Title: The relevance and sustainability of Investors in People. Purpose: The purpose of this research project is to explore and challenge the relevance and sustainability of Investors in People (IIP) involvement and recognition within seven case studies. Research design: Seven in-depth case studies combining thirty-eight semi-structured interviews are used to gather the appropriate insights. Findings: In essence, it is the studied organizations themselves that generate what the Leitch Report describes as the “untapped and vast” potential of their employees, not IIP involvement or recognition. The data collected challenges the direct relationship frequently proposed between IIP recognition and increases in business performance. The sample organizations have delivered performance improvements and success independently of IIP consideration, raising serious questions over the relevance and sustainability of the standard. These insights are supported by the lack of knowledge and understanding of the standard within the workforce. In addition, other quality improvement tools and techniques and industry standards are found to have a significant detrimental influence on the standing of IIP. Other influences are also found to impact negatively on the standing. Thus, this research project questions what contribution IIP can make towards national competitiveness when the standard is so withdrawn from the business performance improvements integrated. Even as a badge or plaque of external recognition, the assumptions surrounding the perceptual value of IIP are questioned when the impact of the standard’s logo/ symbols is considered to be nominal. A theoretical framework and alternative definition for IIP are developed to represent the findings within the seven organizations studied. Research limitations: Research is needed beyond the case samples studied to further explore and generalize the rhetoric and realities concerning the insights developed. Practical implications: HR practitioners and managers need to exhibit caution before considering IIP involvement and recognition. Indeed, practitioners need to consider that the asserted benefits associated with IIP may not match their expectations and provide the impact they seek. Originality/value: This research project provides HR practitioners and managers with a valuable and timely alternative discourse and perspective when considering employee development towards IIP recognition and the possibility of improved business performance and customer/employee perceptual value. In addition, the theoretical exemplars developed from the data set provide visual representations that can be used as pragmatic comparisons to develop the field of IIP further.

Epidemiological data suggest a positive relationship between increased calcium intake and decreased fat and total body mass in healthy people (McCarron et al. 1984, Davies et al., 2000). An in-vitro model suggesting the role of cyclic Adenosine Monophosphate (cAMP) and phosphodiesterase 3B (PDE 3B) has been implicated in the relationship between calcium and lipolysis (Xue et al., 2001). The objective of the series of studies presented in this thesis was to investigate the ergogenicity of supplementary calcium in endurance exercise via studying its influence on substrate metabolism and body composition. Study 1 examined the effects of four weeks of calcium (citrate) supplementation (1000 mg elemental calcium/day) on 60 minutes of cycling at a submaximal intensity of 50%Wpeak. The results of this study indicated that calcium supplementation significantly improved body composition of the participants with a greater fat loss and increased lean mass observed in highly trained athletes as compared to the recreationally trained participants. In addition, four weeks of calcium supplementation also showed an enhanced trend of availability of fatty substrates in the plasma and consequently an increased trend towards higher fat oxidation during submaximal exercise. Study 2 and 3 thus examined the effects of calcium supplementation directly on performance during endurance events (25 and 10 mile cycling time trials (TT)) in highly trained athletes. Results from these studies indicate that following calcium supplementation there was a meaningful improvement in power output (PO) (~4%) during the 25TT and ~2.7% in 10TT with corresponding better completion times in both the time trials. This amounts to an increase in ~2-3% higher PO%peak and ~3-5% increase in power output at lactate threshold, with the higher percentages attributable to the 25TT and the lower end to the 10TT. This increase in PO was achieved without the corresponding increase in oxygen consumption, thus significantly improving the gross efficiency of the cyclists. In addition, four weeks of calcium supplementation once again exhibited the same trends in body composition as observed in study 1 of decreased fat mass and a concurrent increase in lean mass. The results from this set of investigation indicate that calcium plays a multifactorial role in performance enhancement of endurance events. This may have been achieved via a combination of influence on substrate metabolism and body composition. The impact of calcium on fatigue mechanisms and vascular tone may have also played a part in increasing PO and thus efficiency of the athletes. Thus the potential of calcium to enhance performance needs further investigation in studies with larger sample sizes and different training status of athletes.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, 2000. / Major Professor: Subhash C. Sharma. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (B.A.)--Haverford College, Dept. of Economics, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (doctoral)--Université de Lausanne, 1930. / Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

by Lau Chung-Hing. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references.

