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The purpose of this paper is to explore the role knowledge plays in expert commercial valuer practice to unpack the way theoretical and experiential knowledge operates in order to improve practice and education.

Adopting a cognitivist perspective and identifying meta-reasoning, using a grounded theory methodology, through the study of 11 chartered valuation surveyors practicing in Birmingham, United Kingdom, the distinctive theoretical and experiential knowledge they used was elicited through their in-depth reflection on a valuation task followed by analytical interviews exploring meaning and reasons of actions described.

The results confirmed that multi-sourced and rich valuation knowledge was a key attribute of a valuation expert. However, the experiential knowledge was not used to undertake the task but to select the methods and knowledge appropriate for the task and context. This meta-reasoning is a key to the speed, accuracy and justification of their practices. Thus, the experience gained from many years of valuation provides expert valuers with meta-reasoning involving knowledge of what, how and when to deal with problems in different circumstances such as the knowledge of markets and handling of clients.

Making meta-reasoning a key aspect of valuation will identify its characteristics more clearly, thus assisting the development of practitioners and providing a new focus for education to advance professional goals.

Meta-reasoning and meta-cognitive knowledge have not been identified as a key to successful valuation practice. This meta-reasoning allows a subtle balance of theory and experience in valuation practice that is appropriate to the situation.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the core dimensions of problem solving of experts in commercial valuation in order to provide a rich stimulus for managing current practice and enabling future development.

The study adopted a cognitive position but emphasised understanding the everyday commercial property valuation practice in a naturalistic context and from the participants’ perspectives. Given this, a grounded theory approach was employed as a research strategy to guide the data collection and surface theoretical interpretations. Data were obtained through in-depth interviews with practicing valuers working in private real estate firms within metropolitan Birmingham, UK.

The interviews uncover four dimensions of experts’ problem-solving practice in commercial valuation: multidimensional, domain-specific knowledge base; cognitive process that is centred on analysis and reflection; collaborative problem-solving venture with colleagues; and professional practice issues awareness. A conceptual model is proposed which integrates these dimensions enabling a clearer understanding of the nature of valuation work.

This study was designed to be descriptive and theory generating, thus, the findings cannot be generalised as the sample was confined to one city and consists of a small number of senior practicing valuers. Therefore, the findings may not be fully applicable to other practicing valuers, other geographical locations or more widely to other types of property valuation. Nevertheless, the findings provide an important cognitive framework which can be verified by other researchers seeking to examine the practice of expert valuers.

The identification of the core dimensions of expert problem solving in commercial property valuation is shown to have implications for valuation practice, education and continued research. The valuation practice environments need to develop mechanisms to provide time that would enable these multi-dimensions of professional competence to be developed. Further work is needed to expand and refine the model across expert practice in other specialty areas of valuation practice.

This study expands the current understanding of valuation process to areas of expertise that have received less coverage in behavioural valuation literature, that is, the central role of knowledge and cognition and how these are integrated for effective valuation problem solving and decision making.

Behavioural studies of valuers have suggested that valuers rely on a number of cognitive strategies involving reasoning and intuition when undertaking a valuation task. However, there are few studies of the actual reasoning mechanisms in valuation. In other fields, much attention has been paid to forward and backward reasoning, as this shows the choices and decisions that are made in undertaking a complex task. This paper studied this during a valuation task. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to develop a methodological approach for empirical research on valuers’ reasoning, and, second, to report expert-novice differences on valuers’ use of forward and backward reasoning during a valuation problem solving.

The study utilised a verbal protocol analysis (VPA) to elicit think-aloud data from a purposive sample of a group of valuers of different levels of expertise undertaking a commercial-valuation task. Through a content analysis interpretive strategy, the transcripts were analysed into different cognitive segments identifying the forward and backward reasoning strategies.

The findings showed that valuers accomplished the valuation task by dividing the overall problem into sub-problems. These sub-problems are thereafter solved by integrating available data with existing knowledge by relying more on forward reasoning than backward reasoning. However, there were effects associated with the level of expertise in the way the processes of forward and backward reasoning are used, with the expert and intermediate valuers being more thorough and comprehensive in their reasoning process than the novices.

