bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
ADDING VALUE FOR SHAREHOLDERS IN SOUTH AFRICA: AN ANALYSIS OF THE REMBRANDT RESTRUCTURING
Authors: Kantor Brian 
Published: April 2005

Thanks to a restructuring movement known as “unbundling,” which involves the selling or otherwise splitting off of unrelated businesses, the South African corporate landscape has changed materially from the system dominated by family controlled groups of companies that the author described in this journal six years ago. Holding companies like Anglo‐American, the largest and best known of all the groups, have become more both more focused and more international (in those lines of business they have chosen to retain). At the same time, they have relinquished a good deal of control to outside shareholders.But if unbundling has succeeded in adding value in some cases, it is by no means a panacea for shareholders. Value is likely to be added for shareholders only when such restructurings are expected to (1) increase the efficiency of existing operations; (2) discontinue value‐destroying investments; or (3) encourage new investment only in projects that are expected to return more than their cost of capital. For this reason, a restructuring like the one recently completed by the Rembrandt group—one that simply divided the company into two major parts while retaining the old managerial control structure—does not hold out much promise for shareholders.Besides challenging the basic premise of the Rembrandt structuring, the author also questions a common practice among financial analysts: the tendency to view a company that trades at a “discount” to its net asset value as an obvious candidate for unbundling. As currently calculated, the relationship between a holding company's market value and the net asset values of its listed (and unlisted) subsidiaries provides an unreliable indication both of the extent to which management has succeeded in delivering value in the past, and whether an unbundling is likely to increase shareholder value in the future.
STRUCTURING LOAN SYNDICATES: A CASE STUDY OF THE HONG KONG DISNEYLAND PROJECT LOAN
Authors: Esty Benjamin C. 
Published: April 2005

The volume of global syndicated loans has increased from $413 billion in 1990 to $2.195 trillion in 2000, making it not only the largest source of corporate funds in the world but also one of the fastest growing. Yet despite the size of this market and its importance as a source of corporate funds, there has been relatively little research on syndicated lending and little understanding of the structuring intricacies underlying these deals.In this article, the author analyzes the process by which Hongkong International Theme Parks Limited (HKTP), an entity jointly owned by The Walt Disney Company and the Hong Kong Government, raised HK $3.3 billion (approximately US $425 million) in the syndicated loan market to finance part of the construction and operation of its Hong Kong Disneyland theme park and resort complex. Using this case study of the HKTP financing, the article moves beyond the overly simplistic (albeit theoretically tractable) models of debt choice favored by academics and begins to explore the dynamics and consequences of various real‐world debt structures. Rather than focusing on the credit analysis or documentation issues, the author focuses on the structuring and distribution issues because they are both less well understood and provide interesting insights into debt management.
THE CAPITAL STRUCTURE CHOICE: NEW EVIDENCE FOR A DYNAMIC TRADEOFF MODEL
Authors: Hovakimian Armen , Opler Tim , Titman Sheridan 
Published: April 2005

Most academic insights about corporate capital structure decisions come from models that focus on the trade‐off between the tax benefits and financial distress costs of debt financing. But empirical tests of corporate capital structure indicate that actual debt ratios are considerably different from those predicted by the models, casting doubt on whether most companies have leverage targets at all. In particular, there is considerable evidence that corporate leverage ratios reflect in large part the tendency of profitable companies to use their excess cash flow to pay down debt, while unprofitable companies build up higher leverage ratios. Such behavior is consistent with a competing theory of capital structure known as the “pecking order” model, in which management's main objectives are to preserve financing flexibility and avoid issuing equity.The results of the authors' recent study suggest that although past profits are an important predictor of observed debt ratios at any given time, companies nevertheless often make financing and stock repurchase decisions designed to offset the effects of past profitability and move their debt ratios toward their target capital structures. This evidence provides support for a compromise theory called the dynamic tradeoff model, which says that although companies often deviate from their leverage targets, over the longer run they take measures to close the gap between their actual and targeted leverage ratios.
RAISING CONTINGENT CAPITAL: THE CASE OF CEPHALON
Authors: Chacko George , Tufano Peter , Verter Geoffrey 
Published: April 2005

