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Examines stakeholder attitudes about change and resistance to change in a management initiative within the US State Department. Resistance to change may be an obstacle to successful implementation of reinvention initiatives based on how individuals and organizations perceive their goals are affected by the change. This study suggests that improved identification and understanding of the underlying factors of resistance may improve implementation outcomes.

This paper aims to examine the destabilization effect in the case of India’s agricultural commodity market for the sample period of 01 January 2009 to 31 May 2013.

The daily data of eight agricultural commodities traded on the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange, viz., barley, castor seed, chana (chickpea), chilli, potato, pepper, refined soya and soybean, have been used in this study. At the first stage of the empirical analysis, the study estimates the time-varying spot market volatility by using the exponential generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity model and applies three different high and band-pass filters, viz., the two-sided linear band-pass filter by Hodrick and Prescott (1997), the fixed-length symmetric band-pass filter by Baxter and King (1999) and the asymmetric band-pass filter by Christiano and Fitzgerald (2003), to calculate the unexpected liquidity of sample commodities. At the second stage of the empirical analysis, the study applies linear Granger causality and recently developed non-linear causality given by Diks and Panchenko (2006) to examine the cause and effect between time-varying volatility of spot market and futures market liquidity of sample commodities.

The linear and non-linear causality results suggest the destabilizing effect of commodity futures on the underlying spot market for chana, chilli and pepper. The empirical findings are in contrast with the recommendations of Abhijit Sen’s committee and provide important direction for further policy research.

The study has a limitation in that it is based on the daily data. The use of intra-day data would have been more suitable for such type of analysis.

The study has strong policy implications from a financial policy perspective, as there is already disagreement among researchers and policy makers with regard to the functioning of commodity derivatives markets in India. There have been many occasions when commodity market regulators have to undertake decisions of suspension of trading of many commodities. The study also provides new directions of policy research with regards to the restructuring of the commodity derivatives market in India.

The findings of this study may further help the regulators and policy makers to undertake decisions about how to provide an alternative platform for farmers to sell their agricultural produce more efficiently. This will certainly have some impact on the socioeconomic set-up of the country, as India is primarily an agriculture-dominated country.

So far not many studies have investigated the destabilization hypothesis in the case of emerging markets. This study is a novel attempt to fill the gap. In the case of emerging markets and especially in the case of India’s commodity derivatives market, this is the first study that examines the destabilization hypothesis in the case of India by applying new methods of high and band-pass filters and non-linear causality.

The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the possible consequences of ban on futures trading of agriculture commodities in India by examining three critical issues: first, the author explores whether price discovery dominance changes between futures and spot in the pre-ban and post-relaunch phase both in the long run and short run. Second, the author examines the impact of ban and relaunch of futures trading on its underlying spot volatility for five sample cases of agriculture commodities (Wheat, Sugar, Soya Refined Oil, Rubber and Chana) using both parametric and non-parametric tests. Third, the author revisits the destabilization hypothesis in the light of ban on futures trading by examining the impact of unexpected component of liquidity of futures on spot volatility.

The author uses widely adopted methodology of co-integration to examine long-run relationship between spot and futures, while the short-run relationship is investigated using vector error correction model (VECM) and Granger causality to test price discovery in the pre-ban and post-relaunch phases. The second objective is explored using a combination of parametric and non-parametric tests such as Welch one-way ANOVA and Kruskal–Wallis test, respectively, to gauge the impact of ban on futures trading on spot volatility along with post hoc tests to investigate pairwise comparison of spot volatility among three phases (pre-ban, ban and post-relaunch) using Dunn Test. In addition, extensive robustness test is undertaken by adopting augmented E-GARCH model to ascertain the impact of ban and relaunch of futures trading on spot volatility. The third objective is investigated using Granger causality test between spot volatility and unexpected component of liquidity of futures estimated using Hodrick and Prescott (HP) filter to re-visit the destabilization hypothesis.

