Price and Markup Behaviour in Manufacturing examines the role that cost, competing domestic and foreign prices, domestic demand and market structure play in determining the price and markup of manufacturing firms across a range of countries and industries. Michael Olive models imperfectly competitive behaviour at the firm level, establishing logical relationships between these variables. Aggregating these relationships gives predictions for price and markup at the industry level. Empirical analysis is carried out by estimating a pricing equation for 11 industrialised countries in Asia, Europe and North America, and for 24 International Standard Industrial Classification industries from 1970 to 1991. The results exhibit a pattern of incomplete pass-through from competing foreign price into industry price and markups that are not fixed. The author illustrates that for higher levels of industry concentration cost becomes less influential in determining industry price, while the opposite is true for competing domestic and foreign prices. This comprehensive and thorough examination of the literature on pricing, the innovative model development and the comparative analysis in this study will be of great interest to government policymakers and academics wanting to keep abreast of new developments in the area of pricing and markup.

Chocolate is nearly always with us-when celebrating or mourning, in love or alone, healthy or sick, happy or sad. This book offers a comprehensive look at how an exotic food grew to play such a central role in our lives. No food in the world can offer as storied a history as chocolate. Chocolate: A Cultural Encyclopedia focuses on cocoa's history from ancient Mesoamerican beginnings as a symbol of ritual, life, and death, to its omnipresence in Europe, North America, and the rest of the world. In 10 thematic chapters covering chocolate in society and culture, 80 shorter entries, recipes, and a comprehensive timeline, this new book takes a closer look at how chocolate has served as a medicine, an indulgence, a symbol of decadence, a door to romance, a tempting taboo, a means of survival, and a snack for children and adults alike. Why did popes and kings so fear their chocolate? Who invented milk chocolate, and why was its formula kept secret? Why did soldiers in World War II despise their chocolate rations? Who makes the most chocolate today? Find out the answers to these questions and more as this book tells you everything you wanted to know-and a lot you didn't even know existed-about the seed from the world's favorite fruit tree. Detailed discussions of 80 chocolate-related topics for those who wish to know more A compendium of original recipes that have never been published before In-depth discussion of historical, cultural, and business aspects of chocolate never before available in a single book Extensive in-text references and bibliography Inviting and lively text for a general audience 30 visually striking images that bring life to the essays and entries

At its height British toymaking was a significant industry, with famous names such as Britains and Meccano known throughout the world. While in essence a specialised form of small-scale engineering, its products and market have always been unique, reflecting the current priorities of both parents and children. Yet, while individual toys and marques have been catalogued extensively, no previous history of toymaking as a whole exists. The British Toy Business provides a fascinating example of the development of a specific industry.
Many early early toys were home-made. From the eighteenth century, with its growing recognition of children as something other than small adults, date the beginnings of specialised toys, usually produced by small workshops and sold by street-sellers. The nineteenth century, with its industrial growth and middle-class prosperity, saw an expansion of toymaking.
The 1960s and 1970s were the most successful years of British toymaking, with companies like Lesney making record profits. Yet British toy makers failed to solve a number of fundamental problems. Following an unexpected sudden downturn in sales at a time of high interest rates, the major names in British toy making, Lesney, Airfix, Mettoy and Dunbee Combex Marx, all collapsed between 1979 and 1985, leaving the business to be dominated largely by importers.

The promotion of workplace partnership in the high performance workplace has become central to policy debates on the 'modernization' of employment relations in British industry. This book provides critical insights into the dynamics of partnership by way of in-depth case studies of employee experience in an under-researched industry noted for its high concentrations of skilled workers and graduates. Drawing on rich interview and questionnaire data, the authors highlight considerable conflicts of interest in the development of partnership that derive from the competitive capitalist environment in which management strategies operate.

Yang analyzes the impact of globalization on national economic boundaries, using the automobile industry to contrast three different economic systems. Corporations emerge as new players in international relations. Their corporate policies and manufacturer-supplier linkages influence the international division of labor among modern nations. Their competitive strategy affects the ability of governments to regulate national economies. Scholars in international, regional, and developmental economics will find this work provides interesting material on global competition.

