Transparency in the Procurement of Public Works

The construction contract bonding system is used worldwide to protect the owner of a project against the risk of non-performance by the contractor. There is a close relationship between the construction contract bonding system and transparency in public works, which policy-makers and officials need to be more aware of. There are mainly three systems in use, which the authors have analysed in depth. Each of the three models has a different influence on transparency in public works: the 'high penalty conditional model' is considered the most functional model in improving transparency, the 'low penalty unconditional model' does not contribute very much to improving transparency, while the 'substitute contractor model' can lead to greater opportunities for corruption on the contractor's side.     

An Exploratory Study of the Effect on Forecast Accuracy of Using Different Geographic Segment Data Sources

The specific research question this study investigates is whether or not model-based earnings forecasts utilizing COMPUSTAT's country specific geographic segment data produce more accurate earnings forecasts than model-based forecasts utilizing data from actual geographic segment footnotes. This study compares the accuracy of earnings forecasts from models using the geographic segment information in actual geographic segment footnotes to the accuracy of earnings forecasts from models using the geographic segment information in the COMPUSTAT business segment tape. Evidence collected in this study indicates that geographic segment data provided in the COMPUSTAT business segment data base appears to make it possible to more accurately predict sales than does the geographic segment data provided in the same companies' actual geographic segment footnote.     

TOWARDS A BROADER UNDERSTANDING OF MEAT DEMAND — PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

This paper sets out meat consumption trends in the United Kingdom and within other EU countries over the past 40 years; it shows that whereas in the UK meat consumption has only increased by a small amount, for other EU countries it has almost doubled. In analysing the data in more detail, it is apparent that ‘non-price/income’ factors have been playing a more important part both for the UK and other EU countries. It is true that in recent years there has been much more published empirical work on the effect of different attitude, demographic and structural factors on meat demand; commercial and Governmental organisations have also been collecting a significant amount of relevant unpublished data. However, there has not been much recent progress on integrated approaches which combine the analyses of the consumer behaviourist with those of the economist. The paper concludes by stating that this is an area of growing importance for the food industry and those interested in analysing food demand trends. Agricultural economists should therefore get more involved in it.     

The Rise and Stall of a Fair Trade Pioneer: The Cafédirect Story

This is a case study investigating the growth of fair trade pioneer, Cafédirect. We explore the growth of the company and develop strategic insights on how Cafédirect has attained its prominent position in the UK mainstream coffee industry based on its ethical positioning. We explore the marketing, networks and communications channels of the brand which have led to rapid growth from niche player to a mainstream brand. However, the company is experiencing a slow down in its meteoric rise and we question whether it is possible for the company to regain its former momentum with its current marketing strategy.     

Do Employers' Responses to Crises Impact Men and Women Differently? Firm‐level Evidence from Indonesia

Do employers' responses to crises impact men and women differently? Using manufacturing census data from Indonesia this paper assesses gender differences in the impact of the East Asian crisis and to what extent these were due to differential treatment of men and women within firms and gender sorting across firms that varied in their exposure to the crisis. On average, women experienced higher job losses than their male colleagues within the same firm. However, the aggregate adverse effect of such differential treatment was more than offset by women being disproportionately employed in firms hit relatively less hard by the crisis. The null hypothesis that there were no gender differences in wage adjustment is not rejected.     

A contingent claim analysis of closed-end fund premia

We estimate contingent claims that replicate monthly net asset value (NAV) payoffs from closed-end funds. A claim's theoretical value is obtained by martingale pricing methods. The resulting net present value (NPVS) sequence is the theoretical premia sequence that is compared to the actual market premia sequence. The theoretical premia, like actual premia, are uncorrelated with NAV returns and are positively autocorrelated due to autocorrelation in the pricing information. However, there is poor correspondence between the theoretical and actual premia that seems due to the market's systematic errors in estimating a fund's management value. Risky arbitrage may be available to insiders.     

A Fair Trade-off? Paradoxes in the Governance of Fair-trade Social Enterprises

This paper explores how fair trade social enterprises (FTSEs) manage paradoxes in stakeholder-oriented governance models. We use narrative accounts from board members, at governance events and board documents to report an exploratory study of paradoxes in three FTSEs which are partly farmer-owned. Having synthesized the key social enterprise governance literature and framed it alongside the broader paradox theory, we used narratives to explore how tensions are articulated, how they can be applied within an adapted paradox framework, and how governance actors seek to mitigate paradoxes. The paper contributes to current debates in social enterprise scholarship concerning hybridity (Pache and Santos, Acad Manag Rev 35(3):455–476, 2010; in Institutional logics in action, Part B (Research in the sociology of organizations), 2012), hybrid organizing (Battilana and Lee, Acad Manag Ann 8(1):397–441, 2014) and operational tensions (Smith et al., Bus Eth Q 23(3):407–442, 2013) by illustrating empirically how the central social/enterprise paradox manifests in FTSEs governance arrangements. We build on the paradox categories proposed by Lüscher and Lewis (Acad Manag J 51(2):221–240, 2008) and adapted in Smith et al. (Bus Eth Q 23(3):407–442, 2013) by developing a recursive model of legitimacy-seeking governance processes, conceptualizing how boards seek to mitigate, but not necessarily resolve, paradoxes.     

Some Tests of Linear Asset Pricing with Multivariate Normality

The Sharpe-Lintner and Black CAPM, with the CRSP equal or value-weight index, are rejected in American markets during the period January 1956 to December 1980, using a new portfolio-formation and -selection criterion and test statistic. The CAPM is also rejected on the Canadian market with the TSE 300 index or an equal-weight index during the period January 1963 to December 1980. The rejection depends crucially on the ex ante portfolio-formation procedure developed, but the study does demonstrate that rejection is possible using the new maximum-likelihood tests. A replication of the Jobson-Korkie American study on the Canadian market, without the special portfolio formation, shows that the CAPM are rejected in only one of three time-periods. Résumé Les indices Sharpe-Lintner et Black CAPM, ainsi que l'indice CRSP pondéré par rapport à la valeur ou non, sont rejetés dans les marchés américains pendant la période de janvier 1956 à décembre 1980. Une nouvelle formation de portefeuille, de nouveaux critères de sélection, et de nouvelles statistiques empiriques sont utilisées. L'indice CAPM est également rejeté sur le marché canadien de měme que le TSE 300, ou un indice non pondéré par rapport à la valeur pendant la période de janvier 1963 à décembre 1980. Ce rejet dépend principalement de la méthode de formation de portefeuille ex ante développée, mais l'étude démontre cependant que le rejet est possible en utilisant les nouveaux tests de vraisemblance maximale. Une répétition de l'étude américaine Jobson-Korkie sur le marché canadien, sans la formation de portefeuille spéciale, démontre que les indices CAPM sont rejetés au cours d'une des trois périodes seulement.