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The paper seeks to present a novel conceptual framework that integrates the strategic dynamics of the firm with changes in its governance systems.

The agency research agenda is extended to include other corporate governance roles, such as resource and strategy functions, alongside monitoring and control functions. Theoretical arguments are supported by empirical data related to the founder‐manager/IPO, IPO/maturity, maturity/decline and reinvention thresholds.

The paper shows that corporate governance parameters may be linked to strategic thresholds in the firm's life‐cycle. Successful transition over a threshold is accompanied by a rebalancing in the structure and roles of corporate governance compared with each previous stage in the cycle.

In the absence of longitudinal data relating to firms as they pass through all life‐cycle stages the study has been restricted to reporting illustrative data from different studies regarding each strategic threshold. Further research might usefully undertake detailed long‐term case studies using a combination of archival and interview data to trace the evolution of firms across the four thresholds.

This paper develops a novel conceptual framework that integrates the strategic dynamics of the firm with changes in its governance systems. It rejects the notion of a universal governance template and argues that corporate governance parameters may be linked to transitions from one stage to another in the firm's life‐cycle. Accordingly, it argues that changes in a firm's strategic positioning may be associated with rebalancing between the wealth‐protection and wealth‐creation functions of governance.

The aim of this paper is to review the structure of road accident data, the database framework within which it is stored, and the potential for exploiting a hierarchical structure using multilevel statistical models. Most national accident databases regard accidents as the primary units of observation, with other characteristics stored as attributes. But it is more natural to picture the network, accidents, and other variables as a collection of related objects within a hierarchical system, which can be achieved using object-oriented database technology within a Geographical Information System (GIS) framework. This would permit more efficient data capture and storage, facilitate analysis of accident frequencies as a function of road layout, and facilitate the development of multilevel statistical models.

It is now curious to recall that ten years ago management buy‐outs were infrequent and largely ignored by those not directly involved, (Arnfield et.al., 1981). During the subsequent decade a previously unrecognised oddity has become not merely commonplace but a major force in restructuring the private sector and in privatising public services. In 1989 there were over 500 recorded management buy‐outs (MBO's) and associated deals to a total value of £7.5 billion. In the same year these transactions accounted for 22% of all mergers and acquisitions by value and almost one third by volume. Furthermore, in the latter half of the 1980s the MBO spread to Europe and now appears poised to become a major instrument in dismantling the state industries of Eastern Europe.

Schools face a formidable task as they come to terms with the effective management of the special educational needs response in the light of changes in culture, legislation and public expectations. Explores new ground in the development of flexible training modules which are designed to be practical and relevant for schools. These modules are designed collaboratively between serving teachers, LEA staff and local providers of accredited training. The process which has evolved ensures flexibility and maximizes the most efficient use of GEST and LEA funding.

Although it has been argued that overconfidence can lead to failure (Hayward et al., forthcoming), business failure can undermine assumptions about the self that are integral to (1) confidence in one's decision-making accuracy and (2) the motivation to engage in tasks.

Cognition has always been central to the popular way of thinking about entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs imagine a different future. They envision or discover new products or services. They perceive or recognize opportunities. They assess risk, and figure out how to profit from it. They identify possible new combinations of resources. Common to all of these is the individual’s use of their perceptual and reasoning skills, what we call cognition, a term borrowed from the psychologists’ lexicon.