Turbulence at the top: a new perspective on governance structure changes and strategic change.

Organizational theorists have traditionally focused attention on the relationship between chief executive officer (CEO) succession and strategic change. This study extends that perspective and explores the effects of changes in an organization's management, ownership, and board of directors on the process of strategic change. The results of this research suggest that changes in ownership and board have significant independent and interactive effects on strategic change.     

Does Board Co-Working Experience Influence Directors’ Decisions Toward Internationalization?

Despite the importance of board capital in a firm’s corporate strategic orientation and the high degree of international expansion that many firms have experienced in recent years, little or no research has explored how board capital affects a firm’s internationalization decision. Drawing upon resource dependence theory, this study argues that board capital may help increase the firm’s degree of internationalization and that board co-working experience may facilitate the contribution of directors with human and social capital to firm internationalization. The results indicate that board capital (directors’ international experience, directors’ industry-specific experience and directors’ board appointments) is positively associated with internationalization and that board co-working experience has a positive moderating influence on the board capital-internationalization relationship. One important implication of the empirical evidence is that firms trying to expand internationally should consider nominating directors with rich human and social capital to the board because such directors can provide strategic advice and facilitate access to critical information and valuable resources needed for internationalization. Additionally, those international firms might be advised to consider board tenure when appointing board directors because board co-working experience allows directors to integrate their knowledge of the firm’s internal affairs with their expertise in the area of international strategy and to combine their knowledge properly to address firm-specific issues, consequently enabling them to address international issues effectively.     

治理机制、管理者行为与企业绩效关系的研究

基于代理理论,本文分析了治理机制(包括CEO补偿,CEO任期,领导权结构和所有权结构)与高层管理者行为的关系,以及它们对企业财务绩效和非财务绩效的影响.我们提出大多数治理机制对管理者关注能力发挥和关注企业长期发展的行为都有明显的影响.我们特别提出在不同的所有权集中度结构下,管理者行为的表现明显不同.当企业的所有权集中于少数几个大股东时,所有权集中度对管理者关注能力发挥具有正向作用,但是当企业的所有权集中于一个大股东时,所有权集中度对管理者关注能力发挥具有负向作用.同时,我们提出管理者关注能力发挥和关注企业长期发展对企业财务绩效和非财务绩效的改进都有明显作用.     

Corporate Law and Corporate Governance

Transaction cost economics has done much to illuminate the workingof corporate governance devices, and we have seen a revivalof interest in corporate law and corporate governance sincethe 1980s, as researchers applied the tools of the new institutionaleconomics and modern corporate finance to analyze the new transactionsemerging in the 1980s takeover wave. This article focuses onthree mechanisms of corporate governance, to illustrate theanalytical usefulness of transaction cost economics for corporatelaw. It begins with the role of the board of directors, theprincipal governance structure for shareholders in diffuselyheld firms, for which Oliver Williamson provided the key conceptualization.It then extends that analysis to a form of block ownership knownas relational investing, in which a large shareholder is moreactively involved in firm management than is ordinarily expectedof non-management shareholders. It concludes with an examinationof the choice of law governing shareholder-manager relations,referred to in the literature as state competition for corporatecharters, and how Williamson's framework can be fruitfully deployedfor understanding the success of US corporate law. Each of thethree sections sketches first the theory of the corporate governancemechanism from the perspective of transaction cost economicsand then addresses the question whether corporate governancematters by discussing the empirical evidence on whether themechanism is effective. In addition to limning Williamson'scontribution, the objective is to relate theory and data, toascertain where we are, 20 years after Williamson's fundamentalcontribution was first articulated in Markets and Hierarchies,and over a decade after the corporate law applications werefirst explicitly worked out.     

On the effects of the degree of discretion in reporting managerial performance

We consider a principal-agent setting in which a manager??s compensation depends on a noisy performance signal, and the manager is granted the right to choose an (accounting) method to determine the value of the performance signal. We study the effect of the degree of such reporting discretion, measured by the number of acceptable methods, on the optimal contract, the expected cost of compensation, and the manager??s expected utility. We find that a minimal degree of discretion may be necessary for successful contracting. We also find that while an increase in reporting discretion never harms the manager, the effect on the expected cost of compensation is more subtle. We identify three main effects of increased reporting discretion and characterize the conditions under which the aggregate of these three effects will lead to a higher or lower cost of compensation. Finally, we find that when reporting discretion induces costly effort on the part of the manager, the optimal degree of discretion can be higher than when it is costless.     

