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Introduces a series of articles on the role of customer relationship management (CRM) in improving business efficiency and effectiveness. Concept of customer myopia; Lack of measurement and metrics available to marketers; Description of a framework to implement CRM.

In an earlier paper the authors discussed how D&O insurance can be used to reduce the governance risk facing insurers, by linking coverage to contractual obligations to follow best practice governance controls. In this paper they place governance-linked D&O insurance within the broader context of the way in which the conflicts of interest between owners and managers of firms are managed by the key intermediary institution of the board of directors. There has been increasing controversy over whether directors are playing the role they are meant to in governance or whether they have become excessively beholden to chief executive officers. Regulation and the use of the legal system have been the predominant means of disciplining directors, but each has its drawbacks, particularly in terms of the disincentives they create for qualified individuals to serve as directors in the first place. What is missing is any role for market forces in governance, with their promise to achieve better cost effectiveness and innovation in governance practice. The authors argue that governance-linked D&O insurance is a means toward that end of market-based governance, with process-based coverage bringing together the tools for better governance risk management with the motivation for directors to exercise their fiduciary responsibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, the second in a two-part series, surveys recent changes in enforcement efforts by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the wake of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002. In particular, it examines new or recently fortified weapons in the SEC’s arsenal, including officer and director bars, SOX certification and other disclosure requirements, penny stock bars, expanded equitable remedies, and a new focus on attorneys. This paper also discusses recent enforcement efforts by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) — a centerpiece of the Sarbanes–Oxley enforcement landscape — against accounting firms and individual accountants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the financial regulatory change in the USA following the recent financial scandals. In particular it focuses on the Californian energy crisis in 2000-2003. The paper explores the background to the deregulation in California and its most obvious business result: Enron corporation's actions and results. Drawing from the institutional theory (Di Maggio and Powell 1983) the authors identify the causes of institutional pressures put on the US Government to deregulate its markets in the first instance and then regulate them following the financial scandals that followed. Using Oliver's (1991) strategic responses to institutional pressures theory the authors trace the actions taken by the US Government to regulate its financial markets. The only federal (USA national government) result was the Sarbanes--Foley law which was meant to provide corporate rules for governance. The implications of this Act are explored and the actions taken specially to deal with Enron scandals. The paper concludes by raising some key questions: But was it enough? And will it be enforced? What are the results for corporations and the American public? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

External auditing is promoted as a trust-engendering technology. Recurring audit failures, however, undermine confidence in corporate governance. The traditional response to the crisis is to manage it by tweaking the regulatory structures: revising accounting or auditing standards, ethical guidelines and arrangements for disciplining accountants and accountancy firms. Such responses do not appear to check the incidences of real or alleged audit failures. Since audit failures are the product of the values governing accountancy firms, this paper encourages a focus upon such values, providing some evidence of their nature. The paper concludes that accountancy firms are firmly focused upon the need to make a profit, possibly at the expense of wider social obligations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diffusion of the internet has substantially modified the advertising industry's business models. The method of selling advertising space on webpages is one of the most striking innovations. Advertisements and, in particular, banners, are sold through the traditional cost per impression, but also with methods based on a visitor taking some specifically defined action in response to an ad. This paper examines the pricing strategy of web publishers operating in a market where they are unable to influence the price of the advertisement (cost-per-impression and cost-per-action). The main finding is that the distribution of editorial revenues between pay-per-view and pay-per-click methods depends on the elasticity of access and actions with respect to the quantity of advertising. The theoretical result is important, since these parameters are usually available to permit a quick analysis of an online consumer's behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on how the business environment, of which revenue management (RM) is a part, is changing, and how RM approaches have been invented or adapted. The importance of the paper lies in the conclusion that the apparent complexity and constraints of seat inventory should not be used to rationalise continued delays in the implementation of more systematic approaches to KM. The paper, although theoretical and conceptual, demonstrates through percentage gain how the seat allocation problem is improved. First, one establishes the optimal trip booking limits with the goal of maximising expected profit. Secondly, each trip is solved independently for individual booking classes.

