Do takeovers create value? A residual income approach on UK data

This paper develops and empirically tests a new methodology for evaluating the financial performance of takeovers. The existing accounting and event study methodologies do not adequately address the key issue of whether takeovers are a positive net present value investment for the acquiring company. Our methodology attempts this by employing the residual income approach to valuation, and comparing the present value of the acquirer's future earnings before the acquisition, with those that actually result following takeover. In contrast to existing methodologies, we explicitly take account of the cost of the acquisition, the acquirers cost of capital, and the earnings which are created beyond the sample period. The methodology is used for evaluating a comprehensive sample of U.K. acquisitions completed during 1985-96. Using the traditional accounting method, we find that acquisitions result in a significant improvement in profitability. However, the residual income approach reveals that on average, acquisitions destroy roughly 30 percent of the acquirer's pre-acquisition value.takeovers; valuation; accounting studies; event studies; residual income.

"A simple story" o la delicada frontera entre lo permitido y lo prohibido

Según la mayoría de los críticos, A Simple Story, de Elizabeth Inchbald, es una novela subversiva y Miss Milner una mujer que rehúsa ser confinada dentro de las barreras de lo “femenino ” en el orden patriarcal, que se resiste a los ideales de la dócil mujer doméstica descrita en los libros y novelas de conducta de la época. En este sentido la historia de Miss Milner es de trastorno, de ley y su violación. En este artículo analizo hasta qué punto Inchbald desafía tanto al decoro literario como al doméstico y hasta qué punto Miss Milner no consigue cumplir con el ideal femenino convencional. Mi argumento principal es que Miss Milner no es un personaje tan agresivo como la mayoría de los críticos lo han descrito, sino una figura de compromiso, cuyo comportamiento se constituye según los aspectos más fundamentales del gusto de la audiencia y sus preferencias ideológicas. According to most critics A Simple Story, by Elizabeth Inchbald, is a subversive novel and Miss Milner a woman who refuses to be confined within the boundaries of the “feminine ” in the patriarchal order, who resists the ideals of the docile, domestic woman as described in the conduct books and novels of the age. In this sense Miss Milner ’s story is one of disruption, of law and its violation. In this article I analyse to what extent Inchbald challenges literary as well as domestic decorum and to what extent Miss Milner fails to meet the conventional feminine ideal. My main argument is that Miss Milner is not such a transgressive character as most critics have claimed, but a figure of compromise, whose behaviour conforms in the most fundamental aspects to the audience ’s taste and ideological preferences

Del héroe romántico al “feminized man” o de la realidad a la fantasía

Una de las maneras en las que las mujeres escritoras del siglo XVIII subvierten el discurso de la novela sentimental es creando un tipo de amor alternativo y un héroe que es una excepción a la regla patriarcal, el denominado “feminized man”. Este amante ideal refleja la ternura, sensibilidad, amabilidad y auto-control que normalmente se asocia con las mujeres y está dispuesto a recortar su poder y derechos para sancionar la independencia y autonomía de la heroína. Se huye así del estereotipo agresivo y dominante que encontramos en las novelas y manuales de conducta de la época y que supone una amenaza para las mujeres, ya que invade su espacio, coartando su libertad de acción y pensamiento. Detrás de la creación de este nuevo héroe está, por supuesto, el deseo de cambiar las relaciones de poder dentro de la pareja. Tanto el amante apasionado como el nuevo “feminized man” están presentes en Memoirs of Modern Philosphers, demostrando así que la novela no puede clasificarse meramente como anti-jacobina o conservadora, sino que contiene elementos claramente subversivos. One way in which eighteenth-century women writers subvert the discourse of the sentimental novel is by creating an alternative model of love and a hero who proves to be an exception to the patriarchal rule. This ideal lover shows the tenderness, sensibility, kindness and self-control that we usually associate with women and is willing to curtail his power and rights in order to sanction the heroine’s independence and autonomy. Thus the stereotype of the aggressive and dominant male which prevailed in the novels and conduct books of the age is avoided: he represents a threat to women, since he invades their space, encroaching on their freedom of action and thought. Behind the creation of this new hero is, of course, the desire to bring about a change in the power relations between the sexes. Both the passionate lover and the new “feminized man” are present in Memoirs of Modern Philosphers, thus showing that the novel cannot be merely classifi ed as anti-jacobin or conservative, but clearly contains subversive elements

