Innovation After the Revolution: Foreign Sovereign Bond Contracts Since 2003

For over a decade, contracts literature has focused on standardization. Scholars asked how terms become standard, and why they change so rarely. This line of inquiry painted a world where a standard term persists until it is dislodged by another standard term, perhaps after a brief window of ferment before the second term takes hold. It also overshadowed the early insights of boilerplate theories, which described contracts as a mix of standard and customized terms, and asked why the mix might be suboptimal. This article brings the focus back to the mix. It examines the development of selected provisions in sovereign bond contracts after a widely publicized boilerplate shift in 2003. The adoption of collective action clauses in sovereign bonds five years ago moved the documentation standard in New York closer to the prevailing practice in London. However, contrary to expectations, the shift away from old boilerplate did not lead to convergence around new boilerplate. Issuers in London and, to a lesser extent, in New York, have been experimenting with diverse formulations and institutional arrangements, including trustees and creditor committees. The contracts we study, as well as our interviews with practitioners and officials, suggest that standardization may be a matter of degree, that the degree of standardization may vary across different markets, and that a shock of the sort that led the 2003 shift may dislodge a previously standard term without replacing it with a new standard - erstwhile boilerplate becomes a platform for customization

Participation of city residents in the ongoing activities of public transportation providers

The organization and management of public transportation is one of the most important responsibilities of local authorities. In view of the dynamically changing conditions of modern cities’ transportation policies, actions in this area pose a challenge, involving the standardization of transportation and its adjustment to the transportation needs and expectations of residents not only of individual cities, but of entire metropolitan areas. One of the ways to tailor transportation to the needs of residents is to continuously coordinate on the basis of diagnosis and analysis of residents’ demands. Public transportation passenger councils provide a forum for exchanging views on this issue. In Poland, only the authorities of Warsaw have thus far decided to establish such a body

Evolution and Competition in the Market for Handheld Computers

Since the early 1990s, electronic organisers or electronic agendas have been evolving towards fully fledged, but miniature, computers. This paper is a case study about this market. Uniquely, and reminiscent of the home computer market in the 1980s, this is a market for personal computers not dominated by Microsoft. Or at least, not yet. In tracking the evolution of this market, the paper points especially to the importance of networking and standardization. The market for handheld computers is a small market, compared to the units shipped in the market for PCs. Nevertheless a surprisingly large number of vendors has been and still is active in this market. During the short history of this market, there have been several periods where technological breakthroughs created expectations of huge growth, with entry by new suppliers as a result. As the dust settled, the losers either changed strategy, or left the market altogether. The paper will argue that standardization and networking are major factors in explaining competitive success and the recent growth of the industry.industrial organization ;

Standardy jako odpowiedź na dysfunkcje w zarządzaniu zasobami ludzkimi

rozdział z: Dysfunkcje i patologie w sferze zarządzania zasobami ludzkimi, t. 4, red. Z. JanowskaW artykule zaprezentowano pojęcie standaryzacji w zakresie zarządzania zasobami ludzkimi jako sposób zapobiegania dysfunkcjom w tym zakresie. Wskazano na trzy obszary, w ramach których prowadzone działania sprzyjają unifikowaniu praktyk personalnych: rozwiązania prawne, konkursy na poziomie narodowym oraz wskazywanie trendów światowych uwzględniających różnorodny kontekst stosowania praktyk zzl. Wskazano także na trudności w zakresie standaryzacji zzl. Zaprezentowano wyniki badań w zakresie oczekiwań pracujących studentów względem standaryzacji praktyk personalnych.In the paper a phenomena of human resources management (HRM) standardization was presented as a means of preventing HRM dysfunctions. Author provides three grounds for action undertaken for reinforcing HR practice standardization in the range of: legislations, national HRM competitions and international trends in HRM practices taken into account cross-cultural context. Some difficulties were indicated in HRM standardization. Research data were presented considering working students expectations in respect of HR standard practices of their entrepreneurs

Debunking the Myth of the Efficacy of “Push-down Academics”: How Rigid, Teacher-Centered, Academic Early Learning Environments Dis-Empower Young Children

The increased emphasis on higher academic standards in Early Childhood Education has changed the instructional landscape and developed myths of quality learning. In recent decades, pre and primary schools have begun to focus more on assessments and testing as a determinant of quality learning; this emphasis has led to a shift to “push down academics”, which refers to an increase of academic standards at a younger age (Bassok, Latham, and Rorem, 2016). The concept of “push-down academics” is contrast to the foundational components of early childhood education, which equally values socio-emotional development, academic core concepts, and natural growth (Burman, 2016; Alford, Rollins, Padron & Waxman, 2016). This paper discusses the shift in ECE educational settings from foundational components of learning to “push down academics” and reveals the commonly associated myths of the implications of “push down” academics. We also review how the implementation of “push down academics” in early childhood privileges academic concepts over other forms of learning and consequentially minimizes the importance of skills outside of the academic core (Piker & Jewkes, 2014)

Patients’ expectations from dental implants: a systematic review of the literature

OBJECTIVE: To examine the current literature on the impact of patients’ expectations on treatment outcomes or final patient satisfaction and to identify the theoretical frameworks, study designs and measurement instruments which have been employed to assess patients’ expectations within implant dentistry. METHODS: A structured literature search of four databases Pubmed, Cochrane, Web of Science and PsychINFO was conducted following PRISMA guidelines. Any type of literature published in English discussing the topic of ‘patients expectations’ in oral health were identified and further screened. Studies reporting on expectations regarding dental implants were selected and a narrative review was conducted. RESULTS: The initial search yielded 16707 studies, out of which 1051 ‘potentially effective studies’ were further assessed and final 41 ‘effective studies’ were included [Kappa = 0.76]. Ten observational studies, published from 1999 to 2013, dealt specifically with expectations of dental implants. There was a large degree of heterogeneity among studies in terms of assessment instruments. Expectations relating to aesthetics and function were primarily considered. Among the 10 studies, 8 were classified as quantitative research and 2 as qualitative research. The STROBE quality of reporting scores of the studies ranged from 13.5 to 18.0. Three of the 8 quantitative studies employed a before/after study design (prospective studies) and used visual analogue scales (VAS) to measure patient expectations. CONCLUSIONS: There is a growing interest in patients’ expectations of dental implants. Most studies are cross sectional in nature and the quality of reporting varies considerably. Expectations with respect to aesthetics and function are key attributes considered. The use of visual analogue scales (VAS) provides quantitative assessments of patients’ expectations but the lack of standardization of measures prohibits meta- analyses.published_or_final_versio

Bandwagon or Barriers? The Role of Standards in the European and American Marketplace. Working Paper #1, November 1997

Industrial Standards - a highly technical and even obscure topic to many scholars and policy-makers - are crucial in shaping market access and conditions. They act as non-tariff barriers (NTBs) and may affect relations between governments and businesses. The paper examines the evolution of EU policy toward standards and evaluates recent efforts to foster greater cooperation between the EU and the US in reducing trade inhibiting of industrial standards

General Network Effects and Welfare

Abstract. (In)direct network effects arise frequently in economic models but, for rea-sons of analytical tractability, are often assumed to be linear. Here, we examine the general non-linear case with two platforms. We establish the conditions characterising equilibria and show that welfare changes can be related in a simple, intuitive way to the degree of diminishing returns of the network effects function