From the Editor.

The Summer issues contains topics from the diversified fields of economics, finance, accounting, human resource management and advertising.

In the first article Mark Mitschow explores the recently enacted Credit Union Membership Access Law meant to help credit unions attract members beyond the traditional "common bond" affiliation. The author discusses similarities between this legislation and the Savings and Loan legislation of the early 1980's proposing that, without rigorous oversight, credit unions could be headed for the same fate as the S&Ls.

Do you have an investment portfolio? Could you use an easily-derived measure of your portfolio's return given its risk? Mary Lindahl and John Wachowicz, Jr. explain how to develop such a measure using an easily available number -- a stock's beta. Using their methodology, investors can assess whether or not their portfolios are out-performing the market.

Many investors believe that the biggest influence on their mutual fund's performance is the investment decisions made by their fund managers. S.P. Umamaheswar Rao addresses the task of evaluating the performance of mutual fund managers. Based on previous research and his current study, the author finds that mutual fund managers do not seem to possess any special ability to forecast and exploit future market directions. The author's discussion helps the reader develop a deeper understanding of the dynamics of mutual fund managers' performance.

Conflicting evidence exists regarding the efficacy of a relatively new financial management tool - Economic Value Added (EVA). Russ Ray's article offers a new definition of value and suggests that the EVA process can be improved by incorporating the concept of productivity.

Pelis Thottathil addresses the off-shore banking system that has developed around the Eurodollar. He describes how the RegD reserve on Eurodollar deposits in New York acts as a tariff on "imported" dollars, even though reserve ratios are the same on both the ES deposits and domestic deposits of the same maturity. Effective Federal Reserve policy regarding this issue is discussed.

In numerous ways U.S. firms are adjusting to global business demands and practices. In their article Melvin Houston and Alan Reinstein discuss questions raised about changing current domestic accounting standards as new international standards are being considered. Specifically, the authors address issues central to using international standards for cross-border listings of financial investments.

"The world of work is rapidly changing." This is the premise that launches the inquiry of M. Ronald Buckley, Danielle Beu, Milorad Novicevic and Thomas Sigerstad into the differences between past generations of employees and the current members of Generation NeXt. These authors analyze how managers can deal successfully with the newest workforce generation -- both as individuals and as members of organizations.

Gary Walls, Louis Capella and Walter Greene offer a source stressors model for understanding and managing conflict between work and family. As the number of two-income families increases, incompatible role pressures from both work and family can throw many of us off balance. This article examines the pressures and demands that can produce conflict. And the authors propose strategies to reduce employee stress caused by work-family conflict

Often, humor is used in the print and television media to sell products. Codruta Catnnescu and Gail Tom recognize that there are many types of humor - and different types are used most effectively with different media Their article examines various kinds of humor and how often each is used in print and television advertising. The authors' suggestions help managers decide when - and when not -- to use humor in advertising.