This study examined the effectiveness of strategic planning systems in strategy formulation in a changing business environment. It also investigated differences in the designs, processes, levels of top management involvement, and perceived levels of achievement and performance of the strategic planning systems of companies classified as leaders, challengers, followers, and nichers in the electronic computing equipment community. For the most part no significant correlations were found between perceived levels of achievement and performance of planning systems and organizational performance measured by financial ratios. However, significant correlations were found between perceived level of achievement and performance and the design, process and level of top management involvement in the strategic planning process.

In September 1979, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued a statement entitled Financial Reporting and Changing Prices (FASB No. 33). FASB No. 33 requires publicly-held companies of a certain size to issue supplementary constant dollar and current cost disclosures along with their primary financial statements.To investigate the effect of the signals on security prices the study used a methodology known as "Iso-beta Portfolio Analysis" and employed different models in conjunction with the methodology, the market model (MM) and a new model called "the multi-index model" (MIM). Cluster analysis was used to develop the indexing used with the MIM.

The purpose of this study was to examine the aspects of redeployment in general terms, and then to present a case study of a specific redeployment program to analyze its effectiveness as a corporate financial tool. The first four chapters discuss the general and financial definitions of redeployment, as well as the objectives, benefits, and alternate methods of the operational asset form of redeployment. The specific redeployment program analyzed is the case study of Ling-Temco-Vought's use of the operational asset form of redeployment. The purpose of the case study was to determine if Ling-Temco--Vought achieved their stated objectives. An analysis of these objectives shows that redeployment was a success.

The research attempts to determine how an effective loan officer training program should be designed and implemented in Texas Commerce Bank. A comprehensive program would prepare newly hired college graduates for positions as commercial lending officers as quickly, thoroughly, and effectively as possible. In order to accomplish this objective, three steps are necessary in the research. The first step is to determine the generally accepted principles of training and development. Application of these principles in a program certainly increases the likelihood of successful training results. The second step is to survey a sample of the banking industry to determine what approaches to this problem are currently in use by other banks. If successful procedures, techniques, or ideas are now working for banks similar to Texas Commerce, perhaps they can be adapted to work in this bank. The final step in designing the program is to tailor the gathered information for the specific needs of Texas Commerce. The purpose of this step is to assure that the principles of step one and the successful approaches from step two are realistically and specifically matched with the training needs at Texas Commerce Bank.

The purpose of this study was to develop a probabilistic model that could be used by petroleum refiners to evaluate the economic potential of refinery capital investment proposals. The following two requirements were placed on the development at the outset: (1) that the model use linear programming to simulate refinery operations; and (2) that the model keep computer time within reasonable bounds. A probabilistic model was developed that requires the following steps for its application: (1) use linear programming to simulate both the operations of the existing refinery and the operations assuming that the investment is made; (2) select two variables that can be treated as probabilistic variables and assign either a theoretical or a subjective probability distribution to represent future values for the two variables; (3) develop return on investment interpolation data by computing a return on investment for all pair combinations of three tenth year values for each of the two probabilistic variables; (4) develop a return on investment distribution by selecting values at random from the two probability distributions and interpolating among the interpolation data to obtain return on investment data; (5) interpret the return on investment distribution. The model was applied to an actual refining situation …

The area of ethnic market segmentation has received little attention from practitioners or academicians of marketing since most minority groups immigrating to the United States have gradually assimilated the cultural norms and values, and thus the market behavior, of the American society as a whole. Preliminary investigation, however, indicates that Mexican Americans are an exception. To discover whether Mexican Americans represent a true ethnic market segment of economic significance, this study examines and analyzes several aspects. First, to determine whether Mexican Americans represent a true ethnic segment, the following aspects of their cultural norms, perceptions, and values are investigated: their distinct and unique identity, the continuity and consistency of their adoption and use, and the degree of their influence. Second, to determine whether Mexican Americans constitute an ethnic market segment, grocery shopping behavioral patterns are examined. Third, to ascertain whether Mexican Americans represent a substantial ethnic market segment in terms of the number of consumers and the amount of money spent, relevant demographic and socioeconomic characteristics are presented and analyzed. Fourth, the impact of an economically significant ethnic market segment on marketers and marketing institutions is assessed. Due to the nature of this study, emphasis is placed on the collection …

