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Public Corporations (public + corporation)
Selected AbstractsStudy of arteriosclerosis in patients with hiatal hernia and reflux esophagitisJOURNAL OF GASTROENTEROLOGY AND HEPATOLOGY, Issue 11 2007Kenji Furuta Abstract Background and Aim:, It has been reported that the prevalence of hiatal hernia (HH) and reflux esophagitis (RE) increases with age, as does the degree of arteriosclerosis. However, it has not been investigated whether or not arteriosclerosis is correlated with the presence of HH and RE. Therefore, we prospectively investigated the degree of arteriosclerosis in patients with HH and RE compared with subjects without HH and RE. Methods:, We prospectively enrolled 1683 people who visited Shimane Environment and Health Public Corporation for annual medical check-ups. All subjects were investigated by upper gastrointestinal endoscopy for the possible presence of HH and RE. Factors used for assessing cardiovascular risk were sex, age, body mass index (BMI), smoking and drinking habits, serum total cholesterol, triglyceride (TG), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC). Arteriosclerosis was investigated by measuring systolic blood pressure, heart-carotid pulse wave velocity (HCPWV), bilateral ankle brachial index (ABI) and heart-ankle PWV (HAPWV). Results:, The number of patients with HH and RE was 624 (37.1%) and 143 (8.5%), respectively. The HDLC level of the patients with HH was significantly lower, and the levels of BMI, TG and arteriosclerotic parameters were higher than those of the subjects without HH after adjusting for confounding factors (sex, age and smoking and drinking habits). Cardiovascular and arteriosclerosis parameters except for TG did not differ between the subjects with and without RE. Conclusion:, Levels of arteriosclerosis parameters in patients with HH were higher than in those without HH. However, the association between arteriosclerosis and presence of RE was not clarified. [source] Principal,Principal Conflict in the Governance of the Chinese Public CorporationMANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION REVIEW, Issue 1 2008Yiyi Su abstract By examining the level of ownership concentration across firms, we determine how principal,principal conflict, defined as the incongruence of ownership goals among shareholder groups in a corporation, impacts agency costs of Chinese boards of directors. Based on data from Chinese companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges during 1999,2003, we found that ownership concentration had a U-shaped relationship with board compensation, board size and the presence of independent directors. These results provide corroborating evidence that principal,principal conflict can lead to high agency costs. [source] Baylor University Roundtable on The Corporate Mission, CEO Pay, and Improving the Dialogue with InvestorsJOURNAL OF APPLIED CORPORATE FINANCE, Issue 1 2010John Martin A small group of academics and practitioners discusses four major controversies in the theory and practice of corporate finance: ,What is the social purpose of the public corporation? Should corporate managements aim to maximize the profitability and value of their companies, or should they instead try to balance the interests of their shareholders against those of "stakeholder" groups, such as employees, customers, and local communities? ,Should corporate executives consider ending the common practice of earnings guidance? Are there other ways of shifting the focus of the public dialogue between management and investors away from near-term earnings and toward longer-run corporate strategies, policies, and goals? And can companies influence the kinds of investors who buy their shares? ,Are U.S. CEOs overpaid? What role have equity ownership and financial incentives played in the past performance of U.S. companies? And are there ways of improving the design of U.S. executive pay? ,Can the principles of corporate governance and financial management at the core of the private equity model,notably, equity incentives, high leverage, and active participation by large investors,be used to increase the values of U.S. public companies? [source] Corporate Boards and Company Performance: review of research in light of recent reformsCORPORATE GOVERNANCE, Issue 5 2007David Finegold Recent US corporate governance reforms introduced extensive regulations and guidelines for public corporations, particularly corporate boards. This article evaluates the extent to which empirical research on corporate boards and firm performance supports these reforms. Building on the meta-analysis conducted by Zahra and Pearce (1989), we review 105 studies published between 1989 and 2005. We find most of the practices mandated by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, and the regulations issued by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the NASDAQ, had not been subject to prior study. Where board characteristics have been studied, we find limited guidance for policymakers on identifying governance practices that result in more effective firm performance. In an effort to increase the relevance of future research on boards and firm performance, we provide a framework on corporate boards. [source] Comparing Mutual Fund Governance and