Managing risk and uncertainty in complex capital projects

In evaluating capital budgeting decisions, quantitative approaches, such as traditional discounted cash flow modeling and real options valuations, are useful when there is a presumed probability distribution for the future forecasted outcomes or for when there are lower levels of uncertainty. As uncertainty increases and forecasting becomes difficult, the value of financial modeling techniques decreases. Borrowing from the strategic management literature, we argue that it may be useful to employ a qualitative approach to evaluate capital projects when faced with high levels of uncertainty. In order to illustrate our argument, we use a derivative of scenario planning and qualitative real options to evaluate non-quantifiable factors in a project for the National Ignition Facility.     

Disclosure regulation and public policy a sociohistorical reappraisal

This study questions contemporary precepts concerning the SEC's disclosure system as being both ahistorical and asocial. The authors suggest that disclosure was but one of several modes for resolving the contradiction between an individualistic, market-based public philosophy and increasing economic concentration and centralization. When understood in these terms, the securities acts are seen not as fundamental changes in public policy but as part of an ongoing attempt to maintain an ideological, social, and economic status quo.     

Shortages and economic policy

In this paper, we use an input-output framework to model an economy experiencing a shortage of a primary product or intermediate good. We show that when a shortage is combined with factor price rigidities, the reduction in consumption and employment will be larger than is necessary. In such cases, there is a need for government intervention, to manage the shortage and make the best of a bad situation. We show that the impact of a shortage can be ameliorated by changes in the composition of output, brought about by direct allocation of the scarce input or by differential sales taxes. The traditional instruments of monetary and fiscal policy are shown to be of little use in dealing with shortages.     

Likely effects on obesity from proposed changes to the US food stamp program

Some have suggested that the US food stamp program (FSP) should be revised with a view to combating obesity among the poor. In this paper, we assess the likely impacts of allowing FSP participants to purchase only healthy foods when using food stamps. Our results indicate that FSP participants would probably increase their consumption of healthy food, but the implications for their purchases of unhealthy food are not clear. Market-wide consequences are even less clear, because changing what may be purchased using food stamps would lead to higher prices for healthy foods and lower prices for unhealthy foods and these price effects would feed back into consumer decisions, with adverse effects on consumption patterns of both participants and non-participants in the FSP. In addition, more restrictive rules on the use of food stamps would discourage participation in the FSP. We conclude that, while reforming the FSP may indeed to lead to better diets among participants, it is likely to be an ineffective and inefficient instrument for bringing about desired nutritional outcomes unless accompanied by additional policy instruments.     

An investigation of paradigm choice in Australian international human resource management research

This paper addresses the question of whether Australian international human resource management (IHRM) research is dominated by either a universalist or contextualist paradigm. Using a systematic review approach, 82 peer reviewed papers were analysed using a basic extraction tool to record publication and research design details. The universalist/contextualist distinction decision was based on the point at which theory became evident in each publication. Results indicated an almost even split in the universalist/contextualist paradigm choice suggesting a balanced rather than dominant research preference. This finding may reflect the impact of both European and North American influences in Australian IHRM research. A second finding is a high level of papers without proposed theoretical relationships: this second finding has a number of ramifications for IHRM research and practice in Australia.     

Tracking the relationship between environmental management and financial performance in the service industry

Attention to the relationship between environmental management and financial performance has been growing. Research in this area has, however, tended to focus primarily on manufacturing industries. Our goal in this study is to analyze the relationship between environmental management and financial performance in the context of the service industry. Using a cross-sectional sample of 1,228 service organizations spanning a wide range of business activities, we test a series of five hypothesized relationships using both univariate and multivariate analyses. The results are robust across the dataset and show conclusively that environmental management does indeed positively affect financial performance in the service sector.     

The Science of Technology: Young Children Working Technologically

Technology education in the age band 5 to 11 has received relatively little research attention over the past ten years. With the exception of data documented by eminent scholars such as Anning (1994; 1997), Jane (1995), Solomon and Hall (1996), and Roth (1994) only a small amount is understood about how children work when designing, making and evaluating with a range of materials, information, systems and tools. This study sought to examine children's feelings, experiences and design ideas and to document the interplay between their designs (regardless of when this occurred in the design, making and evaluating cycle) and what they actually did. The findings make a small contribution towards our understandings of the complexities associated with how children aged 5 to 11 think and act technologically whilst in schools. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Future kinship and the study of culture

Throughout the 20th century, body and machine have provided distinctive parallel metaphors for the concept of culture. But now these metaphors are merging as human lives are increasingly engineered through technonatural processes. In one imagined future, biotechnology will give us the means to determine our own genealogy and the potential to play a role in the ‘culturing’ of the future, as the natural and unpredictable transmission of human characteristics is transformed into a predictable process arising from the manipulation of the gene pool. New procreative possibilities—fertilization in vitro, gamete donation, maternal surrogacy etc—challenge us to reconstrue notions of identity and kinship; the article speculates on the implications of this for possible cultural futures.