Are European banks too big? Evidence on economies of scale

In light of the policy debate on too-big-to-fail we investigate evidence of economies of scale for 103 European listed banks over 2000–2011. Using the Stochastic Frontier Approach, the results show that economies of scale are widespread across different size classes of banks and are especially large for the biggest banks. At the country level, banks operating in the smallest financial systems and the countries most affected by the financial crises realize the lowest scale economies (including diseconomies) due to the reduction in production capacity. As for the determinants of scale economies, these mainly emanate from banks oriented toward investment banking, with higher liquidity, lower Tier 1 capital, those that contributed less to systemic risk during the crises, and those with too-big-to-fail status.     

商业银行邂逅大数据：挑战与竞争战略演进

阐述大数据给商业银行竞争战略带来的巨大挑战,植根于范围经济理论、隐形冠军、蓝海战略、长尾经济等颠覆二八法则的差异化战略理论中,运用系统演化特征与机理研究,诠释了大数据时代商业银行规模成本领先战略向差异化竞争战略演化的发展路径.     

Ethics of Chinese & Western tourists in Hong Kong

The potential for tension between tourists and residents due to tourist behaviour is rising. In such environment, understanding tourists’ ethical judgments of different scenarios is important. This study asks tourists and residents to ethically evaluate five different scenarios, using a multidimensional ethics scale and rate the likelihood they are to engage in these scenarios while at home and on vacation. An intercept survey of 1827 questionnaires were collected from Hong Kong residents, Mainland Chinese and Western tourists. Teleological ethical theories may justify actions that are deemed ethically inappropriate by deontology or ethics of justice. Western tourists are more likely to engage in unethical behaviour on holidays than at home. For Mainland Chinese visitors, the opposite is true.     

Returns to scale at large banks in the US: A random coefficient stochastic frontier approach

This paper investigates the returns to scale of large banks in the US over the period 1997–2010. This investigation is performed by estimating a random coefficient stochastic distance frontier model in the spirit of Tsionas (2002) and Greene (2005, 2008). The primary advantage of this model is that its coefficients can vary across banks, thereby allowing for unobserved technology heterogeneity among large banks in the US We find that failure to consider unobserved technology heterogeneity results in a misleading ranking of banks and mismeasured returns to scale. Our results show that the majority of large banks in the US exhibit constant returns to scale. In addition, our results suggest that banks of the same size can have different levels of returns to scale and there is no clear pattern among large banks in the US concerning the relationship between asset size and returns to scale, due to the presence of technology heterogeneity.     

Measuring customer-based place brand equity (CBPBE): an investment attractiveness perspective

Place branding has increasingly gained attention in last the two decades. However, there is a lack of measuring instrument for place branding effectiveness and subsequent place brand equity. This study develops a measurement instrument for customer-based place brand equity (CBPBE) for a place from the investment attractiveness perspective. Exploratory factor analysis followed by confirmatory factor analysis were used which resulted in an 11-item CBPBE scale. The dimensions of the scale consist of brand awareness, brand image, perceived quality, and brand loyalty. The study makes both theoretical and managerial contributions by offering a refined scale for the measurement of CBPBE which provides a tool for effective place branding activities and strategies.     

地矿企业集团发展趋势探讨

文章对地质矿产企业集团建设中 ,如何建立母子公司体制 ,如何形成规模经济 ,如何突出主业、带动相关产业 ,如何进入资本市场直接融资 ,如何适应新经济等发展趋势进行了探讨 ,并提出了如何利用这些趋势 ,将地矿企业集团做强、做大、做出规模的对策建议。     

Estimating Cost Functions of Malaysian Commercial Banks: The Differential Effects of Size,Location, and Ownership*

Bank integration and competition policies are a core part of current financial reforms intended to strengthen the financial sector in Malaysia. This paper intends to clarify the production technology employed in Malaysian banks and indicate important policy implications for current bank consolidation policy. While it is essential to conduct a microeconomic analysis of the banking sector to appraise financial reform policy, Katib and Mathews (2000) is the only formal study in this area that uses micro level data on Malaysian banks. Our analysis expands on Katib and Mathews’ study in three aspects. Firstly, while Katib and Mathews employed Data Envelopment Analysis, we use estimation analysis based on a parametric approach. Secondly, we examine technological differences among Malaysian banks according to the size of operations, location of branches and ownership structure. Thirdly, we also explicitly incorporate the existence of hidden bad loans in estimating cost functions. According to our estimation analysis, there is a difference in production technology between large‐sized banks and small or medium‐sized banks. While economies of scale are observed for large‐sized banks, no economies of scope and technological progress are observed for any banks. The results of our analysis suggest that, while the current reform policy is basically appropriate, serious problems remain regarding bank consolidation and the lack of market competition.     

多参数线性规划

本文讨论了多个参数的线性规划问题。建立了参数的最优比例结构的概念,并给出了确定这种比例的一种方法。     

并购,中国企业必须熟悉的经营技巧

并购作为企业生存与发展的一个有效手段,正在世界范围内广泛应用,并随着我国改革开放的步伐进入了我们的社会经济生活,冲击着我国企业的经营管理思路。加入WTO后,跨国公司必将更多地使用并购手段进入中国市场,我国企业应尽快了解和掌握企业并购的经营技巧,以在新的经营与竞争     

Cost reductions or reputation enhancement as motives for mergers: The logic of multihospital systems

This paper examines two motives for the formation of local multihospital systems: cost reduction and reputation enhancement. Systems may reduce costs by eliminating redundancies and reducing administrative costs. Integration may also lower costs for consumers seeking consistently high qualiiy. We hypothesize that if systems achieve either cost or reputation benefits, then member hospitals will ‘look’ different from random collections of hospitals. We find that local systems do not appear to have lower costs but do appear to enjoy reputation benefits over nonsystem hospitals. Our findings challenge the assumptions behind popular health reform initiatives.