Compensation and Firm Performance

This paper uses stochastic simulation and my U.S. econometric model to examine the optimal choice of monetary policy instruments. Are the variances, covariances, and parameters in the model such as to favor one instrument over the other, in particular the interest rate over the money supply? The results show that the interest rate and the money supply are about equally good as policy instruments in terms of minimizing the variance of real GNP. The variances of some of the components of GNP are, however, much larger when the money supply is the policy instrument, as is the variance of the change in stock prices. Therefore, if one's loss function is expanded beyond simply the variance of real GNP to variances of other variables, the interest rate policy does better. The results thus provide some support for what seems to be the Fed's current choice of using the interest rate as its primary instrument. Stochastic simulation is also used to estimate how much of the variance of real GNP is due to the error terms in the demand for money equations. The results show that the contribution is not very great even when the money supply is the policy instrument.

Spectroscopy detects skeletal muscle microvascular dysfunction during onset of sepsis in a rat fecal peritonitis model

Sepsis is a dysregulated host inflammatory response to infection potentially leading to life-threatening organ dysfunction. The objectives of this study were to determine whether early microvascular dysfunction (MVD) in skeletal muscle can be detected as dynamic changes in microvascular hemoglobin (MVHb) levels using spectroscopy and whether MVD precedes organ histopathology in septic peritonitis. Skeletal muscle of male Sprague–Dawley rats was prepared for intravital microscopy. After intraperitoneal injection of fecal slurry or saline, microscopy and spectroscopy recordings were taken for 6 h. Capillary red blood cell (RBC) dynamics and SO2 were quantified from digitized microscopy frames and MVHb levels were derived from spectroscopy data. Capillary RBC dynamics were significantly decreased by 4 h after peritoneal infection and preceded macrohemodynamic changes. At the same time, low-frequency oscillations in MVHb levels exhibited a significant increase in Power in parts of the muscle and resembled oscillations in RBC dynamics and SO2. After completion of microscopy, tissues were collected. Histopathological alterations were not observed in livers, kidneys, brains, or muscles 6 h after induction of peritonitis. The findings of this study show that, in our rat model of sepsis, MVD occurs before detectable organ histopathology and includes ~ 30-s oscillations in MVHb. Our work highlights MVHb oscillations as one of the indicators of MVD onset and provides a foundation for the use of non-invasive spectroscopy to continuously monitor MVD in septic patients

The Current State of Performance Appraisal Research and Practice: Concerns, Directions, and Implications

On the surface, it is not readily apparent how some performance appraisal research issues inform performance appraisal practice. Because performance appraisal is an applied topic, it is useful to periodically consider the current state of performance research and its relation to performance appraisal practice. This review examines the performance appraisal literature published in both academic and practitioner outlets between 1985 and 1990, briefly discusses the current state of performance appraisal practice, highlights the juxtaposition of research and practice, and suggests directions for further research

Localized Oxygen Exchange Platform for Intravital Video Microscopy Investigations of Microvascular Oxygen Regulation

Intravital microscopy has proven to be a powerful tool for studying microvascular physiology. In this study, we propose a gas exchange system compatible with intravital microscopy that can be used to impose gas perturbations to small localized regions in skeletal muscles or other tissues that can be imaged using conventional inverted microscopes. We demonstrated the effectiveness of this system by locally manipulating oxygen concentrations in rat extensor digitorum longus muscle and measuring the resulting vascular responses. A computational model of oxygen transport was used to partially validate the localization of oxygen changes in the tissue, and oxygen saturation of red blood cells flowing through capillaries were measured as a surrogate for local tissue oxygenation. Overall, we have demonstrated that this approach can be used to study dynamic and spatial responses to local oxygen challenges to the microenvironment of skeletal muscle

