Intra Day Bid‐Ask Spreads, Trading Volume and Volatility: Recent Empirical Evidence from the London Stock Exchange

With the benefit of very high frequency (25 million 1 minute observations) and recent data (2001) for the UK, this paper explores a number of intra day patterns of stock market behaviour. More specifically, a distinct reverse J shaped bid‐ask spread pattern is noted for SETS securities, a declining bid‐ask spread pattern for non‐SETS securities, a two hump pattern for trading volume and a U‐shaped pattern for returns volatility for all securities. In terms of complementing the existing literature, the paper shows that differences in trading systems may affect the bid‐ask spread patterns, while differences in market environments (i.e. US and UK markets) seems to affect the trading volume pattern. The paper suggests avenues for future research, in particular, the need to consider what factors are significant in determining intra day patterns for different trading systems and the need for additional cross‐market comparisons to identify how institutional factors affect the behaviour of investors on an intra day basis.     

IMPACTS OF RELATIVE SIZE AND INDUSTRIAL RELATEDNESS ON RETURNS TO SHAREHOLDERS OF ACQUIRING FIRMS

The premise of this paper is that in mergers the manageability of acquisitions significantly affects the wealth of shareholders of acquiring firms. Specifically, the relative size of partners as well as the industrial relatedness of the two firms are examined. The test period allows for the determination of announcement, interim, and consummation effects of the mergers on shareholder wealth. It is found that acquisitions of relatively large firms from unrelated industries lead to significant declines in the wealth of shareholders of acquiring firms, and that this result is most pronounced when the period is extended beyond the announcement through the effective dates.     

Integrating quality management practices with knowledge creation processes

Several quality thought leaders have considered the role of knowledge in quality management practices. For example, Deming proposed The Deming System of Profound Knowledge™ that dealt explicitly with knowledge. However, various authors in the quality field diverge considerably when contemplating knowledge. We propose an integrated view of quality and knowledge using Nonaka's theory of knowledge creation. This integrated view helps illuminate how quality practices can lead to knowledge creation and retention. The knowledge perspective also provides insight into what it means to effectively deploy quality management practices. Previous empirical research noted the importance of effective deployment, but provided little insight into what effective deployment means. This research argues that quality management practices create knowledge, which leads to organizational performance. Taking a knowledge-based view (KBV) of the firm provides a deeper understanding of why some organizations are more successful at deploying quality management practices than others.     

Information and decision making: A search for method and understanding

Despite the emphasis during the 1980s on value for money and the need to increase business efficiency in order to face competitive world markets, exactly how managers search for information for business decisions remains a neglected topic of academic inquiry. In response to this situation, the paper has two purposes. The first is to develop an initial understanding of how information is searched and used in business contexts; the paper describes how participants searched and used accounting information in a relatively unstructured competitive tendering task. Second, it shares the experiences gained from trying to research the topic. A number of experimental design and analysis issues are raised and discussed.     

A Strategy to Identify Critical Appraisal Criteria for Primary Mixed-Method Studies

The practice of mixed-methods research has increased considerably over the last 10 years. While these studies have been criticized for violating quantitative and qualitative paradigmatic assumptions, the methodological quality of mixed-method studies has not been addressed. The purpose of this paper is to identify criteria to critically appraise the quality of mixed-method studies in the health literature. Criteria for critically appraising quantitative and qualitative studies were generated from a review of the literature. These criteria were organized according to a cross-paradigm framework. We recommend that these criteria be applied to a sample of mixed-method studies which are judged to be exemplary. With the consultation of critical appraisal experts and experienced qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method researchers, further efforts are required to revise and prioritize the criteria according to importance.     

The decline of voluntarism

The author argues that increased Government intervention is more the symptom of the decline of voluntarism in British industrial relations than its cause.     

Brewer-licensee relations: a case study in the growth of collective bargaining and white collar militancy

The brewing industry is experiencing an upsurge of militancy amongst the tenants and managers of its public houses. How has this come about? Where is it likely to lead?     

The role of leaders in generating management innovation†

Abstract

This study provides an empirical insight into the level of management innovation in Australian service organisations, conceptualising management innovation using an integrative framework of management innovation which encompasses four dimensions, new managerial practices, processes, structures and techniques. In addition, the study contributes to the contingency-based literature by examining the role of leaders, in respect to both leadership style (initiating and consideration styles) and the use of controls (diagnostic and interactive use), as drivers of management innovation. Data were collected through a mail questionnaire distributed to 445 middle level managers. The findings show that leadership style influences management innovation with a more initiating style associated with the extent of use of new managerial techniques. Management innovation was also influenced by the use of controls with a more interactive (diagnostic) approach associated with the extent of use of new managerial processes and techniques (practices and structure). In line with the Competing Values Framework, the findings highlight the tension involved in the role of leaders in generating management innovation.     

How community context affects entrepreneurial process: A diagnostic framework

This study reports a multi-faceted search to discover and articulate, in the form of a manageable framework, a diagnostic system for assessing the influence that community factors will have upon the conduct and outcome of any proposed entrepreneurial process. A methodological approach based on investigation of a rich empirical database supported by a wide examination of extant theory in several literatures, resulted in the production of a diagnostic system whose diagrammatic depiction employs a ‘bridge’ analogy. It depicts the culmination of the diagnostic procedure as the ability of different travellers (entrepreneurial actors and community members affected by their actions) to proceed via multiple pathways from an origin to a destination. The origin is a deep understanding of the community as an intermediate environment containing factors both conducive and hostile to any proposed entrepreneurial process. This deep understanding is founded upon intense local examination of the nature and interrelationship of three generic institutional components of any community: physical resources, human resources and property rights, and three generic human factors: human resources, social networks and the ability to span boundaries. The destination thus becomes a contextualised understanding and re-articulation of any proposed entrepreneurial process under consideration. Validation of the efficacy of the framework is being undertaken internationally as a key component of seven substantial projects, which simultaneously involve research and practice. Implications for research and practice are discussed.