专访澳大利亚标准协会首席执行官 布朗温·埃文斯

正布朗温·埃文斯博士从2013年10月起就任澳大利亚标准协会CEO,在此之前,她担任科利耳公司高级副总裁,负责质量、临床和监管工作。她在发电、工程教育、标准制定和医疗器械等诸多领域从事工程主管工作,拥有30多年的工作经验。2011年,布朗温加入沃伦工程开发中心,担任主管一职。目前她还担任Robogals咨询委员会主席和工程领导与管理中心董事会主席。此前,埃文斯博士曾担任过约翰·霍华德有限公司独立非执行董事、澳大利亚医疗技术协会董事会主席以及澳大利亚卧龙岗大学SECTE咨询委员会成员。     

CEO伦理型领导对群体反生产行为的影响:伦理文化与组织结构的作用

目的运用社会学习理论探讨了CEO伦理型领导对群体反生产行为的影响机制。方法纵向调查了26家企业、51个部门中的296名员工,采用HLM跨层分析技术检验研究假设。结果 (1)CEO伦理型领导负向影响群体反生产行为;(2)伦理文化在其中具有部分中介作用;(3)CEO伦理型领导与群体反生产行为的关系受到组织结构的负向调节作用,即在集权度、正式度较低的有机式组织中,CEO伦理型领导对群体反生产行为的负向影响更加强烈。结论 CEO伦理型领导对群体反生产行为具有显著的抑制作用。     

International Diversification

• International diversification can have both benefits and costs. In this paper, we argue that a firm??s level of international diversification depends not only upon firm-specific characteristics such as its size and the industry to which it belongs, but also upon its ownership structure and the ability of its management to carry out an international strategy.
• We test our hypotheses using a panel of Italian firms. Our findings show that a high level of family ownership has a negative effect on international diversification, but that an inactive market for corporate control negates this. We found too that when the board of a family-owned firm has a higher proportion of independent directors, international diversification is greater. We also found that similar to the family-ownership effect, a high level of state ownership results in less international diversification. Overall our results confirm that corporate governance variables affect international diversification.

     

The effects of institutional ownership on corporate governance and performance: An empirical assessment in Hong Kong

Using 433 publicly listed companies in Hong Kong, this study analyses how the institutional ownership of firms affects their corporate governance and performance. Our results indicate that institutional ownership exerts a direct and significant influence on corporate governance in such areas as board composition, CEO duality, leadership diversity, and ownership concentration.     

The Impact of National Economic Culture and Country-Level Institutional Environment on Corporate Governance Practices

• We posit that national cultural practices influence the institutional environment, which in turn has an influence on corporate governance practices. We empirically evaluate these relationships using structural equation modeling.
• We utilize measures of national culture from Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: The Globe study of 62 Societies. For the institutional environment, we employ the World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators. Consistent with theory, we find a strong relationship between these constructs. We further find that the institutional environment mediates the relationship between national culture and corporate governance practices. Corporate governance practices include measures of board accountability, financial disclosure and internal controls, shareholder rights, executive compensation, takeover defenses and ownership base, and corporate accountability and are available from Governance Metrics International.
• As both culture and institutions are linked to corporate governance practices, efforts to change corporate governance practices around the world are best informed by an appreciation of cultural as well as institutional factors.

     

Supplier credits, limited liquidity, and timely demand information

We consider supplier-credit contracting between a manufacturer and a liquidity-constrained dealer. We show that the timeliness according to which the dealer receives demand information has a significant impact on the optimal contract. If the manufacturer cannot be sure that a dealer without liquidity has demand information when the contract is written, the optimal contract assigns the same quantity to an ignorant dealer and a dealer who knows that there are unfavorable demand conditions. However, dealers with favorable demand information are screened. If the dealer??s liquidity rises, the manufacturer proposes a contract that resembles the solution of a classic adverse selection model in the spirit of Harris et?al. (Manag Sci 28:604?C620, 1982). For high liquidity, the optimal supplier-credit contract assigns the same quantity to an ignorant dealer and dealers who have favorable demand information whereas dealers with unfavorable demand information are screened.     

Ultrasonic welding of thermoplastic composites: a numerical analysis at the mesoscopic scale relating processing parameters,flow of polymer and quality of adhesion

Ultrasonic continuous welding of thermoplastic composite plates is a very promising process of particular interest for the assembly of aeronautics large parts. Its modeling and simulation however suffers from the difficulty of accounting for the very different time scales that rule the thermo-mechanical phenomena at the level of the adhesion zone. This problem was addressed in our previous works and led to an original simulation tool presented in Levy et al. (Eur J Mech A, Solids 30(4):501–509, 2011a). In this paper, the adopted time-homogenized multiphysical modeling of the flow at the mesoscopic scale of the energy directors is first presented. Then, using the numerical software in a 2D approach, an extensive numerical parametric study of the process is presented. The phenomena allowing welding are confirmed to be an initial strain concentration in the energy director, and the formation of a flowing fold. The influence of the following process parameters are finally investigated: amplitude of vibrations, holding force of the sonotrode, thickness of the plates, radius of curvature at the tip of the director, angle of the director. Process efficiency and weld quality is evaluated through simple indicators such as the equivalent stiffness analysis, the healing degree and the risk of porosity entrapment. The present study, carried at the mesoscopic scale, provides a better understanding of the complex interactions between physical and process parameters and enables to draw important technological conclusions for the design of energy directors.     