This study deals with "open code dating," the movement by grocery manufacturers and distributors toward dating perishable food packages in such a manner that consumers can readily determine product freshness or length of time on store shelves. The study explores the desirability and feasibility of open code dating, placing greatest importance upon the response of the consumer to the concept. It was found that consumers were aware of open code dating and generally strongly desired its universal adoption. Shoppers were also confused by open dating and failed to understand freshness dates properly. The strongest desire for open dating was found in shoppers at the upper end of the socio-economic scale. Grocery retailers expressed satisfaction with open coding, believing it an aid in stock rotation and customer satisfaction. Possible disadvantages, such as increased throwaway costs and large conversion costs, were not perceived as being significant. The businessmen favored widespread adoption of open code dating. On the basis of data from interviews with shoppers, it is concluded that consumers desire adoption of open code dating and do use this service. It is also concluded that adoption of open code dating would be an economically sound decision which would constitute a desirable marketing …

The purpose of this study was to determine how deans of colleges within the state-supported, four-year universities in Texas use accounting information to allocate and control resources dedicated to faculty salaries, departmental operating expense, and instructional administration expense. Conclusions: 1. Communication is better between deans and financial officers at small universities than at large universities. 2. The relationship between line and staff appears to be misunderstood at several large universities. 3. Ten per cent of the deans at large universities and 2 per cent at small universities do not receive financial reports. 4. The financial reports, if comparative, usually compare year-to-date actual amounts with annual planned amounts. 5. Some of the deans keep their own set of financial records. 6. Deans are cost conscious and aware of the state formulas used in the state appropriation. 7. Many deans are frustrated and angry. 8. Most deans participate extensively in budgeting faculty salaries and departmental operating expense but 20 per cent do not participate in planning of instructional administration expense.

The purpose of the study is to investigate attitudes and opinions of police and fire association presidents and members about labor and management relations in their city and collective bargaining in general in the state. Presidents of fourteen police and fire associations were interviewed to obtain information about their experiences with collective bargaining or in seeking collective bargaining in local option elections. They were also asked about necessary changes in state and federal law on public sector collective bargaining. On the survey, the opinions of police officers, fire fighters, and private sector union members were similar. Respondents believe labor and management relations are satisfactory but not better than in past dealings. None of the private sector members believe their union is weaker at the bargaining table, while over a third of the police officers and fire fighters indicate their association is weaker. The primary reason for joining a union or association is to have more influence on issues of job and working conditions. On the survey factors, respondents agree that employee representation is necessary and worthwhile. The IAMAW is more effective in performing representational duties, followed by the fire fighters' associations and the various police associations. All three groups agree …

The purpose of this research project is to develop concepts for doing cost-benefit analyses for governmental and nonprofit homes. Such concepts should facilitate a differential diagnosis which recognizes the wide individual differences among those served. Developing relevant concepts is a first step in measurement. An aim is to develop appropriate concepts and instruments that will make an ordinal measurement of resident satisfaction possible. This study makes no effort to develop monetary measures of either costs or benefits. These measures and the related cost-benefit analyses must await further developments. Of the home's employees, the nurses and nurses' assistants usually have the most prolonged and intimate contact with the residents. The nurses and nurses' assistants often are the home personified in that they provide the bulk of a home's services to the less able residents. This explains why the environment of the home, which includes the values, needs, and attitudes of nurses and nurses' assistants, is believed to influence resident satisfaction.

