Frequent-user patients: reducing costs while making appropriate discharges

Homeless patients who lack access to the health resources they need to maintain their health on their own pose a challenge for hospitals: Premature discharge of such patients can result in their being readmitted to the hospital in a short time, leading to higher costs for the hospital. Hospitals can address this problem by developing clear, effective homeless discharge policies and by developing ongoing relationships with appropriate medical respite care providers. A hospital also can benefit from spearheading an initiative to develop a medical respite program, enlisting the assistance of other community stakeholders.     

How Can We Better Understand Current and Future Workforce Values in the Global Business Environment?

Our study tested the predictive power of socioeconomic development theory and age differences theory to explain work values across cultures and across age groups. We compared the values orientations of future managers, business students under the age of 25, with those of current managers and professionals, who we split into three decade groups (30 to 39, 40 to 49, and 50 to 59). Our respondents (n = 1,518) come from six diverse societies: Brazil, Germany, Indonesia, Russia, the United States, and Vietnam. Our findings indicate that both theories contribute to our understanding of work values and behaviors. One implication is that while socioeconomic development theory makes an important contribution, it is clearly not sufficient by itself to explain work values/behavior differences in the global context. The study findings and the discussion of them will hopefully provide multinational managers with a clearer assessment of current and future workforce values/behavior. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Asset management in the German insurance industry: the quality of interest rate forecasts

Chopra and Ziemba (J.?Portf. Manag. 19: 6?C11, 1993) show that for asset only allocations the return forecasts are more important than assumptions about the variance-covariance matrix of the returns. Following Basse et al. (ZVersWiss 96: 617?C648, 2007) the same holds true for the asset liability management (ALM) of insurance companies. Given the high quotas of bonds in the real as well as optimized insurance portfolios, interest rate forecasts are of exceptional importance. Therefore this paper examines some of these estimates for the European market using techniques of time series analysis. A?set of criteria for the evaluation of the forecasts is presented. While some results seem to be quite favorable for forecasters, others indicate that none of the analyzed forecasts seems to provide relevant information about the future development. There is lot of evidence showing that interest rates are very difficult to predict. Some hints clearly point towards herd behavior among forecasters.     

Extreme jobs: the dangerous allure of the 70-hour workweek

Today's overachieving professionals labor longer, take on more responsibility, and earn more than the workaholics of yore. They hold what Hewlett and Luce call "extreme jobs", which entail workweeks of 60 or more hours and have at least five often characteristics-such as tight deadlines and lots of travel--culled from the authors' research on this work model. A project of the Hidden Brain Drain Task Force, a private-sector initiative, this research consists of two large surveys (one of high earners across various professions in the United States and the other of high-earning managers in large multinational corporations) that map the shape and scope of such jobs, as well as focus groups and in-depth interviews that get at extreme workers' attitudes and motivations. In this article, Hewlett and Luce consider their data in relation to increasing competitive pressures, vastly improved communication technology, cultural shifts, and other sweeping changes that have made high-stakes employment more prominent. What emerges is a complex picture of the all-consuming career-rewarding in many ways, but not without danger to individuals and to society. By and large, extreme professionals don't feel exploited; they feel exalted. A strong majority of them in the United States-66%-say they love their jobs, and in the global companies survey, this figure rises to 76%. The authors' research suggests, however, that women are at a disadvantage. Although they don't shirk the pressure or responsibility of extreme work, they are not matching the hours logged by their male colleagues. This constitutes a barrier for ambitious women, but it also means that employers face a real opportunity: They can find better ways to tap the talents of women who will commit to hard work and responsibility but cannot put in over-long days.     

Market perceptions of discretionary accruals by debt renegotiating firms during economic downturn

This study addresses how a stock market prices earnings components around a sudden and severe economic downturn. In particular, the study examines the market valuation of discretionary accruals for debt renegotiating Malaysian firms during the Asian financial crisis. Our analysis shows that negative discretionary accruals for debt renegotiating firms are associated with higher market values of equity and are not related to the firms' future earnings. These findings are consistent with investors placing a positive value on the probability that negative accruals increase the likelihood that concessions can be extracted from lenders during renegotiation. In contrast, discretionary accruals for a control sample of non-debt renegotiating firms are not significantly associated with stock prices but are positively associated with future earnings.     

The Aftermath of Civil War

Using an event-study methodology, the article analyzes the aftermathof civil war in a cross-section of countries. It focuses oncases where the end of conflict marks the beginning of relativelylasting peace. The analysis considers 41 countries involvedin internal wars over the period 1960–2003. To providea comprehensive evaluation of the aftermath of war, a rangeof social areas is considered: basic indicators of economicperformance, health and education, political development, demographictrends, and conflict and security issues. For each indicatorthe post- and pre-war situations are compared and their dynamictrends during the post-conflict period are examined. The analysisis conducted in both absolute terms and relative to controlgroups of countries that are similar except for conflict. Thefindings indicate that even though war has devastating effectsand its aftermath can be immensely difficult, when the end ofwar marks the beginning of lasting peace, recovery and improvementare achieved.