A Star Is Born: The Relationship Between Performance and Achieving Status Through Certification Contests in the Context of Equity Analysts

We investigate how the relationship between status and performance decouples over time by addressing two questions: (1) how performance affects the likelihood that an actor achieves high status and (2) how achieving high status affects the actor’s subsequent performance. In doing so, we focus on the role repeated certification contests play, where evaluators assess actors’ performance along particular dimensions and confer high status on the contest winners. Using the context of sell-side (brokerage) equity analysts and the “All-Star” list from Institutional Investor magazine, we first investigate whether analysts who make the All-Star list are more likely to produce accurate and/or independent forecasts. Then, we investigate analyst performance after recent and multiple wins. Our results demonstrate the decoupling of status and performance over time and the roles played by both the high-status actor and the social evaluators conferring their status. Whereas analyst performance increases the likelihood of being designated an All-Star, recent and multiple All-Star designations differentially affect both how subsequent performance is assessed, and how the All-Star analysts subsequently perform. In the short term, achieving high status can increase performance and solidify an analyst’s status position; however, in the long term, it can lead to lower performance and eventually result in status loss, which further erodes performance.

The lexicon for periprosthetic bone loss versus osteolysis after cervical disc arthroplasty: a systematic review

Background Periprosthetic bone loss is a common observation following arthroplasty. Recognizing and understanding the nature of bone loss is vital as it determines the subsequent performance of the device and the overall outcome. Despite its significance, the term “bone loss” is often misused to describe inflammatory osteolysis, a complication with vastly different clinical outcomes and treatment plans. Therefore, the goal of this review was to report major findings related to vertebral radiographic bone changes around cervical disc replacements, mitigate discrepancies in clinical reports by introducing uniform terminology to the field, and establish a precedence that can be used to identify the important nuances between these distinct complications. Methods A systematic review of the literature was conducted following PRISMA guidelines, using the keywords “cervical,” “disc replacement,” “osteolysis,” “bone loss,” “radiograph,” and “complications.” A total of 23 articles met the inclusion criteria with the majority being retrospective or case reports. Results Fourteen studies reported periprosthetic osteolysis in a total of 46 patients with onset ranging from 15–96 months after the index procedure. Reported causes included: metal hypersensitivity, infection, mechanical failure, and wear debris. Osteolysis was generally progressive and led to reoperation. Nine articles reported non-inflammatory bone loss in 527 patients (52.5%), typically within 3–6 months following implantation. The reported causes included: micromotion, stress shielding, and interrupted blood supply. With one exception, bone loss was reported to be non-progressive and had no effect on clinical outcome measures. Conclusions Non-progressive, early onset bone loss is a common finding after CDA and typically does not affect the reported short-term pain scores or lead to early revision. By contrast, osteolysis was less common, presenting more than a year post-operative and often accompanied by additional complications, leading to revision surgery. A greater understanding of the clinical significance is limited by the lack of long-term studies, inconsistent terminology, and infrequent use of histology and explant analyses. Uniform reporting and adoption of consistent terminology can mitigate some of these limitations. Executing these actionable items is critical to assess device performance and the risk of revision. Level of Evidence IV Diagnostic: individual cross-sectional studies with consistently applied reference standard and blinding.

Second Language Learners’ Competence of and Beliefs About Pragmatic Comprehension: Insights From the Chinese EFL Context

It can be a great challenge for second language (L2) learners to comprehend meanings that are implied in utterances rather than the surface meaning of what was said. Moreover, L2 learners’ attitudes toward pragmatic learning are unknown. This mixed-methods study investigates L2 learners’ ability to comprehend conversational implicatures. It also explores their beliefs about and intentions to develop this ability using Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (TPB). A total of 498 freshmen from a public university in China participated in the study. Data were collected using a web-based test, stimulated recall tasks and semi-structured interviews. Results show that the participants differed in recognizing the intended meanings. Complicated factors account for the variations. In addition to the types of implicature, learners’ beliefs about developing pragmatic comprehension also influence their learning intention, and subsequent performance. These beliefs include learners’ multi-layered, complex attitudes toward the outcomes of pragmatic learning, perceived self-efficacy beliefs regarding language proficiency and L2 cultural knowledge, actual behavioral control over opportunities and resources for pragmatic learning, and perceptions of less social pressure on pragmatic learning. The use of TPB may help language teachers and test designers to understand learners’ beliefs about L2 pragmatic learning in the English as a foreign language (EFL) context. Understanding the factors influencing learners’ intention will help design more effective teaching curricula that may integrate pragmatic instruction and testing in the future.

