Taking part in technology education: elements in students’ motivation

The purpose of this study was to determine the elements motivating comprehensive school students to study technology education. In addition, we tried to discover how students' motivation towards technology education developed over the period leading up to their school experience and the effect this might have on their future involvement with technology. The research was carried out as a qualitative case study and the material was collected through individual theme interviews. The study group consisted of four 15 to 16-year-old students, each representing a totally different case of motivation towards technology education. In choosing individuals for the study the main criteria were gender and negative or positive motivation towards technology education. This study found that the artefact to be made in school and the student’s freedom of choice had the most significant effect on motivation. Although, we must be careful with final conclusions as the research group was relatively small.     

The impact of a necessity-based start-up on subsequent entrepreneurial satisfaction

Necessity entrepreneurship has been much debated in research and policy. This paper examines the impact of necessity as a start-up motive on subsequent entrepreneurial satisfaction. Empirically, the paper is based on a sample of 777 recently established Finnish micro enterprises. The results show that necessity entrepreneurs are somewhat more likely to want to switch back to paid employment later in their entrepreneurial careers. However, if the individual earns a satisfactory livelihood through self-employment, the negative effect of a necessity-based start-up on subsequent entrepreneurial satisfaction diminishes. Training in business skills that helps necessity entrepreneurs to run an economically viable business might thus increase their satisfaction with being self-employed.     

OPTIMAL FEEDING POLICIES FOR BROILER PRODUCTION: AN APPLICATION OF DYNAMIC PROGRAMMING*

The determination of an optimal feeding and selling strategy for broiler production given a space constraint is formulated as a dynamic programming problem. Production equations derived from trial data are used to obtain an optimal sequence of rations in which energy density changes through time. The stability of the plan is explored and the implications of the results for production research and commercial practice are considered.     

The integration of the real estate market and the stock market: Some preliminary evidence

The current study investigates whether the commercial real estate market is segmented from the stock market using the framework of Jorion and Schwartz (1986). Evidence is found to support the hypothesis that segmentation does exist as the result of indirect barriers such as the cost, amount, and quality of information for real estate rather than legal constraints. However, this evidence is contingent on whether real estate returns are computed with appraised values or imputed sale prices and on which market proxy is chosen.     

Fundamental and technical analysis: substitutes or complements?

Although the fundamental and technical analysis literatures invest considerable effort in assessing their respective ability to explain share prices, they invariably do so without reference to each other. In this context, we propose an equity valuation model integrating both fundamental and technical analysis and, in doing so, recognize their potential as complements rather than as substitutes. Testing confirms the complementary nature of fundamental and technical analysis by showing that, although each performs well in isolation, models integrating both have superior explanatory power. While our findings relate to the valuation of shares, they also have implications for other valuation exercises.     

EUROPEAN ACCOUNTING REVIEW

This study contributes to the accounting literature by providing empirical evidence from China that adopting IFRS does not necessarily lead to IFRS-type accounting practices. We examine the impact of regulatory enforcement, in particular, an important Chinese government compulsory compliance policy implemented in 2001, and audit upon the convergence of Chinese accounting practices. Using a sample of 103 Chinese B-share companies between 1999 and 2004, we reveal that the decline in earnings difference between firms' financial statements under Chinese GAAP and IFRS is the result of the implementation of the 2001 policy and the audit committee which effectively control the firm's application of standards rather than the differences between the standards. The effect of audit committee leads us further to argue that the convergence of accounting practices may be affected by not only the lack of insufficient understanding of IFRS by local accounting professionals, but also the management opportunistic behaviour during the application of different standards. It implies that corporate governance may affect the convergence of accounting practice. However, we do not find evidence for international audit firms outperforming their Chinese local CPAs with regard to IFRS compliance. Therefore, the Chinese government should be cautious in promoting the participation of international audit firms in China for achieving IFRS compliance.     

Factors affecting Modern Apprenticeship completion in Scotland

Completing an apprenticeship has been shown to be critical to an individual’s future employment, earnings and career development when compared with apprentices who do not complete. International research, notably in England, Australia and Germany, has identified factors specific to the apprentice, employer and training provision that are associated with a higher chance of completion. However, to date, there has been no comparable research in Scotland, which operates its own distinct and well‐established apprenticeship system. Based on the factors identified in other countries, logistic regression was conducted on records of apprenticeship leavers in Scotland, covering the period from 2007 to 2015. Data for a total of 78,952 leavers were analysed, consisting of 59,737 completers and 19,215 non‐completers. It was found that women are more likely to complete an apprenticeship than men, while those from deprived areas are less likely to complete. Apprentices employed by a large employer, those receiving training from public sector organizations and those studying for selected technical subjects are more likely to complete, as are apprentices living in an area with a high local unemployment rate. The paper considers the reasons why some apprentices are more likely to complete than others and discusses the implications for apprenticeship policy in Scotland and beyond.     

City of Rents: The limits to the Barcelona model of urban competitiveness

The turn towards the knowledge‐based economy and creative strategies to enhance urban competitiveness within it has been well documented. Yet too little has been said to date about the transformation of land use for new productive activities, and the contradictions inherent to this process. Our case study is Barcelona, an erstwhile ‘model’ for urban regeneration which has sought to transform itself into a global knowledge city since 2000. Through the lens of Marxian value theory, and Harvey's writing on urban monopoly rents especially, we show how the 22@Barcelona project — conceived with received wisdom about the determinants of urban knowledge‐based competitiveness in mind — amounted to an exercise in the capture of monopoly rents, driven by the compulsion of public sector institutions, financiers and developers to pursue rental profit‐maximizing opportunities through the mobilization of land as a financial asset.