The incidence of documented standards for research in departments of accounting at US institutions

Evidence suggests that standards for research in accounting are vague to junior faculty at the same time business schools are placing more emphasis on scholarship when evaluating faculty for tenure and promotion (T&P). In response, we investigate the incidence of accounting-specific documented standards for research in T&P decisions based on an email survey of accounting department administrators at US institutions. In addition, we report respondent data about the use of documented and informal journal lists. Our findings suggest that few accounting departments, regardless of accreditation status, utilize department-specific written scholarship standards or journal lists, supporting faculty perceptions that scholarship requirements for T&P are vague. As part of our analysis we review implications of the Final Report of the AACSB International Impact of Research Task Force (AACSB International, 2008) on the use of journal lists for tenure and promotion decisions. We summarize by advocating for specific accounting department-level policies for T&P, including consideration of explicit journal lists.     

The role of rating agencies in the market for charitable contributions: An empirical test

Rating agencies play the role of information intermediaries in the market for donations. These watchdog organizations obtain and interpret accounting data and other information about charitable organizations and report ratings to help donors select among the many organizations soliciting contributions. In the age of the internet, information from Internal Revenue Service Form 990 returns prepared by tax-exempt organizations is more readily accessible than ever before. This study examines whether the zero- to four-star ratings provided by Charity Navigator have additional information content for donors. Charity Navigator was selected because its rating system relies almost exclusively on the 990 returns and presumably adds value by incorporating peer-group expectations for various ratios and by presenting straightforward and concise data. Using a random sample of 405 charities rated by Charity Navigator, our results suggest that rating changes do impact contributions. Positive rating changes were associated with an increase in contributions and organizations with a decline in rating were associated with decreased contributions. These effects were in addition to what would be predicted using an efficiency ratio commonly computed from Form 990 accounting data and other control variables.     

Selling two environmental services: In-kind payments for bird habitat and watershed protection in Los Negros, Bolivia

Marketing several environmental services from a single area can help access diverse sources of funding and make conservation a more competitive land use. In Bolivia's Los Negros valley (Department of Santa Cruz), bordering the Amboró National Park, 46 farmers are currently paid to protect 2774 ha of a watershed containing the threatened cloud-forest habitat of 11 species of migratory birds. In this payment for environmental services (PES) scheme, annual contracts prohibit tree cutting, hunting and forest clearing on enrolled lands. Farmer-landowners as service providers submit to independent yearly monitoring, and are sanctioned for non-compliance. Facilitated by a local NGO, Fundación Natura Bolivia, one service buyer is an international conservation donor (the US Fish and Wildlife Service) interested in biodiversity conservation. The second service users are downstream irrigators who likely benefit from stabilized dry-season water flows if upstream cloud forests are successfully protected. Individual irrigators have been reluctant to pay, but the Los Negros municipal government has on their behalf contributed ~ US$4500 to the scheme. The negotiated payment mode is annual quid pro quo in-kind compensations in return for forest protection. Predominantly, payments are made as “contingent project implementation”, transferring beehives supplemented by apicultural training. With regard to service provision, environment committees and education programs have increased awareness in downstream communities of the probable water-supply reduction effect of continued upstream deforestation. External donors have funded subsequent studies providing basic economic, hydrological and biodiversity data, and covered PES start-up (~ US$40,000) and running transaction costs (~ US$3000 per year over the last three years). The greatest challenges in the development of the PES mechanism have been the slow process of building trust between service buyers and providers, and in achieving clear service-provision additionality.     

Ride service outsourcing for profit maximization

Transportation service subcontracting is becoming an effective means of business for many leading carriers to maintain their market dominance and profitability. This research is based on an outsourcing practice in one of the few largest limousine fleet companies in the US, whose (mostly advance) demand for services often exceeds its capacity. We develop a model for ride service outsourcing. A column generation method is proposed. The outsourcing decision is made simultaneously with pre-scheduling of in-house ride services as well as staffing. Test with services data indicates that the developed method dramatically improves the carrier’s outsourcing decision.     

How to rescue the environment： The uncommon idea

Successful solution to any environmental problem implies working with Knightian uncertainty that explicitly deals with decision making under conditions of unstructured randomness. Nature did not endow us with clear set of laws. A ＂wild＂ type of randomness that we will never discern due to its unstable properties makes the assignment of corresponding probabilities impossible. For that reason, the consideration of general economical factors within cost/benefit analysis must fail. So, instead of governmental imervention and cup and trade scheme, we propose direct financial market out of certificates on environmental improvements. They could be applied unaided by a model specification. The approach is based on Principal-Agent method. We propose to fill a huge gap in what is called Free Market Environmentalism （FME）, and make the proposal of financial market property rights for situations when ＂property＂ rights can not be set.     

The Renaissance of the Big Cities—and the Opportunities for Berlin

Original Papers

The Renaissance of the Big Cities—and the Opportunities for Berlin     

Do Interregional Transfers Improve the Economic Performance of Poor Regions? The Case of Spain

The 17 regional governments of Spain receive grants from both the central government and the European Union. The grants are generally redistributive and are intended to stimulate economic activity in the poorer regions. We evaluate the effectiveness of the grants by comparing the economic performance of the regions before and after the implementation of the grant programs using a differences-in-differences approach. We find that these policies have not been effective at stimulating private investment or improving the overall economies of the poorer regions.     

Segmentation: Identification, intuition, and implementation

This paper concerns the implementation of segmentation within a business-to-business organisation. There is wide agreement that segmentation is a fundamental component of marketing strategy. Numerous methods are identified, but there is little guidance on how segmentation can be applied in practice. Four barriers to implementation are identified. The notion of intuition has been applied in the segmentation of emerging markets for technologically based products. This work is extended into established markets using an inductive methodology and adopts an action learning approach to incorporate managerial experience into the process, illustrated by a case study. Several opportunities for further research arise.     

Time Management in the Cost Evaluation of Limited Resource Programs

Planning, implementing and evaluating an intervention program all hinge around time. A program’s actions are planned according to a forecast of the time required to achieve certain objectives, and the program’s implementation among a group of users is conditioned by its real time application. Similarly, program evaluation needs to take into consideration the time resource when analysing objectively the extent to which a program’s targets have been reached, and when conducting a cost analysis of the program. In limited resource programs, any disparity between the scheduled time and the real time available can have serious consequences, and even undermine a program’s efficacy. Time management, above all where resources are limited, is therefore the linchpin in the planning, implementation and evaluation of an intervention program. In this study we analyse the utility of PERT and CPM as basic tools for the efficient time management of limited resource programs.