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Expert Reviews
2014 Toyota FJ Cruiser
If you want one of these you had better hurry because they are being discontinued.
The Toyota FJ Cruiser is the most capable of all Toyotas when the pavement gives way to gravel, sand and rocks. That's saying something, given the capabilities of the 4Runner, Land Cruiser, and Tacoma. All of these Toyotas are among the best in their respective classes for travel over rugged terrain.
The FJ Cruiser seats five. The front doors are front-hinged. Rear-hinged rear side doors provide access to the back seat. Main access to the cargo area is through a door hinged on the driver's side of the vehicle instead of a typical roof-hinged hatch-style closure. Having the hinge on the driver's side makes curbside loading and unloading easier.
Retro styling gives the FJ Cruiser presence. Designed in California, the FJ Cruiser recalls the Toyota FJ40, known in North America as the original Land Cruiser. The FJ Cruiser will not be mistaken for anything else. Short overhangs aid capability for traversing ditches and other terrain that challenges ground clearance.
The rugged, minimalist interior is easy to clean. No leather here, rugged fabric is designed to resist dirt and water.
An Off-Road package further enhances the FJ's capabilities with trail-tuned Bilstein shock absorbers and a rear differential lock that works in conjunction with Toyota's A-TRAC off-road traction control system. With this setup, the FJ Cruiser can hang with the Jeep Wrangler crowd.
Toyota's 4.0-liter V6 engine makes 260 horsepower and 271 pound-feet of torque. It has dual Variable Valve Timing with intelligence (VVT-i), which means variable valve timing for both intake and exhaust. We found the FJ Cruiser superb in rugged terrain yet comfortable on the road. Its V6 engine delivers more than ample power and torque for any foreseeable situation.
Fuel economy for the 2014 Toyota FJ Cruiser is an EPA-estimated 17/21 mpg City/Highway for a 4WD automatic, 15/19 mpg for a 4WD with 6-speed manual gearbox, and 17/22 mpg for a 2WD automatic.
The full-time 4×4 with the manual transmission offers the best capability in rugged terrain.
The 2014 model year brings only minor changes to the content of some option packages; and a new color, Cement, replacing Cavalry Blue. We don't expect any significant changes to the FJ Cruiser anytime soon.
Model LineupToyota FJ Cruiser 2WD automatic ($27,130); 4WD automatic ($28,720); 4WD manual ($28,310)
Walk Around
The Toyota FJ Cruiser is the rebirth of the original Toyota FJ40, known in North America as the original Land Cruiser. It was a rugged, go-anywhere vehicle, a sport utility vehicle decades before the genre had a name.
The FJ Cruiser was designed in Southern California. The design evokes the heritage of the FJ40 and other early Land Cruisers without being retro. This is no simple cloning of a nearly half-century old design. Instead, what Toyota wanted to do was to project how the original Jeep-like FJ would have evolved had it remained in production all these years. The engineering and manufacturing of the Toyota FJ Cruiser are done in Japan.
Early FJs and Land Cruisers were patterned on the World War II Jeep. Rugged and reliable, Toyota FJs and Land Cruisers became the vehicles of choice for explorers, ranchers, missionaries, United Nations peacekeepers, merchants or anyone else who needed to drive through places such as Australia's Outback, Africa's plains, across Asian steppes, through South American jungles or anywhere else where roads were virtually nonexistent, with trails as harsh and challenging as the natural environment.
Exterior styling cues from the original FJ brought forward on the FJ Cruiser include a narrow slot of a second grille built into the front lip of the hood, the trio of windshield wipers at the base of an upright windshield, the round headlights and the metallic-colored enclosure that frames them and the main grille (with Toyota in simple gothic letters, instead of the interlocking oval emblem that adorns the face of other modern Toyotas), the white roof, the wraparound rear windows and the spare tire mounted on the back of the vehicle.
The FJ Cruiser shares much of its under structure with the Toyota 4Runner four-door SUV and Tacoma pickup truck, but you'd never guess that to look at the FJ with its wide, turtle-shell body design.
Short front and rear overhangs allow serious off-road maneuvering. The 4×4 versions offer 9.6 inches of ground clearance, with optional underbody armor to provide extra protection against rocks and other obstacles met on unpaved trails.
Viewed in profile, the most noticeable aspects of the FJ Cruiser are its upright windshield, tall and protective body sides, short windows and very wide C-pillar on either side of the cargo area.
Though it may look like a two-door, the FJ Cruiser actually has four doors, with the rear side doors opening rearward to create a good-sized opening for access to the back seat and cargo area. The rear door also opens wide, and features a backlight glass that can be flipped up when the door itself is closed.
The FJ Cruiser features an interesting color palate. You can order the authentically drab Army Green, a desert-warrior dun called Quicksand, or a peachy orange called Magma, in addition to basic Black and Iceberg White. New for 2104 is Cement, a suitably industrial gray inherited from last year's Trail Teams Special Edition. The paint color covers only the hood, fenders, body sides, C-pillars and rear door. In homage to the old FJ40s, all FJ Cruisers (except the monochromatic Trail Teams model) have white roofs, helping keep the cabin cool under a blazing sun.
Like the exterior, the interior of the Toyota FJ Cruiser reflects the character of the early FJ40s, especially when equipped with the optional body-colored door panel inserts. The standard dashboard looks like an extruded aluminum beam, with audio and climate controls set into a body-colored panel in the center.
If you want leather seats, you don't want an FJ Cruiser, which comes only with water-resistant cloth upholstery and rubberized floor and cargo mats. The expectation is that people who drive FJ Cruisers will get them dirty, and want the easy cleanup provided by such materials.
The seats have active headrests. In certain rear collisions, a cable-actuated mechanism in the headrest moves it upward and forward to help limit the movement of the occupant's head, potentially reducing whiplash injuries. Folding rear headrests help with rearward visibility.
Switches for various mechanical systems are set in a panel just ahead of the shift lever. Not only are they conveniently placed, but there are dummy switches to ease installation of aftermarket equipment such as auxiliary lighting or locking axles for extreme off-road use.
The driver faces white-faced gauges that are easy to read (speedometer, tachometer, engine temperature, voltage and fuel level). In addition to the regular glove box ahead of the front passenger seat, there's a smaller covered storage box on top of the instrument panel in front of the driver. This area can be fitted with an accessory Garmin Quest 2 navigation unit that can be removed from the vehicle for hiking or other activities.
Cup holders are provided in the center console and all four doors. A 12-volt outlet is mounted on the switch panel ahead of the shifter; and a three-prong, grounded 115-volt power outlet in the cargo area with a switch for either 100 or 400 watts of output (the higher figure available when the vehicle is at idle).
The rear seatback splits 60/40 to optimize cargo carrying options. The rear-seat cushion tips forward and can be removed to provide a few more inches of cargo area behind the front seats. Rear-hinged rear side doors give easy access to the back seat and cargo area, helped by front seatbacks that fold forward. Perhaps appropriately, the front seatback folds a little further forward on the right (curb) side.
The standard audio system includes a CD player and iPod and MP3 capability as well as two ceiling-mounted speakers designed to enhance the sound experience within the FJ Cruiser. The Upgrade Package increases the speaker count from six to eleven and includes a pair of 2.6-inch speakers mounted on the rear pillars.
Because the FJ Cruiser has wide C-pillars that may interfere with the driver's rearward vision, a rearview camera is included in the Convenience Package, to warn the driver of the proximity of objects when the transmission is in Reverse. The Upgrade Package adds rear parking sonar. We had no trouble parking the FJ in urban settings on our test drive, nor did we have to move into strange positions to see stoplights through the upright windshield.
Driving Impressions
Powering the FJ Cruiser is Toyota's 4.0-liter V6 engine, well-proven in the 4Runner, Tacoma and Tundra. In the FJ Cruiser it develops 260 horsepower and 271 pound-feet of torque, the sort of grunt that comes in handy when traveling off-road or when towing.
The FJ Cruiser is rated to tow as much as 4700 pounds. It would work fine for ATVs, snowmobiles and personal watercraft. Though the 4Runner is rated to tow only 300 pounds more on paper, for a variety of reasons we would consider it a much better tow vehicle.
The Toyota V6 not only is strong, but clean and fuel-efficient as well. It earns the FJ Cruiser a LEV-II (low-emission vehicle) rating from the federal government.
Fuel economy is an EPA-estimated 17/21 mpg City/Highway for a 4WD automatic, 15/19 mpg for a 4WD with 6-speed manual gearbox, and 17/22 mpg for a 2WD automatic.
The Toyota FJ Cruiser is quite capable off road, even more so than the highly capable 4Runner on which it is based. The FJ offers better approach and departure angles and a shorter wheelbase, with the same generous ground clearance.
