Exploring the interaction between incubators and industrial clusters: the case of the itri incubator in Taiwan

This article aims to explore the interaction between incubators and industrial clusters, which is an important linkage for local development but has not been analyzed in the literature. A model is proposed to describe this interaction. The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) Incubator within the Hsinchu industrial cluster, the core of Taiwan's technology industries, is considered to be an empirical case. This case is investigated with the proposed model and methods including data analysis, in–depth interviews, manager surveys and stakeholder analysis. It was found that the clustering effect in the Hsinchu industrial cluster is main factor in the ITRI Incubator's development. The ITRI Incubator in turn reinforces the cluster in some aspects as feedback. This result confirms the existence and importance of this interaction in local development. It is recommended that government officials and incubator managers take account of this interaction in operating an incubator program and utilize the proposed model to analyze the incubator's contributions to its industrial cluster.     

Optimal Insurance Design Under a Value-at-Risk Framework

This study designs an optimal insurance policy form endogenously, assuming the objective of the insured is to maximize expected final wealth under the Value-at-Risk (VaR) constraint. The optimal insurance policy can be replicated using three options, including a long call option with a small strike price, a short call option with a large strike price, and a short cash-or-nothing call option. Additionally, this study also calculates the optimal insurance levels for these models when we restrict the indemnity to be one of three common forms: a deductible policy, an upper-limit policy, or a policy with proportional coinsurance. JEL Classification No: G22     

Liquidity and the Future Stock Returns of the REIT Industry

This paper examines how deviations from expected optimal cash holdings affect future stock returns in the real estate investment trust (REIT) industry. Our findings indicate that REIT managers elect to hold less cash to reduce the agency problems of cash flow, supporting the pecking order theory that growth opportunities lead managers to retain more cash on hand. The results show that any deviation from the estimated optimal cash holdings is significantly detrimental to future market performance, suggesting that excess or insufficient cash is harmful to stock returns. The adverse influence of deviations above the optimal value is insignificantly stronger than that of deviations below the optimal value. We also find that the return performances of deviations that do not differ from the expected optimal value surpass those of deviations that differ significantly from the expected level. This implies that REIT managers determine their cash policies based on future growth opportunities and the external costs of capital. Finally, for REIT firms, holding excess or insufficient cash increases the possibility of agency conflict or underinvestment, which will consequently worsen the firm??s future performance.     

Estimation of Housing Price Jump Risks and Their Impact on the Valuation of Mortgage Insurance Contracts

Housing price jump risk and the subprime crisis have drawn more attention to the precise estimation of mortgage insurance premiums. This study derives the pricing formula for mortgage insurance premiums by assuming that the housing price process follows the jump diffusion process, capturing important characteristics of abnormal shock events. This assumption is consistent with the empirical observation of the U.S. monthly national average new home returns from 1986 to 2008. Furthermore, we investigate the impact of price jump risk on mortgage insurance premiums from shock frequency of the abnormal events, abnormal mean and volatility of jump size, and normal volatility. Empirical results indicate that the abnormal volatility of jump size has the most significant impact on mortgage insurance premiums.     

Crossing of Psychological Price Levels: The Price Dynamics and Interaction between S&P500 Index and Index Futures

The authors provide fresh evidence on the nonfundamental-driven price dynamics and interaction between index and index futures by examining the price movements of the S&P500 index and index futures surrounding the crossing of the 00 psychological barriers and 52-week highs and lows. In contrast to the extant evidence that futures leads in fundamental-driven price movements, the authors show the dominance of the crossing in the index in continuing the price trend after the crossing. Even when synchronized crossings occur, the index rises more than the index futures during upward crossings, whereas the index futures falls more than the index during downward crossings. While volatility is significantly reduced before upward crossings, but not for downward crossings, it is significantly higher during the crossing, and significantly lower after the crossings in both markets. These findings have clear practical implications for index arbitrageurs, investors, and regulators.     

An application of six sigma methodology to reduce shoplifting in bookstores

Recently, bookstores in Taiwan have been facing keen competition and the resultant impact. Most shopkeepers understand that when they sell one hundred dollars worth of merchandise, they may not even generate ten dollars worth of profits. However, when they lost one hundred dollars worth of merchandise by shoplifting, it means they lost 100% of cost and possible profits. For this reason, shopkeepers face a crucial task, determining how to construct a model with a set of evaluations, analysis and suggested improvements, in order to promote the management of shoplifting in bookstores. This article, therefore, applied Six Sigma methodology to help reduce the incidence of shoplifting in bookstores.     

Do liquidity and sampling methods matter in constructing volatility indices? Empirical evidence from Taiwan

This paper proposes four methods by which to sample option prices using proxies for liquidity—1-, 2-, 3-, 7-, and 8-day rollover rules—for option trades in order to construct volatility index series. Based on the sampling method using the average of all midpoints of bid and ask quote option prices, the volatility indices constructed by one-minute tick data have less missing data and are at least as efficient in volatility forecasting as the method suggested by the CBOE. In addition, based on different rollover rules, illiquidity in Taiwan's options market does not lead to substantial errors in the forecasting effectiveness of the volatility indices. Finally, the forecasting ability of VIX based on different sampling methods is found to be superior to that of VXO in Taiwan.     

Innovation policy for developing Taiwan's competitive advantages

Innovation is a prerequisite for every nation and business facing the emergence of a knowledge–based economy and globalization. For small and medium firms in developing countries with limited resources and relatively low national advantage innovation is much more difficult. Government innovation policy, stemming from three sides – supply, demand, and environment, has been shown to play a major role in assisting firms to conduct innovation activities, especially in developing countries. This paper first summarizes recent tends and issues relevant to Taiwan's innovation structure and policy. Then, considering the present situation of Taiwan, analyzes the effect of government policy and current problems. Recommendations are presented systematically, based upon innovation policy.     

Fuzzy multiple criteria selection of government-sponsored frontier technology R&D projects

Selection of government-sponsored frontier R&D projects is made difficult by the coexistence of the conflicting participating parties, the availability of experts for new frontier technology review, and the ambiguity of new frontier technology. This paper presents a model that includes (1) using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method to integrate various expectations from different interest groups into evaluating objectives/criteria, (2) the group-decision method by technical experts based on the predetermined objectives/criteria, and (3) the fuzzy approach in scoring the subjective judgments of the experts. The results reveal that differences of weights toward each criterion exist among various groups. The government and academia care more about social benefits, the researchers are more concerned about intellectual properties, and the experts from industry emphasize the importance of feasibility. The method presented in this paper was applied at a national research institute in Taiwan. The results reveal that: (1) the approach can solve the disparity between the profound knowledge required for evaluation and the different expectation from various interest groups, (2) the fuzzy approach is suitable to frontier technology R&D project selection because of the vagueness of the nature of frontier technology and the difficulties in evaluating quantitatively and accurately.