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Manufacturers find bottom of the pyramid (BOP) markets challenging to serve due to low margins and highly localized needs. As such, residents in BOP markets often go without products commonly available in developed countries. Going without medical equipment may negatively affect healthcare services. This study develops a supply chain design strategy that supports the production of medical equipment by preserving variety flexibility at low volumes that stands to create new market opportunities for manufacturers and improve healthcare for residents in BOP markets.

The authors introduce a mass-customization model called options-based planning (OBP) which offers a framework to both leverage the efficiencies of high volume production models and provide products that are customized to local market needs. An empirical simulation, grounded in data collected from a large international manufacturer of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment, illustrates how an OBP production strategy will likely perform under BOP conditions and facilitate the delivery of healthcare equipment to BOP markets.

OBP provides a means for manufacturers to provide the customization necessary to serve fragmented BOP markets, while enabling higher production volume to make serving these markets more feasible. The empirical simulation reveals the relative benefits of OBP under conditions of forecast uncertainty, product complexity (number of design parameters) and different levels of responsiveness.

Increased access to modern medical equipment should improve healthcare outcomes for consumers in BOP markets.

The MRI context in BOP markets serves to illustrate the value of the OBP model for manufacturers.

Managerial practice differs from standard capital budgeting theory in a number of respects. For example, managers often take projects that have negative NPV (e.g., R & D investments) due to their flexibility, synergy strategic positioning etc. Furthermore, managers continue to use accounting‐based measures in capital budgeting even though NPV is widely accepted as the only correct valuation measure. In fact, managers and strategists probably have always attempted to intuitively attach value to a variety of “strategic” and other concerns, even when they couldn't quantify them.

The purpose of this paper is to identify means of better associating executive remuneration with managerial decision making and firm performance.

The authors evaluate the influence of conditional accounting conservatism on CEO compensation. The authors focus particularly on the ex ante pay-for-performance sensitivity (PPS) of CEO stock option grants. The empirical method used is panel data regression.

The authors find that accounting conservatism is positively related to the PPS of CEO option-based compensation. The effects of accounting conservatism on the PPS of options are more significant for firms with relatively weaker corporate governance and for the period before the introduction of FAS 123R. The findings suggest that directors reward CEOs for adopting accounting conservatism, both in general terms and incrementally, and that rewards are channelled through incentive-linked compensation. The results are also consistent with the view that accounting conservatism compliments other mechanisms, such as corporate governance, in reducing information asymmetry and agency problems between managers and shareholders and other stakeholders.

This paper provides a number of important contributions to the literature. It is the first to identify a relationship between accounting conservatism and option-based CEO compensation, which has important potential contracting and enforcement implications due to the incomplete nature of option contracts and the reward and risk attributes of CEOs. This paper is also the first to analyse the association between conditional accounting conservatism and CEO compensation at the firm–year level, by employing the firm–year conservatism score approach proposed by Khan and Watts (2009). This provides for greater insight regarding the interaction between accounting conservatism and other firm-specific elements than is otherwise obtainable from an overall firm or year interpretations derived from the traditional Basu (1997) asymmetric timeliness model approach. Furthermore, this paper also provides a comparison of the relative association of accounting conservatism on both explicit and implicit forms of CEO compensation for the same firm sample. This allows for the assessment of whether accounting conservatism relates differently to incentive-based CEO remuneration relative to ex post CEO compensation outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether firms manage the total value of stock option grants downward after the implementation of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) 123R to reduce their reported option expenses.

All Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 1500 firms with available stock option data in 2004 and 2006 are included in the analysis. The authors analyze if the total value of options granted, the per share fair value of options granted, the number of options granted as well as each individual input assumption have changed from the pre-SFAS 123R (i.e. 2004) to the post-SFAS 123R (i.e. 2006) period. We compare post-SFAS123R option pricing assumptions and per share fair value of options granted with their respective expected values to verify the results. We also analyze whether SFAS 123R has differential effects on firms which chose to disclose option expense only in footnotes (“disclosing firms”) versus firms which voluntarily recognized option expense (“recognizing firms”) prior to SFAS 123R.

The results show that after SFAS 123R, the total fair value of stock options granted for disclosing firms declined significantly. The decrease appears to result from managerial discretion over volatility and dividend yield assumptions as well as the reduction in the number of options granted. The evidence suggests that firms engage in not only assumption-based manipulations but also real activities to lower reported stock option expenses. It was also found that disclosing firms lower the total fair value of stock options granted to a greater extent than recognizing firms.

This study adds to prior literature that examines the opportunistic incentives for managers to use discretion in reporting stock option expenses. This study contributes to the earnings management literature by providing another example of manipulating earnings through real activities. Finally, our study should be of interest to regulators and investors.