Of the three drivetrains available, those primarily interested in the unique design statement made by the FJ Cruiser will likely opt for the two-wheel-drive setup. This is not the setup we would choose.
Those planning to do serious off-road driving will want the full-time 4×4 with the manual transmission, which features a clutchless starting feature that can come in handy for rock-crawling maneuvers. With the manual transmission, the drivetrain is a full-time four-wheel-drive setup with H4, H4L (locked Torsen center differential) and L4L (low and locked) settings. The H4 mode usually sends 60 percent of power to the rear wheels, but can send as much as 53 percent of power to the front wheels or 70 percent to the rear wheels as needed. An electronically locking rear differential is standard with the manual transmission and available with the automatic, even in the two-wheel-drive version. With the manual transmission, the FJ Cruiser has an off-road crawl ratio of 41.84:1 and has proven itself capable of traversing California's rugged and world-famous Rubicon Trail.
Those looking for an automatic likely will select the part-time 4×4 with its automatic transmission. It's a good choice regardless of road and weather conditions. It's also a good choice for rugged terrain and is available with Toyota's A-TRAC off-road technology. It's our choice, unless we were planning to do organized off-road adventures. With the automatic transmission, the four-wheel-drive system offers shift-on-the-fly selection with H2 (2WD High range), H4 (4WD High range) or L4 (4WD Low range) settings for the torque-splitting transfer case.
The Upgrade Packages include Toyota's computer-controlled A-TRAC, for Active-TRACtion. This system, which also makes steering easier in rugged terrain, can be turned on or off via a switch on the dashboard control panel. In severe off-road situations, drivers may need to engage the locking rear differential, but we found the A-TRAC system ideal for negotiating a series of serious and deep moguls in steep terrain when we did our off-road test drive.
The Vehicle Stability Control system works with the roll sensor to try to stop lateral skids before they can lead to a rollover. Failing that, the sensor deploys both the side-impact and side-curtain airbags. VSC comes standard on all models.
Toyota anticipates that many FJ Cruiser owners will want to explore away from pavement, but most miles will be racked up on city streets and suburban highways, where we found the FJ Cruiser to be comfortable, even when we sat in the back seat. One thing we did notice, however, was that the big roof rack that's available as an accessory can create a lot of wind noise at Interstate speeds. This is true with all safari-style roof racks, something many Land Rover owners know. We still think lots of people will want one, however, if for no other reason than it looks so cool. We'd order one for ours and put up with the wind noise.
The 2104 FJ Cruiser is Toyota's most capable sport utility vehicle when it comes to getting where you want to go when there's no pavement beneath your tires. Not everyone will appreciate its heritage, whether in the iconic design cues brought forward in a thoroughly modern vehicle or in the way this vehicle lives up to the Land Cruiser's much deserved reputation for getting across deserts, up mountains and through swamps and jungles on continents around the globe. But for those whose lifestyles include exploring, whether it's sandy beaches, mountain trails, secluded lakes, busy ski hills or even the urban jungle, the FJ Cruiser provides Toyota quality at a competitive price and wrapped in a unique design, inside and out.
NewCarTestDrive.com correspondent Larry Edsall filed this report after driving the FJ Cruiser in the hills west of Los Angeles and in the desert around Palm Springs, California. Additional material by John F. Katz.


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NFL roundup: Book claims NFL ignored concussion dangers
Authors claim actions begain in 1994
For two decades, the NFL has tried to deny growing scientific evidence that links football and head injuries, according to excerpts published Wednesday by multiple web sites from a forthcoming book.
In "League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for Truth," written by investigative reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru, the NFL is portrayed as an organization that exerted its influence in an attempt to sweep aside independent research and fund studies of its own on the cumulative impact of hits on the football field.
The authors write that the denials started in 1994 with then-commissioner Paul Tagliabue and continue today with present commissioner Roger Goodell.
The book noted that Tagliabue was responsible for forming the NFL's Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee and the league continually cited research that claimed "NFL players were impervious to brain damage." The committee asserted that concussions were minor injuries that did not lead to long-term problems with the brain.
"Tagliabue dismissed the matter as a 'pack journalism issue' and claimed that the NFL experienced 'one concussion every three or four games,' which he said came out to 2.5 concussions for every '22,000 players engaged,'" one excerpt of the book claimed.
In late August, the NFL reached a settlement in the concussion lawsuit involving more than 4,500 retired players or a proposed $765 million. But the league did not admit it was at fault.
The NFL did not cooperate with the authors on the book. League spokesman Greg Aiello declined comment on Wednesday.
The authors said they conducted more than 200 interviews and pored over thousands of pages of documents.
---New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski has yet to play this season and still isn't sure when he'll be on the field, but he emphasized there's no pressure from the team to hurry back.
Gronkowski has been practicing on a limited basis as he recovers from forearm and back injuries.
"It's going good," Gronkowski said. "I'm progressing every week, feeling better every week, getting stronger every week, getting in better condition every week. So I'm still sticking to the motto day by day."
The Patriots appear to be proceeding cautiously with Gronkowski since he returned from fracturing the forearm near the end of last season and then hurt it again.
He remains questionable on the Patriots' injury report this week. New England (4-0) plays at Cincinnati (2-2) on Sunday.
"When I'm ready, I'm ready," Gronkowski said. "If it's this Sunday, next Sunday, the Sunday after that, it's just going day by day."
---Offensive tackle Levi Brown will be traded from the Arizona Cardinals to the Pittsburgh Steelers pending a physical.
Brown, owed more than $3.6 million, is signed through 2014. His salary next season is $6 million.
According to the website Pro Football Focus, Brown has played 269 plays and graded out poorly as a pass blocker but very well in run-blocking.
The Steelers are hoping to upgrade over Mike Adams, who had a difficult time in one-on-one matchups with Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen and hasn't been great as a run blocker, either.
Brown was a first-round pick (fifth overall) in 2007 and was with the Cardinals when current Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley held the same job in Arizona (2007-08). His learning curve should be rapid. The Steelers are entering their bye week and return to the field Oct. 13 for a road game at the New York Jets.
---Wide receiver Tiquan Underwood signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after Tuesday's release of Kevin Ogletree.
Underwood played at Rutgers under coach Greg Schiano, now at Tampa Bay's helm. He was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2009 and spent time with the New England Patriots and Buccaneers. While with the Patriots in 2011, he was on and off the active roster in the regular season and was released the day before Super Bowl XLVI.
Also, wide receiver Chris Owusu was signed to the active roster, revamping the receiving corps for rookie starting quarterback Mike Glennon.
---San Francisco 49ers running back LaMichael James used Twitter this week to vent his frustration over playing time this season.
With Frank Gore entrenched as the starter and Kendall Hunter as his backup, James was inactive for the 49ers' first three games. He had three carries for zero yards against the St. Louis Rams in Week 4.
"Some things I just don't understand at all I don't work at State Farm I'm not trying to be insurance," James tweeted.
He later deleted the tweet but added, "I don't tweet bout football on anything to my team so don't need ur input."
James, 23, played in four regular-season games last season and had 125 yards rushing on 27 carries and three receptions for 29 yards.
---The San Francisco 49ers announced they have signed former Arizona quarterback John Skelton to a one-year contract.
Skelton, 25, spent three seasons with the Cardinals and started 17 games, posting an 8-9 record. He was waived by the Cardinals on April 1 and picked up by the Cincinnati Bengals. But he failed to survive the final round of cuts in training camp with the Bengals.
With Arizona, Skelton completed 320 of 602 passes for 3,707 yards and 15 touchdowns. Last season, he was 109 of 201 for 1,132 yards and two touchdowns in seven games.
The 49ers released seventh-round draft pick B.J. Daniels on Monday. If Daniels clears waivers, the 49ers could add him to their practice squad.
Skelton is expected to compete with Colt McCoy for the backup quarterback job behind starter Colin Kaepernick.

subset: commoncrawl


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Happy Easter Gift Bag
Learn how to make this bag using these free instructions. Handmade Easter bags are the perfect way to show you care, and with these card-making steps, creating this design is easy.
SUPPLIES: Cardstock: (white) Patterned paper: (bunny, solid green from Hello Spring 6x6 pad) Doodlebug Design Color medium: (assorted markers) Copic Accents: (rhinestones) Michaels Digital element: (sentiment) PaperCraftsMag.com Fibers: (green ribbon) American Crafts; (blue rickrack) Adhesive: American Crafts Template: (oval) Other: (gift bag) Michaels Finished size: 4" x 5 1/4"
1 Trim patterned paper to fit bag front; adhere.
2 Trim patterned paper strips, cut fringe, and adhere.
3 Color rhinestones with markers; adhere.
4 Print sentiment on cardstock. Trim into egg using template and adhere with foam tape.
5 Adhere rickrack to top of egg; tie ribbon on bag handle.
Designer Tip
Don't have colored rhinestones that match your project? Try coloring clear rhinestones with alcohol-based markers for perfect results every time.
