The purpose of this case study is to examine direct investment in commercial real estate from the perspective of the individual. While most research is dominated by studies…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this case study is to examine direct investment in commercial real estate from the perspective of the individual. While most research is dominated by studies concerning direct investment by institutions (REITs, pension funds, etc.), the bulk of direct investment in commercial property is still conducted by individuals.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents accounting and financial data from the original purchase, management and disposal of a small‐scale office building. Cash flows, returns and risks are measured and analyzed.
Findings
The case demonstrates that successful direct investments may be characterized by short‐term time horizons involving older, small‐scale properties.
Practical implications
This case illustrates the non‐academic nature of real world direct investment in commercial property. The case demonstrates that emotion and good timing are just as important to a successful venture as are cash flows and thorough risk estimates. The case also shows that successful direct investment in commercial property may be limited to smaller, older properties held for short‐term time horizons.
Originality/value
This case study is unique because it identifies the property, the investor, the purchase price, the operating revenues and the sale price and net proceeds. Most case studies conceal many of these facts in order to preserve anonymity.
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C. Edward Chang, Walt A. Nelson and H. Doug Witte
The purpose of this paper is to compare the financial performance of green and traditional mutual funds in the USA.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to compare the financial performance of green and traditional mutual funds in the USA.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 131 green mutual funds identified by US SIF, were compared with the averages of all traditional mutual funds in their respective Morningstar categories. Performance measures analyzed included annualized rates of return, expense ratios, and Sharpe ratios, among others. Most data pertained to at least the past three years, while other data pertained to the most recent 5 to 15 years.
Findings
The results demonstrate that green mutual funds have generated lower returns and similar risks compared to traditional mutual funds in their respective Morningstar categories. Green mutual funds have underperformed on a risk‐adjusted basis.
Research limitations/implications
Since there is no formal definition of a green mutual fund, the researcher and investor must make a subjective call in assessing which funds invest “green”. However, at least in this early stage in the history of green investing, green mutual funds have underperformed their peers.
Originality/value
Results confirm the limitations of green investing as suggested by various researchers, among them Sharpe, Rudd and Kurtz and DiBartolomeo. Results stand in contrast to Corson and Van Dyck and Statman, among others, which reported no significant underperformance for socially responsible investments.
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Boris Urban and Jabu Maphalala
The learning outcomes are that at the end of the case discussion, the students should be able to evaluate the drivers of social innovation in an African context; discuss social…
Abstract
Learning outcomes
The learning outcomes are that at the end of the case discussion, the students should be able to evaluate the drivers of social innovation in an African context; discuss social entrepreneurship as a process-driven set of activities; assess the organisation–environment–opportunity fit when innovating; analyse and resolve practical issues in developing simple and affordable social innovations; appreciate how social enterprises are mission-based businesses rather than charities; and evaluate how an organisation may achieve social objectives and remain sustainable.
Case overview/synopsis
SolarTurtle is an award-winning South African social enterprise that manufactures and supplies secure, mobile, solar power stations and kiosks to communities where the electricity grid does not reach. The company converts shipping containers into housings for solar panels to protect them from theft and extreme weather conditions. These units are called “PowerTurtles”. Through the franchise model, the company supplies PowerTurtles to off-grid institutions in rural areas. PowerTurtles are also sold to private sector enterprises and are scalable to suit the energy needs of customers. With the successful launch of the AutoTurtle in 2018 (which folds away the solar panels automatically, where the PowerTurtle requires them to be folded away manually), the company started to develop a new lightweight, fibreglass, solar kiosk with roof-mounted solar panels called the MiniTurtle, and a mobile trolley version known as the BabyTurtle. Now, in 2018, Van der Walt hopes to develop the business to the point where it can sustain itself.
Complexity academic level
Post-graduate students of entrepreneurship, public governance and social welfare.
Supplementary materials
Teaching notes are available upon request for educators only. These teaching notes should be shared solely with the instructor and students should not have access to. Please contact your library to gain login or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.
Subject code
CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.
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Neema Florence Mosha and Patrick Ngulube
The study aims to investigate the utilisation of open research data repositories (RDRs) for storing and sharing research data in higher learning institutions (HLIs) in Tanzania.
