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Democratic societies need media that uphold journalistic standards of truthfulness and objectivity. But sensationalism has always been a temptation for journalists, and given the intense competition between news outlets, especially in the online world, there is pressure on them to 'chase the clicks.' The article analyzes the incentive structures for journalists - focusing on the harmfulness of sensationalist framing as an example - and the challenges of establishing shared standards in a highly competitive online environment. Drawing on concepts and arguments from business ethics, it argues that the structure of this problem points to the need for an 'ethics of sportsmanship' that upholds journalistic standards despite competitive pressures. But the specific role and nature of the media imply that there can be no once-and-for-all solution. Instead, there is a need for reflexivity, that is, for an ongoing dialogue about journalistic standards and the role of media in democratic societies.

Abstract
This paper explores the relationship between the intensity of product market competition and firms' incentives to resort to illegal means to lower their production costs. To this end, our framework combines a crime model à la Becker with a Salop circle. When law enforcement includes a fixed fine for illegal conduct, more intense competition due to a higher number of firms in the industry reduces the prevalence of crime, whereas more intense competition due to better substitutability between products may increase or decrease crime. In contrast, when the fine for corporate crime is proportional to profits, more intense competition unambiguously increases the prevalence of crime. In addition, we discuss the implications of the link between product market competition and corporate crime decisions for market entry and optimal law enforcement and elaborate on the relationship between law enforcement and a firm's ability to commit to refraining from the use of illegal practices.

Does competitive pressure foster innovation? In addressing this important question, prior studies ignored a distinction between discrete innovation aiming at entirely new technology and continuous improvement consisting of numerous incremental improvements and modifications made upon the existing technology. This paper shows that distinguishing between these two types of innovation will lead to a much richer understanding of the interplay between firms' incentives to innovate and competitive pressure. In particular, our model predicts that, in contrast to previous theoretical findings, an increase in competitive pressure measured by product substitutability may decrease firms' incentives to conduct continuous improvement, and that an increase in the size of discrete innovation may decrease firms' incentives to conduct continuous improvement. A unique feature of this paper is its exploration of the model's real-world relevance and usefulness through field research. Motivated by recent declines in levels of continuous improvement in Japanese manufacturing, we conducted extensive field research at two Japanese manufacturing firms. After presenting our findings, we demonstrate that our model guides us to focus on several key changes taking place at these two firms; discover their interconnectedness; and finally ascertain powerful underlying forces behind each firm's decision to weaken its investment in traditional continuous improvement activities. -- Competitive pressure ; continuous improvement ; discrete innovation ; field research ; location model ; product substitutability ; small group activities ; technical progress

The automotive business in Brazil achieved 10% of the industry revenue and 6% of the formal employment by 2008. The commercial vehicle segment concentrated so far eight truck makers that experienced their best market figures in 2008, the economy crisis in 2009, and an extraordinary recovery in 2010. Government tax reduction programs as well as special financing incentives were undoubtedly decisive to re-stimulate the business during the crisis. Positive Brazilian perspectives with the boom in the agricultural, oil and gas, mining and infrastructure activities plus the coming sports events call the attention of new players that are quickly implementing different business strategies to become part of the game. New emission regulations starting from 2012 also bring uncertainties, challenges and opportunities. With the growing globalization and market concentration it's critical for any industry understand and minimize the forces of competitive pressures. The main goal of this paper, therefore, is to contribute to the academy with an alternative approach of strategic and behavioral analysis of rivalry and competition different than the five forces model of Porter. Ford, Iveco, MAN, Mercedes-Benz, Scania and Volvo were assessed from 2008 to 2010 within three main performance indicators – unit sales, gross revenues and operating profits – supporting the elaboration of the competitive pressure systems mapping model of D'aveni, including a hypothetical future scenario with a new entrant and the potential impacts in the system. Main findings and results portray the asymmetrical strategic behavior of competitors and the temporary dynamic stability in the Brazilian truck industry.

Deregulation has dramatically altered the face of Australian industry and associated services throughout the last decade or so. In the transport sector, in particular, changes have been significant and deregulation has led to pervasive changes in market structure, to the actual ownership of infrastructure and to a shift in strategic focus from a public utility to one of commercial viability and market orientation. Competitive pressures in the transport sector as a result of deregulation have meant that traditional public sector organisations such as railways and ports have been transformed. A major impact of these developments has been that transport operators, in an endeavour either to maintain or capture market share, have been forced to restructure and refocus and, in the face of growing competition, have been forced to reinvent themselves and move increasingly towards the provision of an integrated intermodal service. Rail operators are now no longer simple linehaul operators in container or bulk freight markets but have become market–focused third–party service providers of a range of integrated functions.

Liberalization of the European automobile distribution system in 2002 limits the ability of manufacturers to impose vertical restraints, leading to a substantial increase in competitive pressure among dealers. We estimate an equilibrium model of profit maximization to evaluate how dealers change their innovation adoption strategies following the elimination of exclusive territories. Using French data we evaluate the existence of complementarities between the adoption of software applications and the scale of production. Firms view these innovations as substitutes and concentrate their effort in one type of software as they expand their scale of production. Results are robust to the existence of unobserved heterogeneity. (JEL D24, K21, L21, L22, L62, O32)