US communications policy making: The results of executive branch reorganization

Taking into consideration President Carter's campaign commitment to streamline the federal bureaucracy the authors analyze the reorganization of US government authority in the area of telecommunications policy. They discuss potential problems to result from the new organization, and how it is designed to eliminate controversies which arose over the previously existing agencies.     

Management Information Needs and Perceptions in Smaller Charities: An Exploratory Study

This article explores the extent and nature of management information needs of trustees, as perceived by selected trustees of smaller charities. It links these perceptions to questions concerning charity performance, drawing on assumptions in the literature (often implicit) that the quality of management information can be gauged. Also, that there is a corresponding link between meeting management information needs and improving organisational performance. The research methodology comprised a general pilot study and trustee survey, followed by accounts analysis and in-depth interviews in selected charities. From this, vignettes of trustees' perceptions were drawn up and case study accounts of three charities' approach to trusteeship, management information handling strategies, and self-assessment of performance were developed. The study discovered the existence of an 'expectations gap'between what charity trustees are supposed to do and what they can actually achieve.     

User experience on mobile video appreciation: How to engross users and to enhance their enjoyment in watching mobile video clips

In the past few years consumers have enjoyed consuming video content on a growing number of devices including the traditional television, personal computers, mobile phone and tablets. Each device has its own technical attributes and associated consumption characteristics. This research examines the differential effects of user experience on engagement during video consumption in the mobile and desktop environments. We have experimented with different situations related to the genre, the sequence of playing, the extent of interruption, the timing of the interruption, and length of the video clips. Our model was quantitatively tested, with 270 users taking part in a between subject experiment.In the mobile environment, our results provide evidence that sensory experience is a significant factor for enjoyment and engagement with the video, while emotional response is not. The reverse is true for the desktop environment. Learning curve factors work differently in the two environments. User enjoyment and engagement are significantly moderated by learning curve factors in the mobile environment only. The result is robust as it is true for both previous learning (usage experience with the device), and on-the-go experience (sequencing of video clips). Attention span only affects engagement and enjoyment in the desktop environment. Outside interruption only affects engagement and enjoyment in the mobile environment.Our findings can inform commercial practices on the video design and user interface, and also enhance our understanding of the contextual dependency of the theoretical concept of engagement in mobile entertainment.     

NET ACCUMULATION OF TIMBER RESOURCES

National accounting issues related to forest resources have attracted much attention recently. The net-depletion method, the most popular method for estimating aggregate changes in the value of timber stocks, tends to overstate both the depreciation of mature forests due to harvests and the appreciation of immature forests due to growth. Alternative, correct methods, which I term the net-price and El Serafy variations, can be derived from an asset valuation model that takes forest age into account. An empirical example indicates that estimates from the net-depletion method can deviate from actual values by up to 40 percent for some age classes.     

When technological discontinuities and disruptive business models challenge dominant industry logics: Insights from the drugs industry

An industry's dominant logic is the general scheme of value creation and capture shared by its actors. In high technology fields, technological discontinuities are not enough to disrupt an industry's dominant logic. Identifying the factors that might trigger change in that logic can help companies develop strategies to enable them to capture greater value from their innovations by disrupting that logic. Based on analyzing the changes that biotechnologies and bioinformatics have brought to the drug industry, we identify and characterize three triggers of change that can create disruptive business models. We suggest that, in mature industries experiencing strong discontinuities and high technological uncertainty, entrants' business models initially tend to fit into the industry's established dominant logic and its value chains remain unchanged. But as new technologies evolve and uncertainty decreases, disruptive business models emerge, challenging dominant industry logics and reshaping established value chains.     

Corporate Governance in Russia

This paper discusses a local, privately-run and federally-funded program for all individuals able to demonstrate their income is at, or below the poverty line. This free Certified Nursing Assistant training program enables successful participants to obtain appropriate employment in local hospitals. The program is complementary to job guarantee proposals promoted by a number of economists, and provides an example of how local job creation programs can incorporate job training to improve prospects for upward mobility.