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to investigate the utilisation of open research data repositories (RDRs) for storing and sharing research data in higher learning institutions (HLIs) in Tanzania.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey research design was employed to collect data from postgraduate students at the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) in Arusha, Tanzania. The data were collected and analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. A census sampling technique was employed to select the sample size for this study. The quantitative data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), whilst the qualitative data were analysed thematically.
Findings
Less than half of the respondents were aware of and were using open RDRs, including Zenodo, DataVerse, Dryad, OMERO, GitHub and Mendeley data repositories. More than half of the respondents were not willing to share research data and cited a lack of ownership after storing their research data in most of the open RDRs and data security. HILs need to conduct training on using trusted repositories and motivate postgraduate students to utilise open repositories (ORs). The challenges for underutilisation of open RDRs were a lack of policies governing the storage and sharing of research data and grant constraints.
Originality/value
Research data storage and sharing are of great interest to researchers in HILs to inform them to implement open RDRs to support these researchers. Open RDRs increase visibility within HILs and reduce research data loss, and research works will be cited and used publicly. This paper identifies the potential for additional studies focussed on this area.
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As a fairy tale is adapted to fit with current cultural discourses, drastic changes occur. One of these changes is the erasure of the old man. The wise old man, the doddering old…
Abstract
As a fairy tale is adapted to fit with current cultural discourses, drastic changes occur. One of these changes is the erasure of the old man. The wise old man, the doddering old fool, and many more tropes that older men fill have been altered. The eccentric Merlin and the mad Hatter have been replaced with younger versions in Merlin (2008–2012) and the Syfy miniseries Alice (2009). While the grandfather is technically found in Disney's Once Upon a Time in the form of Rumpelstiltskin, it is rarely discussed. In the Beauty and the Beast (2017), Maurice is no longer the town oddity as he goes from tinkering with odd inventions, to being a music box maker. His creativity and quirky idiosyncrasies have been erased.
This chapter delves into this disappearance of the older man in modern fairy tale adaptations, and the repercussions this has in the representation for the older man. Furthermore, this chapter seeks to show how toxic ageist notions in Hollywood have impacted the role of the old man as he is replaced with the stereotypical younger man, due to the increased objectification of men in film and the subsequent conformity to the ‘ideal masculine form’. This objectification can be seen through the slow ‘reinvigoration’ of the Mad Hatter from Disney's Alice in Wonderland (1951) to the Hatter in Syfy's Alice (2009), Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter, Tarrant Hightopp, in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (2010), and finally Sebastian Stan's Mad Hatter in Once Upon a Time (2011–2018).
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Collins G. Ntim, Teerooven Soobaroyen and Martin J. Broad
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent of voluntary disclosures in UK higher education institutions’ (HEIs) annual reports and examine whether internal governance…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent of voluntary disclosures in UK higher education institutions’ (HEIs) annual reports and examine whether internal governance structures influence disclosure in the period following major reform and funding constraints.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors adopt a modified version of Coy and Dixon’s (2004) public accountability index, referred to in this paper as a public accountability and transparency index (PATI), to measure the extent of voluntary disclosures in 130 UK HEIs’ annual reports. Informed by a multi-theoretical framework drawn from public accountability, legitimacy, resource dependence and stakeholder perspectives, the authors propose that the characteristics of governing and executive structures in UK universities influence the extent of their voluntary disclosures.
Findings
The authors find a large degree of variability in the level of voluntary disclosures by universities and an overall relatively low level of PATI (44 per cent), particularly with regards to the disclosure of teaching/research outcomes. The authors also find that audit committee quality, governing board diversity, governor independence and the presence of a governance committee are associated with the level of disclosure. Finally, the authors find that the interaction between executive team characteristics and governance variables enhances the level of voluntary disclosures, thereby providing support for the continued relevance of a “shared” leadership in the HEIs’ sector towards enhancing accountability and transparency in HEIs.
Research limitations/implications
In spite of significant funding cuts, regulatory reforms and competitive challenges, the level of voluntary disclosure by UK HEIs remains low. Whilst the role of selected governance mechanisms and “shared leadership” in improving disclosure, is asserted, the varying level and selective basis of the disclosures across the surveyed HEIs suggest that the public accountability motive is weaker relative to the other motives underpinned by stakeholder, legitimacy and resource dependence perspectives.