Examining the dynamics of competence-building processes at the firm level, this book looks at a sample of Japanese and European companies engaged in the field of optoelectronics. The concept was derived from the notion of firm-specific competences which are closely related to the firm's intangible assets and accumulated technological bases. Several factors affect the rate and direction of competence-building, chief among them being primary markets, top management strategy and the evolution of research and development organization, and organizational learning. The book also introduces a technique to assess competences using three types of data on US patenting, scientific publications and qualitative interview data.

This major Handbook offers a comprehensive analysis of the key issues surrounding the rapid expansion of Latin America's manufacturing sector. It systematically examines the most important factors influencing the comparative advantages and the globalization of manufacturing industries in the region. The Handbook of Latin American Trade in Manufactures provides a detailed account of trade and investment policies, international technology transfers, macroeconomic stabilization and structural adjustment policies and industry-specific initiatives affecting the export competitiveness of Latin America's manufactures. The four major parts of the Handbook contain detailed assessments of regional and country-specific developments in manufacturing trade, and the statistical appendix provides essential information on the countries of the region. This Handbook will be welcomed by a wide range of economists in the fields of international trade and investment, industrial organization, development economics and Latin American Trade. It will also be of interest to business analysts and policymakers concerned with the formation of trade strategies.

"This book examines the public controversies surrounding lifestyle risks in the consumer society. Comparing news coverage of the globesity pandemic in Britain and the USA, it illustrates the way moral panic brought childrens food marketing to the centre of the policy debates about consumer lifestyles"--

Discusses the clinical application of functional foods for the management of a wide range of chronic diseases Covers chronic diseases including Obesity, Arthritis, Cardiovascular Diseases, and Endocrinal and Hormonal Diseases, among others. Explores beneficial effects of nutraceuticals in chronic diseases

In this book, author Sadao Nomura taps into his decades of experience leading and advising Toyota operations in a wide variety of operations to tell the story of radical improvement at Toyota Logistics & Forklift (TL&F). This book tells in great detail what the author did with TL&F, how they did it, and the dramatic results that ensued. TL&F has long been a global leader in its industry. TL&F is part of Toyota Industries Corporation, which was founded by Toyota Group founder Sakichi Toyoda almost 100 years ago. Sakichi Toyoda is legendary in the Lean community as the originator of the all-important "JIDOKA" pillar of TPS, which ensures 1) built-in quality and 2) respect for people through ensuring that technology works for people rather than the other way around. Although TL&F seemed to be performing well, insiders knew that, as the founding company of the Toyota group, it needed to do better, especially in the quality performance of its global subsidiary operations. But improvement would not be easy in a company that already prided itself in its history as an exemplar in providing highest quality products and services. In 2006, TL&F requested assistance from Sadao Nomura. The initial request was for Mr. Nomura to support quality improvement in three global operations that had become part of TL&F through acquisition: US, Sweden, and France. Improvement was expected at these affiliates, but the dramatic nature of the improvement was not. Further, the improvement activities were so powerful that they were also instituted at the parent operations in Japan. Over a period of almost ten years, the company with the name most associated with product quality experienced quality improvement unparalleled in its history. "Dantotsu" means "extreme," "radical," or "unparalleled."

Herbal Bioactive-Based Drug Delivery Systems: Challenges and Opportunities provides a wide-ranging, in-depth resource for herbal bioactives, including detailed discussion of standardization and regulations. The book first explores specific drug delivery systems such as gastrointestinal, ocular, pulmonary, transdermal, and vaginal and rectal. It then discusses novel applications for nano, cosmetics, nutraceuticals, wound healing and cancer treatment. Finally, there is a section focusing on standardization and regulation which includes an enhancement of properties. This book is an essential resource for pharmacologists, pharmaceutical scientists, material scientists, botanists, and all those interested in natural products and drug delivery systems developments.

