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Presents over sixty abstracts summarising the 1999 Employment Research Unit annual conference held at the University of Cardiff. Explores the multiple impacts of globalization on work and employment in contemporary organizations. Covers the human resource management implications of organizational responses to globalization. Examines the theoretical, methodological, empirical and comparative issues pertaining to competitiveness and the management of human resources, the impact of organisational strategies and international production on the workplace, the organization of labour markets, human resource development, cultural change in organisations, trade union responses, and trans‐national corporations. Cites many case studies showing how globalization has brought a lot of opportunities together with much change both to the employee and the employer. Considers the threats to existing cultures, structures and systems.

We hypothesize that a CEO’s responsiveness to security analysts’ demands for information about the firm is influenced by the structure of the CEO’s compensation package. Our analysis is based on a sample of 469 CEO presentations to security analyst societies by 149 firms during the period 1984‐1988. Consistent with the argu ments of Nagar (1999; 1998) that CEO shareholdings and golden parachutes reduce the cost to the CEO of disclosing proprietary information, we find that CEO share holdings and the presence of golden parachutes are positively associated with the total amount of information that a CEO discloses at an analyst society presentation. Consistent with the argument that CEOs whose cash compensation is sensitive to firm performance have incentives to release bad news so as to lower expectations about future performance and, hence, bonus targets, CEO cash compensation performance sensitivities are positively associated with the CEO’s willingness to disclose bad news.

Gives an in depth view of the strategies pursued by the world’s leading chief executive officers in an attempt to provide guidance to new chief executives of today. Considers the marketing strategies employed, together with the organizational structures used and looks at the universal concepts that can be applied to any product. Uses anecdotal evidence to formulate a number of theories which can be used to compare your company with the best in the world. Presents initial survival strategies and then looks at ways companies can broaden their boundaries through manipulation and choice. Covers a huge variety of case studies and examples together with a substantial question and answer section.

Explains why financial analysts could find it useful to separate past earnings into discretionary accruals and earnings before discretionary accruals; referring to related research to develop hypotheses on the effects of both on the change in analysts’ earnings forecasts for the subsequent year. Tests these on a sample of 142 US manufacturing firms and presents the results which suggest that analysts do not decompose past earnings. Discusses three possible interpretations of the results and supports Sloan’s (1996) finding that the capital market does not seem to price accruals rationally.

Refers to previous research on the accuracy of financial analysts’ earnings forecasts and explores the differences in accuracy for loss making and non‐loss making firms using 1985‐1993 US data. Finds an optimistic bias for both types of firms (smaller for more recent forecasts); which is greater for loss making firms even after controlling for forecast horizon, year of forecast and industry. Considers possible explanations for this finding and consistency with other research.

Outlines previous research on the effects of bond rating changes on the share prices of US banks, noting opposing views on whether they contain new information. Examines revisions in analysts’ earnings forecasts for downgraded and non‐downgraded banks (separating regional banks from large money centres) to test the value of this information using 1981‐1991 data on 14 downgrades of money centre banks; and explains the methodology used. Shows that downgrades affected forecasts for the downgraded banks and other money centre banks but not for regional banks. Concludes that bond rating agencies assist market discipline by providing useful information on risk.

Presents a special issue, enlisting the help of the author’s students and colleagues, focusing on age, sex, colour and disability discrimination in America. Breaks the evidence down into manageable chunks, covering: age discrimination in the workplace; discrimination against African‐Americans; sex discrimination in the workplace; same sex sexual harassment; how to investigate and prove disability discrimination; sexual harassment in the military; when the main US job‐discrimination law applies to small companies; how to investigate and prove racial discrimination; developments concerning race discrimination in the workplace; developments concerning the Equal Pay Act; developments concerning discrimination against workers with HIV or AIDS; developments concerning discrimination based on refusal of family care leave; developments concerning discrimination against gay or lesbian employees; developments concerning discrimination based on colour; how to investigate and prove discrimination concerning based on colour; developments concerning the Equal Pay Act; using statistics in employment discrimination cases; race discrimination in the workplace; developments concerning gender discrimination in the workplace; discrimination in Japanese organizations in America; discrimination in the entertainment industry; discrimination in the utility industry; understanding and effectively managing national origin discrimination; how to investigate and prove hiring discrimination based on colour; and, finally, how to investigate sexual harassment in the workplace.

Outlines previous research on the relationship between stock returns and earnings and investigates the effects of divergence between security analysts’ earnings forecasts on this relationship. Uses cross‐sectional analysis, time series and variable parameter models on 1981‐88 US data to see whether the stock returns‐earnings coefficient decreases with increased disagreement between analysts and shows that it does. Considers the implications for policy makers and accounting research design; and consistency with other research.

This article questions the validity of regression models when high correlations exist between independent variables and presents the application of VAR as an alternative technique through the comparison of two groups of selected stocks that represent components of Dow Jones and S&P 500 indices, respectively. The results indicate that panel regressions face serious specification problems, while the impulse response function underlines that the shock to the volume innovation has a mostly positive impact on the volatility in both S&P and Dow Jones sample, but the tendency cannot be easily accounted for. The positive impact of volatility shocks on the inter market depth is rather unexpected, but it may be associated with an increase in volume that does not enormously enhance the spread up to the point where it will be too costly for market‐makers to trade, and accordingly, quickly narrows the spread to absorb new liquidity influx in the market. In the Granger causality tests Dow Jones stocks with comparatively larger average volume depth values and price levels provide slightly stronger relations between analyzed variables compared to the stocks included in the S&P sample.

Discusses research ideas on the distinctions between data, information and knowledge, the categories of knowledge and knowledge‐processing activities in Holsapple and Whinston’s (HW’s) taxonomy (1987, 1988a, 1988b), and their application to markets and the activities of the firm. Describes a manufacturing firm’s inputs, production processes and outputs in terms of HW’s taxonomy, pointing out that management must filter the information surrounding the firm to turn it into knowledge of various types, e.g. descriptive, derived, assimilative etc. Considers the role of information for customers of and investors in the firm; and the relationship between knowledge and efficiency. Identifies three types of knowledge workers (builders, stewards and appliers) and calls for further research on the taxonomy of knowledge and standards of knowledge within the finance discipline.