Business Commons^™

Promoting Investments In Intangible Organizational Assets Through Aligned Incentive Compensation Plans, Susan Hughes, Craig Caldwell, Kathy Paulson Gjerde

Craig B. Caldwell

An Overview Of The Near-Death Experience Phenomenon, David San Filippo Ph.D.

David San Filippo Ph.D.

Near-death experiences appear to be universal phenomena that have been reported for centuries. A near-death encounter is defined as an event in which the individual could very easily die or be killed, or may have already been considered clinically dead, but nonetheless survives, and continue his or her physical life. Reports of near-death experiences date back to the Ice Age. There are cave paintings, in France and Spain that depict possible after life scenes that are similar to reported scenes related to near-death experiences. Plato's Republic presents the story of a near-death experience of a Greek soldier named Er. In …

Nonmarket Performance: Evidence From U.S. Electric Utilities, Jean-Philippe Bonardi, Guy Holburn, Rick Vanden Bergh

Jean-Philippe Bonardi

No abstract provided.

Simulation Of The Colombian Firm Energy Market, Peter Cramton, Steven Stoft

Peter Cramton

We present a simulation analysis of the proposed Colombian firm energy market. The main purpose of the simulation is to assess the risk to suppliers of participation in the market. We also are able to consider variations in the market design, and assess the impact of alternative auction parameters. Three simulation models are developed and analyzed. The first model (Model 1) uses historical price data from October 1995 through May 2006 to assess the performance risk of hypothetical thermal and hydro generating units. The second model (Model 2) uses historical price and operating data to assess performance risk of the …

Expert Advice, Control, And Heterogeneous Beliefs, Leonidas E. De La Rosa

Leonidas Enrique de la Rosa

In this paper, I study the effects of overconfidence in an investment-decision setting. A risk-averse agent privately observes information relevant to an investment decision, which he can then report to a principal. In a standard common-priors setting, the optimal contract provides full insurance to the agent: the principal pays a fixed wage to the agent, asks him to reveal his information, and implements the efficient investment rule. When the agent overestimates the expected revenue of the project following investment, however, he is willing to "wager" on success against the (relatively pessimistic) principal, and hence bear some project risk in equilibrium. …

Public Healthcare: Changes Introduced When Implementing E-Procurement, Tommaso Federici

Federici Tommaso

The large and growing size of the healthcare public spending for goods and services worries the institutions of many European countries, including Italy, and asks for rationalization initiatives. In parallel, e-procurement solutions spread into Public Administrations (PA's) and introduce innovative processes, primarily in the purchasing phase.

In this scenario, e-procurement has the potential to enable significant efficiency improvements in the public healthcare sector, with the reduction of purchasing and administrative costs. However, most e-procurement initiatives met difficulties and did not fully delivered the expected benefits so far. This is mainly due to the healthcare procurement complexity, specific characteristics and peculiar …

Adding Ecological Considerations To Environmental Accounting, David A. Bainbridge

David A Bainbridge

Environmental accounting has often neglected ecological costs. These are essential to complete a true cost accounting. Ecological costs are often very large and long term and if they are ignored the costs/benefits of projects are incorrectly calculated.

Why I Quit The Railroad, Linda Niemann

Linda G. Niemann

The article presents the author's reasons for leaving her job in the railroad industry. She wasn't thrilled to be force-assigned to the foreman's spot on Union Pacific's Lawrence switcher. Being the junior switchman on the California coast for years, she was used to jobs that weren't so plum. What made it tough were a difficult yardmaster and her help, a switchman who outranked her but didn't want the responsibility of the foreman's spot.

Externality Effects Of Residential Property Values: The Example Of Noise Disamenities, David Clark

David E. Clark

Studies conducted by the Federal Railroad Administration in the 1990s reveal that train whistle bans lead to higher accident rates at train crossings. However, advocates of these bans argue that they eliminate noise externalities that have a detrimental effect on residential home values. To assess this latter claim, an event study is conducted and hedonic models are estimated for three different areas in which Conrail unilaterally began ignoring local whistle bans. While the findings consistently show that proximity to rail lines has a negative and statistically important influence on home values, there is little evidence that the Conrail decision had …

The Lord Of The Night, Linda Niemann

Linda G. Niemann

The article presents the author's reflection on the management of Southern Pacific after it was acquired by Union Pacific (UP). The year preceding the UP merger, 1995, everyone tried to earn the maximum they could in preparation for whatever union-negotiated guarantee would come down the pike. Downsizing hit this system hard. The union contract did away with the system seniority that provided trainmen the freedom to work anywhere on the railroad.

