Using a sample of 251 IPOs in the United Kingdom, this paper examines interlinks between executive and nonexecutive characteristics, share ownership, and short‐term performance measured in terms of share offer ‘underpricing.’ It argues that executives' power and previous experience directly affect ex ante choice of nonexecutive directors and their ownership interests in the firm. These endogenously developed governance factors may be used by IPO teams strategically to reduce the extent of underpricing. However, there is a selective response of investors to different board characteristics and share ownership structure. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Analysis of longitudinal data from Employers Skills Updating Surveys in the United Kingdom suggests that in many establishments training plans were blown off course by the 2008–2009 recession, with reduced coverage of adult training and especially of off‐the‐job training. The effects of such cutbacks on skill levels have been partially alleviated by more precise targeting of on‐the‐job training on meeting skills improvement needs. However, in a sizeable proportion of establishments, future productivity and competitiveness are likely to be impaired by failure to upgrade adult workers' skills to standards which employers themselves perceived as necessary prior to the recession.

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To investigate investment behaviour the present study applies panel data techniques, in particular the Arellano-Bond (1991) GMM estimator, based on data on Estonian manufacturing firms from the period 1995-1999. We employ the model of optimal capital accumulation in the presence of convex adjustment costs. The main research findings are that domestic companies seem to be financially more constrained than those where foreign investors are present, and also, smaller firms are more constrained than their larger counterparts.