The donor–beneficiary charity accountability paradox: a tale of two stakeholders

Using stakeholder theory, this paper explores the motivations of charities in discharging accountability and the interplay of donor and beneficiary accountability needs. It considers the extent to which concentration on one group may disadvantage another. The authors found that stakeholders commonly perceived as more salient, such as donors, cede power and impute saliency to beneficiaries.     

Whatever Happened to Goldilocks? The Role of Expectations in Estimates of the NAIRU in the US and the UK*

During the second half of the 1990s the US economy was characterized as the Goldilocks economy: not too hot, nor too cold, but just right. It was argued that this represented a new paradigm, enabling unemployment to remain low without igniting inflationary pressure. We examine the evidence for a change in the relationship between inflation and unemployment for the US and UK using Phillips curve models. The impact of including explicit inflation expectations is also considered. Inflation expectations are found to play an important role, particularly in the US. When expectations are included there is still evidence that the non‐accelerating inflation rate of unemployment (NAIRU) steadily declined during the late 1990s, although this decline in the US NAIRU is not found solely in the 1990s.     

Capacity utilisation and corporate restructuring: a comparative study of the US, UK and other EU countries

This paper compares and contrasts capacity utilisation in themanufacturing sectors of the US, UK and other EU countries overthree decades. It argues that corporate governance and the pressuresof globalisation have led to a tighter capacity stance in theUK but not generally in the US or Europe. The paper furtherexplores the nature of the UK experience, in particular, therival theories that efficiency in capital use has increasedversus the view that firms have simply tightened their capacitystance in line with higher hurdle rates of return. The evidenceof the paper supports the view that UK firms adopted a ‘submissive’response to the pressures of globalisation by shutting capacityand retreating from new investment.     

Business Optimism for Small,Medium and Large Firms: Does It Explain Investment?*

We use UK survey data on variation in business optimism by manufacturing size group to estimate the determinants of optimism using OLS and SURE. There are similarities across the size groups but also some differences: the medium‐size group seems to have been unusually affected by real interest rates in recent years. We also model investment authorisations, conditional on business optimism. Again, there are similarities across the size groups. However, the largest‐size group, and possibly also the medium‐size group, seem to be investing less in recent years in relation to reported optimism. By contrast, capital investment by smaller‐sized firms has been stable in relation to business optimism. Some tentative explanations for these findings are explored.     

Prediction of leisure participation from behavioral,normative, and control beliefs: An application of the theory of planned behavior

Abstract

The theory of planned behavior (Ajzen 1985, 1987) is offered as a comprehensive framework for understanding of leisure participation. Salient behavioral, normative, and control beliefs, theoretically the basic determinants of behavior, were assessed with respect to five leisure activities: spending time at the beach, jogging or running, mountain climbing, boating, and biking. College students completed a questionnaire containing measures of these beliefs and of global expressions of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. One year later the participants reported how often they had performed each behavior in the preceding 12 months. Behavioral beliefs were found to partition into beliefs about affective reactions and beliefs about costs and benefits. Participation in leisure activities was influenced by these affective and instrumental beliefs, as well as by normative beliefs about the expectations of important others and by control beliefs about required resources and other factors that impede or facilitate leisure participation.     

Organizational Responses to Uncertainty

This paper investigates two problems in applying management models in beef feedlot farm planning: first, the methodological problem of modelling risk-efficient organizational responses; and second, the behavioural problem of explaining how and why an operator selects a particular organization from a choice set of efficient planning strategies. Specifically, the paper examines the feasibility of using a risk simulator in conjunction with a linear programming farm planning model (LP-RS) to calculate expected income (E)—risk (V) trade-offs as an alternative to quadratic programming (QP). Further, it identifies and examines those management components which aid the operator in forming an attitude toward the selection of one organization over numerous alternative planning strategies. The results from this research demonstrated that the E,V combinations generated by the LP-RS model closely approximated those generated by the QP model. Accordingly, it is implied that commercially oriented farm planning models (based on maximization of a linear profit function subject to linear restraints) could be modified to determine alternative planning strategies which embody different, but efficient, income-risk trade-offs. Additionally, the results indicated that in order to aid the operator in forming an attitude toward a particular organization, it is essential that the numerous E,V planning strategies be translated into management components which are consistent with his normal terms of reference. Cette publication éxamine deux problémes lies à I'application de models de gestion au cos de la production de boeuf en stabulation; un, le problème de méthodologie associéà la représentation du risque et de I'efficacité d'un type d'organisation; et deux, le problème du comportement de I'opérateur: comment et pourquoi ce dernier choisit une organisation particulière à partir d'un éventail de stratégies planificatrices efficientes. Par opposition à l'emploi d'une programmation quadratique (QP) cette étude éxamine, plus précisément, le possible emploi d'un simulateur de risques (RS) associé avec une programmation linéaire (LP) de la planification d'une ferme pour calculer diverses combinaisons de risques (V) et revenus (E). De plus les composantes de la gestion, qui participent à la formation d'une attitude de I'operateur vis à vis du choix d'une organisation parmi de nombreuses alternatives, sont identifiées et éxaminées. Les résultats de cette recherche démontrent que les combinaisons (E,V) proposées par le model LP-RS sont proches de celles produites par le model QP. En consequence cela implique que les models commercial de planification d'une ferme (basis sur la maximization d'une fonction linéaire de profit soumise à des contraintes linéaires) peuvent êlre modifiés de facon à déterminer diverses stratégies planificatrices incorporant diverses combinaisons efficaces revenues-risque. De plus les résultats suggerent que, pour que I'opérateur puisse s'aider du model lors de I'évaluation d'une organisation, il est essentiel que les nombreuses stratégies (E,V) revenues-risques soient traduites dans les composantes de gestion de manière compatible avec les termes de référence de I'opérateur.     

Implementing IFRSs in the public sector: caveats from a case in the UK

This article assesses the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) in the United Kingdom public sector. Possible motivations for the move are suggested before presenting the findings of interviews with, and a survey of, key personnel. The primary issues discussed are the rationale, challenges and costs associated with implementing IFRSs. The article concludes that the policy appears to have been implemented against a backdrop of indeterminate benefits and to be a continuation of New Public Management-style reforms with their emphasis on public sector professionalization and the language of accountancy.     

The effect of uncertainty on UK investment authorisation: Homogenous vs. heterogeneous estimators

This paper compares pooled and non-pooled models of UK capital investment using the Confederation of British Industrys (CBI) Industrial Trends Survey, focusing on the impact of uncertainty. The uncertainty measure is based on the cross sectional dispersion of optimism about the future business conditions in the industry in which the firm operates. The panel data estimation shows that uncertainty has quantitatively important negative effects on investment. However, if we look at the estimation results at the industry level, we find a great diversity in both estimated elasticities and t-statistics, providing valuable information not available from the pooled model. Finally, we compare the forecast performances of the above models; this analysis confirms that pooled estimators are generally better than non-pooled estimators in terms of out-of-sample forecast performance, but the difference between the two is not very large.