THE FUTURE OF STATE INSURANCE REGULATION: CAN IT SURVIVE?

Abstract: As Congress continues to debate the future of financial services affiliations, state insurance regulators are faced with blurred lines of regulatory authority and the opportunity of federal banking regulators to preempt their decisions and their enforcement of consumer protection statutes. This article attempts to remind readers of the history and significance of state insurance regulation and provide clear evidence of its continued importance in the future of the conglomerated financial services marketplace.     

Went Fundholding, Going Commissioning? Some Evidence-Based Reflections on the Prospects for Primary Care Groups

Following the publication of the White Paper, 'The New NHS: Modern, Dependable' (Cm 3807), the Labour Government has abolished GP fundholding. Family doctors retain a lead role for primary care in planning health care with the creation of Primary Care Groups (PCGs). In due course, it is expected that health authorities will relinquish direct commissioning of care to PCGs. Although fundholding is ending, its operation provides useful evidence about how GPs approach participation in the planning of health care. This article reflects on the prospects for PCGs, drawing on original research into the reasons why practices volunteered to 'go fundholding' and how those practices selected their 'lead' partner, on whom much of the fundholding burden fell.     

Understanding the Influence of Cues from Other Customers in the Service Experience: A Scale Development and Validation

During most consumer exchanges, particularly in service and retailing settings, customers are “in the factory” and, as a result, the presence of other customers can have a profound impact on customer experiences. Despite studies demonstrating the importance of managing the customer experience and customer portfolios, the marketing literature lacks a comprehensive scale that can be used to assess individuals’ perceptions of other customers during commercial transactions. This study conceptualizes a three-dimension, Other Customer Perception (OCP) scale to address this gap. Using a seven-step scale development process, the multi-dimensional conceptualization is supported and validated and the research demonstrates the impact of the OCP dimensions on consumers’ approach and avoidance intentions. The findings provide a clearer understanding of how other customers can indirectly influence assessments of a customer exchange and can assist in the measurement of other customer perceptions in future research efforts.     

Performance and Performance Persistence of 'Ethical' Unit Trusts in the UK

Abstract:  We examine performance, and persistence in the performance, of UK 'ethical' or SRI funds and find that performance appears to be time-varying, showing that conclusions on performance itself are influenced by whether a static or time varying model is employed. Given evidence that many UK funds which claim to be international in nature may exhibit home bias in their portfolio allocations, we also propose a new measure for performance of international funds that allows for this and show that such recognition has important implications for the conclusions drawn with respect to these funds. We find evidence that supports persistence in performance, particularly at longer time horizons. There is some evidence that for domestic funds, past 'winning' SRI funds outperform 'losing' SRI funds to a greater extent than their control portfolio counterparts.     

Commissioning and GPs: to commit[tee] or not?

Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), part of the UK's National Health Service (NHS) since April 2013, are complex organizations requiring buy-in by GPs for strategic success. CCG budgetary deficits and lack of sustained engagement by GPs are a problem. This paper utilizes evidence of GP experience in commissioning models to determine the factors that may influence engagement in the governance of CCGs by GPs, which is crucial if clinically-led commissioning is to be part of a financially sustainable NHS.     

Exploring Prenatal Physical Activity at the “Postgenomic Turn”: A Transdisciplinary Journey

Abstract

Within the life sciences, there has been a move away from genetic determinism toward an awareness of how the environment (from cellular to social) can impact gene expression and health outcomes. Significantly, exercise scientists are looking to this “postgenomic turn” to explore how prenatal physical activity and leisure might affect the fetal metabolic environment by altering offspring gene expression and preventing future obesity. In this article, we draw upon insights from feminist new materialist scholars to explore how and if the entanglement of the social and material promised by the postgenomic turn is realized in prenatal exercise interventions. After outlining how this is not the case, we reflect upon our attempt to promote a transdisciplinary dialogue that facilitates a social justice ethos and nonreductionist version of maternal-fetal health and physical culture. Our transdisciplinary journey contributes to the feminist physical cultural studies agenda of equity development in the realm of exercise and leisure.     

