BEYOND RATE OF RETURN: REORIENTING PROJECT APPRAISAL

Traditional approaches to project appraisal fail in practiceto address two fundamental questions: whether a project belongsin the public or the private sector; and what effect any externalassistance associated with the project has on the country'sdevelopment. The first issue is of general interest to bothnational policymakers and international donors. If the governmentprovides a good or service that would otherwise have been providedby the private sector, the net contribution of the public projectcould be low. The second issue is of particular concern to donors.If financial resources are fungible, the project being appraisedmight well have been undertaken with out external financing.In this case, donor funds are actually financing some other,unappraised project. Both cases argue for a shift in the emphasisof project evaluation away from a concern with precise rate-of-returncalculations and toward broader sectoral analyses and publicexpenditure reviews. In this context, three areas critical forproper project appraisal include a consideration of the rationalefor public intervention, the fiscal impact of the project, andthe fungibility of external assistance.      

Post-earnings-announcement Drift: Some Preliminary Evidence for the UK

This paper tests for the presence of post-earnings-announcement drift on the London Stock Exchange using data for seven half-years for a constant sample of 206 quoted companies. Separate results are presented for interim and final earnings announcements and the results are disaggregated by firm size. Overall, we find evidence of significant drift for the earnings announcements of small firms but not for the announcements of large firms.     

Morocco

In 1999 a new king came to the throne in Morocco, Mohamed VI. This event is proving to be a watershed in the economic and political history of Morocco as new policies, initiatives, and goals are being developed and implemented. This article provides background information on the business environment of Morocco regarding history, politics, culture, the economy, regulations and laws, human resource management, and marketing practices. Detailed insights are presented to enable foreign investors and business people to understand inportant aspects of doing business in Morocco. Finally we present our expectatons for the future of Morocco and its trading partners. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Travel industry structure in fast growing but immature outbound markets: the case of Korea to Australia travel

This paper examines the structure of the travel industry in Korea with particular reference to outbound travel to Australia. The relationship between the wholesaling and retailing functions is examined. It was found that despite the existence of strict licensing procedures, which have created three categories of travel business, the distinction between the wholesaling and retailing functions remains blurred. Most business is handled by a single category of operator — general travel agents. In contrast to the oligopolies evident in other industrial sectors in Korea, however a fairly large number of companies each handle a fairly small proportion of the market. This may change as a combination of intense price competition and the impact of the East Asian financial crisis forces less competitive operators out of business. Until the expected shake-out occurs, inbound tour operators in countries such as Australia will feel the pinch. An excessive and continuing emphasis on price will make it difficult for long-haul destinations to offer high quality products and to build high-yield business. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.