Explaining variation in risk across insurance companies

The purpose of this study is to determine what firm-specific factors affect the risk of insurance companies. Traditional methods used to identify potential failures have been severely criticized. Thus, alternative approaches to risk assessment should be of interest to investors and managers of these companies. Models for measuring the impact of factors on risk are developed and empirically tested. The models employed explain a high proportion of variation in risk levels across companies. The sensitivity of insurance company risk to financial characteristics vary with the variable used as a proxy for risk and the type of insurance company assessed. Given the strong relationships between firm-specific characteristics and company risk, it appears that the risk of insurance companies can be effectively controlled with proper management.     

Option Awards for Australian CEOs: The Who, What and Why

The compensation structure for Australian CEOs, and especially the extent to which they receive executive stock options, is explored. Evidence suggests that the award of executive stock options is common in Australia, but not in as systematic a manner as has been documented for US CEOs. Where ESOs are awarded, they form a significant component of total compensation, even allowing for limitations in the way we approximate their value. Modelling the use of ESOs shows relatively few empirical regularities, other than a positive association between firm size and ESO use. This is consistent with a view that ESOs are a form of "rent extraction" by CEOs, but it may also reflect a bias towards their use created by accounting rules.     

Market Signals Associated with REIT IPOs

Previous studies have found significant but time-varying valuation effects associated with real estate investment trusts initial public offerings (REIT IPOs). Because REIT IPOs may disclose relevant information about real estate market conditions, they may serve to revalue existing real estate securities. To determine whether REIT IPOs signal information that is impounded into the share prices of other real estate securities, we assess the returns on rival portfolios of existing real estate securities upon the issuance of the IPO. On average, the rival portfolios experience insignificant effects on the REIT IPO filing date, but negative and significant abnormal returns around the issue date. A cross-sectional analysis of combined effects at the time of the filing date and issue date shows that the negative effects on the rival portfolios are more pronounced when (1) the size of the REIT IPO is larger, (2) market conditions are relatively weak, (3) more REIT IPOs come to market, and (4) the IPO is not associated with an umbrella partnership REIT.     

Want collaboration? Accept--and actively manage--conflict

Companies try all kinds of ways to improve collaboration among different parts of the organization: cross-unit incentive systems, organizational restructuring, teamwork training. While these initiatives produce occasional success stories, most have only limited impact in dismantling organizational silos and fostering collaboration. The problem? Most companies focus on the symptoms ("Sales and delivery do not work together as closely as they should") rather than on the root cause of failures in cooperation: conflict. The fact is, you can't improve collaboration until you've addressed the issue of conflict. The authors offer six strategies for effectively managing conflict: Devise and implement a common method for resolving conflict. Provide people with criteria for making trade-offs. Use the escalation of conflict as an opportunity for coaching. Establish and enforce a requirement of joint escalation. Ensure that managers resolve escalated conflicts directly with their counterparts. Make the process for escalated conflict-resolution transparent. The first three strategies focus on the point of conflict; the second three focus on escalation of conflict up the management chain. Together they constitute a framework for effectively managing discord, one that integrates conflict resolution into day-to-day decision-making processes, thereby removing a barrier to cross-organizational collaboration.     

Environmental Management and the Competitiveness of Nature-Based Tourism Destinations

Environmental management at nature-basedtourism destinations includes a private and apublic component. The former refers tovoluntary environmental protection activitiescarried out by individual (and groups of)tourism operators. These activities aremotivated by the dependence of the productprovided by the tourism industry on the qualityof the natural environment. Public sectormanagement, on the other hand, refers to theenvironmental regulations imposed on tourismbusinesses. The overall environmentalmanagement structure has a dual effect on thecompetitiveness of the tourism industry atnature-based tourism destinations. While theindustry may benefit from environmentalmanagement through demand stimulation, thetourism businesses also incur the associatedmanagement related costs. In this paper, theoverall effect of environmental management oncompetitiveness, as measured by aggregatetourism industry profitability, is estimated ina case study of Tropical North Queensland.     

The Neoliberal Assault on the Public University: The Case of Recreation,Park, and Leisure Research

Public universities face critical challenges in terms of teaching, researching, and providing service. Funding mechanisms for various departments, programs, and professors have become increasingly intertwined with market-driven forces in light of neoliberal political and economic philosophies. In this essay, we illuminate neoliberalism and its multiple influences in university recreation, parks, and leisure studies departments. In noting classical theories of leisure and the deleterious aspects of neoliberalism, we encourage researchers, teachers, administrators, and students to resist these prevalent cultural trends, evoking a normative role for universities in the provision of a liberal education.     

Culture's consequences: A methodology for comparative management studies in Southeast Asia?

Hofstede's model of culture and many reviews of his work are discussed to investigate the relevance of his paradigm to management research, particularly in the culturally diverse region of Southeast Asia. The issue is analyzed with the results of a replication carried out by the authors, applying Hofstede's questionnaire to 170 Hong Kong, Malaysian and Singapore managers.     

Influence of economic factors on the valuation effects of debt offerings

The obejective of this paper is to determine whether the share price responses to debt offerings are influenced cross-sectially by economic factors. We develop hypotheses that share price responses are inversely related to nominal interest rates, and to the issuing firm's stock price level relative to the market, and positively related to economic growth. After controlling for firm-specific characteristics used in previous studies, we find that the share price responses to straight debt offerings are not significantly related to the nominal interest rates or to the issuing firm's relative stock price level, but are positively related to the economic growth. We also find that share price responses to convertible debt offerings are significantly related to the nominal interest rates, the issuing firm's relative stock price level, and economic growth in the manner hypothesized. These results imply that the signal emitted by a firm's debt offering can be influecnced not only by firm-specific characteristics, but also by prevailing economic conditions.