quality, or the different viewpoints of individuals will yield quite variable understandings of what the term "quality of health care" means. To make substantial progress in improving health care quality, we will need to come to an agreement on terms.     

Guarding quality in challenging times. Interview by Emily Friedman.

As Dennis S. O'Leary, MD, FACPE, reaches the 18-month mark in his tenure as president of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals, Chicago, the organization's future is a foremost concern. In this concluding article of a two-part series, he discusses his vision of where the Commission is going, and how and why. Among key issues that will affect the Joint Commission's future, he says, are changing determinants of quality, evaluation of nonhospital organizations, the interplay of the increasingly diverse individuals and groups that participate in Joint Commission activities, and Joint Commission relations with key health professions and other interest groups, including consumers. The first article, which focused on the Joint Commission's "clinical indicators" project, was published in the July-August issue of Physician Executive.     

Antitrust concerns in managed care provider negotiations. United States v. A. Lanoy Alston, DMD, P.C., et al

Contract negotiations between managed care organizations and providers are potential legal traps, loaded with antitrust implications. A recent court action involving dentists is instructive on the issues for all providers.     

The Role of Automatic Stabilizers in the U.S. Business Cycle

Most countries have automatic rules in their tax‐and‐transfer systems that are partly intended to stabilize economic fluctuations. This paper measures their effect on the dynamics of the business cycle. We put forward a model that merges the standard incomplete‐markets model of consumption and inequality with the new Keynesian model of nominal rigidities and business cycles, and that includes most of the main potential stabilizers in the U.S. data and the theoretical channels by which they may work. We find that the conventional argument that stabilizing disposable income will stabilize aggregate demand plays a negligible role in the dynamics of the business cycle, whereas tax‐and‐transfer programs that affect inequality and social insurance can have a larger effect on aggregate volatility. However, as currently designed, the set of stabilizers in place in the United States has had little effect on the volatility of aggregate output fluctuations or on their welfare costs despite stabilizing aggregate consumption. The stabilizers have a more important role when monetary policy is constrained by the zero lower bound, and they affect welfare significantly through the provision of social insurance.     

Foresight activities in the U.S.A.: Time for a re-assessment?

This article reports on a brief, informal, reconnaissance study of ‘foresight’ activities now being conducted in the private sector and the Federal government. Such activities include: external environmental assessment, internal organizational assessment, direction setting, definition, and selection of base and contingent plans, implementation, performance evaluation and feedback. The study involved the reading and analysis of the existing literature and discussions with over 50 people in diverse private and public sector organizations. The objective was to determine what foresight activities are being done, how, by whom, with what results, and what are the implications and options.     

次贷危机前后国际原油市场与中美股票市场间的协动性研究

本文运用基于动态条件相关的多元GARCH(DCC-MVGARCH)模型,对美国次信贷危机发生前后国际原油市场和中、美股票市场间的协动性变化进行了研究。实证结果表明在次信贷危机发生后,国际原油市场与中、美股票市场间的协动性有了明显的增强,不同市场间的波动具有明显的传导作用。国际原油市场与美国股市的协动性相对于中国股市波动性更强,说明冲击在国际原油市场与美国股市间的传导更强烈,其协动性对冲击的反应更敏感。另外,运用偏最小二乘方法(PLS)对影响国际原油市场和中、美股票市场的诸多因素在次信贷危机爆发前后对协动性解释能力的变化进行了分析,结果发现次信贷危机对这些因素的解释能力有明显的影响。     

The right-to-die movement: extrapolating from the National Hemlock Society U.S.A. membership survey

A national membership survey of Hemlock Society USA was conducted by Fox and Kamakahi (1995). Respondents (N=6398) were asked a variety of questions, but in this paper we perform a longitudinal analysis of the characteristics of Hemlock Society USA members. Hemlock Society USA members are divided into three 5-year cohorts: Early Joiners (11 or more years of membership), Middle Joiners (6 to 10 years membership), and Late Joiners (5 or fewer years of membership). Differences between cohorts are examined and extrapolations made regarding Hemlock Society USA and the Right-to-Die Movement. A series of one-way ANOVAs were used with Scheme post-hoc comparisons as heuristic tools for assessing between-cohort differences. Late Joiners are different from earlier members, but are more like other Hemlock Society USA members than the adult U.S. population at large. Hemlock Society USA members are essentially societal "elites" (based on socio-demographic variables) who work in social environments that are decidedly split on the issue of voluntary suicide and euthanasia.     

Present at the creation. Interview by Wesley Curry.

This is the inaugural issue of Physician Executive under the auspices of the new American College of Physician Executives. In this and subsequent issues of the journal, we will feature an interview with a prominent figure in the health care delivery system. We begin with Robert A. Henry, MD, FACPE, President and CEO of SwedishAmerican Corporation, Rockford, III. A Distinguished Fellow of the American College of Physician Executives, Dr. Henry is a Past President of both the American College of Physician Executives and the American Academy of Medical Directors. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Physician Executive Management Center. Dr. Henry entered medical management in the early days of the profession and is a long-time member of the Academy and College, becoming a member of the former in 1975. He became a member of the College in 1980 and a Fellow in 1981. He became a Distinguished Fellow of the College upon its creation on January 1 of this year. He has followed the growth of the Academy and of the medical management profession for several years and has been an active contributor to the success of both. He is uniquely qualified to discuss both the profession and the professional organization that serves it. The following is a report on a conversation that was conducted with Dr. Henry in early November 1988 while he was in Tampa for a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Physician Executive Management Center.     

U.S. government recognizes new institutional form

A new institutional form has been growing in the United States since World War II for helping to accomplish technology-intensive public programs and improve public policy. The form — a so-called “Federally-Funded Research and Development Center” (FFRDC) — has now been officially recognized at a very high level of the Government.This article describes FFRDCs and their history, lists the important roles they can play on public problems, and concludes that the advantages they offer will not be fully utilized if they continue to be treated by some as an anomaly in the institutional makeup of the U.S. economy.