Connecting the dots: bringing external corporate governance into the corporate governance puzzle

Corporate governance (CG) research has largely focused on internal governance mechanisms (i.e. the board of directors, controlling owners, and managerial incentives). However, much of this work ignores the role that external CG practices play in preventing managers from engaging in activities detrimental to the welfare of shareholders, and the overall firm. In this essay, we first review and organize current research on external governance mechanisms and integrate this siloed body of work within the broader CG equation. We explicitly focus on six external governance mechanisms: the legal environment, the market for corporate control, external auditors, stakeholder activism, rating organizations, and the media. We discuss findings showing how external governance mechanisms act both as independent forces and in conjunction with internal CG mechanisms. We conclude the review by mapping an agenda for future research on CG that better integrates internal and external governance mechanisms. Our review suggests that studying different configurations of external and internal governance mechanisms will help us to better understand what factors and conditions lead to effective CG

How a Diverse Research Ecosystem Has Generated New Rehabilitation Technologies: Review of NIDILRR’s Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers

Over 50 million United States citizens (1 in 6 people in the US) have a developmental, acquired, or degenerative disability. The average US citizen can expect to live 20% of his or her life with a disability. Rehabilitation technologies play a major role in improving the quality of life for people with a disability, yet widespread and highly challenging needs remain. Within the US, a major effort aimed at the creation and evaluation of rehabilitation technology has been the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. As envisioned at their conception by a panel of the National Academy of Science in 1970, these centers were intended to take a “total approach to rehabilitation”, combining medicine, engineering, and related science, to improve the quality of life of individuals with a disability. Here, we review the scope, achievements, and ongoing projects of an unbiased sample of 19 currently active or recently terminated RERCs. Specifically, for each center, we briefly explain the needs it targets, summarize key historical advances, identify emerging innovations, and consider future directions. Our assessment from this review is that the RERC program indeed involves a multidisciplinary approach, with 36 professional fields involved, although 70% of research and development staff are in engineering fields, 23% in clinical fields, and only 7% in basic science fields; significantly, 11% of the professional staff have a disability related to their research. We observe that the RERC program has substantially diversified the scope of its work since the 1970’s, addressing more types of disabilities using more technologies, and, in particular, often now focusing on information technologies. RERC work also now often views users as integrated into an interdependent society through technologies that both people with and without disabilities co-use (such as the internet, wireless communication, and architecture). In addition, RERC research has evolved to view users as able at improving outcomes through learning, exercise, and plasticity (rather than being static), which can be optimally timed. We provide examples of rehabilitation technology innovation produced by the RERCs that illustrate this increasingly diversifying scope and evolving perspective. We conclude by discussing growth opportunities and possible future directions of the RERC program

Stroke: Working Toward a Prioritized World Agenda

The aim of the Synergium was to devise and prioritize new ways of accelerating progress in reducing the risks, effects, and consequences of stroke

Stroke: Working Toward a Prioritized World Agenda

The aim of the Synergium was to devise and prioritize new ways of accelerating progress in reducing the risks, effects, and consequences of stroke

Birds of a feather flock (even more) together: An intergroup relations perspective on how #MeToo-related media coverage affects the evaluation of prospective corporate directors

Research SummaryThis study examines how incumbent director reactions to media coverage of the #MeToo movement have impacted the evaluation of prospective corporate directors. We argue that heightened intergroup anxiety related to male–female interactions leads incumbents to seize on social attributes that bolster category-based trust in the reliability of prospective directors’ interpersonal behavior. We predict that in response to #MeToo coverage, incumbents evaluate board candidates more positively when they share demographic characteristics or have prior social connections, and these effects are strengthened when incumbents socially identify with the firm. Empirical analyses using a longitudinal survey of evaluations of director candidates support these predictions. Our findings suggest how social movements can produce unintended consequences by inadvertently triggering psychological processes that partially offset the anticipated benefits of the movement.Managerial SummaryIncreased coverage of #MeToo has heightened concerns among board members about male–female interactions on the board. Our study finds that as #MeToo coverage increases, incumbent directors evaluate potential board candidates more positively to the extent that they share demographic characteristics, including gender, race, functional background, education and age, or when they are connected through the social network of board appointments. These effects are especially pronounced for incumbents who psychologically identify with the firm, meaning that their self-concept is aligned with features of the organization. Our study suggests how psychological reactions of corporate directors to #MeToo may inadvertently reduce board diversity and overall board effectiveness, and we call for research-based interventions to correct this unfortunate side effect of a critically important social justice movement.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/175089/1/smj3405.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/175089/2/smj3405_am.pd

City of Tampa Tree Canopy and Urban Forest Analysis 2021

This report summarizes the fourth tree canopy and urban forest analysis conducted for the City of Tampa and represents the year 2021. The City of Tampa tree ordinance (Ord. No. 2006-74, § 9, 3-23-06) requires an assessment of the tree canopy and urban forest every five years (beginning in 20061). In an effort to reduce concerns over bias, this work has been conducted by a collaborative team from the University of South Florida and the University of Florida following established USDA Forest Service protocols. This report provides detailed information about the current size, composition, health, and distribution of Tampa’s urban forest. It also shows how the tree canopy, urban forest and associated benefits have changed over the last five-year monitoring intervals and since 1973, 33 years before regular monitoring began. Specific results are used to evaluate the performance criteria listed in the City of Tampa’s Urban Forest Management Plan2, including tree canopy change and other results associated with the five Planning Districts whose boundaries were adopted in the Tampa Comprehensive Plan3 (see Figure 1). As part of this 2021 assessment, the report also includes several additional analyses to assist the City of Tampa with the management of the tree canopy and urban forest, including: Results of an online survey and in-person interviews focused on residents’ experiences and values of trees, including benefits, drawbacks, and priorities for the urban forest in the City of Tampa. Presentation of an urban heat map, showing areas of the City with measurably hotter summertime temperatures and how urban heat is related to the amount of tree can- opy, grass/shrub, and other land cover. An analysis of environmental equity, showing how specific sociodemographic groups might be disproportionately impacted by urban heat, lack the benefits provided by tree canopy. The intended audience for this report includes policymakers, agency managers, businesses, neighborhood associations and the City’s residents. This project is part of the City of Tampa’s Urban Forest Program. This report is intended to help Tampa enact tangible solutions to protect the City’s natural environment for future generations