Corporate GovernanceCORPORATE GOVERNANCE, Issue 5 2006Robert F. Radin Governance of public corporations in the United States has operated under the agency model with regulatory strengthening since the passage of Sarbanes-Oxley legislation. With this foundation in place, boards are empowered to utilise their power and influence and can effectively monitor the actions of management, intervening where necessary. In effect, the rules of engagement embodied in the structure and the law guide interactions and empowerment. The governance model of the mutual funds industry, representing over 8 trillion dollars, is often viewed as a mirror of the corporate world, but upon closer analysis is found to have significant structural differences that dilute the authority of directors. The two models are compared and analysed with recommendations made to strengthen the oversight of mutual funds. [source] The Elusive Underpinnings of U.S. Venturesomeness (If Not Prosperity),JOURNAL OF APPLIED CORPORATE FINANCE, Issue 2 2009Amar Bhidé This article explores the question of how the U.S. economy has managed to maintain (or even increase) its lead over other nations in per capita income and the average productivity of its workforce. The answer provided in the author's recent book is that such productivity depends on the greater willingness and effectiveness of U.S. consumers and businesses in making use of innovations in products and business processes. But this begs the question: What accounts for the increase in the innovative capabilities or effectiveness of U.S. consumers and businesses, both over time and relative to that of their global counterparts? After starting with the conventional "supply-side" focus on low taxes, limited regulatory barriers, and strong property rights, the author goes on to shift the main emphasis to the following six "institutional" contributors to U.S. prosperity: ,Breadth of participation: the modern U.S. economy draws, to a greater extent than either its global competitors or the U.S. of a century ago, on the contributions of far more individuals both as developers and as users of new products. ,Organizational diversity and specialization: the evolution of new forms of organization in the U.S., from small venture capital-backed firms to huge public corporations with dispersed ownership, has enabled the system to use the contributions of many individuals more effectively. ,Changes in common beliefs and attitudes: greater receptiveness to technological change has accelerated the adoption of new products in all countries, but especially in the U.S. ,Increased pressure for growth: the "grow or die" imperative faced by U.S. businesses has encouraged them to look for help from new technologies. ,The professionalization of management and sales functions,a distinctively U.S. phenomenon whose beginnings can be traced to IBM in the 1920s,has improved the capacity of modern U.S. organizations to develop markets and use new products. ,The expansion of higher education, to a far greater extent in the U.S. than elsewhere, has increased the supply of individuals with habits and attitudes that improve their ability to develop and use innovations. [source] Private Equity, Corporate Governance, and the Reinvention of the Market for Corporate ControlJOURNAL OF APPLIED CORPORATE FINANCE, Issue 3 2008Karen H. Wruck In the early 1980s, during the first U.S. wave of debt-financed hostile takeovers and leveraged buyouts, finance professors Michael Jensen and Richard Ruback introduced the concept of the "market for corporate control" and defined it as "the market in which alternative management teams compete for the right to manage corporate resources." Since then, the dramatic expansion of the private equity market, and the resulting competition between corporate (or "strategic") and "financial" buyers for deals, have both reinforced and revealed the limitations of this old definition. This article explains how, over the past 25 years, the private equity market has helped reinvent the market for corporate control, particularly in the U.S. What's more, the author argues that the effects of private equity on the behavior of companies both public and private have been important enough to warrant a new definition of the market for corporate control,one that, as presented in this article, emphasizes corporate governance and the benefits of the competition for deals between private equity firms and public acquirers. Along with their more effective governance systems, top private equity firms have developed a distinctive approach to reorganizing companies for efficiency and value. The author's research on private equity, comprising over 20 years of interviews and case studies as well as large-sample analysis, has led her to identify four principles of reorganization that help explain the success of these buyout firms. Besides providing a source of competitive advantage to private equity firms, the management practices that derive from these four principles are now being adopted by many public companies. And, in the author's words, "private equity's most important and lasting contribution to the global economy may well be its effect on the world's public corporations,those companies that will continue to carry out the lion's share of the world's growth opportunities." [source] Was