Internal versus External Control: An Analysis of Board Composition and Ownership in UK Takeovers

This paper examines the relationship between board composition, ownership structure and takeovers in the UK in the period 1989–1993. We compare board composition and ownership characteristics for a sample of 166 takeover targets with a matched sample of nontarget firms. We further disaggregate our sample depending on target management's attitude to the bid as well as the eventual outcome of the bid. We find little difference between board composition and ownership structure between all targets and the control group of nontargets. However, when we disaggregate the samples, we find that hostile targets are more likely to have different individuals in the role of chairman and CEO, and exhibit significantly lower levels of managerial ownership compared to both the control group of nontargets and targets of friendly takeovers. We also find that managerial ownership is positively related to takeover success. Overall, our results support the findings of a number of recent studies in the US by highlighting the important role managerial share ownership plays in the takeover process.     

Cytometry inference through adaptive atomic deconvolution

In this paper, we consider a statistical estimation problem known as atomic deconvolution. Introduced in reliability, this model has a direct application when considering biological data produced by flow cytometers. From a statistical point of view, we aim at inferring the percentage of cells expressing the selected molecule and the probability distribution function associated with its fluorescence emission. We propose here an adaptive estimation procedure based on a previous deconvolution procedure introduced by Es, Gugushvili, and Spreij [(2008), ‘Deconvolution for an atomic distribution’, Electronic Journal of Statistics, 2, 265–297] and Gugushvili, Es, and Spreij [(2011), ‘Deconvolution for an atomic distribution: rates of convergence’, Journal of Nonparametric Statistics, 23, 1003–1029]. For both estimating the mixing parameter and the mixing density automatically, we use the Lepskii method based on the optimal choice of a bandwidth using a bias-variance decomposition. We then derive some convergence rates that are shown to be minimax optimal (up to some log terms) in Sobolev classes. Finally, we apply our algorithm on the simulated and real biological data.     

An examination of the role of online social media in journalists’ source mix

Using telephone surveys of business/financial journalists in the United States (n = 200), this research investigates the agenda-building role of social media content in journalists’ work. Understanding that more non-public relations content from user-generated and social network sites, like YouTube and Twitter, are fast becoming resources for journalists to get story ideas, break scandals, and find sources, we began this scholarly work to determine the frequency of such uses of social media. Overall, findings indicate very little use of social media by these business journalists. Results and implications for public relations practitioners are discussed in detail.     

Fetal movements: What are we telling women?

Problem

Information that women receive about the importance of monitoring fetal movements and what to do if there are changes is inconsistent and may not be evidence based.

Changing attitudes about self-injury prevention management: lessons learned

In the behavioral health environment, nurses often use continuous staff monitoring and, at times, physical restraints, to manage the severity of patients' self-injury. Both options put staff in control, are the most restrictive in nature, and can be financially draining on the hospital's budget. This can result in negative reactions by both patients and staff. It is important to develop a program that will empower patients to control their behavior and allow staff to be aware of their perceptions and attitudes toward patients who self-injure. This article describes the leadership initiative that drove the development, training, and implementation of a self-injury prevention project and the lessons learned by staff.     

Managing Change Across Boundaries: Boundary‐Shaking Practices1

To date, boundary spanning has primarily been conceived of as an activity relating an organization to its environment, including other organizations with which it cooperates and competes. In contrast, this study focuses on the boundary spanning practices of individuals acting as change agents to implement boundary‐shaking change initiatives across intra‐organizational boundaries. These boundary‐shaking individuals all work for blue‐chip organizations in sectors as diverse as pharmaceuticals, consultancy and automotive. The change initiatives are equally diverse, including post‐merger integration, exploitation of across‐business synergies and implementing more integrative structures. Through our examination of boundary‐shakers we are able to extend what we know about internal change agency and change agent skills and practices. Our starting point is that organizations are comprised of networks of people with a degree of common interest. Our research shows our research subjects to be active movers and shakers in these networks, using their knowledge of the organizational political context and the motivations of others to create new networks (or new meanings within old networks), which then enables them to pursue their change objectives.     

Le maire en action : gouvernement urbain et production de politiques publiques. Michel Delebarre à Dunkerque

Changes in the French political, administrative system and trends in the economy starting in the 1970s have reshaped power at the municipal level. The figure of the mayor as a “notable” has apparently taken a more entrepreneurial and managerial turn in line with changes in local government, its sources of revenue and contractual procedures. By studying the mayor through the prism of the production of public policy at the local level, this shift can be qualified: the role as a notable is tapped in mobilizing resources, while the dynamic entrepreneurial role comes into play in steering policies, timing interventions and assessing the related risks. The observation of the whole process of producing the two urban policies described in Dunkerque sheds light on how the “municipal team” led by the mayor defines the rules of the game, takes diverging interests into account and maintains an interdependence between the various actors involved in policy-implementation. This article seeks to open a dialog between a case study of a municipal government and the observation of local public policy so as to understand changes in the levers of local power.