Characteristics of TQM: Evidence from the RIT/USA Today Quality Cup Competition

This paper reports the results of a field study examining the use of TQM at 15 firms. The sample is drawn from winners and finalists of the RIT/USA Today Quality Cup. The authors interviewed 75 employees (5 per firm) including 14 executives, 44 middle managers, and 17 front line workers. The interviews elicited information on the motives for adopting TQM, the role of leadership, the use of monitoring, the use of rhetoric, the extent and type of training, the basis for employee evaluation, compensation, and promotion, the use of teams, reallocation of authority, and the results of the TQM program. We use the data to provide a description of how TQM works in practice, including factors that determine patterns of use across firms. A major result is that team-based problem solving is used about twice as frequently as devolution of authority in our sample. We attribute this result to the higher costs of monitoring and corporate change associated with devolution relative to problem solving.

Do Union Wealth Concessions Explain Takeover Premiums? The Evidence on Contract Wages

I estimate changes in levels of union real wage growth associated with corporate takeovers and accompanying chief executive officer changes. The effects are statistically insignificant. The results are used to construct union wealth changes associated with corporate control events. Target fire shareholder wealth premiums are estimated using a simple market model. The union and shareholder wealth changes are compared, and I conclude that transfers of wealth from unions to shareholders ate not an economically significant explanation of shareholder wealth premiums.

On the Accuracy of Producer Price Indexes for Pharmaceutical Preparations: An Audit Based on Detailed Firm-Specific Data

This paper reports preliminary results of a detailed audit of one component of the Producer Price Index (PPI), using data from a large muiltproduct company. We compare price indexes constructed in a variety of ways from the universe of products of a large pharmaceutical manufacturer in the US, with price indexes constructed from the particular products of this firm sampled by the BIS, using BIS and alternative index number procedures. A principal finding is that price indexes based on the BIB sample of this firm grew similarly to the published PPI's for SIC 28341, but in contrast, price indexes computed using the universe of products manufactured by the firm grew much more slowly. Although some variations emerge depending on how one undertakes the calculations, our typical finding is that, employing monthly data from January 1984 through December 1989, the BIB sample price index rises at nearly the same rate as the PPI, bet at roughly twice the rate of indexes based on the universe of products shipped by this pharmaceutical firm. We also report results of a preliminary attempt to uncover the source of this disparity, we provide some evidence on the "new goods" problem, and we implement a procedure to mitigate the problem of "drift" associated with the Tornqvist approximation to the Divisia chained index.

Voices of Ancient Women: Stories and Essays on Persephone and Medusa

This thesis combines art historical analysis and creative writing in a collection of essays and short stories centered on the myths of Persephone and Medusa. Ancient art, text, and context is considered in the essays, while the stories approach these subjects on a more contemporary and personal level