Corporate governance and financial constraints on strategic turnarounds

The paper extends the Robbins and Pearce (1992) two-stage turnaround response model to include governance factors. In addition to the retrenchment and recovery, the paper proposes the addition of a realignment stage, referring specifically to the re-alignment of expectations of principal and agent groups. The realignment stage imposes a threshold that must be crossed before the retrenchment and hence recovery stage can be entered. Crossing this threshold is problematic to the extent that the interests of governance-stakeholder groups diverge in a crisis situation. The severity of the crisis impacts on the bases of strategy contingent asset valuation leading to the fragmentation of stakeholder interests. In some cases the consequence may be that management are prevented from carrying out turnarounds by governance constraints. The paper uses a case study to illustrate these dynamics, and like the Robbins and Pearce study, it focuses on the textile industry. A longitudinal approach is used to show the impact of the removal of governance constraints. The empirical evidence suggests that such financial constraints become less serious to the extent that there is a functioning market for corporate control. Building on governance research and turnaround literature, the paper also outlines the general case necessary and sufficient conditions for successful turnarounds

Thirty Years After Michael E. Porter: What Do We Know About Business Exit?

Although a business exit is an important corporate change initiative, the buyer’s side seems to be more appealing to management researchers than the seller’s because acquisitions imply growth, i.e., success. Yet from an optimistic viewpoint, business exit can effectively create value for the selling company. In this paper we attempt to bring the relevance of the seller’s side back into our consciousness by asking: What do we know about business exit? We start our exploration with Porter (1976), focusing on literature that investigates the antecedents of, barriers to, and outcomes of business exit. We also include studies from related fields such as finance and economics.1 Through this research we determine three clusters of findings: factors promoting business exit, exit barriers, and exit outcomes. Overall, it is the intention of this paper to highlight the importance of business exit for research and practice. Knowing what we know about business exits and their high financial value we should bear in mind that exit need not mean failure but a new beginning for a corporation

Shareholder activism in the UK: types of activists, forms of activism, and their impact on a target’s performance

Considering the recent rapid expansion of shareholder activism phenomenon in the United Kingdom (UK) and the vast amount of resources committed to it by corporations, government and investors, its effectiveness has become a crucial subject for investigation. This article analyzes organizational outcomes of shareholder activism in the UK. This research is based on a unique comprehensive database of shareholder activism events during the period of 1998–2008. We provide a detailed account of different types of activists, activism strategies and shareholder demands associated with the events of activism. Our findings show that the effectiveness of shareholder activism in terms of abnormal stock-market returns varies dramatically depending on its form, type of investor and the nature of investor proposals

LEADER 5: prevalence and cardiometabolic impact of obesity in cardiovascular high-risk patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: baseline global data from the LEADER trial

Background: Epidemiological data on obesity are needed, particularly in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and high cardiovascular (CV) risk. We used the baseline data of liraglutide effect and action in diabetes: evaluation of CV outcome results—A long term Evaluation (LEADER) (a clinical trial to assess the CV safety of liraglutide) to investigate: (i) prevalence of overweight and obesity; (ii) relationship of the major cardiometabolic risk factors with anthropometric measures of adiposity [body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC)]; and (iii) cardiometabolic treatment intensity in relation to BMI and WC. Methods: LEADER enrolled two distinct populations of high-risk patients with T2DM in 32 countries: (1) aged ≥50 years with prior CV disease; (2) aged ≥60 years with one or more CV risk factors. Associations of metabolic variables, demographic variables and treatment intensity with anthropometric measurements (BMI and WC) were explored using regression models (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01179048). Results: Mean BMI was 32.5 ± 6.3 kg/m2 and only 9.1 % had BMI <25 kg/m2. The prevalence of healthy WC was also extremely low (6.4 % according to International Joint Interim Statement for the Harmonization of the Metabolic Syndrome criteria). Obesity was associated with being younger, female, previous smoker, Caucasian, American, with shorter diabetes duration, uncontrolled blood pressure (BP), antihypertensive agents, insulin plus oral antihyperglycaemic treatment, higher levels of triglycerides and lower levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Conclusions: Overweight and obesity are prevalent in high CV risk patients with T2DM. BMI and WC are related to the major cardiometabolic risk factors. Furthermore, treatment intensity, such as insulin, statins or oral antihypertensive drugs, is higher in those who are overweight or obese; while BP and lipid control in these patients are remarkably suboptimal. LEADER confers a unique opportunity to explore the longitudinal effect of weight on CV risk factors and hard endpoints

