By contributing author Phin Upham, courtesy of the Academic Ledger The knowledge based view builds on the capabilities view and adds crucial and distinct elements. The resource based view emphasizesvaluable, rare, imperfectly imitable, and without common, imitable, or strategically equivalent substitutes (Barney 1991) and sees firms as a bundle of capabilities which can be explained [...]
By Phin Upham To paraphrase Tolstoy, All employed people are employed for different reasons, but all unemployed people are unemployed for only one reason: a bad economy. As unemployment hovers around 9% in the United States, the highest since 1983 – when it reached 10.8% – and underemployment around 15%, we focus on this all [...]
A gold coin invested at 3% above inflation at the time of Christ would be worth today as much as a sphere of gold four times larger than the world. This implies that over time even this growth rate is not feasible – not because it is high in times of stability but because every few [...]
In a broad intellectual tour, Phin Upham takes us through a set of theories of organizations using the core propositions contingency theory, resource-dependence theory, transaction-cost theory, institutional theory, and organizational population ecology. Using these intellectual frameworks be looks as organizational structure and its functions, authority, the environment. Lastly, Phin asks what, if anything, do organizations maximize? Organizational theories [...]
Analyzing the statement “I intend to do X, although it is a mistake from every point of view” we can establish the relationship between reasons and intentions and reveal the absurdity of the statement. If we make the claim in the third person, or in the past tense (i.e. separate the speaker from the statement) [...]
The bronze “Alice in Wonderland” statue in New York City’s Central Park is lovingly polished and worn down by the hands, knees and feet of hundreds of thousands even millions of climbing children. It is Friday afternoon in March and a small boy is climbing up to the very top over the giant mushroom around [...]
an essay from Phin Upham In John Rawls’ book Political Liberalism he presents the original position as an adequate point of view for reaching a fair agreement on principles of justice between persons regarded as free and equal. The ultimate justification for this claim, I will argue, will reside largely in Rawls’ understanding of the [...]
By Phin Upham Abstract: In addition to potential external customer attraction benefits, there are also possible powerful internal benefits for a corporation that gives to charity. In this essay we lay the groundwork for a rational and strategic set of principles that could guide a company to maximize the positive effect of its giving on [...]
Unemployment and America’s competitive advantage is discussed in an article by Phin Upham. Recent work by the OECD sheds light on the dynamics of big business and small business sectors of developed countries. Data collected by governments across the world suggests that the US has a relatively small business sector compared to other developed countries. A recent [...]
Abstract: Experimental introduction of RNA into cells can be used in certain biological systems to interfere with the function of an endogenous gene. Such effects have been proposed to result from a simple antisense mechanism that depends on hybridization between the injected RNA and endogenous messenger RNA transcripts. RNA interference has been used in the [...]