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The purpose of this study is to modify the gravity model to identify the main determinants of the European Union (EU) bank lending to the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries during 1994-2012.

This study uses both two-stage least squares and dynamic generalized method of moments to estimate the modified gravity model.

This study finds that the CEE countries with more developed stock markets have received the higher EU bank lending inflows. The EU banks have greater access to additional financing in the stock markets. Second, the higher stock market difference between the CEE and EU countries has boosted the EU bank lending. Compared to the developed EU stock markets, the less developed CEE stock markets have become more favorable to the EU banks seeking to earn higher profits.

The CEE countries can further boost the EU bank lending inflows through deepening capital liberalization. They should facilitate easy foreign bank entry by reducing excessive bank legislations and regulations. Moreover, they can promote the EU bank lending through substantial EU bank integration. This can accelerate the major bank reform which would facilitate better bank supervision and regulations.

Most previous studies have primarily used the macroeconomic and institutional factors to explain the EU bank lending. In contrast, this study explores the growing importance of the CEE financial development and bilateral trade in explaining the EU bank lending.

Presents over sixty abstracts summarising the 1999 Employment Research Unit annual conference held at the University of Cardiff. Explores the multiple impacts of globalization on work and employment in contemporary organizations. Covers the human resource management implications of organizational responses to globalization. Examines the theoretical, methodological, empirical and comparative issues pertaining to competitiveness and the management of human resources, the impact of organisational strategies and international production on the workplace, the organization of labour markets, human resource development, cultural change in organisations, trade union responses, and trans‐national corporations. Cites many case studies showing how globalization has brought a lot of opportunities together with much change both to the employee and the employer. Considers the threats to existing cultures, structures and systems.

This study aims to investigate the benefits of commodity hedging in the global stock index, bond and foreign currency (FX) portfolios.

The authors compare various hedging strategies and factor transaction costs. The authors analyze equally weighted, dynamic hedging ratio, risk parity and reward to risk timing strategies. Volatilities are estimated using historical, GARCH(1,1), and APARCH(1,1) methods. In addition, the authors evaluate the portfolio's hedging performance (HP) based on four different dimensions: volatility (annualized standard deviation), Sharpe ratio (SR), HP, and high-low ratio (HL).

The authors observe different benefits of the commodity hedging strategy among financial assets (stocks, bonds or FX).The authors find that commodity hedging in the stock markets is the best option, if the authors optimize the hedging ratio using dynamic hedging from historical data. The authors also document that for stock portfolio managers, adding commodities will generate a more conservative strategy, whereas for bond and/or FX portfolio managers, adding commodities will generate a more aggressive strategy.

This study contributes to the literature by investigating commodity hedging in the global stock index, bond and FX portfolios. First, the authors provide details on the diversification benefits in the commodities. Second, the authors document the hedging strategy that is the best as a part of the diversification strategy by adding commodities. Third, the authors provide a practical analysis by reporting the financial assets portfolio that is appropriate for commodity hedging following the portfolio managers' objectives (e.g. reducing risks or improving the risk-reward ratio).

Defense acquisition programs are plagued by surging delays and cost overruns. In particular, contract management of defense acquisition programs has been identified as 'high risk' - and threatening to project results. This article examines how contracts, as legal mechanisms, may be disruptive and obstruct cooperation between the DoD and contractors. The main observation this article makes is that tensions between the norms set forth in contracts and other non-legal norms can become a major reason for problems in defense procurement. It explains why these tensions may undermine cooperative behavior between contractors and the DoD and can become a source of disappointing acquisition program results. A framework is provided for identifying such tensions, and contract design principles are proposed to enhance cooperation and eliminate these tensions when drafting contracts for defense acquisition and other complex programs.