Strategic Impact of Shareholders ‘Say on pay’ on Executive Remuneration & Board Composition in UK

This research addresses two fundamental issues: first the strategic impact of shareholders votes on Executive pay (EP) and board compositions. The overall result from the analysis contends that say-on-pay votes have insignificant explanatory power on both remuneration and Board Composition (BC). Since the features of Executive Pay (EP) and BC are determined by both observable and unobservable firm characteristics. Both of which can only be determined by simultaneously looking at the endogenous (Size, Market Value (MV) or firm performance such as Return on Investment (RI), Dividends Yield (DY); as well as the exogenous (macroeconomic forces) characteristics and their relative impact on the performance of the firm. The empirical findings from this analysis show that shareholders involvement in pay determination as well as the composition and structures of corporate boards to improve the efficiency as well as the performance of the firms to certain degree. It also shows that activisms overall is one of the best and effective tools available to engage dispersed shareholders into the strategic decision making process; unlike the institutional shareholders whom can request to have close proximity representation on the board hence contributing directly to the strategic decisions made by board across the firm’s dimensions. The result shows an overall increase in firm value ex-post voting event. This is suggesting that firms who adapt say-on-pay could be seen in the coming future as potentially a secure source of investment. The study furthermore concludes by suggesting that even though say-on-pay is a viable monitoring tool, non-binding vote bring more strategic flexibility to the firm than biding shareholder votes. Because binding votes might steer the power of making important strategic decisions from the hand of the board of directors whom are better placed to do so into the hand of perhaps immature or self-interest driven shareholders. The study furthermore support that more research is required in the field of say-on-pay due to the lack of consistency in findings from previous literature

A prospective study to evaluate the efficacy of 11-13+6 weeks anatomy scan in detecting fetal structural anomalies compared to traditional 18-22 weeks scan

Background: Congenital anomalies are one of the leading causes of infant mortality. Traditional TIFFA scan done at 18-22 weeks leads to delay in diagnosis, referral and management. With high resolution ultrasound and TVS probe, normal and abnormal fetal anatomy could be visualized in early gestation with good accuracy. Objective of present study was to evaluate the efficacy of 11-13+6 weeks anatomy scan in detecting fetal structural anomalies compared to traditional 18 -22weeks scan and in visualizing the complete normal fetal anatomyMethods: An Observational study of 300 antenatal patients at Jubilee Mission Medical College for 1 year (Jan-Dec2014) was done. The scan was performed at 11-13+6 weeks by TAS first, if a full fetal anatomy survey not achieved, TVS added. A mid-trimester fetal anatomy scan was then performed in patients who had not dropped out, miscarried or undergone pregnancy termination at 18-22weeks.Results: The incidence of anomalies in our study was 3.67% -11 cases; 9 detected at 11-13+6 weeks, 2 were newly detected at 18-22 weeks. At 11-13+6 weeks anatomy scan, the detection rate of anomalies was 81.8% and complete fetal anatomy survey was achieved in 92%. Heart and kidneys were not properly visualized in 4% and 12.7%, at 11‐13+6 weeks compared with 0.7% and 0% at 18‐22 weeks.Conclusions: The 11-13+6 weeks anatomy scan is an important diagnostic tool which is underutilized and should be offered to all women as a routine standard of antenatal care. However as fetal anomalies can present at varying gestational age, standard 18-22 weeks anatomy scan cannot be abandoned

Climate change preparedness in West Africa

ASC – Publicaties niet-programma gebonde

Effects of customized climate services on land and labor productivity in Burkina Faso and Ghana

Climate services favor adopting strategies to increase agricultural productivity, enhance sustainable development, and adapt to unavoidable climate variability and change. However, for climates services to be effective, they must be accessible and suitable to user needs. This study investigated the effects of customized climate services (CCS) on land and labor productivity. Portraying the case of CCS delivered in the districts of Bolgatanga (Northern Ghana), Dano and Ouahigouya (western and northern Burkina Faso) in West Africa, it used: i) historical panel data of daily rainfall, yields, agricultural input, and output prices; ii) cost statements of farm operations and iii) other survey data from beneficiaries of on-farm demonstrations (pilot sites). Different results were found across farmers on the demonstrator sites, with Dano and Bolgatanga recording the best land and labor productivity. Strong and positive effects were observed in Dano, where land productivity increased by 200% and labor productivity doubled despite consecutive pluviometric extremes such as heavy rain events and prolonged dry spells in the 2017 and 2018 cropping seasons. Further investigation showed that CCS was particularly favorable to land and labor productivity of farmers who were committed to the advisory given by the CCS providers. Therefore, as perishable goods, the success of CCS applications would require thorough coproduction, delivery, and monitoring for their effectiveness in improving land and labor productivity for agriculture in semi-arid regions of West Africa