La celebración de la comedia en Kalooki Nights, de Jacobson

Most scholars agree that Jewish humour is a relatively modern phenomenon born out of the unique Jewish experience of exile, segregation and persecution. Howard Jacobson is a British Jewish writer who has always praised comedy and paid special attention to Jewish comic sensibility. He has emphasised the coping and liberating function that humour has exercised for the Jews, allowing them to transcend the terrible circumstances of their lives. Jacobson does not believe that humour removes pain, but that it contributes an emotional factor that makes the pain more bearable by affirming and celebrating life. He is convinced that there is something particularly Jewish about the way in which he fuses comedy and tragedy in his novels, since Jews have always joked in the face of affliction. Jacobson also stresses how from the very beginning the novel has been defined by its subversive and God-defying character. After explaining Jacobson’s main ideas on comedy and how they are shared by scholars who have examined the characteristic features of Jewish humour, I will analyse how they are reproduced by the narrator in Kalooki Nights (2006).La mayor parte de los críticos coinciden en que el humor judío es un fenómeno relativamente moderno, fruto de la experiencia única de exilio, segregación y persecución vivida por los judíos. Howard Jacobson es un escritor judiobritánico que siempre ha elogiado la comedia y ha prestado especial atención a la sensibilidad cómica judía. Ha enfatizado la función liberadora que el humor desempeña para los judíos, permitiéndoles transcender las terribles circunstancias de sus vidas. Jacobson no cree que el humor elimine el dolor, pero lo hace más soportable al reivindicar y celebrar la vida. Está convencido de que hay algo particularmente judío en el modo de combinar la comedia y la tragedia en las novelas judías, porque los judíos siempre han bromeado ante el infortunio. Jacobson también subraya que desde el principio la novela se ha definido por su carácter subversivo y desafiante. Después de explicar las principales ideas de Jacobson sobre la comedia y en qué medida las comparten otros estudiosos del humor judío, en este artículo se analiza cómo las reproduce el narrador de Kalooki Nights (2006)

"A Star Called Henry" and "At Swim, Two Boys": the deconstruction of the tragic paradigm

A Star Called Henry (1999) and At Swim, Two Boys (2001) are two novels in which their authors try to demystify one of the crucial moments in the history of Ireland, the 1916 Easter Rising, and the circumstances that surrounded it by means of the subversive and liberating power of laughter. Both texts reveal the contradictions and absurdities of the whole process of independence and unmask the fanaticism, dogmatism and tyranny of the revolutionary leaders. Our aim here is not to analyse those aspects of the rebellion that are criticized in the two novels, but how both writers demystify the figure of the tragic hero by creating one that possesses the characteristic virtues of the comic hero: humour, generosity, flexibility, willingness to compromise, affection, love, sympathy, etc

The Mason Test: A Defense Against Sybil Attacks in Wireless Networks Without Trusted Authorities

Wireless networks are vulnerable to Sybil attacks, in which a malicious node poses as many identities in order to gain disproportionate influence. Many defenses based on spatial variability of wireless channels exist, but depend either on detailed, multi-tap channel estimation - something not exposed on commodity 802.11 devices - or valid RSSI observations from multiple trusted sources, e.g., corporate access points - something not directly available in ad hoc and delay-tolerant networks with potentially malicious neighbors. We extend these techniques to be practical for wireless ad hoc networks of commodity 802.11 devices. Specifically, we propose two efficient methods for separating the valid RSSI observations of behaving nodes from those falsified by malicious participants. Further, we note that prior signalprint methods are easily defeated by mobile attackers and develop an appropriate challenge-response defense. Finally, we present the Mason test, the first implementation of these techniques for ad hoc and delay-tolerant networks of commodity 802.11 devices. We illustrate its performance in several real-world scenarios

The Dead Republic, by Roddy Doyle: The Wisdom of Comic Heroism

Roddy Doyle is a writer who has reflected that human existence is an interplay between comedy and tragedy, and that therefore all kinds of evils—fanaticism, absolutism, dogmatism—result from cultivating only the tragic perspective. This becomes obvious in The Dead Republic (2010), a novel in which Henry Smart’s comic attitude to life allows Doyle to offer the reader a detached and non-sentimental view of contemporary Irish history. Both John Ford and the IRA want to reshape Henry’s story as a Republican hero to fit their own notion of Irishness and it is precisely in Henry’s response to this perversion of Irish history, politics and national identity that he reveals himself as the perfect comic hero and debunks all efforts to mystify the past