The problem with which this dissertation is concerned is that of determining the true role performed by the chain supermarket store managers. A comparative study is made of chain supermarket store managers, supermarket chain-level managers, and non-food chain retail store managers and their ranking and rating of the importance of fifteen work functions ordinarily performed by retail store managers. The hypotheses of the study state that there will be a statistically significant difference in the rankings and ratings of the importance of the work functions in each of the six paired comparisons between respondent groups. In comparing chain supermarket store managers to non-food chain retail store managers, there is a statistically significant difference in their ranking of the following work functions: (1) overseeing all forms of security and enforcing store rules, company policies, laws, and other regulations; (2) handling employee disputes and discipline and assuring proper appearance and dress; (3) directing merchandising-- space allocation and display--out-of-stock, pricing, stock rotation, etc.; (4) developing good community relations by participating in civic affairs, cooperating with charities, taking part in local business activities, etc.; and (5) scheduling number of hours and employees needed. When supermarket chain-level managers are compared with nonfood chain retail store …

The organizational effectiveness and strategic management areas of organizational theory are the general focus of this study. Organizational effectiveness is defined as the extent to which an organization by the use of certain resources fulfills its objectives without depleting its resources and without placing undue strain upon its members and/or society. Strategic management is defined as an array of processes which leads to the development of an effective approach to achieve the organization's objectives. Little agreement appears to exist on how to evaluate organizational effectiveness and to what extent strategic management impacts organizational effectiveness. This is the problem this study addressed. This study presents an extensive review of the literature, formulates some syntheses and utilizes a questionnaire to gather pertinent data. The sample of respondents consisted of a group of key administrators from all the Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States. The questionnaire had a ninety percent response rate. This study was primarily a correlation study which emphasized the perceptions of the respondents regarding the elements and/or processes of strategic management and the concepts of organizational effectiveness. The Chi-Square and Spearman rank order tests were utilized for statistical measures. The analysis of data revealed any significant relationships between …

The purpose of this research was to empirically examine the effect of the establishment of outside audit committees on the objectivity of the management results-reporting practices of those companies that established such committees in response to the New York Stock Exchange mandate effective June 30, 1978. Management income smoothing behavior is taken as a measurable surrogate for the objectivity of the management results-reporting practices. This research involved the testing of one research problem. The research question asks, "Will the establishment of outside audit committees by companies that had no such committees prior to the New York Stock Exchange mandate effective June 30, 1978, be associated with a decrease in the degree of smoothing in the net income series for the period after that date relative to the degree of smoothing prior to that date?" The answer to this question required the selection of an experimental and a control group. Each group was composed of fifty New York Stock Exchange listed firms. Linear and semi-log regression models were used to measure each firm's degree of income smoothing (defined as reducing the variability of a net income series about its trend line). The change in mean square errors of the experimental and …

The objective of the research reported in this dissertation is to conduct an empirical test of the hypothesis that, excluding income tax effects, the cost of capital to a firm is independent of the degree of financial leverage employed by the firm. This hypothesis, set forth by Franco Modigliani and Merton Miller in 1958, represents a challenge to the traditional view on the subject, a challenge which carries implications of considerable importance in the field of finance. The challenge has led to a lengthy controversy which can ultimately be resolved only by subjecting the hypothesis to empirical test. The basis of the test was Modigliani and Miller's Proposition II, a corollary of their fundamental hypothesis. Proposition II, in effect, states that equity investors fully discount any increase in risk due to financial leverage so that there is no possibility for the firm to reduce its cost of capital by employing financial leverage. The results of the research reported in this dissertation do not support that contention. The study indicates that, if equity investors require any increase in premium for increasing financial leverage, the premium required is significantly less than that predicted by the Modigliani-Miller Proposition II, over the range of …