In early 1997, Cephalon, Inc., a biotechnology firm, purchased 2.5 million capped call options on its own stock, with a potential value of as much as $45 million, in exchange for $9.8 million worth of its common shares. Cephalon's first major drug, Myotrophin, was under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and Cephalon's management reasoned that, upon FDA approval, the company's stock would rise in value to reflect the future value of the drug, in which case the call options would pay off and the firm could use the proceeds to help fund commercialization of the drug. The managers thus viewed the call options as a form of “contingent capital,” capital that would be available only if and when the firm needed it.The availability and cost of financing constitute major uncertainties for any company and perhaps even more so for a biotech firm. But was the options transaction a cost‐effective way to raise capital? The authors' analysis suggests that the cost of the capped calls—underwriting fees, expenses, underpricing, and market impact—was quite high compared to alternative sources of financing that may have been available to Cephalon in the wake of a favorable decision by the FDA. An equally interesting aspect of this case is that the size of Cephalon's funding requirements was determined in large part by accounting rules and management's desire to report higher (non‐cash) earnings.
JUST SAY NO TO WALL STREET: PUTTING A STOP TO THE EARNINGS GAME
Authors: Fuller Joseph , Jensen Michael C. 
Published: April 2005

CEOs are in a bind with Wall Street. Managers up and down the hierarchy work hard at putting together plans and budgets for the next year only to discover that the bottom line falls far short of Wall Street's expectations. CEOs and CFOs are therefore left in a difficult situation; they can stretch to try to meet Wall Street's projections or prepare to suffer the consequences if they fail.All too often, top managers react by suggesting or even mandating that middle‐ and lower‐level managers redo their forecasts and budgets to get them in line with external expectations. In some cases, managers simply acquiesce to increasingly unrealistic analyst forecasts and adopt them as the basis for setting organizational goals and developing internal budgets. But either approach sets up the firm and its managers for failure if external expectations are impossible to meet.Using the recent experiences of Enron and Nortel, the authors illustrate the dangers of conforming to market pressures for unrealistic growth targets. They emphasize that an overvalued stock, by encouraging overpriced acquisitions and other value‐destroying forms of overinvestment, can be as damaging to the long‐run health of a company as an undervalued stock. Ending the “expectations game” requires that CEOs reclaim the initiative in setting expectations and forecasts so that stocks can trade at close to their intrinsic value. Managers must make their organizations more transparent to investors; they must promise only those results they have a legitimate prospect of delivering and be willing to inform the market when they believe their stock to be overvalued.
ENTERPRISE RISK MANAGEMENT: THE CASE OF UNITED GRAIN GROWERS
Authors: Harrington Scott E. , Niehaus Greg , Risko Kenneth J. 
Published: April 2005

Enterprise risk management (ERM) refers to the identification, quantification, and management of all of a company's risks within a unified framework. This approach is much more comprehensive than traditional risk management practice, where different types of risk are managed by different people using different tools. The authors evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of ERM and then describe how United Grain Growers (UGG), a major farm service provider in Western Canada, established such an approach.Extensive risk identification and measurement indicated that the volatility of UGG's earnings was driven to a large extent by changes in the volume of its grain shipments, which in turn were principally due to variation in weather. After first considering the use of weather derivatives to hedge the risk, the company ended up purchasing an insurance contract, bundled with its traditional insurance coverage, that pays UGG if its grain volume is unexpectedly low. The potential for moral hazard that can make insurance an expensive proposition was limited by basing payoffs on industry grain shipments rather than the company's shipments. The bundled approach served to expand and integrate UGG's insurance coverage, while eliminating redundant coverage.Besides economizing on insurance costs, another valuable aspect of enterprise risk management is as a source of information about the operations of the firm. By providing managers with a better understanding of their business and events that can undermine the firm's strategic objectives, ERM can lead to better operating decisions as well as a more efficient approach to risk retention and risk transfer.
HOW FIRMS MANAGE RISK: THE OPTIMAL MIX OF LINEAR AND NON‐LINEAR DERIVATIVES
Authors: Gay Gerald D. , Nam Jouahn , Turac Marian 
Published: April 2005

