Mike Cudd

Assessment of the Nature and Status of the MBA Restructuring Trend.

Abstract Graduate business education initiated its first major reorganization in the early 1960s, in response to two critical reports produced in 1959. Now MBA programs are once again undergoing a radical restructuring in response to criticisms of having lost touch with corporate America. This article, based on a survey of AACSB-accredited graduate schools of business, provides an in-depth profile of the extent, nature, and composition of the restructuring effort. The findings should be of special interest to administrators and faculty of graduate business programs.

Finance Degree Programs and the Issue of Student Preparedness.

Abstract A key to the quality of finance graduates is the preparedness of the students when they enter the program. This study reports the results of a national survey of finance professors and their perceptions of student preparedness in writing skills, verbal skills, communication skills, reasoning ability, motivation, and general preparation. Findings indicate that finance students are generally perceived to be weak in writing, verbal, and math skills and consequently provide a teaching challenge for finance professors. Comparison with the results of a survey conducted roughly 10 years ago indicates that most of these deficiencies remain and some have even worsened.

Perceived Causes, Effects, and Remedies for Plateauiing among Marketing Professors

The issue of career plateauing among marketing professors is examined in this survey of deans, marketing department heads, and faculty members. Analysis demonstrates that a plateauing problem is perceived to exist in our marketing departments. Specifically, individuals felt that major contributors to this phenomena were institutional factors such as the tenure system and a lack of incentives beyond tenure and promotion. However, those who are most able to do something about this problem are least likely to believe that institutional conditions are the root of this issue. This may be an unfortunate situation, as findings also demonstrate that plateaued marketing faculty not only desire to be productive, but feel they have the capability of doing so.

Dual office holding, corporate governance and takeover gains

Outlines various criticisms of the corporate practice of having the same individual as chief executive officer and chairman of the board but recognizes that it may also have some benefits. Uses data from a sample of US firms bidding in takeovers from 1985‐1990 to explore the relationship between takeover gains and the existence of dual office holding, insider ownership and the proportion of independent directors. Finds that dual office holding does not reduce the bidders’ wealth, possibly because it is often associated with a high proportion of independent directors who are likely to control the dual office holder in the interests of shareholders.

The control hypothesis and recurring versus accumulated free cash flow

This paper offers and investigates the hypothesis that managers are motivated to control accumulated free cash flows, as well as to control the recurring component from operations as suggested in Jensens (1986, 1988) theory on agency behavior and control. Such managers may be willing to sacrifice a portion of the recurring component of free cash flow in the form of additional interest expense, as well as to incur the additional monitoring by capital markets, in exchange for control over a greater level of accumulated free cash flow in the form of cash and equivalents. Partial support for this hypothesis is observed for a sample of acquisition targets possessing poison pill defenses, which enhances the likelihood of the required agency behavior. Target firms are observed to have above-average levels of capital expenditures, cash and equivalents, and debt. When regressed on premiums offered to target shareholders, however, only the target debt level is found to be significant.