Prior to the issuance of Financial Accounting Standards Board Statement No. 8 (SFAS No. 8), there was a marked inconsistency in the area of accounting for foreign currency translation. Though designed to make the diverse accounting practices of multinational corporations (MNCs) more compatible, SFAS No. 8 was the subject of a great deal of criticism, eventually leading to the issuance of Financial Accounting Standards Board Statement No. 52 (SFAS No. 52). SFAS No. 52 differs from SFAS No. 8 on objectives and method of translation, and on accounting treatments of translation adjustments. This dissertation provides an empirical examination of the security market reaction to the accounting policy change embodied in SFAS No. 52, and its impact on the volatility of reported earnings of MNCs. The effects of the issuance and early adoption of SFAS No. 52 on security return distributions were determined by both cross-sectional comparisons of cumulative average residuals (CAR) between MNCs and domestic firms and between early and late adopters, and by time-series tests on CAR of MNCs. Two volume analyses were performed to test the effects of SFAS No. 52 on security volume. The first analysis was adjusted to remove the effects of the marketwide factors on …

This empirical study is concerned with the usefulness of proposed supplementary disclosures for oil and gas producers to financial analysts in valuing a company. It is concerned with what supplementary information is being used, to what extent it is being used and which type of information is used most. Three main research procedures are employed. In the first procedure, the Mann-Whitney U Test is applied to determine any significant difference between valuing an oil and gas producing company using basic financial statements and ratio data, and valuing the same company with this information plus the proposed disclosures. The second procedure involves applying the chi-square and Cramer's V statistics to determine whether the disclosure information caused switching in valuation method used for each of the cases. The third procedure tests for significant differences between financial ratios used for each case by employing the test of differences between two proportions. Additional evaluation attempts to determine analysts' perceived usefulness of each of the schedules of the proposed disclosures

The cycle regression analysis algorithm is the most recent addition to a group of techniques developed to detect "hidden periodicities." This dissertation investigates four major aspects of the algorithm. The objectives of this research are 1. To develop an objective method of obtaining an initial estimate of the cycle period? the present procedure of obtaining this estimate involves considerable subjective judgment; 2. To validate the algorithm's success in extracting cycles from multi-cylical data; 3. To determine if a consistent relationship exists among the smallest amplitude, the error standard deviation, and the number of replications of a cycle contained in the data; 4. To investigate the behavior of the algorithm in the predictions of major drops.

This study identifies the concepts of reliability, cost of downtime, cost of spare parts, and procurement lead time as the four key moderators of spare parts availability. These concepts are used to establish a model to manage spare parts inventories. Reliability was assessed in terms of developing failure predictions for major component categories. Cost of downtime was evaluated by identifying various methods for determining costs associated with downtime. Cost of spare parts was examined to find correlations with economic indicators. These correlations were used to predict future price movements. Yearly changes in lead time were identified and correlated with economic indexes to develop movement predictability.

The problem with which this study is concerned is that of determining the optimal transfer of property from a decedent to his surviving spouse. A secondary problem addressed is whether equity between common law states and community property states in the application of the estate tax provisions has been achieved through the allowance of the marital deduction. From this analysis decision criteria were developed to aid taxpayers and their advisors in determining optimal property transfers to a surviving spouse. Conclusions of the study were the following: (1) The primary concern when formulating an estate plan should be to determine whether any property should be transferred to the surviving spouse. The literature has stressed qualifying transfers for the marital deduction while giving minimal consideration to the wisdom of doing so. This study indicates that in a majority of estates optimal results are obtained by making no transfers to the surviving spouse. (2) Relative after-tax rates of return of the surviving spouse and other beneficiaries are the most important factors in determining optimal transfers to the spouse. This again conflicts with the literature which has emphasized relative estate sizes as the dominant factor. (3) Rates of inflation have minimal influence in determining …

The 1976 Tax Reform Act made many changes in the taxation of estate and gift transfers. Previously gifts and estates were taxed separately and the gift tax rate was 75 percent of the estate tax rate; and there was a $30,000 exemption for gifts and a $60,000 exemption for estate transfers. Under the new law the exemptions were repealed and replaced with a unified credit against the tax; and the tax on estate and gift transfers was combined into one increasing rate schedule. Under the prior law, deathbed gifts were advantageous because the gift tax paid on the transfer was excluded from the taxable estate but was allowed as a credit against the estate tax since gifts within three years of the date of death were included in the gross estate unless the estate could demonstrate that the gifts were not made in contemplation of death. Under the new law, gift taxes paid on transfers which occur within three years of the date of death are included in the taxable estate.

