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We examine the benefits of active international mutual fund management. Is there an advantage to active fund management over investing in index funds? Previous research has found that for domestic funds, active fund management can not outperform index funds. But there has been no clear conclusion as to active international mutual fund management. We utilize Morningstar Mutual Fund data to analyze five international mutual fund categories, and overall, for a sample of 831 funds with 4,835 annual return data points. We find the difference in mean return (index minus fund return) is negative for all fund categories, except for Europe funds. The difference is significant overall and for four of the five fund categories. The results from the multivariate regression show no relationship between total return and expense ratio, but there is a significant positive relationship between total return and turnover, and a significant positive relationship between total return and fund size (LN net assets). As opposed to domestic mutual funds, it appears to be beneficial to select actively managed international mutual funds over index funds.

New technologies have provided new tools we may use as finance professors to communicate with our students. Instant messaging (IM) has become a common communication tool in industry and among students. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of IM as a communication tool in finance courses.

After reviewing the advantages and disadvantages of IM, the students were surveyed to determine how they viewed IM in comparison to other communication techniques.

The paper finds that 50 per cent or students use IM at any time (not just for class). The majority of the IM users, use it several times a day and have used it for two to three years. Only about 15.7 per cent of our students have used IM for our classes. The range of IM usage in the classes is 7‐25 per cent. Of those students who have used IM for our courses, they have used it 2‐5 times during the semester and almost all students found it useful. Students were asked to rate various methods of professor/student communication. The students strongly like face‐to‐face communication, followed by (in order of preference) email, IM, and telephone. Students disagree with the statement that IM is a substitute for face‐to‐face interaction and agree that IM is a supplement to face‐to‐face interaction.

The findings suggest ways to improve communications with students and other persons.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of the Sarbanes‐Oxley (SOX) Act of 2002 on small corporations when compared to large firms and to investigate differences perceived by small and large firms with respect to costs and internal controls.

A questionnaire containing 20 questions (five demographic and 15 addressing issues related to SOX implementation) was mailed to 5,479 board members, chief executive officers (CEOs) and chief financial officers (CFOs) of 676 separate firms with 117 completed surveys returned.

The results of the study show significant differences in the responses between small and large firms concerning: the overall impact of SOX on the firm; the amount of time dedicated to SOX; the role of the external auditor; the firm's implementation stage; the most significant challenges due to SOX implementation; the corporate governance reforms instituted; and changes in board compensation.

The basic limitation of this paper is the low‐response rate (slightly more than 2 per cent) which is not surprising since CEOs, CFOs, and board of directors have a low tendency to respond to surveys.

The findings of this paper suggest that: recent actions taken by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are appropriate in providing much needed relief for smaller public firms; and lend support for further actions of assistance by the SEC. This paper is of value to academicians, practitioners and to an international audience engaged in the harmonization of accounting standards.

The transition countries have been pursuing a market economy since the early 1990s. Crucial reforms in the banking and financial sectors are necessary to provide a financial structure that supports a market economy, particularly the private and enterprise sector, leading to economic growth. This paper examines the banking and financial development in the transition countries. Arguments for banking reforms are made and the conditions for an efficient banking system are examined. A comparison in the progress of banking reforms and economic growth provides useful lessons not only for the transition countries but for developing and other emerging countries. Lastly, policy choices are suggested for the transition countries.

Publicly-held companies collectively allocate tens of millions of dollars each year to investor relations, yet little research has been conducted into how investor relations officers (IROs) try to determine the effectiveness of this investment. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the above issues.

This exploratory study is based on a survey (n=384) of IROs who are members of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI), the world's largest professional investor relations association.

Respondents strongly rebuked using share price as a valid measure of investor relations performance. A factor analysis revealed that IROs use four factors to measure program success (listed in order of stated importance): first, international C-suite assessment; second, relationship assessment; third, outreach assessment; and fourth, external assessment. IROs at large-cap companies place significantly more importance on both C-suite assessment and relationship assessment than their peers at small-caps.

These results may not be generalizable to IROs who are non-NIRI members or investor relations consultants. Cross-cultural studies on this topic are needed.

The evaluative factors that emerged in this study may be used by IROs to develop and refine their evaluation metrics relative to their peers.

This is one of the first and largest studies to specifically examine program measurement and evaluation in the context of investor relations. These findings help set the stage for future work in this area.

Discusses pricing decision making, one of the oldest marketing topics, including several pricing methods. Presents a strategic pricing framework, developed from pricing literature. Presents rules for evaluating strategic pricing alternatives. Offers a model for marketers to explain and improve pricing decision‐making.

The purpose of this paper was to test the mediating role of training duration in relationship between firm characteristics and training evaluation practices. In this paper, the authors also investigated if this mediating effect differs with respect to the size of the firm.

The authors collected data from 260 professionals of 90 call centers.

The authors found that training duration mediates the relationship between firm size and training evaluation. The authors also found that indirect effect of firm size on training evaluation through training duration differs across different levels of firm size but not across different levels of ownership.

This is a cross-sectional study that emphasized on training evaluation practices only.

The study has implication for both evaluation researchers and practitioners in terms of designing training evaluation policies and practices.

This is the first study in its nature that explains the intervening role of training duration in relationship of firm characteristics and training evaluation practices.

Wonders whether companies actually have employees best interests at heart across physical, mental and spiritual spheres. Posits that most organizations ignore their workforce – not even, in many cases, describing workers as assets! Describes many studies to back up this claim in theis work based on the 2002 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference, in Cardiff, Wales.