Integrating Management Control and Human Resource Management in Public Health Care: Swedish Case Study Evidence

The debate on management reforms in the public health care sector has largely overlooked the role of human resource management (HRM) and its potential interaction with traditional management control (MC) mechanisms. This paper explores which factors associated with the integration between MC and HRM may foster organisational learning in a public health care setting. A case study in a public dental practice is used for examining this issue. Apart from highlighting the influence of various task characteristics, the case study suggests that the vertical as well as horizontal dimensions of integration are important to consider in this context. Implications for further research are discussed.     

Revenue growth in not-for-profit organisations: The effects of interactive and diagnostic controls and organisational culture

Using survey and archival data for 180 not-for-profit aged care organisations, we find that interactive use of performance measurement systems positively affects the organisations’ revenue growth, while the diagnostic use negatively affects revenue growth. We also find that organisational culture, specifically attention to detail, innovation and respect for people, moderates these effects. Our findings have implications for the literature in terms of understanding the combinatorial effects of formal management control and culture on organisational performance. The findings also have practical implications for designing performance measurement systems and developing organisational cultures, to create an internal environment effective in enabling revenue growth.     

An Analysis of Departmental Effectiveness, Participative Budgetary Control Processes and Environmental Dimensionality Within the Competing Values Framework: A Public Sector Study

The competing values framework (CVF) has emerged as an integrative and consolidating mechanism to facilitate an examination of those factors that contribute to effectiveness in organizations. The CVF is adopted to investigate systematically the extent to which specific dimensions of the environment impact on the effectiveness of participative managerial control processes in terms of enhancing performance. The results based on a sample of 323 section managers from a wide range of public sector organizations throughout Australia suggest that they find complexity to be the crucial environmental dimension that influences the effectiveness of participative control processes in enhancing performance. The findings suggest that public sector managers may not be subject to the same environmental constraints as their counterparts in the private sector.     

Budgetary Stewardship,Innovation and Working Culture: Identifying the Missing Ingredient in English and Welsh Local Authorities’ Recipes for Austerity Management

Drawing on fieldwork with 70 local authorities in England and Wales, this paper builds on previous studies of austerity management by highlighting the importance of organisational cultures to achieving strategic objectives. It finds that, in line with their prevailing ‘belief system’ of budgetary stewardship, local authorities in both countries are holding down input costs to deal with austerity. However, the scale of funding cuts means that this strategy is unlikely to be successful over the longer term. Instead, they need greater freedom to generate revenue, in order to facilitate innovation and develop more sustainable business practices and service models.     

Real Options, (Dis)Investment Decision-Making and Accounting Measures of Performance

This paper suggests that a residual income-type measure of performance can be designed which supports optimal investment and disinvestment decision-making in a real options framework involving the options to wait before investing and to abandon. The measure has a number of advantages and disadvantages. Nonetheless, the balance of advantage versus disadvantage for the proposed measure must be set against the inadequacies of other competing measures of performance and associated organisational designs. Even if the measure of performance suggested is not regarded as practically useful, it has another general advantage – it can be used as a benchmark against which to evaluate other performance measures with regard to their support of optimal investment and disinvestment decision-making in a real options framework.     

Real Options, (Dis)Investment Decision-Making and Accounting Measures of Performance

This paper suggests that a residual income-type measure of performance can be designed which supports optimal investment and disinvestment decision-making in a real options framework involving the options to wait before investing and to abandon. The measure has a number of advantages and disadvantages. Nonetheless, the balance of advantage versus disadvantage for the proposed measure must be set against the inadequacies of other competing measures of performance and associated organisational designs. Even if the measure of performance suggested is not regarded as practically useful, it has another general advantage – it can be used as a benchmark against which to evaluate other performance measures with regard to their support of optimal investment and disinvestment decision-making in a real options framework.     

Snakes and career ladders in the investment banking industry: the making of Barclays De Zoete Wedd (BZW) - an international perspective, 1982-96

This paper emphasises the importance of business history for analysing labour market structures and practices in financial markets in the United Kingdom and more particularly at Barclays De Zoete Wedd (BZW), the international investment banking arm of the British bank Barclays plc. By adopting an historical perspective, this study departs from existing literature and presents new explanations concerning the importance of the relationship between business history and the origins and functions of internal labour markets. The theoretical framework elaborated involves a model and a timeline in its analysis, which highlights significant emerging patterns in internal labour markets that become evident over time. The study reveals evidence that, contrary to the arguments raised by scholars which suggest a decline in internal labour market practices in favour of a return to a more market-based system, internal labour market arrangements continue to apply to an organisation such as BZW at all stages in its organisational development.     

Enterprise risk management and firm performance: A contingency perspective

In recent years, a paradigm shift has occurred regarding the way organizations view risk management. Instead of looking at risk management from a silo-based perspective, the trend is to take a holistic view of risk management. This holistic approach toward managing an organization’s risk is commonly referred to as enterprise risk management (ERM). Indeed, there is growing support for the general argument that organizations will improve their performance by employing the ERM concept. The basic argument presented in this paper is that the relation between ERM and firm performance is contingent upon the appropriate match between ERM and the following five factors affecting a firm: environmental uncertainty, industry competition, firm size, firm complexity, and board of directors’ monitoring. Based on a sample of 112 US firms that disclose the implementation of their ERM activities within their 10Ks and 10Qs filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, empirical evidence confirms the above basic argument. The implication of these findings is that firms should consider the implementation of an ERM system in conjunction with contextual variables surrounding the firm.     