This paper provides guidance on how corporations should choose the optimal mix of “linear” and “non‐linear” derivatives. Linear derivatives are products such as futures, forwards, and swaps, whose payoffs vary in linear fashion with changes in the un‐derlying asset price or reference rate. Non‐linear derivatives are contracts with option‐like payoffs, including caps, floors, and swaptions.A company's optimal hedging position should generally consist of linear contracts because of their effective‐ness in smoothing corporate cash flows. But as the firm's business (quantity) risk increases, its use of linear contracts will decline due to costs associated with overhedging. At the same time, there will be a shift towards the use of non‐linear contracts. The degree of substitution of non‐linear for linear in‐struments will depend on the relation‐ship between the quantities to be hedged and market prices. A negative relationship will tend to exacerbate the substitution effect while a positive re‐lationship will dampen the effect. An empirical examination of corporate derivative holdings provides support for all of the major hypotheses.
THE INSURANCE PERFORMANCE MEASURE: BRINGING VALUE TO THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY
Authors: Calandro Joseph , Lane Scott 
Published: April 2005

The performance of the property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry has suffered in recent years, even prior to the losses incurred in the tragic events of September 11th. Part of the industry's difficulties stems from its focus on premium generation, as measured by the combined or underwriting ratio, at the expense of overall operational performance. In this regard, the underwriting ratio is an incomplete measure of operating performance since it ignores two critical P&C operational functions: investment return and reinsurance results.In this article, the authors present their Insurance Performance Measure (IPM), a comprehensive performance measure for the P&C industry. The IPM captures the three critical operational functions mentioned above in an overall performance measure. The measure is also versatile in that it can be easily decomposed into critical value drivers in each area of operation. Thus, the IPM framework enables P&C managers to observe the interaction and trade‐offs between the operational functions of premium generation, investment return, and reinsurance results separately or as a group, and as they relate to the opportunity cost of surplus.
REGULATION OF FINANCIAL MARKETS: TOWARD A FOCUSED APPROACH
Authors: Stoll Hans R. 
Published: April 2005

Regulation of financial markets arose in a simpler time when transactions were carried out face to face on an exchange floor or in a banker's office—when trading was localized and the variety of financial instruments was small. Today the task of regulators is much more difficult. Markets are global, trading takes place in cyberspace, and the variety of financial instruments is limitless.The initial focus, and still the central concern, of our regulatory system is to ensure full corporate disclosure and transparency of trading markets. But regulation today goes far beyond disclosure requirements. The existing tendency to expand regulation to match the expanding financial markets is likely to be inefficient, unwieldy, and too costly, given the increased complexity and global nature of financial markets. A new approach and a new regulatory mindset are needed—one in which regulators aim to identify and provide only necessary regulation rather than simply continuing to expand regulatory oversight. Such a focused approach to regulation would separate what is regulated from what is not. Those aspects of banking that are essential to the integrity of the payments system would be regulated while other aspects would not. Some securities and derivatives markets would be regulated, while others would not. And market participants would be able to choose which markets to participate in. Given an ever‐expanding financial system, such a focused approach to regulation is not only the most cost effective one—it is also likely to prove the only workable alternative to a system that is now under great pressure.
HOW TO FIX ACCOUNTING—MEASURE AND REPORT ECONOMIC PROFIT
Authors: Stewart G. Bennett 
Published: April 2005

