Mining Sector Currency Risk Management Strategies: Responses to Foreign Currency Accounting Regulation

This study investigates the impact of Approved Accounting Standard ASRB 1012, Foreign Currency Translation, on the currency risk management strategies of firms in the Australian mining industry. ASRB 1012 increased the responsiveness of most mining companies' reported earnings to exchange rate movements, and it was predicted that firms would alter their capital structures in response to the increased accounting exposure. The results suggest that mining companies decreased their proportionate levels of long-term foreign debt and increased their share capital and/or reserves to mitigate the effects of the standard on their contracts. This information is useful to standard-setters seeking an awareness of the potential micro and macro-economic effects of their pronouncements.     

INTERPERSONAL VARIATION IN FARM WORKERS‘ EARNINGS: ANALYSIS OF WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT ENQUIRY DATA

Most econometric analyses of the agricultural labour market in Britain have been concerned with explaining the general level of agricultural earnings and changes over time. This study complements such analyses by attempting to explain the variation in earnings between workers at any one time. The study uses multiple-regression analysis of cross-sectional data taken from the Wages and Employment Enquiry. Significant explanatory variables are age, grade and occupation of the worker, farm size, overtime hours and region. There is evidence of (a) an age-earnings profile with peak earnings at 45–54 years, (b) grade differentials which do not follow those expected from the official Agricultural Wages Board wages structure, (c) occupational differentials, (d) earnings rising with farm size, (e) the importance of overtime hours. Unexpected results occur with some of the regional coefficients.     

Export Demand and Botswana's Beef Industry: A Computable General Equilibrium Approach

Abstract: A 15-sector Comparable General Equilibrium (CGE) model, based on 1992/93 Social Accounting Matrix (SAM), is used to simulate the effects of changes in the world price of beef on the Botswana's beef industry, employment, exports and aggregate output. Résumé: Un modèle d'équilibre général comparable à 15 secteurs, fondé sur la matrice de comptabilité sociale (MCS) de 1992/93, est utilisé pour simuler les incidences des fluctuations des prix mondiaux de la viande bovine sur l'industrie du boeuf, l'emploi, les exportations et la production globale au Botswana.     

Investment Opportunity Set and Voluntary Disclosure of Prospective Information: A Simultaneous Equations Approach

Abstract:   This paper examines empirically the relationship between the level of disclosure of prospective information and the investment opportunity set for firms in New Zealand. Using a systems (two‐stage least squares) approach that explicitly controls for potential endogeneity between disclosure and IOS, we find that the level of prospective information disclosure is significantly and positively related to IOS in both specifications in our simultaneous analysis. Further, we document that prospective information disclosure is positively related to firm size and new security offerings, and is not related to inside ownership and firm profitability. IOS is positively impacted by a firm's investments in fixed assets and its profitability. Finally, we find that forward looking disclosure levels are positively related to the proportion of outside directors on the board and negatively related to barriers to entry, but these findings are not robust across alternative model specifications.     

Setting people up for success: How the Portman Ritz‐Carlton hotel gets the best from its people

In China, where many multinational companies face a constant shortage of talent and high employee turnover, the Portman Ritz‐Carlton Hotel has been able to attract, develop, and retain high‐quality talent to deliver excellent customer service and ensure profitable growth. Under the leadership of Mark DeCocinis since 1998, the Portman Ritz‐Carlton has not only been named as the “Best Employer in Asia” by Hewitt Associates three consecutive times, but has also rated the highest in employee satisfaction among all of the Ritz‐Carlton's 59 hotels worldwide for five consecutive years. How can DeCocinis and his leadership team achieve such remarkable results? In his interview with Arthur Yeung, Mark DeCocinis, general manager of the Port‐man Ritz‐Carlton and regional vice president, Asia‐Pacific, of the Ritz‐Carlton Hotel Company, shares his philosophy and practices on talent management in China and elsewhere. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Two-stage flowshop earliness and tardiness machine scheduling involving a common due window

This paper studies a non-preemptive two-stage flowshop scheduling problem to minimize the earliness and tardiness under the environment of a common due window. The window size and the window location are considered to be given parameters. The just-in-time problem exists naturally and has many practical applications. The problem is shown to be NP-complete in the strong sense. We develop a branch and bound algorithm and a heuristic to solve the problem. We conduct the computational experiments to test the performances of the algorithms. A strong lower bound is derived for the branch and bound algorithm that can efficiently solve 15 jobs problem for about 5 minutes. The heuristic is shown to be efficient and effective, which can solve the problem of 150 jobs for about 20 seconds and provide near-optimal solution. We justify that the heuristic is an excellent solution approach for large problem instances. We also show that four special cases are either polynomial solvable or NP-complete in the ordinary sense.     

The problem of unobservables in strategic management research

In this paper we argue that unobservable constructs lie at the core of a number of influential theories used in the strategic management literature—including agency theory, transaction cost theory, and the resource-based view of the firm. The debate over how best to deal with the problem of unobservables has raged in the philosophy of science literature for the best part of the current century. On the one hand, there are the positivists, who believe that theories containing unobservable constructs are only useful as tools for making predictions. According to positivists, such theories do not inform us about the deep structure of reality. On the other hand, there are the realists, who believe that our theories can give us knowledge about unobservables. Herein we review this debate, we argue for adopting a realist position, and we draw out the implications for strategic management research.     

Malaysia – Trade Policy Review 2006

The Trade Policy Review (TPR) is an important document for small open economies like Malaysia. It provides an outsider perspective of its trade policies and implementation. In this paper we provide an update of the Malaysian economy emphasising the degree of competitiveness vis‐à‐vis other Asian counterparts. We also discuss the issue of regional and bilateral trading agreements involving Malaysia with a focus on the services sector. Finally, we briefly consider the issue of tariff protection – an issue raised by many commentators of the TPR.