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Suggests that businesses need a method specifically designed to assess the value of knowledge‐based system (KBS) investments. Explains the inadequacies of current valuation methods when they are applied to KBS investment decisions. Proposes a graphical valuation method which adapts the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) to overcome these inadequacies and help business executives make informed KBS investment decisions. Presents an example of the method’s application to a KBS at a large multinational sales and manufacturing company.

State and local public pension plans cover a significant number of workers and represent a major component of the nation's retirement system. This study examined the size‐administrative cost relationship of public pension plans to ascertain whether cost savings can be realized by increasing pension plan size. The results indicated that while the consolidation of smaller plans will generate administrative cost savings, the consolidation of larger plans will generate savings only up to an optimal membership size at which point cost savings will end. In addition, optimal size was found to differ for active and beneficiary members indicating that membership composition needs to be considered when assessing the potential for cost savings.

Much attention has recently been directed toward the relationship between the performance of firms and compensation received by their respective CEOs. We assess this relationship for commercial banks, as regulatory and other industry‐specific conditions can cause the performance‐compensation linkage in the banking industry to differ from that of industrial firms. We find that the accumulated human capital of CEOs and the bank size are positively related to the total compensation (including salary, bonus, and stock options) levels of bank CEOs. We also find a positive significant relationship between bank accounting performance proxies and CEO compensation level for all time horizons. Finally, we find a positive significant relationship between market‐based performance proxy and bank compensation.

The State of Delaware recently passed a new banking law that allows banks and bank affiliates chartered in Delaware to sell and underwrite insurance nationwide. The new laws provide two potential benefits to banks; (1) increased profits from selling insurance and (2) reduced interest rate risk exposure from underwriting insurance. We find support for increased profit potential to banks from the law, but we fail to find a reduction in the interest rate risk exposure of the banks.

This chapter relies on comparative case analysis to examine how and why particular social entrepreneurs in a higher Asian middle income economy broke new grounds in private higher education. The study provides arguments as to why these private higher education entrepreneurs, when viewed inclusively, are social entrepreneurs. Findings from the study suggest that social entrepreneurs distinctively used prior insights from their working experiences to harness the financial power of local capital to fund the scaling up of their social ventures while simultaneously engaging with the country’s economic and social challenges.

This paper presents a method designed to measure the value of Knowledge Based Systems (KBSs) to the employees involved in their development, implementation and use at an organisation. The method is based upon the scoring approach to valuation. The major advantage of using this approach stems from the fact that many KBSs are typified by numerous intangible benefits and costs. Traditional cost benefit models are unable to account for the contribution of intangible benefits to the value of an evolving KBS project. The method presented here overcomes this difficulty by using managers, users, and experts involved in a KBS project to measure its perceived value from both tangible and intangible sources. It produces an overall measure of value which is separated into three critical categories ‐ time, finances, and quality. Time and finances are tangible, while quality is intangible. These categories are meaningful to decision makers at all organisational levels and are critical in making an informed investment decision. The paper applies the method to two KBS projects from a large manufacturing and sales organisation. Suggestions are made for practical uses to which the method can be applied.

Recent sociological research highlights the growth of military expenditures in hi-tech, capital-intensive armaments and technology. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of these capital-intensive expenditures on two related health outcomes: under-five mortality and life expectancy.

This research utilizes a series of cross-national panel models estimated for a diverse sample of developed and less-developed countries from 1975 to 2000.

The authors find that hi-tech military expenditures increase under-five mortality and reduce life expectancy over the period studied, by reducing the number and type of soldiers able to take advantage of increased health-related resources obtained in the military and indirectly, by increasing income inequality, which negatively impacts these health outcomes.

This cross-national study should be supplemented by case studies to better understand the processes being examined.

The increase in capital-intensive military expenditures found worldwide reduces the total number of soldiers in the military and raises their enlistment requirements. This makes it difficult for people with limited human capital to take advantage of the military’s traditional pathway for upward mobility. New pathways for mobility will have to be developed to avoid the creation of a new permanent underclass.

There are significant social policy implications for the findings. Hi-tech military expenditures have a significant negative impact on the short- and long-term health outcomes of children and adults, in both developed and less-developed countries, which must be addressed by public policy planners.

This is one of a handful of sociological studies on the impact of military establishment on society. These findings highlight the importance of “bringing the military back in” to the forefront of sociological research.

In recent years, guides to hiking trails and wilderness areas have enjoyed an increase in popularity. Here, Douglas J. Ernest and Lewis B. Herman evaluate more than 100 such books.