More Projects
If you love this fun project, you'll find more ideas in the March/April 2013 issue of Paper Crafts magazine. Purchase a copy HERE.
For more information on supplies used in these projects, see our Product Guide online at PaperCraftsMag.com.
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New Councilor- Roger Kolman
I first met Roger at the AAVSO meeting in Rockford in 2006. He joined Aaron Price, a few of my closest AAVSO friends, and me, in my hotel room one night and regaled us with stories of the good ole days and Clint Ford's 'hospitality suite' at AAVSO meetings in the 60's and 70's until the wee morning hours.
I met up with him again at the Citizen Sky meeting in Chicago in 2009, and shortly after we began corresponding and keeping up with each other through email and Facebook. Recently, we partnered up to co-author a paper about some of the giants in AAVSO history for the Centennial Edition of the JAAVSO. In October, I was able to visit Roger on the way back from a speaking engagement in St. Louis, and there is no better way to get to know someone than to spend a day with him in his castle, with his family, cats and memories.
Roger joined the AAVSO as a teenager in 1962, which makes him one of the longest standing members of the AAVSO. His first variable star observation was R Leo in April of that year. In 2012, he will reach the 50-year mark. That gives Roger a unique and important perspective as a member of council. He has seen a lot of changes in 50 years and has known many of the famous personalities in AAVSO history personally.
Roger's first exposure to the AAVSO came in the form of an article in Sky and Telescope magazine (December 1961) about amateurs observing variables, written by Clint Ford. He was so impressed by the fact that ordinary people using backyard telescopes could contribute to science that it impacted the rest of his life from that day forward. Kolman became a physicist and now teaches astronomy courses at a Harper College in Palatine, Illinois.
As a teen, he was fortunate to have regular correspondence through the mail with Clint Ford and Margaret Mayall. "I don't know how she did it, but Margaret Mayall answered every one of my letters," said Roger, "and I wrote a lot of letters!"
With tutoring and support from Clint Ford and his local mentor, Dick Wend, Roger became one of the AAVSO's leading visual observers. He now has over 75,000 visual observations in the AID, and still observes from home every clear night he can, rolling out any number of telescopes from 6" to 18" onto the driveway out front or from his astronomy shed in back.
"My wife, Elaine, keeps telling me if I would just get all these telescopes out of the garage I would have room to pull my car in," Roger told me when I visited him in October. "That's never going to happen!"
These telescopes are among Roger's prize possessions. He still has the first telescope he ever owned, a 60mm Tasco refractor, hanging on the wall in the garage. "And this 6-inch rich field telescope is the one Clyde Tombaugh looked through when I visited him in the 60's." Roger beamed, "I'll cherish that memory and this telescope forever."
Some of his other cherished memories revolve around his relationship with Leslie Peltier and Carolyn Hurless. Roger made the trip from Chicago to Delphos and Lima, Ohio many times to visit and observe with Leslie and Carolyn. "For me, meeting Leslie Peltier was like meeting the Pope," said Roger.
Carolyn was already corresponding with AAVSO observers throughout the Midwest and around the country. Roger recalls how the idea for Variable Views emerged one night at one of the 'August Orgies' at the Hurless residence. "She was already writing to so many people on a regular basis and sharing stories, news and observing tips, that the idea of just putting it into a newsletter and mailing it to people suddenly seemed like the best way to deal with the volume of letters." Hurless published the 'unofficial newsletter' of the AAVSO for 22 years after that, at her own expense.
Kolman was the primary proponent of establishing the Astronomical League's Leslie Peltier Award, and has been the chairman of the selection committee ever since its inception. Roger also wrote a manual for the AL in 1999 entitled Observe and Understand Variable Stars. This began discussion that led to the AL's variable star observing club.
"I've been asked to run for office in the AL and refused a couple times. There are only so many hours in the day, Mike, and I had to decide if I wanted to be an administrator or an observer. Well, as you can see, I decided to stay an observer because that is where my heart is."
Roger served on the AAVSO Council in the late 90's, but has been content as an avid visual observer since then. So why, after all these years, did Roger decide to run for the AAVSO Council again?
"I'll be the first one to tell you that the accomplishments and progress that have been made over the last ten years are impressive, and I'm very proud to be a member of such a forward thinking and technologically savvy organization. But I think a lot of people have been receiving mixed messages in the last few years.
For some, the new AAVSO is not perceived as a place that is welcoming to beginners, visual observers, or anyone who hasn't got $10,000 worth of telescopes, computers and CCD equipment. When I joined the AAVSO I was a teenager with a tiny telescope and a dream. Being exposed to the great people I met in the 'AAVSO family' was an important part of my life. We shouldn't lose that. I think the organization can move forward without becoming impersonal.
We can inspire young people and foster an atmosphere of caring about the members and observers in the AAVSO as much as the science we do. I'm all for progress, but the heart and soul of the organization doesn't have to be a casualty to progress."
It's been a lot of fun getting to know Roger. He can paint a picture of days gone by, look into the future, and tell a good joke all in the same breath. We are now fast friends, and I think, like Roger does, that fostering these relationships is as important as anything else we do as an organization.


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PARIS has its baguettes and Dublin its soda bread. San Francisco trades heavily in sourdough, while New Orleans greets each morning with beignets. It wouldn't be Philadelphia without soft pretzels and it couldn't be Bonn without pumpernickel. But no city, perhaps in the history of the world, is so closely identified with a breadstuff as New York is with the bagel.
The bagel is to a Sunday in Manhattan as the mint julep is to Louisville, Ky., on the first Saturday in May -- an indispensable accompaniment to ritual, whether that be a brunch on the Upper West Side or the Kentucky Derby itself. Whether eaten plain or with a ''schmear'' of cream cheese, with whitefish salad or a slice of Nova, with sesame seeds or salt, toasted or untoasted, by Jew, gentile, Muslim, Buddhist or agnostic, the bagel has, for more than a century, helped define breakfast in New York.
But what is a bagel, really? What makes it more than simply, as an article in The New York Times declared in 1960, ''an unsweetened doughnut with rigor mortis''? And, most important to anyone with even a passing interest in the subject, where can you find the best bagel in New York City?
It was with these questions and more in mind that I set out, scarcely a month ago, to eat bagels in all five boroughs and to determine, to the best of my palate's ability, what makes a great and authentic New York bagel. I visited more than 50 establishments. I ate more than three times that number of bagels. In the process, I both horrified practitioners of the carbohydrate-phobic Atkins diet and discovered no less than half a dozen varieties of bagel so good they need no cheese, butter or smoked fish to accompany them.
Absolute Bagels on the Upper West Side, I salute you! Terrace Bagels, in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, huzzah! Cheers to Bagel Oasis, in Fresh Meadows, Queens, and to Murray's Bagels in Chelsea. Hot Bialys in Jamaica, Queens? Bagelry in Murray Hill? They are all superb.
But I also had bagels so despicably bad the people responsible for baking them should be incarcerated. New York may be the nation's bagel capital, but street vendors selling rubbery steamed bagels abound, not to mention local McDonald's franchises selling bagels topped with egg, cheese and bacon. Even such Midwestern depredations as blueberry bagels have gained a stronghold in certain precincts of New York City. The bagel as concept is ubiquitous in New York. But not all bagels are the same. Some are to be derided.
A definition of terms, then. A bagel is a round bread made of simple, elegant ingredients: high-gluten flour, salt, water, yeast and malt. Its dough is boiled, then baked, and the result should be a rich caramel color; it should not be pale and blond. A bagel should weigh four ounces or less and should make a slight cracking sound when you bite into it instead of a whoosh. A bagel should be eaten warm and, ideally, should be no more than four or five hours old when consumed.
All else is not a bagel.
A few more stipulations. Bagels do not need six ounces of cream cheese on them. They only need a schmear. Cream cheese made without guar gum is optimal, but it is hard to find. (You can still find fine natural cream cheese at the Fairway markets and Russ & Daughters in New York, and Zingerman's in Ann Arbor, Mich., makes a great, larger curd cream cheese that is available by mail.) On the subject of salmon, it should be Nova, and it should be sliced to order. A good bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon does not have to be toasted, as contrast with the fat and salt will be provided by the crunchy crust of a properly made bagel exterior.
But a buttered bagel should almost always be toasted, so that you get that great, rich melted butter taste. Better yet, you can achieve the same effect if you buy your bagels fresh, still warm from the oven. No toasting needed!
