Standard classification of expense

Adopted November 11th, 1920. The basic costs to be ascertained were warehouse, direct shipment and indirect shipment. The total expense of doing business includes all three of these factors. The Committee discussed at length the advisability of following the plan of some cost systems which start with the invoiced unit cost, and then load this with the burden of expense incurred during transit through the various processes involved in filling an order. In following such a procedure, overhead is naturally assessed on a basis of price per pound or some similar unit, but we found the units in a paper warehouse differed so in character that it would be impracticable to follow such a plan. For instance, it developed that some paper warehouses handled not only the various kinds of paper, but ice cream cones, butter dishes, clothes lines, matches, hammocks, automobile tires, etc. For this reason, and also because the majority of houses kept no record of sales and purchases on a tonnage basis, it was found impracticable to operate the system in its initial stages on a price per pound basis. Therefore the only easy, workable method was to operate on a percentage of sales, and the system was devised along this line. Original item in Box no. 040

Breaking Binge: Exploring The Effects Of Binge Watching On Television Viewer Reception

The modern television viewer enjoys an unprecedented amount of choice and control - a direct result of widespread availability of new technology and services. Cultivated in this new television landscape is the phenomenon of binge watching, a popular conversation piece in the current zeitgeist yet a greatly under-researched topic academically. This exploratory research study was able to make significant strides in understanding binge watching by examining its effect on the viewer - more specifically, how it affects their reception towards a television show. Utilizing a uses and gratifications perspective, this study conducted an experiment on 212 university students who were assigned to watch one of two drama series, and designated a viewing condition, binge watching or appointment viewing. Data gathered using preliminary and post questionnaires, as well as short episodic diary surveys, measured reception factors such as opinion, enjoyment and satisfaction. This study found that the effect of binge watching on viewer reception is contingent on the show. Results also revealed that binge watching better delivers an escape gratification for viewers than appointment viewing

Cultivating compliance: governance of North Indian organic basmati smallholders in a global value chain

Focusing on a global value chain (GVC) for organic basmati rice, we study how farmers’ practices are governed through product and process standards, organic certification protocols, and contracts with buyer firms. We analyze how farmers’ entry into the GVC reconfigures their agencements (defined as heterogeneous arrangements of human and nonhuman agencies which are associated with each other). These reconfigurations entail the severance of some associations among procedural and material elements of the agencements and the formation of new associations, in order to produce cultivation practices that are accurately described by the GVC’s standards and protocols. Based on ethnography of two farmers in Uttarakhand, North India, we find that the same standards were enacted differently on the two farmers’ fields, producing variable degrees of (selective) compliance with the ‘official’ GVC standards. We argue that the disjuncture between the ‘official’ scripts of the standards and actual cultivation practices must be nurtured to allow farmers’ agencements to align their practices with local sociotechnical relations and farm ecology. Furthermore, we find that compliance and disjuncture were facilitated by many practices and associations that were officially ungoverned by the GVC

'Dressage Is Full of Queens!' Masculinity, Sexuality and Equestrian Sport

Attitudes towards sexuality are changing and levels of cultural homophobia decreasing, yet there remain very few openly gay men within sport. As a proving ground for heteromasculinity, sport has traditionally been a hostile environment for gay men. This article is based on an ethnographic study within a sporting subworld in which gay men do appear to be accepted: equestrian sport. Drawing on inclusive masculinity theory, equestrian sport is shown to offer an unusually tolerant environment for gay men in which heterosexual men of all ages demonstrate low levels of homophobia. Inclusive masculinity theory is a useful framework for exploring the changing nature of masculinities and this study demonstrates that gay men are becoming increasingly visible and accepted within once unreceptive locales, such as sport and rural communities. However, this more tolerant attitude is purchased at the expense of a subordinated feminine Other, perpetuating the dominance of men within competitive sport. © The Author(s) 2012

A behavioral theory of alliance portfolio reconfiguration: Evidence from pharmaceutical biotechnology

Research summary: Extant research suggests that firms rationally evaluate external and/or internal contingencies when deciding how to reconfigure their alliance portfolios. We advance a behavioral perspective which assumes that managers are boundedly rational and thus rely on behavioral heuristics when making alliance portfolio reconfiguration decisions. In panel data on U.S.-listed biotechnology firms, we find that below-aspiration performance motivates a firm to form alliances with novel partners within the resource scope of its existing alliance portfolio. This effect is weakened by equity ties with existing partners and strengthened by firm-specific uncertainty. Conversely, above-aspiration performance leads to new alliances with existing partners but outside the resource scope of the firm’s existing alliance portfolio. Finally, as organizational slack increases, a firm forms alliances with novel partners focusing on new-to-the-portfolio resources. Managerial summary: We study why and how firms change the configuration of their alliance portfolios over time. We find that actual performance relative to performance objectives, and firms’ excess resources, are important drivers of such change. The more firms fail to meet their performance objectives, the more likely they are to form alliances with novel partners focusing on areas in which they already have one or more alliances with other partners. The more firms exceed their performance objectives, the greater their inclination to form alliances with their existing partners in areas in which they do not yet have alliances. The greater the stock of excess resources, the greater firms’ propensities to form alliances with novel partners focusing on areas in which they do not yet have alliances

Vertical monopoly power, profit and risk: The British beer industry, c.1970-2004

By investigating surplus and risk distribution in the British brewing industry, this paper shows that risk and risk transfer are important dimensions of vertical supply chain relationships. A comparative financial analysis shows the effects of models of vertical ownership before and after the break-up of producer controlled tenanted estates and the strategy and performance of pub-owning companies. Contrasting mechanisms for controlling the capture of surplus and division of risk are evaluated. The paper complements prior studies that have concentrated on the brewers by assessing winners and losers amongst pub owning companies and tenants in different models of vertical organisation and how they might be effectively regulated

The state of workplace union reps organisation in Britain today

This article provides a brief evaluation of the state of workplace union reps’ organization in Britain as we approach the second decade of the 2000s. It documents the severe weakening of workplace union organization over the last 25 years, which is reflected in the declining number of reps, reduced bargaining power and the problem of bureaucratization. But it also provides evidence of the continuing resilience, and even combativity in certain areas of employment, of workplace union reps organization, and considers the future potential for a revival of fortunes

The changing nature of labour regulation: the distinctiveness of the National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry

The article addresses the changing nature of labour regulation through analysis of the National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry, originating in 1981. It shows how multiple spatial regulatory scales, the changing coalitions of actors involved, employer and client engagement and labour agency have been critical to National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry's survival

Globalization intentions in tension: The case of Singapore

10.1177/0020872810371202International Social Work535671-68