The firm is a fundamental economic unit of contemporary human societies. Studies on the general quantitative and statistical character of firms have produced mixed results regarding their lifespans and mortality. We examine a comprehensive database of more than 25 000 publicly traded North American companies, from 1950 to 2009, to derive the statistics of firm lifespans. Based on detailed survi...

If you had invested in an index mutual fund pegged to the Standard & Poors 500 at the beginning of 1990, you’d have done very well. But if you had invested in a fund consisting of companies that excel at customer management, your investment would have outperformed the Standard & Poors 500 by 300 percent! The lesson is clear: companies that actively manage and nurture their customer relationship...

the objective of this paper is to determine the efficiency of manufacturing companies in kenya over the period of 2009 to 2011 as well as suggesting appropriate policies to be employed by the manufacturing companies in kenya based on the findings of the study. three critical inputs variables (raw materials, staff expenses and plant and machinery) and two output variables (net sale and earnings ...

cytokine profiles. These results provide hope, although they should be interpreted cautiously. The number of patients and the design of the study do not allow for a definitive conclusion on the role of statins in multiple sclerosis. The main concern with Vollmer and colleagues’ study is whether, without a placebo group, the reduction in disease activity as measured with MRI could be due to regr...

Nearly all general practitioners meet representatives of drug companies.' The drug industry spent an estimated £5000 per general practitioner promoting its products in the United Kingdom in 1985.2 Drug representatives are a crucial element in the promotion of products, and expenditure on representatives accounts for over 500/o of promotional budgets.' Information is available on the frequency a...

A Cochrane systematic review explored the potential role of rimonabant for overweight and obesity [1]. On the basis of surrogate outcomes reported in the included RCTs, rimonabant has been a candidate (by its producer) to act as a pleiotropic agent for the entire cardiovascular risk spectrum. Is this compelling evidence to consider rimonabant the new panacea for the ‘‘metabolic syndrome’’ or ar...

BACKGROUND Inexpensive antihypertensive drugs are at least as effective and safe as more expensive drugs. Overuse of newer, more expensive antihypertensive drugs is a poor use of resources. The potential savings are substantial, but vary across countries, in large part due to differences in prescribing patterns. We wanted to describe prescribing patterns of antihypertensive drugs in ten countri...

BACKGROUND The 1990 Contract encouraged general practitioners to participate in continuing medical education by providing a financial incentive. AIM The study was designed: to determine the motivation of general practitioners attending education events; and to compare motivation and reasons for attendance pre- and post-Contract at commercial and non-commercial meetings, and at the different e...

Interactions between drug companies and medical students may affect evidence-based medical practice and patient safety. The aim of this study was to assess drug company-medical student interactions in a medical faculty where limited specific national or institutional regulations apply between drug companies and medical students. The objectives of the study were to determine the exposure and att...

OBJECTIVE To generate recommendations for framing messages to promote HPV vaccination, specifically for African American adolescents and their parents who have not yet made a decision about the vaccine (the "Undecided" market segment). METHODS Focus groups and interviews were conducted with African American girls ages 11-18 (N=34) and their mothers (N=31), broken into market segments based on...