THE derivation of the word bagel is unclear. Joan Nathan, the author of ''Jewish Cooking in America'' (Knopf, 1998), says it comes from the German verb ''biegen,'' ''to bend.'' The late Alan Davidson wrote in his ''Oxford Companion to Food'' that the word arose from the Yiddish ''beygel,'' itself taken from the German ''beugel,'' meaning ring or bracelet. One bit of bagel lore has it that the bagel was invented in 1683, when a Jewish baker in Vienna baked a hard roll in the shape of a stirrup -- ''bügel'' in German -- as a thank-you gesture to the cavalry-leading King John III Sobieski of Poland, who had saved the city from Turkish invaders.
But no matter the etymology, it is indisputable that Eastern European immigrants arriving in the United States at the turn of the 20th century brought the bagel with them to the streets of the Lower East Side, where they were baked and sold on the street stacked on sticks.
And it is likewise indisputable that in the manner of so many great American movements, the rise of the bagel is inextricably tied to that of a trade union, specifically Bagel Bakers Local 338, a federation of nearly 300 bagel craftsmen formed in Manhattan in the early 1900's.
Local 338 was by all accounts a tough and unswerving union, set up according to strict rules that limited new membership to the sons of current members. By 1915 it controlled 36 bagel bakeries in New York and New Jersey. These produced the original New York bagels, the standard against which all others are still, in some manner, judged.
What did they look like? At a mere three ounces, about half the size of the bagel you'll find at a corner coffee cart in Midtown Manhattan, union bagels were smaller and denser than their modern descendants, with a crustier crust and a chewier interior.
They were made entirely by hand, of high-gluten flour, water, yeast, salt and malt syrup, mixed together in a hopper. Rollers would then take two-inch strips of dough and shape them. A designated bagel boiler would boil the bagels in an industrial kettle for less than a minute, which gave the bagel its tight skin and eventual shine. Finally, a third bagel man would put the bagels on thick redwood slats covered with burlap and place them in a brick or stone-lined oven.
The finished bagels were put on strings five dozen at a time and left on the doorknobs of retail accounts.
Local 338 held its ironclad grip on the bagel market for nearly half a century, until industrial bagel-making machines were introduced to the market in the early 1960's. According to Mike Edelstein, who is an owner of Bagel Oasis, and a bagel maker for more than 40 years, ''A machine could roll 300 dozen bagels an hour with one man operating it, while two experienced hand rollers could only produce 125 dozen in the same amount of time.''
The introduction of industrial bagel machines meant any retailer or retail-bakery owner could make bagels with nonunion help. Local 338 was essentially broken. Only a few bagel bakers -- the best bagel bakers, is how I think of them -- would uphold its ideals.
SAM THONGKRIENG of Absolute Bagels on the Upper West Side is one of those bagel makers -- a member of a large group of Thai bagel makers spread throughout New York's most prominent bagel shops. Mr. Thongkrieng came to New York in 1980 via Bangkok and college in London, and immediately, he said, started working in bagel shops. ''The moment I ate a bagel,'' he remembered, ''I said to myself 'This is something different.' '' After apprenticing at a chain bagel restaurant called Bagel Nosh, then at Zaro's and Ess-a-Bagel, he opened Absolute in 1990.
If you ask for a dark, well-baked bagel there, you'll taste something near perfection: a bagel that is crunchy, not too dense or sweet, and just chewy enough. But still quite large. For a real retro taste, it is necessary to order Mr. Thongkrieng's minibagel -- a perfect simulacrum of the 1950's New York bagel.
Also in Manhattan, there is Murray's Bagels, Adam Pomerantz's minichain of excellent and beautifully appointed bagelries, named for his bagel-loving father. Mr. Pomerantz left a successful career on Wall Street to open Murray's, but he surely has his dad's soul. His hand-rolled bagels are crisp and chewy and dark, with a terrific shine. They would be even better, I think, if he used malt to sweeten them, not sugar.
The Bagelry is the third of Manhattan's triumvirate of bagel gems, owned by Bobby Madorski, whose grandfather was also a bagel man, and who won the family's first bagel bakery in a poker game 60 years ago. The younger Mr. Madorski seems to be a bit of a gambler himself. He is the first serious bagel baker in New York to make his regular-size bagels exclusively by machine (he still hand rolls his minibagels, which must be special ordered). The gamble has paid off. Mr. Madorski's bagels are about the smallest regular-size bagels available in New York, and they are absolutely delicious; crusty, chewy and just salty enough. (Not to speak heresy, but his flat bagels, perfect for vertical toasting, are also fantastic, crunchy and just barely pliant.)
Terrace Bagels, which sits regally near a corner of Prospect Park in Brooklyn, across from the storied Farrell's bar, is a wonderful example of New York food purveyors at their maddening best: it is lamb dressed as mutton. The bagel bins are small. There is no evidence anywhere that bagels have been boiled, much less baked. Most of the other food on display is Italian, rather than Jewish. But the bagels that miraculously materialize from Louis Thompson's hidden ovens are extremely flavorful; yeasty, with just a hint of sourness. Mr. Thompson's principal bagel roller is Vicharn Tangchitsumran (also known as Boone), who has been hand rolling bagels for more than 30 years. As the Michelin guides put it, he is worth a detour.
As is a trip up to Fresh Meadows, Queens, where Mike Edelstein and Abe Moskowitz run the incomparable Bagel Oasis, overlooking the nearby Long Island Expressway (heading east, you take Exit 25). Mr. Edelstein and Mr. Moskowitz are former members of Local 338, and together they have more than 100 years of experience baking bagels. The result is a bagel that is fairly petite by today's standards, that has decent chew, excellent flavor, and manages to be dense without being leaden. Marvelous. They also make a fine bagel twist and a terrific pretzel made of bagel dough. If you like that sort of thing, that is.
I don't much like the eponymous bialys at Hot Bialys, Kitti Phongtankuel's little shop on Queens Boulevard, a stone's throw from the Queens County Courthouse, but I sure do admire the bagels. Mr. Phongtankuel, another alumnus of Bagel Nosh, bought the place in 1983 from Nettie Berkowitz -- and promptly set about making fabulous bagels, including a newfangled flat bagel he calls a Bagel Delite. Some malt in the recipe would improve things, but these are still terrific bagels, far superior to the large doughy orbs that many New Yorkers have come to think of, incorrectly, as ''good bagels.''
HOW and why did bagels get so big? The bagel sold at the excellent Ess-a-Bagel on First Avenue is a whopping seven ounces now, or more than twice the size of the traditional union bagel of yore. (It's a pretty good bagel, truth to tell, though sweetened with honey.) The ones at H&H Bagels on the Upper West Side (and at the unrelated H&H Midtown East) aren't much smaller than that, and are baked with so much sugar that they almost qualify as a dessert.
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, a professor of performance studies at New York University who is working on a social history of the bagel, said, ''The increase in size was an attempt to make a more competitive and more profitable product consistent with the supersized trend'' of the 1980's. Bagel cafes, she explained, were a trendy, quick-service franchise concept that spread the gospel of fresh bagels across the country. The bagels served by chains like Bagel Nosh, Einstein Brothers and Bruegger's gradually became bigger and bigger as the notion of supersizing spread, and as the businesses morphed from breakfast and coffee operations into full-fledged sandwich-making restaurants. The bagels needed to be bigger to hold the fillings. New York's independent bagelries soon followed suit.
Chain bagel shops also popularized the seemingly inexhaustible array of bagel flavors. Mr. Edelstein of Bagel Oasis said that when he began baking bagels, there were only plain, salt, poppy and sesame bagels, and that he made 10 plain bagels for every salted, poppy or sesame bagel. Now, there are bagels flavored with blueberry, cranberry-orange and pesto, even curry. I'm begrudgingly willing to let cinnamon-raisin into the bagel pantheon, and certainly pumpernickel, even ''everything.''
But if God had wanted sun-dried tomatoes put into bagels, he would have put more bagel bakers in Italy.
Six Worth Their Salt
HERE are six sources for traditional, and excellent, bagels in New York City.
ABSOLUTE BAGELS -- 2788 Broadway (between 107th and 108th Streets), (212) 932-2052.
BAGELRY -- 429 Third Avenue (at 30th Street), (212) 679-9845.
MURRAY'S BAGELS -- 242 Eighth Avenue (between 22nd and 23rd Streets), (646) 638-1335; and 500 Sixth Avenue (between 12th and 13th Streets), (212) 462-2830.
TERRACE BAGELS -- 224 Prospect Park West (at Windsor Place), Brooklyn; (718) 768-3943.
BAGEL OASIS -- 183-12 Horace Harding Expressway, Fresh Meadows, Queens; (718) 359-9245.
