This paper investigates the relation between the value of a firm and employee attitudes on the firm's workplace quality—workplace attitudes. Workplace attitude refers to recognition of those organizational characteristics that enhance employee work experiences and assist employees in balancing their jobs and personal lives. Using inclusion on Fortune's annual list of “The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America” as a proxy for successful efforts in creating high workplace attitudes, we compare the market values of listed firms to the market values of nonlisted firms in the same industry matched on earnings. After controlling for book value, past operational performance, and research and development expense, we find that market values of listed firms exceed those of matched firms. We also provide evidence that firms ranked high on the Fortune list receive higher market values than those ranked lower on the list. Finally, the two-year forward market returns for listed firms exceed the returns for the matched sample while the two-year prior returns are not significantly different between the two groups. This result suggests that market performance does not determine inclusion on the Fortune list.

This paper examines the relationship between a non-financial measure of successful research and development (R&D) efforts in the pharmaceutical industry and R&D expenditures. I hypothesize that the R&D of successful producers will be valued more by the market than the R&D of non-successful producers. The regression results support the hypothesis. In the primary model, R&D is not associated with price; however, the coefficient on the interaction between R&D and successful developers is positively related to stock price. This implies that the market values the R&D expenditures of successful developers but not the expenditures of less-successful developers. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 2004.

Risk management has a central role in corporate America. Insurance companies frequently manage risk by purchasing reinsurance because it reduces the downside risk (i.e., bankruptcy risk) of an insurer. Because reinsurance is costly, Mayers and Smith (1990, Journal of Business, 63: 19-40) argue that reinsurance purchases should be negatively associated with the diversification of the owners' portfolios. Further, institutional owners play a significant role in equity markets yet we know little about their effect on firm behavior. The purpose of this study is to examine empirically the influence of institutional ownership on reinsurance for a sample of widely held property-liability insurers. We hypothesize that insurers with higher levels of institutional ownership purchase less reinsurance. Using a sample of 45 publicly traded property-liability insurers from 1995 to 1997, we demonstrate that the utilization of reinsurance decreases as the level of institutional ownership increases. This suggests that the diversification of the owners' portfolios is a determinant of the insurers' reinsurance decisions.

The Building Ethical Leaders using an Integrated Ethics Framework (BELIEF) Program was introduced in 2006 at the Northern Illinois University College of Business. The Program was developed to support two learning objectives: (1) increase students' awareness of ethical issues and (2) strengthen their decision-making abilities regarding these ethical issues. This article provides an overview of the development and integration of this Program. We also provide assessment data on our two learning objectives. The assessment measures improvement from 2005, before the implementation of the program, to all of the post-year measures. Thus, the BELIEF Program appears to enhance our students' ability to recognize issues and identify appropriate decision alternatives. We hope that the description of the components of BELIEF will aid other schools as they integrate ethics into their curriculum.

No abstract