Market Efficiency, Thin Trading and Non-linear Behaviour: Evidence from an Emerging Market

Emerging markets efficiency has been widely investigated, with mixed results. However such evidence is only reliable if the methodology adopted accounts for the institutional features of the market. Unlike previous studies this paper corrects for thin trading and incorporates possible non-linear behaviour and regulatory changes. Using Istanbul Stock Exchange data we show that in its early years the exchange was characterised by non-linear behaviour and inefficient pricing. However, regulatory changes encouraged participation, improved information quality and led to prices impounding information more rapidly, suggesting markets become efficient with high trading volume, reliable information and an appropriate institutional framework.     

Transition Therapeutics inc.*

Transition Therapeutics Inc. (Transition) and Waratah Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Waratah) are two publicly traded biopharmaceutical Canadian companies. In October 2001, Transition and Waratah announced that they had agreed to combine their respective businesses, assets, and operations. The business combination will be effected through an exchange of equity interests. The case unfolds before special shareholders' meetings for approval of the arrangement. Management is preparing the joint management information circular, which should include pro forma consolidated financial statements. However, many issues should be addressed to account for the business combination, and decisions on these issues might affect the accounting treatment as well as pro forma financial information. Note: Teaching Notes for instructional cases are not published in the journal but are made available to full CAAA member subscribers in a password‐protected area of the CAAA website. Go to https://www.caaa.ca/en/journals-and-research/accounting-perspectives-ap/teaching-notes/ to log in and access the notes.     

How much is that doggie in the window? Machiavellian reflections on dog regulation

The article recounts the storey of the “Eulogy of the Dog” first given by George Vest in 1870 in a court case in defence of the noble animal and friend. It highlights the unselfishness of the noble creature and its support for mankind. Regulating for Consumption with Bite is then reviewed and a future research agenda highlighted for the appreciation of canines and their human companion relationships. The article raises concern about the increasing consumption of dog meat for food and the lack of caring animal regulation in much of Asia and Africa. The article argues for effective pressure group activity internationally to ensure Old Drum does not end up on somebody's plate.     

Entrepreneurship and Innovation Among GP Fundholders

The introduction of quasi-markets into the public sector suggests that entrepreneurship may have an increasing role to play within the resulting new structures. This article examines the nature of public sector entrepreneurship in the context of the new arrangements for the provision of primary care in the UK. Preliminary evidence points to the existence of different types of entrepreneurship. In particular, there is evidence of entrepreneurship in the form of the reduction in inefficiency, price-quality arbitrage and innovation. There is also evidence to suggest that the GPs who became fundholders early on are rather more entrepreneurial than those who have adopted fundholding at a later stage.     

The Proposed State Second Pension

The UK government has recently proposed radical changes in second-tier pension provision, with the existing State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) being replaced by a new State Second Pension (SSP). This paper sets out how the proposed scheme differs from its predecessor and describes the distributional effects of this reform. It shows that the SSP greatly increases the pension entitlements of low earners while maintaining existing benefit levels for higher earners. However, the higher contributions needed to pay for the new scheme mean that, after taking financing into account, people earning more than around £12,000 a year will lose out. Because of the upper limit to National Insurance contributions for employees, these losses will be greatest for people earning at the contribution ceiling.     

Rethinking the concept of community of practice in relation to schoolteachers’ workplace learning

This paper explores two different ways of understanding communities of practice in relation to workplace learning. This is based upon a case study of secondary school teachers working and learning in four subject departments in two English schools. In spite of institutional similarities, the cultures and working practices of the departments were different, and influenced the learning of the workers significantly. In such contexts, a tight conceptualisation of community of practice can form a valuable intermediate scale of analysis, between the individual learner and wider organisational influences on learning. However, communities of practice can also have a valuable meaning in relation to the wider influences and in situations where close‐knit groupings do not exist.     

Gender,choice and constraint in call centre employment

This paper examines the genderised experience of employment in call centres. While existing studies have acknowledged structural and agential constraints on women in the workplace, this paper goes further by illustrating the gendered nature of career choice and progression in a context which, in certain respects, appears to have benefitted women's desires for advancement. Drawing on quantitative and in‐depth qualitative data from four Scottish call centres, the study provides evidence of gender inequality shaped by structural and ideological workplace and household constraints.     

Diffusing 'best practice' in multinational firms: prospects,practice and contestation

This article explores the possibilities and problems of transferring best practice within multinational enterprises. Following a discussion of the literature on the transfer of best practice, we draw on a case study of ABB to highlight some of the issues and problems involved. In particular, we focus on the use of benchmarking as a powerful tool for the diffusion of best practice in ABB. We conclude that under certain conditions the case for the transfer of best practice within multinational enterprises is relatively sound and that the use of internal benchmarking can be a highly effective method of producing such organizational change. However, any form of diffusion has to take into account (a) the local cultural and institutional context and (b) the ability and incentive of local managers to implement best practice.     

‘An assembly line in the head’: work and employee relations in the call centre

To date, academic studies of the call centre ‘sector’ remain limited in scope. Here the authors attempt to remedy that omission by analysing the recent and spectacular growth of call centres in the UK, drawing on a wide variety of sources, including two extensive surveys of developments in Scotland during 1997.