HOT BIALYS -- 116-63 Queens Boulevard (at 78th Avenue), Forest Hills, Queens; (718) 544-0900.


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Susan Saladoff on Hot Coffee, Suki Hawley and Michael Galinsky on Battle for Brooklyn
CounterSpin (6/24/11-6/30/11)I'll note that the radio show (the interview starts at 12:48; also see links to audio at DDDB and NLG) begins with the host noting that "a man" at the end of the film comments that, had the media done their job, this would have been a fair fight.
This week on CounterSpin we're talking about two new films which, while journalism is not their central subject, directly engage news media's influence and real world impact as a critical part of the stories they tell....
Also on the show: Battle for Brooklyn tracks the takeover of a New York neighborhood by a real estate developer and the efforts to resist it by community members, one man in particular who becomes the last person in his building not to take a buyout. The same events and players appeared in the corporate press too, and viewers can see the difference when voices that usually appear in the last paragraph are given central place. We spoke with Battle for Brooklyn filmmakers Suki Hawley and Michael Galinsky.
That "man" is me. Later in the interview, Galinsky names me and points to my role, and the lingering, under-covered EB-5 story.
The entire interview is worth a listen. And the film is still playing.


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Executive Severance Agreements: Making Sense of an Emerging, Yet Fragmented, Research Field
Summary and Keywords
Scholars have devoted significant attention to understanding the determinants and consequences of executive compensation. Yet, one form of compensation, executive severance agreements, has flown under the radar. Severance agreements specify the expected payments and benefits promised executives, upon voluntary or involuntary termination. Although these agreements are popular among executives, critics continually question their worth. Yet severance agreements potentially offer three important (but less readily recognized) strategic benefits. First, severance agreements are viewed as a means of mitigating the potential risks associated with job changes; thus, they can serve as a recruitment tool to attract top executive talent. Second, because severance agreements guarantee executives previously specified compensation in the event of termination, they can help limit the downside risk naturally risk-averse executives face, facilitating executive-shareholder interest alignment. Third, severance agreements can aid in firm exit, as executives and directors are likely to be more open to termination, in the presence of adequate protection against the downside.
Severance agreements can contain provisions for ten possible termination events. Three events refer to change in control (CIC), which occurs under a change in ownership. These are (1) CIC without termination, (2) CIC with termination without cause, and (3) CIC with termination for cause. Cause is generally defined by events such as felony, fraud, embezzlement, neglect of duties, or violation of noncompete provisions. Additional events include (4) voluntary retirement, (5) resignation without good reason, (6) voluntary termination for good reason, (7) involuntary termination without cause, (8) involuntary termination with cause, (9) death, and (10) disability. Voluntary retirement and resignation without good reason occurs when CEOs either retire or leave under their own volition, and voluntary termination with good reason occurs in response to changes in employment terms (e.g., relocation of headquarters). Involuntary termination refers to termination due to any reason not listed above and is often triggered by unsatisfactory performance.
Although some prior work has addressed the antecedents, consequences, and moderators of severance, the findings from this literature remain unclear, as many of the results are mixed. Future severance scholars have the opportunity to further clarify these relationships by addressing how severance agreements can help firms attract, align the interests of, and facilitate the exit of executives.
Keywords: severance agreements, executive compensation, golden parachutes, employment agreements, termination
A Severance Review
Scholars from a variety of disciplines have devoted significant attention to understanding the determinants and consequences of executive compensation (Devers, Cannella, Reilly, & Yoder, 2007). In fact, a number of reviews and meta-analyses have already been published on the topic (e.g., Devers et al., 2007; Gomez-Mejia & Wiseman, 1997; Tosi, Werner, Katz, & Gomez-Mejia, 2000). Thus, we know a lot about executive compensation, which defined broadly includes bonuses, stock options, restricted stock, and incentives. However, one form of executive compensation, executive severance agreements, has flown under the radar.
Nonetheless, executive severance agreements are beginning to garner increasing interest, both within the business press and academic communities. Unfortunately, the fragmented nature of this inquiry provides a limited understanding of these agreements. Specifically, although executive severance comes in many shapes and sizes, these agreements generally specify the expected payments and benefits promised executives, upon voluntary or involuntary termination. The frequency with which such agreements appear has grown steadily since the 1980s (Green, 2013; McGregor, 2014). Indeed, over 80% of CEOs have some form of termination guarantee (Cowen, King, & Marcel, 2016). More importantly, the severance payments these agreements promise are far from trivial. The average guaranteed severance payout for CEOs of S&P 500 firms is $29.7 million for termination following a change in control (firm takeover) and $16.4 million for involuntary dismissal (most often resulting from poor performance).1
While severance agreements are popular among executives, the press is rife with serious questions about their worth. The most vocal critics impugn severance agreements as rewards for failure, as they often allow outgoing executives to depart with large payouts in hand, when they or their firms have performed poorly (Bebchuk & Fried, 2004; Dash, 2007). For example, in 2010 shareholders and activists were outraged that Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd would receive a $40 million severance payment for his board pressured resignation, following several ethical violations (Waters, 2010). Further, after Pfizer CEO Hank McKinnel resigned in 2006, and received a severance payout of $188 million, shareholders sponsored a plane to fly over the annual meeting with the banner, "Give it Back, Hank!" (Baratz, 2013).
Despite this outrage, severance agreements potentially offer important, but less readily recognized, strategic benefits. As we explain, these prospective benefits fall into three broad categories: (1) attracting executive talent, (2) aligning managerial interests, and (3) facilitating firm exit.
Attracting Executive Talent
Some proponents argue severance agreements can serve as a recruitment tool to attract top executive talent (Cowen et al., 2016). For example, a fair amount of ambiguity often exists regarding the fit between executives and new job demands (Allgood & Farrell, 2003; Zhang, 2008). Thus, for executives considering job offers, the threat of dismissal and the subsequent adverse financial, human, and social capital consequences can generate (often high) perceptions of employment and compensation risk (Larraza-Kintana, Wiseman, Gomez-Mejia, & Welbourne, 2007; Semadeni, Cannella, Fraser, & Lee, 2008; Wiesenfeld, Wurthmann, & Hambrick, 2008). The greater the perceived employment and compensation risk, the more likely highly qualified candidates will decline offers. Severance agreements are viewed as a means of mitigating those potential risks, by reducing at least a portion of the downside potential associated with job changes.
Aligning Managerial Interests
Advocates propose that severance agreements can also have positive effects, post-hire. Specifically, as noted above, because they guarantee executives previously specified compensation in the event of termination, severance agreements can help limit the downside risk naturally risk-averse executives face (Almazan & Suarez, 2003; Singh & Harianto, 1989a). Scholars argue that downside protection discourages risk aversion. Thus, consistent with agency theory logic, severance agreements should facilitate executive-shareholder interest alignment. For example, involuntary termination agreements may allow executives to reveal negative information that they may be more inclined to conceal or invest in risky yet potentially valuable firm projects (van Dalsem, 2010). In addition, change-in-control agreements may render CEOs less resistant to takeovers that may benefit shareholders (Singh & Harianto, 1989a). In sum, some argue that severance agreements have the potential to align executives' interests with those of shareholders (Rau & Xu, 2013).
Facilitating Firm Exit
Finally, severance agreements are also argued to facilitate both voluntary and involuntary executive exit (Almazan & Suarez, 2003; Goldman & Huang, 2015). Specifically, some have argued that in situations where voluntary or involuntary termination is desired, executives and directors are more open to termination, in the presence of severance agreements that provide adequate downside protection (Inderst & Mueller, 2010; van Dalsem, 2009, 2010). Thus, board members may be willing to dismiss an executive with a severance package, as it can ameliorate the cost of dismissal. Relatedly, the existence of a severance package lessens the possibility of long, drawn-out negotiations during a dismissal effort. Overall, heavy criticism notwithstanding, severance agreements appear to have the potential for beneficial pre- and post-hire effects for executives, firms, and investors.
Scholars began focusing attention on severance in the 1980s. However, in light of concerns about inflated top executive compensation, and the financial crisis of 2007, academic interest has recently surged. This outpouring of attention has produced thought-provoking work on a variety of subtopics and from a diversity of perspectives. Nevertheless, as is the case with most emerging research areas, although this literature continues to rapidly grow, it is quite broad and fragmented. Thus, no unifying theoretical or conceptual thread exists to synthesize important contributions across subtopics and perspectives. As a result, scholars and practitioners are left to make sense of its disjointed nature, which inhibits advancement of this nascent but important line of research. Thus, a deeper understanding of severance holds high relevance for management theory and practice.
