14,359 research outputs found
Lessons from Fiascos in Russian Corporate Governance
"Bad corporate governance" is often invoked to explain poor enterprise performance, but the catch phrase is never precisely defined - neither its consequences for the real economy, nor its causes in particular countries has been adequately explained. This paper uses Russian enterprise examples to address these open questions in corporate governance theory. We define corporate governance by looking to the economic functions of the firm rather than to any particular set of national corporate laws. Firms exhibit good corporate governance when their managers maximize residuals and, in the case of investor-owned firms, make pro rata distributions to shareholders. First, using this definition, we develop a typology that shows the channels through which bad corporate governance can inflict damage on the real economy. The topology helps identify vulnerabilities to corporate governance problems that may appear in any country and it suggests a new way to tailor policy responses. Second, we explain the causes of poor corporate performance in Russia by looking to the particular conditions prevailing at privatization - untenable initial firm boundaries and insider allocation of firm shares - and the bargaining dynamics that followed. The focus on initial conditions helps expand a comparative corporate governance literature built on United States, Western European, and Japanese models. Lessons from Russian fiascos counsel caution as to "stakeholder" proposals - including labor or local communities in formal corporate governance - and generate testable hypotheses regarding potential losses from the multiple large block share ownerships typical of many U.S. firms, especially close corporations.
Development of material specifications and qualifications of polymeric materials for the jpl spacecraft materials guide book. iii- polyfluorocarbon films special report no. 3
Outgassing studies of polyfluorocarbon films - investigation of polymers as spacecraft construction material
Computer experiments to determine whether over- or under-counting necessarily affects the determination of difference in cell number between experimental groups
Cataloged from PDF version of article.Computer cell counting experiments were performed in order to examine the consequences of over- or under-counting. The
three-dimensional reaggregate culture laboratory environment for cell counting was used as a model for computer simulation. The
laboratory environment for aggregate and cell sizes, numbers and spatial placement in gelatin blocks was mimicked in the
computer setup. However, in the computer, cell counting was set to be either ideally unbiased, or deliberately biased in regard to
over- or under-counting so as to compare eventual results when using the various cell counting methods. It was found that there
was no effect of the cell counting methods used in determining whether there was a significant difference in cell number between
two experimental groups. In addition, it was found that under the conditions of these simulations, the optical disector method
behaved similarly, on the average, as the ideal method of counting cell centers and in both of those cases, the average ratio
between actual cell number in a flask and estimated number was close to 1.00. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved
Biased Metropolis-Heat-Bath Algorithm for Fundamental-Adjoint SU(2) Lattice Gauge Theory
For SU(2) lattice gauge theory with the fundamental-adjoint action an
efficient heat-bath algorithm is not known so that one had to rely on
Metropolis simulations supplemented by overrelaxation. Implementing a novel
biased Metropolis-heat-bath algorithm for this model, we find improvement
factors in the range 1.45 to 2.06 over conventionally optimized Metropolis
simulations. If one optimizes further with respect to additional overrelaxation
sweeps, the improvement factors are found in the range 1.3 to 1.8.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; minor changes and one reference added; accepted
for publication in PR
Modelling the quark propagator
The quark propagator is at the core of lattice hadron spectrum calculations
as well as studies in other nonperturbative schemes. We investigate the quark
propagator with an improved staggered action (Asqtad) and an improved gluon
action, which provides good quality data down to small quark masses. This is
used to construct ans\"{a}tze suitable for model hadron calculations as well as
adding to our intuitive understanding of QCD.Comment: Lattice2002(spectrum
Localization of Eigenfunctions in the Stadium Billiard
We present a systematic survey of scarring and symmetry effects in the
stadium billiard. The localization of individual eigenfunctions in Husimi phase
space is studied first, and it is demonstrated that on average there is more
localization than can be accounted for on the basis of random-matrix theory,
even after removal of bouncing-ball states and visible scars. A major point of
the paper is that symmetry considerations, including parity and time-reversal
symmetries, enter to influence the total amount of localization. The properties
of the local density of states spectrum are also investigated, as a function of
phase space location. Aside from the bouncing-ball region of phase space,
excess localization of the spectrum is found on short periodic orbits and along
certain symmetry-related lines; the origin of all these sources of localization
is discussed quantitatively and comparison is made with analytical predictions.
Scarring is observed to be present in all the energy ranges considered. In
light of these results the excess localization in individual eigenstates is
interpreted as being primarily due to symmetry effects; another source of
excess localization, scarring by multiple unstable periodic orbits, is smaller
by a factor of .Comment: 31 pages, including 10 figure
Intertwining technique for a system of difference Schroedinger equations and new exactly solvable multichannel potentials
The intertwining operator technique is applied to difference Schroedinger
equations with operator-valued coefficients. It is shown that these equations
appear naturally when a discrete basis is used for solving a multichannel
Schroedinger equation. New families of exactly solvable multichannel
Hamiltonians are found
Corporate Governance Lessons from Russian Enterprise Fiascoes
This Article draws on a rich array of deviant behavior in Russian enterprises to craft lessons for corporate governance theory. First, Professors Fox and Heller define corporate governance by looking to the economic functions of the firm. Based on this definition, they develop a typology that comprehensively shows all the channels through which bad corporate governance can inflict damage on a country\u27s real economy. Second, they explain the causes of Russian enterprise fiascoes by looking to the particular initial conditions prevailing at privatization – untenable firm boundaries and insider allocation of firm shares – and the bargaining dynamics that have followed. This focus offers a new perspective for a comparative corporate governance literature derived from United States, Western European, and Japanese models. The analytic tools created in this Article can inform pressing debates across contemporary corporate law, ranging from the theory of the close corporation to the viability of stakeholder proposals
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