Where are the leaders?

The CEO, CAO and Board Chair constitute a non-profit's "power team." How effectively these leaders can combine their individual skills--specifically in mutually supportive ways--determines the critical difference between a non-profit's success or failure.     

Alcohol abuse and liver enzymes (AALE): results of an intercompany study of mortality

Evaluation of applicants for life insurance who have elevations of their liver function tests or an increased probability of alcohol abuse has always been difficult for underwriters. This paper reports the results of an intercompany study in which the pooled mortality experience of a group of insureds with evidence of alcohol abuse, an adverse driving record or elevations of the liver transaminases or gamma-glutamyl transferase is summarized.     

When no news is good news

For as long as can be remembered, BestBaby Corporation, a manufacturer of baby equipment and furniture, has enjoyed a solid reputation with retailers, a good track record with consumers, and a supportive relationship with stockholders. But then the child of a celebrity is injured when her stroller tips over because its brakes failed. The media go wild, and CEO Greg James finds himself in uncharted territory. The morning after the accident, Greg calls an emergency meeting of his executive staff. As he searches his memory to prepare for it, he thinks about Arzep Enterprises, BestBaby's main provider of parts and materials. He remembers his COO, Keith Sigismund, telling him that Arzep had switched suppliers at some point in order to cut its own costs. Nevertheless, Keith had assured Greg that the new material, although not quite as sturdy, hadn't affected the quality of Arzep's components. By the time the meeting is set to begin, several employees have threatened to quit, and stories are surfacing in the press and on the Web about other consumers who have had problems with their strollers. Then in the meeting, Keith drops a bombshell: he reads from a year-old memo sent to him by an employee in manufacturing stating that the new brake fittings delivered by Arzep don't grab the front brakes as well as the ones previously supplied. The same employee, and others, had complained in the past that Keith hadn't adequately attended to concerns they brought up to him. In this fictional case study, four commentators offer advice to Greg on how BestBaby should respond to the victim's family, the media, the public, and the company's own employees during this PR crisis.     

Petites bourgeoises and penny capitalists: women in retail in the Lille area during the nineteenth century

With few exceptions, historians have argued that in the nineteenthcentury women were excluded from most retail activities. InEurope women became increasingly concentrated in small-scale,under-capitalized, and short-lived stores. The "separate sphere" ideology in its different guises underlay this evolution.In North America, on the other hand, women capitalized on thisideology to carve a niche for themselves in trade and retailing.Women were not marginalized or segregated everywhere in Europe,however. In northern France the expansion of retail trade andoverall improvements in standards of living provided women,especially married ones, with opportunities they were not reluctantto grasp. Though the activities of married women remained subordinatedto the needs of their families, female retailers were neitherparticularly impoverished nor segregated in sectors deemed appropriatefor persons of their sex.     

The nonprofit sector's $100 billion opportunity

Imagine what an extra $100 billion a year could do for philanthropic and other nonprofit institutions. According to a new study, the nonprofit sector could free that amount--maybe even more--by making five changes in the way it operates. The study asked two central questions: Does the sector's money flow from its source to its ultimate use as efficiently and effectively as possible? If not, where are the big opportunities to increase social benefit? According to former senator Bill Bradley and McKinsey's Paul Jansen and Les Silverman, nonprofits could save roughly $25 billion a year by changing the way they raise funds. By distributing funds more quickly, they could put an extra $30 billion to work. Organizations could generate more than $60 billion a year by streamlining and restructuring the way in which they provide services and by reducing administrative costs. And they could free up even more money--an amount impossible to estimate--by better allocating funds among service providers. The authors admit that making those changes won't be easy. The nonprofit world, historically seen as a collection of locally focused charities, has become an enormous sector, but it lacks the managerial processes and incentives that help keep the for-profit world on track. And when the baby boomers start to retire in less than a decade, public budgets will be squeezed even more than they are today. If the nonprofit sector is to help the nation cope with the stresses ahead, it must become more efficient and challenge its traditional concepts of stewardship.