Choosing Whether to Lead, Lag, or Match the Market

This paper demonstrates how cost-benefit analysis can be used to develop a company\u27s pay strategy. Using the case of Punk\u27s Backyard Grill, a new venture starting in the Washington, DC area, quantitative aspects of Utility Analysis are combined with the judgments of the company\u27s owners to provide estimates of the value associated with seven pay strategies. Results showed that leading the market by 5% produced the greatest return. Sensitivity analysis is used to see how drastically estimates changes owing to the nature of the paper\u27s estimates. This methods presented in this paper should help others making pay policy decisions use cost-benefit analysis as part of their decision process

Signaling in Secret: Pay-for-Performance and the Incentive and Sorting Effects of Pay Secrecy

Key Findings: Pay secrecy adversely impacts individual task performance because it weakens the perception that an increase in performance will be accompanied by increase in pay; Pay secrecy is associated with a decrease in employee performance and retention in pay-for-performance systems, which measure performance using relative (i.e., peer-ranked) criteria rather than an absolute scale (see Figure 2 on page 5); High performing employees tend to be most sensitive to negative pay-for- performance perceptions; There are many signals embedded within HR policies and practices, which can influence employees’ perception of workplace uncertainty/inequity and impact their performance and turnover intentions; and When pay transparency is impractical, organizations may benefit from introducing partial pay openness to mitigate these effects on employee performance and retention

MARSIS subsurface radar investigations of the South Polar reentrant Chasma Australe

The Mars Express/Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) has conducted the first‐ever subsurface probing of the south polar layered deposits (SPLD) revealing internal structure that is rich in detail. We report on subsurface features detected from a set of orbits that passed over the largest of the south polar reentrants, Chasma Australe, at the edge of the SPLD. We present selected MARSIS overflights to both document the unique observations and gain insight into the possible origin of this feature. We conclude that MARSIS observations clearly reveal new evidence of subsurface structure, such as (1) internal bands, (2) the continuation of the Prometheus basin floor beneath the SPLD to form a prominent basal interface, and (3) the presence of a possible ice‐rich layer on the Prometheus basin floor extending to 500‐m depth. There is no obvious indication of a present‐day aquifer at the head of the chasma and identification of features associated with a past aquifer and water flow is ambiguous. While MARSIS observations may not uniquely solve the chasma origin debate, they do reveal the subsurface region beneath this very interesting feature for the first time

High-Performance Work Systems and Organizational Performance in Emerging Economies: Evidence from MNEs in Turkey

This study examines the association between the usage of high-performance work systems (HPWS) by subsidiaries of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in Turkey and employee and subsidiary level outcomes. The study is based on a survey of 148 MNE subsidiaries operating in Turkey. The results show that the usage of HPWS has a significant positive impact on employee effectiveness. However, their impact on employee skills and development, and organizational financial performance are far less clear. Our findings highlight the extent to which HWPS need to be adapted to take account of context-specific institutional realities. © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

Bank performance and executive pay: tournament or teamwork

We investigate the relationship between the dispersion of executive pay and bank performance/valuation by examining two competing theories, the tournament theory (hierarchical wage structure) and the equity fairness theory (compressed wage structure). The key variable of executive pay dispersion is measured using a hand-collected dataset composed of 63 banks from OECD countries and 29 banks from developing countries. The dataset covers the period 2004 to 2012. By combining and modifying a translog profit function and a pay-dispersion model, we are able to address the potential problems of relying on reduced-form estimation. In our subsample of developed and civil law countries, where bank performance is measured by either Tobin’s Q or by the price-to-book ratio, the overall impact of executive pay dispersion is mostly negative, and we find supporting evidence for the equity fairness theory, except for very high levels of dispersion. There is a non-linear effect, as banks perform best when there is either very low or very high executive pay dispersion. For developing country sample banks, greater executive pay dispersion has a negative impact on bank profit. In our subsample of common law countries, however, we find no evidence of a significant impact of executive pay dispersion on bank performance. We conclude that lower executive pay dispersion, a proxy for teamwork, is mostly effective in enhancing bank performance in a significant section of sample banks, i.e., civil law and developing countries