Assessing performance in services: the travel agency industry

The aim of this article is to compare different approaches to the evaluation of economic performance in tourism. For the first time in tourism, this article simultaneously applies traditional productivity measures as well as parametric and non-parametric techniques to estimate efficiency and compares the results obtained. The empirical application is carried out on a sample of 567 travel agencies operating in Spain in 2004. The results reveal important differences depending on the methodology employed. Overall, none of the methodologies can be said to be better than the rest. These results highlight the importance of considering different approaches when evaluating performance in tourism.     

中国商业银行运行效率和获利效率的实证分析

运用数据包络分析(DEA)方法对中国商业银行的运行和获利效率进行了研究,指出国有商业银行在提供金融服务效率上要高于股份制商业银行,但在获利效率上不如股份制商业银行,同时指出中国商业银行运行效率和获利效率不存在相关性。     

Advertising Contribution to a Firm's Profit: Theory and Evidence from the Airline Industry in the United States

The author examined how to make advertising efficiency more effective in achieving the profit objective of a firm. The current study allowed profitability to be influenced by both multiple controllable efficiency factors (e.g., advertising efficiency and operations efficiency) and one uncontrollable environmental factor (i.e., growth timing). The results showed that advertising efficiency was most effective in driving up a publically-traded U.S. airline's profitability when the airline happened to grow its business later than average, whereas advertising efficiency was least effective when the firm ended up growing its business earlier than average. Also shown in the results was that drivers of profitability also included operations efficiency and growth timing.     

Evidence on real gains in corporate acquisitions

This study examines the change in operating performance of firms which merge for a sample of 324 combinations which occurred between 1967 and 1987. The results indicate that the performance of the merged firms typically improved following their combination. The results are not sensitive to factors such as offer size, industry relatedness between the bidder's and the target's businesses or bidder leverage. Separately, a positive association was found between the abnormal revaluation of the firms involved around the merger and the changes in operating performance observed. We conclude that the results documented in Healy et al. (1992) for a sample of 50 large mergers which occurred during the period 1979 through mid-1984 are not sensitive to sample size or to the period they investigated. The conclusions presented provide additional support for the idea that takeovers are motivated by expectations of improved performance due to the realization of synergistic benefits.     

首批创业板上市公司盈利能力分析——以医药行业为例

2009年10月23日,筹备了10年的创业板终于在深交所开板。创业板专门服务于创业型、中小型、成长性企业,并为他们提供公开的股权交易平台,是一种上市或交易标准低于传统交易场所或主板市场的证券市场。经过了近两年的运行,创业板公司的业绩如何,创业板市场是否助长了企业的成长?基于此,本文对首批创业板上市公司的盈利能力进行了分析。     

Social Responsiveness,Profitability and Catastrophic Events: Evidence on the Corporate Philanthropic Response to 9/11

In this study we seek to determine whether catastrophic events lead to corporate charitable giving unrelated to levels of firm profitability. We examine the issue relative to the corporate philanthropic response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks of 2001. Based on a sample of 489 Fortune 500 companies, we find that differences in the extent of corporate contributions following 9/11 are positively and significantly associated with differences in firms' profitability. Further, while the degree of connection to the catastrophic event led to higher levels of giving in comparison to the contributions of less connected firms, differences in the extent of philanthropy are still␣related to short-term profitability for the more connected firms. The study thus provides evidence suggesting that even in the wake of catastrophic events, corporate philanthropic giving is constrained by economic concerns.     

Managing retailer profitability—one customer at a time!

This study examines how customer lifetime value (CLV) can be computed at individual customer level in a retail setting to maximize profitability. The study finds that maximum positive impact to CLV occurs when the customer cross-purchases, shows multi-channel shopping behavior, stays longer with the firm, buys specific product categories and purchases more frequently with the firm. Interestingly, the CLV follows an inverted U relationship with increase in return of prior purchases. Other interesting findings include a surprisingly low correlation between customer loyalty and future profitability and low correlation between stores’ historic revenues and future profitability. Several implications are suggested for retailers to manage and maximize customer profitability as well as store profitability.     

The impact of home-country institutions and competition on firm profitability

Firm profitability depends on firm characteristics, industry structure and home-country institutions. Firm profitability is negatively associated with institutional quality. The effect of entry regulation on profitability runs through competition, while the effect of legal and political institutions only partially runs through competition.     

Information content of prior period mutual fund performance rankings

This paper examines the relationship between prior and subsequent period performance rankings for all domestic equity mutual funds followed by Morningstar over the period 1976–1992. Evidence of statistically significant persistence in relative performance was detected in the full sample during the period 1980–1992. However, further examination revealed that persistence in mutual fund performance was no longer evident when the full sample was partitioned by investment objective. In this context, prior period mutual fund performance provides minimal insight into subsequent period performance and, therefore, is of little value in the mutual fund selection process.     

国际贸易中的佣金及其计算的探讨

佣金是国际贸易支付中的重要内容之一,关于佣金计算的讨论由来已久.众说纷纭.文章重点探讨了同一贸易术语净价与含佣价之间的转换,不同贸易术语转换时对于佣金获利性的考虑,并给出了自己的见解.     

电伴热和高温水伴热的技术经济分析

通过电伴热与高温水伴热在技术性能上的对比,并就大庆石化公司化工三厂1300 m长工艺管线的保温,采用电伴热和高温水伴热两种方案进行了技术经济分析比较,论证了采用电伴热性能可靠,效益显著。