Managing different types of innovation: mutually reinforcing management control systems and the generation of dynamic tension

Using a single case study of a highly innovative medical device company engaged in two types of innovation (technological and customer-oriented), this paper examines the nature of the relationship between mutually reinforcing management control systems (MCSs) and the generation of dynamic tension between the different types of innovation. Findings show how mutually reinforcing MCSs create a push for consistency but fail to generate a dynamic tension between different types of innovation, thus crowding out one type of innovation. While the literature to date has been unclear on how mutual reinforcement and the generation of dynamic tension are related, this study makes a distinction between mutually reinforcing control systems that support each other in driving momentum around a particular strategic objective (consistent reinforcement), and control systems which are reinforcing in creating dynamic tension, thus reducing momentum in one particular direction (countervailing reinforcement). It also contributes to the literature by highlighting the protective role that MCSs can play in the management of innovation. Feedback and measurement systems reduce the vulnerability of resources to diversion to other areas by stimulating action on projects, driving accountability around the use of the resources, and commanding management attention.     

Budgetary Reforms in the Non-profit Sector: A Comparative Analysis of Experiences in Health Care and Higher Education in the Netherlands

This study reports on budgetary reforms in the Dutch health care and higher education sector in the last twenty years. Comparisons between the two sectors reveal that not all reforms adhere to the principles of New Public Management. New budget systems in both sectors are mixed systems, with university budgets developing from input to more output based systems and hospital budgeting systems from output to more input oriented systems. More output-based budget systems appear to stimulate production, contradicting government's policy of cost reduction. The most effective reform measures turn out to be those who are best aligned with opinions and attitudes of medical and academic professionals.     

Using Relational and Transactional MCSs to Manage the Delivery of Outsourced Public Services: Evidence from Twelve Cases in the USA

The successful management of the purchaser–provider relationship is essential for the effective delivery of public services, and entails the use of both transactional and relational approaches. We herein analyse the degree and complementarity of transactional and relational management control systems in the management of purchaser–provider relationships for the successful delivery of public services using evidence from 12 US case studies. We demonstrate that transactional and relational management control systems are controlled differently in order to improve contracting efficiency. We also show how a combination of these management control systems offers a framework for structured public accountability and service flexibility.     

Management control packages: a literature review and guidelines for public sector research

ABSTRACT

The effectiveness of a management control (MC) element, such as performance measurement, may depend on other MC elements, such as organizational values and training activities. This is why MC elements should be studied ‘as a package’, instead of as isolated elements. Although examining MC elements as a package has the potential to make significant contributions to ongoing debates, this approach is largely absent in the academic public sector management literature. This paper reviews the MC package literature, examines its implications for public sector research and practice, and aids future research by discussing research design choices and research directions.     

Multiple Bids, Management Opposition, and the Market for Corporate Control

We use regression analysis to disentangle the wealth effect for acquired firm shareholders of management opposition and multiple bids (e.g., multiple bidders and bid revisions). Although multiple bidders and bid revisions occur more frequently for opposed acquisitions, opposition is not associated with incremental acquisition returns for acquisitions with multiple bidders. We also find that management opposition has no significant incremental effect on single bidder acquisitions unless the acquiring firm revises its initial bid. These findings indicate that rather than amplifying acqiuisition returns directly, management opposition instead serves as a negotiating tool to solicit additional bids.     

Machine learning for quantitative finance: fast derivative pricing,hedging and fitting

In this paper, we show how we can deploy machine learning techniques in the context of traditional quant problems. We illustrate that for many classical problems, we can arrive at speed-ups of several orders of magnitude by deploying machine learning techniques based on Gaussian process regression. The price we have to pay for this extra speed is some loss of accuracy. However, we show that this reduced accuracy is often well within reasonable limits and hence very acceptable from a practical point of view. The concrete examples concern fitting and estimation. In the fitting context, we fit sophisticated Greek profiles and summarize implied volatility surfaces. In the estimation context, we reduce computation times for the calculation of vanilla option values under advanced models, the pricing of American options and the pricing of exotic options under models beyond the Black–Scholes setting.     

Environmental management control systems: The role of contextual and strategic factors

This study examines the role of contextual and strategic factors in the development of environmental management control systems in manufacturing companies. In particular, the authors test the roles of perceived ecological environmental uncertainty, perceived stakeholder pressures, and the degree of corporate environmental proactivity on the development of environmental management control systems. The main results from a survey of 256 manufacturing companies suggest that companies that perceive greater ecological environmental uncertainty are less inclined to develop a proactive environmental strategy, environmental information system, or formal environmental management control system. Market, community, and organizational stakeholders motivate environmental proactivity, as well as the development of different environmental management control systems. Regulatory stakeholders only encourage the development of an environmental information system.     

High-dimensional Hawkes processes for limit order books: modelling,empirical analysis and numerical calibration

High-dimensional Hawkes processes with exponential kernels are used to describe limit order books in order-driven financial markets. The dependencies between orders of various types are carefully studied and modelled, based on a thorough empirical analysis. The observation of inhibition effects is particularly interesting, and leads us to the use of non-linear Hawkes processes. Specific attention is devoted to the calibration problem, in order to account for the high dimensionality of the problem and the very poor convexity properties of the MLE. Our analyses show a good agreement between the statistical properties of order book data and those of the model.