Predicting Market Direction from Direct Speech by Business Leaders

Direct quotations from business leaders can communicate to the wider public the latent state of their organization as well as the beliefs of the organization\u27s leaders. Candid quotes from business leaders can have dramatic effects upon the share price of their organization. For example, Gerald Ratner in 1991 stated that his company\u27s products were crap and consequently his company (Ratners) lost in excess of 500 million pounds in market value. Information in quotes from business leaders can be used to make an estimation of the organization\u27s immediate future financial prospects and therefore can form part of a trading strategy. This paper describes a contextual classification strategy to label direct quotes from business leaders contained in news stories. The quotes are labelled as either: 1. positive, 2. negative or 3. neutral. A trading strategy aggregates the quote classifications to issue a buy, sell or hold instruction. The quote based trading strategy is evaluated against trading strategies which are based upon whole news story classification on the NASDAQ market index. The evaluation shows a clear advantage for the quote classification strategy over the competing strategies

When does charisma matter for top-level leaders? Effect of attributional ambiguity

One stream of leadership theory suggests leaders are evaluated via inferential observer processes that compare the fit of the target to a prototype of an ideal (charismatic) leader. Attributional theories of leadership suggest that evaluations depend on knowledge of past organizational performance, which is attributed to the leader's skills. We develop a novel theory showing how inferential and attributional processes simultaneously explain top-level leader evaluation and ultimately leader retention and selection. We argue that observers will mostly rely on attributional mechanisms when performance signals clearly indicate good or poor performance outcomes. However, under conditions of attributional ambiguity (i.e., when performance signals are unclear), observers will mostly rely on inferential processes. In Study 1 we tested our theory in an unconventional context-the U.S. presidential election-and found that the two processes, due to the leader's charisma and country economic performance, interact in predicting whether a leader is selected. Using a business context and an experimental design, in Study 2 we show that CEO charisma and firm performance interact in predicting leader retention, confirming the results we found in Study 1. Our results suggest that this phenomenon is quite general and can apply to various performance domains

Mass media portrayals of chief executive officers (CEOs): the influence on the perceived likelihood of organisational success

This thesis investigates the influence of mass media portrayals of CEOs on the perceived likelihood of organisational success. In corporate brand management, CEO image represents organisational leadership and success. For most stakeholders, the image is configured based on mass media portrayals. The thesis argues that the portrayals often activate leadership archetypes that are stored in the memory and have a biasing influence on stakeholders in predicting organisational success. However, little is known about what types of leadership are depicted in mass media and how likely the portrayals influence the perceived likelihood of organisational success. The thesis has three main research questions: What are the common leadership archetypes depicted in mass media, and do they correspond to those identified in the academic literature?; Does the presence of leadership archetypes in mass media profiles of CEOs have a biasing influence on stakeholders in predicting organisational success?; Does a match between CEO leadership archetypes and situational contexts have a larger biasing influence on stakeholders in predicting organisational success than a mismatch? The thesis used a framework that examines leadership through a situational lens, and a mixed methods approach. A content analysis addressed the first question, whilst an experiment addressed the second and third research questions. The analyses indicate that CEOs are depicted as having multiple leadership archetypes that fit into the framework, but some archetypes have not been captured in the academic literature, and media depictions of CEO leadership archetypes tend to bias stakeholders in predicting organisational success, but the leader-context match does not. The research bridges the studies of corporate marketing and leadership through an emerging approach, advances the representation of CEO leadership and a dimension of corporate brand image, notes the study limitations, and suggests areas for future research

Language as a marker of CEO transition and company performance

textAn increasing number of researchers are beginning to explore leadership effectiveness in the context of language. To gain a better understanding of what constitutes an effective leader, particularly in the context of transition (exiting or entering leadership role), the current project examined Chief Executive Officer (CEO) language use in quarterly conference calls and its' association with company performance. Three research questions were asked: 1) What language patterns are associated with an outgoing CEO versus an incoming CEO? 2) To what degree does CEO language change depending on whether company performance increases or decreases in the year prior to exiting tenure or subsequent to their entering tenure 3) To what degree does CEO language predict company performance and company performance predict language use? In order to answer these questions, language use in the question and answer portion of quarterly conference calls was examined for 215 companies in the year prior to old CEO departure and in the first year for new CEO. Computerized text analysis was used to examine language associated with self-focus, other-focus, and positive and negative affect. Results suggest that old and new CEOs use distinctive language patterns when they are entering and exiting their leadership positions. Language was found to predict company performance and company performance was found to predict language. The current project points to the power of language as a tool to explore leadership effectiveness in the context of transition. Specifically, language analysis can help identify degree of old CEO detachment and new CEO assimilation within their company. In addition, language can be used as a marker of company performance.Psycholog

‘Modernisation’ and the role of policy levers in the Learning and Skills Sector

This paper examines the changing use of policy levers in the English post-compulsory education and training system, often referred to as the Learning and Skills Sector. Policy steering by governments has increased significantly in recent years, bringing with it the development of new forms of arms-length regulation. In the English context these changes were expressed during the 1980s and 1990s through neo-liberal New Public Management and, since 1997, have been extended through the New Labour government’s project to further ‘modernise’ public services. We look here at the changing use of policy levers (focussing in particular on the role of targets, funding, inspection, planning and initiatives) over three historical phases, paying particular attention to developments since the formation of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) in 2001. We conclude by considering the range of responses adopted by education professionals in this era of ‘modernisation’

Spartan Daily, December 7, 1936

Volume 25, Issue 48https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/2533/thumbnail.jp