CDS and rating announcements: changing signaling during the crisis?

In parallel with the development of credit derivatives market, researchers have begun to explore the relationship between Credit Default Swap (CDS) market and rating events. Many papers, via classical event-study methodology, show that CDS market is able to signal future negative rating events announced by credit rating agencies. In this work, we incorporate into the event-study methodology the ability of Markov switching models in modeling state-dependent means and variances. This approach allows to get over the drawbacks of the classical methodology, which ignores the heteroscedasticity and volatility clustering often affecting financial time series. The proposed methodology is applied to study the reactions of CDS quotes to reviews for downgrading and effective downgradings announced by the three major credit rating agencies (Fitch Ratings, Moody’s, Standard and Poor’s), in order to examine if and to what extent CDS market anticipates announcements related with a company’s creditworthiness. The analysis, focusing mainly on volatility, is performed on two periods, 2004–2006 and 2007–2009, in order to verify whether a change in the signaling power of CDS quotes can be ascribed to recent financial turmoils.     

Innovation in family firms: an empirical analysis linking organizational and managerial innovation to corporate success

Family firms play a significant role in national economies worldwide, accounting e.g. for 85% of all enterprises in the OECD countries as well as for the majority of companies in Central Europe. Previous scholarly research on family firms has mostly focused on the question of how they differ from public corporations, describing family firms as being more conservative, less risk-raking, or reluctant to grow—in sum, as being less entrepreneurial than their non-family counterparts. Similarly, the existing literature often criticizes the lack of innovation in family firms. But since innovation has long been discovered as one of the key drivers to company success, it is surprising that its role in family firms has been mostly neglected in existing academic research so far. The aim of this article is therefore to study the role of (managerial and organizational) innovation in family firms compared to non-family firms on the basis of an empirical survey of 533 companies from Finland, using structural equation modelling (MPlus) for the statistical analyses.     

A multicriteria decision analysis model for faculty evaluation

In the context of increasing demands for social and financial accountability of universities, the required implementation of transparent faculty evaluation systems constitutes a challenge and an opportunity for universities strategically aligning the activity of academic staff with the university goals. However, despite growing interest in the performance appraisal of faculty, only a few reported studies propose models that cover the full range of academic activities and the models in use are typically based on ad hoc scoring systems that lack theoretical soundness. This article approaches faculty evaluation from an innovative comprehensive perspective. Based on the concepts and methods of multiple criteria value measurement, it proposes a new faculty evaluation model that addresses the whole range of academic activities and can be applied within and across distinct scientific areas, while respecting their specificities. Constructed through a socio-technical process, the model was designed for and adopted by the Instituto Superior Técnico, the engineering school of the Technical University of Lisbon. The model has a two-level hierarchical additive structure, with top-level evaluation areas specified by second-level evaluation criteria. A bottom non-additive third level accounts for the quantitative and qualitative dimensions of academic activity related to each evaluation criterion. The model allows (a) the comparison of the performance of academic staff with performance targets reflecting the strategic policy concerns of university management; (b) the definition of the multicriteria value profile of each faculty member at the top level of the evaluation areas; (c) the computation of an overall value score for each faculty member, through an optimisation procedure that makes use of a flexible system of weights and (d) the assignment of faculty members to rating categories.     

The quality and use of regulatory analysis in 2008

This article assesses the quality and apparent use of regulatory analysis for economically significant regulations proposed by federal agencies in 2008. A nine-member research team used a six-point (0-5) scale to evaluate regulatory analyses according to criteria drawn from Executive Order 12866 and Office of Management and Budget Circular A-4. Principal findings include: (1) the average quality of regulatory analysis, though not high, is somewhat better than previous regulatory scorecards have shown; (2) quality varies widely; (3) biggest strengths are accessibility and clarity; (4) biggest weaknesses are analysis of the systemic problem and retrospective analysis; (5) budget or "transfer" regulations usually receive low-quality analysis; (6) a minority of the regulations contain evidence that the agency used the analysis in significant decisions; (7) quality of analysis is positively correlated with the apparent use of the analysis in regulatory decisions; and (8) greater diffusion of best practices could significantly improve the overall quality of regulatory analysis.     

A hospital protocol to resolve complaints against staff physicians

Complaints of discrimination or harassment in the workplace have become almost commonplace in recent years, increasing in both frequency and variety. In the hospital setting, this trend is manifested in allegations against members of the medical staff by hospital employees as well as by patients or their families. Whether real or fancied, such allegations are reflective of a potentially disruptive undercurrent of organizational tensions. Left unresolved, they can erode the essential partnership between staff physicians and other members of the health care delivery team. Unsatisfactory patient experiences may also damage the reputation of the institution and thereby undermine its viability. With either group of complainants, allegations of malfeasance that are not resolved at the source in a timely manner are far more likely to result in expensive, time-consuming, and potentially damaging litigation.     

Corporate compliance programs: risk management for the future

The Department of Justice has estimated that the government loses $100 billion annually in health care fraud. Consequently, the government's health care fraud enforcement activities with respect to all health care providers and suppliers continue to grow. Last year alone, the government collected more than $8 billion in settlements, fines, and penalties involving health care fraud. Recent settlements with the government have begun to include corporate compliance programs that require continued government oversight of the health care organization as an essential part of the settlement. The first section of this article describes the legal significance of health care companies' having corporate compliance programs. The second section provides a sample list of topics that should be included in any corporate compliance program. Finally, we describe various issues related to the creation and implementation of corporate compliance programs.     

The ascendancy of primary care: permanent or temporary?

The conventional wisdom strongly suggests a health care provider food chain for the future: Primary care physicians (PCPs), principally family practitioners, on the top playing the lead role, distantly followed by specialists, with hospitals and other ancillary services even further down the line. Is this a reasonable expectation? Will PCPs dominate the new systems? Or will they be but one of many equally necessary components of these developing integrated health care delivery organizations? Looking at the various models now developing, it would seem that future integrated delivery systems will utilize both PCPs and specialists, but with strong augmentation from a diverse assortment of other health care professionals, including nonphysician providers, educators, and administrators. To separate the illusion of primary care dominance of the coming health care system from the likely reality, we should first determine what is driving the apparent present demand for primary care physicians. Next, we will examine the possible and probable reactions to that demand from an economic standpoint and from the points of view of both health care professionals and the public. Finally, we must try to picture how health care provider organizations of the future are likely to look and how they will integrate their health care professionals.     

Trans-ideological business values in international codes of conduct

Traditionally, scholars of international business have been unconcerned with ethics and values, in part due to the widely-held belief that standards vary across cultures and ideologies. Recently, however, business ethicists have considered whether there are some business-related values that are shared across cultures. Through an analysis of the codes of conduct for multinational enterprises of four international organizations, five trans-ideological business values are discovered. They are national sovereignty, social equity, human rights, market integrity and organizational autonomy. The consensus in values is critically important for both scholarship and management.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Second Annual Meeting of the International Association of Business and Society (March 1991). The author would like to thank three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier drafts.     

Ranking of the Most Prolific Authors,Universities, and Organizations in the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management

ABSTRACT

Over the years, reviews in behavior analysis have sought to identify the most prolific researchers and institutions. The goal of these reviews was to offer one resource for behavior analysts to identify experts in behavior analysis and quality graduate programs. However, most of these reviews omitted the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management (JOBM), making the results less relevant to those who work in organizational behavior management. The purpose of this review was to extend previous findings and identify the most published researchers, academic institutions, and organizations in JOBM since its inception. Furthermore, we calculated the citation rate (per year, per article) for each of the top 20 most published authors. The results, implications, and opportunities for further analysis are discussed.