Public Good Contributions Between Communities

The four fundamental determinants of voluntary contributions to public goods are taste, community size, wealth, and wealth distribution. This paper argues that for policy purposes it is important to discriminate between the four hypotheses. To do this, it is necessary to consider the comparative static effects of the above determinants not only on total contribution, but also on per capita contribution and the participation rate. Furthermore, just as members of a smaller community would contribute more than their identical counterparts in a larger community, we show that members of a community that has more poor members would also contribute more than their identical counterparts in a community that has more rich members.     

A new proposal for the reunification of the two Koreas: Economic issues

We present an alternative five-step plan which not only supplements the deficiencies of the current official plans for reunification, but also incorporates recent developments, such as, joint membership of North and South Korea of the United Nations (1991), and mutual agreements on reconciliation, nonaggression and economic exchange and cooperation (1992). The plan starts with a preliminary step for the normalization of relations between the two Koreas, and then subsequently moves on to economic integration, social integration, political integration, and military integration. However, as the political confrontation in the Korean peninsula has already been well-researched elsewhere, We discuss economic issues which are likely to present themselves during the unification process. Economic issues, rather than the political ones, could prove to be of the greatest concern to a smooth reunification between the peninsula's long- divided neighbors.     

A PROFILE OF DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT: A NOTE*

A study of 88 randomly selected strategy-related dissertations was conducted to develop a statistical profile of dissertations in the strategic management field. This study also provides some empirical evidence supporting the criticism that the field is fragmented.     

Modelling the Interaction of Fundamental and Portfolio Exchange Rate Behaviour: An Application to Australia and the ASEAN3

This paper explores the interaction of fundamental and portfolio factors in the determination of the exchange rate. The weights on the factors evolve endogenously as a function of relative fundamental and portfolio errors. The model also generates exchange rate mixture distributions that may be skewed, leptokurtic or bimodal and as such can explain small and large changes endogenously. The model is applied to the exchange rates of Australia and the ASEAN3 to examine the role of fundamental and portfolio behaviour, especially over the 1997/98 currency crisis period.     

Industrial Relations Climate in the Manufacturing Sector in Singapore

The objective of this study is to assess the state of workplace industrial relations climate in the manufacturing sector in Singapore. Based on a survey of 73 manufacturing companies in Singapore and subsequent intensive study of eight of them, it was found that the overall labor-management relations in the industry were good and had improved over the past few years. Union membership was reported to have increased and this was accompanied by a perceived increase in union role and influence on labor-management relations. The findings also highlighted the need to strengthen the communication processes among the three parties—workers, unionists and management.     

Town centre management schemes in the UK: marketing and performance indicators

While town centre management (TCM) has proved to be a successful strategy to maintain, improve and regenerate town centres through local partnership, there has been relatively little attention drawn to the marketing of TCM schemes. This paper explores the issues surrounding the use of key performance indicators (KPIs) for the marketing of TCM schemes in the context of wider place marketing activities undertaken by towns and cities. Drawing on evidence from a questionnaire survey of town centre managers, it is posited that they might usefully employ carefully selected KPI data to maintain and attract private investment to TCM schemes from internal and external town centre stakeholders. The paper then introduces a typology for the use of KPI marketing in town centre management. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications     

The signalling process in initial public offerings

This study uses a sample of Singapore IPOs to examine the signalling process at the time of a new issue of shares. The multiple regression analysis results support three testable implications of the Grinblatt and Hwang model. We show that (1) the value of the firm is positively related to the fractional holding of the issuer, (2) the degree of underpricing is an increasing function of the variance, and (3) firm value is positively related to the degree of underpricing.     

Firm diversification and earnings management: evidence from seasoned equity offerings

Popular press suggests that diversified firms are more aggressive in managing earnings than non-diversified firms. We examine this claim in the seasoned equity offering (SEO) setting, where firms have been shown to have the incentive to manage earnings upwards. Using the cross-sectional modified Jones [(1991) J Accounting Res 29:193–228] model to measure discretionary current accruals, we find that discretionary current accruals are higher among diversified firms than in non-diversified ones. Our evidence is consistent with the view that the extent of firm diversification is directly related to the degree of earnings management. We further show that diversified issuers with high discretionary accruals underperformed other SEO firms.