Budgets for integrating decentralized investment and production planning

Planning for an economic enterprise can be dichotomized into short-run production planning and longer-run investment planning. Usually these problems are treated as if they were separate, if not independent. This paper briefly reviews the separate approaches to optimal production decision making and investment planning, ‘fusing’ these models in order to consider the two issues simultaneously. The resulting ‘fused’ model is used to illustrate several difficulties which result from an intuitive synthesis of the independent solutions of the production problem and the investment problem. An integrated model is presented representing a centralized simultaneous solution for decision variables from the two functional fields. The paper compares and contrasts the synthesis of separate functional models to the decomposition of a simultaneous model of those functional areas. A result of this comparison is a theoretical justification for operating budgets and revenue targets as organizational mechanisms for achieving coordinated plans among decentralized planning units. Further, the set of conditions are identified under which the two approaches to simultaneous decision making are equivalent.     

Crisis management. Putting out forest fires.

A crisis can hit any business. It can hurt cash flow, productivity, the public's faith, and the company's image. The adverse effects come in two major areas: public image and cash flow, both of which can be devastating. Lack of planning ensures maximum pain and the greatest chance of future collapse. A proactive stance can lessen the pain and give the best chance of recovery. Like a forest fire, a crisis can be sniffed early or it can destroy thousands of 'acres.' The best manager will have plans for crisis management and will be able to smell the smoke before the blaze consumes the forest.     

Measuring user attitudes in MIS research: a review

Management information system (MIS) user attitude measurement and research has been motivated by two distinct perspectives, termed the implementation perspective and the information perspective. A survey of the most significant work based on these perspectives is presented. The consensus of this work is that MIS attitudes are related to MIS use, broadly speaking. However, the usage-relevant components of user attitudes are as yet not well understood. More refined attitude concepts and measures are needed. One such concept, that of a user's channel disposition, is advanced as part of a suggested research direction.     

Seven lessons in medical management

In more than 15 years of functioning as a medical director, addressing the needs and wants of patients, physicians, hospitals, and ancillary health care suppliers, I have accumulated pieces of ?wisdom? that I now feel I should share with others in medical management. The concepts are fairly simple, but they are of significant value in the ?real-life? management of people. The seven simple ideas outlined in this article are not meant to be the end-all to management philosophy. Books have been written about each idea, and there are hundreds of good ideas in many sources I do not touch on here. However, I have found these seven items of significant value in dealing with others and hope others find them similarly useful.     

Predictors of misreporting cigarette smoking initiation among adolescents

This study examines the prevalence of invalid reports of cigarette smoking initiation among adolescents (i.e., reporting cigarette smoking at one time point and denying ever trying cigarettes at a subsequent time point) and the association of misreports with scores on other problem-prone variables. Misreports did not vary as a function of item complexity and did not reflect careless responding. In the seventh grade, misreporters' scores on the problem-prone variables were higher than those of nonsmokers and lower than those of smokers. In contrast, when measured in the eighth grade, misreporters' scores did not differ from those of nonsmokers. Misreporters did show a greater decrease in intentions to smoke, alcohol use, and number of friends who smoke compared to nonsmokers and consistent smokers. Explanations for these findings are discussed.     

Tax policy toward non-profit organisations: an eleven-country survey

The role of private non-profit organisations in modern economic systems is poorly understood. The tax and subsidy treatment of non-profits relative to private firms affects the competitive position of each, and thus their relative strength within any industry; in the United States, for example, non-profit organisations play major competitive roles in such industries as hospitals, nursing homes, day care centres, schools and arts organisations.This paper reports results from a survey of tax policies toward non-profit organisations in eleven countries. The major findings are: (1) the definition and scope of such organisations varies considerably; (2) non-profit organisations are typically regulated by the tax collection agency, but in some countries there is also involvement from the government agency responsible for the particular realm of activity, such as health or education; (3) tax subsidies to non-profits take many forms — not only exemption from corporate profits tax but, depending on the country, for land, buildings, mail and motor vehicles; (4) almost every country limits non-profit organisations' unrelated business activities; and (5) donors are generally permitted to deduct donations of money from taxable income, although there are typically both minimum and maximum limits. These findings point up the larger task of understanding why such differences exist across countries, and what are the effects.Burton Weisbrod is John Evans Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.Elizabeth Mauser is a PhD candidate in Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.We thank the Ford Foundation for financial support. We also thank those people who responded to the survey questionnaire: Christoph Badelt (Austria), Patrick De Bucquois (Belgium), Miklos Marschall (Hungary), Jimmy Weinblatt (Israel), Disiano Preite (Italy), Mark Robson (United Kingdom), Julia Montserrat (Spain), Ching-chang Yen (Taiwan), Somchai Richupan (Thailand), John Simon (United States) and Wolfgang Seibel (West Germany). In addition, we benefited from reading draft papers by Frits W. Hondius (Council of Europe) and Sheila Avrin McLean (McLean & Co. Ltd), both of whom have done related work on tax treatment of charities in various countries, and from comments by Christoph Franz on an earlier draft of this paper. A version of this paper will appear in a forthcoming volume published by the Center for Social Policy Studies, Jerusalem, Israel. The editors are grateful for the permission of Dr Yaakov Kop, Director of the Center, to publish this paper inVoluntas.     

Critical Race Theories,Colorism, and the Decade's Research on Families of Color

In the millennium's inaugural decade, 2 interrelated trends influenced research on America's families of color: the need for new knowledge about America's growing ethnic/racial minority and immigrant populations and conceptual advances in critical race theories and perspectives on colorism. Three substantive areas reflecting researchers' interests in these trends emerged as the most frequently studied topics about families of color: inequality and socioeconomic mobility within and across families, interracial romantic pairings, and the racial socialization of children. In this review, we synthesize and critique the decade's scholarly literature on these topics. We devote special attention to advances in knowledge made by family‐relevant research that incorporated ways of thinking from critical race theories and the conceptual discourse on colorism.     

Empowering Children Left Behind in China

In the last two decades in rural China, increasing numbers of children of economic migrants have been left behind with kin, which is of growing concern for social work and welfare policy. The genesis of this rural to urban migration has been China's rapid economic development and greater opportunities for work in better paying jobs in cities. However, there is growing evidence of the negative impact upon these children. This paper reports the views of caregivers (n = 23) and school personnel (n = 5) from a small town in Northeast China. Interviews sought adults opinions on these children's needs, with the major outcome being children's need to be empowered – to be respected, to express themselves, to have influence, and to be supported to be able to more fully participate in education and their communities. We argue that caregiver strategies to empower children left behind provide insight into culturally appropriate processes and practices that underpin social inclusion. However, some discrepancies between the views of caregivers and school personnel alert us to the potential for tension between family and broader community and institutional views. Implications for social work practice include responding to the cultural values embedded in child rearing practices and local ideas about children's entitlements.