The author found extensive evidence for the dominance of futures market in the price discovery of agriculture commodities both in the pre-ban and post-relaunch phases in India. The ban on futures trading is found to have a destabilizing impact on spot volatility as evident from the findings of Wheat, Sugar and Rubber. In addition, it is observed that spot volatility was highest during the ban phase as compared to the pre-ban and post-relaunch phases for all four commodities barring Chana. The author found that destabilisation hypothesis holds true during the pre ban phase, while weakening of destabilization hypothesis is observed in the post-relaunch phase as unexpected futures liquidity has no role in driving the spot volatility.

This study is a novel attempt to empirically examine the potential impact of ban and relaunch of futures trading of agriculture commodities on two key market quality dimensions – price discovery and spot volatility. In addition, destabilization hypothesis is revisited to investigate the impact of futures trading on spot volatility during the pre-ban and post-relaunch period.

The authors investigate the 2008-2009 short-sales ban in Korea, one of the most comprehensive and restrictive short-selling bans worldwide. The purpose of this paper is to examine: whether the ban stopped a destabilizing effect, if there was any, of short-selling activities; whether the ban improved or deteriorated the informational efficiency or the price discovery process of the stock market; and whether the ban had any impact on market liquidity.

Multiple regression; vector autoregression analysis; and generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity analysis.

The authors find no evidence that short-sales have a market-destabilizing effect and thus, restricting short-selling has a market-stabilizing effect. On the contrary, the short-selling ban is associated with an increase in return volatility and a deterioration of the price discovery process, particularly for the stocks without derivatives traded on them. The authors also find evidence of a liquidity decrease for short-sale intensive stocks. However, the evidence is inconclusive as to whether the market efficiency and liquidity changes are solely the result of the short-sales ban or the compound effects of both the ban and the concurrent progress of the financial crisis.

The literature does not provide a conclusive view on the effects of short-sales or restrictions thereof on the stock market. Also, the existing research on recent worldwide shorting bans often lack empirical scope (e.g. 32 stocks for UK; three weeks for USA). In contrast, the short-sales ban in the Korean stock market, one of the most comprehensive and restrictive short-selling bans worldwide, lasted for eight months for all the listed stocks and is still in effect for financial stocks. The authors find no evidence that short-sales have a market-destabilizing effect and thus, restricting short-selling has a market-stabilizing effect.

Guar Gum (GG) is used in Shale oil exploration. Excessive price increase in the Guar futures market had a spillover impact on Guar spot prices and affected Guar export from India as Shale oil producers started exploring alternate sources. In this paper, the role of excessive speculation in the futures market, and its adverse impact on the guar-based agri-business ecosystem have been empirically explored.

Volatility spillover dynamics between WTI crude oil and Guar futures have been explored using bivariate-Granger Causality, BEKK–GARCH models with Wavelet multi-resolution analysis. The wavelet-based models capture the multi-scale features of mean and volatility spillover to identify the effect of heterogenous investment behavior in the time and frequency domain.

The results provide evidence that excessive speculation in futures markets increases spot market volatility. The results also suggest that the excess presence of short-term investors can destabilize the futures market.

The purpose of the commodity futures market is to support price discovery and risk management. However, speculative practices can destabilize these purposes leading to the failure of the business ecosystem.

The novelty of this paper is twofold. First, it explores the economic linkages between the spot and futures market and tests whether the presence of heterogeneous traders affects the economic linkages. Second, it models the impact of short-term speculative investment on the destabilization of the spot market.

Motivated by the unique characteristics and profit generating nature of real estate investments, this paper aims to study if investors herd differently in corresponding securities versus other non‐real estate securities.

The authors choose the Hong Kong stock market to form the sample to distinguish the herd behavior of the property stocks, if any, from stocks of other categories. The authors separate stocks into two portfolios, those made up of property stocks versus non‐property stocks, because it is widely known that property stocks have high market volatility and domination of institutional investors.