This dissertation has two major sections. The first section focuses on analyzing objective data gathered from public sources to investigate factors influencing industrial location to Texas. Areas of investigation include (1) where Texas stands--on economic, demographic, sociologic, climatic, and technological terms--in relation to the remaining forty-seven contiguous states; (2) what are the locational characteristics of Texas compared to other states; and (3) what types of industry move to Texas and from where. Regional and state comparisons are also made in terms of factors that can influence business success. The second section is concerned with analyzing survey data gathered from three test groups. The three groups are (1) civic interest groups consisting of Texas mayors, city managers, and chamber of commerce executives; (2) manufacturing executives who have located a new plant in Texas from outside the state since 1978; and (3) out-of-state manufacturing executives who have considered Texas as a possible location but decided not to locate within the state during the period 1978-1983. The major purposes of this section are to determine (1) whether manufacturing executives and Texas community leaders possess different views concerning the relative importance of location factors and factors that are specifically advantageous to the state of …

This research was designed to investigate the relationship between audit risk and the conduct of the audit engagement in the specific context of an oil and gas audit. Because reserve estimates are in the financial reports of oil and gas entities (in the depreciation, depletion and amortization calculation, the limitation on capitalized costs for companies using the full-cost method, and the required supplementary disclosure for companies subject to Securities and Exchange Commission requirements) and because the reserve estimation process is considerably affected by numerous factors, there is a chance that a material error could be incorporated into the financial statement representations with which the auditor is associated. The objective of the research was to (1) identify conditions which are important in an assessment of audit risk in associating with reserve estimates, and (2) determine the impact of some of these conditions on the conduct of the audit.

This study examines the reporting compliance, as defined by section 203(b) of the Labor -Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA), 1959, of labor relations consultants who engage in persuader activity. Organized labor suggests that the loss in union strength results, in large part, from management's use of labor relations consultants and their failure to file required reports with the U.S. Department of Labor. Two samples of labor relations consultants known to have engaged in persuader activity and two samples of those who could be engaged in persuader activity are identified. A research questionnaire is mailed to 779 of the total of 887 labor relations consultants for whom an address could be developed. Discriminant analysis using 16 variables correctly classifies 93.8 percent of the responding labor relations consultants grouped according to whether they had filed required reports. Other discriminant analyses using selected variables are also conducted. Three associated questions are answered. First, there are an estimated 850 labor relations consultants who have engaged in persuader activity or who can be presumed to have engaged in persuader activity. Of this number, almost 500 are estimated to have engaged in persuader activity and only 30 percent of these are estimated to have filed …

The research undertaken in this study is designed to examine the reliability of management estimates of expected future net revenues from the production of proved oil and gas reserves determined in accordance with the requirements of the prediction model specified in ASR No. 253. The issue of the required disclosure of earnings forecasts has been a topic of considerable controversy for many years. Within that controversy, the most frequently encountered opposition questions the reliability and ultimate utility of earnings forecasts. Similar opposition to both past and present forecast disclosure requirements exists in the oil and gas industry. In order to examine the reliability of management estimates of expected future net revenues, a two-part analysis was conducted. In the first part of the analysis, error metrics comparing management forecasts to actual results were computed and examined. Included in the examination were various relationships among and within the computed metrics. In the second part of the analysis an attempt was made to establish the association between the error metrics and specific related variables. It was anticipated that the degree of association determined would provide evidence of the relative accuracy of management in predicting the timing and volume of future production within the …