Coordination in retailer-carrier channels for long term planning

We study a retailer-carrier channel for the purpose of long term planning and coordination. Here, the term channel represents the business interaction between the retailer and the carrier. The retailer sells a particular item with price-dependent demand, whereas the carrier is responsible for transporting the item to the retailer's site. We characterize the profit functions of each channel member as well as the total channel profit. We consider two specific channel structures: (i) the centralized channel and (ii) the decentralized channel. Under the first channel structure, the goal is to set the retail price so as to maximize the total channel profit. Under the latter, the carrier and the retailer choose their own policy parameters, i.e., the freight rate for the carrier and the retail price for the retailer, so as to maximize their individual profits. We model the decentralized channel as a Stackelberg Game and propose a coordination mechanism between the retailer and the carrier in which the retailer signals a price multiplier to the carrier. We illustrate that this mechanism could provide win-win solutions for both parties and present analytical and numerical results on the efficiency of channel coordination. We demonstrate that coordination in retailer-carrier channels can be as promising as supplier-retailer channels. We also discuss the effects of retailer-carrier coordination on inventory levels.     

For better or for worse: the long-term effects of postwar mobilization on family formation

This article estimates the long-term legacies of female labour force mobilization on women’s family formation outcomes such as marriage, age at first marriage and divorce. We identify the long-term marriage effects of female labour force mobilization by exploring postwar mandatory employment in Germany. Using difference-in-differences analysis, we find that participation in postwar reconstruction efforts increased women’s probability of being currently married, ever married and marrying at younger ages. We also find that postwar employment had no differential effect on divorce rates of the affected cohorts of women. These results persist after accounting for the potential changes in the composition of the population, demand for female labour, war relief payments and postwar state-specific policies.     

The impact of creative activities integrated into curriculum for tolerance education and teachers’ reflections

This study aimed at investigating the perceptions of teachers and intermediate level students on the use of creative activities integrated into an EFL curriculum at Foreign Languages English Preparatory School (FLEPS). The study has qualitative nature that data was gathered through teachers’ daily diary and students’ semi-structured interviews. The study included 20 intermediate level students studying at the FLEPS. As a result, it was worth stating that the approach to the English language through creative activities or tasks was more effective in developing students’ critical thinking skills and boosted their self-esteem in foreign language learning than the traditional methods being applied at the FLEPS. The research study provides useful findings such as increasing teachers’ positive attitudes and students’ self-esteem and made related implications for the institutional development for further research.

     

An integrated model for stock replenishment and shipment scheduling under common carrier dispatch costs

We examine a joint inventory replenishment and shipment scheduling problem that arises in the context of a vendor-managed inventory (VMI) arrangement. Since a temporal shipment consolidation policy is being implemented, the inventory requirements at the vendor are affected by the timing and quantity of shipment release. The vendor’s problem is to determine an integrated policy for inventory replenishment and shipment release and to set its parameters. We develop analytical models for computing such integrated policies where it is economical to use common carriage for outbound transportation. We propose algorithmic approaches to set the optimal policy parameter values.     

Vertical price transmission in the Turkish poultry market: the avian influenza crisis

This article assesses the impact of the Avian Influenza (AI) outbreak in the Turkish poultry market by focusing on price transmission at producer and retail levels. The relationship and patterns of transmission between producer and retail prices are analysed by estimating a Regime-Switching Vector Error Correction Model with three regimes. An AI information index variable is developed and used to determine regime-switching. Results suggest that consumer prices adjust to disequilibrium caused by the AI crisis, while producer prices are sticky and slowly responsive.     

Corporate Governance in China: A Meta‐Analysis

How has the impact of ‘good corporate governance’ principles on firm performance changed over time in China? Amassing a database of 84 studies, 684 effect sizes, and 547,622 firm observations, we explore this important question by conducting a meta‐analysis on the corporate governance literature on China. The weight of evidence demonstrates that two major ‘good corporate governance’ principles advocating board independence and managerial incentives are indeed associated with better firm performance. However, we cannot find strong support for the criticisms against CEO duality. In addition, we go beyond a static perspective (such as certain governance mechanisms are effective or ineffective) by investigating the temporal hypotheses. We reveal that over time, with the improvement in the quality of market institutions and development of financial markets, the monitoring mechanisms of the board and state ownership become more strongly related to firm performance, whereas the incentive mechanisms lose their significance. Overall, our findings advance a dynamic institution‐based view by substantiating the case that institutional transitions matter for the relationship between governance mechanisms and firm performance in the second largest economy in the world.     

Australia's Immigration Selection System and Labour Market Outcomes in a Family Context: Evidence from Administrative Data

This paper examines the efficacy of the Australian points system in a family context among working-age permanent resident immigrants who arrived between 2000 and 2011 when there was a major focus on skills selection. Sixty-seven per cent of these immigrants were granted a skilled visa while 25 per cent hold a spousal visa (spouses of Australian citizens). More than half of the skilled visa recipients are the spouses of the primary applicants. Primary applicants among skilled visa holders are assessed for their skills in line with the Australian points system but secondary applicants, such as spouses, among skilled visa holders and spousal visa holders are not subject to any skills assessment before becoming permanent residents. We study differences in economic outcomes by permanent visa types and the role of points system factors in explaining these differences using the Personal Income Tax and Migrants Integrated Dataset and the Australian Census Longitudinal Dataset. We find that primary skilled visa holders earn at least 26–28 per cent more than spousal visa holders, and this is similar for both genders. However, spouses of primary skilled visa holders earn 13–18 per cent more than spousal visa holders. This difference is higher among females than males. Occupation differences can account for nearly half of the differences in income and can entirely capture the role of education and English proficiency. Primary skilled immigrants and their spouses have higher rates of labour force participation and employment than spousal visa holders, starting in the first year of arrival, and the gap is much higher for primary skilled visa holders, but these differences do not disappear quickly.     

Patterns and drivers of post-socialist farmland abandonment in Western Ukraine

Farmland abandonment restructures rural landscapes in many regions worldwide in response to gradual industrialization and urbanization. In contrast, the political breakdown in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union triggered rapid and widespread farmland abandonment, but the spatial patterns of abandonment and its drivers are not well understood. Our goal was to map post-socialist farmland abandonment in Western Ukraine using Landsat images from 1986 to 2008, and to identify spatial determinants of abandonment using a combination of best-subsets linear regression models and hierarchical partitioning. Our results suggest that farmland abandonment was widespread in the study region, with abandonment rates of up to 56%. In total, 6600 km² (30%) of the farmland used during socialism was abandoned after 1991. Topography, soil type, and population variables were the most important predictors to explain substantial spatial variation in abandonment rates. However, many of our a priori hypotheses about the direction of variable influence were rejected. Most importantly, abandonment rates were higher in the plains and lower in marginal areas. The growing importance of subsistence farming in the transition period, as well as off-farm income and remittances likely explain these patterns. The breakdown of socialism appears to have resulted in fundamentally different abandonment patterns in the Western Ukraine, where abandonment was a result of the institutional and economic shock, compared to those in Europe's West, where abandonment resulted from long-term socio-economic transformation such as urbanization and industrialization.     

State contract law and the use of accounting information in debt contracts

Review of Accounting Studies - This paper examines the relation between state contract law and the use of accounting information in debt contracts. Contract theory suggests that balance sheet based...