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Revenue insurance is the most popular form of insurance available in the US federal crop insurance program. The majority of crop revenue policies are sold with a harvest price replacement feature that pays out on lost crop yields at the maximum of a realized or projected harvest price. The authors introduce a novel actuarial and statistical approach to rate revenue insurance policies with exotic price coverage: the payout depends on an order statistic or average of prices. The authors examine the price implications of different dependence models and demonstrate the feasibility of policies of this type.

Hierarchical Archimedean copulas and vine copulas are used to model dependence between prices and yields and serial dependence of prices. The authors construct several synthetic exotic price coverage insurance policies and evaluate the impact of copula models on policies covering different types of risk.

The authors’ findings show that the price of exotic price coverage policies is sensitive to the choice of dependence model. Serial dependence varies across the growing season. It is possible to accurately price exotic coverage policies and we suggest these add-ons as a possible avenue for developing private crop insurance markets.

The authors apply hierarchical Archimedean copulas and vine copulas that allow for flexibility in the modeling of multivariate dependence. Unlike previous research, which has primarily considered dependence across space, the form of exotic price coverage requires modeling serial dependence in relative prices. Results are important for this segment of the agricultural insurance market: one of the main areas that insurers can develop private products around the federal program.

Hailstorms are a major risk in agriculture. In order to mitigate the negative consequences on farm revenues, in the present paper the authors analyse the choice between insurance contracts and anti-hail nets. Furthermore, the authors discuss the consequences of anti-hail nets adoption on the actuarial soundness of the insurance market.

In this paper the authors firstly develop a theoretical model based on expected utility theory to compare the profitability of no-hedging against insurance and anti-hail nets. Subsequently, they test their theoretical model predictions with data of South Tyrolean apple producers.

The authors find that the benefit of anti-hail nets compared to insurance is an increasing function of the overall risk of hail damages, of the farmers' level of risk aversion and of the worth of the agricultural output.

Given the authors’ findings that anti-hail nets are more profitable for riskier, risk-averse and high-profitable farmers, the diffusion of anti-hail nets could be beneficial for the actuarial soundness of insurance markets.

The model developed in the paper is specifically designed to compare the profitability of different agricultural hedging options and can be easily extended to cover other hazards.

ormer US Attorney‐General Ramsey Clark once said “turbulence is life force – it is opportunity”. And for today’s leading car manufacturers, dealing with this “life force” has fast become a way of life. Fortunes are mixed, demands are shifting and remaining in the driving seat is becoming increasingly difficult. Jaguar and Skoda are two auto brands that have historically operated a gulf apart – the only commonality in their backgrounds being their takeover by mass‐market manufacturers Ford and VW. But both have recently come to discover the harsh realities of business at both ends of the market, and the crucial importance of product and people in corporate strategy.

The decade from 2000 until 2010 was a turbulent time for Toyota Motor Company. The carmaker came under significant criticism from the United States government, consumers throughout the world, and media critics amid allegations of poor quality control and vehicle safety concerns. Problems with accelerators and brake systems were found on several of its most popular models, a situation initially exacerbated by the slow and somewhat tentative response from top management. Toyota was accused of not addressing early warning signs that appeared several years before the crisis received intense negative publicity. Toyota struggled to retain the confidence of consumers and governmental regulators, eventually recalling approximately eight million automobiles.

March 6, 1969 Contract — Formation — Intention to create legal relationship — Collective agreement — Joint negotiating committee of employer and trade unions — Agreements regulating procedure and conditions of employment of employee members — No express provision for agreement to be actionable at law — Background of opinion that agreement not legally enforceable — Wording of clauses raising difficulties of enforcement — Whether intended to be enforceable — Whether legally binding.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze how popular culture in general and movies in particular both reflected and shaped public attitudes to newly emerging corporate giants in the 1950s; to demonstrate how that view was itself shaped by political context and prevailing American ideology.

The paper rests on a content analysis of 11 corporate films released in the USA between 1954 and 1960.

Studying corporate movies during the 1950s lends an appreciation of the salience of understanding the political/cultural context of business history. The movies also reflected Cold War realities: the constraints imposed by an anti‐communist blacklist, and the belief – hope, perhaps – that capitalist corporations would stand as a bulwark against the alien ideology of Communism.

The films studied are all US‐made. Studying films from later decades might also lend additional perspective.

The paper demonstrates the value of considering political context and ideology in understanding business history.

This article highlights the use of family and community history in elementary social studies classrooms. Family history stories from early twentieth century Appalachia are shared. The value of historical inquiry is explored, and techniques for initiating an oral history project are discussed as well as interviewing strategies and examples of developmentally appropriate extension activities. Connections to the national social studies standards are emphasized along with recommendations for teachers who wish to provide students with an intimate view of past human experience.

This study aims to examine the relationship between social network ties (SNT) and successful retail business (SRB), as well as the effect of the moderating variable of proactive entrepreneurial behavior (PEB).

The quantitative method with a cross-sectional design is used. A series of questionnaires are distributed and collected from a total of 101 retail business owners selected by a purposive sampling technique. Factor analysis and regression analysis are used to test the validity of the data and hypotheses.

The results establish that the higher the SNT, the higher the chance of a retail business to be successful. Interestingly, subsequent findings indicate that the role of PEB can strengthen the relationship between SNT and SRBs.

Business owners or entrepreneurs are considering both SNT and PEB in making business decisions. A new insight on the importance of intangible resources is revealed where it is rooted in resource-based and social capital theories.

If a large company is not to become a dinosaur it must foresee the need for change, not least in personnel practices, and must have staff to do this and help bring in new ways.