Dutch Soccer Research Articles

Does Manager Turnover Improve Firm Performance? Evidence from Dutch Soccer, 1986–2004

This research examines the impact of manager turnover on firm performance using information from the Dutch soccer league in the period 1986–2004. The main advantage of using sports data is that both manager characteristics and decisions and firm outcomes are directly observable. Both difference-in-difference and 2SLS estimates suggest no statistically significant improvements in performance after manager turnover, whereas previous research based on publicly traded firm data has found positive but very small effects of manager turnover on performance. The estimates confirm previous research using soccer data. In addition, estimates suggest that manager quality does not seem to matter in predicting turnover. These estimates are compared and contrasted with studies using publicly traded firm data and studies using soccer data.

Piecewise linear regression techniques to analyse the timing of head coach dismissals in Dutch soccer clubs

The key question in research on dismissals of head coaches in sports clubs is not whether they should happen but when they will happen. This paper applies piecewise linear regression to advance our understanding of the timing of head coach dismissals. Essentially, the regression sacrifices degrees of freedom for increased possibilities of interpretation. In the empirical part, we show that badly performing clubs tend to wait for clear evidence before dismissing a head coach. Dutch soccer clubs only dismiss head coaches during the soccer season when a club loses a match it should not have. We also find that once the decision to dismiss the incumbent head coach has been made, clubs quickly tend to appoint a new one, possibly by attracting an interim coach

Serious soccer, sex (work) and HIV - will South Africa be too hot to handle during the 2010 World Cup?

Soccer fever is sweeping through South African streets – be they tarred, dusty or potholed. Stadiums are being polished until they shine, road signs repainted, and dank garden sheds converted into pricy bed & breakfasts. South Africa is putting its best foot forward, and wherever panic rears its head the FIFA Local Organising Committee and politicians are doing damage control. Yet a troubling and neglected topic is sex. Indeed, with the expected influx of visitors, more sex. If the AIDS epidemic has taught us anything, it is that sex is a part of human behaviour that neither governments nor the law can control. Newspaper reports have alluded to the fact that South Africa has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world and that ‘innocent’ tourists might return home with nasty HIV from Africa. 1-3 Worse still, that these ‘innocent’ tourists will consort with ‘dubious’ sex workers and find themselves languishing in overcrowded South African prisons 4 long after the last vuvuzela has announced the end of the final game. Indeed, Dutch soccer fans have been warned to bring their own condoms, as South Africa might run out; 5 the Department of Health has responded by assuring everyone that it is well prepared. 6 Recently, Britain donated a million pounds for an additional 42 million male condoms. 7

The Multi-Institutional Phase I Study: Disadvantages Without Advantages?

The famous Dutch soccer player Johan Cruijf, who now is a commentator for Dutch television, introduced the saying that “Every advantage has its disadvantage” (or vice versa). Does this also apply to the multi-institutional phase I study? Phase I studies are the core of drug development. Among many other aims, they are essential for the identification of safety risks and for the selection of a drug dose that can be used for further development. Drug development is a highly competitive field, and therefore, time is of the essence. This means that every phase I study should provide information as quickly as possible; with the highest possible certainty; and, preferably, with the fewest possible patients, given the limited chance for actual patient benefit. With the assumption that adding more centers would be the optimal strategy to speed patient accrual, pharmaceutical industries in particular are currently pursuing the model of large, multicenter, phase I studies in a continuous drive to further expand these numbers. In addition to this, end points also are changing—from the usual and well-defined maximum-tolerated dose (MTD) to the more obscure and undefined optimal biologic dose (OBD)— because of the shifting focus of mechanism of action of anticancer drugs. In the current issue of theJournalofClinicalOncology, Dowlati et al 1 present an interesting literature review that involves 463 phase I studies that were published during 8 years in two major oncology journals: JCO and Clinical Cancer Research. This selection presents a possible limitation of the analysis, because both journals, although international, are based in the United States. The analysis, therefore, seems to present some publication imbalance, as 70% of the reviewed studies were performed in North America. Although this may cause the performance of phase I studies performed in the rest of the world to be overlooked, it is likely a minor issue when assessing the results of the study. Nearly 60% of the reported studies were pharmaceutical industry–sponsored, which reflects new drug development that largely is—and will likely remain—a pharmaceutical industry–related initiative. Interestingly, only 30% of the studies reported the accrual time. If we first look at the number of sites involved, 55% of phase I studies were performed at a single institution, whereas other studies were performed in two to 16 sites. The large numbers at the upper boundary are surprising, because it is a real challenge to keep all sites informed on a real-time basis about safety issues observed in patients. Although the authors indicated that there was no significant change over time in the proportion of studies that involved multiple institutions, it is notable that 17.3% of the 249 trials reported until 2003 involved three or more sites, whereas 27% of the 214 trials reported in 2003 and beyond involved three or more sites. This is consistent with the collective experience and the concerns of numerous investigators in phase I trials, and it probably indicates that we indeed are involving more and more centers in phase I trials. There was no correlation between the number of participating sites and the mechanism of drug action. One would have expected that, in studies with potentially difficult accrual because of limitations (such as the presence of a specific and infrequently expressed molecular target), more centers would have been required. Apparently, the trend is not to limit the involvement of larger numbers of centers to only such studies but rather to pursue the expansion of the number of participating centers in all phase I studies. In the analysis of Dowlati et al, 1 chemoradiotherapy and gene therapy phase I studies often involved three or more sites. Diseasespecific phase I studies also were more likely to be multi-institutional compared with general solid tumor studies. In contrast, there did not seem to be an association between the involved sponsor and the number of participating institutions. The possibility of bias in this observation may be related to the fact that the analysis basically involved only industry-initiated and NCI-related studies. Other independent organizations, such as the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer, have always minimized the numbers of sites in phase I studies but were not part of the analysis. Accrual time was not different when comparing trials that in

