STRONG FORM EFFICIENCY OF THE FOREIGN EXCHANGE MARKET AND BANK POSITIONS

This paper explores the strong form efficiency of the pound sterling-U.S. dollar market by analyzing the ability of U.S. commercial banks to formulate superior expectations vis-a-vis the market in two ways. First, Stein's theory is employed to distinguish between shifts and disturbances in the exchange market equilibrium. Second, the swap transaction framework extracts U.S. commercial banks' expectations from their observed behavior. Results obtained from both approaches suggest that the observed group has better than random forecasting accuracy.     

Impact of Commercialization of the Internet on International Trade: A Panel Study Using the Extended Gravity Model

This article tests the proposition that information and communication technology (ICT) and the Internet have enhanced international trade. Until recently, a sufficiently lengthy series of data as not available to make valid comparisons of international trade before and after the commercialization of the Internet. The use of balanced panel data for 64 countries (representing many phases of economic development) for the years 1985 to 2005 and the instrumental variable approach of Hausman and Taylor and other panel data methods provide an adequate basis for our conclusions. The results of the study are unequivocal and robust. There is a positive and significant effect of ICT infrastructure and the availability of the Internet for commercial transactions on the volume of international trade.     

Multi-Channels: The Real Winners in the B2C Internet Wars

This article presents evidence that multi-channel retailers are out-performing online-only ("pure-play") retailers, and that their success is reflected in their market value. Multi-channel retailers are most successful when they define distinct roles for each channel, use the Web creatively as a customer acquisition tool, and work hard at converting browsers to buyers. To help get this last part right, the authors isolate key defection points – critical moments when retailers are apt to lose customers. They conclude that, for retailers, the key to making the most of the Internet is to correctly determine its strategic role in relation to other channels and invest to play that role excellently.     

India's economic reforms: Progress,problems, prospects

Abstract

This paper is a review of India's progress in the 50 years of Independence, which is regarded as a mixture of the impressive and the disappointing. The country has managed to protect national unity, preserve democracy and dilute traditional social hierarchies. There has been economic growth and a reduction in the proportion of people falling below a standard poverty line. But the main requirement now is a sustained increase in the growth rate of national income that also increases the demand for labour. The relative failures of past decades are considered, and ways in which the reform programme begun in July 1991 could be strengthened are suggested.     

On preferences with infinitely many subjective states

Models with subjective state spaces have been extremely useful in capturing novel psychological phenomena that consist of both a preference for flexibility and for commitment. Interpreting the utility representations of preferences as capturing these phenomena requires one to use the notion of a sign of a state. For linear preferences, we completely characterise the sign of a state in terms of its analytic representation as an integral with respect to a signed measure. In models with finitely many states, a state is either positive or negative, but never both. We show that in models with infinitely many states, a state can be both positive and negative. Thus, models with finitely many states may not capture all the behavioural features of an infinite model. Our methods are also useful in constructing utility functionals over menus with desired local properties.     

Moral hazard,hold‐up,and the optimal allocation of control rights

I examine the optimal allocation of control rights in a model with manager moral hazard, where the manager and investor may hold up each other ex post. The control allocation determines both the likelihood of hold‐up and the agents’ renegotiation payoffs. In equilibrium, only two control allocations are optimal: either exclusive investor control or a contingent control allocation that allows the manager to remain in control if, and only if, interim performance is good. Thus, my model explains why it may be optimal to link control to the firm’s performance such that managers retain control only following good performance.     

A longitudinal examination of HRM in a human resources offshoring (HRO) organization operating from India

Human resources offshoring (HRO) forms a significant part of the Indian business process offshoring (BPO) market. This paper assesses HRM in the emergent HRO sector. Longitudinal case-study research enables an in-depth examination of the development of HRM practices in an HRO organization where offshored HR services are delivered from two different cities in India. The paper highlights the development of HR activities focused on extrinsic incentives, rewards and penalties to influence employee behaviour. These practices are mediated by indigenous traditions, the nature of the service offering; management style and an aspiration to ‘role model’ systematic HR practices.     

Enterprise Resource Planning Systems Implementation in a Global Subsidiary Organization: Lessons Learned

This article describes the implementation of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) implemented by British Petroleum (BP) Worldwide, from the perspective of one of its subsidiary organizations, BP Singapore. The ERP solution, an internally developed system, was implemented globally by BP worldwide quite successfully from a global perspective, though not without challenges at the local level. This study examines the process of implementing a global ERP solution at the local subsidiaries, and the unique problems that may be encountered in force-fitting a global solution at the local level. Among the issues and problems experienced by the subsidiary are higher-than-anticipated costs, longer development times, lack of technical expertise, and compromises in business processes. The findings of the study could be helpful in formulating coping mechanisms in implementing global ERP solutions.     

Consumer switching costs: A typology,antecedents, and consequences

The management of customer switching costs has been hampered by the lack of a comprehensive typology for conceptualizing, categorizing, and measuring consumers' perceptions of these costs. This research develops a switching cost typology that identifies three types of switching costs: (1) procedural switching costs, primarily involving the loss of time and effort; (2) financial switching costs, involving the loss of financially quantifiable resources; and (3) relational switching costs, involving psychological or emotional discomfort due to the loss of identity and the breaking of bonds. The research then examines the antecedents and consequences of switching costs. The results suggest that consumers' perceptions of product complexity and provider heterogeneity, their breadth of product use, and their alternative provider and switching experience drive the switching costs they perceive. Furthermore, all three switching cost types significantly influence consumers' intentions to stay with their current service provider, explaining more variance than does satisfaction. In view of the potential importance of switching costs, the impact of all strategic moves on switching costs should be considered Michael Porter (1980:122). Thomas A. Burnham (Tburnham@scu.edu) (Ph.D., University of Texas) is an assistant professor of marketing in the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University. His research investigates the strategic management of consumer switching costs and the use of customer suggestions in product improvement. Prior to obtaining his doctorate, he developed strategic reports and budgets for MCI Telecommunications and consulted with the management of a cooperative in Paraguay as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer. Judy K. Frels (Jfrels@rhsmith.umd.edu) (Ph.D., University of Texas) is an assistant professor of marketing in the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. Her research focuses on the marketing of high-technology products, innovation adoption, and consumer switching costs. Prior to obtaining her Ph.D., she spent 10 years developing operating systems and compilers, as well as managing and marketing software and hardware products at IBM and at Tymlabs Corporation. She has consulted with firms including SAIC, Imation, Input-Output, Inc., and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Vijay Mahajan (Vmahajan@mail.utexas.edu) is John P. Harbin Centennial Chair in Business, McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin. He is currently serving as dean of the Indian school of Management, Hyderabad, India. He has published extensively on innovation diffusion, new product development, and strategic marketing.     

CORPORATE BOARD SIZE, COMPOSITION AND CORPORATE FAILURES IN RETAILING INDUSTRY[1]

In recent years some activists have advanced proposals to reform corporate boards, notably their structure and process, to assure desirable corporate governance. the empirical question, however, is whether such formal board changes would guarantee good governance. This paper examines this issue by studying the differences in the board size and board composition of 21 pairs of failed and non-failed firms. the results suggest that the non-failed retailing firms, as compared to failed ones, tend to have bigger boards within the size range suggested by the activists. the differences in the percent of outsider directors and multiple offices held by C.E.O.s between the failed and non-failed firms were not significant. Implications of the results for the evaluation of board reforms are discussed.