Assessing the classification of work-relatedness of fatal incidents: a comparison between Australia,New Zealand and the United States

As part of a larger study comparing work-related fatal injury of workers in Australia, New Zealand and the United States, an assessment was made of the similarities and differences between the three countries in identifying fatal incidents as work-related or not. The researchers in each country independently classified 333 brief scenarios, describing a variety of fatal incidents, into one of nine categories related to work: worker, bystander, commuter, volunteer, student, suicide, other, unknown and none of the above. Complete agreement with the classification was moderate (62%), but agreement when classifying scenarios as working, not working or unknown was much higher (full agreement for 80% of scenarios; Kappa =0.71). Only 5% of scenarios were classified differently by all three countries. Other main findings of the study were that there is variation between countries in the interpretation of what is and what is not work-related, and variation in the amount or type of information required to make a definitive classification. Common circumstances described in the scenarios for which there was some disagreement in classification included domestic violence incidents at work, volunteer workers, business trips, social functions connected to work, hobby farmers and some possible bystander incidents that occurred on farms or on the road. The results suggest that, even without the use of standard definitions, comparisons between the datasets of the countries involved in this study can be made with reasonable confidence. However, they also emphasise the importance of minimising ambiguity in the definitions used, and of understanding the manner in which the definitions are applied, when comparing results between studies.     

Book reviews

The Co-operation Phenomena: Prc)spects for Small Firms and the Small EconomiesDermont O'Doherty (Ed.)London, Irish Science and Technology Ajrency, Graham & Trotman, 1990, 270pp.

Flexible Manufacturing Technologies & International Competitiveness J. Tidd London, Pinter, 1991, ll3pp., £35.00.

Technology Strategy and the Firm: Management and Public Policy Mark Dodgson (Ed.)London, Longman, 1990, 252pp., £25.00 pb.

Computerization in Developing Countries: Model and Reality Per Lind London, Routledge, 1990, 175pp., £35.00 hb.

The Fifth Branch—Science Advisers as Policy Makers Sheila Jasonoff Cambridge, MA, Haroard University Press, 1990, 302pp., £22.50.     

Disclosure policy: A discussion of Leuz, Triantis and Wang (2008) on “going dark”

LTW (2008) examine firms withdrawing from the SEC reporting system but continuing to trade on Pink Sheets. The paper finds that Sarbanes-Oxley increased the propensity of firms to go dark but, counter to conventional wisdom, had no significant effect on the rate of going-private transactions. Agency costs, as well as poor growth opportunities, proximity to financial distress, and increased compliance costs arising from SOX increase the propensity to go dark. Suggestions to improve the empirical implementation and interpretation involve including additional control and more suitable explanatory variables, and more attention to causation issues and to the quantification of economic significance.     

Business models among SMTEs: identifying attitudes to environmental costs and their implications for sustainable tourism

This paper examines how environmental resources and costs feature in business models of small- and medium-sized tourism enterprises (SMTEs). Several studies have pointed to the generally positive nature of the relationship between the economic and environmental performance of tourism firms. Yet, although business models act as a vector between these aspects of firm performance, they have been overlooked in sustainable tourism discourse. The paper reports findings from discussion groups of SMTE businesses in South West England during the global economic downturn. Environmental costs and cost control were afforded relatively little importance in terms of value creation; conversely, there was a strong and predictable emphasis on revenue generation. Indirect tactics emerged for dealing with guests’ environmental behaviours which reflected this prevailing commercial logic. Green credentials were routinely de-emphasized, sometimes regarded as liabilities, in a form of greenhushing. Responses were framed by reference to social media and how online reviews may negatively impact on future value capture. Conceptually, the business model emerged as an important lens for understanding how environmental resources and costs were valourized. The paper highlights the need to ensure that contemporary approaches to environmental management in SMTEs reflect the current and fast-changing conditions that frame business models.     

Scalable simulation of a Disaster Response Agent-based network Management and Adaptation System (DRAMAS)

The objective of this paper is to advance the study of disaster response and recovery (generally, disaster relief) by providing tools and insights to agencies that work in disaster relief. This paper is built on extensive research of disaster relief literature and practice, and provides a comprehensive analysis of agency posturing following an extreme event. We present the Disaster Response Agent-based network Management and Adaptation System (DRAMAS) model, which uses stochastic processes to model the complex interactions between relief agencies of different sizes and capabilities. The DRAMAS simulation environment provide an excellent testing ground for hypotheses regarding relief agency partnerships, goals, roles, and prior involvement, by providing a depiction of the change in agency partnerships and resource investments following a disaster. The goal of this research is to expand the current body of knowledge and examine the fundamental principles of agency success during relief operations. We find that (a) larger relief networks tended to be less efficient at meeting the typical needs of the community, (b) having a relief network with more agents appeared to increase the time it took for a typical need, (c) having a high percentage of local agents resulted in an increased time for typical services, (d) a more dense network resulted in more effective identification of long-term needs and also improved services time, etc. Results from this work provide a path for improving our understanding of interagency partnerships and interaction, and could provide new insights into the behavior of agency networks in response to a disaster.     

Boards: Does one size fit all?

This paper reexamines the relation between firm value and board structure. We find that complex firms, which have greater advising requirements than simple firms, have larger boards with more outside directors. The relation between Tobin's Q and board size is U-shaped, which, at face value, suggests that either very small or very large boards are optimal. This relation, however, arises from differences between complex and simple firms. Tobin's Q increases (decreases) in board size for complex (simple) firms, and this relation is driven by the number of outside directors. We find some evidence that R&D-intensive firms, for which the firm-specific knowledge of insiders is relatively important, have a higher fraction of insiders on the board and that, for these firms, Q increases with the fraction of insiders on the board. Our findings challenge the notion that restrictions on board size and management representation on the board necessarily enhance firm value.