The influence of executive age,career horizon and incentives on pre-turnover earnings management

In this paper we hypothesize that CEOs will be motivated to manage earnings prior to a turnover decision. This motivation comes from the horizon problem for CEOs nearing retirement age and for CEOs whose profit-based bonus is a large portion of their total compensation. We find that firms in which CEOs are nearing retirement age have large discretionary accruals in the year prior to turnover. Although we find firms with a larger proportion of profit-based bonus pay have larger discretionary accruals, this result is not robust with the inclusion of control variables in the regressions.

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Bureaucratic Power: Security and the National Response Plan

The National Response Plan was created by the Department of Homeland Security for the purpose of organizing disaster relief services by coordinating activities of cabinet departments and independent agencies. A case study of the Plan's creation shows that the Department has skillfully used its sources of administrative power to build a latent control network with little or no oversight, raising questions of accountability and ultimate security. Variables discussed here promote building of a theory of bureaucratic power.

Do synergies exist in related acquisitions? A meta-analysis of acquisition studies

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) aim to increase the wealth of shareholders of the acquiring company, in particular by creating synergies. It is often assumed that relatedness is a source of synergies. Our study distinguishes between business, cultural, technological, and size relatedness. It discusses the reasons why these different forms of relatedness can lead to an acquisition success and we conduct a meta-analysis of 67 prior M&A studies. Results indicate that positive effects can be expected under specific conditions only and have a limited overall impact on acquisition success. A moderator analysis finds that synergies stemming from relatedness depend on industry-, country-, and investor-characteristics.

The role of risk preferences and flexibility for risk management: lessons from a custom manufacturing environment

In this paper, we study the management of financial risks of a custom manufacturer in the specialty chemicals industry arising from increased volatility of profits caused by market uncertainty and growing competitive pressure due to globalization. We argue that such risk management can be established either by creating and utilizing flexibility or by adjusting the risk preferences. Using a model-based approach, we operationalize flexibility and risk preferences to show their effects on the profit/risk and the decision making of a firm through a stylized example motivated by the specialty chemicals business.

The impact of minimum taxation by an imputable wealth tax on capital budgeting and business strategy of German companies

An alternative minimum tax (AMT) that guarantees a minimum tax payment even in case of losses is often regarded desirable. We analyze the influence of a wealth tax designed as AMT on marginal investment decisions and provide an analytical approach and numerical analyses identifying distortive effects. We present a wealth tax AMT paradox under loss offset restrictions. Modelling enterprises of different structure, industry, size and legal status we show that companies in the financial services sector are more frequently subjected to this AMT than capital intensive industries. This result runs counter to well-known effects of a common wealth tax. We resume that whenever income is taxed correctly, AMT is dispensable.

Making corporate governance count: the fusion of ethics and economic rationality

Corporate governance codes extensively appeal to ethical standards of conduct. Rather than being articulated alongside economic axioms, ethical and moral precepts are intertwined within neo-classical economic argumentation across corporate governance standards. This paper explores the fusion between ethics and modern economic rationality and reflects on the scientisation of economics and ethics in academic discourse. The argument is then made that the enlistment of ethics within the epistemologically privileged posture of economics characterises corporate governance codes. The UK Combined Corporate Governance Code of 2006 is analysed to draw out the paper’s contention.

Empowerment as a success factor in start-up companies

In this paper, we develop a theoretical model of employee empowerment in start-ups by integrating different management-oriented approaches in the literature. To test this model, we use recent survey data from start-up companies in high-growth industries based in Germany. In particular, we examine the degree to which employee empowerment as a modern concept of delegative leadership contributes to a higher organizational effectiveness within the firm and eventually to higher growth.

Accountability in the Shadow of Hierarchy: The Horizontal Accountability of Agencies

In the Netherlands, new accountability arrangements are created as remedies for the accountability deficit of agencies. These arrangements are of a ‘horizontal’ nature, as the agencies account for their behaviour towards accountees that are not their hierarchical superiors: clients, stakeholders or peers. This paper provides an inventory and qualitative assessment of horizontal accountability arrangements. It is argued that they have added value because they stimulate learning. However, horizontal accountability is not a substitute for hierarchical accountability. Horizontal accountability arrangements operate ‘in the shadow of hierarchy’: they gain significance through complex interactions with traditional forms of accountability.

Perceptions of Civil Servants Toward Privatization and Development: A New Exploratory Study

This study examines the perceptions of civil servants towards privatization with respect to national development. Using case studies and official interview data, it also examines the efficacy and effectiveness of privatization programs in a developing country, Bangladesh. The study rejects the conventional beliefs about the role of bureaucracies as anti-privatization by revealing that civil servants of Bangladesh have positive perceptions towards privatization with respect to national development. The study, however, finds no significant differences in the perceptions of different levels of civil servants towards privatization with respect to national development; they all share a common goal. Research demonstrates that civil servants generally believe that privatization positively affects economic, social, political and administrative development, although it negatively affects equity, fairness and social justice issues by widening the gap between the rich and the poor. Additionally, the study demonstrates that privatization is not conducive to employee empowerment.