This paper examines the rise of foreign ownership in France. The author uses Germany as a controlling, comparative case study. It is argued that firm-level institutional arrangements of workplace organisation constitute the most significant variable in accounting for the greater attractiveness of French firms over their German counterparts to short-term, impatient capital — namely, hedge and mutual funds. The author demonstrates how institutional changes in both French and German corporate governance has not affected the process by which firms build their innovative capabilities, thereby highlighting the compatibility between institutional change in national business systems and the absence of convergence between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The power of the media has become a parameter for business success in recent years, as media reality – the image of reality that is created by the media – has become a key factor influencing all of a company's stakeholders. These include customers, suppliers, employees, politicians, regulators and the general public. Based on a long-term analysis of German media coverage (1998–2006) and an international comparative analysis of media coverage in the U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Austria, the U.S. and Asia (2004/2005), the following article outlines the changing reputational risk environment regarding the insurance industry. This analysis shows why companies must take a proactive stance on corporate communications. This is confirmed by the experience of Media Tenor, an international media research and consulting institute and Perception Partners Inc., a consulting firm specializing in reputational risk.The Geneva Papers (2006) 31, 395–408. doi:10.1057/palgrave.gpp.2510086 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporations lobbied for the passage of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA) to limit private enforcement of the US securities laws. While the PSLRA has achieved this goal to a certain extent, it has also impacted securities litigation, and related Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and derivative litigation, in ways that its proponents never intended. This paper discusses the impact of institutional investor participation in securities litigation, which increased significantly as a result of lead plaintiff provisions in the PSLRA that evince an intent to have institutional investors play a larger role in securities cases. Specifically, the paper focuses on the ability of institutional investors to obtain corporate governance reforms and the contribution of personal funds by outside directors, as components of securities litigation settlements. The paper also provides an overview of ERISA actions that are often litigated in parallel with securities fraud actions. While these actions concern different legal theories, pleading standards and damages formulations to those of securities actions, there is an interplay between the two types of actions in at least two major areas — settlement and discovery. Indeed, the presence of parallel ERISA litigation in several high-profile securities actions has enabled the securities plaintiffs to obtain relief from the PSLRA’s discovery stay allowing them to have early access to any materials that have been produced to the ERISA plaintiffs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the ways and means employed by Director and Officer Liability Insurance underwriters in the assessment of the financial statements of public companies. The techniques described are offered for the instruction and edification of corporate directors, particularly audit committee members. Additionally, the paper offers a proposal for the ongoing dialogue of underwriters, risk managers and corporate directors for the end purpose of developing improved corporate risk management practices and procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses recent developments in securities litigation. First, the paper addresses class action filing trends. Class action filings decreased in 2005, both compared to 2004 and the 1996–2004 average. The article discusses possible reasons for this trend, including the impact of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Broudo v Dura Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Secondly, the article discusses Regulation FD and Securities and Exchange Commission v. Siebel Systems, Inc., et al., the first civil action brought by the SEC pursuant to Regulation FD. Thirdly, the article discusses recent developments under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, including the Seventh Circuit’s first decision regarding the Reform Act’s scienter standard, the impact of 10b5-1 trading plans, a restrictive ruling by the First Circuit on the Reform Act’s safe harbour for forward-looking statements, and application of Dura by lower courts. Finally, the paper discusses the Delaware Chancery Court’s decision following the trial in the Disney case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The settlements in WorldCom and Enron, together with enforcement actions by the SEC and the new remedies under Sarbanes–Oxley, indicate that independent directors will face very real financial, regulatory and criminal liability if they fail to execute their duties properly. This paper, written by two attorneys with the SEC, reviews some of the recent cases concerning independent directors. In recent years, the SEC and the private plaintiffs’ bar have indicated a willingness to hold independent directors accountable for essentially negligent or reckless supervising by pursuing enforcement actions. In addition, the SEC has brought cases against other public companies to enforce the public’s right to know any facts that might compromise the director’s independence, particularly when directors receive undisclosed compensation at the direction of management. The paper concludes by noting that early indications suggest that independent directors are taking action and exercising their powers in the face of government investigations of