From The Editor

Business Economics, Jan, 2000

I am Bob Crow, the new Editor of Business Economics. As Ed Mennis announced in the October 1999 issue, he has retired after 15 years of service. Bob Parry's tribute to Ed and his distinguished service appears in this issue. Fortunately for me (and for you!), Ed has been generous in his support for me during this transition. I have appreciated his sage counsel, both before and after I accepted the editorship, and I expect to call on him from time to time as I encounter new questions. I am pleased that he has agreed to be on the Editorial Board as Editor Emeritus.

For those who may be curious, a bit about me. I took early retirement from The Bechtel Group, Inc. about a year ago, after an eleven-year run as its Chief Economist. I am now a Visiting Scholar at the Asia/Pacific Research Center at Stanford University and engage in some consulting. I spent years each in consulting, non-profit research, academe and government prior to joining Bechtel. I hold a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

I would like to take this opportunity to share with you my vision of Business Economics. Much of this vision derives from the work of NABE's Board over the past few years in setting a new course for NABE.

Business Economics' mission is to advance the content, scope and relevance of applied economics for business purposes. "Business" is as important as "economics" in this mission. In accomplishing it, Business Economics can be both a prestige and a practical journal and can be both educational and action oriented. Other professional journals have managed to reconcile these objectives, and for Business Economics to reach its potential, it must do so too. More emphasis will be given to contributed articles, which will be submitted to a formal refereeing process. One of the objectives of increased reliance on contributed articles is to increase the diversity of topics and authors.

Also, Business Economics should be a livelier forum for exchanges of views. They will be published, unless they are completely off the wall.

Finally, and perhaps most important, readers of Business Economics should be asked what it is they want to read. Thus, there will be a survey in the April issue to elicit your opinions about what is valuable and interesting.

A bottom-line summary of the new directions of Business Economics is expressed in the new "Guidelines for Authors," presented below. All readers are invited to become authors.

Guidelines for Authors

Articles can cover a wide range of topics and practices in different industries, sectors, specializations, and geographic locations. Contributions are welcome from all sources. Contributed articles will be reviewed initially by the editor and, if the content is deemed appropriate for Business Economics, forwarded anonymously to two referees for review.

Some Final Notes

Robert A. Kavesh has retired from the Editorial Board. Bob has been an active member of the board for thirty years. On behalf of all readers of Business Economics, I thank him for his long and distinguished service. Also, I am pleased to announce that Roger C. Bird has agreed to join the Editorial Board. Roger has had a career that encompasses significant experience in corporate economics, consulting and academe. He is currently a professor at The American College.

A note about this issue: most of the articles are derived from presentations made at NABE's 41st Annual Meeting, where the theme was "Targeting Business Risks and Opportunities."

Robert Thomas Crow

rcrow@leland.stanford.edu