英国技术创新型中小企业的发展及启示

一、英国技术创新型中小企业的特点 从八十年代初开始,英国企业群体发生重大变化:技术创新型中小企业,不论是新创办还是现有的,逐渐成为英国经济的重要组成部分。这种趋势持续至今,且已经成为英国乃至欧洲经济技术进步的重要力量。 英国中小企业的划分标准为:人员在50人以下的企业。显然技     

Bond Selection for Managed Portfolios

Abstract:   Investors in coupon bonds evaluate them based upon financial considerations such as coupon rate, time‐to‐maturity, callability, convertibility, and financial condition of the issuer. These investors regard promised yield as only a rough measure of the reward a bond offers to compensate them for the pure time‐value‐of‐money and the financial risks to which they are exposed. Hence, they need a more meaningful measure of reward to facilitate comparisons among coupon bonds. The purpose of this paper is to describe an alternative heuristic approach to the task of making such comparisons. The approach produces a simple ordinal measure of reward, called the 'indifference spread,' that considers implicitly the potential sources of return to, as well as many of the risks associated with, investment in coupon bonds. For any coupon bond, the indifference spread method permits assessment of relative reward offered for the combined exposures to price and call risks, while also reasonably accommodating possible sale anytime prior to maturity. Once an investor (e.g., money manager) identifies indifference spreads for all bonds under consideration as of any moment in time, he/she can then draw conclusions regarding their relative values at that time based, in large part, on these spreads.     

A Match Made in Heaven: A Marginalized Methodology for Studying the Marginalized

Marginalization consists in not taking others into account on any number of valued outcomes, resulting in powerlessness, ignorance, poverty, illness, insecurity, and other manifestations of devaluation. Two illustrations are presented, including a brief summary of Q methodology, an innovation in factor theory that was marginalized by 20th century developments in psychometrics but has more recently experienced a revival in interest, and which is particularly suited to illuminating and clarifying perspectives, including those of marginalized populations. The procedures associated with Q methodology are demonstrated in terms of clarifying the goals of a Central American initiative to foster development. A second illustration focuses on the applicability of Q methodology in revealing marginalized tendencies within single individuals. A variety of other recent and current applications are briefly summarized.     

Interest Rates, Exchange Rates and Present Value Models of the Current Account

This paper develops a testable intertemporal model of the current account that allows for variable interest rates and exchange rates. These additional variables are channels through which external shocks may influence the domestic current account. The restrictions from the theoretical model are subjected to present value tests using quarterly data from three small open economies. The paper finds that including the interest rate and exchange rate improves the fit of the intertemporal model over what was found in previous studies. The model predictions better replicate the volatility of current account data and better explain historical episodes of current account imbalance.     

Value Relevance of Mandated Comprehensive Income Disclosures

This paper examines the association between acquisiton-related provision-taking behaviour and post-acquisition performance for a sample of UK firms that undertook large acquisitions between 1989 and 1995. We find evidence that provision-taking was associated with declining accounting and market-adjusted stock price performance over the three-year period following the fiscal year of the acquisition. This relationship exists after controlling for a variety of factors, including method of payment in the acquisition and post-acquisition cash flow performance. By implication, post-acquisition abnormal returns appear to have been predictable based on publicly available information about the magnitude of the provisions. These findings are consistent with the following scenario: The management of the high provisioners used the provisions to insulate accounting earnings from the effects of declining cash flows. The market belatedly reacted to these firms' declining fortunes when net income was no longer inflated by provision reversals.     

Effect of audit report disclosure on auditor litigation risk

Internationally, the escalating number of cases levelled against auditors and the costs of defending such actions has led to the auditing profession calling for measures to reduce their liability burden. Relatively few measures have been taken by the auditing profession by way of adapting the disclosure contained in the audit report to mitigate their litigation risk. This study examines whether the issuance of an audit opinion with a going concern related ‘emphasis of matter’ paragraph or work practices disclosure has any effect on potential litigants' likelihood of pursuing litigation against the auditor. An analysis of 69 responses from advanced law students and 18 practitioners working in corporate liquidation demonstrate that a modified (but not qualified) audit report effectively acts as a ‘red flag’ and reduces potential litigants' propensity to initiate litigation. However, work practices disclosure did not significantly alter potential litigants' inclination to recommend litigation. Despite this finding, respondents (particularly liquidators) indicated that work practices disclosure was an important factor in their litigation decision. These results suggest that further investigation into how to effectively disclose the work done on audit and assurance engagements is needed. This has implications for standard setters and the auditing profession, especially considering recent changes in the disclosure contained in audit and assurance reports.     

The rise of the ‘network organisation’ and the decline of discretion

This article explores the implications of ‘networked’ and ‘flexible’ organisations for the work and skills of professionals/ Drawing on material from four different case studies, it reviews work that is outsourced (involving IT professionals and housing benefit caseworkers), work that is done by teachers contracted to a temporary employment agency and work organised through an inter‐firm network (chemical production workers). In each case work that was outsourced was managed very differently to that undertaken in‐house, with managerial monitoring replacing and reducing employees' discretion. New staff in these networks had fewer skills when hired and were given access to a narrower range of skills than their predecessors. By contrast, the production staff directly employed on permanent contracts in the inter‐firm network were given (and took) significant amounts of responsibility, with positive results for both their skills and the work processed. Yet, despite the negative impact they have on skills, outsourcing and subcontracting are a far more common means of securing flexibility than organisational collaboration.     

Industrial product adoption in a technology push industry

Studies of the industrial adoption of innovatious have frequently concluded that managerial attitudes are a crucial determinant of adoption behavior. However, these studies have usually offered hypotheses rather than rigorous tests. Equally important, these studies have not specified the characteristics of those managers whose attitudes exert a particularly strong influence on the firm's adoption policy.