the public companies they serve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper surveys the recent changes in Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement measures following the enactment of the landmark Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). The paper, the first in a two-part series, focuses on the Commission’s use of the new or expanded powers provided by SOX in cases involving financial fraud and mismanagement by large public companies. In particular, the paper illustrates recent uses of large civil penalties, payments under the Fair Funds provision, expanded equitable remedies, and the plaement of so-called extraordinary payments to executives in escrow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a summary of the combined effects of the application of Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981 (TUPE) and pension protection regulations after 6th April, 2005 on business asset transfers involving employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An accountant is a good accountant if in practicing his craft he is superb in handling the numbers. But a good accountant in handling the numbers can use that skill to misstate earnings to cover a multitude of problems with a company's books while staying within the law. So, the notion of a moral or ethical accountant is not the same as the notion of a good accountant. Our general principle would be that to be ethical a person has a responsibility to fulfil one's role or roles, as long as that role or roles are in conformity with acceptable goals for human life. What we mean by acceptable goals for human life are those that lead to societies where there are goods fairly distributed, which contribute to the quality of life in a way that allows as many people as possible to live fulfilled, abundant and flourishing lives. Assuming that our economic system and the businesses within it lead to a society such as that described above, the accountant has a role to play in that system which will specify the accountant's responsibilities. If accounting is the language of business, it is the auditor's job to see the language is used properly so that relevant material is communicated properly. In the system, the role of the independent auditor is to be a watchdog, "to see whether the company's estimates are based on formulas that seem reasonable in the light of whatever evidence is available and that choice formulas are applied consistently from year to year." The responsibility of the auditors derived from their function is clear. The ultimate responsibility of internal auditors is to develop statements that present the financial situation of the company in a fair way, meaning as much disclosure as necessary to give a reasonable picture of the financial situation to any user having a claim to that knowledge. The function of the external auditor is to affirm that has happened by issuing an opinion as to whether the financial statement fairly presents the financial position of the corporation. The fulfillment of those functions is what is required for an efficient financial market. Those functions set the standards, the spirit of which has been seriously violated in recent years. Too much attention to the question of whether the financial statements formally complied with principles, practices and conventions accepted at the time should not be permitted to blind us to the basic question of whether the financial statements performed the function of enlightenment, which is their primary reason for existence. By virtue of their attest function, accountants/auditors belong to the class of gatekeeper intermediaries in the financial markets who have a "watchdog" responsibility. That responsibility requires the virtue of professional skepticism. "Due professional care requires the auditor to exercise professional skepticism." "An audit of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards should be planned and performed with an attitude of professional skepticism." We lay out the practical requirements of meeting the obligations of skepticism, as well as looking at difficulties in maintaining such an attitude toward long time clients. The paper concludes by examining the following question. What caused this lack of due care? Why did the accounting firms fall short? Is this skepticism a realistic expectation? How much more do the other gatekeeper intermediaries contribute to the malaise? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for the people who use customer relationship management (CRM) systems to 'buy-in' is widely recognised as a critical success factor. Apart from bland advice on consulting all stakeholders and selling the concepts and ideas to the potential users, there is a remarkable shortage of competent information on people issues specific to CRM. Little has been done to study how people behave within the complex social context of CRM implementation and operation. Stimulated by current research this paper is intended to act as a 'shout' to those who pay more attention to the mechanistic aspects of CRM systems implementation than to the people who will use them. The wording is didactic, in part, and it does not conform to the usual requirements for formally argued papers. Where assertions are made that can be supported this has been done but many years' additional research would be required to support other assertions. The paper is, therefore, an opinion piece with no pretensions beyond that status. The opinions that are expressed are firmly held, however, and the authors are convinced of the need for much greater awareness of social issues when attempting to align CRM operations with management intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a study carried out by the IBM Institute for Business Value focusing on how companies use segmentation. It shows that although segmentation is widely used, there are significant opportunities for companies to improve their approach to segmentation, in particular by adding the time dimension and by expanding the use of segmentation beyond traditional marketing