Contracting officer workload,incomplete contracting,and contractual terms

This article estimates the causal effect of retirement‐induced workload spikes on the selection of procurement terms. In a sample of 150,000 contracts from 85 procurement offices over 11 years, increases in workload decrease reliance on competitive acquisition procedures, decrease reliance on firm‐fixed‐price contracts, increase risk of renegotiation, and increase costs. These estimates are consistent with a model of endogenously incomplete contracting. The US federal government has experienced exceptional growth in acquisitions contracting over the past decade but limited growth in acquisitions manpower. This article provides some of the facts necessary to evaluate the consequences of these shifts.     

The seven ages of the leader

Leaders go through many transitions in their careers. Each brings new crises and challenges--from taking over a damaged organization to having to fire somebody to passing the baton to the next generation. These moments can be wrenching--and can threaten your confidence--but they're also predictable. Knowing what to expect can help you get through and perhaps emerge stronger. In this engaging article, Warren G. Bennis, professor and founding chairman of the University of Southern California's Leadership Institute, reflects on leadership, recounting his own experiences as a young lieutenant in the infantry in World War II, as the new president of a university, and as the mentor to a unique nursing student. Bennis also describes the experiences of other leaders he has known throughout his career. Drawing on more than 50 years of academic research and business expertise--and borrowing from Shakespeare's seven ages of man--Bennis says the leader's life unfolds in seven stages. "The infant executive" seeks to recruit a mentor for guidance. "The schoolboy" must learn how to do the job in public, subjected to unsettling scrutiny of every word and act. "The lover with a woeful ballad" struggles with the tsunami of problems every organization presents. "The bearded soldier" must be willing--even eager--to hire people better than he is, because he knows that talented underlings can help him shine. "The general" must become adept at not simply allowing people to speak the truth but at actually being able to hear what they are saying. "The statesman" is hard at work preparing to pass on wisdom in the interests of the organization. And, finally, "the sage" embraces the role of mentor to young executives.     

Business's environmental responsibility in Taiwan — Moral,legal or negotiated

This study explores both the negotiating styles and moral reasoning processes of business people and governmental officials in Taiwan, so as to provide a footing for outsiders when negotiating with Taiwanese over environmental concerns. Findings imply that Taiwanese business people and governmental officials can and will reason both at the conventional level and at the postconventional level of moral judgment. But, results of this study also indicate that Taiwanese negotiating styles do not necessarily match their levels of moral reasoning. With respect to pollution concerns, Taiwanese seem unwillingly to accept responsibility as autonomous individuals. Instead, responsibility is accepted when mandated by the law.Peihua Sheng teaches marketing and marketing research at the American College for the Applied Art, Atlanta Campus. She has taught marketing at the university level in Chinese for several years. Her research interests include business ethics, equity, and international marketing strategy.Linda Chang is a financial analyst on OTSUKA America. A native of Taiwan, she has an MBA. Her research interests are in the areas of planning and negotiation.Warren French is a professor of Marketing and the I. W. Cousins Professor of Business Ethics at the University of Georgia. His research interests include business ethics, aging, and international business. His articles have appeared in a variety of scholarly and practitioner-oriented journals.     

Randomized quasi-Monte Carlo methods in pricing securities

Today quasi-Monte Carlo methods are used successfully in computational finance and economics as an alternative to the Monte Carlo method. One drawback of these methods, however, is the lack of a practical way of error estimation. To address this issue several researchers introduced the so-called randomized quasi-Monte Carlo methods in the last decade. In this paper we will present a survey of randomized quasi-Monte Carlo methods, and compare their efficiencies with the efficiency of the Monte Carlo method in pricing certain securities. We will also investigate the effects of Box–Muller and inverse transformation techniques when they are applied to low-discrepancy sequences.     

Vertical Integration and Competition Policy

Vertical integration can be a source of significant strategic advantage for firms, whether in the form of backward integration to gain security of some important supply or of forward integration to ensure adequate distribution of products or services. It may have profound effects on the competitive processes in an industry, substantially modify the threats from new entrants or substitute products, and mitigate the power of suppliers or buyers. Yet for exactly these reasons, vertical integration causes great concern to competition authorities. A number of consumer products markets with vertical ties have caused such disquiet to the UK's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in recent years that they have been referred to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC) for further investigation. These include beer, petrol and soft drinks. The three cases illustrate the nature and importance of the strategic advantage derived from vertical integration. They also illustrate the concern competition authorities feel about vertical integration, and provide lessons for firms regarding the objections that may be raised towards their trading arrangements.     

Don't hire the wrong CEO

A disturbing trend is going on in corporate America--CEO churning. Top executives are rapidly coming and going, keeping their jobs for increasingly shorter periods of time. The reason? Most boards are so unclear about the definition of leadership, they are picking the wrong people. CEO churning needn't be, say leadership experts Warren Bennis and James O'Toole. Boards can reverse the trend by following several guidelines. First, boards must come to a shared, accurate definition of leadership. Simply put, leaders must be able to move human hearts--to challenge people and make them want to scale steep peaks. Second, boards should strengthen the CEO selection process by resolving strategic and political conflicts amongst themselves. An agreed-upon strategic direction will make choosing the CEO with the right vision for the company that much easier and can clarify the job for the new CEO. Third, the board needs to measure every CEO candidate's soft qualities. Economic measures are important, but integrity, the ability to provide meaning, and the talent for creating other leaders are critical. Fourth, boards should beware of candidates who act like CEOs. Charisma and glossy pitches can be enticing, but they're rarely the stuff of true leadership. Fifth, boards should accept that real leaders will more than likely overturn the status quo. Sixth, boards need to know that insider heirs usually aren't apparent, and finally, boards should always avoid making a hasty decision. Hiring the right CEO is a slow process at best. Ultimately, the surest way for boards to pick the right CEO is to cultivate and nurture talent in the making.     

Strategies for understanding and changing local revenue policies and practices in Ghana's decentralization programme

The 1971 Local Administration Act is the basis for Ghana's attempt to decentralize development planning and budgeting from the centre in Accra to the 68 districts of Ghana. The Act allows District Councils to collect numerous revenues and to retain them as a financial base for implementing District development projects. In 1977 the Economic and Rural Development Management training programme was initiated to help improve revenue collection and the development planning and budgeting capacity of elected officials and civil servants at the district level. Participants worked in teams to determine the potential district revenue base for decentralized development planning, to understand local behavioural patterns in the revenue collection process, and to recommend procedures for improving district revenue administration. The training programme has resulted in dramatic improvements in district government revenue policies and practices leading to a larger financial base for the funding of projects identified and designed locally. Data indicating the positive impact of the training programme for improving local revenue are provided for Techiman District.