Originality/value
This is the first study which explores the association between HEI governance structures, managerial characteristics and the level of disclosure in UK HEIs.
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Previous research demonstrates a consistent association between the media and body and eating related issues in children. Recent research has highlighted a role for “fat talk” to…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous research demonstrates a consistent association between the media and body and eating related issues in children. Recent research has highlighted a role for “fat talk” to describe discourses around body size and food. One key source of media information is Disney animation films, yet to date no research study has explored the verbal content of this genre.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study used a content analysis to examine fat talk in Disney animation films (1937–2021; n = 53) with a focus on the frequency of fat talk, changes over time and differences between the genders and heroic statuses of the givers and receivers of fat talk. Fat talk was defined as relating to both body size and food and could be either positive or negative.
Findings
Results revealed that there was more negative than positive fat talk per film; no significant changes over time; males were the givers of significantly more positive and negative fat talk than females and were also the receivers of more negative fat talk; good characters were the givers and receivers of more positive and negative fat talk and more self-directed negative fat talk than bad characters.
Practical implications
The results are discussed in terms of possible legislation and parenting interventions to minimise the harm of this genre on young children.
Originality/value
Disney animation films may not be as benign as often thought.
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While bargains abound in the personal computing field, they must be evaluated considering your needs—and it is sometimes hard to distinguish between inexpensive and merely cheap…
Abstract
While bargains abound in the personal computing field, they must be evaluated considering your needs—and it is sometimes hard to distinguish between inexpensive and merely cheap alternatives. The author discusses low‐priced software alternatives, noting how to look for bargains and a few specific examples. The PC‐related media scene continues to change, as does the slice of it reviewed for “Notes on the Media.” In the second portion of this article, the author offers some typically opinionated notes on some current publications. The author concludes with the usual roundup of comparative reviews and other notes on the PC literature for January‐March 1995. It was a big quarter for printer reviews, with few desktop computer comparisons—and life's about to get more interesting for those who prefer the Macintosh operating system: the clones are coming!
Using a prosopographical methodology this study examines common leadership influences that might have existed among Genghis Khan, George Washington, and Nelson Mandela. Shoup…
Abstract
Using a prosopographical methodology this study examines common leadership influences that might have existed among Genghis Khan, George Washington, and Nelson Mandela. Shoup (2005) suggests that the following seven influences have contributed to nurturing the leadership of 12 renowned individuals: involved parents, happy childhood, formal, informal education, prodigious patrons, critics and adversaries, apprenticeship/sequences of success, and favorable fate. This analysis suggests that the seven influences in his model had an affect the lives of the three individuals in this study, making them competent or exemplary leaders. The study additionally proposes three application stages that educators can utilize to instill leadership values and abilities in young minds.
Bridget Gorman, Becky Wade and Alexa Solazzo
To determine gendered patterns of preventive medical care (physical and dental/optical) use among pan-ethnic U.S. Asian and Latino adults.
Abstract
Purpose
To determine gendered patterns of preventive medical care (physical and dental/optical) use among pan-ethnic U.S. Asian and Latino adults.
Methodology/approach
Using National Latino and Asian American Study (2004) data, we apply Andersen’s (1995) Behavioral Model of Health Services Use to assess how preventive care use among Asian and Latino men and women varies as a function of predisposing, enabling, and need-based characteristics. We explore whether adjustment for these factors mediates gender disparities in both physical and dental/optical check-ups, and test whether certain factors operate differently among men versus women.
Findings
A higher proportion of women reported a routine care visit last year, especially among Latinos. Adjusting for predisposing, enabling, and need-based factors explained the gender difference in reporting a dental/optician check-up, but not a physical check-up, among both Asian and Latino adults.
Research limitations/implications
Our findings illustrate how gender patterns in routine care use differ by race/ethnicity, and highlight the fundamental importance of enabling characteristics (especially health insurance and having a regular doctor) for shaping routine care use between men and women, both Asian and Latino. Limitations of this chapter are that the data are cross-sectional and were collected before the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and measures are self-reported.
Originality/value
This chapter focuses on Asian and Latinos because they represent the fastest growing minority populations in the United States, yet few studies have evaluated gender differences in preventative health care use among these groups.