COVID-19 and business renewal: Lessons and insights from the global airline industry

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected the fortunes of multiple companies around the globe. Accordingly, questions are increasingly being asked about how organizations can revitalize during and after a crisis. Yet, we have limited understanding of how organizations renew themselves during crises over time. We explore this question through the lens and examination of two South-Asian airlines: Pakistan International Airlines and Sri Lankan Airlines. The cases offer important insights into the reasons behind underperformance of state-controlled enterprises and renewal activities. We shed light on strategic renewal (SR) in the wake of increasing liberalization and deregulations in the global airline industry. To this end, we propose a four-stage approach towards renewing such underperforming organizations to respond effectively to black swan events and external shocks.     

Competition in taxes and performance requirements for foreign direct investment

Tax incentives offered to attract firms engaged in foreign direct investment are often tied to performance requirements such as domestic content restrictions or adherence to environmental standards. The tax competition literature has repeatedly shown that competition between municipalities for mobile firms tends to drive taxes to low levels. One would expect a comparable result for burdensome performance requirements. Despite this, the evidence suggests that while taxes have indeed been driven down, performance requirements are as popular as ever. We explain this seeming conundrum by showing that in the presence of spillovers, binding performance requirements can act as a coordination device for firms. In equilibrium, municipalities choose performance requirements, which maximize joint surplus from investment. Competition between municipalities then transfers this surplus to firms via tax subsidies.     

Diverse approaches to managing diversity

Against a backdrop of philosophical and political debate, this article reviews the emerging pitfalls of new corporate diversity programs. Three pioneering corporate programs are examined closely, and a discussion of the purpose, the process, and the impact of these programs is offered. Original survey data reported here suggest that exposure to diversity issues affects workplace attitudes. Lessons are drawn that address the role of top leadership, participant mix, instructor quality, and corporate culture.     

The Only Fund in Town? Geographic Segmentation in the US Mutual Fund Industry

We find that mutual funds located in regions with more competing funds charge lower management fees, but higher fees related to sales and distribution (12b‐1 fees), sales loads, and other nonmanagement fee expenses. There is some evidence that funds in more competitive regions have higher total expense ratios than similar funds in less competitive regions. Our results indicate that while increased competition drives down fund profits, it creates a negative externality by way of increased sales expenses. Overall, our results suggest the mutual fund industry is characterized by monopolistic competition determined at the local level.     

Credibility lost: attempting to reclaim an expert identity in an HR professional context

Professional insecurity is a long‐standing concern within HR, with claims to expertise seen as critical to credibility. Considering HR as an epistemic community and drawing on the identity work literature, we examine an identity threat to, and subsequent response by, a training and development (T&D) team. Based on ethnographic exposure to their practice, we explore how team members experience the threat and follow their attempts to re‐establish their position in the local epistemic community, the HR department. We examine both individual and collective identity work, considering how both the identity threat and subsequent responses are embedded within T&D and HR practice more broadly. Through this analysis, we offer academic insight on the nature of HR practice and the construction of claims to expertise.     

INFORMATION AGGREGATION,GROWTH, AND FRANCHISE EXTENSION WITH APPLICATIONS TO FEMALE ENFRANCHISEMENT AND INEQUALITY

We develop a model of voluntary gradual franchise extension and growth based on the idea that voting is an information aggregation mechanism. A larger number of voters means that more correct decisions are made, hence increasing output, but also implies that any incremental output must be shared among more individuals. These conflicting incentives lead to a dynamic model of franchise extensions that is consistent with several real world episodes, including female enfranchisement. The model also predicts that in certain circumstances growth and enfranchisement will be accompanied by Kuznets curve type behaviour in inequality. Contrary to the preceding literature these conclusions do not rest on incentives for strategic delegation.     

面授和在线教学中的师生行为：应对复杂概念（下）

结果 人员信息 教授是一位经验丰富的教育者．具有护理学博士学位．已从事了七年面授教学。然而,她却是在线环境下教学的新手。有18个面授学生和10个在线学习的学生同意参与本研究。27个女生。1个男生：22人为业余学习,其余6人为全日制学生。平均年龄是39岁（面授学生平均37岁,远程的学生平均42岁）,他们的平均工龄为16．5年。     

Pricing Term Insurance in the Presence of a Family History of Breast or Ovarian Cancer

Abstract

We estimate the increased mortality and term life insurance costs for women who have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer. Using data from the medical literature on age-specific and family history-specific incidence rates, we develop double-decrement models to evaluate the actuarial impact of breast cancer and ovarian cancer in the family. We also calculate the increased mortality and term insurance costs for women who test positive for the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation. We find that the type of affected relative and her age at onset of the disease are key underwriting factors. We find substantial mortality increases (up to 100%) for women with two relatives with cancer and women with a first-degree relative who developed cancer at an early age. Mortality increases for women with the BRCA gene mutation reach 150%. While some females with a family history of cancer can be accepted at standard rates, others may need to be quoted substandard rates, depending on the underwriting policy of the company. Females with the gene mutation can possibly be accepted at a rate that incorporates a severe mortality surcharge.