AN ANALYSIS OF MULTIOBJECTIVE DECISION-MAKING FOR THE SCOTTISH INSHORE FISHERY

The Scottish inshore fishery is used to illustrate the application of a multiobjective analytical model to decision-making for fisheries management. Although the quantitative analysis is necessarily fishery-specific, much of the discussion is of more general applicability. A hybrid modelling approach is used to analyse fisheries management objectives for this fishery: regression-based models of the fishing process are used to provide input into linear and goal programming models, the linear programme also providing input into the goal programme. Optimisation of the goal programming model results in an ‘optimal’ pattern of resource allocation for the Scottish inshore fishery.     

Stop holding yourself back

After working with hundreds of leaders in a wide variety of organizations and in countries all over the globe, the authors found one very clear pattern: When it comes to meeting their leadership potential, many people unintentionally get in their own way. Five barriers in particular tend to keep promising managers from becoming exceptional leaders: People overemphasize personal goals, protect their public image, turn their competitors into two-dimensional enemies, go it alone instead of soliciting support and advice, and wait for permission to lead. Troy, a customer service manager, endangered his job and his company's reputation by focusing on protecting his position, not helping his team; when a trusted friend advised him to change his behavior, the results were striking. Anita's insistence on sticking to the tough personal she'd created for herself caused her to ignore the more intuitive part of the leadership equation, with disastrous results--until she let go of the need to appear invulnerable and reached out to another manager. Jon, a personal trainer who had virtually no experience with either youth development programs or urban life, opened a highly successful gym for inner-city kids at risk; he refused to be daunted by his lack of expertise and decided to simply "go for it." As these and other examples from the authors' research demonstrate, being a leader means making an active decision to lead. Only then will the workforce--and society--benefit from the enormous amount of talent currently sitting on the bench.     

Soldiers don't go mad: Shell shock and accounting intransigence in the British Army 1914-18

This research examines intransigence in accounting systems. Using historical research methods and archival sources, it explores intransigence in the Royal Army Medical Corps’ accounting systems in the context of the incidence of shell shock among British Army soldiers fighting at the battlefront during the First World War. The Army did not recognise shell shock as a medical condition and made few changes to its medical accounting systems for soldiers with shell shock. The four factors of system stability of the AGIL scheme (adaptation, goal attainment, integration, latency) are used to understand the limited medical accounting response to shell shock. This research indicates that in addition to historical and internal political reasons for intransigence, intransigence will occur unless a factor in the AGIL scheme is sufficiently impaired to make the accounting system unstable and force system change. This research finding has contemporary relevance, explaining accounting intransigence in response to issues of social concern.     

Interest rate dynamics and volatility transmission in the European short term interest rate market

This paper investigates the price and volatility relationship in European short-term interest rate markets. Cointegration analysis is used to analyse the long and short run relationship and a GARCH BEKK model is estimated to analyse the volatility transmission between the markets. The stability of the long run relationship is also examined using Bai and Perron (Econometrica 66(1),47–78, 1998, J Appl Econ 18(1):1–22, 2003) structural break methodology. The results show that the relationship between the EURIBOR spot deposit rate and the EURIBOR future contract has changed significantly since 2001 and several structural breaks are present in the 13 year sample period. During periods where there is a long run relationship present the spot deposit rate generally leads the future rate in price discovery. In the short run there is bi-directional causality present between the markets. There is also significant evidence of volatility transmission from the spot market to the futures market throughout the sample period.     

‘Doing the right thing’ Organisational structure and process for democratic governance in the firm

Can businesses be viable, effective, and generally democratic organisations? Several literatures bearing on the democratic firm are reviewed, examining democratic governance, participative management, new forms of ownership and how these affect firm performance. A small, espousedly democratic grocery store in upstate New York illustrates characteristic behaviours, structures and processes consistent with financial viability and economic effectiveness.     

Satanic Mills?: An illustration of Victorian external environmental accounting

The paper evaluates a Victorian environmental account of the pollution of the River Wandle. This account was produced during a period of social and environmental crisis, when there were no significant industrial environmental regulations. This problematising external environmental account provides valuable insights into the historical development of social and environmental accounting. Our analysis located this account within an institutional reform programme to create systems of governance to mitigate the damage arising from unfettered industrial growth. We argue that problematising external environmental accounting has a longer tradition than previously recognised in the literature and predates corporate social and environmental reporting.     

Timing is everything: A meta-analysis of the relationships between organizational performance and innovation

The relationship between innovation and firm performance has been uncertain. In previous empirical tests of both causal directions of the organizational performance and innovation relationship, the temporal sequence of research designs has often been flawed. We meta-analytically test both temporal sequences of this relationship using 158 effect sizes from 55 empirical studies. We find that many empirical studies hypothesized one temporal sequence (e.g. innovation and future performance), but used data based on the opposite temporal sequence (e.g. past performance and innovation). Correcting the studies based on the actual temporal sequence used reveals that while the relationship between innovation and future performance is positive (based on economic rent-seeking), the relationship between past performance and innovation is less clear, especially when the study's framing is taken into account. Focusing on temporal sequencing suggests new research avenues on the organizational performance and innovation relationship.