This article analyzes the impact of not controlling for “demographic sample” differences on research results in the area of comparative family/nonfamily business research. Using different statistical methods with and without control for “demographic sample” differences, the results show that controlling for these firm demographics in a bivariate as well as a multivariate framework is very important to discover “real” differences between family and nonfamily firms. We found “real” differences for export, budgeting, variable reward systems, profitability and gender, educational degree, and tenure of the CEO. Strategy, networking, long‐term planning and control systems, perceived environmental uncertainty, growth, and management training, classified by prior empirical research as different between family and nonfamily firms, do not differ.

This study examines the idiosyncratic manager-specific influence on a corporate cash policy.Although traditional economic theories such as trade-off theory and agency theory have already contributed to a deeper understanding of corporate cash policy, we examine whether the integration of Hambrick and Mason's (1984) upper echelons theory (UET) into these traditional theories provides additional power in explaining corporate cash holdings. We contend that social, psychological and cognitive characteristics of CEOs, proxied by a number of CEO demographics, affect the level of importance that CEOs (and shareholders) attach to the economic arguments provided by the traditional theories, in turn affecting cash policy. We test our hypotheses using a sample of Belgian privately held SMEs. Controlling for a number of operational and financial variables, our results illustrate that CEOs have a considerable influence on corporate cash holdings. In line with most of the hypotheses our principal findings suggest that longer tenured CEOs, older CEOs and CEOs with experience in a single industry are more concerned with the precautionary motive of cash and less concerned with the opportunity cost of cash, giving rise to higher cash levels compared to shorter tenured CEOs, younger CEOs and CEOs with experiences outside the current industry. We thus reveal that cash policy in Belgian privately held SMEs reflects the natural tendencies of CEOs. Since cash policy affects shareholder value, it is important for shareholders to consider the demographics of present or new CEOs, and to understand their associated inclinations concerning cash policy.

Library managers are continuously urged to provide better library services at a lower cost. To cope with these cost pressures, library management needs to improve its understanding of the relevant cost drivers. Through a case study, we show how to perform time-driven activity-based costing for a library acquisition process in a Belgian university and provide evidence of the benefits of such an analysis.

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -Drawing on upper echelons theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether CEOs place their distinctive marks on the design of planning, control and evaluation systems (i.e. management control systems (MCS)) in small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Design/methodology/approach -The authors use survey data from 189 Belgian SMEs and perform regression analyses to investigate the relation between the CEO demographics tenure, education and experience and various aspects of MCS design, controlling for the classical contingent variables. Findings -CEO tenure and education are related to evaluation system design, but there is no link between CEO demographics and planning and control system design. The lack of managerial discretion concerning planning and control systems could be explained by their more external and observable character, giving rise to pressures to comply with institutional norms ("good practices"). The presence of discretion concerning the design of evaluation systems could be due to their internal character. Practical implications -Since evaluation systems are an important determinant of work-related attitudes and can lead to dysfunctional behavior, it is important for company owners and board members to consider the demographics of present or new CEOs, and to understand the associated inclinations reflected in evaluation systems. Originality/value -The authors apply a more comprehensive approach than (the few) existing SME studies by relating a larger number of CEO demographics to a more comprehensive set of MCS elements, controlling for a larger group of contingent variables. Moreover, the authors fill gaps in the upper echelons and MCS literature.