Bending accounting rules has become so ingrained in our corporate culture that even ethical business leaders succumb to the temptation to “manage” their earnings in order to meet analysts' demands for smoothly rising results. The author of this article argues that such behavior reflects not a general decline in ethical standards so much as executives' growing sense that accounting itself has become “unhinged from value.” For example, clearly valuable expenditures on R&D, customer acquisition, and employee training are generally expensed immediately against earnings. And reported corporate income is often further reduced by provisions for losses that most companies never expect to incur, by “book” taxes they never expect to pay, and by depreciation charges on assets that are actually increasing in value. At the same time, the opportunity costs associated with employee stock options and the corporate use of equity capital are not reflected in the accountant's measure of profit.To improve the quality of corporate governance and revitalize the public's faith in reported earnings, the author proposes a complete overhaul of GAAP accounting to measure and report economic profit, or EVA. Stated in brief, the author's concept of economic profit begins with an older, but now seldom used, definition of accounting income known as “residual income,” and then proposes a series of additional adjustments to GAAP accounting that are designed to produce a reliable measure of a company's annual, sustainable cash‐generating capacity. Besides expensing the cost of equity capital as well as stock options, the author recommends bringing off‐balance‐sheet items such as pension assets and liabilities back onto the balance sheet, eliminating reserve accounting, capitalizing R&D and other expenditures on intangible assets, and recording economic rather than accounting depreciation. Such changes, by replacing the accountants' current flawed definition of earnings with a comprehensive new statement of value added, could restore investor confidence in financial statements. Even more important, managers would be less likely to pursue their now common practice of boosting earnings by making value‐reducing operating and investment decisions and more likely to use financial reporting not to mislead the market but as an opportunity to communicate relevant, forward‐looking information.
THE ART OF STRATEGIC DIVESTMENT
Authors: Anslinger Patricia , Jenk Justin , Chanmugan Ravi 
Published: April 2005

Divestiture makes sense only as part of a sound, long‐term strategy. Before simply shedding business units, companies must consider all the options, and be willing to constantly review, replenish, and trim portfolios as markets change and evolve. In so doing, a company increases not only its flexibility but also its chances of adding shareholder value.This article examines the corporate restructuring “big picture,” in which divestments are only one alternative. It reviews additional measures besides divestments, such as outsourcing, joint ventures, asset swaps, and using new technologies to cut costs, and provides case studies of each. It also raises some interesting issues regarding divestiture, such as ways to sell a business unit without strengthening a competitor's hand, as well as strategies for improving a business unit's valuation in preparation for sale. The authors, who are M&A advisors at Accenture, conclude that “a carefully planned and well‐executed restructuring that involves divestiture can be as significant a victory for management and shareholders as a successful acquisition.”
THE SHAREHOLDER WEALTH EFFECTS OF CALPERS' FOCUS LIST
Authors: Anson Mark , White Ted , Ho Ho 
Published: April 2005

Shareholder activism can help to protect shareholder value by promoting sound corporate governance practices. As an active institutional investor, CalPERS takes its role in the corporate governance process very seriously. In addition to many other initiatives, CalPERS publishes each year a list of six to twelve public companies with poor corporate governance principles and poor financial performance—its well‐known “Focus List”—in the hope that the managements of these companies will be motivated to improve their performance and increase shareholder value for CalPERS and their other equity owners.In an attempt to assess the effectiveness of CalPERS' governance program, the authors examine the market impact of the Focus List and find that companies on the list experience positive excess stock returns of about 12% over the three months following release of the list. Moreover, this wealth effect is even greater for companies with a large, widely dispersed shareholder base, as might be expected given the relative inability of such shareholders to act collectively.
METHODOLOGY TO DETERMINE THE EVOLUTION OF ASYMPTOMATIC HIV POPULATION USING FUZZY SET THEORY
Authors: JAFELICE ROSANA MOTTA , DE BARROS LAÉCIO CARVALHO , BASSANEZI RODNEY CARLOS , GOMIDE FERNANDO 
Published: April 2005