The impact factor: its place in Garfield’s thought, in science evaluation, and in library collection management

This paper is a response to that of Vanclay, who proposes, that since the impact factor (IF) is so seriously flawed, Thomson Reuters should either correct the measure or??preferably??no longer publish it and restrict itself to journal certification. It is argued here that Vanclay??s analysis is itself seriously flawed, because he appears totally ignorant of the thought structure of Eugene Garfield, IF??s creator. As a result, Vanclay appears unaware of the importance of total cites and the close connection of IF with review journals, where the paradigms of science are defined. This paper??s author agrees that IF is a defective measure, analyzing its defects from the perspective of the frequency theory of probability, on which modern inferential statistics is based. However, he asserts that abandoning it would be counterproductive because of its demonstrated ability??even with its defects??to identify small important journals like review journals, giving it an important role in science evaluation and library collection management.     

Planning in a Total Quality Company: A Case Study of Tubemakers of Australia Limited

ABSTRACT

Tubemakers of Australia Limited is a major Australian company that has developed a strategic planning process based on the principles of total quality management (TQM). The process is highly participative, with input from the board of directors to the shop floor. This approach generates a high level of commitment to the plan at all levels. The plan, however, is not rigid, and each business unit uses its plan as its day-to-day operations manual, reviewing and updating it as often as necessary.

This planning model, as developed by this company, is effective in integrating the planning process into the company's operations. The company is now pursuing a more formalized, coordinated TQM approach, and, in conjunction with this, the planning process is being modified to more closely match the Japanese Policy Deployment (Hoshin) model. The development of an effective strategic planning process in conjunction with an effective TQM operating style should serve as a model for other organizations.     

汽车侧围前连接板冲压成形质量优化研究

针对汽车侧围前连接板的成形质量缺陷问题,本文通过有限元软件分析工艺参数对成形质量的影响,并完成拉延模面的回弹补偿。首先,以最大减薄率和最大回弹量为评价目标,采用正交实验对压边力、模具间隙、冲压速度和摩擦系数4个工艺参数进行分析,获得影响成形质量最大的因素为压边力,冲压速度次之,确定最优工艺参数为:压边力300 kN、模具间隙1.20 mm、冲压速度90 mm/s、摩擦系数0.11;其次,采用节点位移法对拉延模面进行2次回弹补偿,将零件的回弹量控制在允许范围内;最后,将最优工艺参数和回弹补偿面应用于现场实验,测得试模件的最大减薄率为14.64%,最大正负回弹量为1.254 4 mm/-1.327 0 mm,试模件的最大减薄率和最大回弹量均在允许范围内,实验结果与仿真分析结果相近,验证了本实验方案的可行性。研究表明:通过优化工艺参数能够有效控制减薄、起皱和拉延不足等缺陷,并能够在一定程度上减少回弹量;通过对拉延模进行回弹补偿可以有效地控制回弹量。     

European research policy and bibliometric indicators, 1990�C2005

This paper describes and analyses the role played in the development of bibliometric indicators??and the use made of bibliometric indicators for policy purposes??by the European Commission??s Directorate-General Research in the period 1990?C2005.     

Speckle Photography in Measuring Thermal Expansion

Sufficient information on status and behavior of a material used in establishing bridges, rails, and buildings, is of a special significance. In the present work, the material??s thermal expansion is the parameter of particular interest. Multiple wavelength speckle photography with digital recording system is a reliable technique for nondestructive testing. The thermal expansion coefficients of different materials such as steel, copper, and aluminum are measured during heating process. Temperature increase causes variation in interference fringes?? separation and direction for each wavelength. The Young??s fringes produced by the Fourier transformation of the combined speckle patterns are analyzed and the results are in good precision. The percentage error in the measured thermal expansion values is 3?% which indicate the effectiveness of the proposed system for this purpose.     

Board power and organizational effectiveness among human service agencies.

This study examines the importance of an externally powerful board of directors to the effectiveness (ability to attract scarce resources) of 46 human service agencies operating within the same community. Traditional assumptions regarding the importance of a powerful board were supported when effectiveness was operationalized using static measures of funding but were not supported when dynamic measures were used.     

基于视觉行为的智能车载交互界面色彩编码研究

对智能车载交互界面信息进行色彩编码,提高视觉信息的辨识度,从而降低驾驶员在驾驶过程中的认知负荷,提高驾驶员在行驶过程中的认知绩效及驾驶安全性。对驾驶员在驾驶过程中视觉认知过程进行分析,构建视觉注意模型。然后通过问卷形式来获取视觉信息功能元素的操作复杂度、驾驶相关度和使用频率之间的关系,结合调研结果得到使用权重较高的功能元素。对使用权重高的功能元素进行图标设计,通过用户反馈得出最优的图标色彩编码。依据图标方案用户调研数据,在某汽车企业的三种企业形象色中,蓝色是相对于其他两种颜色易于捕获的色彩。蓝色易于驾驶员在行驶过程中进行注意捕获,从而提高驾驶员的认知绩效,将蓝色应用于智能车载信息交互界面呈现的设计中。