Black Female Earnings and Income Volatility

I provide new evidence on earnings and income volatility among Black women in the United States over the past four decades by using matched data from the March Current Population Survey. I use a measure of total volatility that encompasses both permanent and transitory instability, and that admits labor-force transitions. My results show that, for Black women, earnings volatility fell over the entire period and income volatility rose after the mid 1980s. I also find that changes over time in labor force transitions into and out of work along with an increasing share of Black women continuously employed coincide with shifts in volatility levels and trends. Among Black women, differences in volatility levels emerge across education groups and marital status, though the trends typically remain consistent both across and within racial groups.     

Strategy analysis in the health service

The operation of provider units, both NHS Trusts and Directly Managed Units, as competitive organizations in the market place, is as yet rudimentary. Although some have achieved notoriety through radical “business” behaviour, there is little evidence that they have adopted scientific business practices in order to strengthen or re‐orientate their position in the market place. Neither is there as yet any hard evidence that such behaviour would be beneficial in the long term.

This paper describes an exercise of strategic market analysis used as a device to lead and inform the business planning process for an NHS Trust. The primary objective of the analysis is to identify hitherto unrecognized strategies which would enhance the position of the organization in the market place and also to identify areas where business development is possible and desirable.     

A natural science approach to investigate cross-cultural managerial creativity

As the relative effectiveness of physical resources decreases toward parity with rivals due to their fungibility, the firm's marketplace position, established by managers with a particular set of inter-culturally attuned set of personal values, may be the key antecedent in creating competitive strength in the firm. The research question addressed is how creative are culturally diverse managers; are managers from certain countries more creative than adaptive?We tested hypotheses in a cross-cultural setting based on the survey responses of 1365 managers operating in eight countries located in four culturally diverse regions of the world.Our study shows that managers are both creative and adaptive but the mixture of creative and adaptive behaviour varies depending on region and country and even within countries. Furthermore, the results confirm that creativity among managers in some countries is similar but large differences also exist between countries.     

Multiperiod hedging in the presence of stochastic volatility

In this paper, we characterize the multiperiod minimum-risk hedge strategy within the stochastic volatility (SV) framework and compare it to other hedge strategies on the basis of hedging performance. Using crude oil markets as an example, we demonstrate that the SV model is appropriate in depicting price behaviour. However, ex ante and ex post comparisons indicate that the SV strategy is inferior to conventional hedging strategies. There is also evidence that the Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (GARCH) strategy may be better than the SV strategy, at least in terms of variance reduction.     

Book reviews

Quality & Quantity -     

Prediction from binary choice models: A note

The results of Westin (1974) can be obtained, to a satisfactory approximation, without recourse to numerical integration. We also show how to attach a standard error to his point estimates.     

Pfizer and its competitive marketing challenges

Pfizer has been the preeminent global pharmaceutical company in recent years and much of their success can be attributed to their marketing responsiveness and innovation. Pfizer is committed to patients, the community and quality product development. As a model in marketing effectiveness they also show how to lead internal resources efficiently to maximize market place opportunities.     

The nonprofit sector's $100 billion opportunity

Imagine what an extra $100 billion a year could do for philanthropic and other nonprofit institutions. According to a new study, the nonprofit sector could free that amount--maybe even more--by making five changes in the way it operates. The study asked two central questions: Does the sector's money flow from its source to its ultimate use as efficiently and effectively as possible? If not, where are the big opportunities to increase social benefit? According to former senator Bill Bradley and McKinsey's Paul Jansen and Les Silverman, nonprofits could save roughly $25 billion a year by changing the way they raise funds. By distributing funds more quickly, they could put an extra $30 billion to work. Organizations could generate more than $60 billion a year by streamlining and restructuring the way in which they provide services and by reducing administrative costs. And they could free up even more money--an amount impossible to estimate--by better allocating funds among service providers. The authors admit that making those changes won't be easy. The nonprofit world, historically seen as a collection of locally focused charities, has become an enormous sector, but it lacks the managerial processes and incentives that help keep the for-profit world on track. And when the baby boomers start to retire in less than a decade, public budgets will be squeezed even more than they are today. If the nonprofit sector is to help the nation cope with the stresses ahead, it must become more efficient and challenge its traditional concepts of stewardship.