Benchmarking of secondary schools based on Students’ results in higher education

The performance of secondary schools is usually assessed based on students’ results on national exams at the end of secondary education. This research uses data on academic achievements by first-year university students to benchmark secondary schools on their ability to lead students to success in higher education. The analysis is conducted using data of University of Porto and Catholic University of Porto, Portugal, for a three-year period, corresponding to more than 10.000 students from 65 degrees, for which the school of origin is known. A number of variables representing students’ success in Higher education were constructed for each school in our sample and aggregated through a Benefit of the Doubt indicator. Results suggest that the schools’ ranking based on schools’ ability to prepare students for university success is quite different from the ranking based on results on national exams. Given these findings, we propose complementing schools’ performance assessments (traditionally based on national exam results or indicators of value added) with indicators that account for the preparation of students for success in future challenges, which is indisputably a key objective of secondary education. We propose a composite indicator for the analysis of these complementary aims as well, and results show that frontier units indeed exhibit trade offs between traditional measures of performance and our new measure of performance.     

Who Chooses Which Private Education? Theory and International Evidence

Private school students do not always perform better in standardized tests. We suggest that this may be explained by choice of private schooling by less capable students in countries where government schools are better suited to talented students. To assess the empirical relevance of this mechanism, we exploit cross‐country variation in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009 survey of differences between private and state school regarding organizational features that are differently suitable for students with different learning ability. We seek and find evidence of this mechanism's empirical relevance in controlled regressions that treat within‐country variation of PISA scores as an indicator of unobserved ability to learn.     

Assessing the performance of business colleges in Taiwan using data envelopment analysis and student based value-added performance indicators

The purpose of this study is to construct a student-based performance evaluation model for business schools in Taiwan. College graduates’ starting wage and their multiple abilities cultivated in school are used as performance indicators. The value-added forms of these indicators are employed to assess the pure impact of school on graduate's performance. To prevent impractical indicator weights, we incorporate job market recruiters’ weights from an AHP survey into the assurance region data envelopment analysis (AR-DEA) for empirical analysis. Empirical results show that the public schools on average outperform the private schools. However, there are still some private schools that perform better than the public ones. Besides, in regard to the discriminatory power and the distribution of output weights, the proposed AR-DEA is better than DEA in measuring the performance of the business colleges in Taiwan.     

European management and European business schools: Insights from the history of business schools

This article looks at the history of business schools and identifies specific characteristics that are common to European management schools. On the basis of these characteristics, European management is subsequently defined as a cross-cultural, societal management approach based on interdisciplinary principles. In a final step, a closer look is taken at how European business schools should prepare their students for the unique European management context. It is suggested that such schools should provide courses on cross-cultural management and courses explaining the interdependencies between the private and public sector, offer students opportunities to experience other cultures over the course of their studies, and teach management from an interdisciplinary and practically-oriented perspective.     

Death anxiety in adolescents: the contributions of bereavement and religiosity

Possible relationships between bereavement and religiosity to death anxiety levels of adolescents were investigated. Scales measuring religiosity, bereavement, and death anxiety were incorporated into one questionnaire. Two hundred and twenty-six adolescents between the ages of 11 and 18 participated in the study based in urban and rural private schools within Manitoba. Females exhibited significantly higher death anxiety levels than did males; differences between the death anxiety levels of adolescents having a no-previous-death-experience death and those who had experienced a familial death were not significant; while religiosity levels were significantly higher for students attending religion-based schools, the relationships between measurements of religiosity and death anxiety were weak. Grief due to bereavement was the major factor in determining death anxiety for the adolescent.     

