Learning from Enron

This essay argues that the Enron affair has been misunderstood as a failure of monitoring, with adverse consequences for the drafting of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Higgs report. Where Enron’s board failed was in underestimating the risks that were inherent in the company’s business plan and failing to implement an effective system of internal control. Enron demonstrates the limits of the monitoring board and points the way to a stewardship model in which the board takes responsibility for ensuring the sustainability of the company’s assets over time

Shareholder Primacy and the Trajectory of UK Corporate Governance

Core institutions of UK corporate governance, in particular those relating to takeovers, board structure and directors’ duties, are strongly orientated towards a norm of shareholder primacy. Beyond the core, in particular at the intersection of insolvency and employment law, stakeholder interests are better represented, thanks to European Community influence. Moreover, institutional shareholders are redirecting their investment strategies away from a focus on short-term returns, in such a way as to favour stakeholder-inclusive practices. We therefore suggest that the UK system is currently in a state of flux and that the debate over shareholder primacy has not been concluded.corporate governance, stakeholding, hostile takeovers, company law, insolvency, employee representation, shareholder activism

Anglo-American corporate governance and the employment relationship: a case to answer

The corporate governance environment in the UK and US is generally thought to be hostile to the emergence of cooperative employment relations of the kind exemplified by labour-management partnerships. We discuss case study evidence from the UK which suggests that, contrary to this widespread perception, enduring and proactive partnerships may develop, in conditions where management can convince shareholders of the long-term gains from this approach, and where other regulatory factors operate to extend the time-horizon for financial returns. We conclude that there is more scope than is commonly allowed for measures which could reconcile liquidity in capital markets with cooperation in labour relations

Safeguarding, surveillance and control: school policy and practice responses to the Prevent Duty and the "War on Terror" in the UK

In this chapter we provide a critical analysis of counter-terrorism strategies (Prevent) in UK schools. We provide a critique of some key, and often controversial, aspects of the Prevent policy, from its introduction in schools, through to its implementation and outcomes. Research is limited, particularly in relation to students’ experiences of the strategy, but we review the existing evidence to provide some insights, as far as possible, into how Prevent has been received by teachers and students, its impact on the working practices of teachers, and the experiences of students and local communities subject to Prevent policy and practice. In so doing we raise questions about the implications of the Prevent strategy, in particular the heightened measures of security and surveillance, imposed upon teachers, students, and communities and point towards possibilities for future policy and practice

Concussion in motorsport: incidence, awareness and future directions.

Concussion in contact sport is a contentious issue and represents a growing proportion of injuries sustained by athletes worldwide. Motorsport is no exception, yet the published evidence on the incidence, severity and recovery from this condition remains scarce [1]. Motorsport is unique among extreme sports, since competitors are frequently subject to high velocity, high G forces with a large rotational component, even without impact [2,3]. The ongoing challenge for practitioners is threefold; making a diagnosis of concussion trackside, evaluating competitors in the medical center and approaching the return-to-race decision.ND Deakin receives expenses in exchange for performing baseline and post-concussion neurocognitive testing for the British Touring Car Championship and its associated racing series. PJ Hutchinson is supported by a NIHR Research Professorship and the BRC Cambridge NIHR. PJ is also Chief Medical Officer for the FIA Formula 1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed

Data review of reef related tourism, 1946-1980

This document details the level of tourism to the Great Barrier Ree

Can we get more satisfaction? Improving quality of working life survey results in UK universities

The quality of working life (QoWL) has preoccupied practitioners and management scholars since the 1960s [Grote, G., and D. Guest. 2017. “The Case for Reinvigorating Quality of Working Life Research.” Human Relations 70 (2): 149–167. doi:10.1177/0018726716654746], while satisfaction and occupational stress for professional and academic staff in universities are issues of growing concern amidst a context of poor student mental health literacy [Gorczynski, P., W. Sims-Schouten, D. Hill, and J. C. Wilson. 2017. “Examining Mental Health Literacy, Help Seeking Behaviours, and Mental Health Outcomes in UK University Students.” The Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice 12 (2): 111–120]. The enhancement of QoWL appears increasingly difficult to achieve within the UK higher education (HE) sector, with constant external and internal reforms [Bessant, C., and S. Mavin. 2016. “Neglected on the Front Line: Tensions and Challenges for the First-Line Manager-Academic Role in UK Business Schools.” Journal of Management Development 35 (7): 916–929. doi:10.1108/JMD-09-2014-0105], the “tyranny of metrics” [Muller, J. Z. 2018. The Tyranny of Metrics. Princeton: Princeton University Press], and the continuous decline in QoWL survey results, which became an issue for many UK universities [Denvir, A., J. Hillage, A. Cox, A. Sinclair, and D. Pearmain. 2008. “Quality of Working Life in the UK.” http://www.employment-studies.co.uk/system/files/resources/files/452.pdf]. Furthermore, there is little understanding of how university HR departments enhance QoWL [Yeo, R. K., and J. Li. 2011. “Working Out the Quality of Work Life: A Career Development Perspective with Insights for Human Resource Management.” Human Resource Management International Digest 19 (3): 39–45. doi:10.1108/09670731111125952]. This paper presents a new perspective by looking at the role of HR and management in achieving QoWL in the UK's HE sector. The incongruity between strategic human resource management metrics in the HE sector to measure employee well-being and self-reported employee satisfaction has a significant influence on student satisfaction, particularly in large units like business schools. Drawing on secondary data, we contribute to debates on current challenges faced by UK universities and offer practical suggestions to improve QoWL

Unexpected corporate outcomes to hedge fund activism in Japan

Hedge fund activism has been identified in the USA as a driver of enduring corporate governance change and market perception. We investigate this claim in an empirical study to see whether activism produced similar results in Japan in four representative areas: management effectiveness, managerial decisions, labour management, and market perception. Experience from the USA would predict positive changes at Japanese target companies in these four areas. However, analysis of financial data shows that no enduring changes were apparent in the first three areas, and that market perception was consistently unfavourable. Our findings demonstrate that the same pressures need not produce the same results in different markets. Moreover, while the effects of the global financial crisis should not be ignored, we conclude that the country-level differences in corporate governance identified in the varieties of capitalism literature are robust, at least in the short term.We also gratefully acknowledge funding from the ESRC’s Rising Powers and Interdependent Futures Research Programme, Project ‘Law, Development and Finance in Rising Powers’, Grant No. ES/J012491/1, and the Omron Fund at Doshisha University, Kyoto