Quality strategies in supply chain alliances of disposable items

This paper studies a single-product distribution channel where a supplier manufactures items of a given type, some of which are defective, that are sold by a retailer who only detects a subset of the defective items, passing the rest along to customers. We conjecture the structure of the demand and cost functions, assuming customers to have a decreasing marginal aversion to bad quality while both the supplier and the retailer make marginally increasing efforts to avoid bad quality. This allows us to deduce several implicit parameters of a cost model based on observable data, such as the share of the channel margin. Once the parameters of the model are available, we analyze the result of vertical integration. Although we confirm the well-known fact that vertical integration improves the quality perceived by the customer, we characterize the supplier's decision of whether or not to provide a better quality in terms of the individual channel margins. As an alternative, we derive the conditions under which the supplier and the retailer may devise a mutually beneficial transfer contract that simultaneously increases their profit and improves quality.     

对新时期高校政治辅导员的角色认识

从高等学校思想政治工作的现实意义出发,结合目前高校人才培养的新内涵,对政治辅导员的角色进行了定位,即思想政治素质提高的导师;大学生文明修身的引路人;大学生未来职业生涯的设计师;大学生择业创业的导师;大学校园文化的引导者和创造者以及大学生心理健康的培育者。     

女人—妻子—母亲:新时期谢晋电影的经典表述

谢晋在新时期的最先动作是把 (女 )英雄 (女 )战士塑造成性别意义上的女性 ;在家庭中她们以“落难”男性的伴侣和精神上的母亲的双重身份承担着拯救功能 ;而生儿育女则是对家庭的另一种方式的拯救     

论语文教师的角色定位

语文教育所面临的问题和改革的任务 ,对语文教师的角色内涵提出了新的要求。语文教师转变课堂教学观念 ,树立崭新的语文课程性质观 ,并担当好教学的设计者、学习的促进者、终身学习者和研究者的角色 ,是中小学语文教育走出“少慢差费”困境的一个关键     

交际策略的教学与运用

语言交际教学法的目的是提高学习者的交际能力。然而 ,作为交际能力的一个重要组成部分———策略能力 ,却被教师们忽略。交际策略的可教性依然是个有争议的问题。本文首先陈述交际策略的重要性 ,以便唤起教师的注意力 ;其次 ,分析影响学习者交际策略使用的因素 ;第三部分提出了交际策略的教学方法     

Time use satisfaction of wives: Home,farm, and labor force workload

Factors related to time spent in work roles are investigated for a sample of 685 wives living on family farms in seven southern and midwestern states. Data were collected in a comprehensive mail survey. Results show that variables reflecting management are the most important predictors of wife's time use satisfaction. Wife's satisfaction is also significantly related to her education and nonfarm employment. Conclusions indicate that, although wives on family farms experience work-role overload relative to their husbands, they are satisfied with their time contributions to the home/farm situation.Jeanne L. Hafstrom is Associate Professor, Consumer Sciences Division, University of Illinois, 161 Bevier Hall, 905 So. Goodwin, Urbana, IL 61801. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. Her current research interests include economic well-being and the quality of life.MaryAnn Paynter is Assistant Professor and Family Economics Extension Specialist, Consumer Sciences Division, University of Illinois, 547 Bevier Hall, 905 So. Goodwin, Urbana, IL 61801. She received her Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University. Her current research interests include family resource management strategies.This study was part of S-191 Regional Research Project Farm Wife's External Employment, Family Economic Productivity and Family Functioning, and Project No. 60-0366 supported by the Agricultural Experiment Station, College of Agriculture, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.     

Information and communications technologies, strategic asymmetry and national security

In the history of warfare, there are a number of examples of strategic uses of asymmetric technologies. Consistent with history and theory, individuals, organizations and nations have spotted opportunities to employ information and communications technologies to gain and exploit asymmetric advantages and to counter asymmetric weaknesses. This article discusses various asymmetries associated with institutions, nations and organizations that influence the ICT-national security nexus. Regulative, normative and cognitive institutions in a country provide various mechanisms that affect the nature of positive and negative asymmetries. Nations and organizations also differ in terms of their capability to assimilate ICT tools to gain positive asymmetries and deal with vulnerabilities of negative asymmetries. Integrative approaches that combine policy and technological measures at various levels are likely to make the world more secure.     

企业家战略--培育创新能力的企业内部战略

近几年来,在超强竞争背景下国外兴起的企业家战略,是公司努力将组织各个层次的员工培育为普遍具有企业家精神、思维和行动的战略,是努力将整个公司转变为能够发挥员工企业家精神的战略.企业家公司以异质的企业家人力资本和企业家智力资产持续创新,破坏均衡,产生竞争优势和显著的业绩.企业家战略理论研究的是公司如何获得具有创新、变革、远见卓识和承担风险的能力,是对正在兴起的内部战略理论的丰富和发展.企业家战略与核心能力理论互相补充,并且改变了某些传统的战略管理观念.     

CEOs’ temporal focus,firm strategic change,and performance: Insights from a paradox perspective

Recent research indicates that CEOs’ temporal focus (the degree to which individuals attend to the past, present, and future) is a critical predictor for strategic outcomes. Building on paradox theory and the attention-based view, we examine the implications of CEOs’ past and future focus for strategic change. Results from polynomial regression analysis reveal that CEOs who cognitively embrace both the past and the future at the same time engage more in strategic change. In addition, our results reveal that the positive strategic change−firm performance relationship is enhanced when CEOs’ past focus is high, whereas CEOs’ future focus mitigates the translation of strategic change into firm performance (when their past focus is low at the same time). In addition, supplemental analyses indicate that the impact of CEOs’ temporal focus turns out differently in stable and dynamic environments. Our study thus extends the literature on both individual’s temporal focus and strategic change.     

The wisdom and madness of crowds: How information networks and board cognition help or hinder firm performance across the business cycle

We know little of why a minority of firms pursue counter-cyclical strategies and consequently outperform competitors during recessions. Based on the theory of institutional isomorphism, we hypothesize that these firms avoid the mimetic and normative pressures that promote strategic convergence during uncertainty. We demonstrate these effects at the board-level in a sample of 1,615 U.S. firms. Mimetic processes are evident, with firms' connectedness in board interlock networks attenuating profitability and decreasing firm value during recessions—a reversal of the positive effects during expansions. Normative pressures arise from homogeneity in directors’ educational and professional experience, with greater consequences for long-term performance. Overall, recessionary performance is improved when firms occupy relatively isolated positions in informational networks and appoint directors from a range of backgrounds.