Search results

The purpose of the present research is to examine very small-sized samples of approximately 2-mm diameters. For samples of this size, the holder must make contact with the entire perimeter surface of the sample, and the sample is held in place by friction. This necessitates a mathematical model for the direct solution which accommodates the holder and a contact resistance between the holder and the sample.

Most flash diffusivity testing is performed on samples which are nominally 12-13 mm in diameter and are held by only a small contact area around the perimeter of the sample in a holder. With an experiment set up in this way, the effects of conduction between the sample and the holder are normally ignored.

This research examines the effects of the holder and the contact resistance on the measured thermal diffusivity of the sample and includes experimental results from laboratory measurements.

This work provides a method for finding thermal diffusivity for extremely small samples. This capability is important in cases involving precious materials or highly toxic materials where only small samples are available.

This paper seeks to challenge the simplistic formulation of public ownership in terms of centralized planning and state bureaucracy. Instead, drawing on the works of Dewey and Veblen the paper aims to argue that public ownership is a critical aspect of forging progressive change through enhancing democratic participation in economic decision making.

The paper presents a conceptual analysis of public ownership types and employs case examples to further illuminate the argument.

The conceptual analysis challenges the supposition of market superiority in standard economic approaches and in neoliberalism. Drawing from the instrumental valuation principle a wide corpus of public ownership modes can offer the prospect of enhanced democratic participation that challenges existing power structures.

By emphasising the association between ownership and democracy the paper challenges the assumption that markets necessarily offer the only route to democratic participation. It also identifies and challenges the market fundamentalism of standard economic approaches.

This research probed the impact of an international versus domestic new product strategy on new product success. The study used 123 successes and 80 new product failures in 125 industrial firms in Canada. Two international dimensions were hypothesised to be related to new product performance: (1) the degree to which the product was developed for international versus domestic use; and (2) target market selection — domestic versus nearest neighbour versus world market. Successful products were found to be more international in terms of product design and marketing activities and products developed for international markets were more successful on a number of performance measures. Firms that elected an export strategy for their new products (in particular, a strategy aimed at world markets and not only at nearest neighbours) and developed products for international markets did better in foreign as well as domestic markets.

The programme of market‐oriented reforms to the UK’s welfare state commenced during the 1980s with the implementation of the competitive tendering of certain defined activities in health and local authorities. This paper argues that mainstream economic analysis offers only a very partial analysis of this policy; merely reducing investigation to a comparison of costs across alternative governance arrangements. It is contended that the old institutionalist account of institutional change provides a richer anaytical vein. The paper concisely applies this in a survey of 21 authorities. Results indicate that the policy engendered change in the values correlating behaviour by partially supressing established welfarist values. There was also some deterioration in trust between parties with the formalisation of relationships, although this varied between health and local authorities. The new contracting environment and decline in staff morale may have contributed to increased rigidities.

Economic theory emphasises the efficiency‐enhancing properties of the competitive imperative. In some way competition and efficiency are tautological. Comparatively recently some economists have, by applying economic techniques to essentially non‐market insitutions, questioned the efficacy of state provision. Their model suggests that the state is inherently inefficient, and that by extending the market mechanism to state activities efficiency improvements will follow. Over the past decade there has been a shift in emphasis in the role of the market mechanism in state activities, including the welfare state. Central government has adopted ambitious privatisation programmes popularised by the sell‐off of nationalised companies. Other forms of this adjustment in the role of the market in the state have included a shift in the state as a provider of welfare services to an enabler of welfare provision. This has several manifestations including competitive tendering of health and local authority activities, market testing, the regulation of privatised water provision, and the internal market in the NHS. The compelling arguments presented by those economists applying market techniques to state institutions seems to have struck a chord in Central Government.

“Quasi‐markets” is the term predominantly employed as a means of conceptualising and describing the market‐oriented reforms primarily, but not exclusively, to the welfare state in the UK. This paper argues that the term, as popularly defined, cannot sustain a suitable analytical frame in the examination of an evolutionary process. In so doing, the paper draws heavily on Thorstein Veblen’s distinction between evolutionary and teleological approaches. The quasi‐markets concept, grounded in Oliver Williamson’s transaction cost economics, is predicated on the existence of “conventional markets”, defined as perfect competition. It is claimed that this renders the term devoid of analytical usefulness. Moreover, by presenting a narrow conception of exchange the quasi‐market terminology tacitly conveys an insipid pro‐market stance.

This paper exploits a unique data set to explore the importance of key contractual characteristics on the duration of employment tenure. The paper recognises the insights of the human capital and job‐matching approaches in informing discussion on employment tenure. Nevertheless, this paper argues that features of the contractual arrangements between employer and employee have been under‐emphasised. The paper demonstrates that key features of contracts such as job security develop simultaneously with tenure. A clear lock‐in effect is observed in the results.

What are the keys to superior new product performance? Integrates the results of several of NewProd studies of hundreds of new product successes and failures. Identifies the key drivers of new product performance, where “performance” is measured in a variety of ways, including profitability, market share, meeting objectives, impact on the company and speed to market. Derives eight key lessons from the studies: the need for product superiority; a strong market orientation; solid up‐front homework; early and sharp product definition; a cross‐functional team approach; focus and project prioritization; quality of execution; and a systematic stage‐and‐gate new product process. Explains the implications of each of these eight factors – what they mean in terms of management action. Cycle time reduction and time to market are overriding concerns in the study. Identifies the four most important determinants of cycle time reduction.

The purpose of this article is to introduce heterodox economics as a viable alternative to market‐fundamentalist economics and to outline the articles of the special issue.

This introductory article provides an overview and summary of the contributions in the special issue.

Market‐fundamentalist economics has failed to adequately explain the economy or to provide guidance to policymakers that lead to widely‐shared prosperity and human well‐being. By contrast, heterodox economics offers social and historical narratives of both market and non‐market activities.

The article helps general readers to get acquainted with visions and approaches that are alternative to market‐fundamentalist economics. This will allow them to imagine more concretely that a better world is possible.