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In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.

The use per issue‐day of recent issues of 125 periodicals on open access at the Science Reference Library (SRL) has been studied for over four months. There is statistical evidence for the expected separate phase within ‘updating’ of ‘current awareness scanning’ of issues which have arrived since the reader's last visit to the library: its half‐life of two to three months reflects the pattern of reader‐visit frequencies rather than any characteristics of the literature. The isolated uses of issues of periodicals, representing a part of ‘following up searches’, showed no significant relation between use and age. The irregular monographic and conference series, with their unpredictable dates of arrival at the shelf, were not subject to current awareness scanning. Of the regular periodicals in the two chemical technologies, ‘magazines’ were more heavily used than ‘journals’ and, as expected, issues in the English language more heavily than those in foreign languages: these differences were less marked in chemical sciences than in chemical technologies. The results include figures for the variances of use data. These were so high as to suggest that lists of periodical titles ranked by use per issue data are of very little value in critical decisions between one little used title and another. Differences in rank, resulting from a difference of less than fifteen uses obtained from less than five monthly surveys, are unlikely to be significant. Ranking by use per title instead of by use per issue (or equivalent) tends to arrange journals in size order.

The purpose of this paper is to find the root cause of the current issue for a scan drive mechanism which is used to drive and to control the Microwave Radiometer Imager (MWRI) equipment of the FY‐3 meteorological satellite in China.

In order to find the root cause of the irregularly unstable motor current, some possible reasons for this anomaly, including satellite dynamic, telemetry, electronics and mechanism system, are investigated. The root cause is focused on the mechanism that is increasing friction caused by limitation rollers striking the rotating part from time to time, which has been verified by simulation and test.

Findings gained from the simulations and tests results were: for a rotational space mechanism with high velocity accuracy requirement, if the moment of inertial (MOI) of the load is quite large, the balance is the key factor to the equipment performance. Moreover, thermal gradient and temperature difference are also important factors, especially to the space mechanism with large dimensions. Even a very small thermal deformation can lead to quite a number of unexpected results.

The better performance of the next optimized MWRI equipment in orbit showed that the performed measures are very effective and useful. The experience gained in settling this issue can be used for the design of a space scanning mechanism with high rotating speed and high accuracy.

The paper is an original work for the authors. The issue has not been found in the related literatures. It is based on research work on an engineering problem of unstable current issue, which is significant to the MWRI payload of the FY‐3 satellite.

The rapidly changed global context for internationalization (IZN) over the next decade prompted a decision to use a futurist perspective for identifying issues to be considered in the organization’s next strategic plan. This paper aims to report on this project to identify current and strategic issues influencing the future strategy of the higher education (HE) IZN for Thailand on behalf of the Bureau of International Cooperation Strategy and the Office of the Higher Education Commission.

The research approach was a customized version of the University of Houston’s Framework Foresight method. It involved framing the domain with a description and domain map, scanning for signals of change within the domain and emerging issues analysis to produce a set of current and emerging issues. A planning step synthesizes a set of recommended actions.

The key findings reported in this paper are the identification of 14 current and emerging issues influencing the future of the IZN of HE in Thailand. The issues were organized along with the three horizons framework: H1: how are we [currently] doing? H2: what should we do next and H3, where do we want to go? The primary recommendation of this research reported on in this study is to consider the 14 issues for inclusion into the next strategic plan. Seven specific strategic options mapped over three phases were identified as well. The research reported here was carried out for Thailand, but the process could easily be adapted by other countries and other topics.

The modified version of the University of Houston Framework Foresight approach has been applied successfully to many topics. The topic explored here is focused on one nation, Thailand. The authors feel the lessons are, however, broadly applicable.

The ability to use a futurist perspective to identify current and emerging issues is highlighted. The organizing of the issues using the three horizons framework proved to be particularly useful in helping the client to develop a sense of timing regarding the future, that is, when and to what degree to pay attention to the many issues that typically confront any organization.

The use of the three horizons framework in the analysis of the emerging issues provide benefits in two ways in situating the likely timing of signals of change in horizon scanning and “scan hits” both scanning for the identification of issues and organizing the resulting current and emerging issues along the three horizons with H1 current issues: how are we [currently] doing?; H2 emerging issues: what should we do next and H3 emerging issues, where do we want to go? The paper also includes a section exploring the impact of Covid-19 on the likely timing of the issues identified just before the pandemic hit, finding that timing of some issues would speed up, some would stay the same and some would slow down.

