Shareholder Wealth Effects of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

This paper investigates the reaction ofstock prices to enactment of the Private Securities LitigationReform Act of 1995 (PSLRA). Based on a sample of 489 high-technologyfirms, we find that the PSLRA was wealth-increasing, on average,and that the market reaction is more positive for firms at greatestrisk of being sued in a securities class action. However, wealso show that the PSLRA was less beneficial for firms likelyto be the subject of a meritorious lawsuit. Collectively, ourevidence implies that shareholders generally benefit from restrictionson private securities litigation, although these benefits aremitigated when other mechanisms for curbing fraudulent activityare inadequate.     

Unit determination: National Labor Relations Board rule making in the health care industry

This article reviews the events leading up to the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) historic decision to engage in substantive rule making over appropriate bargaining units in the health care industry. It describes the rule-making process and outcomes, and the reaction of hospital unions and management to the rules. Finally, the potential for the use of rule making for other issues facing the NLRB is analyzed. This analysis uses a cost/benefit framework from the agency's perspective to predict the likelihood of future rule making. The article concludes that rule making is sufficiently costly to make extensive use in other situations unlikely.The order of the author's names was determined randomly and should not be interpreted as implying an unequal contribution.     

Risky business: The role of risk in voluntary turnover decisions

One aspect of turnover decision-making that turnover models have not adequately considered is the risk associated with quitting one's job and the potential that research on risky decision-making has for advancing understanding of turnover. We define risk and present turnover as a risky decision; review previous applications of risk in turnover theory; review literature on decision-making under risk as it applies to turnover; integrate these literatures and provide propositions. Our analysis suggests that individual differences, frames of reference, the decision context, and social influences affect perceptions of the risk associated with quitting as well as the willingness to take risks in this particular situation. The implications of turnover risk perceptions and turnover risk propensity for turnover theory and research are discussed.     

What motivates volunteers to help at business events? Reciprocal altruism and reflexivity

Volunteering literature is yet to examine the motivations for helping at business events. This paper contributes to closing this research gap by on-the-ground investigation of volunteer motivations at business events. Drawing upon 22 volunteers from different business events in China, the results identify a variety of functional motives related to self-development. The analysis gives emphasis to the subjectivity and reflexivity with which individuals give meaning to their motivations and suggests that reciprocal altruism and reflexivity are evident among volunteers. This paper provides insights into the salience of business event volunteering and suggests implications for event organisers dealing with volunteers.     

Exhibitor retention at an industry exhibition: The case of AgroChemEx in China

In industry exhibitions, the subsequent attendance of key companies within the industry reflects the brand influences of the exhibition. This article explored how to achieve exhibitor retention at an industrial exhibition, AgroChemEx. A qualitative research design using a case study approach was adopted, and 19 in-depth interviews were undertaken. The analyses identified that new exhibitors and repeat exhibitors had different emphases on attendance objectives. The most common motivators for exhibitors were networking, marketing and information exchange, whereas booth location was the main reason for exhibitor defection. Recommendations for practices which could facilitate exhibitors continued involvement are discussed.     

Private Equity,Corporate Governance,and the Reinvention of the Market for Corporate Control

In the early 1980s, during the first U.S. wave of debt‐financed hostile takeovers and leveraged buyouts, finance professors Michael Jensen and Richard Ruback introduced the concept of the “market for corporate control” and defined it as “the market in which alternative management teams compete for the right to manage corporate resources.” Since then, the dramatic expansion of the private equity market, and the resulting competition between corporate (or “strategic”) and “financial” buyers for deals, have both reinforced and revealed the limitations of this old definition. This article explains how, over the past 25 years, the private equity market has helped reinvent the market for corporate control, particularly in the U.S. What's more, the author argues that the effects of private equity on the behavior of companies both public and private have been important enough to warrant a new definition of the market for corporate control—one that, as presented in this article, emphasizes corporate governance and the benefits of the competition for deals between private equity firms and public acquirers. Along with their more effective governance systems, top private equity firms have developed a distinctive approach to reorganizing companies for efficiency and value. The author's research on private equity, comprising over 20 years of interviews and case studies as well as large‐sample analysis, has led her to identify four principles of reorganization that help explain the success of these buyout firms. Besides providing a source of competitive advantage to private equity firms, the management practices that derive from these four principles are now being adopted by many public companies. And, in the author's words, “private equity's most important and lasting contribution to the global economy may well be its effect on the world's public corporations—those companies that will continue to carry out the lion's share of the world's growth opportunities.”     

Is there Regional Tax Competition? Firm Level Evidence for Belgium

Summary This is the first paper that looks at regional tax competition within one single country. In many countries in Europe, regions within a country differ substantially in their economic development and attractiveness to firms. Belgium is a typical example of a country where the economic situation of its three regions is very different. Our findings are indicative of regional tax competition, with a lower Effective Tax Rate (ETR) in the peripheral region of Wallonia than in Flanders. In addition to location variables, our empirical model explaining firm level heterogeneity in ETRs includes firm characteristics, sector membership and variables capturing statutory tax breaks. We thank the Research Council of the Catholic University of Leuven for funding this research. A special thanks goes to Jozef Konings, Willem Buijink, Laurence van Lent, Wim Moesen, Christophe Croux and Frans Vanistendael, for providing useful feedback on this project. We also thank participants of a LICOS-K.U.Leuven seminar and a doctoral workshop at the Universities of Maastricht and Antwerp for useful comments.     

The way we live: understanding the acquisition of living skills to facilitate the consumer empowerment of young people in the 21st century

This research seeks to understand the perceived sources of acquisition of living skills by young people and to examine the formal and informal channels of acquisition. The study focuses particularly on the concept of living skills. These are the skills of transition, of growing up, and independence. For the purpose of the research the skills investigated are those associated (or formerly associated) with the school subject of Home Economics and were distilled from past curricula and documentation (DES, 1985; SCP, 1971). They cover three types of skill: social/interpersonal, cognitive and manual. Social skills include awareness of others, and a sense of responsibility, which is the basis of child‐care and showing tolerance of and concern and consideration for others. Cognitive skills are those associated with decision‐making and management, they involve thinking, reasoning and the use of knowledge. Manual skills are concerned with the use of the hands, with dexterity and with the achievement of specific goals, for example the ability to use tools and appliances with emphasis on the safe handling of them. They can also be linked to knowledge in terms of, for example aspects of food safety and hygiene. Research to date has failed to tackle the concept of acquisition of the skills of transition from home to independent living. Most research is focused on skills pertaining to a particular occupation role (Newman and Newman, 1988; Blustein et al., 1989; Nurmi et al., 1994) rather than those of living skills. Respondents were asked where they had learnt most about manual, cognitive and social skills. To facilitate analysis the channels were condensed to family (mother, father, other family members), community (friends, voluntary organisations), self (trial and error, television, books and magazines), taught (at school, university and work), with a final category of ‘never learnt’ (categories adapted from Macbeth, 1989). The findings revealed that the perceived acquisition of these living skills was through informal channels. From this research it can be argued that the family, being the main perceived source of acquisition of living skills creates the right time, the right place and facilitates exchange efficiencies. However, in this over‐dependence on an informal framework it is unlikely that discrepancies of skill provision can be alleviated. Additionally, standardisation may be difficult if not impossible to achieve. Compounding this is the tendency of young people to have to resort to self‐learning, which it could be argued is acceptable for some skills but not for those reliant on correct information input (such as food hygiene and nutrition).