Bundled Discounts, Leverage Theory, and Downstream Competition

Under plausible circumstances, a monopolist in one market canuse its control of prices in that market to force competingdownstream buyers to sign tying contracts that will lever itsmonopoly into another market. Specifically, the monopolist ofthe tying good can place each downstream buyer in a prisoner'sdilemma by offering them more favorable pricing on the tyinggood if they sign a requirements-tying contract covering thetied good. Since a buyer benefits on receiving more favorablepricing on the tying good and the competitors do not, and suffersif the competitors receive more favorable pricing on the tyinggood and the buyer does not, buyers will sign the tying contracteven when they would earn higher profits if they all refusedto sign. This enables a monopolist in one market to inefficientlyexclude an entrant in another market.     

Corporate social responsibility: A challenge for the donor community

As corporate social Responsibility (CSR) increases in large corporate organisations, a genuine approach to sustainable development is often best achieved through the supply chain. This is directly applicable to North–South supply-chain interactions (private-sector organisations, NGOs, and donors). CSR has adopted techniques from their ‘development’ usage, yet a reverse flow is not observed back to the ‘development’ sector. This is unfortunate. Private-sector organisations and NGOs (especially the larger ones) are well placed to take advantage of the increase in CSR relating to developing countries. More importantly, donors of all types would have increased influence if they took up CSR principles. Opportunity costs are not high and the advocacy potential is huge. This paper reviews CSR techniques and argues for donors to accept the challenge of incorporating them into their operations to influence more efficiently the process they seek to change.     

Grey intelligence

This contribution attempts to introduce the concept of ‘grey intelligence’ to denote the increasingly mixed and complex nature of intelligence gathering operations, services and markets. ‘Grey’ here refers to the blurred boundaries between public and private spheres, and to the increasing importance of private, ‘informal’ initiatives and provisions in the gathering, circulation and distribution of intelligence. Situating the phenomenon against the backdrop of what the author has earlier called ‘grey policing,’ the paper explores a number of aspects pertaining to grey intelligence.     

Race and Law in Fortress Europe

The universality of human rights is undermined by the principle of territorial supremacy. This allows member states of the EU to discriminate against those who are not citizens of the Union. Moreover, the European Convention on Human Rights and the EC Race Directive are incapable of redressing collective racial or ethnic disadvantage because they do not provide for the enforcement of positive social, economic and cultural obligations. These limitations are assessed in the light of current political and legal developments, using as the main illustration the case of the European Roma. An analysis is provided of obligations to respect, to protect and to fulfil social rights, which could be used when challenging the actions of public authorities and securing access for individuals to public facilities and services. An inclusionary approach would emphasise that equality is central to human rights, and that 'outsiders' such as migrant workers and asylum-seekers have human rights.     

PROFESSIONAL INTERDEPENDENCE IN DIVORCE PRACTICES

Divorce mediation is one area of the new and growing field of interpersonal mediation. Differences and similarities between divorce mediation and divorce psychotherapy are discussed in this article, and a method for teamwork between the two professions is proposed. The authors take the approach that the separate but overlapping practices of mediation and psychotherapy can be interdependent and that specific benefits to divorcing clients can result when divorce mediation and divorce psychotherapy are practiced collaboratively.     

The changing of the guard: Top management characteristics, organizational strain, and antitrust offending

From within an organizational strain perspective, this paper examines the effects of managerial succession, CEO background, decentralized management, and product dominant strategies on the reported corporate antitrust offending levels of 43 basic manufacturing companies over a 22-year period. In the aggregate, findings suggest that past illegal involvement predicts future offending; companies headed by finance and administrative CEOs have higher offending levels than do firms headed by CEOs from other backgrounds; a turnover in top management generally decreases offending levels; the pursuit of product dominant strategies increases the number of anticompetitive acts; and offending levels are unrelated to whether new leaders are recruited from within or outside the firm, whether the CEO is also Chair of the Board of Directors, or whether management is centralized or decentralized. The effects of some variables on corporate offending interact with firm performance.