Report: Performance Management—The Key to Higher Standards in Schools?

The object of this article is to make a critical review of a series of official documents which have emanated from the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE), since the Labour Government came to office in 1997, on performance management in schools. This technique is seen by the Government as crucial in improving standards in schools. The key documents are shown in the list of references at the end of the article, and our review is divided into two parts: the first considers the defining features of performance management in schools and the role which the Government sees it playing in improving standards; the second part explores some key tensions in the performance management framework.     

Identifying Decision Useful Information with the Matrix Format Income Statement

We conduct an experiment to investigate the potential benefits of an alternative format for the income statement, the matrix format, initially developed by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and UK Accounting Standards Board in their joint project on performance reporting. Sophisticated financial statement users (financial analysts and professional accountants) and less sophisticated financial statement users (MBA students) were asked to extract information from a set of financial statements that included an income statement either in the IAS 1 format or in the matrix format. We find that the matrix format improves the accuracy with which users extract financial information. This result is driven by greater accuracy, for all user groups, on “below‐the‐line” items. Furthermore, despite lack of familiarity with the matrix format, its use did not appear to affect the time taken, the ease of extracting financial information, or users' task completion confidence; further experience with the matrix format could lead to benefits along these lines as well. Our findings may assist the FASB and IASB in their joint project on financial statement presentation.     

The impacts of large trades by trader types on intraday futures prices: Evidence from the Taiwan Futures Exchange

We find that China's P/E ratio is comparable to that of the U.S. S&P 1500 index, a broad based index covering large, middle, and small capitalization firms. We provide an explanation as to why China's seemingly low P/E ratio is not surprising in light of the economic growth that it has experienced. Specifically, we show that (i) the P/E ratio is negatively associated with earnings volatility in both the Chinese and U.S. stock markets with an economically significant magnitude; and (ii) historical earnings volatility is considerably higher in China than in the U.S. Higher earnings volatility in China offsets higher growth prospect in setting the P/E ratio, making its P/E ratio much closer to what is observed empirically than otherwise implied by its growth rate.     

The union recognition dispute at McDonald's Moscow food‐processing factory

This article reports on the union recognition dispute that took place at the McDonald's food‐processing plant in Moscow. It examines this dispute in the context of McDonald's employment practices worldwide, the interventions made by international and local unions, and Russian government bodies. Despite these interventions it became impossible to either organise the workforce or establish a collective agreement. The case illustrates the difficulties facing both local unions and global union federations when confronted by intransigent multinational companies, especially in low‐skilled sectors in transitional economies.     

Extreme return–volume dependence in East-Asian stock markets: A copula approach

A copula approach is used to examine the extreme return–volume relationship in six emerging East-Asian equity markets. The empirical results indicate that there is significant and asymmetric return–volume dependence at extremes for these markets. In particular, extremely high returns (large gains) tend to be associated with extremely large trading volumes, but extremely low returns (big losses) tend not to be related to either large or small volumes.     

Spatial Planning and Transport in London and the South East—Can Policy Co-Ordination and Delivery be Achieved?

The railway system in London and the south east is fundamental to London in its roles as the capital of the country and as a world-class financial and business centre. This article examines the formal strategies for spatial planning and railway investment in London and the south east and shows that there is a distinct dichotomy between spatial and transport planning. The authors explain the key investments needed in the network. They call for the Government to demonstrate how land use planning and transport investment are dovetailed together and properly funded, and for the Strategic Rail Authority to act more in concert with regional and local interests.     

The nature of heterodox economics

Heterodoxy serves as an umbrella term to cover the coming togetherof separate projects or traditions. In answering the question,‘what distinguishes heterodoxy from the orthodoxy?’,the author argues that matters of ontology are central. In answeringthe question, ‘how are the various traditions that makeup the modern heterodoxy to be distinguished from each other?’,the author defends criteria other than varying commitments tospecific substantive theories, policy measures or techniques(or basic units) of analysis.     

Conceptualising the dynamics of employee information and consultation: evidence from the Republic of Ireland

The debate concerning the emerging regulatory environment for employee voice continues apace, in particular the requirements to inform and consult employees as a result of the European Employee Information and Consultation Directive. This article examines the processes used to inform and consult employees across 15 case studies in the Republic of Ireland. It evaluates different voice arrangements using a conceptual framework that seeks to capture the dynamics of different employee voice schemes across union and non‐union companies. The findings suggest that participation is more robust when the channels for information and consultation accommodate both conflictual and cooperative processes. It is shown that robust forms of participation are more likely through processes that facilitate independent representation. The evidence also shows that some employers may devise their own counterbalancing forms of (pseudo) consultation, in an attempt to minimise the impact of regulatory rights for employee voice.     

From vision into action

Utopian thinking, problematic as it can be, is used for imagining alternative visions of the future as a design process. Visioning adds foresight to an active-learning process in which participants share critical reflection, decision and change, as Anticipatory Action Learning. Guidelines, including ethics, are suggested. Once its limitations are recognised, it can be a used for integrating learning in a social system.