This study explores the possibility that forward and backward reasoning play an important role in commercial valuation problem solving using a limited sample of valuers. Given this, data cannot be generalised to all valuation practice settings but may motivate future research that examines the effectiveness of forward and backward reasoning in diverse valuation practice settings and develops a holistic model of valuation reasoning.

The findings of this study are applicable to valuation practice. Future training efforts need to evaluate the usefulness of teaching problem solving and explicitly recognise forward and backward reasoning, along with other problem-solving strategies uncovered in this study, as standard training strategies for influencing the quality of valuation decisions.

By adopting VPA, this study employs an insightful and rich dataset which allows an interpretation of thoughts of valuers into cognitive reasoning strategies that provide a deeper level of understanding of how valuers solve valuation problem; this has not been possible in previous related valuation studies.

Repercussions from the failure of WorldCom have profoundly affected all the company’s stakeholders. As evidence of malfeasance escalates, the company may prove to have been a mere mirage without substance or soul. This paper addresses one particular facet of the company’s dramatic and devastating demise. By authorizing personal loans to Bernie Ebbers, the board ultimately compromised the effectiveness and credibility of its own CEO. Moreover, its actions maligned the very shareholders that it was seeking to protect. The sequence of events at WorldCom raises red flags for any board that might be considering sweetheart loans to its CEO or fellow directors.

In its fiduciary role, the board of directors should select a CEO who mirrors the desired ethos of the company. If the board remains cognizant of cultural compatibility as a central criterion in the hiring process, it may engage in strategic oversight without undue interference in the internal operations of the business. Once the board has fulfilled its selection mandate, problems of cultural execution await the CEO, especially in companies trying to effect cultural change. By using human resources as a strategic lever, however, chief executives can meet the Board’s mandate for unity of purpose based on core values.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the investment characteristics of works by leading Australian artists.

About 35,805 paintings by 45 leading Australian artists sold at auction are used to construct individual hedonic price indices. The attributes included in each artist's hedonic regression model include the size and medium of the painting and the auction house and year sold.

The indexes show that average annual returns across all artists range between 4 and 15 per cent with a mean of 8 per cent, with the highest returns for works by Brett Whiteley, Jeffrey Smart, Cecil Brack and Margaret Olley. Risk‐adjusted returns are generally lower, with reward‐to‐volatility and reward‐to‐variability ratios averaging 1.5 and 5.8 per cent, respectively. The portfolio βs for individual artistic works average 0.41. The willingness‐to‐pay for perceived attributes in the artwork show that works executed in oils and gouache, and those auctioned by Deutscher‐Menzies, Sotheby's and Christies are generally associated with higher prices.

The returns on a buy‐and‐hold strategy in the Australian art market are at least comparable to the Australian stock market. While total risk is greater, the very low market risk found in almost all artistic portfolios is suggestive of the possible benefits of portfolio diversification through art investment. Moreover, a number of artist's works offer very superior market and non‐market risk‐adjusted performance.

This is the first Australian study to construct measures of risk, return, β and Sharpe and Treynor ratios for individual Australian artists.

This special issue of Facilities on “Strategic Issues for Facilities Managers” is very different in style from the editor‐generated issues of this journal, but it has been designed to achieve a particular purpose. It focuses on the business issues about which facilities managers need to be aware in order to plan the most effective deployment of corporate physical assets. In order that readers can acquire a good understanding of a wide variety of topics in a short period of time, the material is presented in the form of précis and short articles.

Examines the context of design of intelligent buildings. Considers the potential to create intelligent buildings during refurbishment in the light of refurbishment limits – quality and quantity of space, appearance of building. IT and services distribution and environmental performance. Concludes that refurbishment to provide intelligent buildings is viable if IT use is not high and building limits can be overcome, since it is faster, cheaper and more environmentally friendly than redevelopment.

A case analysis of training for managers using two published videos, a teamwork video and a leadership video is presented. The videos are described briefly and the approach to using them is outlined.

In small businesses, the owner is typically the dominant decision‐maker. An area of largely neglected consideration is the impact of the individual decision‐maker's “self monitoring” behavior, i.e., the degree to which he/she actively scans the business' external environment. This is an especially critical issue in the international business arena, where cultural differences are significant factors.