Corporate Restructuring

Corporate restructuring occurs when a company makes significant changes to its financial or operational structure, for example, by changing its complement of employees or assets through downsizing or upsizing. A common set of factors drives decisions to restructure, including decisions to divest or to acquire employees, assets, or both. In order of priority, these factors comprise current and prior company performance, managerial foresight, economic conditions, political uncertainty, industry, and technology. Companies typically downsize employees to stop eroding profitability and to increase the likelihood of future profitability. The economic rationale that drives it is straightforward: companies become profitable when revenues exceed costs, an outcome obtained by increasing revenues, decreasing costs, or both. Because future revenues are less predictable and controllable than future costs, decreasing costs is compelling. Managers often do that by reducing the size of the workforce and its associated labor costs. Employee downsizing makes sense when it is a reaction to an emergency, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Employee downsizing can also be part of a broader workforce strategy designed to adjust workforce competencies to align more closely with the overall strategy of a business. Organizations typically use one or more of four broad methods to downsize their workforces. The simplest is natural attrition. Alternatively, firms may offer buyouts—to individual employees (voluntary severance), to entire business units (corporate restructuring), even to the entire organization. A third strategy is involuntary layoffs—termination—with no choice by the departing employees. Businesses large and small that were hard hit by the pandemic had little or no choice but to use this strategy. A final strategy is early retirement offers, often part of a broader buyout scheme. From an organizational view, early retirement has the advantage of opening up promotion opportunities for younger workers. When firms downsize employees, they incur direct as well as indirect costs. While almost all the direct costs, such as severance pay and accrued vacation, are short-term (realized in the year they are incurred), indirect costs, such as decreased productivity, reduced morale, and aversion to risk among survivors, begin to accrue immediately and may continue for longer periods. When considering alternatives to downsizing employees, decision-makers must first assess if the downturn in business is permanent or temporary. If permanent, the only alternative to layoffs is to upskill, reskill, or retrain employees to develop new lines of business. If temporary, then there are numerous alternative ways to cut costs besides laying off workers. These range from reducing work hours to redeploying workers. A central issue for many stakeholders is the financial consequences of corporate restructuring. Regarding acquisitions, there is little evidence of a net beneficial effect on the performance of the acquirer, as measured by profitability. Rather, such actions often yield a lower rate of return than growth through internal investment. With respect to divestiture of assets, meta-analysis reveals a mixed picture of subsequent performance. Evidence does indicate, however, that different performance effects can be attributed to different conditions of the macroeconomy. With respect to within-company changes in employees, assets, or both, large-scale research reveals that corporate restructuring undertaken during difficult financial conditions, on average, outperforms corporate restructuring undertaken under more benign conditions. An important lesson for managers is to avoid downsizing as a quick fix to restore or enhance profitability. Layoffs are the most frequently employed method of downsizing but provide the smallest payoff. When faced with deteriorating results, it might be more prudent to be patient and to undertake the more demanding and comprehensive downsizing of employees and assets. As for upsizing employees, assets, or both, high-profitability upsizing does not automatically lead to better stock market performance. It tends to yield better results when the company’s performance needs improvement.

Performance of lactating suckler cows of diverse genetic merit and genotype under a seasonal pasture-based system

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of genetic merit of the national Irish maternal index and genotype (i.e. beef vs. beef × dairy [BDX]) of beef cows and subsequent performance of their progeny. With the exception that high genetic merit cows produced 0.57 kg more milk and tended to have 0.04 of a lower body condition score (BCS), no significant differences were observed between cows of diverse genetic merit. Differences between contrasting cow genotype were apparent. Beef cows were 50 kg heavier and had a BCS 0.27 greater than BDX cows. The BDX cows produced 1.67 kg more milk and had a greater 24-d submission rate than beef cows. Calves generated from BDX cows were 19 kg heavier at weaning and were worth €51 more than progeny generated from beef cows. Beef cow progeny, however, had 0.77 of a greater conformation score at slaughter than BDX. While differences were observed across cows of different replacement strategies, results from the current study showed that genetic selection for national maternal index had no effect on the overall performance of suckler cows in a pasture-based spring-calving system.

Modifying the ASPECT Survey to Support the Validity of Student Perception Data from Different Active Learning Environments

Measuring a student’s perception of active learning activities may provide valuable insight into their engagement and subsequent performance outcomes. A recently published measure, the Assessing Student Engagement in Class Tool (ASPECT), was developed to assess student perceptions of various active learning environments.