The Organization of Factions: Interest Mobilization and the Group Theory of Politics

Theories of interest group mobilization are central to political science but current research on interest organizations has not proven useful for scholars in related fields. I argue that, by adapting organizational theory to account for the particular function of interest organizations, scholars can build a widely applied theoretical framework. The key step is an analysis of the role that organizations play in the mobilization of influence: they are intermediaries, reliant on their constituents and their lobbying targets. Reviewing research on ethnic politics and political economy, I demonstrate that this intermediary view of interest organizations encourages theoretical ideas to travel between subfields.

Diesseits von Coaching und Mentoring: Kollegiale Praxisberatung

Zusammenfassung  Die Methode der kollegialen Beratung eignet sich gut für Menschen in Organisationen, die vor der Herausforderung stehen, ihr Prozesswissen in neuen, unbekannten Kontexten anzuwenden. Schnelligkeit und konkreter Praxisbezug sind dabei wesentliche Faktoren für eine akzeptierte Lernform. In diesem Artikel wird eine Anpassung der Grundmethode der kollegialen Beratung, die kollegiale Praxisberatung, vorgestellt, die diese Anforderung der Praktiker erfüllt. Die dabei auftretenden Prozesswirkungen und Lernerfahrungen werden anhand zweier Praxisbeispiele aus der Industrie illustriert und Chancen sowie Grenzen der Methode diskutiert.

Measuring Citizen Satisfaction with Aspects of Public Services from a Local Authority and Determining Their Importance: A Case Study

The measurement of service quality is a theme of great importance to service providers, particularly public agencies. Over the years their role has been changing by providing more and more high quality services, away from basic ones. In this paper the service quality of a local government is analyzed through the measurement of customer satisfaction. The analysis, based on a questionnaire survey, identified and classified the most essential factors that make up the customer satisfaction with the services provided by the Demographic Department of Gioia del Colle, a town in southern Italy.

Measuring tax distortions with neutrality-based effective tax rates

In public economics, effective tax rates (ETRs) are often used to measure the combined effects of tax rates, tax bases, and the time effect of taxation. Until now, the modelling of comparable figures for revealing tax effects and tax-induced distortions is not solved satisfactorily. This paper derives an ETR approach based on neutral tax systems. In contrast to traditional measures of ETRs, the neutrality-based ETR discloses preferential or discriminatory taxation of investments regardless of their pre-tax rate of return. Moreover, comparing different ETRs exposes the degree of tax-induced investment distortions.

Strangers in a Strange Land: Shock,Disappointment, and Adjustments Experiences of Expatriates in Central Asia

Increasing globalization is driving an increase in diversity and interaction. A more mobile and international workforce frequently requires that individuals try to understand the norms of their “new” society. This paper provides a preliminary exploration of the types of issues and concerns raised by expatriates working in a new foreign environment. In particular, the paper uses a hybrid survey/interview methodology to identify specific issues raised by expatriates working in Kazakhstan, Central Asia.

Promoting Public Trust in Public Organizations: Explaining the Role of Public Accountability

This paper is aimed at explaining the role of public accountability in promoting public trust in public organizations. Initially a conceptual model was developed. Then, the model was tested empirically in Iran. The result shows that public accountability influences the public trust by improving citizens’ satisfaction. In other words, legal, ethical, financial, functional, and utmost political accountability affect public trust through influencing citizens’ satisfaction. This study also confirms that changes in social trust, citizens’ trust in government, and media will moderate trust in public organizations.

From social ties to embedded competencies: the case of business groups

Our current views of economic competition are still rooted in the imagery of the isolated firm that transacts with its buyers, suppliers, and competitors via largely anonymous factor and product markets. Yet this view is fundamentally at odds with the growing importance of business groups in the global economy. We thus need a reconceptualized version of our idea of economic competition, which is capable of explaining competitive advantage at the group-versus-group rather than firm-versus-firm level of analysis. In the present paper we build on insights derived from organizational sociology and organizational economics to develop a business group-level theory of competition and competitive advantage based on embedded competencies.

Public Organizations in the Age of Globalization and Technology

Both globalization and information and communications technologies (ICT) have been shown to be important factors in defining organizational environment. However, the cumulative effects of these two factors together on decision-making and the exercise of power within large organizations are currently not well explored. This paper attempts to fill that gap by conceptually analyzing the combined effect on globalization and communications technology. ICT has had the cumulative effect of shrinking an organization’s effective size. Globalization contributes to this effect of removing geographic boundaries by centralizing control over certain functions. In other words, globalization and ICT, in conjunction with each other, have considerably heightened the concentration of power and decision-making authority within the organization.

Governance of open source software: state of the art

In this overview of governance mechanisms developed within open source software (OSS) circles, three types of governance are studied: ‘spontaneous’ governance, internal governance, and governance towards outside parties. Moreover, two main ways in which lessons from OSS can be applied elsewhere are explored: peer production of products other than software, and embedding ‘peer-produced’ products and peer processes into existing institutions (‘coupling’).

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.

The Blind Spots of Quasi-market Regulators

While quasi-markets should be regulated, in practice regulation may be problematic for market designers because of the competing interests and values involved. This article outlines and problematizes the regulatory process for quasi-markets by focusing on the choices and actions of the regulator (i.e., the public organization). The article concludes that market designers act in different ways based on their different points of reference. These reference points may differ, not only between quasi-market designers but also for the individual quasi-market designer over time. The quasi-market designer may therefore exhibit blind spots because some aspects of operations are in focus in the regulation process, but others may be neglected.