Business Commons^™

Adam Smith On Competitive Religious Markets: Preaching About Preachers?, Charles G. Leathers, J. Patrick Raines

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

Anderson (1988) and Rosenberg (1960) have provided substantial insights into Adam Smith's economic analysis of religious behavior. In particular, both emphasized Smith's optimistic view of competitive religious markets. As an addendum, this paper investigates more closely the theoretical basis for Smith's prediction that optimal religious doctrine and institutions would spontaneously evolve in free markets for preachers.

The Assessment And Application Of Patient Satisfaction Variables In Marketing A Psychiatric Practice, Donald E. Christensen, Thomas D. Giese

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

As the health care industry becomes increasingly more competitive, marketing functions will take on increasingly more importance. At the core of the marketing concept is the pursuit of customer satisfaction, or, for medical services, patient satisfaction. This study reports on the administration of a 33-item patient satisfaction questionnaire to the consumers of services in four outpatient offices of a large, group private psychiatric practice. Data are analyzed descriptively and recommendations are made for improvements of service delivery based on the findings of the survey.

Inferential Operations Research On Surface Finish Of Castings, D. C. Ekey

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

This paper reports the result of an experiment using statistical research methodology to evaluate previous findings, identify new effects and focus on potential future research efforts to improve the control of casting surface roughness.

The objective of developing a functional equation to predict casting surface roughness was achieved. A reliable and valid methodology for obtaining operational "surface imprints" of casting surface roughness was developed.

Gray iron castings within a weight range of 1 to 7000 pounds were studied. The population of 142 surface roughness measurements came from five foundries in the northeast regions of Pennsylvania, Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts. The …

Common Market Competition Policy As A Strategic Planning Issue For Transnational Firms, J. Patrick Raines

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

Managers in charge of international business decisions must recognize competitive conditions to make production, distribution, and marketing decisions. They must be cognizant of competitors' strategies as well as institutional arrangements which affect competition. As the international business environment has expanded, government regulations designed to control unfair or restrictive business practices have proliferated. Today, nearly all major developed countries with market economies prohibit the abuses of monopoly power and proscribe certain enterprise activities which restrain competition. Furthermore, governments have become less reluctant to apply their antitrust law extraterritorially. The ability of multinational firms to compete in international markets will increasingly depend …

Economic Foundations For The Competition Policy Implemented By The Eec, J. Patrick Raines

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

The purpose of this study is to provide a theoretical economic framework for the analysis of the competition policy implemented by the European Economic Community (EEC). The fundamental objective is to demonstrate that the EEC's actual approach to regulating restrictive business practices can be related to a concept of competition that is relevant and adequate for the analysis and explanation of competition policy in the EEC. The thesis is that a strong theoretical relationship can be shown to exist between EEC business regulation and the conceptual parallels in the theories on competition of J.A. Schumpeter and J.M. Clark.