The Problems of the Development of the Service Sector in Czechoslovakia

This article exemplifies the principal-agent problem by reference to executive search consultancy The client company (principal) hires an executive search consultancy (agent) to recruit on its behalf Inherent in the relationship is the possibility of opportunistic behaviour: The effort expended by the agent on behalf of the principal cannot be monitored and the principal cannot judge whether sufficient effort has been expended. To overcome this, incentive systems based on outputs rather than behaviour would have been advocated. In the service sector; however, there is the added problem that often output itself’ is difficult to define and monitor: By taking a non-standard view this article considers the incentive systems that have evolved in executive search.     

Food Riots: Poverty,Power and Protest1

This paper explores the phenomenon of food riots. It argues that the riots may have been triggered by spikes in food prices in 2007–8, but there were many other factors that underpinned them. Demonstrators challenged injustice, inequality and political repression. Food riots were part of an important groundswell of mobilization that brought together a wide range of political coalitions for change and the promotion of human dignity.     

More Beautiful, More Prosperous

From October 25 to 29, the 2007 Beijing Dahongmen International Clothing Festival was held in Beijing, Fengtai District.During these 5 days, various activities were carried out to show a vivid picture of the new Dahongmen, the new Fengtai area and new Beijing.     

How Much New Information Is There in Earnings?

We quantify the relative importance of earnings announcements in providing new information to the share market, using the R² in a regression of securities' calendar‐year returns on their four quarterly earnings‐announcement “window” returns. The R², which averages approximately 5% to 9%, measures the proportion of total information incorporated in share prices annually that is associated with earnings announcements. We conclude that the average quarterly announcement is associated with approximately 1% to 2% of total annual information, thus providing a modest but not overwhelming amount of incremental information to the market. The results are consistent with the view that the primary economic role of reported earnings is not to provide timely new information to the share market. By inference, that role lies elsewhere, for example, in settling debt and compensation contracts and in disciplining prior information, including more timely managerial disclosures of information originating in the firm's accounting system. The relative informativeness of earnings announcements is a concave function of size. Increased information during earnings‐announcement windows in recent years is due only in part to increased concurrent releases of management forecasts. There is no evidence of abnormal information arrival in the weeks surrounding earnings announcements. Substantial information is released in management forecasts and in analyst forecast revisions prior (but not subsequent) to earnings announcements.     

The Racialization of Leisure: Comments on Stodolska's Discrimination Model

Abstract

This cross‐sectional study examines the relationship between barriers to leisure enjoyment and family stages. A list of 18 barriers, which included time, money, knowledge, and attitudinal and motivational constraints was analyzed for two samples of citizens and for one sample of recreation professionals over five family stages, sex of respondent, and four attitudinal measures (internal‐external control, political alienation, community relatedness, optimism). Results indicated varying relationships, depending on the barrier. Findings are discussed in terms of leisure resourcefulness and awareness of respondents (citizens compared to recreation professionals), the need to identify individuals at risk or benefit for particular family stages, and the implication of the findings for identifying target groups and appropriate approaches for leisure service providers.