Bank connections,corporate investment and crisis

Against the backdrop of a severe financial crisis and extensive restructuring of the financial sector, we investigate the evolution and determinants of connections between firms and banks, and the impact of bank connections on corporate investment. Our study examines Thai non-financial companies during 1995–2000, a period straddling the East Asian Financial Crisis of 1997–1998. Before the crisis, bank-connections are common and associated with significantly lower sensitivity of corporate investment to internal cash flow. After the crisis, and following substantial changes in bank ownership and governance due to financial-sector reforms and restructuring, far fewer firms are bank-connected and connections no longer affect investment–cash flow sensitivity.     

Networks and capabilities as characteristics of logistics firms

The research purpose of this paper is to describe and analyse how three basic types of logistics firms differ in terms of their core capabilities and network development as well as the effects of the difference. Based on the resource-based view and the industrial network approach, a conceptual framework is developed to differentiate logistics firms. Two case studies of logistics firms are used as examples to demonstrate how the framework can be used. Logistics firms have clear differences in capabilities and network focus. These firms follow different dominating logics of value creation that make them develop in different ways and think totally differently. This research enhances our understanding of the different logics of logistics firms and their interdependence. They are complementary and interacting in the logistics service supply chain. Moving between the basic types of logistics firms means changing the capabilities and network focus, which is costly and difficult. The conceptual framework can be used as a tool to comprehend multiple types of logistics firms. It also helps us to analyze related strategic moves.     

The impact of practical relevance on training transfer: evidence from a service quality training program for German bank clerks

The management literature provides a variety of recommendations as to how workers’ customer orientation might be improved, including through training. Crucial factors in the process of transferring the contents of service quality training programs to practice, however, have not yet been sufficiently analysed. This study proposes and tests a model of transfer motivation and training transfer via structural equation modelling, validating Baldwin and Ford's framework and Kirkpatrick's levels of evaluation. Following the recommendation of Alliger et al., the present study analyses the relationship between Kirkpatrick's levels of evaluation, paying attention to the specificity of the measures at each level. The survey collects data from 213 German bank employees who attended a training program aimed at improving service quality. As hypothesized, the perceived practical relevance of the training was found to exert a strong influence on the reaction of the participants and had a substantial total effect on the motivation to transfer and on actual transfer. Subject to the limitations of the research methodology employed here, it is concluded that trainee satisfaction needs to be conceptually distinguished from perceived practical relevance and that the latter is the main driving force for transfer motivation and transfer.     

Gesundheitsfonds in der Kritik

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

How Tourists and Tourism Experts Perceive Climate Change and Carbon-offsetting Schemes

This study was undertaken against the background of tourism as an active contributor to climate change, to explore how tourists and 'tourism experts' perceive climate change and forest carbon sinks as a means to offset carbon dioxide emissions. Three different surveys were undertaken in Australia and New Zealand that contained the same two questions: is climate change an issue for tourism, and would tourists be willing to participate in tree-planting to offset their greenhouse gas emissions. About half of all tourists questioned a link between climate change and tourism, but the willingness to plant a tree was surprisingly high among tourists (48%), who associated much broader benefits with trees than their function as carbon sinks. The study identified five groups of tourists that require different approaches for the development of educational campaigns. The degree to which cognitive or affective factors play a role for each group will be critical for the success of such campaigns. Tourism experts saw a changing climate as a potential threat for tourism, but did not necessarily see tourism's fossil fuel consumption and the resulting carbon dioxide emissions as a contributor to climate change.     

探讨香港-珠江三角洲的联系：跨界的制度多样性如何促进电子企业的竞争力

基于灵活性的假设下，香港和珠三角两地的企业问卷调查表明，为了应对商业环境变化对灵活性的需求，香港客户对珠三角供应商关系调整了管治模式，逐渐采取股权或非股权合作代替原先的完全控股。而在香港企业寻找新的客户、选择适当的生产合作伙伴方面，正式和非正式制度之间存在互补性。研究结果证实，在现有的正式制度框架内充分应用非正式因素，可提高企业更灵活应对政治和商业环境迅速变化的能力，以维持在全球市场的竞争力。     

Individually selecting among conventions - an evolutionary and experimental analysis

Conventions can be narrowly interpreted as coordinated ways of equilibrium play, telling all players which of possibly several equilibria to play or more broadly how to choose in a game without imposing the equilibrium property. Since coordination often takes place before learning about the game, one has to coordinate on a prescribing principle. For the subclass of 2×2-bimatrix games with two strict equilibria, we analyze the evolutionary stability of various such principles. In our experiment, we allow participants to coordinate on principles before playing various games. Based on between-subjects treatments, participants do so being completely (they know neither their role nor the game parameters), partially (they know either their role or the game parameters) ignorant, or with no veil of ignorance (they know their role and the game parameters).     

The nature of an apology: An experimental study on how to apologize after a service failure

Extant service recovery research treats apology as a dichotomy, in that it is either present or absent, but how it is conveyed is neglected. Based upon social psychological research, this study argues that an apology comprises three different components: empathy, intensity, and timing, which make each apology unique. It is shown that how well an apology is delivered across failure types (outcome vs. process) drives service recovery satisfaction, not its mere presence. Empathy, intensity, and timing separately impact satisfaction. The more empathic and intense the apology is given, the more satisfied respondents are. A late apology decreases satisfaction ratings. Effect sizes indicate that empathy has the strongest impact on service recovery satisfaction followed by intensity and timing. The effect of empathy is stronger for process failures than for outcome failures. Interestingly, the apology’s overall effect size is comparable to that of compensation in case of a process failure.     

Biased Tariff Choices: Exploring Role Effects in B to B Settings

Purpose: The authors examine whether motivational and cognitive causes that explain tariff choice biases in business-to-consumer (B2C) settings also hold in business-to-business (B2B) markets. Opposed to prior B2C research that is dominated by individual decision making, the study proposes role effects in buying centers influence the exploration of tariff choice and tariff choice biases in B2B settings.

Originality: A rich body of research into biased tariff choices, especially flat-rate biases, exists for B2C markets, yet a dearth of research marks tariff choice behavior in B2B settings. This study is the first one on tariff choice especially dedicated to B2B settings.

Methodology and Findings: The findings from transactional and survey data pertaining to a mobile phone service provider reveal that tariff choice biases also occur in B2B markets. Seventy-nine percent of all tariff choices among decision makers are biased; 73 percent are due to the flat-rate bias. The (mis-)judgment effect, the insurance effect, and the convenience effect significantly influence tariff choice and the flat-rate bias.

Research Implications: The authors provide a flowchart of strategies that structures the practical implications. Based on this flowchart, they propose that mobile phone service providers should undertake a flat-rate preference strategy, because B2B customers may accept the flat-rate bias to profit from the insurance effect. The authors argue that following a flat-rate preference strategy is advisable, because turnover can be protected entirely while the vulnerability of that strategy is low.