Comparison of post-activation performance enhancement (PAPE) after isometric and isotonic exercise on vertical jump performance

Purpose This study aimed to compare the post-activation performance enhancement (PAPE) induced by isometric and isotonic exercise on vertical jump performance. Methods 18 healthy trained men (25.8±2.7 years; 78.4±8.2 kg; 175.7±6.1 cm; 25.4±1.8 BMI; 126.72±10.8 kg squat 1-RM) volunteered for this study. They randomly performed two different PAPE protocols: Isotonic squats (ISOTS), which consisted of 2 sets of 3 repetitions at 75% of one-maximum repetition (1-RM); and isometric squats (ISOMS), which consisted of 2 sets of 4 seconds of submaximal (75% of 1-RM) isometric contraction at 90°-knee flexion. Countermovement jump (CMJ) height was tested at baseline and 4 minutes after each conditioning set. Results CMJ height significantly increased after set 1 in both PAPE protocols (ISOMS: p <0.001; ES = 0.34; ISOTS: p <0.001; ES = 0.24), with respect to the baseline jump. However, after set 2 no significant changes in CMJ height were observed for any protocol (ISOMS: p = 0.162; ES = 0.11; ISOTS: p = 0.976; ES = 0.06). No significant differences (p>0.05) were found between both isometric and isotonic exercise conditions. Conclusions Despite both protocols showed similar PAPE effects on CMJ height after set 1, none of the protocols demonstrated greater efficacy in increasing subsequent performance in healthy trained men.

Performance-Motivated Analysis: An Approach to Performance Interpretation

<p>Performance interpretation is one of the most challenging yet most important skill sets for a performer to develop. Performers all use different approaches in developing their interpretations. This exegesis focuses on the idea of Performance-Motivated Analysis as one of these possible approaches to interpreting music. By performing a thorough analysis of the exposition of the first movement of Beethoven’s ‘Waldstein’ Sonata, by drawing upon many analytical sources, and by combining this with an annotative analysis of six performers’ interpretations, this exegesis shows how theory can be used to explain many possible interpretive decisions within the composition. I then use and discuss this knowledge in regards to my own interpretation and subsequent performance of the same composition for my Masters Recital.</p>

Performance-Motivated Analysis: An Approach to Performance Interpretation

<p>Performance interpretation is one of the most challenging yet most important skill sets for a performer to develop. Performers all use different approaches in developing their interpretations. This exegesis focuses on the idea of Performance-Motivated Analysis as one of these possible approaches to interpreting music. By performing a thorough analysis of the exposition of the first movement of Beethoven’s ‘Waldstein’ Sonata, by drawing upon many analytical sources, and by combining this with an annotative analysis of six performers’ interpretations, this exegesis shows how theory can be used to explain many possible interpretive decisions within the composition. I then use and discuss this knowledge in regards to my own interpretation and subsequent performance of the same composition for my Masters Recital.</p>

Fostering sustainability: reinventing SME strategy in the new normal

Purpose This paper aims to deliberate the significant impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It also discusses SMEs’ practical approaches to capitalise on the renewed opportunity in the new normal by expanding their businesses regionally and globally. This paper also discusses the tactical and strategic interventions SMEs need to take to charge forward. Design/methodology/approach The resource-based view of the firm (Barney, 1991) is used to explain how SMEs develop a sustainable competitive advantage in the new normal. The resource-based view focuses on the link between strategy and firm internal resources. Drawing from the resource-based view of the firm, internal analysis of the resources that are regarded as sources of competitive advantage controlled by the SMEs is imperative in today’s business environment. Based on the resource-based view theory, this paper focuses on reinventing SME’s strategies in the new normal to foster sustainability. Findings Post-COVID-19 pandemic, SMEs must essentially be dynamic, forward-looking and transformational in capturing the regional and global markets’ opportunities. They need to sharpen their internal competencies and realign their effective business strategy in seizing the vast opportunities in the international markets. Practical implications How SMEs respond to COVID-19 has important implications for subsequent performance in the new normal. This study focuses on the different potential SMEs’ reactions to COVID-19 and how their strategy affects SMEs performance and fosters sustainability in the new normal. Social implications The sustainability of SMEs is critical for the nation’s socio-economy. This study offers a holistic view of how SMEs respond to their challenges and help them choose the right business options. Originality/value This paper’s contents are solidly based on accumulated evidence, observation and critical arguments on the impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that caused numerous challenges faced by the SMEs, with a specific focus on SMEs operating in Malaysia.