The Use of Performance‐based Remuneration: High versus Low‐growth Firms

This study analyses the CEO remuneration structure and level for 100 Australian‐listed entities. Consistent with expectations, it finds that high‐growth firms pay their CEOs a greater proportion of performance‐based pay, when equity‐based rewards only are considered. High‐growth firms also place greater reliance on market and/or non‐financial performance standards for the award of performance‐based pay. The extent to which performance‐based remuneration is used as a component of CEO pay is positively associated with firm size and growth options. Other potential determinants of performance‐based pay, such as financial performance, are not significantly associated with the use of performance‐based remuneration.     

Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process as a Two-phase Integrated Decision Approach for Large Nominal Groups

When decision makers who comprise a large nominal group face an unstructured decision problem and no simultaneous interactive communications are available, problem identification and consensus building are difficult, if not impossible. Few tools are available to assist decision makers in this situation. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) has typically been used to evaluate a set of alternatives after a decision problem has been structured as a hierarchy with various levels of criteria above the alternatives. With a group of decision makers, AHP has been used to evaluate those alternatives either by consensus building or by combining judgments or priorities using the geometric mean to aggregate their preferences. In this paper, we extend the use of AHP to a situation involving a large nominal group of dispersed decision makers where the entire hierarchy is not defined at the outset. In particular, we use the AHP as an integrative approach to identify the priorities of the various criteria and then use those priorities to screen and consolidate a large set of potential alternatives. This results in considering a reduced set of alternatives that will be affected by the more important criteria. The consolidated set of alternatives is evaluated by each individual in the group using AHP, combined using the geometric mean, and the results are synthesized to obtain the overall priorities of the alternatives. The approach is demonstrated and evaluated in a case study to select an alunmi anniversary gift to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy with a large nominal group of decision-makers dispersed throughout the United States.     

Intensive tour guide training in regional Australia: an analysis of the Savannah Guides organisation and professional development schools

A number of authors believe that tour guide training may hold a key to passing on the concept of sustainable tourism to tourists. Savannah Guides Limited (SGL) is an organisation for tour guides interpreting and protecting the tropical savannahs of northern Australia. This paper examines the provision of intensive professional development schools, which the SGL organisation provides, to raise standards of professionalism for nature-based tour guides in remote regions. Its framework is based on Schein's three levels of organisational culture model, and Black and Ham's 10-element performance-based tour guide certification programme. Active participant observation of the development school process and a self-administered questionnaire to SGL members were used to understand the organisation's success. The main motivations for tour guiding are explored, as are the ways in which tour guides acquire knowledge. It is suggested that the provision of professional development schools in nature-based tourism regions benefits the guide and the tour guiding industry, and contributes to the protection of the natural environment. It is proposed that the SGL training model of professional development schools and certification be adopted by tour guiding organisations in other regional destinations as a way of nurturing and advancing quality tour guiding and professionalism.     

Group Characteristics Influence Distribution Patterns of Off-Road Vehicle Recreation within a Complex Trail System in Southwest Idaho

Recreation on public lands is growing and is increasingly recognized as an ecosystem service providing improved health, connection to nature, and social time while also disturbing and degrading ecosystems. Human impacts must be managed, but often managers have little information about the factors that affect recreation patterns. We combined data from global positioning system receivers to record off-road vehicle (ORV) travel with a pretrip survey to determine how group characteristics, site experience, site knowledge, and motivation are associated with ORV trip patterns on public lands in southwest Idaho. Spatial and temporal extent and distribution could summarize most variation in ORV trips. Both trip distribution and extent were associated with group characteristics and site knowledge. Spatial and temporal extent was additionally associated with motivations and distribution was associated with riding experience. These findings can help land managers to identify use patterns, direct informational programs, and effect indirect management strategies.