Strikes, Scabs and Tread Separations: Labor Strife and the Production of Defective Bridgestone/Firestone Tires

This paper provides a case study of the effect of labor relations on product quality. We consider whether a long, contentious strike and the hiring of permanent replacement workers by Bridgestone/Firestone in the mid-1990s contributed to the production of an excess number of defective tires. Using several independent data sources we find that labor strife in the Decatur plant closely coincided with lower product quality. Count data regression models based on two data sets of tire failures by plant, year and age show significantly higher failure rates for tires produced in Decatur during the labor dispute than before or after the dispute, or than at other plants. Also, an analysis of internal Firestone engineering tests indicates that P235 tires from Decatur performed less well if they were manufactured during the labor dispute compared with those produced after the dispute, or compared with those from other, non-striking plants. Monthly data suggest that the production of defective tires was particularly high around the time wage concessions were demanded by Firestone in early 1994 and when large numbers of replacement workers and permanent workers worked side by side in late 1995 and early 1996.

Strikes, Scabs and Tread Separations: Labor Strife and the Production of Defective Bridgestone/Firestone Tires

This paper provides a case study of the effect of labor relations on product quality. We consider whether a long, contentious strike and the hiring of permanent replacement workers by Bridgestone/Firestone in the mid-1990s contributed to the production of an excess number of defective tires. Using several independent data sources we find that labor strife in the Decatur plant closely coincided with lower product quality. Count data regression models based on two data sets of tire failures by plant, year and age show significantly higher failure rates for tires produced in Decatur during the labor dispute than before or after the dispute, or than at other plants. Also, an analysis of internal Firestone engineering tests indicates that P235 tires from Decatur performed less well if they were manufactured during the labor dispute compared with those produced after the dispute, or compared with those from other, non-striking plants. Monthly data suggest that the production of defective tires was particularly high around the time wage concessions were demanded by Firestone in early 1994 and when large numbers of replacement workers and permanent workers worked side by side in late 1995 and early 1996.

EXPLAINING SATISFACTION IN DOUBLE DEVIATION SCENARIOS: THE EFFECTS OF ANGER AND DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE

Research has shown that more than half of attempted recovery efforts only reinforce dissatisfaction, producing a ‘double deviation’ effect. Surprisingly, these double deviation effects have received little attention in service marketing literature. Yet no study has specifically investigated which are the main determinants of the formation of customer satisfaction judgments in double deviation contexts. To fill this gap, we develop and empirically test a model based on the existing service recovery literature. Specifically, we focus on two theoretical frameworks: social justice theory and theories of emotion. We examine the effect of anger with service recovery on satisfaction with service recovery, as well as the role of distributive justice on the elicitation of the specific emotion of anger with service recovery and satisfaction with service recovery. Results support the model and highlight the important role of specific recovery-related emotions in double deviation contexts. Implications for practice and future research are discussed. La investigación previa ha mostrado que más de la mitad de los esfuerzos de recuperación sólo refuerzan la insatisfacción, produciendo un efecto de desviación doble. Sorprendentemente, estos efectos de desviación doble han recibido muy poca atención en la literatura de marketing de servicios. Hasta la fecha, ningún trabajo ha investigado empíricamente cuáles son los principales determinantes en la formación de los juicios de satisfacción en contextos de desviación doble. Para cubrir este hueco, desarrollamos y analizamos empíricamente un modelo basado en la literatura de recuperación de servicios existente. Específicamente, nos basamos en dos esquemas conceptuales: la teoría de la justicia social y las teorías sobre emociones. Examinamos el efecto del enfado con la recuperación del servicio en la satisfacción con la recuperación del servicio, así como el papel de la justicia distributiva como activador de emociones específicas de enfado y como antecedente de la satisfacción con la recuperación del servicio. Los resultados confirman el modelo propuesto y ponen de manifiesto el importante papel de las emociones específicas relacionadas con la recuperación en contextos de desviación doble. Finalmente, se discuten las implicaciones de gestión y las líneas futuras de investigación.enfado con la recuperación del servicio, justicia distributiva, satisfacción con la recuperación del servicio, desviación doble, industria bancaria anger with service recovery, distributive justice, satisfaction with service recovery, double deviation, banking industry