Generic Skills For Hospitality Management: A Comparative Study Of Management Expectations And Student Perceptions, Michael Raybould, Hugh Wilkins

Michael Raybould

Tertiary providers of hospitality management degree programs must fulfil the needs of student, industry and academic stakeholder groups. The students attracted to this type of program tend to be motivated primarily by the anticipated vocational outcomes. As a result, hospitality management curriculum needs to meet both industry and student expectations by delivering the skill sets needed in the workplace and the institutional demands for academic rigour. This article reports on research that aimed to compare hospitality managers' expectations of graduate skills with student perceptions of the skills that hospitality managers valued. In contrast to previous research on this topic, this …

Smes And Corporate Social Responsibility. Some Evidences From An Empirical Research, Mara Del Baldo

mara del baldo

No abstract provided.

Patents As A Source Of Competitive Intelligence Information.Pdf, Jan Comfort

Jan Comfort

No abstract provided.

666, The Antichrist And Satan, David Randall Jenkins

David Randall Jenkins

The Efficient Recalcitrance Assumption plagues [(Star of David Set), (N: N+1)] transition, begetting scripture's "666," "Antichrist" and "Satan" metaphorical references.

New England’S Forward Capacity Auction, Peter Cramton

Peter Cramton

This note provides a brief description of New England’s Forward Capacity Auction (FCA) for the procurement of electricity capacity. The description is based on the 6 March 2006 Settlement Agreement. The description here presents a simpler description of the auction mechanics, and limits the presentation to the key elements relevant to someone providing software and other support to implement the primary auction. In addition, some motivation for the approach is given. The description here is not a software specification, but rather a high-level description of the auction. Many implementation details are yet to be resolved. These details will be resolved …

Inflation Monitor, Muhammad Arby, Fida Hussain, Safdar Khan

Safdar Khan

Extract:
Although inflationary pressures persisted in the economy for the second year in a row, the headline inflation fell to 7.6 percent year-on-year in June 2006 that was 1 percentage point less than inflation in corresponding month last year.1 The inflation containment was more visible in the last six months of FY06 as compared to first six months (Jul 05 to Dec 05): the average CPI inflation during the first half of the year was 8.4 percent which declined to 7.4 percent in the second half primarily due to fall in food inflation. Inflation measured by sensitive price indicator also …

Phenotypic And Genetic Relationships Between Vocational Interests And Personality, Julie Harris, Philip Vernon, Andrew Johnson, Kerry Jang

Andrew M. Johnson

Relationships between personality and vocational interest factors were examined at the phenotypic and genetic levels. Twins and siblings (N = 516) completed self-report personality and vocational interest scales. Following factor analyses of each scale, five personality and six vocational interest factors were extracted. At the phenotypic level, correlations between personality and vocational interests ranged from zero to .33. Heritability estimates of the scales showed that genetic components accounted for 0–56% of the variance for the vocational interest factors and 44–65% for the personality factors. Genetic correlations between the two areas ranged from zero to .50. The results suggest that personality …

A Non-Credit Model For Real-Life Technology Transfer Experience For Cross-Disciplinary Student Teams, Paul Swamidass, Brian Wright

Paul Swamidass

This paper addresses several major issues of interest to ASEE’s Entrepreneurship Division. It covers (1) university technology transfer; (2) introducing technology IP protocol management to students; and (3) a model of working relationship with university technology transfer officers for the mutual benefit of university technology transfer and the training of university graduates with real-life technology transfer problems. Student reported benefits are included.

Pre-Disaster Planning And Mitigation And Its Impact On Comprehensive Emergency Management And The Nation: Pre-Disaster Mitigation (Pdm) Program And The Population Protected, Thomas Lyons Carr Iii

Thomas Lyons (Thom) Carr III Appl.Sc., CEM

A Project for a Professional Degree submitted to The Faculty of School of Engineering and Applied Science of The George Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Applied Scientist of Engineering Management May 21, 2006

On October 10, 2000, The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA 2000 or DMA 2K) (Public Law 106-390) was enacted, amending the Robert T. Stafford Relief and Emergency Assistance Act and established new requirements for the national for hazard mitigation planning. States, Tribes, territories, and local governments now must have an approved mitigation plan in place prior to receiving certain …

Homeland Security: Engaging The Frontlines - Symposium Proceedings, George H. Baker, Cheryl J. Elliott

George H Baker

The rise of the American homeland security endeavor under the leadership of the new Department of Homeland Security has been heralded by several major national strategy documents. These documents have served to organize efforts at top levels within the government and industry. However, the national strategy guidance is not getting to many organizations and people at the grass-roots level who can make the most difference in preventing attacks, protecting systems, and recovering from catastrophic events, viz. the general citizenry, private infrastructure owners, and local governments. To better understand grass-roots issues and solutions, James Madison University, in cooperation with the Federal …