Imagined communities in the global game: soccer and the development of Dutch national identity

Abstract Using the recent history of Dutch soccer as an illustrative case, this article supports a line of argument in globalization studies that generally focuses on the variable reverberations of globalization and more specifically suggests that globalization entails the embattled redefinition of national identities. I show how the involvement of the Dutch national team in global competition aided the construction of a myth of national football distinction and how media coverage and discourse turned this myth into a key element of a re imagined national community. The Dutch view of themselves as a unique soccer nation fits familiar global patterns, and a sociologically informed critique of their romantic soccer self‐image displays the myth as myth. At the same time, however, the critique is part of the discourse, which involves more than an a historical expressive myth erected as a defence against globalization. I argue that it is more complex, more reflexive and more fluid than some accounts of soccer nationalism would lead us to expect or than nostalgic neopatriots might prefer. The article thus also offers a critique of a standard critique of national sports image‐making, which fits with a promising thrust in soccer and globalization scholarship.

Does Manager Turnover Improve Firm Performance? New Evidence Using Information from Dutch Soccer, 1986-2004

This research examines the impact of manager turnover on firm performance using information from the Dutch soccer league in the period 1986-2004. The advantage of using sports data is that both manager characteristics and decisions and firm outcomes are directly observable. Both difference-in-difference and 2SLS estimates suggest no improvements in firm performance after manager turnover, whereas previous research based on publicly traded firm data has found positive but very small effects of manager turnover on firm performance. In addition, manager quality does not seem to matter in predicting turnover. These estimates are compared and contrasted with studies using publicly traded firm data.

Aggression, violence, and the death of a Dutch soccer hooligan: A reversal theory explanation

AbstractIn March 1997, an aggressive and violent confrontation took place between more than 3000 rival soccer hooligans in the small town of Beverwijk in the Netherlands. In the prearranged and well‐organized confrontation, a 35 year‐old man was beaten and stabbed to death and others were seriously wounded. In this paper, the details of what happened at Beverwijk and the response of the Dutch authorities, including the subsequent arrest and conviction of the main perpetrators, are reviewed. In addition, the psychological approach of reversal theory [Apter MJ. 1992. The Dangerous Edge. New York: The Free Press] is used to answer several unresolved questions about the motivation of the Dutch soccer hooligans involved in the aggressive behavior and violent fighting at Beverwijk. Aggr. Behav. 28:1–10, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Minority elite formation in transnational perspective: A plea for a research program, illustrated by two Dutch cases

Since the 1950s nation-state building theories have dominated the debate on immigration in Europe and in the United States. The incorporation processes of “uprooted” immigrants into a new society are traditionally explained in terms of assimilaton or (ethnic) pluralization. Only recently has a new concept of transational migration been emerging. Following work done previously by Basch and Faist, in this article it is tentatively argued: (a) that cultural transnationalization among immigrants is as important as political and economic transnationalization; and (b) that political opportunity structures in the nation of residence facilitate not only cultural transnationalization, but also the formation of transnational cultural elites. These propositions are illustrated by the rise and expansion of Surinam Dutch soccer stardom and by the rise of a transnational Turkish/Moroccan Dutch Islam and of Turkish/Moroccan Dutch religious (Islamic) leadership.

Balance in Competition in Dutch Soccer

We estimate an ordered probit model for soccer results in the Netherlands. The result of a game is assumed to be determined by home ground advantage and differences in quality between the opposing teams. The parameters of the model are used to assess whether the balance in competition in Dutch professional soccer has changed over time. Contrary to popular belief, we find that the balance has not changed much since the mid-1970s.

