The present study suggests a generalization of the standard translog cost function model, incorporating the demand side of the market into the analysis. The main advantage of this generalized model is that it can be used to directly investigate the degree of monopoly power in the market under study, using the Lerner index as the empirical measure of market power. The Swedish construction industry is used as an empirical example of how to apply this method. Within the framework of the neoclassical theory of production, cost and factor demand functions as well as an expression equating marginal cost to marginal revenue are estimated. The paper finds substitutability between capital and labor and between labor and materials, the returns to scale are found to be increasing, while introduction of new technology is found to reduce the total cost of production. Finally, on average, the Lerner index amounts to 15.1% per annum suggesting that the Swedish construction industry possesses some monopoly power in the market for its product. This result also suggests that the results from cost function analysis, not taking the possibility of market power into account, might be biased due to misspecification of the model.

Affective relationship commitment has in several studies been identified as a crucial factor in the longevity of business relationships. In this article, it is argued that affective commitment should be researched on the individual level rather than the organizational level and that relevant psychological processes need to be incorporated into theory in order to increase understanding regarding the dynamics of this aspect of relationship commitment. The psychological contract, a construct derived from organizational psychology, is tested as an antecedent to affective commitment in relationships between buyers and sellers in the market for industrial supplies in Sweden. The findings indicate that the relational orientation of the psychological contract, as well as the evaluation of the same, has explanatory value when related to affective commitment in business-to-business relationships.

The few studies attempting to estimate costs of work-related disorders suffer from poor applied methodologies. Further, as the costs are often limited to the company, decisions about investment in improving the work environment are made at the company level. However, economic decisions on changing work environments and improving occupational health need to be made at the societal level. In an economic social decision, all direct and indirect costs imposed on society by work-related disorders are considered, regardless of who pays which cost. This study introduces and demonstrates a methodology appropriate for economic decisions at the societal level for preventing work-related disorders and promoting occupational health in the workplace. The methodology uses the concept of human capital in assessing productivity loss associated with the disorders. The empirical results show that Swedish society could have gained up to 442 855 537 SEK by preventing work-related disorders at the Swedish company Sandvik Materials Technology during 2014, 87% of which would have been captured by the company.

When designing studies to assess occupational and environmental exposures, one persistent decision problem is the selection between two technical methods, where one is expensive but efficient and the other is cheap but inefficient. While a few studies have attempted to determine the relatively more cost-efficient design between two technical methods, no successful study has optimized the fraction of the expensive efficient technical method in a combined technique intended for long-run exposure assessment studies. The purpose of this study was therefore to optimize the fraction of the expensive efficient measurements by resolving a precision-requiring cost minimization problem. For an indefinite total number of measurements, the total cost of a working posture assessment study was minimized by performing only direct measurements. However, for a definite total number of measurements, the use of combined techniques in assessing the posture could be optimal, depending on the constraints placed on the precision and on the research budget.