THIRD-PARTY COMPLAINTS AND FIRM PERFORMANCE: AN APPLICATION IN SPANISH BANKING

This article focuses on the impact of third-party complaints on firm performance. We propose two research hypotheses, which are developed from the literature of dissatisfaction, emotions, and economics. The methodology is based on an event study to estimate variation in firm share returns in the stock market due to the publication of the Annual Complaints Service Report by the Bank of Spain; as well as a regression analysis to examine the impact of the number of complaints per branch on the variation obtained. The empirical focus is on a sample of eleven banks to which complaints were made and which were quoted on the Spanish Stock Exchange between 1992 and 2001. The results show a negative impact of the publication of these annual complaint reports on the share returns of the banks concerned. Additionally, these returns have a negative relationship with the number of complaints per branch. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar el impacto de las quejas a terceras partes sobre losresultados empresariales. Para ello, se proponen dos hipótesis de investigación, argumentadassiguiendo la literatura de insatisfacción, emociones, y economía. La metodología se apoya en elevent study para estimar la variación de la rentabilidad de las acciones de las empresas generadaen la Bolsa por la publicación de la Memoria Anual del Servicio de Reclamaciones del Bancode España; así como en el análisis de regresión para examinar el impacto del número de quejaspor oficina en dicha variación. La aplicación empírica se lleva a cabo para una muestra de oncebancos sobre los que se efectúan las quejas y que cotizan en la Bolsa de Madrid entre 1992 y2001. Los resultados obtenidos ponen de manifiesto un impacto negativo de la publicación dedichas memorias anuales de quejas sobre la rentabilidad de las acciones de los bancosimplicados, y que dicha rentabilidad mantiene una relación negativa con el volumen de quejaspor oficina.Quejas a terceras partes; Resultados empresariales; Banca Third-party complaints; Firm performance; Banking industry

The negative effects of failed service recoveries

Research has shown that more than half of attempted recovery efforts fail, producing a "double deviation" effect. Surprisingly, these double deviation effects have received little attention in marketing literature. This paper examines what happens after these critical encounters, which behavior or set of behaviors the customers are prone to follow and how customers' perceptions of the firm's recovery efforts influence these behaviors. For the analysis of choice of the type of response (complaining, exit, complaining and exit, and no-switching), we estimate multinomial Logit models with random coefficients (RCL). The results of our study show that magnitude of service failure, explanations, apologies, perceived justice, angry and frustration felt by the customer, and satisfaction with service recovery have a significant effect on customers' choice of the type of response. Implications from the findings are offered. La investigación ha mostrado que más de la mitad de los intentos de recuperación tras el fallo de un servicio fracasan, lo que produce un efecto de "desviación doble". Sorprendentemente, estos efectos de desviación doble han recibido muy poca atención en la literatura de marketing. Este trabajo analiza qué ocurre tras estos encuentros críticos, ¿qué comportamiento o conjunto de comportamientos tienden a seguir lo clientes? y ¿cómo afectan a estos comportamientos las percepciones de los clientes acerca del problema y de los esfuerzos de recuperación de la empresa?. Para el análisis del tipo de respuesta (queja, abandono, queja y abandono, y no cambiar de entidad), estimamos modelos Logit multinomiales con coeficientes aleatorios (RCL). Los resultados de nuestro estudio muestran que la magnitud del fallo inicial, las explicaciones y disculpas recibidas tras el mismo, la justicia percibida en la gestión de la queja, la frustración y el enfado que siente el cliente y la satisfacción con el proceso de recuperación, tienen un efecto significativo en la elección de los clientes del tipo de respuesta de queja. Finalmente, se ofrecen implicaciones para la gestión.desviación doble, comportamiento de queja del consumidor, modelos Logit multinomiales con coeficientes aleatorios (RCL), recuperación del servicio. Double deviations, consumer complaining behavior (CCB), multinomial logit models with random coefficients (RCL), service recovery.

