John E. Cresson, R. Mike Cudd and Tom J. Lipscomb
Notes the popularity of index funds with US investors, refers to research on fund performance compared with indexes and presents a study comparing daily returns of S&P 500 index…
Abstract
Notes the popularity of index funds with US investors, refers to research on fund performance compared with indexes and presents a study comparing daily returns of S&P 500 index funds with the index itself. Explains the methodology and presents the results, which show that the funds “fall well short” of tracking the index efficiently; although larger funds and/or those with longer term managers have a better tracking performance. Considers consistency with other research and the implications of the findings.
Details
Keywords
Sanjeev Varshney and Anita Goyal
Movement of people from one retail trade area to another in search of better options and deals has been studied across the world owing to its large impact on trade flow. Studies…
Abstract
Movement of people from one retail trade area to another in search of better options and deals has been studied across the world owing to its large impact on trade flow. Studies have been done in various rural and urban settings. However, almost all except one fails to provide a comprehensive model of outshopping which has its own limitations with regard to its applicability’s across cultures and in various settings. Nonetheless findings from the literature provides necessary inputs to start studies in various other cultures and settings. Results are presented in form of various definitions, various types, methodologies used, factors identified (individual characteristics, market characteristics, product related variables and accessibility factors) and patterns across continents. Attempts have also been made to explain their applicability to Indian conditions along with various limitations and gaps.
Details
Keywords
Siew H. Chan, Timothy S. Creel, Qian Song and Yuliya V. Yurova
This study aims to investigate the relationship between companies filing versus those not filing corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports and corporate governance.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the relationship between companies filing versus those not filing corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports and corporate governance.
Design/methodology/approach
The websites of US publicly traded companies were examined for commitment to CSR or sustainability reporting based on the preparation of voluntary reports. This information provided the CSR measure, the key independent variable in this study. The data used to compute discretionary accruals (based on the modified Jones model) were obtained from Compustat. Data on auditor tenure were retrieved from Audit Analytics. The number of members and financial experts on an audit committee were gathered from proxy reports filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Findings
Companies filing CSR reports have higher audit quality, higher audit committee quality, increased auditor tenure and lower auditor dismissal compared to those not filing CSR reports. The findings support stakeholder theory.
Research limitations/implications
This study’s utilization of multiple measures of corporate governance provides insight into the robustness of the relationship between CSR reporting and corporate governance. Further, this research uses a different measure of CSR reporting; that is, companies that voluntarily prepared separate CSR reports following or not following the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines compared to reports prepared following the GRI guidelines. This approach increases the size and diversity (i.e. industries) of the sample (Kolk, 2003; Waddock and Graves, 1997).
Practical implications
The findings suggest that companies engage in CSR reporting to indicate strong corporate governance.
Originality/value
This study uses multiple measures of corporate governance to demonstrate the positive relationship between CSR behavior (measured via filing of CSR reports) and corporate governance.
Details
Keywords
Identifies key activities that network users can perform in orderto use the network effectively. Offers recommended reading, frombeginner to expert user status. Explains some…
Abstract
Identifies key activities that network users can perform in order to use the network effectively. Offers recommended reading, from beginner to expert user status. Explains some commonly used terms (e.g. Turbo Gopher with Veronica!). Lists useful Internet resources.
IN order to be able to discriminate with certainty between butter and such margarine as is sold in England, it is necessary to carry out two or three elaborate and delicate…
Abstract
IN order to be able to discriminate with certainty between butter and such margarine as is sold in England, it is necessary to carry out two or three elaborate and delicate chemical processes. But there has always been a craving by the public for some simple method of determining the genuineness of butter by means of which the necessary trouble could be dispensed with. It has been suggested that such easy detection would be possible if all margarine bought and sold in England were to be manufactured with some distinctive colouring added—light‐blue, for instance—or were to contain a small amount of phenolphthalein, so that the addition of a drop of a solution of caustic potash to a suspected sample would cause it to become pink if it were margarine, while nothing would occur if it were genuine butter. These methods, which have been put forward seriously, will be found on consideration to be unnecessary, and, indeed, absurd.
Michelle Bauml and Sherry L. Field
Notable Social Studies Trade Book (NSSTB) lists include books selected annually by the Book Review Committee of the National Council for the Social Studies in conjunction with the…
Abstract
Notable Social Studies Trade Book (NSSTB) lists include books selected annually by the Book Review Committee of the National Council for the Social Studies in conjunction with the Children’s Book Council. These lists are excellent resources for teachers who use children’s literature to support social studies instruction in their classrooms. We report our analysis of award-winning titles for primary grades published from 2001-2011. Biographies and books that address topics about families are featured as a starting place for primary grades teachers to begin incorporating NSSTB into their social studies instruction. We conclude by suggesting ways for primary grade teachers to utilize the book lists each year.
