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To develop a decision framework for the planning and development of a flexible manufacturing system (FMS).

A systematic weighted property index approach for FMS development decisions is developed to evaluate various design options. This methodology converts design property values of differing orders of magnitude into a unitless system where an overall evaluation of the options can be made.

Major design choices related to the implementation of an educational FMS are identified, and considerations affecting each choice are discussed. A methodology for the selection of the appropriate FMS is then developed and demonstrated.

Provides a useful framework for evaluating various options in FMS development and selecting an appropriate system for a given environment and situation.

Identifies the major design choices related to the implementation of an educational FMS, provides practical examples taken from the development of FMSs at Southwest Missouri State University and the University of Missouri‐Rolla, and presents a systematic methodology for FMS design decision making.

Academics believe that shareholder and management interests can be productively aligned by directly linking CEO compensation to firm performance (Abowd [1990], Agrawal & Mankelder [1987], Lewellen, Loderer & Martin [1987], and Haugen & Senbet [1981]). Stockholders prefer CEOs pursuing strategies that maximise risk adjusted stock returns, but CEOs are assumed to be interested in strategies that maximise their personal wealth. If rewarded through their pay packages to increase the size of the firm, CEOs may overgrow the firm at shareholder expense to reach that end.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance (D&O insurance hereafter) on corporate governance and firm performance, with a specific focus on investment efficiency.

Using a sample of Chinese A-share listed firms from the period 2007 to 2020, this study uses Ordinary Least Squares regressions to investigate the research questions, as well as moderating and mediating effects. Additionally, alternative measures of investment efficiency are used, and the Heckman two-stage model and propensity score matching model are used to demonstrate the consistency of the findings and to mitigate the risk of endogeneity.

The findings of this study suggest that purchasing D&O insurance has a detrimental impact on corporate investment efficiency, particularly in the context of over-investment activities; robust internal governance mechanisms, exemplified by a higher shareholding ratio of the top shareholder and enhanced internal control quality, alleviate this negative effect; and financing constraints act as a mediating factor in the association between D&O insurance and investment efficiency.

Corporate investment efficiency is of significant importance for both national macroeconomic growth and micro-enterprise development. Notably, the prevalence of D&O insurance among Chinese firms is progressively increasing, thus exerting a growing influence. This study contributes to the existing literature on D&O insurance and corporate investment efficiency, providing valuable insights into the economic impact of D&O insurance on Chinese firms. The empirical evidence presented herein facilitates future reforms and adjustments.

To study the perception of dividends by the professional investor, for whom mutual fund managers are a proxy. The main line of research in dividends is based on using market data that are fit, ex post, to a cherished hypothesis. It is believed, however, that such data cannot measure motivation which is the underlying force behind generating market data. An understanding of motivation will give us more insight into the dividend paradox (why shareholders love dividends) than just the surface reality one can glean from market data.

Using a survey instrument, the method of analysis (not methodology) is factor analysis and hierarchical grouping that uncovers three distinct groups of professional investors re their attitude towards dividend. This categorization clearly shows that the dividends are perceived differently by the groups found here. Thus, research in dividends cannot follow a traditional route in which the phenomenon is treated as universal, or something similar to a natural occurrence.

Three groups from the more traditional: the more growth‐oriented, aggressive; and a middle‐of‐the‐road group are posited. Although there are some uniformly accepted tenets across the groups, nevertheless, the more traditional group attributes far more importance to dividends than the growth‐oriented group. The latter group perceives dividends as something needed to pacify the shareholder. It is also concluded that none of the academic hypotheses contrived to explain dividend behavior can be supported by empirical evidence. The interesting result is, nevertheless, that the ex post group performance is not significantly different between each possible pairing of the three groups.

As all empirical research goes, results cannot be all‐conclusive, because of time and participation in the sample. This fact alone should not grind to a halt all empirical work. This work is part of a segment of three different studies examining the perception of dividends by corporate managers, and across countries. The next logical step is obviously studying the perception of dividends by the non‐professional investor.

This kind of work was almost never done. This is a first, because unfortunately traditional research that dominates most finance journals does not believe that motivation counts. First, because it satisfies one's desire to better understand the dividend puzzle. But it should be of interest to all who want to study the dividend decision in the firm, and why shareholders love dividends, something entirely not rational as far as economic rationality goes.

This chapter reviews work that examines the potential causes of inequality for women in employment in the UK. Amongst developed economies and based on mean hourly earnings, the UK has one of the highest gender pay gaps (ILO, 2018). The UK, therefore, illustrates some of the key theoretical and practical issues associated with greater gender equality that affect other countries to varying degrees. This chapter sets out key theoretical perspectives on gender inequality, summarizes important research, identifies research gaps and provides an agenda for future research. It highlights how there is no simple explanation for the disparities in pay between men and women; these disparities persist in the UK and elsewhere. Theories and empirical analyses, therefore, need to expand to identify other potential causes of gender inequality, extending ‘upwards’ to examine how the nature of firms varies across countries and ‘downwards’ to assess how union representatives influence equal opportunity policies in organizations.

This paper studies the relationship between NBA players’ salaries and their performance on the basketball court. In other industries executive compensation has been found to have a weak yet significant link to company performance. We find a positive and significant relationship between an NBA player’s salary and a player’s points per game and rebounds per game for 1997‐98 basketball season. These results may be improved by considering qualitative factors and including more years of data.

A replication of Boush’s exploratory study provides further evidence about how advertising slogans prime evaluations of brand extensions. Two hypotheses are investigated. First, that a brand extension will be rated as more similar to existing family‐branded products if the advertising slogan primes attributes that the brand extension shares with existing products than if the slogan primes attributes that the brand extension does not share with the existing family‐branded products. Second, given a positively evaluated brand, a brand extension will be evaluated more positively if the advertising slogan primes features that the extension shares with existing family‐branded products than if the slogan primes attributes that the brand extension does not share with existing family‐branded products. The research shows priming can play an important role in supporting or undermining a brand extension strategy by drawing attention to attributes either that a new product has in common with existing products or that conflict with existing products.

To explore what suffering is, how suffering is embedded within the sociology of sport literature, and what suffering can do to athletes in sport. In addition, to discuss the value of an interdisciplinary approach and co-presence when researching athletes in suffering.

In the first part of the chapter, the concepts of pain, violence, and suffering are separated, and a justification for the study of suffering in sport is given. The second part of the chapter details sport and social problems, and the suffering body in sport is discussed, pulling from interdisciplinary theories and methodologies of suffering external to the sociology of sport.

Social inequalities and hidden forms of suffering may be reproduced in sport. Sport is questioned as a force of social mobility for vulnerable people. The context of sport can offer ‘healing’ properties for people in suffering. The impact of using an interdisciplinary approach and considering co-presence and relational suffering when researching suffering is discussed.

The difficulties understanding the complex, multi-dimensional nature of suffering are shared. New ways of engaging within the research act and specific theoretical approaches are suggested for improving the understanding of suffering within sport.