George Garman and C. Richard Scott
Two hundred and four countries are ranked by infrastructure characteristics including transportation, health, education, and communications. The mean and standard deviation of the…
Abstract
Two hundred and four countries are ranked by infrastructure characteristics including transportation, health, education, and communications. The mean and standard deviation of the 204 countries were computed for each infrastructure variable. For each country and each variable, the standard normal deviate was computed as was the associated area of the standard normal deviate and added (or subtracted) to unity to create a score for each country. To ease analysis of the data, each country was placed into one of 11 geographic regions and analyzed by quartiles. Results are depicted in tabular forms.
Richard Scott V‐C and Joanna Gray
This case arose from the 1995 collapse of the Barings Banking Group caused by the enormous losses resulting from Nick Lee‐son's unauthorised derivatives trading in Singapore…
Abstract
This case arose from the 1995 collapse of the Barings Banking Group caused by the enormous losses resulting from Nick Lee‐son's unauthorised derivatives trading in Singapore, while general manager of Barings Futures (Singapore) Ltd. The holding company of the Barings Group, Barings plc, and a number of its subsidiaries were placed in administration as soon as the scale of the losses became apparent and in July 1995 the administrators submitted a report to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry as they were bound to do by s.7(3) of the Company Directors’ Disqualification Act 1986 (CDDA 1986). Section 6 CDDA 1986 provides that it is the duty of the court to disqualify unfit directors of insolvent companies:
The utterance at a recent council estimates meeting of an Alderman to the effect that he opposed increase of the book‐fund of the libraries in the town because, whenever he wanted…
Abstract
The utterance at a recent council estimates meeting of an Alderman to the effect that he opposed increase of the book‐fund of the libraries in the town because, whenever he wanted a book, he bought it, was, we suspect, a vainglorious one used for a special purpose and time. It was obviously, too, that of a man who may read on occasion, but is not a regular user of books. There are many such and, no doubt, their limited point of view is to be encouraged, so far as book‐purchase is concerned. What it disregards, or does not understand, is that the real reader cannot easily contemplate life without books; he never has enough of them, even if he is not a hoarder of them. There are thousands such. Their homes are not large enough, and their purses are too limited, for them to buy everything they want to read. The “Alderman” can feel that books are cheap; he spends more, if he has the means, on a box of cigars, or a bottle of whiskey, than any ordinary book costs. A single visit to a theatre with his wife (with the inevitable accompanying dinner or supper and transport) costs him more than a shelf of them. If he throws away the book when read, or rejected—for only a few such books are read through by the type under consideration—that is of little more con‐sideration than his disposal of cigar ash or used theatre tickets. In this stringent time the greater part of the community depends upon the borrowed book. Inevitably this will increasingly be the case. Every man and woman, however, who loves books desires to possess them, and every wise librarian encourages that desire. It can reduce the use of libraries very little, if at all, and our business as librarians should be to provide for the literate nation, indeed to assist its making. There are many ways in which this might be done—the provision of lists on “Books for Every Home” with clear notes on why, for it must be realized that not every citizen knows the books that are commonplace tools. In how many homes, for instance, is Whittaker's Almanack to be found? A reference book, of course; but almost the first need of a household is a set of the best tools of this sort. Has any library yet issued a list with this special intention? Say, “Six Books necessary to Every Home”? We assume that when a reader is passionately drawn to a book he must buy it, but such attraction is mainly felt by those who are already book‐lovers. For others there are such questions as, where shall we put the books suggested? An answer may be that every librarian, in his own area, should urge that built‐in bookcases should be a feature in every house plan. He might do much to solve a real problem. He can continue, too, to assist book‐buying by his periodic exhibitions of books for prizes, presents (Christmas and birthday) and help to answer the question, “What books of great literature ought to be in every home for children and for life‐keeping?” His every convert would become also a life user of libraries.
The success of Europe 1992 has compelled both the Pacific Rim and the Americas into examining economic unions. The United States has entered into a Free Trade Agreement with…
Abstract
The success of Europe 1992 has compelled both the Pacific Rim and the Americas into examining economic unions. The United States has entered into a Free Trade Agreement with Canada and has begun serious negotiations with Mexico for a like treaty. What are the possibilities of the formation of a Common Market of North America? What are the necessary prerequisites for this to occur? And what would it look like? What are the business implications of such a Free Trade Area? In this paper we examine these issues.
David Jones‐Parry and Simon James
This paper considers the issues facing banks who become engaged in litigation and the strategies and procedures available to obtain the most effective solutions. How these will be…
Abstract
This paper considers the issues facing banks who become engaged in litigation and the strategies and procedures available to obtain the most effective solutions. How these will be affected by the reforms in civil procedure proposed by Lord Woolf are also discussed.
The struggle against corruption is not an area where any state has had a sufficiently high success rate to become complacent, particularly when bearing in mind the evidence of the…
Abstract
The struggle against corruption is not an area where any state has had a sufficiently high success rate to become complacent, particularly when bearing in mind the evidence of the scale on which such crimes are being committed. This lack of success applies in terms of both the number of prosecutions brought and, at least in those states where the burden of proof rests on the state, the success rate in attaining successful prosecutions. Particular problems arise for developing countries. This paper considers reasons for the increase in the scale of the problem, and the steps a developing country will need to consider in terms of staff and institutional development, in addition to changes in its criminal and civil law. By comparison, it also looks at successful developments in developed countries that highlight approaches to the problem which may have an impact if used elsewhere.
Discovery and inspection of documents are not only the primary investigative tools of any litigator but are also crucial to ensuring fair play between fighting litigants. Access…
Abstract
Discovery and inspection of documents are not only the primary investigative tools of any litigator but are also crucial to ensuring fair play between fighting litigants. Access to documents has traditionally only excluded those documents covered by litigation privilege. However, the recent case of Secretary of State for Trade and Industry v Baker and Others [1998] 1 All ER 673 constitutes a marked departure from the established view of litigation privilege and the categories of document protected by that privilege.
Back in 1988, Lord Brightman said in his Spycatcher judgment that:
Paul J. DiMaggio and Walter W. Powell
What makes organizations so similar? We contend that the engine of rationalization and bureaucratization has moved from the competitive marketplace to the state and the…
Abstract
What makes organizations so similar? We contend that the engine of rationalization and bureaucratization has moved from the competitive marketplace to the state and the professions. Once a set of organizations emerges as a field, a paradox arises: rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to change them. We describe three isomorphic processes-coercive, mimetic, and normative—leading to this outcome. We then specify hypotheses about the impact of resource centralization and dependency, goal ambiguity and technical uncertainty, and professionalization and structuration on isomorphic change. Finally, we suggest implications for theories of organizations and social change.