The long‐term benefits of organizational resilience through sustainable business practices

Research summary : Prior work on the benefits of business sustainability often applies short‐term causal logic and data analysis. In this article, we argue that the social and the environmental practices (SEPs) associated with business sustainability not only contribute to short‐term outcomes, but also to organizational resilience, which we define as the firm's ability to sense and correct maladaptive tendencies and cope positively with unexpected situations. Because organizational resilience is a latent, path‐dependent construct, we assess it through the long‐term outcomes, including improved financial volatility, sales growth, and survival rates. We tested these hypotheses with data from 121 U.S.‐based matched‐pairs (242 individual firms) over a 15‐year period. We also tested, but did not find support for, the relationship between SEPs and short‐term financial performance. Managerial summary : Most managers look for short‐term financial benefits to justify socially responsible or sustainable practices. In this article, we argue that such practices also help firms become more resilient, which helps them avoid crises and bounce back from shocks. However, it is difficult to measure the avoidance of shocks, so we analyzed long‐term outcomes. We show that firms that adopt responsible social and environmental practices, relative to a carefully matched control group, have lower financial volatility, higher sales growth, and higher chances of survival over a 15‐year period; yet, we were unable to find any differences in short‐term profits. We hope this research provides good reasons for firms to practice sustainability beyond the pursuit of short‐term profits. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Managerial risk-taking incentives and non-GAAP earnings disclosures

We investigate the association between risk-taking incentives provided by stock-based compensation arrangements and non-GAAP financial disclosures. Controlling for compensation to stock price sensitivity, we find that managers with higher compensation to stock volatility sensitivity (vega) are more likely to be associated with voluntary non-GAAP earnings information disclosures. In addition, higher-vega managers are found to be associated with more frequent and less opportunistic non-GAAP earnings information disclosures. Robust to alternative specifications and estimations, our findings suggest that compensation arrangements can encourage managers to make more, higher-quality voluntary non-GAAP disclosures.     

Regime‐switching in stock index and Treasury futures returns and measures of stock market stress

We investigate bivariate regime‐switching in daily futures‐contract returns for the US stock index and ten‐year Treasury notes over the crisis‐rich 1997–2005 period. We allow the return means, volatilities, and correlation to all vary across regimes. We document a striking contrast between regimes, with a high‐stress regime that exhibits a much higher stock volatility, a much lower stock–bond correlation, and a higher mean bond return. The high‐stress regime is associated with higher average values of stock‐implied volatility, stock illiquidity, and stock and bond futures trading volume. The lagged implied volatility from equity‐index options is useful in modeling the time‐varying transition probabilities of the regime‐switching process. Our findings support the notions that: (1) stock market stress can have a material influence on Treasury bond pricing, and (2) the diversification benefits of combined stock–bond holdings tend to be greater during times with relatively high stock market stress. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 30:753–779, 2010     

Social responsibility in new ventures: profiting from a long‐term orientation

Socially responsible activities help create business value, develop strategic resources, and insure against risks, but also cost money and distract management. These prior findings are mainly based on established corporations and may not extend to new ventures in which the liability of newness may suppress some positive effects and amplify some negative impacts of socially responsible activities. New ventures whose strategic decisions have a long‐term orientation, however, are able to counteract their liability of newness and thereby generate net positive economic returns. We tested these relationships by surveying the chief executive officers and presidents and studying the signature Web sites of 149 new ventures. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Role of source-destination proximity in international inbound tourist arrival: empirical evidences from India

This paper analyses the influence of source-destination proximity on the relationship between three key determinants of foreign tourist arrival and inbound international tourist volume in India. The data have been collected for top 11 source countries for a period of 1992–2013. By classifying source countries based on the air travel duration to the destination, three different clusters emerge. To analyze the data, panel modeling is used with a dependent variable having negative binomial distribution. The results of the overall panel modeling reveal that while Gross National Income (GNI) and Previous Year Arrival (PYA) are significant influence on inbound tourism demand but Relative Destination Price (RDP) is not. Further, the results show that for cluster 1 (nearby countries), only PYA is a significant influence; for cluster 2, PYA and GNI are significant; and for cluster 3, all three factors are significant. The findings have important implications for International Tourism Policy and Destination Marketing Programs.     

