Board development practices and competent board members: Implications for performance

This study explores underlying assumptions about board development practices in nonprofit governance. Specifically, a model was developed to determine if using recommended recruitment, board member orientation, and evaluation practices resulted in more competent board members and if the presence of these board members led to better board performance. The sample consisted of 1,051 survey responses from CEOs and board chairs representing 713 credit unions. As member‐benefit nonprofit organizations, credit unions rely almost exclusively on voluntary board members in an oversight capacity. Results support the contention that board development practices lead to more capable board members, and the presence of these board members tends to explain board performance. The study advances the understanding of nonprofit board development practices by further defining the concept and proposing an empirically tested assessment strategy. Furthermore, the findings support using specific recruitment practices that should strengthen nonprofit boards.     

Die Rolle des Luftverkehrsrechts und der Haftung bei Flugzeugkatastrophen: Eine Finanzmarktanalyse

Zusammenfassung  Rechtsansprüche gegen Fluggesellschaften und Flugzeughersteller in Folge einer Flugzeugkatastrophe richten sich nach einer Flut rechtlicher Bestimmungen, die aus internationalen Abkommen, Vereinbarungen zwischen Fluglinien sowie aus Bundes- und Landesrecht resultieren. Die jeweilige Rechtsgrundlage in einem spezifischen Fall h?ngt von verschiedenen Umst?nden ab, die mit einem Unfall verbunden sind. Es überrascht daher nicht, dass zugesprochene Schadensersatz- und Schmerzensgeldzahlungen an die Angeh?rigen der Opfer von Fall zu Fall erheblich divergieren. In unserer Studie mit U.S.-amerikanischen Daten untersuchen wir, inwieweit der kurz- und langfristige Erfolg von Fluggesellschaften und Flugzeugherstellern durch Flugzeugkatastrophen beeinflusst wird und wir eruieren diejenigen Determinanten, die Performanceunterschiede erkl?ren k?nnen. Verwandte Untersuchungen haben sich weitgehend auf Effekte für Markennamen oder steigende Versicherungspr?mien als Ursachen für Aktienkursverluste konzentriert. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen darüber hinaus, dass das regulatorische Umfeld einer spezifischen Unglückssituation erheblichen Einfluss darauf hat, wie Finanzm?rkte reagieren. Die Reaktionen der Marktteilnehmer weisen darauf hin, dass die unterschiedlichen Berechnungsgrundlagen für die Opferentsch?digung recht klar erkannt werden.

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The role of aviation laws and legal liability in airplane accidents: A financial market perspective

Summary  Legal liability claims against airlines and airplane manufacturers following an aviation disaster are determined through a myriad of international treaties, intercarrier agreements, and federal and state laws. Which law applies in a specific situation depends on various circumstances surrounding the accident. As a result, pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage awards for the families of the accident victims may vary substantially from case to case. Using U.S. data, our study examines how aviation disasters affect the short and long-term performance of airlines and airplane manufacturers and explores the factors that drive the performance differences. While prior research has largely focused on brand name effects and rising insurance premiums as possible determinants of stock price losses, our results suggest that the regulatory environment that applies to a given aviation accident has a significant impact on how the market reacts to its announcement. Inequities in the valuation of a human life are clearly reflected in stock price reactions. While recent regime changes have helped eliminate some of these imbalances further reform may be necessary.

     

"PUBLIC' WORK AND SOCIAL PARTICIPATION:

The impact of labor force participation by women on their social activism is examined using data gathered in a study of 695 North Carolina farm families. The traditional gender division of labor into "instrumental' (male) and "expressive' (female) activism breaks down when women take off-farm jobs. Their rates of activism in instrumental organizations move closer to those of men. Labor force participation by women also reduces the impact of the husband on the wife's activism.     

A GUIDE TO THE PITFALLS OF IDENTIFYING PRICE DISCRIMINATION

This paper demonstrates that plausible cost-based explanations exist for what are commonly perceived to be cases of price discrimination. We explain such commonly discussed problems as the price spreads of retail gasoline products, the "high" price of dinners at restaurants, the "high" price of popcorn at movie theaters, and the fact that airline ticket prices vary with how long the ticket is purchased before the flight's departure. Our explanations benefit from not relying on consumer ignorance or implicit collusion among numerous sellers.     

Managers as knowledge generators: The nature of practitioner‐scholar research in the nonprofit sector

As nonprofit management education develops, it has the opportunity to consider new premises concerning managers' roles. In the design and practice of traditional management education, managers are assumed to be the ultimate users of knowledge. Less attention is given to educating managers to be knowledge generators who combine intimate understanding of issues, problems, and settings with established theory and methods. Based on a discussion of three research projects undertaken in nonprofit settings by participants in a doctoral program for advanced practitioners at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University, we describe seven dimensions of practitioner‐scholar inquiry. The pattern of practitioner‐scholar research that emerges from these research projects is contrasted with two other modes of knowledge production. Implications for practitioner‐scholar inquiry and for the education of practitioner‐scholars in the nonprofit sector are discussed.     

AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF COUPLE AND THERAPIST EXPERIENCES IN REFLECTING TEAM PRACTICE

Couple and therapist perspectives about the use and process of reflecting team practice were analyzed using ethnographic research. A domain analysis was performed on postession interviews from both couples and therapists, and on field notes from each therapist. Seven couples and five therapists were interviewed at least twice over a 4-month period concerning their reactions to and perceptions of reflecting team practice. Six domains concerning reflecting team practice emerged from the analysis: (a)benefits of its use, (b) effects of gender, (c)recommended use, (d) contraindicated use, (e) the importance of creating spatial separateness between couple and team members, and (f) sequences of communication between the couple and team members that elicit change. The latter two domains described the process of reflecting team practice (i.e., steps in how it is used and how it is implemented). The role of ethnog rahy in reflecting team practice and in family therapy research is discussed.     

An Approach to Assessing the Impacts of Incident-Free Transportation of Radioactive Materials: II. Highway Transportation

Annual radiation doses and risks to the public living near, and traveling on, public highways, and occupational doses are calculated for highway shipments of radioactive materials under accident-free and incident-free conditions (i.e., under normal transportation conditions). The database developed by Sandia National Laboratories is used, and calculations are made using RADTRAN 4.0. This report is one of two reports estimating radiological risk associated with transportation of radioactive materials.     

Pitfalls in Drawing Policy Conclusions from Retrospective Survey Data: The Case of Advertising and Underage Smoking

Measuring the impact of potentially controllable factors on the willingness of youth to undertake health risks is important to informed public health policy decisions. Typically the only data linking these factors with risk-taking behavior are retrospective. This study demonstrates, by means of a recent example, that there can be serious pitfalls in using even longitudinal retrospective data to draw conclusions about causal relations between potentially controllable factors and risk-taking behavior.