uses. This paper refers to and includes material reprinted by permission from the 'IBM Institute for Business value survey and analysis'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The changing business environment is making ticket price an ever more important consideration in passenger purchasing behaviour. This paper discusses how traditional revenue management models change as the ability to segment passengers deteriorates and passengers focus on price. The concepts are applicable to most industries where revenue management is practised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent series of corporate scandals has resulted in an unprecedented crisis in accounting. Investors have lost faith in financial statements on the assumption that 'cooking the books' has become a routine practice in corporate America. Restoring the credibility of financial reporting is clearly an urgent priority, as indicated by the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which mandates that chief executive officers personally certify the accuracy of their firms' financial statements. The approach being contemplated by the accounting profession itself is a shift away from the rules-based approach to financial accounting standards used by US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles towards the principles-based approach of International Accounting Standards. Both these initiatives draw attention to the fact that accounting standards are only useful and effective if they are actually implemented by firms in the way the standard setter intended. In other words, the need to ensure implementation of accounting standards by managers who have an incentive to beat analysts' earnings forecasts means that accounting standards have a management-control component. In this paper the authors put forward an ex. post perspective on accounting-standard implementation that places the problem clearly within the domain of control theory. That in turn implies that, to ensure compliance by management, standard setters can make use of the powerful tools that control theory provides - the four levers of control: belief, boundary, diagnostic and interactive control systems. The authors' control perspective provides new insights into accounting standard setting, including the need for both belief and boundary controls rather than reliance on one alone. Of even greater potential significance is the implication this management-control perspective has for the Sarbanes- Oxley Act's section 404 requirement for management and auditor assurance on the effectiveness of a firm's internal controls over financial reporting. A management-control perspective can provide a much-needed framework within which the COSO (The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission) standards can be applied, avoiding an excessive focus on the existence and documentation of controls and increasing their efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While management scholars acknowledge the importance of legitimacy and reputation for the survival and success of new firms, there is a dearth of studies examining the emergence and development of these perceptions of social approval. This paper brings together social cognition and institutional theory to explain the formation of stakeholders' perceptions of new firms' legitimacy and reputation and the relationships among them under different levels of market uncertainty. The theory developed in this paper challenges the assumption of institutional scholars that judgments of legitimacy precede judgments of reputation by proposing that this assumption holds under conditions of low to moderate market uncertainty typical for established market sectors, but not under conditions of high or extreme market uncertainty typical for emerging sectors. In emerging sectors new firms may be able to acquire reputation before, or simultaneously with, establishing their legitimacy, because the (lacking) legitimacy of the entire sector affects the ability of individual firms to establish their own legitimacy. These ideas can guide scholars and practitioners to better understand how to influence the processes of formation of legitimacy and reputation to the benefit of new firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper developed an economic model to explain the repeat-purchase contract enforcement role of business news. This model argues that various kinds of business news play different roles in consumers' perceptions about a firm's performance in quality production. Media coverage regarding product quality is used by consumers in pre-purchase inspection to differentiate firms' qualities, while media coverage regarding social responsibility signalizes the existence of price premium. It concludes that the firms with good media reputations have more incentives and likelihood to provide high-quality products than the firms with bad media reputations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competitive advantage for businesses is now to be found in the use of data to understand customers. In this new data age, however, the individual is gaining a new power to demand a fairer share of the economic value of personal information. This paper considers how this shift will play out in the commercial arena and what businesses need to be willing to do in order to benefit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iceland's neo-liberal laboratory ended in economic crash and political chaos. The business-oriented sectoral corporatist structure in Iceland created an ideal framework for the neo-liberal agenda. A comprehensive democratic corporatist framework, including the conditions for economic flexibility and political stability, was missing. The culture of consensus did not prevail. The paper shows how Iceland does not fit Katzenstein's theory. At the same time, the case of Iceland shows the value of the corporatist model in analyzing the process of change in a small society and its successes and failures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent years have seen many reforms in corporate