Rare and Frequent Promoter Methylation, Respectively, of TSHZ2 and 3 Genes That Are Both Downregulated in Expression in Breast and Prostate Cancers

Neoplastic cells harbor both hypomethylated and hypermethylated regions of DNA. Whereas hypomethylation is found mainly in repeat sequences, regional hypermethylation has been linked to the transcriptional silencing of certain tumor suppressor genes. We attempted to search for candidate genes involved in breast/prostate carcinogenesis, using the criteria that they should be expressed in primary cultures of normal breast/prostate epithelial cells but are frequently downregulated in breast/prostate cancer cell lines and that their promoters are hypermethylated.We identified several dozens of candidates among 194 homeobox and related genes using Systematic Multiplex RT-PCR and among 23,000 known genes and 23,000 other expressed sequences in the human genome by DNA microarray hybridization. An additional examination, by real-time qRT-PCR of clinical specimens of breast cancer, further narrowed the list of the candidates. Among them, the most frequently downregulated genes in tumors were NP_775756 and ZNF537, from the homeobox gene search and the genome-wide search, respectively. To our surprise, we later discovered that these genes belong to the same gene family, the 3-member Teashirt family, bearing the new names of TSHZ2 and TSHZ3. We subsequently determined the methylation status of their gene promoters. The TSHZ3 gene promoter was found to be methylated in all the breast/prostate cancer cell lines and some of the breast cancer clinical specimens analyzed. The TSHZ2 gene promoter, on the other hand, was unmethylated except for the MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell line. The TSHZ1 gene was always expressed, and its promoter was unmethylated in all cases.TSHZ2 and TSHZ3 genes turned out to be the most interesting candidates for novel tumor suppressor genes. Expression of both genes is downregulated. However, differential promoter methylation suggests the existence of distinctive mechanisms of transcriptional inactivation for these genes

The perceptions of social responsibility for community resilience to flooding: the impact of past experience, age, gender and ethnicity

Community resilience to flooding depends, to a large extent, on the participation of community members to take more responsibility for enhancing their own resilience. The perception of social responsibility (SR) which is argued to be one of the antecedents influencing individual’s willingness to undertake resilient behaviours can significantly contribute to community resilience through individual and collective actions. Understanding of factors influencing the perceptions of SR of individuals within community might help with developing strategies to increase the perceptions of SR. This research explores perceptions of SR in relation to flooding for householders and local businesses and establishes their relationships with experience of flooding and demographic factors of age, gender and ethnicity. The data were obtained via a questionnaire survey of three communities in Birmingham and one community in South East London, UK, three with experience of flooding and one without. A total of 414 responses were received and used in the multiple regression analysis. The analysis identified ‘experience of flooding’, ‘age’ and ‘South Asian’ ethnic group as significant variables, suggesting that older individuals from South Asian ethnic groups with previous experience of flooding are likely to be more socially responsible than others without these attributes