The Convergence Of Market Designs For Adequate Generating Capacity, Peter Cramton, Steven Stoft

Peter Cramton

This paper compares market designs intended to solve the resource adequacy (RA) problem, and finds that, in spite of rivalrous claims, the most advanced designs have nearly converged. The original dichotomy between approaches based on long-term energy contracts and those based on short-term capacity markets spawned two design tracks. Long-term contracts led to call-option obligations which provide market-power control and the ability to strengthen performance incentives, but this approach fails to replace the missing money at the root of the adequacy problem. Hogan’s energy-only market fills this gap. On the other track, the short-term capacity markets (ICAP) spawned long-term capacity …

Swallowing An Elephant, Michiel E. Moll

Michiel E Moll

Predating the major higher education mergers, the Cape Technikon Library Service was faced with the incorporation of the Mowbray College of Education and Boland College of Education libraries in 2000. The actual stock of these two libraries was larger than that of the Technikon, and in addition, an institution that had a monolithic library structure was suddenly faced with coping with a more dispersed structure. Both Mowbray and Boland College (which was at Wellington, some 65 km away) were functioning libraries and the challenges were therefore to maintain functionality while changing and to keep the best from each library while …

Globalization & Nationalism: A Recipe For Terror, Cari Bourette, Daniel Reader

Cari Bourette

Nationalism appears to be part of the human condition; it may well be related to the human tendency toward tribalism. Whatever the case, nationalism appears to be a permanent feature on the global landscape. Globalization, while not a new phenomenon by any means, seems to be having a tremendous dilutory effect on the sovereignty of states; it now appears to be carrying the assault to the cultural frontiers of nationalism. Unlike the Westphalian constructs, however, nations will not so easily succumb. There is a greater inherent resistance to change in nations; the only historically effective method has been outright eradication …

Affidavit Of Peter Cramton, Peter Cramton

Peter Cramton

Affidavit in support of the settlement agreement defining the New England Forward Capacity Market. For ISO New England.

High-Performance Communication: Writing For Results In The Business Workplace [1], Douglas J. Swanson Ed.D Apr

Douglas J. Swanson, Ed.D APR

High-Performance Communication: Writing for Results in the Business Workplace (workshop)

O*Net Tools And Technology: A Synopsis Of Data Development Procedures, Erich Dierdorff, Donald Drewes, Jennifer Norton

Erich C. Dierdorff

Learn about the "tools and technology" (T2) now included in O*NET Online and as supplemental files in the O*NET database. T2 development focuses on collecting machines, equipment, tools, information technology, and software that are important to occupational performance. Emphasis is placed on cutting-edge technologies and emerging workplace practices. T2 data will be valuable for O*NET applications such as workforce development, employee training, and vocational and career guidance.

Evaluating The Long-Run Impacts Of The 9/11 Terrorist Attacks On U.S. Airline Travel, Scott Blunk, David Clark, James Mcgibany

David E. Clark

Although the US airline industry began 2001 with 24 consecutive profitable quarters, including net profits in 2000 totaling $7.9 billion, the impact of the 9/11 event on the industry was substantial. Whereas the recession that began in early 2001 signaled the end of profitability, the 9/11 terrorist attacks pushed the industry into financial crisis after air travel dropped 20% over the September-December 2001 period compared to the same period in 2000. Given the decline in domestic air travel, an important question is whether the detrimental impact of the attacks was temporary or permanent. That is, did airline travel return to …

Ex Parte Of Peter Cramton, Peter Cramton

Peter Cramton

Ex parte communication on various auction rules for the AWS auction.

Maine State Government's Worksite Wellness Program, William C. Mcpeck

William C. McPeck

This is an unpublished report I wrote for Maine Governor John Baldacci to share with the National Governor's Association. The report reflects the history and current initiatives of Maine State Government's employee wellness program.

The "Duty" To Be A Rational Shareholder, David A. Hoffman

David A Hoffman

How and when do courts determine that corporate disclosures are actionable under the federal securities laws? The applicable standard is materiality: would a (mythical) reasonable investor have considered a given disclosure important. As I establish through empirical and statistical testing of approximately 500 cases analyzing the materiality standard, judicial findings of immateriality are remarkably common, and have been stable over time. Materiality's scope results in the dismissal of a large number of claims, and creates a set of cases in which courts attempt to explain and defend their vision of who is, and is not, a reasonable investor. Thus, materiality …