Press stories as a medium for social marketing: the publisher's perspective

Features editors in 50 UK newspapers and magazines completed a mail questionnaire concerning their use of charity infotorials, ie human interest press stories based on materials developedandsubmittedbycharityemployees. The research focused on publishers' reasons for carrying this type of article, editorial policy regarding materials submitted by charities, perceptions of the quality of the copy received, and the determinants of publishers' levels of satisfaction with outcomes. A clear dichotomy emerged between publishing firms that viewed infotorials mainly as a means for gaining a competitive advantage over titles produced by other businesses, and those that adopted a more altruistic approach to the publication of stories with a charity‐related theme. Copyright © 2000 Henry Stewart Publications     

Coordination on saddle-path solutions: the eductive viewpoint—linear multivariate models

We examine local strong rationality (LSR) in multivariate models with both forward-looking expectations and predetermined variables. Given hypothetical common knowledge restrictions that the dynamics will be close to those of a specified minimal state variable solution, we obtain eductive stability conditions for the solution to be LSR. In the saddlepoint stable case the saddle-path solution is LSR provided the model is structurally homogeneous across agents. However, the eductive stability conditions are strictly more demanding when heterogeneity is present, as can be expected in multisectoral models. Heterogeneity is thus a potentially important source of instability even in the saddlepoint stable case.     

Governance Restructuring in Los Angeles and Toronto: Amalgamation or Secession?

Towards the end of the 1990s, a perplexing situation occurred in two large North American cities. In Toronto, Ontario, and Los Angeles, California, conservative political forces undertook to restructure the system of urban governance. While initiated by conservatives in both cases, in Toronto the result was consolidation; in Los Angeles secessionism is rampant. In both cases the political debate on amalgamation and secession is tied in with discourses on size, efficiency and form of urban government. In both cases, also, the shift from government to governance has been a central theme. This article investigates how local governance has changed in these two cities by comparing historical traditions of governance. Each city has a specific set of external relationships with other geographical and political scales and a set of characteristic internal contradictions. Internally, Los Angeles' tradition of splintered governance stands in contrast to Toronto's metropolitan governance model. Amalgamation and secession have been introduced as strategic options of governance restructuring in both cities in the late 1990s. Both (projected and realized) scalar changes of governance processes and institutions have been accompanied and characterized by social struggles and widespread political debate. The article outlines these debates and discusses the respective political alliances which have formed in both urban regions on the issue of amalgamation/secession. Vers la fin des années 1990, une situation troublante se produisit dans deux grandes villes d'Amérique du Nord: Toronto, en Ontario, et Los Angeles, en Californie. Les conservateurs y avaient entrepris de restructurer le système de gouvernance urbaine. Bien que l'initiative revienne aux mêmes forces politiques dans les deux cas, le résultat fut à Toronto une unification et à Los Angeles un sécessionnisme rampant. Dans les deux villes, le débat politique sur l'amalgamation et la sécession est lié aux discours sur la taille, l'efficacité et la forme d'un gouvernement urbain. De même, dans les deux villes, le passage de gouvernement à gouvernance s'est trouvé au centre des propos. Cet article recherche comment la gouvernance locale a évolué dans ces deux villes en comparant les traditions historiques. Chaque ville présente, d'une part, un ensemble particulier de relations extérieures avec d'autres échelles géographiques et politiques et, d'autre part, un ensemble de contradictions intérieures caractéristiques. Sur le plan intérieur, la tradition de gouvernance éclatée de Los Angeles s'oppose au modèle de gouvernance métropolitaine de Toronto. Vers la fin des années 1990, amalgamation et sécession ont été présentées dans les deux villes comme des options stratégiques pour la restructuration de la gouvernance. Les changements d'échelle –à la fois prévus et réalisés – concernant les processus et institutions de gouvernance ont été accompagnés et caractérisés par des conflits sociaux et un débat politique général. L'article expose ces discussions et aborde les alliances politiques respectives qui se sont formées dans les deux zones urbaines sur la question d'amalgamation/sécession.     

Antecedents to ambidexterity competency in high technology organizations

High tech organizations confront dual demands of exploring new products/processes and exploiting existing products/processes. Research shows that ambidextrous organizations can better manage these dual demands, but our understanding of the antecedents that lead to ambidexterity is still emerging. In addition, previous research has taken a piecemeal approach to understand ambidexterity and does not fully consider its multilevel nature. This research takes a multilevel perspective and argues that a competency in ambidexterity involves three capabilities at different organizational levels: decision risk (strategic level), structural differentiation (project level), and contextual alignment (meso level). After correcting for endogeneity we empirically examine the relationship between these antecedents and ambidexterity competency by collecting multi-level data from 34 high tech business units and 110 exploration and exploitation R&D projects. The results indicate that decision risk and contextual alignment affect ambidexterity competency for high tech organizations. Structural differentiation does not affect ambidexterity competency but has mixed effects on R&D project performance.     

THE EFFECT OF SELF-TENDER OFFERS ON EARNINGS EXPECTATIONS

We examine financial analysts' earnings revisions after self-tender offers. Consistent with the assertions of earlier studies that self-tender offers signal future performance, financial analysts significantly increase their forecasts of earnings for firms that announce self-tender offers. However, the revisions differ based on the method chosen to repurchase shares. For Dutch auction offers, analysts significantly revise their estimates of short-term earnings only. For fixed-price tender offers, analysts increase both short-term and long-term earnings estimates. Also, long-term earnings revisions are significantly related to announcement-period abnormal returns for fixed-price tender offers, which suggests that fixed-price self-tender offers convey more positive information about future earnings than do Dutch auction offers.