governance and disclosure in the USA as well as in Europe — so also in Finland. Although the reforms in Europe mostly are based on voluntary corporate governance codes rather than laws such as the Sarbanes–Oxley Act 2002, these developments have in many cases quite radically reshaped elements of corporate governance, such as board work, in Finland. This paper sets out to give an overview of the governance framework in Finland, its recent developments, and reports on some empirical findings concerning governance and compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an argument that corporate managers co-opt the allegiance of their board members. Though owners elect board members, if the board is controlled by management the nominating process tends to guarantee a continuation of that control. Though board members operating with a managerial bias might violate a duty to shareholders, directors and officers (D&O) insurance assists managers in co-opting board support by eliminating the financial consequences of violating that duty. Corporate social responsibility and stakeholder movements, by increasing the number of stakeholders whose interests are likely to be violated by a continued managerial bias, are likely to increase the price of D&O coverage. This price effect and other recently proposed governance-linked coverage changes alter, but do not eliminate, the benefit of a continuing managerial bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the Cadbury Report of 1992 several Member States of the European Union have provided national codes on corporate governance or best practice, and the European Commission in its Company Law Action Plan has declared its intention to see these coordinated and converge. The five Nordic countries that are all members of either the EU or EEA have passed such codes relatively late. Based on these Nordic Codes, this paper takes a critical look at what this venture into European soft law or best practices is about, and points out the differences in the Nordic approach to this kind of company law regulation that are visible in the Codes and may be at odds with the intended convergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses a number of problematic areas in D&O insurance which threaten the breadth and scope of securities coverage policyholders expect when purchasing D&O insurance coverage. Arguments made by a number of D&O insurance underwriters related to financial restatements and rescission, securities claims alleging fraud, and coverage for Section 11 and 12 securities claims are discussed and analysed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One goal of most corporate marketing strategies is to make stakeholders more familiar with the corporation. The implicit assumption behind these strategies is that familiarity leads to positive outcomes – particularly in the context of firm reputation. Although evidence for a positive effect of familiarity on reputation is inconclusive at best, the effect has remained part of the conventional wisdom in brand image research. This paper presents theory and research from business (eg, management, marketing, consumer research) and psychology (eg, judgment and decision making, cognitive, social, and industrial/organizational psychology), aimed at clarifying the theoretical connection between familiarity and firm reputation. We point to theoretical and empirical evidence that challenges the conventional wisdom of a positive effect of familiarity on firm reputation. We suggest that familiarity is often associated with ambivalence about organizations, and thus can be seen as both a blessing and a curse.Corporate Reputation Review (2006) 9, 105–113. doi:10.1057/palgrave.crr.1550016 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes that, given the broad scope of the term ‘wrongful act’, and the fact that personal conduct exclusions typically require an adjudication of the underlying facts before they can be invoked, D&O insurance policies should pay defence costs in most corporate mismanagement cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Market segmentation is traditionally based on non-economic customer characteristics. Financial approaches can, however, offer additional insight. Based on customer profitability analyses, this paper offers some financial-based approaches, classified as one-dimensional and two-dimensional or matrix-approaches. By combining these financial-based segmentation techniques with traditional methods, a business unit should have the necessary insight to make decisions in accordance with the marketing concept. According to this way of thinking (market orientation), businesses have two main goals: (1) to satisfy customers' needs by offering products which meet their desires, requests and demands, and (2) to satisfy the business unit's needs by carrying out exchanges that result in long-term profitability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the authors’ last paper,1 the audit committee membership requirements imposed by the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the US securities markets were discussed. In particular, the authors discussed these rules and their interaction with one another, focusing primarily on the rules requiring each audit committee member to be independent of management and financially literate, and at least one member of the audit committee to qualify as a financial expert. This paper highlights the added complexities audit committee members face as a result of the interplay between the audit committee membership requirements and general corporate law. In this regard, the authors take particular note of recent Delaware case law that potentially bears on the audit committee membership requirements of independence and financial expertise, including case law in which apparently independent directors were disqualified from serving on an independence committee based on alleged conflicts of interest and case law in which the court focused on a director’s financial expertise in concluding that the director should be personally liable for approving