Arthur Andersen Different?JOURNAL OF EMPIRICAL LEGAL STUDIES, Issue 2 2004An Empirical Examination of Major Accounting Firm Audits of Large Clients Enron and other corporate financial scandals focused attention on the accounting industry in general and on Arthur Andersen in particular. Part of the policy response to Enron, the criminal prosecution of Andersen eliminated one of the few major audit firms capable of auditing many large public corporations. This article explores whether Andersen's performance, as measured by frequency of financial restatements, measurably differed from that of other large auditors. Financial restatements trigger significant negative market reactions and their frequency can be viewed as a measure of accounting performance. We analyze the financial restatement activity of approximately 1,000 large public firms from 1997 through 2001. After controlling for client size, region, time, and industry, we find no evidence that Andersen's performance significantly differed from that of other large accounting firms. [source] L'impact de la commercialisation et de la privatisation sur l'efficacitée technique des sociéetées d,ÉEtat au CanadaCANADIAN JOURNAL OF ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCES, Issue 4 2003Richard Bozec Résumé L'objectif de cette éetude est d'analyser I'impact de la privatisation sur I'efficacite technique d'un groupe de societes d'Etat au Canada. L'attention est toutefois portee sur les changements qui auront precede le transfen de propriete et qui visent a commercialiser les entre-prises. Au Canada, la commercialisation des entreprises du secteur public fut initiee vers le milieu des annees 80. Ces reformes se sont poursuivies par la privatisation de certaines societes d'Etat. Ce contexte particulier permet donc d'evaluer dans quelle mesure la commercialisation affecte la performance post-privatisation. Les resultats obtenus suite aux analyses multivariees suggerent que la commercialisation et la privatisation ont un impact positif et significatif sur l'efficacite technique des societes d'Etat. Les resultats revelent aussi qu'une fois les entreprises commercialisees, l'impact de la privatisation sur l'efficacite des entreprises devient non significatif. Abstract This study sets out to analyze the impact of privatization on the technical efficiency of some state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Canada. It also focuses on the changes that are undertaken, prior to the transfer of property, in a bid to commercialize the corporations. In Canada, the commercialization of public sector enterprises started in the mid-1980s and the reforms were pursued with the privatization of SOEs. This specific context can be used to assess the impact of commercialization on the performance of public corporations in the post-privatization era. The results obtained following the multivariate analysis show that commercialization and privatization have a positive and significant impact on the technical efficiency of SOEs. They also show that once the corporations are commercialized, the impact of privatization on their efficiency becomes insignificant. [source] Entreprises publiques et intérêt général à l'heure de la gouvernanceCANADIAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION/ADMINISTRATION PUBLIQUE DU CANADA, Issue 3 2006Louis Simard Sommaire: Le contexte de la mondialisation et la remise en question du rôle de l'État ont menéà des modèles de gouvernance fondés sur la multiplicité et l'hétérogénéité des acteurs dans toute question d'intérêt public. Cette nouvelle gouvernance met en valeur des mécanismes d'ajustement mutuel basés sur la concertation, la négociation et l'adaptation réciproque des acteurs. La nouvelle donne commande une réflexion en profondeur sur la place des entreprises publiques au sein de différents secteurs d'activité. Présentées à l'origine comme étant garantes de l'intérêt général, les entreprises publiques sont elles aussi remises en question et confrontées à des logiques d'action parfois contradictoires (intégration internationale, intégration territoriale, planification stratégique et stratégies émergentes). Les auteurs brossent un tableau du nouveau contexte de gouvernance dans le secteur de l'énergie en l'illustrant par le cas d'Hydro-Québec et de l'un de ses derniers projets, la centrale thermique du Suroît. Abstract: The context of globalization and the questioning of the government's role have led to governance models based on the multiplicity and the heterogeneity of the players involved in any issue of public interest. The new governance framework promotes mutual adjustment mechanisms based on consensus-building, negotiation, and reciprocal adaptation among players. This new environment requires a thorough reflection on the role of public corporations in the various industry sectors. Presented originally as guarantors of the public interest, public corporations have also been challenged and are having to deal with occasionally contradictory principles (international integration, territorial integration, strategic planning, and emergent strategies). The authors provide a picture of the new governance context in the energy sector, using as an example Hydro-Québec and one of its most recent projects, the Suroît thermal plant. [source] | ||||||||||