定向增发抑价分解研究——基于双边随机边界分析的新视角

针对定向增发新股存在价格溢出现象,本文首次引入双边随机边界模型探究定向增发高抑价的形成机理,发展了一个新的定向增发抑价分解模型,将定向增发抑价分解为一级市场折价效应和二级市场溢价效应,并对2007-2017年度内已完成定向增发新股的沪深两市A股上市公司进行了实证检验,结果表明：定向增发新股的发行价格与二级市场交易价格均被高估,存在价格泡沫;折价效应与溢价效应均对定向增发抑价施加了显著的影响,但溢价效应是导致定向增发高抑价的主导因素;溢价效应对定向增发高抑价的影响程度在国有企业、大股东全认购、牛市以及信息透明度较低的子样本中更显著。基于中国本土文化拓展了抑价分解理论,结论更符合中国股市实情,为定向增发抑价现象的后续研究提供了理论指导与方法支撑。     

Student Selection and Incentives

The paper discusses the impact of performance based selection in secondary education on student incentives. The theoretical approach combines human capital theory with signaling theory. The consideration of signaling offers an explanation for observed performance of educational systems with a standard peer effect argument. More specifically it can be optimal to select students according to ability even if selective systems do not outperform comprehensive systems in tests. Selection achieves the same output with lower private costs for the students. The paper questions the strong focus on educational tests to measure the efficiency of selective systems as long as these tests provide no information about a student’s incentives and private costs.

Democracy and Private Property: Governance of a Three-Party Public–Private Partnership

This paper contributes to the study of efficient governance of public–private partnerships (PPPs) through an inductive comparative case study of three riding schools in Sweden. Each school is a three-party PPP between a private firm, a democratic nonprofit association, and a municipality. The results indicate that efficient PPPs mixing private, collective, and communal interests can be established through an adaptive governance strategy. The private firm can shield the democratic association from market influence through adapting to market conditions; the municipality can create a governance strategy; and the democratic association can focus on providing riding services and fostering democratic governance.

民营企业技术创新能力的影响因素及其差异分析——以浙江省为例

长期以来,过分依靠低成本赢得市场的竞争策略导向制约了民营企业的素质提升,为新一轮国际分工地位的确立带来极为不利的负面影响。通过对浙江民营企业的实证研究发现,产品创新、工艺流程创新、技术人才资源、创新促进政策、机构融资环境是影响民营企业技术创新能力的主要因素,它们应该成为培育民营企业技术创新能力的着力点。     

Business and Management Impact Assessment in Research Excellence Framework 2014: Analysis and Reflection

The evaluation of research impact is likely to remain an important element of research quality audits in the UK for the foreseeable future. With this paper, we contribute to debates on impact and relevance of business and management studies research through an analysis of Research Excellence Framework 2014 impact scores within the business and management unit of assessment. We offer insights into the organizational contexts of UK business schools within which impact is produced, drawing attention to the issues of linkages with research intensity, grant income generation, research team size, career stage and gender of academics, and whether impact activity is focused on private or public sector organizations and national or international reach. We put forward recommendations for managers responsible for business schools and higher education policymakers regarding management and organizational policies and processes, as well as possible changes to the rules guiding future research excellence audits.     

A SIMULATION MODEL OF THE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM OF A STATE1

This paper describes a simulation model to estimate the enrollments and expenditures associated with various policy alternatives for the post-secondary education system of a state, with Indiana as an example. Enrollments, operating expenditures, and construction costs are predicted for every public and private school for each year until 1985. The basic model-building technique employed is regression analysis on historical data, but it is supplemented by other quantitative techniques and by experts' predictions. The model may be used to predict “most likely” future enrollments and costs, to perform sensitivity analyses to better understand the impact of various exogenous variables upon the system, and to evaluate possible policy alternatives. Including all of the schools in a state makes possible the evaluation of policy alternatives such as possible configurations of new two-year public schools, the effect of tuition changes, and the effect of enrollment ceilings for larger state universities.     