This paper aims to present a new framework for climate change vulnerability, impact and adaptation (VIA) assessment. Greater attention has been given in recent years to the importance of conducting climate change VIA assessment prior to, or as part of, climate change adaptation strategies and projects. A VIA assessment provides decision-makers and project developers with information on the location and causes of vulnerability based on local knowledge and scientific data, so that effective adaptation responses that are targeted and site-specific can be designed. A challenge facing practitioners in this field is the lack of clear methodologies or agreed frameworks on how to conduct a VIA assessment.

This paper presents a VIA methodological framework that has been developed through three sub-regional pilot assessments on vulnerability and impacts of climate change, as part of the Regional Gateway for Technology Transfer and Action on Climate Change in Latin America and The Caribbean.

While it is recognized that methodologies and tools may differ depending on the unique local context of the study area and sector under analysis, there are key components that every assessment needs to consider.

The framework proposed can assist practitioners to deliver outputs from VIAs that are holistic, and provide the most appropriate type of information required for effective, context-specific adaptation responses.

Discusses the loss of job security and the expecation that employees will undertake a number of jobs in their career have led to a loss of employee loyalty. Shows career development as a formal approach by organizations to ensure the right staff are available for their needs and ensures employees do not have obsolete skills. Suggests that the employee is responsible for career planning and the organization is responsible for career management. Considers strategies for future career development, assistance companies can give and the effects of change on employees.

The financial analysis of international investment decisions is complex. The basic methodology which homes in on incremental cash flows needs to be refined in order to focus upon cash flows which are remittable to the parent company, for it is only these that would logically add shareholder value. Build in the complications of two lots of tax and changing exchange rates and the equation looks anything but simple. But there is another complexity too which renders the traditional discounting methodology less than wholly appropriate. And this applies not just to international investment but to any situation where capital is committed with an option to expand or curtail embedded in it. This is not to say that the typical model cannot be adapted to meet the situation. It can and it is not too difficult.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact on selected financial performance indicators of Indian firms adopting employee stock option (ESO) schemes, if they recognize expenses and adopting fair‐value method of accounting pursuant to International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 2.

The CMIE Prowess database was searched for Indian firms having stock option schemes and issue of shares pursuant to that scheme during the years ended 31 March 2007 and 31 March 2008. The data on financial performance were hand picked from the annual report of the sample companies. The impact of expense recognition on financial performance indicators were computed by using memorandum disclosures in directors' reports on use of fair value methods for ESO accounting. A non‐parametric Kruskal‐Wallis test was employed to find out the statistical significance of the impact. The role of firm growth characteristics on impact of expense recognition was also investigated.

The impact of recognizing expenses associated with stock option compensation varies considerably by entity and such recognition would have a material impact on key performance measure for at least 22 percent of the sample companies. Contrary to expectation, firm growth characteristics were found to have no statistical significance in explaining impact of expense recognition.

The sample is restricted to India and may not be reflective of other countries. Also, this study considers the impact of expense recognition as if the requirements of IFRS 2 were adopted in 2006‐2007/2007‐2008 financial year and accordingly, may not be reflective of the situation that may prevail in 2011 when transition to IFRS set of standards will be applicable to Indian companies, as those entities may have altered their compensation contracts.

Indian firms will be required to prepare financial statements based on IFRS set of standards w.e.f. April 2011. IFRS 2, share‐based payments is not yet adopted in India. Overall, the significance of accounting changes associated with the adoption of IFRS 2 may not be very alarming for Indian companies with ESO schemes.

This study attempts to enrich empirical research in the field and provides an insight into the potential contractual and valuation implication of the adoption of one of the IFRS set of standards on Indian firms and also provides contrary evidence of the role of growth characteristics in explaining the impact of expense recognition.

The volume of municipal bond insurance declined dramatically following the financial crisis of 2008. Insurance now is making a gradual comeback. Two related considerations complicate identification of the best insurance plan. One is the current practice in the municipal market of issuing callable bonds with an above-market coupon; such bonds are very likely to be refunded. The other is that the cost of insurance may depend on when the bonds are refunded. This paper shows how contemporary fixed income analytics can be applied to identifying the best payment plan.

When the structure of the bond issue is fixed, the benefit from insurance is simply in the increase in proceeds from the better pricing. The debt service is adjusted to incorporate the cashflows associated with insurance. The optimum time of refunding depends on the adjusted cashflows. The effective insurance cost is the difference between the present value of the debt service with and without the adjustment for insurance payments.

The timing of refunding is a critical determinant of which premium payment plan is the best deal. For a given bond structure, the likelihood of refunding favors plans that are contingent on that event.

The paper proposes an analytically rigorous approach to identifying the most cost-effective bond insurance plan. The findings are relevant to participants in municipal finance, including issuers and their advisors, underwriters and bond insurance companies.

THE three paramount goals that govern the overall planning process at Gulf Oil Corporation are: