This paper examines grocery retailers' ability to influence prices charged to consumers and paid to suppliers. We discuss how retailer market power manifests itself in terms of pricing and marketing strategies by setting forth and offering evidence in support of eight “stylized facts” of retailer pricing and brand decisions. We argue that little, if any, of this behavior can be explained by a model of a competitive, price-taking retailer, but that most of the indicated behavior was also inconsistent with traditional models of market power. Finally, we discuss the impacts of aspects of this retailer behavior on the upstream farm sector.

Drawing on detailed qualitative case study evidence from four retail banking organisations, this article highlights the connections between customer relations strategy, the psychological contract and employee behaviour. The purpose of the research is to extend our understanding of the links between employees and customers by showing how this relationship evolves over time and by highlighting that a front-line employee's service orientation needs to be understood within the broader context of the employee's service experience. It is suggested that a better understanding of these connections could facilitate improved customer service standards and enhance the experiences of those working in service industries.

The paper proposes a new way of assessing an investment manager's skill in the day-to-day management of portfolios. The authors argue that traditional investment performance measurement techniques, whilst appropriate for many purposes, do not provide the insights necessary to judge the skill of investment managers. To judge manager skill, it is necessary to consider the activity within the portfolio in terms of the purchases, sales and trades, and to determine the value added by that activity. The paper sets out a framework by which this analysis can be carried out and, by means of examples, indicates how the results can be interpreted. The paper also explores briefly a number of other issues such as the qualitative aspects of performance monitoring. In writing the paper, the concept of risk in various guises was never far from the authors' minds, and it is true to say that the meaning of risk in the context of assessing manager skill lies at the very heart of the paper.

The paper proposes a new way of assessing an investment manager's skill in the day-to-day management of portfolios. The authors argue that traditional investment performance measurement techniques, whilst appropriate for many purposes, do not provide the insights necessary to judge the skill of investment managers. To judge manager skill, it is necessary to consider the activity within the portfolio in terms of the purchases, sales and trades, and to determine the value added by that activity. The paper sets out a framework by which this analysis can be carried out and, by means of examples, indicates how the results can be interpreted. The paper also explores briefly a number of other issues such as the qualitative aspects of performance monitoring. In writing the paper, the concept of risk in various guises was never far from the authors' minds, and it is true to say that the meaning of risk in the context of assessing manager skill lies at the very heart of the paper.