by Ip Ka Tsun Anthony and Tang Ying Wa. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 42-46). / ABSTRACT --- p.i / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iii / LIST OF TABLES --- p.iv / ACKNOWLEDGMENTS --- p.v / Chapter / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter II . --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.4 / Selection Criteria of the Neglected Markets --- p.4 / Market Review --- p.4 / Day-of-the-Week Effect --- p.9 / Month- of - the - Year Effect --- p.11 / Spill´ؤOver Effect Across National Stock Markets --- p.11 / Granger Causality Between Aggregate Stock Price and Trading Volume --- p.13 / Chapter III. --- DATA and METHODOLOGY --- p.16 / Day-of-the-Week Effect and Month-of-the-Year Effect --- p.16 / Spill-Over Effect Across National Stock Markets and Granger Causality Between Aggregate Stock Price and Trading Volume --- p.18 / Chapter IV. --- EMPIRICAL RESULTS --- p.24 / Day-of-the-Week Effect --- p.24 / Month-of-the-Year Effect --- p.26 / Spill-Over Effect Across National Stock Markets --- p.28 / Granger Causality Between Aggregate Stock Price and Trading Volume --- p.31 / Chapter V. --- CONCLUSION --- p.36 / Direction of Further Studies --- p.38 / APPENDIX --- p.40 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.42

published_or_final_version / Applied Statistics / Master / Master of Social Sciences

This thesis examines the theoretical underpinnings and practical construction of select economic and financial indexes. Such indexes are used for a variety of purposes, including the measurement of inflation, portfolio return performance, and firm productivity. Chapter 1 motivates interest in economic and financial indexes and introduces the principal ideas in the thesis. Chapter 2 focuses on one potential source of bias in the Canadian consumer price index (CPI) that arises from the emergence of large discount/warehouse stores—the so-called outlet substitution bias. Such outlets have gained market share in Canada in recent years, but current CPI procedures fail to capture the declines in average prices that consumers enjoy when they switch to such outlets. Unrepresentative sampling, and the fact that discount stores often deliver lower rates of price increase can further bias the CPI. Bias estimates for some elementary indexes are computed using data from Statistics Canada's CPI production files for the province of Ontario. It is shown that the effect on the Canadian CPI of inappropriately accounting for such discount outlets can be substantial. Another area in which indexes are frequently used is the stock market. Several stock market indexes exist, including those produced by Dow Jones and Company, Standard and Poor's Corporation, Frank Russell and Company, among others. These indexes differ in two fundamental respects: their composition and their method of computation—with important implications for their usage and interpretation. Chapter 3 introduces the concept of a stock index by asking what, in fact a stock market index is—this is tantamount to considering the purpose for which the index is intended, since stock indexes should be constructed according to their usage. Because stock indexes are most commonly used as measures of returns on portfolios, the main considerations in constructing such return indexes are examined. Chapter 4 uses the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) as a case study to examine its properties as a return index. It is shown that the DJIA is not the return on a market portfolio consisting of its thirty component stocks: in fact the DJIA measures the return performance on a very particular (and unusual) investment strategy, a fact that is not well understood by institutional investors. An examination of some other popular stock indexes shows that they all differ in their computational formula and that each is consistent with a particular investment strategy. Numerical calculations reveal that the return performance of the DJIA can vary considerably with the choice of basic index number formula, particularly over shorter time horizons. Given the numerous ways of constructing stock market return indexes, the user is left to determine which is 'best' in some sense. The choice of an appropriate (or 'best') formula for a stock market index is formally addressed in chapter 5. The test or axiomatic approach to standard bilateral index number theory as in Eichhorn & Voeller (1983), Diewert (1993a), and Balk (1995) is adapted here. A number of a priori desirable properties (or axioms) are proposed for a stock index whose purpose is to measure the gross return on a portfolio of stocks. It is shown that satisfaction of a certain subset of axioms implies a definite functional form for a stock market return index. Chapter 6 evaluates the various stock indexes is use today in terms of their usefulness as measures of gross returns on portfolios. To this end the axioms developed in chapter 5 are used to provide a common evaluative framework, in the sense that some of the indexes satisfy certain axioms while others do not. It is shown that the shortcomings of the DJIA as a measure of return arise from its failure to satisfy a number of the basic axioms proposed. Notwithstanding this, each index corresponds to a different investment strategy. Thus, when choosing an index for benchmarking purposes an investor should select one which closely matches his/her investment strategy—a choice that cannot be made by appealing to axioms alone.