The Effect of Educational Background On Performance and Organisational Commitment

In this research note Gedaliahu Harel, Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management at the Israel Institute of Technology, and Yehuda Baruch, Visiting Fellow at the City University Business School, explore the effects of a special educational and training programme that affects the backgrounds of employees in technical jobs measured by variables such as level of performance, professionalism, and organisational commitment. the results are considered in terms of the particular population examined and the implications discussed for the use of special vocational education and training.     

Expatriation and repatriation in MNCs: a taxonomy

The challenge of the management of expatriates and repatriates has never been more timely nor urgent: globalization has forced expatriation into the corporate agenda, confronting us with an array of questions on HRM strategy and practice. We propose that a wide range of current thinking and practice may be conveniently grouped into a taxonomy of five organizational options, each advancing a different set of expatriation relationships: Global, Emissary, Peripheral, Professional, and Expedient. A framework outlining the main configurations of these options generates a generic model for expatriation at the organizational level. This forms the principal part of the article, followed by a comprehensive discussion and implications for practice. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

An agency theory perspective of the Israeli labor market segmentation: Past,present, and future

In this paper we use agency theory to present a process of the dichotomization of the Israeli workforce into two structures, each representing distinct organizational cultures. The first structure is the private sector, led by the high-tech industry; a model where the principal has strong control over the activities of the agent. The second is the public sector, an opposing model in which the principal has virtually no control over the activities of the agents and as a result, the effectiveness within this sector deteriorates. We argue that such conflicting systems cannot exist side by side without affecting each other and we suggest a role for human resource management (HRM) in future developments. Within the public sector it is the responsibility of the principal, the Israeli government, to gain more control over the agent and employ professional HRM systems for this purpose.     

Is doing good good for you? how corporate charitable contributions enhance revenue growth

This study examines the impact of corporate philanthropy growth on sales growth using a large sample of charitable contributions made by U.S. public companies from 1989 through 2000. Applying Granger causality tests, we find that charitable contributions are significantly associated with future revenue, whereas the association between revenue and future contributions is marginally significant at best. We then identify the mechanism underlying our findings. Our results are particularly pronounced for firms that are highly sensitive to consumer perception, where individual consumers are the predominant customers. In addition, we document a positive relationship between contributions and customer satisfaction. Overall, our evidence suggests that corporate philanthropy, under certain circumstances, furthers firms' economic objectives. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A methodology for reducing technological risk

The purpose of the paper is to suggest a quantitative method for analyzing the innovation risk from both technological and an economic point of view as a contribution to the strategic evaluation and planning process. Specifically the method provides a predictive evaluation of the probability of the commercial success of technological breakthroughs.
The method is a quantification of the qualitative method originally developed by White and Graham. It consists of a stepwise process in which the benefits of a technology are classified under four major headings: inventive merit, embodiment merit, market merit, and operational merit. Within each heading, the target technology is evaluated by pairwise comparison with alternative technologies, using a Saaty-type procedure. The decision-maker can conduct a sensitivity analysis and the evaluation can be made collaborative by using a group of judges.
The methodology which is computerized is described in some detail. Its use is illustrated by applying it to an hypothetical project in the field of information retrieval in which CD-ROM is compared with three alternative technologies.     

Reinsurers' investment and underwriting portfolios and the exchange rates risk

Summary and concluding remarks The traditional analysis of the performance of large international reinsurers typically concentrates on the effect of exchange rates on profitability of the firm (NRG [9]). The multi-index model enables us to capture and analyze two additional effects: According to the Interest Rates Parity Theorem, the expected rates of return on foreign investments already reflect the expected change in the exchange rate. Therefore, a firm operating in a perfect market would be indifferent to the currency denomination of its financial assets. The firm should consider only the unexpected element in the exchange rate movements, i.e., the exchange risk. The uncertainty in the exchange rate contributes to the variability of the return on each investment and underwriting project. The firm must consider this new element of risk while constructing its investment and insurance portfolios. p ]The model can be used to examine and analyze alternative policies of the firm operating in international markets. For example, the model can be used to examine the “full hedge” policy, in which the insurer has a zero net position in any non-reference currency, or the policy of isolating national insurance markets.     

Monetary policy and multiple equilibria with constrained investment and externalities

This paper focuses on two mechanisms under which interest-rate feed-back rules induce local indeterminacy in a closed economy with capital accumulation: arbitrage activity and the pricing channel. It shows that constrained investment, in the sense that it requires liquidity or that adjustment to the stock of capital is costly, is enough to induce indeterminacy if monetary policy follows a strictly passive interest rate rule. Determinacy of equilibrium is ensured under an active monetary policy stance. These results change when production externalities are introduced into the model so as to mimic the pricing channel in New Keynesian models. In this case, a policy stance that ensures determinacy is either active or strictly passive. In view of the contradicting results for the passive stance and the similar results for the active stance it is recommended that central banks act according to the active stance.     

No such thing as a global manager

With the continuing growth of globalization, companies need to pay careful attention to selecting and managing people who may become their “global managers.” The best way to achieve this is by coming up with a clear concept of what constitutes such a manager. But the examination of a wide set of possible characteristics indicates that there seems to be no distinct set of such individual qualities, so there is no consistent way to point out what a global manager is. What we are left with is the search for good “conventional” managers with a global mindset who could succeed in the international marketplace.     

How far can a dummy go? or,Are we putting too much of a burden upon political dichotomies?

Previous political models of macroeconomic phenomena have been erroneous due to the interpretations researchers have attached to the political dichotomies specified in their models. It is claimed that direct stimuli interpretations of political nominal scaling misrepresent the true nature of the impact political determinants exert upon macroeconomic endogenous outcomes. Furthermore, it is suggested that a proper specification of an economic phenomenon requires the consideration of both political and economic information. The consideration of political content, given its expectational nature, somewhat bridges the gap between substantive global rationality and procedural bounded rationality theories in economics and political science (as well as cognitive psychology). When a fuller specification is brought to bear, economic determinants play a mixed role in macroeconomic modeling. Such determinants are subject to direct stimuli and expectational information. On the other hand political determinants exert a pure expectational impact upon endogenous economic determinants.