a particular transaction. While it is important to understand the implications of these cases, directors, including audit committee members, need not overreact. The Delaware Supreme Court, perhaps the most influential court in the US with respect to business cases, has provided welcome guidance and has done so by reaffirming the primacy and vitality of the business judgment rule and in specifically addressing the persuasiveness of arguments that social connections and personal friendships can result in disqualification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to today’s wave of corporate investigations and prosecutions, prosecutors have sought to require significant changes in corporate culture, compliance and controls and, as importantly, to monitor those changes for a reasonable time. The result is the corporate deferred prosecution agreement and its adjunct, the Independent Monitor. This paper first will review the development of deferred prosecution agreements and the factors which may determine which companies receive such treatment; secondly, it will analyse the Independent Monitor’s role, both the common terms of reference and certain unique terms relevant to specific cases; and thirdly, it will suggest the outlines of an Independent Monitor’s workplan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to explore a more constructive role for corporate boards — one that would entail directors recognising the operational primacy of management and focusing their attention on the manner in which a corporation can best fulfil its long-term strategy. Paying more attention to nurturing long-term, sustainable value will help differentiate roles and will suggest the need for new metrics and a deeper appreciation by directors of corporate strategy and organisational capacity. At a time when senior management are dedicating disproportionate resources to immediate compliance issues, it is critical that boards take such a broad view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Close links between banks and large companies have been seen as a key component of Germany’s corporate governance system. The recent sale of large shareholdings by banks raises the question of to what extent this system will converge to the US model of dispersed ownership. This paper argues that concentrated ownership will remain a key feature of this system. In addition, board-level representation of employees and the lack of a culture of independent directors are further factors supporting incremental change in Germany’s corporate governance system rather than wholesale convergance to the US model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its reopening in the early 1990s, the stock market has gained considerable momentum in China. In less than 15 years, the Chinese stock exchange has grown into the eighth largest in the world, with market capitalisation of over US$500bn. This expansion, however, has been accompanied by frequent discoveries of accounting malpractice at Chinese listed firms. This paper begins by tracing the origins of these accounting failures through analysis of the Chinese stock market’s institutional context, and goes on to classify 11 cases of accounting failures into various categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a contemporary look at that part of corporate community involvement which in recent years has become known as 'corporate social responsibility'. The author adopts a broader perspective than Michael Porter's prominent article on 'corporate philanthropy'. Here, the voluntary and discretionary expenditures of business on social and environmental projects are seen to be more closely aligned with corporate risk management and reputation-building than with corporate strategy. After some observations about terminology and philosophical attitudes, the paper notes the growing pressure on business to undertake discretionary social and environmental expenditures and to account publicly for such activities through institutionalized annual reporting. Some recent international initiatives to foster and popularize corporate social responsibility are summarized and their features briefly assessed, as is one attempt to measure corporate social responsibility. The paper seeks to illuminate the 'hidden' issues in this increasingly popular contemporary movement. The most important of these are to identify who ultimately pays for such expenditures and who ultimately makes decisions about them. At the same time it is noted that the capabilities of private business in the social arena may sometimes exceed those of government. The paper concludes with a number of judgements about the nature and legitimacy of this contemporary development and also about its future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on Chapter Three of the book 'Targeting customers -- How to use geodemographic and lifestyle data in your business' by Peter Sleight. It provides a straightforward introduction to using geodemographic information systems. It reviews the rationale for neighbourhood classifications, how they are constructed, the arrival of the new census data and the implications for new products. Finally, it reviews the neighbourhood issues implicit in the assumption of such classifications. The third edition of 'Targeting customers' is published to coincide with the new system launches following the release of the 2001 Census data. The book (published by World Advertising Research Center, www.warc.com) was published in March 2004. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Revenue management (RM) brings rational approaches to pricing for goods and/or services with a limited shelf life. The practice of dynamically pricing a perishable product across different market segments continues to be applied across an ever-increasing set of business arenas. While numerous consulting and software development firms preach the bottom line impacts of RM practice, little effort is applied to monitoring the success of RM systems once in place. The continued success of RM hinges upon the ability to link organisational performance to the pricing and capacity decisions of RM systems. This link both reinforces the financial gains attributable to RM and indicates opportunities for future improvement. This paper outlines Performance Monitor, a phased approach to performance measurement designed and implemented at Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Inc. The focus is on the impact of RM practice via a dissection of the lost revenue opportunities of historic decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Volume 1, Number 3, Part I of this two-part paper discussed the business process associated with the group passenger market segment. While Part I outlined the problems and challenges faced in the current environment, Part II discusses how they can be transformed into revenue opportunities with industry best practice and revenue management system automation. With the dynamic combination of adopting new group business process and implementing automation, Part II addresses how an airline can increase its revenue, fill seats that otherwise would have gone empty, increase load factor, reduce overhead costs and overall improve the bottom line. All this can be realised through sound pricing decisions, negotiation tactics consisting of vital economic intelligence, and better inventory management while at the same time not displacing higher-revenue demand. Furthermore, with the element of system automation, an airline can substantially increase the volume of business it generates while achieving economics of scale in productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful customer management requires the ability to provide the services customers want and the provision of those services at a cost the business can afford. The first requirement should be easily determined because it is, normally, a prime objective of market research programmes conducted by an organisation's marketing department. The ability to determine whether the business can afford the customer base it has or desires is, however, another issue and one that few organisations address successfully. Understanding the financial contribution of each customer is recognised as an essential component in determining business strategy but there are few, if any, guidelines or models to assist in the development of the necessary processes. This paper discusses a practical approach to the determination of customer contribution that has been successfully used in a number of organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implementing yield management (YM) into an industry sector which is new to YM is one of the most exciting and demanding challenges which a revenue management professional can face. At the same time, the scale of the change required and the lack of any industry blueprint can make the prospect daunting. This paper outlines some of the author's personal experiences of how implementations have succeeded and failed, and draws some conclusions on the key steps towards eventual success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Revenue management has experienced tremendous growth since its inception in the airline industry. The practice of dynamically pricing a perishable product across different market segments continues to be applied across an ever increasing set of business arenas. The proliferation of revenue management can be attributed to its microeconomic foundations (grounded in supply and demand), as well as the numerous well-cited success stories (American Airlines, National Car Rental) and failures (People's Express) that follow from its application or lack thereof. The continued success of revenue management hinges upon the ability to link organisational performance to the pricing and capacity decisions of revenue management systems. This link both reinforces the financial gains attributable to revenue management and indicates opportunities for future improvement. This paper outlines Performance Monitor, a phased approach to performance measurement designed and implemented at Dollar Car Rental. We also present and discuss some examples of Phase I, which is currently in use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article assesses the literature on the responsiveness of the supply of labor in the case of a temporary change in after-tax compensation. In particular, it reviews the literature on the Frisch elasticity - the sum of the substitution elasticity and a measure of people's willingness to trade work for consumption over time. The authors find that the estimates of the Frisch elasticity most relevant for fiscal policy analysis range from 0.27 to 0.53 (with a central estimate of 0.40). Using that range, they illustrate how different Frisch elasticities affect the responsiveness of labor supply to changes in fiscal policies. The illustration shows that estimation of the Frisch elasticity can have a significant influence on analyses of the economic effects of such policy changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional full service airlines are facing many challenges and an uncertain future. All that is certain is that unless radical changes are made to the way we transact business, we will be unable to compete with the low-cost model. IATA airlines are governed by rules and regulations designed to provide consistency and a minimum lextel of customer service. Carriers have in turn then added further complexity to meet the requirements of their own internal processes and organisations. Low-cost carriers have mainly started from scratch and have been driven by cost considerations before everything else, giving them a great advantage in today's world. Their customer proposition is simple, enabling them to do business almost entirely online. While their business model does not fit that of British Airways, it offers pointers on the way forward which need to be embraced. This paper looks at some of today's processes and questions their value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Editorial. Introduces a series of articles on database marketing including data mining and synergy between business.