Goal orientations, beliefs about success, and performance improvement among young elite Dutch soccer players.

Extending past work testing goal perspective theory in sport, one purpose of this study was to examine, via a longitudinal design, the relationship of goal orientations to the beliefs about the causes of success in the case of elite male Dutch soccer players. A second purpose was to determine the relationship of goals and beliefs to ratings of performance. Seventy-five male pupils representing five teams from an internationally renowned soccer school in The Netherlands completed the TEOSQ and a measure of their perceptions of the determinants of success in soccer at the onset and conclusion of one season. Assessments of the coaches' appraisal and athletes' self-reported performance in soccer were carried out at the same time. In line with other studies, a positive association between ego orientation and the belief that ability or innate talent are determinants of success was revealed. Task orientation was linked to the beliefs that effort, team play, and parental support contribute to achievement in soccer. An increase in skilled performance over the season (as appraised by the coach) corresponded to a stronger task orientation and the beliefs that soccer success stems from hard work and having supportive parents.

Chronic traumatic brain injury in professional soccer players.

To determine the presence of chronic traumatic brain injury in professional soccer players. Fifty-three active professional soccer players from several professional Dutch soccer clubs were compared with a control group of 27 elite noncontact sport athletes. All participants underwent neuropsychological examination. The main outcome measures were neuropsychological tests proven to be sensitive to cognitive changes incurred during contact and collision sports. The professional soccer players exhibited impaired performances in memory, planning, and visuoperceptual processing when compared with control subjects. Among professional soccer players, performance on memory, planning, and visuoperceptual tasks were inversely related to the number of concussions incurred in soccer and the frequency of "heading" the ball. Performance on neuropsychological testing also varied according to field position, with forward and defensive players exhibiting more impairment. Participation in professional soccer may affect adversely some aspects of cognitive functioning (i.e., memory, planning, and visuoperceptual processing).

On the Nucleolus of a Characteristic Function Game

Introduction. The nucleolus is a solution concept for games in characteristic function form. It was introduced by D. Schmeidler in [1]. This paper is concerned with some of the properties of the nucleolus. Some of the results are new (Theorems 2, 4, 5) whereas others are known (Theorems l and 3), but the proofs given here are, in a sense, simpler than those in [1]. A characteristic function game is a pair (N, v) consisting of a set N = {1, 2, , n} of n players, and a characteristic function v, which maps each subset S of N, called a coalition, to a number v(S). In addition, it is assumed that v(N) _ 0, and that v(S) = 0 for all one-person coalitions, as well as for the empty coalition. A payoff vector is an n-tuple x = (x1, , xn) such that xi > 0 for all i = 1, , n, and x(N) = v(N), where for each coalition S, x(S) denotes Zi,eS Xi. X is the set of all payoff vectors. Of course, X depends on the particular game v. For any x in X, let q(x) be a vector in E2n, the components of which are the numbers v(S) x(S), arranged in order of decreasing magnitude, where S runs over all the coalitions of N. We shall say that x is at least as acceptable as y (with respect to v), and write x > y, if q(x) is not greater than q(y), in the lexicographical order on E2n. If q(x) is smaller than q(y), we shall say that x is more acceptable than y and write x >y. The nucleolus of the game is the set of those points in X which are "most acceptable," that is, {x E X :x > y for all y E X}. In [1], Schmeidler proved the basic result that every game possesses a nonempty nucleolus. He further showed that the nucleolus actually consists of just one point, and that-viewed as a point function of the game-it is continuous. Our aim is to give new proofs of the uniqueness and of the continuity of the nucleolus. To this end, we will have to introduce a few definitions and to prove an auxiliary theorem (Theorem 2), which may have some interest in its own right. DEFINITION. Let bo, b1, ... , bp be a sequence of sets whose elements are coalitions of N. This sequence is a coalition array whenever: (i) every coalition of N is contained in exactly one of the sets b1, bp, (ii) bo contains only one-element coalitions. For every game v and payoff vector x, let b1(x, v) be the set of those S c N for which max {v(S) x(S): S c N} is attained. Similarly, b2(x, v) is the set of those S c N where max {v(S) x(S) :S ? b1(x, v)} is attained, and so on. Finally, let bo(x) = {{i} : xi = 0}. It is obvious that bo(x), b1(x, v), . . , bp(x, v) is a coalition array. We shall say that it is the array that belongs to (v, x). DEFINITION 2. A coalition array bo, , bp has property I if for all k= 1,2,...,pandanyyinE n, (1) y(S) _ 0forall Sebo, (2) y(S) ? O for all Se b1 U U bk, and (3) y(N) = 0