Using the findings from data analysis of fifty-one developing countries, this bookanalyses several national and international factors that have resulted in uneven development of the textiles and clothing industry inthe developing world. The findings are further substantiated by case studies of major players in this industry, such as India and China. While international trade rules have played a critical role in the growth of the textiles and clothing industry, country- and industry-specific policies and capacity building initiatives have also resulted in the present scenarioin several countries. There is no common recipe for all developing countries for sustaining market share in the domestic and international markets.Regional and local factors need to be taken into consideration while formulating policies for the industry.

Competition, Power and Industrial Flexibility assesses the varying ways in which automobile assemblers in several countries of East and Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas have sought to enhance their efficiency and flexibility in response to heightened global competition during the 1980s and early 1990s. It then explores the implications of such managerial strategies for workers and trade unions, and the responses of unions in seeking to preserve or enhance worker welfare and voice under industrial restructuring.

By 2050, the world's population is estimated to grow to 10 billion. To feed everyone, we will have to double our food production, to produce more food in the next 40 years than in the whole of the last 6,000. Changing the Food Game shows how our unsustainable food production system cannot support this growth. In this prescient book, Lucas Simons argues that the biggest challenge for our generation can only be solved by effective market transformation to achieve sustainable agriculture and food production. Lucas Simons explains clearly how we have created a production and trading system that is inherently unsustainable. But he also demonstrates that we have reason to be hopeful - from a sustainability race in the cocoa industry to examples of market transformation taking place in palm oil, timber, and sugarcane production. He also poses the question: where next? Provocative and eye-opening, Changing the Food Game uncovers the real story of how our food makes it on to our plates and presents a game-changing solution to revolutionize the industry.

Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company, lays out the secret of his success in My Life and Work. Born in 1863, Ford was a machinist and engineer by trade, but made his name as an extraordinarily successful businessman who, more than any other individual, was responsible for bringing the motor car into common use in America. Many of his pioneering manufacturing and labor practices are now commonplace - the assembly line, limited working hours, a minimum wage. He was a larger-than-life character who was rarely out of the headlines. My Life and Work is part memoir, part advice manual from the man who transformed the way America worked and lived.

This is the third book in what the author calls his sin trilogy: the gambling, tobacco, and alcohol industries. Similar to the gambling and tobacco industries, the alcohol industry is one in which the business and public policy processes are intimately linked. Furthermore, it is a highly regulated industry whose very existence depends upon the will of government at all levels and branches. What all the industries share is that they are viewed as a painless source of revenue for government. The alcohol industry is composed of three segments, namely beer, distilled spirits, and wine, each with a distinct product and market. Since the end of Prohibition, public policy makers have developed a certain tolerance for alcohol products, but they continue to grapple with the question of how to deal with the alcohol problem. While the author updates the current structure and strategies of competition among these industries, his primary rationale for doing so is to analyze how these industries react to increased public scrutiny of their business activities. The other unique feature of this book is its emphasis on how public policy measures affect the sale of beer, distilled spirits, and wine at the state level.

Providing an important and timely overview of research on the exciting area of entrepreneurship in biotechnology, The Handbook of Bioentrepreneurship examines one of the most promising industries of the 21st century. While genetically engineered food and biopharmaceuticals have made biotechnology part of our everyday life, starting a bioventure is among the most complex and risky entrepreneurial tasks given long development cycles, high technological and market uncertainty, and high capital intensity. Providing unparalleled in-depth and detailed analysis, this Handbook sheds light on business models and strategies, financing, cooperation networks between firms and universities, among other issues. With new developments in biotechnology increasingly in the news, this is an important source for readers interested in public policy, entrepreneurship, and business in the 21st century.