The prolonged war in Iraq, the political turmoil in Lebanon, the heightened tension between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and the spectre of an attack on Iran have significantly increased business uncertainty in several countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Sovereign risk — the credit risk assessment to the obligations of central governments — is believed to have increased. In response, credit rating agencies like Moody's and Standard and Poor's have revised their ratings or placed specific countries on their watch lists, a move that normally precedes a credit rating change. Using data from Morgan Stanley and Euromoney, we propose to quantify and explain the variability of sovereign risk in five MENA countries and two control countries between 2002 and 2006 using a set of dates in which a tragic event has taken place. Our methodology will allow us to test the extent to which the heightened political tension in the Middle East has altered the risk profiles of these countries and to challenge the assumptions made by rating agencies.Journal of Derivatives & Hedge Funds (2008) 14, 237–250. doi:10.1057/jdhf.2008.17 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities operate in both a market and in an institutional setting defined by government. For many universities, the latter is the dominant source of support. The discourse on the entrepreneurial university emphasizes the universities position in a market and does not adequately reflect the dominance of the institutional setting. This paper argues that the five entrepreneurial universities used by Clark to identify significant traits may have been less influenced than many by the institutional environment. By taking an organizational configuration perspective, it is possible to discover a role for Mintzberg's ‘technostructure’ within the university. Functioning as the interface between the university and the state, this element of organization design allows the university to retain legitimacy and so access to significant resources, while allowing the ‘academic heartland’ or ‘operating core’ to develop entrepreneurial habits.Higher Education Policy (2008) 21, 393–404. doi:10.1057/palgrave.hep.8300176 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the determinants of intra-industry trade (IIT) and the effect of immigration on trade flows in the U.S. There are two distinct channels through which immigrants may increase trade between their host and home countries. Immigrants may arrive in the host country with preferences for home country products to find that the goods are unavailable. They may also increase both host country imports from and exports to the host country if immigrants arrive with business contacts required to conduct business in their home countries. Considerable variation in the influence of immigrants on IIT across countries was found by using World Bank income classifications.

In the typical case, whether a D&O insurance contract can be rescinded as to a particular insured individual will depend on what knowledge that individual possessed with respect to relevant information that was not disclosed on the D&O insurance application. This focus on knowledge — really, lack of knowledge — creates a misalignment of incentives that is suboptimal from the perspective both of D&O insurance carriers and society. Instead of focusing on the knowledge of directors and officers at the time that a company applies for D&O insurance, insurance carriers should focus on the process by which their corporate clients are governed. D&O insurance carriers could reward companies that follow best practices for corporate governance by writing D&O insurance contracts that would be non-rescindable so long as the insureds followed prescribed, carefully articulated and verifiable good corporate governance practices. Such as process-oriented approach to underwriting D&O liability will likely decrease corporate malfeasance and hence the risk of liability claims being brought against a corporation and its directors and officers. The resulting reduction in the rate of claims should lead to a reduction in the cost of D&O insurance for these well-governed companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]