For example, one emerging issue highlights this relevance. Specifically, recent research shows that female CEOs receive larger severance agreements than male CEOs, perhaps as a means of reducing their higher termination risk and post-termination employability concerns (Klein, Chaigneau, & Devers, 2015). However, whether female executives demand more severance or directors assume they require it is unclear. In addition, we know little about whether and how severance impacts other demographic minorities, or those that differ in terms of cultural (e.g., collectivistic), or cognitive (e.g., core-self-evaluation, promotion or prevention orientation, etc.) dimensions. Given the increasing pressures to increase diversity in TMTs, the CEO office, and on corporate boards, our knowledge gap is notable since it is important to understand the concerns of these diverse leaders and how firms can enhance their ability to recruit them.
Taking into consideration the increasing emphasis on effective corporate governance, including as explained above attracting minority members to top management roles, it is important for management scholars to develop a more comprehensive understanding of this common, yet as compared to executive compensation, much less visible aspect of executives' employment contracts. Accordingly, the body of severance research was reviewed by searching EBSCOhost, ProQuest, JSTOR, Web of Science, and Google Scholar using a broad base of severance-related keywords (e.g., "agreement," "contract," "pay," or "payment" combined with each of the following: "severance," "separation," "change-in-control," "termination," "golden parachutes," and "golden handshakes"), in the domains of economics, accounting, law, finance, sociology, and management. In addition, we searched through the references of all of the articles we found for additional papers that were relevant and also searched through any articles that cited the most relevant papers. We then classified existing theory and evidence into an organizing framework presented in Figure 1.
As we describe below, this review allows us to better clarify the concept of severance, organize and integrate prior findings, identify emerging research opportunities, and develop a foundation for facilitating new research directions, as they relate to management theory and practice.
Although severance is often conceptualized as a guarantee for change in control or involuntary termination, such agreements can contain provisions for several termination events. Adding further complexity, although some severance scholars focus on original (pre-hire) severance agreements (e.g., Rusticus, 2006), others examine severance agreements at different times during a CEO's tenure, as the value of these agreements tends to move with changes to CEO compensation (e.g., Gillan, Hartzell, & Parrino, 2009). Yet another strand of work focuses on separation pay (at-termination payouts), which often differs significantly from original severance guarantees (Goldman & Huang, 2015; Yermack, 2006).
In addition, some research explores the antecedents of severance agreements (e.g., Agrawal & Knoeber, 1998; Rau & Xu, 2013), while other work focuses on their consequences (e.g., Buchholtz & Ribben, 1994; Fich, Tran, & Walking, 2013). Perhaps more importantly, however, although many studies examine the utility of severance from the firm perspective (e.g., Bodolica & Spraggon, 2009), others view its utility from the perspective of executives (e.g., Klein et al., 2015), leaving results difficult to reconcile. Thus, it remains unclear whether severance agreements actually exhibit their proposed effects on executive attraction, interest alignment, and firm exit.
This entry's review begins by differentiating among the individual termination events often included in executive severance agreements. After these important clarifications, the article draws on a framework that classifies research into antecedents, consequences, and moderators, to summarize what is currently known about severance agreements and articulate what important gaps remain in the severance literature. The article then gives a brief overview of a multidisciplinary research agenda that lays the foundation for advancing the severance literature: by better linking theory and evidence on severance to the three strategic benefits discussed earlier. This entry also discusses innovative research methods capable of addressing these gaps.
Termination Events
Even though change-in-control (CIC) and involuntary termination (IT) are the most widespread, controversial, and studied forms of severance, our broad review of proxy statements revealed that severance agreements can, and often do, cover many additional forms of termination (termination events). Thus, severance agreements include provisions that specify the promised payment for all or some of the following ten possible termination events. Three events refer to change in control (CIC), which occurs under a change in ownership. These are (1) CIC without termination, (2) CIC with termination without cause, and (3) CIC with termination for cause. Cause is generally defined by events such as felony, fraud, embezzlement, neglect of duties, or violation of noncompete provisions (Schwab & Thomas, 2006). Additional events include (4) voluntary retirement, (5) resignation without good reason, (6) voluntary termination for good reason, (7) involuntary turnover without cause, (8) involuntary turnover with cause, (9) death, and (10) disability. Voluntary retirement and resignation without good reason occurs when CEOs either retire or leave under their own volition, and voluntary termination with good reason occurs in response to changes in employment terms (e.g., relocation of headquarters) (Bodolica & Spraggon, 2009). Involuntary turnover refers to termination due to any reason not listed above and is often triggered by unsatisfactory performance.
These termination events differ in a number of important ways. More specifically, as summarized in Table 1, are some ideas on how these events could differ: whether they are related to performance, whether they are under the CEO's control, whether they are under the board's control, and their likelihood of occurrence as perceived by the CEO. Yet, no study we are aware of has explored all of the different termination events or developed theory based on the differences between the types of severance events. Accordingly, future research should address how the relationship between certain CEO and firm characteristics and severance may depend on these differences.
Table 1. Comparison of Events in CEO Severance Agreements
CIC without termination
CIC with termination
CIC for cause
Voluntary retirement
Voluntary termination
Involuntary termination without cause
Involuntary termination with cause
Occurs following an acquisition resulting in change in CEO without termination.
Occurs following an acquisition resulting in termination of the CEO.
Occurs following an acquisition, which was due to cause events, i.e. felony, fraud, embezzlement, neglect of duties, violation of non-compete provisions.
Termination of contract due to retirement.
Occurs when a CEO decides to leave.
Occurs when a CEO decides to leave due to the company changing the terms of the agreement.
Termination due to any other reason, often due to unsatisfactory performance.
Termination due to events such as felony, fraud, embezzlement, neglect of duties, violation of non-compete provisions.
Termination of contract due to disability.
Termination of contract due to death.
Under the CEO's control
Under the board's control
Perception of likelihood of occurring
Table 2 presents the average guaranteed value of severance for each of the different termination events for Fortune 500 and S&P 500 CEOs. These data were collected by obtaining each firm's proxy statement, filed in 2010 or 2011 depending on the date of their Annual Shareholder Meeting, from the SEC website. Then a search was conducted for guaranteed severance pay information for each CEO and the total dollar value of guaranteed severance pay was coded for each of the possible ten termination events reported. Some firms listed this data in a table; for these firms, the total value was simply coded. When this information was not directly provided, these values were calculated using text descriptions and compensation summary tables.
Table 2. Severance for 2010 Fortune 500 and S&P 500 CEOs
Percent of CEOs with the provision
Estimated contractual value
CIC without termination
CIC with termination
CIC with termination for cause
Voluntary retirement
Resignation without good reason
Voluntary termination with good reason
Involuntary termination without cause
Involuntary termination with cause
As seen in Table 2, CEO severance agreements containing CIC with termination without cause and involuntary termination without cause were common, with 84.6% and 66.2% of the CEOs having such agreements, respectively. The other termination events for which a majority of CEOs had a severance agreement are disability and death, 58.3% and 63.3%, respectively. CEOs were less likely to have agreements containing provisions for the other six events. For example, only 15.9% had CIC without termination, 0.4% had CIC with termination for cause, 26.1% had voluntary retirement, 5.5% had resignation without good reason, 35.3% of CEOs had voluntary termination with good reason provisions, and 12.8% had involuntary termination with cause. The guaranteed payments for these different severance provisions also varied significantly. For instance, the four events that were the most common are also the largest: CEOs were guaranteed $11.3 million on average for involuntary termination without cause, $22.9 million on average for CIC with termination without cause, $11.2 million for disability, and $12.8 million for death. The values CEOs were guaranteed for the other six events were much smaller: $2.2 million for CIC without termination, $60.4 thousand for CIC for cause, $3.9 million for retirement, $510.2 thousand for resignation without good reason, $5.8 million for voluntary termination with good reason, and $701.9 thousand for involuntary termination with cause.
Adding to the complexity of the construct are the number of terms that refer to some form of severance in various literatures and the inconsistencies regarding how they are defined. First, some researchers have used the term "severance agreements" to refer only to the voluntary and involuntary termination provisions (e.g., Bodolica & Spraggon, 2009; Cowen et al., 2016; Peters & Wagner, 2014), whereas others have used it to include all termination and CIC provisions (e.g., Almazan & Suarez, 2003; Dalton, Daily, & Kesner, 1993; Rau & Xu, 2013). We focus on the latter definition and include all provisions in an executive's employment contract related to the termination of his or her contract. Second, some severance provisions are commonly referred to under different terms. For example, CIC agreements are often called "golden parachutes," whereas involuntary termination agreements are called "golden handshakes." Further, agreements on the payments that executives receive as they are being terminated are sometimes call "separation pay agreements," while "discretionary severance pay" is the difference between the severance agreement and the severance payout (Goldman & Huang, 2015). It is important to note that although severance agreements list the minimum terms for this payout, executives often receive larger awards (in a variety of forms) at termination than what is specified in the agreement (Goldman & Huang, 2015; Yermack, 2006), likely to facilitate expedient transitions. Last, the term "sunset provisions" refers to the vesting, forfeiture, and expiration provisions for equity grants for executives who leave the firm (Dahiya & Yermack, 2008).