The aim of this paper is to o study the evolution of positive HIV population for manifestation of AIDS, the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. For this purpose, we suggest a methodology to combine a macroscopic HIV positive population model with an individual microscopic model. The first describes the evolution of the population whereas the second the evolution of HIV in each individual of the population. This methodology is suggested by the way that experts use to conduct public policies, namely, to act at the individual level to observe and verify the manifest population. The population model we address is a differential equation system whose transference rate from asymptomatic to symptomatic population is found through a fuzzy rule-based system. The transference rate depends on the CD4+ level, the main T lymphocyte attacked by the HIV retrovirus when it reaches the bloodstream. The microscopic model for a characteristic individual in a population is used to obtain the CD4+ level at each time instant. From the CD4+ level, its fuzzy initial value, and the macroscopic population model, we compute the fuzzy values of the proportion of asymptomatic population at each time instant t using the extension principle. Next, centroid defuzzification is used to obtain a solution that represents the number of infected individuals. This approach provides a method to find a solution of a non-autonomous differential equation from an autonomous equation, a fuzzy initial value, the extension principle, and center of gravity defuzzification. Simulation experiments show that the solution given by the method suggested in this paper fits well to AIDS population data reported in the literature.
Blood Gas Analysis and Chest X-Ray Findings in Infants and Preschool Children with Acute Airway Obstruction
Authors: Pifferi Massimo , Caramella Davide , Pietrobelli Angelo , Ragazzo Vincenzo , Boner Attilio L. 
Published: April 2005

<i>Background:</i> The importance of SaO<sub>2</sub> in the assessment of respiratory distress in bronchial asthma has been reported. <i>Objectives: </i>To evaluate the correlation between blood gas analysis and chest X-ray lung opacities in young children presenting with acute respiratory symptoms. <i>Methods:</i> Eighty patients (43 males and 37 females aged 0.5–24 months; mean ± SD 9.1 ± 7.2 months), either with acute wheezing respiratory symptoms and/or with crackles were enrolled in our study. In all children, blood gas analysis and chest X-rays were performed within 12 h following admission to the emergency department. <i>Results:</i> In 55 children (68.75%) chest X-rays demonstrated lung opacities. Subjects with normal X-rays had paO<sub>2</sub> and SaO<sub>2</sub> higher than subjects with lung opacities (p < 0.0001 and p = 0.0001, respectively). Children with lung opacities almost always presented paO<sub>2</sub> <80 mm Hg. Sensitivity and specificity for the presence of lung opacities of paO<sub>2</sub> <80 mm Hg were 81 and 90%, respectively, while sensitivity and specificity of SaO<sub>2</sub> <95% were 92 and 40%, respectively. paO<sub>2</sub> <80 mm Hg in association with SaO<sub>2</sub> <95% had a positive predictive value for the diagnosis of pneumonia of 90.9%. <i>Conclusions:</i> Our study suggests that blood gas analysis, particularly paO<sub>2</sub>, may help in predicting the presence of lung opacities in patients aged less than 2 years. However, chest X-rays may still be needed to define the actual extension of opacities as well as the possible concomitant presence of complications.
Language-Specific Articulatory Settings: Evidence from Inter-Utterance Rest Position
Authors: Gick Bryan , Wilson Ian , Koch Karsten , Cook Clare 
Published: April 2005

Abstract
The possible existence of language-specific articulatory settings (underlying or default articulator positions) has long been discussed, but these have proven elusive to direct measurement. This paper presents two experiments using X-ray data of 5 English and 5 French subjects linking articulatory setting to speech rest position, which is measurable without segmental interference. Results of the first experiment show that speech rest position is significantly different across languages at 5 measurement locations in the vocal tract, and is similar to previously described language-specific articulatory settings. The second experiment shows that the accuracy of achievement of speech rest position is similar to that of a specified vowel target (/i/). These results have implications for the phonetics and phonology of neutral vowels, segmental nventories, and L2 acquisition.