The authors find a persistent and significant smaller herding in property stocks. The result of a reverse U‐shape intraday herding pattern also provides a possible clue to previous studies of a U‐shape in intraday volatility pattern. The authors document that recent announcements of an increase in the short‐term interest rate have an additive effect on the herd behavior of market participants in trading property stocks. Lastly, on the conjecture that herding will further exemplify price instability arising from positive feedback trading while investors engage in positive feedback trading in both property stocks and non‐property stocks, such activity in the latter group lasts for a longer period. Furthermore, price instability of property stocks disappears at a faster pace than the counterpart.

This study shows that property stocks are more efficiently traded by investors than other types of stocks, at least in the Hong Kong stock market.

The purpose of this paper is to create an area profile of significant activity and possibility in higher education for sustainable development (ESD) in the island nations of the South Pacific Ocean.

This is a descriptive research paper on philosophy, policy, and practice according to a methodology of categorical analysis by developments, challenges, and prospects. The focus is on higher education institutions, particularly the University of the South Pacific, the regional university of 12 Island nations in Oceania. The developments and prospects are contextualized, however, in the larger regional Pacific Education for Sustainable Development Framework and the Action Plan for Sustainable Development in the Pacific Islands 2008‐2014. Academic programs, policy statements, and education projects are analyzed.

South Pacific universities possess rich missions that valorize traditional knowledge and culture. The region also has a sophisticated policy environment for sustainability. These factors create many opportunities for sustainability in higher education. Nevertheless, enormous challenges of distance, funding, cultural traditions, globalisation, and adaptation to the devastating effects of climate destabilisation make progress difficult. Successes and promising prospects are described, including a new major effort to mainstream higher ESD by creating a Pacific Network of Island Universities (the NIU Project), which will reach 13 nations, including Papua New Guinea.

Little analysis of sustainability in higher education has been done in this geographical area. The categorical approach of this paper will provide researchers with findings appropriate to several endeavors, including charting a way forward in sustainability in higher education in the South Pacific Island nations. South Pacific initiatives arising from the unique nature of island geography and tradition could illuminate for others what is called the “Pacific Way.” Comparative analysis to mainland nations in the Asia‐Pacific region may also prove useful to researchers and practitioners.

In 2004 a military agreement between the US and the Paraguayan government with the objective of strengthening the democratization process in this South American country came into effect. With immunity granted to the American forces, both armed forces carried out humanitarian operations and joint exercises. These joint exercises were principally concerned with combating local insurgent and terrorist groups. Paraguay's geo-political position in South America with its important natural resources and the existence of strong social movements in the country leave the observer to doubt the underlying reasons and hence the positive effects of democratization in the face of the disputable practices of the military. This article analyzes the short-term impact on civil society.

Although the process of fieldwork is often characterised by disorder, the requirement to adhere to a tightly defined methodology and produce timely research outputs often leads the authors to present the findings as though the research has been the product of a linear process. The purpose of this paper is to unmask this paradox, by documenting the disorder and development of a research project 15 years (so far) in duration.

The approach used in this paper is one of auto-ethnographic reflection, drawing on aspects of Boje’s living story approach, incorporating not only the “linear” narrative of the research process, but also fragments of ante-narrative, themes running above and below the dominant. Within the study, the authors are reflecting on, a range of qualitative methods, including interview, focus groups, memory-work, and living story (ante-narrative) methods, which are employed within a critical management research methodology.

The authors’ experiences show that although “messiness” may be an inherent part of qualitative research, it is this very disorder, and the consequent opportunities for time and space, that allows the research, and the researcher, “time to breathe”. This reflexivity allows for methodological development and refinement, and ultimately rigorous and participative research, which also honours the participants. The authors argue that although this approach may not align with the current need for prolific (and rapid) publication, in allowing the disorder to “be” in the research, and allowing the time to reassess theoretical and methodological lenses, the resultant stories may be more authentic – both the stories gathered from participants and the stories of research.

The paper highlights the intertwining of stories of participants and stories from research, which is a significant addition to understandings of the “messiness” of qualitative research. This paper adds to the growing call for the inclusion of “chaos” and authenticity in qualitative research, acknowledging and valuing the humanity of the researcher, and giving voice to the paradox between the time to methodologically develop, and the requirement for timely research.