The impact of family CEO’s ownership and the moderating effect of the second largest owner in private family firms

This study explores two ownership issues in private family firms. First, we investigate the relationship between the ownership of family CEOs and firm performance, and postulate that this relationship in private family firms is more complex than the inverted “U” relationship found in public family firms. Second, we predict a potential moderating effect of the second largest owner, who may exert a monitoring role on family CEOs. We focus on private family firms as recent studies show that private family firms have distinct features compared to public family firms, and that findings documented in public family firms may not apply to the ubiquitous, but much less studied, private family firms. We have applied agency theory to develop the two hypotheses, used secondary data on a large sample of private family firms, utilized an adjusted conventional quadratic technique to test the hypotheses, and validated the findings using a second method of piecewise linear specification. The results show that the non-linear relationship between the ownership of family CEOs and firm performance is more complicated than the often-documented inverted “U” shape from public firms. Meanwhile, the second largest owner with a high enough ownership stake can impose a positive moderating effect by mitigating potential agency problems caused by family CEOs.     

ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND POLITICAL INFLUENCE

When policymakers and private agents use models, the economists who design the model have an incentive to alter it in order to influence outcomes in a fashion consistent with their own preferences. I discuss some consequences of the existence of such ideological bias. In particular, I analyze the role of measurement infrastructures such as national statistical institutes, the extent to which intellectual competition between different schools of thought may lead to polarization of views over some parameters and at the same time to consensus over other parameters, and finally how the attempt to preserve influence can lead to degenerative research programs.     

Accountability in Voluntary Partnerships: To Whom and for What?

This paper contributes to the understanding of accountability in collaborative governance by presenting views of practitioners from partnerships formed between K-12 public schools and private and nonprofit organizations in the United States. It focuses on two questions: what do partnership practitioners see the partnerships as being accountable for? And to whom do they see the partnerships as being accountable? The findings suggest that partnership participants reveal more of client-based and results-oriented views of accountability. They are more directly concerned about professional accountability and accountability to the partners. A concentric-circles model is then developed to illustrate the accountability relationships in partnerships.     

机构投资者私人信息、散户投资者情绪与IPO首日回报率

针对影响IPO首日回报率的一级市场与二级市场因素,本文将机构投资者的私人信息和散户投资者的情绪结合起来,以我国新股发行市场为背景建立模型,对IPO破发或抑价产生的微观机制给出一种理论上的解释。模型结论表明:IPO是否破发主要取决于散户投资者的情绪,而不是机构投资者的私人信息,并且散户投资者情绪越乐观,IPO破发的可能性就越小;同时发现IPO首日回报率与散户投资者情绪正相关,与机构投资者的私人信息负相关。以2010年11月至2013年12月在沪深交易所上市且披露网下具体报价情况的477家IPO公司为样本对模型进行实证检验,实证结果支持了模型结论。研究结果对于如何提高IPO发行效率提供了一些启示。     

政治关联与财务困境公司的政府补助——来自中国ST公司的经验证据

本文以2002-2007年沪深两市的ST公司为样本,实证研究了企业的政治关联对财务困境公司获取政府补助的影响.结果显示:(1)民营企业的政治关联对企业处于财务困境时获取政府补助有显著影响,但对国有企业作用不显著.(2)考虑企业所处的地区环境差异之后,本文发现民营企业的政治关联优势受到地区财政富余程度的显著影响,而地方政府干预要起作用也受到地区财政状况的制约.只有在地方财政有充足财力的情况下,民营企业才可能利用政治关联获得更多的政府补助.(3)从政府补助的效果来看,政府补助虽然可以在救助当年明显改善公司业绩,但对公司长期业绩的提升作用却因企业政治关联程度和企业性质的不同而存在差异:政治关联较弱的民营企业获得的政府补助对公司长期业绩的提高作用显著,但对于国有企业以及具有较强政治关联的民营企业作用则不显著,这在一定程度上说明政治关联导致了政府补助资金的低效运作.     