A proposed model of the use of public library lending bookstocks, and a programme of data collection to establish the key parameters.

This paper aims to investigate the relation between corporate governance and earnings management around UK rights issues.

The paper examines the effect of board structure, ownership structure, adviser structure, and capital structure on discretionary current accruals – a proxy for earnings management – for a sample of size‐controlled rights issuers. Rights issues are chosen as a context in which firms have particular incentives to manage earnings.

The results suggest that firms with higher debt to equity ratios, with lower proportions of non‐executive directors, or with no large block owner, are more likely to use discretionary current accruals to manipulate earnings around rights issues.

Similar research can be conducted around other equity issuing methods such as open offers and around other major corporate events such as initial public offerings.

The paper's evidence contributes to an understanding of corporate governance and has practical implications for stakeholders. It suggests that investors can rely more on the financial disclosures of firms with lower debt to equity ratios, higher proportions of outside directors, and with a large blockholder. Regulators may propose that firms undertaking corporate events such as equity offerings should follow best corporate governance practices to enhance investor confidence.

This study is the first to investigate the corporate governance mechanisms in place to check opportunistic earnings management around specific corporate events for the UK market.

The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.

The authors use experiential learning theories to examine college students’ acquisition of tax knowledge and tax literacy. Tax knowledge is important because taxation affects virtually all adults, college students are often employed and subject to individual taxation, and understanding taxation and tax planning has both current and future implications for individuals’ financial well-being. Further, taxation is a key policy issue, and college student voters have the potential to impact tax policy choices. The results of this study show that real-world experiences improve college students’ understanding of tax concepts; this relationship holds for overall understanding and for understanding both current tax issues and tax issues that will have an impact in the future. The authors predict and find that a student’s socioeconomic status is positively related to understanding of tax concepts. The authors also find that the level of understanding of tax concepts is still limited; many students do not have a strong knowledge of tax concepts. The relatively low levels of understanding may have implications for structuring college curricula to improve tax literacy.

As the 1960s drew to a close, Congress found itself grappling with an increasing array of complex technological issues that it was ill equipped to analyze and that could be the cause of costly blunders if acted upon incorrectly. To alleviate this situation, the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) was created in 1972 under Public Law 92–484 in order to advise Congress on issues in science and technology so that relevant information would be available when pertinent legislation was being developed. Under the leadership of its director John Gibbons, OTA has earned the distinction of providing Congress, that most political of bodies, with timely and objective information without becoming mired in political skirmishes. Despite this distinction, OTA is one of the smallest government agencies, with a budget of twenty million dollars and a staff of 140. Its organization is remarkable for its simplicity. A bipartisan congressional Technology Assessment Board governs the agency overall but appoints the director who has full responsibility for running it. The nine agency divisions are organized according to scientific disciplines and report to the director with little or no intervening bureaucracy. Outside expert advice is available from the Technology Assessment Advisory Council. The result is an organization that is equally balanced politically and scientifically, that is streamlined and efficient, and that allows input from its governing members. This structure also allows great flexibility in the research and production of assessment reports. To do an assessment, OTA deploys its experts to go out and gather the information needed on the wide‐ranging topics it has been commissioned to research. The topics are chosen according to the need and interest of both houses and both political parties. Outside experts are sometimes called upon to do research but OTA exercises the final responsibility over their reports. Factual conclusions and options are presented but opinions are never given. The manner in which the information is acted upon is always left to Congress, a major reason for OTA's success.

The purpose of this paper is to examine issues at the frontiers of auditing research. After the global financial crisis and the earlier round of reforms, there are many opportunities for research, some driven by current proposals for reforms and some by fundamental research issues. Research can contribute to the development of policy in response to current issues. Research can also be valuable in exploring issues raised in past research.

Issues that are currently of concern to regulators and for which research would be of value are reviewed, together with fundamental issues arising from previous research.

The introduction of independent regulation, increasing levels of globalization and increased attention to research by regulatory bodies have drawn attention to some research issues, especially auditors providing non-audit services, rotation of audit firms, joint audits and ways to provide increased competition. In addition, there are a number of areas in which there seems to be an obvious need for auditing research, but surprisingly little research is being done. These topics include the impact of higher-quality auditing in developing economies, and assurance for other entities such as charities and small companies. As more attention is now being given to auditing research, there are opportunities in established areas of research as well.

Research is starting to make a contribution in policy making with relation to auditing, but there is still a need for much more research. The paper provides guidance on areas where further research will be valuable.