This paper investigates the relationship between the process of strategic decision‐making and management and contextual factors. First, drawing on a sample of strategic decisions, it analyzes the process through which they are taken, into seven dimensions: comprehensiveness/rationality, financial reporting, rule formalization, hierarchical decentralization, lateral communication, politicization, problem‐solving dissension. Second, these process dimensions are related to (1) decision‐specific characteristics, both perceived characteristics and objective typologies of strategic decisions, (2) top management characteristics, and (3) contextual factors referring to external corporate environment and internal firm characteristics. Overall, the results support the view that strategic decision processes are shaped by a multiplicity of factors, in all these categories. But the most striking finding is that decision‐specific characteristics appear to have the most important influence on the strategic decision‐making process, as decisions with different decision‐specific characteristics are handled through different processes. The evident dominance of decision‐specific characteristics over management and contextual factors enriches the traditional ‘external control’ vs. ‘strategic choice’ debate in the area of strategic management. An interpretation of results is attempted and policy implications are derived. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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A central measure of the efficiency of the Initial Public Offering (IPO) market is the extent to which issues are underpriced. We present new and comprehensive evidence covering British IPOs since World War I. During the period from 1917 to 1945, public offers were underpriced by an average of only 3.80%, as compared to 9.15% in the period from 1946 to 1986, and even more after the U.K. stock market was deregulated in 1986. The post-WWII rise in underpricing cannot be attributed to changes in firm composition, and occurred in spite of improvements in regulation, disclosure, and the prestige of IPO underwriters. Copyright (c) 2009 The American Finance Association.

Although there is no simple formula for the factors that ensure successful implementation of research-based improvements to clinical practice, certain principles do seem to help. Time and resource need to be devoted to a period of local negotiation and adaptation of good research evidence based on a careful understanding of the local context, in which opinion leader influence is an important component of a well managed and preferably well integrated process of change.

This article examines in detail how John Maynard Keynes approached investing in the U.S. stock market on behalf of his Cambridge College after the 1929 Wall Street Crash. We exploit the considerable archival material documenting his portfolio holdings, his correspondence with investment advisors, and his two visits to the United States in the 1930s. While he displayed an enthusiasm for investing in common stocks, he was equally attracted to preferred stocks. His U.S. stock picks reflected his detailed analysis of company fundamentals and a pronounced value approach. Already in this period, therefore, it is possible to see the origins of some of the investment techniques adopted by professional investors in the latter half of the twentieth century.