Robert E. Houmes, John B. MacArthur and Harriet Stranahan
Strategic cost structure choices determine how firms divide operating costs between fixed and variable components, and therefore have important implications for financial…
Abstract
Purpose
Strategic cost structure choices determine how firms divide operating costs between fixed and variable components, and therefore have important implications for financial performance. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of operating leverage on equity Betas when managers have discretion over firms' cost structures.
Design/methodology/approach
Using panel data for publicly listed trucking firms over years 1994‐2006, market model Betas are regressed on controls and alternatively measured proxies for operating leverage: degree of operating leverage, assets in place and percentage of company employed drivers.
Findings
Results of this study generally show positively significant coefficients on all three operating leverage variables.
Originality/value
Operating characteristics of many industries require that firms make substantial investments in long‐lived assets that result in high fixed costs (e.g. depreciation), and for these firms cost structure is exogenously or technologically constrained leaving managers with little discretion. In contrast to these types of firms, the authors examine the effect of operating leverage (OL) on Betas when managers have discretion over firms' cost structures. Trucking firms are a particularly interesting industry group for analyzing the impact of operating OL choices on Beta because distinct strategic cost structure choices are available to the management of trucking firms that result in various degrees of OL throughout the industry.
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Samantha Castle, Willem Fourie and Dawie Bornman
To effectively address the grand challenges facing humanity, as highlighted in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), society needs to harness talents, realise human potential…
Abstract
To effectively address the grand challenges facing humanity, as highlighted in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), society needs to harness talents, realise human potential and build capabilities in people and systems to navigate the associated complexities.
In contributing to SDG 4, universities play a critical role in building impactful capabilities at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, as well as through their core functions of teaching, learning, research and public engagement. ‘Impact’ in this context refers to meeting the needs of diverse students and those of local, regional and global communities. In a changing world with changing societal expectations, the pursuit of relevance is also likely to them more competitive and attractive to students.
The Global Association of Master’s in Development Practice (MDP) provides an important avenue for illustrating how universities can contribute to achieving SDG 4. This is hinged primarily on building young professionals’ capacity to address the challenges articulated in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
In this chapter, the development of an MDP degree programme at the University of Pretoria (UP) – within the ambit of its membership to the Global Association of MDP – is used as a case study to illustrate how this explicitly multidisciplinary programme can support the development of leadership capabilities that are needed to achieve the SDGs. The chapter includes theoretical perspectives as well reflections from a student and a supervisor who participated in the programme.
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Jayson Seaman, Robert MacArthur and Sean Harrington
The article discusses Outward Bound's participation in the human potential movement through its incorporation of T-group practices and the reform language of experiential…
Abstract
Purpose
The article discusses Outward Bound's participation in the human potential movement through its incorporation of T-group practices and the reform language of experiential education in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Design/methodology/approach
The article reports on original research conducted using materials from Dartmouth College and other Outward Bound collections from 1957 to 1976. It follows a case study approach to illustrate themes pertaining to Outward Bound's creation and evolution in the United States, and the establishment of experiential education more broadly.
Findings
Building on prior research (Freeman, 2011; Millikan, 2006), the present article elaborates on the conditions under which Outward Bound abandoned muscular Christianity in favor of humanistic psychology. Experiential education provided both a set of practices and a reform language that helped Outward Bound expand into the educational mainstream, which also helped to extend self-expressive pedagogies into formal and nonformal settings.
Research limitations/implications
The Dartmouth Outward Bound Center's tenure coincided with and reflected broader cultural changes, from the cold war motif of spiritual warfare, frontier masculinity and national service to the rise of self-expression in education. Future scholars can situate specific curricular initiatives in the context of these paradigms, particularly in outdoor education.
Originality/value
The article draws attention to one of the forms that the human potential movement took in education – experiential education – and the reasons for its adoption. It also reinforces emerging understandings of post-WWII American outdoor education as a product of the cold war and reflective of subsequent changes in the wider culture to a narrower focus on the self.
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Assessing the capacity of individuals with learning disabilities to make decisions about treatment is problematic. This field has received little attention in the United Kingdom…
Abstract
Assessing the capacity of individuals with learning disabilities to make decisions about treatment is problematic. This field has received little attention in the United Kingdom, the concept of capacity proving difficult to define. There are no commonly agreed standards, English law in this area is still developing and there are few guidelines to instruct health professionals. This paper reviews the diagnostic, outcome and functional approaches to examining the issue of capacity and outlines a number of tests that have been developed for use in the clinical setting, though not adapted for use with people with a learning disability. Issues to be addressed in the adaptation of tests are explored and areas for practitioners to consider are discussed.
Carolina Manrique, Tazim Jamal and Robert Warden
This chapter offers a new sustainability-oriented paradigm for cultural and heritage tourism studies: an integrated approach to heritage tourism and heritage conservation based on…
Abstract
This chapter offers a new sustainability-oriented paradigm for cultural and heritage tourism studies: an integrated approach to heritage tourism and heritage conservation based on resilience. Its extensive literature review examines resilience in a range of disciplinary areas, including heritage conservation and tourism studies. An important aim is to “make visible” often neglected parameters in the interactions among social, cultural, economic, and environmental dimensions of heritage conservation and tourism. Within the broader concept of resilience, “cultural resilience” was identified as a crucial bridge between conservation and tourism. The study argues that resilience in general and its cultural forms in particular offer a potentially valuable framework vital for an integrated approach between the two in the common pursuit to manage change and uncertainty in cultural and heritage destinations. The chapter concludes with directions for further development of sustainability-oriented paradigm studies.
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These chapters were produced with support from the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington, the Law School at the University of Washington, the…
Abstract
These chapters were produced with support from the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington, the Law School at the University of Washington, the Philosophy Department of the University of Washington, and The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. We thank them for their support.
Emily C. Bouck and Megan Hunley
Technology offers great potential to gifted, talented, and creative (GCT) students, including students who are twice exceptional (i.e., students who are GCT as well as identified…
Abstract
Technology offers great potential to gifted, talented, and creative (GCT) students, including students who are twice exceptional (i.e., students who are GCT as well as identified with a disability). However, little research exists regarding the use and evidence-base base of technologies for these populations. This chapter presents technology to support students who are GCT as well as students identified as twice exceptional, including assistive technology to support students in content area instruction. Although, an evidence-base is needed for using technology in education for GCT and twice-exceptional students, existing research supports using the Internet and Web 2.0 technologies with these students.
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The classics will circulate wrote a public librarian several years ago. She found that new, attractive, prominently displayed editions of literary classics would indeed find a…
Abstract
The classics will circulate wrote a public librarian several years ago. She found that new, attractive, prominently displayed editions of literary classics would indeed find a substantial audience among public library patrons.