Fifteen years have passed since the 3rd edition of Antimicrobials in Food was published. It was arguably considered the "must-have" reference for those needing information on chemical antimicrobials used in foods. In the years since the last edition, the food industry has undergone radical transformations because of changes on several fronts. Reported consumer demands for the use of "natural" and "clean-label" antimicrobials have increased significantly. The discovery of new foodborne pathogen niches and potentially hazardous foods, along with a critical need to reduce food spoilage waste, has increased the need for suitable antimicrobial compounds or systems. Novel natural antimicrobials continue to be discovered, and new research has been carried out on traditional compounds. These and other related issues led the editors to develop the 4th edition of Antimicrobials in Food. In the 4th edition, the editors have compiled contemporary topics with information synthesized from internationally recognized authorities in their fields. In addition to updated information, new chapters have been added in this latest release with content on the use of bacteriophages, lauric arginate ester, and various systems for antimicrobial encapsulation and delivery. Comprehensive revisions of landmark chapters in previous editions including naturally occurring antimicrobials from both animal and plant sources, methods for determining antimicrobial activity, new approaches to multifactorial food preservation or "hurdle technology," and mechanisms of action, resistance, and stress adaptation are included. Complementing these topics is new information on quantifying the capability of "clean" antimicrobials for food preservation when compared to traditional food preservatives and industry considerations when antimicrobials are evaluated for use in food manufacture. Features Covers all food antimicrobials, natural and synthetic, with the latest research on each type Contains 5,000+ references on every conceivable food antimicrobial Guides in the selection of appropriate additives for specific food products Includes innovations in antimicrobial delivery technologies and the use of multifactorial food preservation with antimicrobials

Addressing the issues unique to managers of creative technical staff, this guide reflects not only Ronald Kay's long experience observing and teaching successful management techniques, but also treats the expanding challenges due to increasingly globally-based projects and staff. As before, Kay's guide helps readers to prepare themselves, graduate students and others to understand and improve their managerial skills and covers such practical, yet sometimes overlooked, steps such as: individual and team behavior of creative technical staff; managing their own and others' R&D projects; hiring, evaluating and compensating technical staff; R&D proposals and administrative functions; and presentations, meetings and organizational culture. New to this edition are a chapter on the global impact of high-tech enterprises and sections on the roles of foundations and government funding and task-force participation. Also tackled are the basics of starting, financing and staffing venture-capital-funded enterprises. What's more, this book also serves to increase the awareness and knowledge base of anyone who needs to meet the challenge of managing people with the creative energies that drive technologically-based economic growth."

"Economics at the Wheel" is about cars and driving, and all the problems that cars and drivers create for America. It explains actual government policy intended to reduce the damage cars and drivers do to us, and it explains why these government policies are almost all failures because they attack the wrong problem or attack it in the wrong way. The reader will come away with a much fuller understanding of air pollution, global warming, highway safety, auto insurance, gasoline taxation, rush-hour congestion, leaking underground storage tanks, and many other auto-related issues. It looks at common actions and circumstances from an economics perspective. It is readable with accessible prose style and few footnotes. It includes questions to provoke student thinking and boxed sections of side materials to stimulate discussions.

"This book reports empirical material from three case studies in the pharmaceutical industry, the biotechnology industry and the domain of academic research. New technoscientific frameworks that have not yet translated into new therapies, in the future, may play a more central role in the late-modern society"--

Low cost carriers (LCCs) represent one of the most exciting and dynamic yet often contentious developments in recent commercial aviation history. Formed as a direct result of policies of airline deregulation and liberalisation that were initiated in the United States in the late 1970s before being implemented in certain European, Australasian, Latin American and other world markets from the mid-1990s onwards to encourage competition, LCCs have been responsible for progressively reconfiguring the spatial patterns, operational practices and passenger experiences of flight. In the process, they have enabled growing numbers of people to fly to more places, more frequently, and at lower cost than had been previously possible. In so doing, however, they have generated a number of socio-economic and environmental challenges. The 23 essays included in this volume provide a detailed insight into the emergence, expansion and evolution of the low cost carrier sector worldwide. The volume covers deregulation and liberalisation of the global airline sector, the business models and operating characteristics of low cost carriers, the changing nature of the airline/airport relationship, LCC network characteristics, issues of pricing and competition and the current impacts and likely future trajectories.