Times Higher Education has published the 2010-2011 World University Rankings, the list of the world’s top performing universities. At its seventh edition, the World University Rankings offers a broad perspective on the world’s leading academic institutions, comprising the top 200 universities list, as well as rankings by region and by subject.
Knowledge has an important impact on performance level in various ways and in different situations, such as changing and adapting organizational processes when requirements shift (Kogut & Zander, 1992; Nonaka &Takeuchi, 1995; Teece et al., 1997).
The world is increasingly knowledge centric. Rapid technological developments coupled with the ever more challenging economic conditions characterized by fierce competition, increased financial uncertainty and changing customer needs and expectations force organizations to consider learning and development activities as critical for their organizational performance and success.
Performance management systems (PMS) represent information-based routines and procedures formally expressed that managers use to maintain or alter patterns in organizational activities (Simons, 2000). More and more organizations are implementing new and alternative performance management systems in order to obtain better results. These systems focus on reproducing financial and non-financial information that is relevant for decision making and managerial action. Some of the better known performance management systems are the Balanced Scorecard and the Performance Prism.
A recent article published in “The Economist” outlines an interesting correlation between the wine and oil prices trends around the world for the period 1998-2010. The research undertaken by two experts from International Monetary Fund (IMF), Servan Cevik and Tahsin Saasi, shows that supply has only a marginal impact on prices.