A three-component model of customer commitment to service providers

Although research into the determinants of service provider switching has grown in recent years, the focus has been predominantly on transactional, not relational, variables. In this research, the authors address the role of consumer commitment on consumers’ intentions to switch. Drawing from the organizational behavior literature, they build on previous service switching research by developing a switching model that includes a three-component conceptualization of customer commitment. Structural equation modeling is used to test the model based on data from a survey of 356 auto repair service customers. The authors’ results support the notion that customer commitment affects intentions to switch service providers and that the psychological states underlying that commitment may differ. As such, future marketing research should consider these different forms of commitment in understanding customer retention. The implications of this model for theory and practice are discussed. Havir S. Bansal (hbansal@wlu.ca) is an associate professor of marketing at Wilfrid Laurier University. He earned his Ph.D. from Queen’s University in 1997. His research interests are focused in the area of services marketing with emphasis on cuctomer switching behavior, word-of-mouth processes in services, and tourism. His research has been published in theJournal of Service Research, theJournal of Quality Management, andPsychology and Marketing and has publications forthcoming in theJournal of Services Marketing andTouris Management. He has also presented at and published articles in the proceedings of various national and international conferences. P. Gregory Irving (girving@wlu.ca) is an associate professor of organizational behavior at Wilfrid Laurier University. He received his Ph.D. in industrial/organizational psychology from the University of Western Ontario. His research interests included commitment and work-related attitudes, psychological contracts, and organizational recruitment and socialization. His research has appeared in a variety of journal including theJournal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, theJournal of Organizational Behavior, theJournal of Management, Human Performance, andBasic and Applied Social Psychology. Shirley F. Taylor (Ph.D., University of British Columbia) (staylor@business.queensu.ca) is an associate professor in the School of Business at Queen’s University, where she teaches and conducts research in the area of services marketing. Her research interests include service provider loyalty and switching, customer commitment, and perceptions management of service delays. Her work has been published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Marketing, Psychology & Marketing, theJournal of Service Research, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, and theJournal of Public Policy and Marketing. She currently serves on the editorial boards of theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Business Research, and theCanadian Journal of Administrative Sciences.     

Knowledge Management as the Basis of Sustained High Performance

abstract    By deconstructing some of the key elements of the resource-based view and the knowledge-based view of the firm, we suggest that there are three components to knowledge management systems that influence firm performance: the firm's ability to produce new knowledge, its ability to build on that knowledge, and its effectiveness in capturing a high proportion of the subsequent spin-offs. Using regression analysis to analyse data from 30,022 patent records from 42 firms, we find that a firm's growth rate is positively associated with its ability to generate rare and valuable knowledge, and to build on that knowledge.     

Introduction: macroeconomic implications of capital flows in a global economy

The papers in this volume address issues raised by the wave of financial crises that hit emerging markets since the mid 1990s. Several of the papers examine the role that different credit market frictions may have played in triggering the crises, or in determining the effects of policies aimed at containing them. Other papers ask more general questions about the implications of international financial integration for business cycles, risk sharing, and sovereign lending.     

Investigating interactive effects in the theory of planned behavior in a service‐provider switching context

This study examines whether a model of the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1985) with interaction terms can adequately explain customer service provider switching behavior. Results from a survey of mortgage customers suggest that it does. Interactions between perceived behavioral control (PBC) and intentions, between perceived behavioral control and attitude, and between attitude and subjective norms were all significant predictors of switching intentions. Implications for the theory of planned behavior and its use in services marketing are discussed. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Cost-effectiveness of axicabtagene ciloleucel for adult patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma in the United States

Abstract

Purpose: Axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel) was recently approved for treatment of relapsed or refractory (R/R) large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL) following two or more prior therapies. As the first CAR T-cell therapy available for adults in the US, there are important questions about clinical and economic value. The objective of this study was to assess the cost-effectiveness of axi-cel compared to salvage chemotherapy using a decision model and a US payer perspective.

Materials and methods: A decision model was developed to estimate life years (LYs), quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), and lifetime cost for adult patients with R/R LBCL treated with axi-cel vs salvage chemotherapy (R-DHAP). Patient-level analyses of the ZUMA-1 and SCHOLAR-1 studies were used to inform the model and to estimate the proportion achieving long-term survival. Drug and procedure costs were derived from US average sales prices and Medicare reimbursement schedules. Future healthcare costs in long-term remission was derived from per capita Medicare spending. Utility values were derived from patient-level data from ZUMA-1 and external literature. One-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses evaluated uncertainty. Outcomes were calculated over a lifetime horizon and were discounted at 3% per year.

Results: In the base case, LYs, QALYs, and lifetime costs were 9.5, 7.7, and $552,921 for axi-cel vs 2.6, 1.1, and $172,737 for salvage chemotherapy, respectively. The axi-cel cost per QALY gained was $58,146. Cost-effectiveness was most sensitive to the fraction achieving long-term remission, discount rate, and axi-cel price. The likelihood that axi-cel is cost-effective was 95% at a willingness to pay of $100,000 per QALY.

Conclusion: Axi-cel is a potentially cost-effective alternative to salvage chemotherapy for adults with R/R LBCL. Long-term follow-up is necessary to reduce uncertainties about health outcomes.