Safety and tolerability of sitagliptin in clinical studies: a pooled analysis of data from 10,246 patients with type 2 diabetes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In a previous pooled analysis of 12 double-blind clinical studies that included data on 6,139 patients with type 2 diabetes, treatment with sitagliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor, was shown to be generally well tolerated compared with treatment with control agents. As clinical development of sitagliptin continues, additional studies have been completed, and more patients have been exposed to sitagliptin. The purpose of the present analysis is to update the safety and tolerability assessment of sitagliptin by pooling data from 19 double-blind clinical studies.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The present analysis included data from 10,246 patients with type 2 diabetes who received either sitagliptin 100 mg/day (N = 5,429; sitagliptin group) or a comparator agent (placebo or an active comparator) (N = 4,817; non-exposed group). The 19 studies from which this pooled population was drawn represent the double-blind, randomized studies that included patients treated with the usual clinical dose of sitagliptin (100 mg/day) for between 12 weeks and 2 years and for which results were available as of July 2009. These 19 studies assessed sitagliptin taken as monotherapy, initial combination therapy with metformin or pioglitazone, or as add-on combination therapy with other antihyperglycemic agents (metformin, pioglitazone, a sulfonylurea ± metformin, insulin ± metformin, or rosiglitazone + metformin). Patients in the non-exposed group were taking placebo, metformin, pioglitazone, a sulfonylurea ± metformin, insulin ± metformin, or rosiglitazone + metformin. The analysis used patient-level data from each study to evaluate between-group differences in the exposure-adjusted incidence rates of adverse events.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Summary measures of overall adverse events were similar in the sitagliptin and non-exposed groups, except for an increased incidence of drug-related adverse events in the non-exposed group. Incidence rates of specific adverse events were also generally similar between the two groups, except for increased incidence rates of hypoglycemia, related to the greater use of a sulfonylurea, and diarrhea, related to the greater use of metformin, in the non-exposed group and constipation in the sitagliptin group. Treatment with sitagliptin was not associated with an increased risk of major adverse cardiovascular events.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In this updated pooled safety analysis of data from 10,246 patients with type 2 diabetes, sitagliptin 100 mg/day was generally well tolerated in clinical trials of up to 2 years in duration.</p

Failure to Confirm XMRV/MLVs in the Blood of Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Multi-Laboratory Study

Murine leukemia viruses (MLV), including xenotropic-MLV-related virus (XMRV), have been controversially linked to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). To explore this issue in greater depth, we compiled coded replicate samples of blood from 15 subjects previously reported to be XMRV/ MLV-positive (14 with CFS) and from 15 healthy donors previously determined to be negative for the viruses. These samples were distributed in a blinded fashion to nine laboratories which performed assays designed to detect XMRV/MLV nucleic acid, virus replication, and antibody. Only two laboratories reported evidence of XMRV/MLVs; however, replicate sample results showed disagreement and reactivity was similar among CFS subjects and negative controls. These results indicate that current assays do not reproducibly detect XMRV/MLV in blood samples and that blood donor screening is not warranted

A Systematic Analysis of Cell Cycle Regulators in Yeast Reveals That Most Factors Act Independently of Cell Size to Control Initiation of Division

Upstream events that trigger initiation of cell division, at a point called START in yeast, determine the overall rates of cell proliferation. The identity and complete sequence of those events remain unknown. Previous studies relied mainly on cell size changes to identify systematically genes required for the timely completion of START. Here, we evaluated panels of non-essential single gene deletion strains for altered DNA content by flow cytometry. This analysis revealed that most gene deletions that altered cell cycle progression did not change cell size. Our results highlight a strong requirement for ribosomal biogenesis and protein synthesis for initiation of cell division. We also identified numerous factors that have not been previously implicated in cell cycle control mechanisms. We found that CBS, which catalyzes the synthesis of cystathionine from serine and homocysteine, advances START in two ways: by promoting cell growth, which requires CBS's catalytic activity, and by a separate function, which does not require CBS's catalytic activity. CBS defects cause disease in humans, and in animals CBS has vital, non-catalytic, unknown roles. Hence, our results may be relevant for human biology. Taken together, these findings significantly expand the range of factors required for the timely initiation of cell division. The systematic identification of non-essential regulators of cell division we describe will be a valuable resource for analysis of cell cycle progression in yeast and other organisms