Details
Keywords
Modern academic links between leadership and strategy were forged in the early 1960s with the heightened application of strategy to business planning. These links were soon…
Abstract
Modern academic links between leadership and strategy were forged in the early 1960s with the heightened application of strategy to business planning. These links were soon dissolved by the strategy consultants who came to dominate the field of business strategy in the mid-1960s. The consultants dismissed the role of leadership in strategic planning in favor of objective analyses of the external environment that eliminated any need for leadership skills, judgment, values, or intuition. Failures to implement strategy in the 1980s led to limited roles for leaders in implementing strategies they had no role in creating, but the gulf between leadership and strategy has steadily widened.
This paper traces the consequences of this widening gulf for teaching leadership and strategy in the classroom. It explores how an integrated approach to teaching leadership and strategy would better prepare today’s students for the challenges they will face as future business leaders.
Increases in urbanization and mobility, as well as local government fiscal crises have altered the financing of local government expenditures. Intergovernmental transfer of funds…
Abstract
Increases in urbanization and mobility, as well as local government fiscal crises have altered the financing of local government expenditures. Intergovernmental transfer of funds has evolved as a major source of revenue for local government units. Intergovernmental transfers to subordinate governments are enacted by various fsical instruments: (1) direct transfer of funds through loans, categorical grants, and unrestricted grants; (2) sharing of the tax base through tax supplements, tax deducations, and tax credits; and (3) intergovernmental coordination of activities. Federal grants to state and local governments have rapidly increased: federal aid as a percentage of state and local sources of general revenue was 8 percent in 1942, 11 percent in 1948, 15 percent in 1965, and 20 percent in 1967. During this same period, the amount of annual state payments to local governments increased from 3.2 billion dollars to 19.1 billion dollars (although throughout the period the payments were a consistent fraction of the national total of states' expenditures). Local government finances for 1972–73 substantiate the importance of intergovernmental funding directed to the local public sector. The total intergovernmental revenue received by all local governments in the United States was 28.6 billion in 1972–73 with 23.3 billion emanating from state governments and 5.3 billion from the federal government. In 1972 Texas state government expenditure in transfers totaled 1.2 billion dollars.
PUBLIC librarians have had some experience of economy in this last month at the considering of annual estimates. In many towns, unfortunately, an increase in the general rates is…
Abstract
PUBLIC librarians have had some experience of economy in this last month at the considering of annual estimates. In many towns, unfortunately, an increase in the general rates is reported, and in all such times libraries are likely to suffer. The note we make below on Yarmouth does not show that one of the causes of the curious municipal hysteria it reveals was the burning desire to reduce the rates. That desire is in itself wholly laudable, and librarians can acquiesce in economies that do not discriminate against libraries. Our trouble is that libraries have nowhere yet been adequately financed, and reductions are more serious for them than for many departments which have never suffered from utter lack of means.
Sajjad ur Rehman and Bibi Alajmi
Knowledge organization (KO) content is central to educational programs of library and information science (LIS) and information and knowledge management (KM) programs. The…
Abstract
Purpose
Knowledge organization (KO) content is central to educational programs of library and information science (LIS) and information and knowledge management (KM) programs. The components of information and KO have similar philosophies, theories, approaches, strategies and tools. LIS education programs have strong traditions of teaching KO. Fresh emphasis is noted on metadata, data mining, info-maps, knowledge maps, taxonomy, ontologies and other strategies for organizing an organization’s explicit and tacit knowledge. This paper aims to analyze how LIS schools have responded to the needs of developing competencies related to information and KO among its graduates.
Design/methodology/approach
This study analyzed the curricula of LIS accredited schools and leading schools in selected regions of the world based on the course titles presented on their websites.
Findings
This analysis provided an overall picture of the coverage of KO courses in LIS programs of 68 selected schools located in Southeast Asia, the Europe and accredited schools of North America.
Research limitations/implications
The paper is limited to the treatment of KO in 68 selected programs of LIS education.
Practical implications
Library and information education programs may benefit from the findings for incorporating needed content in KO coursework.
Originality/value
The study is ground-breaking as it addresses the needs of development of KO competencies among LIS professionals from the perspective of findings of a systematic study of the curricula of 68 schools.