Pacioli's Example Entries—a Conundrum Resolved?

This paper discusses the nature of the 10 example paragraph entries at the end of Pacioli's bookkeeping treatise. It concludes that these are entries from fledgling banking operations involving one account holder and one borrower who, along with two others, has financial transactions with the account holder. The widely held assumption that they are examples of entries in the Ledger is set aside and it is concluded that, on the basis of the available evidence, they are examples of entries in a Ricordanze, a record book Pacioli described as being used to record items of this type.     

Foreshadowing as Impression Management: Illuminating the Path for Security Analysts

Research summary: Managers can disclose information to security analysts as a form of impression management, but doing so is problematic because competitors can use that same information at the expense of the firm. We identify an impression management technique we call foreshadowing, which refers to hinting about future potential strategic activity. Foreshadowing provides information of value to analysts that can influence their evaluations of a firm, but not so much information as to put the firm at a competitive disadvantage. We hypothesize and find that managers who foreshadow acquisition announcements receive fewer analyst downgrades following the announcements, especially when there is more analyst uncertainty about the firm. We also hypothesize and find that analysts' responses to foreshadowing positively influence the likelihood that managers eventually acquire other firms. Managerial summary: Security analysts are often suspicious when firms announce acquisitions as those announcements are cumbersome to analyze on short notice and raise questions about managerial motivations that might not represent the best interests of the firm. We find that managers can improve analyst reactions to acquisition announcements by disclosing some information of value to analysts—specifically by hinting that an acquisition could occur in the future. We refer to such hints as foreshadowing. Foreshadowing entails giving analysts information to reduce their suspicions and facilitate their analyses, but not so much information as to degrade the firm's competitive information advantage over other firms. Foreshadowing also allows managers the option to reconsider actually executing the acquisition if analysts respond negatively to its possibility. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The long road to publishing: A user-friendly exposé

The popular axiom which suggests that there are two certainties in life (namely, taxes and death) should be extended to include a third dimension for aspiring academics, that is publish or perish. The scholarly activity of academic enquiry and publishing the results of these endeavours is an inescapable pre-requisite for a successful academic career. While some academics are prolific publishers, others are not. For those who find publishing a convoluted soul-destroying experience, this paper provides an exposé of the publication process from an author's perspective. It illustrates that the refinement of academic papers for publication is a collaborative effort between authors, editors and referees. Further, it shows that, for authors, there is no substitute for focus, perseverance and hard work. Copies of the letters tabled in this discussion are intended to serve as a useful framework for those who feel alienated by the academic review process.     

Expected Utility,Risk, and Marketing Behavior: Theory and Evidence from the Fed Cattle Market

The effect of carcass quality uncertainty on the structure of the slaughter cattle market is investigated. A theoretical extension of the “Theory of Factor Price Disparity” is provided. It is demonstrated that the coexistence of a risk premium wedge between marketing channel (live weight, dressed weight, and grid) pricing mechanisms, in conjunction with varying degrees of producer risk aversion or producer perception of carcass quality uncertainty, contributes to the coexistence of multiple marketing channels. It is also demonstrated that risk and risk preference provide the linkage between carcass quality uncertainty and producer marketing decisions. We demonstrate how this linkage can affect the structure of the fed cattle market and the variability in slaughter volume across marketing channels. We also confirm the linkage between value‐based production techniques that increase seller information on carcass quality and seller increased usage of grid pricing regardless of actual carcass quality. Empirical evidence is provided in support of the supposition that carcass quality uncertainty plays a role in grid market share variability.     

Which HRM practices enhance employee outcomes at work across the life-span?

Abstract

Based on the social exchange theory and on ageing and life-span theories, this paper aims to examine: (1) the relationships between perceived availability and use of HRM practices, and employee outcomes (i.e. work engagement and employability); and (2) how employee age moderates these relationships. Using a sample of Nmaximum = 1589 employees, correlational analyses and multiple hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. First, confirming our hypotheses, results showed predominantly positive relationships between work engagement and both perceived availability and use of development HRM practices, such as HRM practices related to learning, development, and incorporating new tasks. The study outcomes opposed, however, our hypotheses with predominantly negative relationships between work engagement and perceived availability and use of maintenance HRM practices. Predominantly positive relationships were furthermore found, as was hypothesized, between employability and perceived availability and use of development as well as maintenance HRM practices. Generally speaking, these results were not more pronounced for any of the age groups. That is, age appeared to not play any significant moderating role. Research limitations, implications for practice and directions for future work are also discussed.     

Scarred from the past or afraid of the future? Unemployment and job satisfaction across European labour markets

Previous research has shown that both past unemployment and anticipated future unemployment have a detrimental impact on employees' attitudes and behaviours, which may affect organisational performance. Surprisingly, however, very little is known about the relative impact of past unemployment compared with current job insecurity. Although it is possible that both effects operate simultaneously, this paper – focused on employees' job satisfaction and utilising a set of cross-sectional data derived from the European Social Survey 2006–2007 – reports on a strongly pronounced insecurity effect: anticipated unemployment substantially reduces employees' job satisfaction. Interestingly, inclusion of the perceived risk of future unemployment as a separate predictor variable in ordered probit regressions relegates the experience of past unemployment to a statistically insignificant coefficient and thus weakens the ‘scarring’ hypothesis. These results hold true even when several socio-demographic characteristics and proxies for individual personality traits are controlled. Implications for organisations and human resource practitioners and scope for future research endeavours conclude the analysis of the paper.     

Equipping immigrants: migration flows and capital movements in small open economies

This paper explores the extent to which migration-related capital flows can explain the variation in investment rates and current and capital account imbalances in OECD countries. We begin with a general equilibrium model of a small open economy in which migration is exogenous. Migrants must be equipped with capital, and the resulting demands for capital will generate cross-border flows of capital. Next, we move to an empirical exercise in which we allow both capital and labor flows to be endogenous. We test this model using data from a panel of OECD countries. We conclude that migration flows do in fact generate substantial matching capital flows. We calculate that increased migration may have accounted for as much as one-fifth of the increase in the US current account deficit since 1960.     

A location-inventory model for large three-level supply chains

We study the location-inventory problem in three-level supply networks. Our model integrates three decisions: the distribution centers location, flows allocation, and shipment sizes. We propose a nonlinear continuous formulation, including transportation, fixed, handling and holding costs, which decomposes into a closed-form equation and a linear program when the DC flows are fixed. We thus develop an iterative heuristic that estimates the DC flows a priori, solves the linear program, and then improves the DC flow estimations. Extensive numerical experiments show that the approach can design large supply networks both effectively and efficiently, and a case study is discussed.