EFFICIENT TUITION FEES AND EXAMINATIONS

We assume that students observe only a private, noisy signal of their ability and that universities can condition admission decisions on the results of noisy tests. If the university observes a private signal of each student's ability, which is soft information, then asymmetries of information are two‐sided, and the optimal admission policy involves a mix of pricing and pre‐entry selection, based on the university's private information. In contrast, if all test results are public knowledge, then there is no sorting on the basis of test scores: Tuition alone does the job of implementing an optimal degree of student self‐selection. These results do not depend on the existence of peer effects. The optimal tuition follows a classic marginal social‐cost pricing rule. (JEL: D82, H42, I22, J24)     

Financial Reporting,Private Disclosure and the Corporate Governance Role of Financial Institutions

This paper explores how large UK financial institutions (FIs) pursued a private corporate governance agenda with their portfolio companies. It also investigates the role of financial reporting in private and public corporate governance. The case financial institutions argued that the limited quality of public information, especially in financial reports, was a major constraint on their ability to act in fund management and corporate governance roles. However, the financial reporting cycle determined a private institutional and company meeting cycle and this created opportunities for private information collection and for governance influence by FIs. In addition, the perceived limitations of public governance mechanisms such as voting encouraged private governance approaches. As a result, the case financial institutions had the incentive and the means to improve the quality of their sources of corporate information and to obtain a competitive edge over other financial institutions and the market through their direct contact with companies. Despite the limitations of public information, the paper reveals how public disclosure in financial statements and the financial reporting cycle played a central role in corporate governance. Public sources of information were combined with private sources to create a financial institutional knowledge advantage. The institutions used this knowledge to diagnose problem areas in strategy, management quality, and the effectiveness of the board, and their impact on financial performance. The financial reporting cycle meant that the quasi insider financial institution had the access opportunity and the joint public/private insight to influence companies across a wide corporate governance agenda and in a range of corporate circumstances. The case institutions exploited these private access and knowledge advantages for investment purposes and for Cadbury style corporate governance purposes. Thus, the private governance process was critically dependent on the FI knowledge advantage, which in turn relied on both financial reports and private disclosure. This wide ranging governance behaviour by institutions corresponds to recommendations subsequently made by the Hampel report in 1998 concerning UK corporate governance. The paper ends by exploring how the private institutional and company meeting agenda can suggest new directions for financial reporting and public disclosure and how this can further improve public and private corporate governance.     

Erfolgsfaktoren privater Hochschulen

In Germany, private universities have little importance if measured by their share of students. Some of these schools failed after only a short time of existence. Therefore, it is asked which factors promote their survival and growth. This is of particular relevance, as the market environment is more or less unfriendly. Starting from Dunning’s eclectic theory potential contributions from location, internalization and property rights are analyzed. The latter may result from promoting autonomy, growing reputation, building financial competencies and choosing an appropriate management structure. As these thoughts build on literature and experiences, it is suggested to use them as a starting point for empirical research.     

Changing Strategy Processes and Strategy Content in Public Sector Organizations? A Longitudinal Case Study of NPM Reforms’ Influence on Strategic Management

New Public Management reforms have been argued to intensify the use of strategic management in public organizations, but there is a need to understand how reforms influence specific aspects such as strategy processes and strategy content. The NPM reforms are expected to formalize and professionalize strategy processes and strategy content towards greater competitiveness, but this may counter cooperation between organizations, which is essential in many areas for overall service provision. Research has provided little empirical knowledge about the simultaneous competition and cooperation in the public sector. This study offers such knowledge via a panel case study of five Danish upper secondary schools over a ten‐year period during a large NPM reform. The study includes three rounds of interviews with school principals before, during and after the reform, combined with secondary data. The study shows that, during reform implementation, strategy processes become more formalized and professionalized, and that teachers, in particular, lose influence. Regarding strategy content, the authors find an increase in external focus and competition, though schools maintain a focus on cooperation. The results suggest that NPM reforms can significantly change strategic management in public organizations, and that this is not necessarily at the expense of cooperation, at least in the short run.