Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/56523
gence, but to date no one had tested these tools' effectiveness. Jon Garfinkel, associate profes- sor of finance at the University of Iowa's Tippie College of Business in Iowa City, has developed a pro- cess to indicate which of these mea- sures is most accurate at determin- ing the effects of this phenomenon, known as "investors' opinion diver- gence." Such a guide, Garfinkel explains, could help analysts predict how a particular stock will perform in the future. After signing nondisclosure agreements, Garfinkel and his research assistant were granted practicing transparent and respon- sible editorial policies, generating impartial and balanced reporting, defending freedom of expres- sion, promoting media lit- eracy, and helping people cross the digital divide. Grayson's paper about CR and the media can be found online at www.doughtycentre.info under the "Publica- tions" link. UPCOMING & ONGOING n NETWORK FOR HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT Two centers at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom have won €300,000 (about US $437,800) in funding from the European Cooperation in Science and Technol- ogy. The Centre for Employment Relations, Innovation and Change and the Centre for Innovation in Health Management will use the funding on a four-year project to n AWARDS FOR INNOVATION Boston University's Institute for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization has created the Boston University Clinical Innova- tion Awards Program. The program is supported by a grant of $150,000 from the Johnson & Johnson Corpo- rate Office of Science and Technol- ogy to provide support for multidisci- plinary research and development of new medical technologies. access to proprietary data from the New York Stock Exchange, which they used to study limit orders placed with the NYSE during three months in 2002. Garfinkel found that, of the cur- rently used measures, "unexplained volume" was the most accurate in determining the effects of opinion divergence. Those using unexplained volume begin with a previous day's volume as an indicator of a stock's expected volume on any given day; then, they compare this number with actual volume. If actual volume sig- nificantly and unexpectedly exceeds expectations—and has no other obvi- organize the research of healthcare management in 19 countries. Leeds will coordinate the research activi- ties of groups such as the European Health Management Association, the European Association of Hos- pital Managers, and the European Hospital and Healthcare Federation. The objective, says Ian Kirkpatrick, a professor at Leeds University Busi- ness School, is to determine whether reforms in health services in these countries have led to improved qual- ity of care and greater cooperation between healthcare providers. ous cause, such as an earnings report or news story—investors are most likely trading because they disagree about the stock's value. Another frequently used mea- surement—analyst forecast dis- persion—did not fare as well. The measure views analysts' opinions as a reflection of investors' opinions. Garfinkel found it to be a weaker indicator—most likely because ana- lysts and investors often view the markets differently. Garfinkel's study, "Measuring Investors' Opinion Divergence," is forthcoming in the Journal of Accounting Research. n 'COLLABORATORY' ESTABLISHED IBM and the Indian School of Business in New Delhi have opened a research "Collabora- tory" on ISB's campus dedicated to the study of service science. The lab initially will have a team of ten full-time researchers—five each from IBM and ISB—who will focus on developing best prac- tices for the service sciences field. Research will be multidisciplinary and include academic, government, and commercial partners. n z BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2009 51