Dimensions of the public affairs/government relations function in major American corporations

The public affairs/government relations (PA/GR) function appears to be growing in importance in large corporations. A survey of the 500 largest U.S. industrial concerns was undertaken to ascertain their views and practices with regard to the PA/GR function. 130 of the 163 firms responding to the survey have a formalized PA/GR function in place. Survey data supports the idea that top corporate decision makers are allocating significant staff and decision making authority to the PA/GR function and that this activity differs significantly from the traditional lobbying and public affairs activities of the past.     

Adaptive diffusion models for the growth of robotics in New York state industry

Forecasts are developed for the diffusion of robotics in the state of New York through the year 2015. The chief objective is to compare static approaches with dynamic models for forecasting diffusion processes of various time horizons. Results for a Bass-Mansfield model are compared to those for a dynamic time-varying parameter model. The results indicate the advantages and disadvantages of a robust heuristic approach which smooths data as opposed to providing an optimal fit.     

Case management: an evaluation at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles

This prospective, quantitative, and qualitative evaluation of the case management program at CHLA clearly demonstrated the value of professional service coordination of care for children with complex, special health needs. Most specifically, the program documented improvement in three discrete areas of evaluation: 1. Financial, with decreased unnecessary expenditures and increased revenue. 2. Patient satisfaction, documented with validated questionnaires. 3. Clinical process improvement, using quantifiable clinical outcomes. At the very least, case management is an extremely valuable service in the present managed health care environment, and may in fact be indispensable.     

Is There a Viable Market for Area-Based Crop Insurance?

The performance of area yield insurance and farm-level multiple peril crop insurance is analyzed for cotton and soybean production in Georgia and South Carolina. The analysis improves on many previous studies by utilizing actual farm-level yield data and by comparing the two types of insurance products not only for actuarially fair premium rates but also for actual unsubsidized and subsidized premium rates. Results suggest that, even in heterogeneous production regions, area yield insurance may be a viable alternative to farm-level insurance when premium rates for farm-level insurance contain large positive wedges.     

Promise and peril in implementing pay‐for‐performance

Why would managers abandon pay‐for‐performance plans they initiated with great hopes? Why would employees celebrate this decision? This article explores why managers made their decisions in 12 of 13 pay‐for‐performance “experiments” at Hewlett‐Packard in the mid‐1990s. We find that managers thought the costs of these programs to be higher than the benefits. Alternative managerial practices such as effective leadership, clear objectives, coaching, or training were thought a better investment. Despite the undisputed instrumentality of pay‐for‐performance to motivate, little attention has been given to whether the benefits outweigh the costs or the “fit” of these programs with high‐commitment cultures like Hewlett‐Packard was at the time. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Issues for Implementing Phased Retirement in Defined Benefit Plans

Abstract

U.S. society is aging. The nature of work has changed from work that requires physical strength to work based on knowledge. As a result, workers are beginning to phase into retirement rather than going directly from full-time work to full retirement. From a retirement income perspective, many final-average-pay defined benefit plans have features that make phased retirement difficult at best and detrimental at worst. U.S. pension law and regulations present barriers to phased retirement if the phased retiree wants to receive a portion of available pension benefits during phased retirement.

This paper examines private sector options to encourage phased retirement and to eliminate the disincentives that currently affect defined benefit plans. It offers alternative calculations of final average pay that do not penalize the part-time worker. It also demonstrates that the plan’s early retirement reduction and late retirement increase can be set to maintain actuarial equity throughout phased retirement. The paper presents benefit calculations with equal actuarial values for various payout patterns.

The paper discusses the coordination between phased retirement and subsidized early retirement. Finally, the paper notes some of the changes in ERISA that will be needed to facilitate phased retirement in defined benefit plans, especially for participants who want to receive pension distributions while working part time.     

An Anatomy Of Racial and Ethnic Trends in Male Earnings in the U.S

Progress in narrowing black–white earnings differences has been far from continuous, with some of the apparent progress resulting from labor force withdrawal among lower‐skilled African Americans. This paper documents racial and ethnic differences in male earnings from 1950 through 2010 using data from the decennial census and American Community Surveys. Emphasis is given to annual rather than weekly or hourly earnings. We take a quantile approach, providing evidence on medians and other percentiles of the distribution. Treatment of imputed earnings greatly affects measured outcomes. Hispanic men have exhibited earnings growth similar to white men over several decades. Black men have been left behind economically due in large part to increased joblessness, a process exacerbated by weak labor market conditions. By 2010, joblessness had risen to over 40 percent and the median black–white earnings gap was the largest in at least 60 years.