Learning Economic Parameters from Revealed Preferences

A recent line of work, starting with Beigman and Vohra (2006) and Zadimoghaddam and Roth (2012), has addressed the problem of {\em learning} a utility function from revealed preference data. The goal here is to make use of past data describing the purchases of a utility maximizing agent when faced with certain prices and budget constraints in order to produce a hypothesis function that can accurately forecast the {\em future} behavior of the agent. In this work we advance this line of work by providing sample complexity guarantees and efficient algorithms for a number of important classes. By drawing a connection to recent advances in multi-class learning, we provide a computationally efficient algorithm with tight sample complexity guarantees ($\Theta(d/\epsilon)$ for the case of $d$ goods) for learning linear utility functions under a linear price model. This solves an open question in Zadimoghaddam and Roth (2012). Our technique yields numerous generalizations including the ability to learn other well-studied classes of utility functions, to deal with a misspecified model, and with non-linear prices

Functional linear regression with derivatives

We introduce a new model of linear regression for random functional inputs taking into account the first-order derivative of the data. We propose an estimation method that comes down to solving a special linear inverse problem. Our procedure tackles the problem through a double and synchronised penalisation. An asymptotic expansion of the mean square prevision error is given. The model and the method are applied to a benchmark dataset of spectrometric curves and compared with other functional models

Strain improvement in dye decolourising mutants of Mucor mucedo by protoplast fusion

The amounts of protoplasts obtained in the developed mutants of M. mucedo MMM1 (U.V. irradiated mutant) and MMM2 (ethyl methyl sulfonate treated mutant) which are very effective decolourisers were 5.23 x 106 and 5.65 x 106 protoplasts/ml respectively. Among the 385 colonies isolated after protoplast fusion only 3 possessed clamp connections and chosen as fusants (MMFu1, MMFu2 and MMFu3). Of the 3 fusants, MMFu3 showed maximum growth rate on potato dextrose agar plates incubated at roomtemperature. The fusant MMFu3 showed very good increase in the production of three enzymes protease (1.90 U/ml), peroxidase (1100 U/ml) and laccase (200 U/ml) when compared to the two parentstrains proving that the higher enzymatic secretions are responsible for the decolourisation activity. In protease isozyme analysis, fusants showed bands common to either of the parental strains or to both. Further non parental new bands were observed in the protease isozyme patterns of MMFu3. This fact indicated that the isolates were fusants between MMM1 and MMM2. The fusant MMFu3 showed the maximum decolourisation of crystal violet up to 95% and malachite green up to 84% after 10 days ofincubation. The results clearly indicated that the protoplast fusants showed improvement in the decolourisation efficiency in both the cases of crystal violet and malachite green

Isolation, identification and screening of potential cellulase-free xylanase producing fungi

In order to isolate cellulase-free xylanase-producing fungi, screening and isolation of fungi was done using decaying wood, agricultural wastes and other lignocellulosic wastes as microbial source. Thirty (30) fungal species were selected for further analysis based upon clearing zones formation on xylan enriched agar plates. Submerged fermentation was done with 30 fungal isolates to identify strain that could produce highest amount of cellulase-free xylanase at a pH of 5.5 and at 28 ± 2°C temperature. Under screening conditions, 90% of the strains produced xylanase (6.6 to 495 U/ml) and negligible amount of cellulase ( 0.6 U/ml) with growth. Growth was determined in terms of mycelial dry weight which ranged between 0.6 to 2.34 mg/ml. The amount of soluble protein was also determined which ranged between 102 to 300 g/ml. The pH change after incubation was in between 5.0 to 8.0. Strain specific variability in xylanase production was confirmed in Aspergillus sp. and Penicillium sp. In addition, this study shows here that Rhizopus sp. can also produce xylanase under given conditions.Key words: Cellulase-free xylanase, xylan, xylanase, submerged fermentation, malt extract agar