Social Media in Union Communications: An International Study with UNI Global Union Affiliates

This article assesses the use of social media in union communications based on an international survey with 149 unions affiliated with UNI Global Union. High expectations of union modernization, leadership and pressures from members are likely to drive the agenda of social media within unions. However, the actual use of different channels is based on organizational variables such as membership base and participation in communities of practice. Beliefs about the anticipated benefits and risks of social media were not found to be influential in these early assessments. Implications for union communication strategies are discussed.     

Appraising and Evaluating PFI for NHS Hospitals

This paper explores the use of appraisal in the development of proposals to use private finance to provide acute hospitals under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). It addresses the extent to which value for money (VFM) and affordability (which must be satisfied to enable a scheme to be approved) are demonstrated in the documents prepared by hospital Trusts. It identifies a number of issues (such as the transfer of risk and the development of public sector comparators) that pose new problems for investment appraisal, which are specific to its application to PFI.     

Corporate Social Performance,Competitive Advantage,Earnings Persistence and Firm Value

In this paper, using a generalised valuation framework inspired by Ohlson, we show that corporate social performance (CSP) is value relevant and that, in particular, it appears to be associated with a higher coefficient on earnings. This could be attributable to either a lower cost of equity for these firms, or greater earnings persistence. We show that, once industry membership is controlled for, any cost of capital effect is minimal. Regression tests based on realised earnings confirm that the valuation effect is attributable mainly to greater earnings persistence in firms with higher levels of CSP. These outcomes are consistent with higher CSP conferring a competitive advantage on firms.     

BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS: PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE

The article covers the history of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in the USA and UK and some of the lessons learnt in the UK after the first year of operation. The authors then consider economic issues raised by the initiative and why BIDs will be the best option for some urban centres.     

Influence and inefficiency in the internal capital market

I model inefficient resource allocations in M-form organizations due to influence activities by division managers that skew capital budgets in their favor. Corporate headquarters receives two types of signals about investment opportunities: private signals that can be distorted by managers, and public signals that are undistorted but noisy. Headquarters faces a tradeoff between the cost of attaining an accurate private signal and the value of the information the signal provides. In contrast to existing models of “socialism” in internal capital markets, I show that investment sensitivity to Tobin's Q is higher than first-best in firms where division managers hold equity (a result consistent with evidence presented in Scharfstein, 1998). When managers face high private costs from distorting information (equity holdings), headquarters may commit to investment contracts that place “too little” weight on private signals and “too much” weight on public signals (i.e. Q). This result has implications for managers in the design of capital budgeting processes and incentive compensation systems.     

D-optimal two-level orthogonal arrays for estimating main effects and some specified two-factor interactions

Theoretical results are derived for finding D-optimal two-level orthogonal arrays for estimating main effects and some specified two-factor interactions. The upper bounds of the determinant of the related matrix for D-optimality are obtained. For run sizes 12 and 20, D-optimal orthogonal arrays are found for all requirement sets with three or less two-factor interactions, and all the D-optimal orthogonal arrays except one can be constructed by sequentially collecting columns. Examples are also given for run sizes 36 and 52 to discuss the guidelines to construct D-optimal orthogonal arrays.     

Informalization of the State: Reflections from an Urban World of Translations

The project of globalizing informality requires the circulation of concepts and theories from the ‘South’ to the ‘North’. It also relies on intertextuality and exchanges across languages and sites of academic production. This essay is a reaction to the collection of papers presented in this forum. It argues for more academic conversations between languages and cities in order to contribute to a general state theory.