As noted above, although change-in-control (CIC) and involuntary termination (IT) are the most common and studied severance forms, many others exist. However, we know little about these other types of severance. As a result, we encourage research that begins to shed light on the roles these other forms of severance may play in executive attraction, interest alignment, and exit.
Some scholars exploring the antecedents of severance agreements have sought to determine what influences both their award and size (Cowen et al., 2016). However, the findings are complex. For example, researchers have found that smaller firms (which are more likely to face takeovers) and high risk and poorly performing firms, are more likely to award severance agreements than their counterparts (Agrawal & Knoeber, 1998; Rau & Xu, 2013; van Dalsem, 2010). However, other evidence has shown that larger firms provide greater guaranteed payouts to executives than do smaller firms (Rusticus, 2006). Further, externally appointed executives are both more likely to have a severance agreement and receive larger guaranteed payouts, relative to internal appointees (Gillan et al., 2009; Rusticus, 2006).
In addition, Davis and Greve (1997) found that firms' adoption of CIC agreements diffused similarly across firms in close proximity. However, Fiss, Kennedy, and Davis (2012) showed that shareholder and acquirer lawsuits and public visibility reduced the extensiveness of agreements. Further, although some suggest that managerial power affects severance awards (Bebchuk & Fried, 2004), unfortunately, the evidence here is mixed (Singh & Harianto, 1989a; Wade, O'Reilly, & Chandratat, 1990). On an intriguing note, although approximately 80% of CEOs have some form of a severance agreement, 20% of firms have resisted adopting this practice (Cowen et al., 2016). Nevertheless, little is known about why some firms choose a strategy of resistance.
Additionally, it is clear from past research that some executive jobs are more challenging than others (Hambrick, Finkelstein, & Mooney, 2005). More specifically, this research has argued that while some executives "lead companies that have well-fortified (sometimes even monopoly) positions, and are supported by highly capable colleagues," "other executives have none of these comforts" (Hambrick et al., 2005, p. 472). Accordingly, these authors proposed the construct of executive job demands, which they defined as the degree to which an executive's job is difficult or challenging. It is plausible that in order for firms to attract executives to take roles with significant job demands, they need to offer greater insurance in the form of severance. Future studies should explore whether executives with higher job demands receive greater severance and, further, how job demands interact with gender and other demographic characteristics to affect guaranteed severance pay.
Last, the majority of severance research relies on archival data, which limits our understanding of the cognitive and behavioral processes that underlie severance initiation. This article proposes that alternative methods (e.g., experimental, policy capturing, survey-based research, interviews, etc.) can help advance this work. However, such examinations are virtually absent in the severance literature. Therefore, although prior research has yielded many insights, this entry contends that the management field has not yet effectively integrated these findings. Thus, important questions regarding antecedents remain.
As noted, advocates argue that severance agreements have important effects on attraction, interest alignment, and firm exit. However, whether severance agreements achieve these consequences is unclear, as the results are mixed. For example, Lambert and Larcker (1985) showed that CIC adoption positively influenced investor reactions, whereas Mogavero and Toyne (1995) found a negative effect. Born, Trahan, and Faria (1993) showed that CIC agreements had no effect on tender offer success; however, Bebchuk, Cohen, and Wang (2014) found that such agreements were associated with higher than expected acquisition premiums. Additionally, Chen, Cheng, Lo, and Wang (2012) demonstrated that involuntary termination agreements appeared to encourage CEOs to take a long-term view and refrain from reducing R&D expenditures; while Huang (2011) showed that involuntary CEO termination agreements motivated overinvestment in short-term risky projects that ultimately increased share price volatility. Moreover, research on discretionary involuntary termination payments found that shareholders react negatively to voluntary discretionary payments, yet react positively to involuntary discretionary payments (Goldman & Huang, 2015; Yermack, 2006).
In addition, although Klein et al. (2015) found that incoming female CEOs receive larger guaranteed severance pay than incoming male CEOs, given that the value of CEOs' severance agreements are typically linked to their annual compensation, it is unclear whether this severance gap persists over time. More specifically, the annual compensation of male CEOs tends to rise faster than female CEOs, especially with positive firm performance (Munoz-Bullon, 2010; Albanesi, Olivetti, & Prados, 2015). Thus, it is plausible that the value of male CEOs' guaranteed severance pay catches up with (or even surpasses) that of female CEOs', quite early in their tenures. As a consequence, if severance does exhibit post-hire effects, these effects may wax and wane with gender-based value differences over time. This article suggests that this is an important, yet unexamined, effect of severance that scholars should further explore.
Furthermore, excepting Singh and Harianto (1989b) and Rau and Xu (2013), severance research focuses almost exclusively on CEOs. As a result, no work has examined within-TMT severance differences, or what we term the severance gap (CEO severance compared to other TMT members' severance). Evidence shows that pay differences can exhibit important influences on behavioral and firm outcomes, such as acquisition activity and acquirer performance (Steinbach, Holmes, Holcomb, Cannella, & Devers, 2017). It follows, then, that a severance gap may also impact TMT inputs and outcomes.
The structure or composition of severance may also have important consequences on executives. Indeed, for each severance event, executives may receive a combination of compensation forms, such as, base salary, lump-sum cash, vested and unvested stock and stock options, insurance coverage, pension plan acceleration, among others (Zhao, 2013). Thus, diving deeper into the composition of severance packages may offer numerous potential fruitful insights. First, certain components of severance, for example, cash versus stock, may act differently as an attraction, incentive, or monitoring device. Indeed, it is unclear whether certain parts of severance packages make it easier to attract high status CEOs or TMT members, or help boards align executives' interests with shareholders. Further, striving to understand the micro-foundations of severance packages may help scholars simultaneously marry resource-based perspectives with executive compensation perspectives. Recent work on the micro-foundations of resources (e.g., human capital) has shown fungibility to be important in maximizing managers' ability to utilize their experience to improve performance (Mannor, Shamsie, & Conlon, 2016). Thus, parsing out the composition of severance packages and why and how they are structured will lead to a better understanding of how the micro-foundations of a particular resource, severance, offer CEOs more fungibility, influence firms' ability to monitor executives, and create value for shareholders (Cowen et al., 2016).
Finally, although some scholars have shown that the presence of severance agreements is associated with executive turnover, little is known about the mechanisms driving this result (Huang, 2011; Rusticus, 2006; van Dalsem, 2009). Thus, while many factors may influence severance-related consequences, we have yet to determine the relative importance of each factor.
Moderating variables may also hold potential for helping reconcile the mixed results in this research (Bodolica & Spraggon, 2009). For instance, approximately 40% of CEOs depart with separation pay amounts that exceed their agreement terms by an average of $8 million (Goldman & Huang, 2015). However, the reasons are largely unknown. Although few studies have addressed why firms provide discretionary separation pay, this work suggests that a number of factors may impact the relationship between original agreements and separation pay. For instance, Goldman and Huang (2015) showed that weak governance and noncompete clauses affected discretionary separation pay, suggesting these factors condition the relationship between original severance agreements and separation pay values. Future studies should investigate how social relationships, board interlocks, or even the similarity between terminated executives and directors may also play key moderating roles.
Further, this article suggests that delving into the decision dynamics influencing how discretionary separation pay is determined may offer a fruitful avenue to understanding decision making in the upper echelon. As such, this would involve accounting for both internal and external forces. For instance, it may simply be an unwritten rule amongst some directors not to question CEO pay decisions, as doing so could result in social ostracization. Contrastingly, internal coalitions within the board and power dynamics between the executive and firm directors may also play a large role in determining discretionary pay. In fact, recent work suggests the relationship between internal coalitions and external logics (e.g., industry norms or beliefs) can interact to influence important strategic decisions (Greve & Zhang, 2017). Using this insight, it would be interesting to explore how boards of directors and external logics of severance interact to influence discretionary severance pay.
Finally, little is known about whether other compensation forms (e.g., stock options) impact the relationships among severance agreements and important outcomes. Future research should explore these and other potential moderators in an attempt to uncover if and when severance agreements actually achieve their expected benefits. In addition, little is known about how severance may act as a moderator for other forms of compensation and important outcomes. Lefanowicz, Robinson, and Smith (2000) found an exception, which was that executive incentives are positively associated with target acquisition returns, but change-in-control payments mitigate this influence. Scholars should be encouraged to continue exploring how severance may strengthen or weaken the relationship between compensation and individual- and firm-level outcomes.
Although, relative to executive compensation, executive severance has flown under the radar for years, recent concerns about inflated executive compensation and the 2007 financial crisis have pushed it to the forefront. Nevertheless, we have yet to develop a comprehensive understanding of this important phenomenon. Thus, this article contributes to the management field by developing a framework for organizing extant research, integrating the findings of this body of work, and identifying fruitful areas for future research. In sum, this article will help shift the current conversation from critiquing the award of or level of severance pay to a broader more productive set of questions, including whether and how severance agreements help firms attract, align the interests of, and facilitate the exit of executives.
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(1.) ExecuComp data.


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Say each syllable quickly like a staccato beat: cho-koh-la-teh-eh! with the accent on the "eh" thus my exclamation point. It's Filipino thick hot chocolate, specifically made with tablea, (tab-LAY-ah; also tableya), cacao balls. Tablea also comes in flat or thick disks and even squares, but balls are the most common shape.
Tsokolate is made from cacao and traditionally from crushed peanuts which add a pleasant grittiness and nutty flavor. The ingredients are ground together to form a thick paste and can be kept in bottles for several months.
Most commercial tableas however omit the peanuts and use grounded cacao that is shaped into balls. They are easily available (unsweetened or sweetened) at supermarkets under brand names like Alfonso's (my favorite), Megan's, and Antonio Pueo (which I find bitter).
It's been raining steadily for more than a week now here in Manila, and the temperature has dropped, a rarity here in my tropical country. Naturally, with the cooler weather, my thoughts and palate (they're almost always connected somehow) yearn for something hot and liquid. Classic American cocoa or French hot chocolate has its place and time, but when it's gloomy outside, I want my tsokolate.
My ideal tsokolate is brown as earth and thick enough to dip bread or cake into, but I haven't had much luck with that; so I get my fix from Dulcinea, a Spanish deli here in Manila, that serves a terrific tsokolate with churros (fluted crullers).
Here are three tableas ready to be cooked. The ratio I use is 1 tablea per cup of milk, which is good for one person. Of course using more tableas per cup of milk would naturally yield a thicker, richer drink. I use low-fat milk instead of evaporated milk, which is what Dulcinea uses, thus their thicker, more sinful blend. As the heat warms the milk, the tableas become softer and easier to crush.
Traditionally, native tsokolate is made by pouring hot water and the tsokolate paste into a tsokolateria, and then using a batidor to allow the mixture to foam. A batidor (bah-tee-DOR) is that wooden beater you see in the photo used for whipping hot chocolate into a tizzy, thus achieving that much desired froth and foam.
Frankly, I don't know how to use a batidor correctly, although the motion is simple: it's rubbing your hands together while holding the batidor. I often prefer my rubber spatula to a batidor when making tsokolate, since I'm not successful at achieving thickness or froth, but then again, I need to rethink my tsokolate-making methods.
Of course what's a cup of tsokolate to do without a (dipping!) partner? It's best with pan de sal (native bread rolls), or my favorite, ensaymada (EN-sigh-ma-da), a brioche-like yeast roll slathered with butter, sugar, and grated queso de bola (Edam cheese).
Sigh, perfect rainy weather feel-good food.
Other hot chocolate posts:
a lola's hot chocolate
transforming tsokolate – thin to thick
duman and tsokolate
my search for the best hot choc – Paris
Nana Meng's tsokolate


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Despite Thursday's controversial Supreme Court ruling on ObamaCare, states retain the right and authority to nullify the healthcare law, and the state of Missouri, among many others, is undertaking efforts to do just that. According to Missouri legislators, regardless of the High Court's ruling, Missouri voters will maintain the opportunity to vote for or against the so-called Affordable Healthcare Act in November. And Missouri is not the only state seeking to circumvent ObamaCare.
November's vote will be the second time in two years that Missourians have voted regarding Obama's signature legislation. CBS News explains:
In August 2010, Missouri became the first state to officially snub the new federal law through a referendum when 71 percent of voters approved a proposition barring the government from requiring people to have health insurance. The Missouri law set up a direct conflict with a federal provision requiring most people to have health insurance by 2014 or face penalties.
November's vote would focus on the healthcare law provision that requires states to create a health insurance exchange by 2014. The ballot measure would prohibit Missouri's governor or any other official from taking steps to establish the exchange without the expressed consent of the people through vote or through a state law.
In a similar expression of opposition, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has already declared that he will not establish a healthcare exchange in his state.
"We're not going to start implementing Obamacare," Jindal said during a conference call with Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell. "We're committed to working to elect Governor Romney to repeal Obamacare."
Yahoo News reports, "Several Republican governors, including both Jindal and McDonnell, have put off setting up the exchanges in the hope that the law will be repealed or struck down by the Court." Now that the court has issued a ruling in favor of the healthcare law, however, Jindal continues to contend that he will not be complying with the law.
"Here in Louisiana we have not applied for the grants, we have not accepted many of these dollars, we're not implementing the exchanges," Jindal said. "We don't think it makes any sense to implement Obamacare in Louisiana. We're going to do what we can to fight it."
McDonnell was not quite as adamant on the conference call, asserting that his administration will have to determine the approach that would be best for Virginians. He did add, however, "But I agree absolutely that the priority right now is to elect a new president and a new Senate so this law can be repealed."
Options remain for Republican lawmakers following the Supreme Court ruling. In his opinion for the majority, Chief Justice Roberts wrote:
The Federal Government does not have the power to order people to buy health insurance. Section 5000A would therefore be unconstitutional if read as a command. The Federal Government does have the power to impose a tax on those without health insurance. Section 5000A is therefore constitutional, because it can reasonably be read as a tax.
Since Chief Justice John Roberts called the individual mandate that is so integral to the healthcare law a "tax," Republicans are now afforded the option of using a procedure known as "budget reconciliation" to formulate a repeal bill that requires just a simple majority to pass.
States may also fall in line with Louisiana and Missouri and nullify ObamaCare. In the 1798 Kentucky Resolutions, Thomas Jefferson wrote, "Whensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers … a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy."
The Tenth Amendment Center indicates that the states have a number of methods by which they may nullify a law, including through state law, a statement amendment, or a voters' referendum.
The Nullification Project notes:
After today's Supreme Court ruling on "Obamacare," it remains clear that the people cannot rely on the high court to uphold the principles enshrined in the Constitution. In such cases, the Founders, particularly Thomas Jefferson, have provided We the People and the States, a final check on the power of the three branches of the federal government: Nullification."
A growing number of Americans have become aware of this option and are coordinating efforts to encourage their state officials to nullify ObamaCare. The Nullification Project is in fact intended to raise funds to deliver a copy of the book Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century, written by Thomas E. Woods, Jr., to each of the 50 governors. Project officials say, "It is our hope that the book will inspire them to continue the fight against government overreach — from every branch."
Likewise, Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) is encouraging states to nullify the healthcare law by refusing to implement it. He stated in a press release,
This government takeover of health care remains as destructive, unsustainable, and unconstitutional as it was the day it was passed, unread, by a since-fired congressional majority. Now as then, our first step toward real health care reform and economic renewal remains Obamacare's full repeal, down to the last letter and punctuation mark.
I urge every governor to stop implementing the health care exchanges that would help implement the harmful effects of this misguided law. Americans have loudly rejected this federal takeover of health care, and governors should join with the people and reject its implementation.
State nullification proved successful in defeating the Real ID legislation passed under George W. Bush. Led by Maine in 2007, half the states in the country passed resolutions and laws refusing to implement Real IDs, citing funding and privacy concerns.
And states should not fear the consequences of nullification. As per Thursday's Supreme Court ruling, Congress is not permitted to penalize states that refuse to implement ObamaCare. In the majority decision, Chief Justice Roberts stated, "What Congress is not free to do is to penalize States that choose not to participate in that new program by taking away their existing Medicaid funding."
However, he added, "Nothing in our opinion precludes Congress from offering funds under the [law] to expand the availability of health care, and requiring that states accepting such funds comply with the conditions on their use."
Meanwhile, Tenth Amendment Center communications director Mike Maharrey contends that states that utilize nullification to reject ObamaCare are simply responding to a rebellious federal government that refuses to act within its constitutional limits:
Who is really behaving lawlessly here? A federal government that refuses to operate within its delegated powers, and rips authority away from the states and the people? Or the states, working through legitimate democratic processes, saying, "No! We don't accept this"? I would argue it's the federal government that's in rebellion, and it's time for the states to put a check on illegitimate federal power.
Photo: In this Feb. 11, 2012 file photo, Gov Bobby Jindal of Louisiana addresses activists at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington: AP Images


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