An Integrative Framework for Measuring the Extent to which Organizational Variables Influence the Success of Process Improvement Programmes

abstract    Studies on the three types of process improvement programmes (Continuous Improvement, Reengineering and Benchmarking) have appeared many times in the literature. These studies suggest that certain organizational variables act as enablers and their presence or absence can significantly influence success rates. Such studies have tended to examine companies where a single programme has been implemented. In contrast, this paper examines a sample of companies who have experienced all three programmes. Our aim is to compare and contrast each programme's impact on firm performance and identify which organizational variables are common and which are programme-specific enablers of success. We build and test an integrative framework to support our analysis. Our study found that: (1) Reengineering delivered the greatest impact on performance; (2) executive commitment was needed to make this happen; (3) strategic alignment was the major influence on the success rate of Reengineering and Continuous Improvement programmes; and (4) employee empowerment was necessary for each programme to work effectively.     

Note on the applicability of the VCG mechanism to capacitated assignment problems and extensions

For the allocation of heterogeneous items, it is known that the buyers-are-substitutes condition is necessary and sufficient to ensure that a pricing equilibrium can yield the same allocation and payments as the VCG mechanism. Furthermore, concavity of the corresponding transferable utility TU-game guarantees that this VCG outcome can also be achieved by an ascending price auction. We show that concavity, and hence the buyers-are-substitutes condition, holds for the TU-game of the assignment problem with general capacities. Therefore, the VCG mechanism is supported by a pricing equilibrium which can also be achieved by an ascending auction. We also show that the buyers-are-substitutes condition, and hence concavity, does not hold anymore for very natural and straightforward extensions of this problem. This shows that the necessity of the substitutes property is a considerable restriction on the applicability of the VCG mechanism.     

ROLE OF FISCAL AND MONETARY POLICY

Abstract.  This paper applies the GS-PD framework of Ho (1988) to show that the so-called 'battle of ideas' between 'Keynesians', who believe in intervention, and the champions of the market, who believe in non-intervention, as popularly depicted, diverts attention from the crux of the matter. It shows how monetary and fiscal policies have to be coordinated in specific situations and why some macroeconomic problems may require responses beyond the purview of monetary and fiscal policies.     

Beneath the Appearance of Gentrification: Probing Local Complexities

In ‘Gentrification in Hong Kong? Epistemology vs. Ontology’ , Ley and Teo examine what they find to be the absence of identification and naming of gentrification in Hong Kong. They argue for the need to look at urban redevelopment in non‐Anglo‐American cities, those in Asia Pacific at the very least, in a different light. They query the extent to which the concept of gentrification has been overly stretched to explain urban processes falling outside Anglo‐American cities. This essay is a response to their argument. It presses for further and closer examination of local complexities and greater critical‐theoretical reflection on the transferability of analytical concepts to different socio‐economic contexts. Ley and Teo have raised some important questions for serious theoretical reflection and discussion. Yet they seem to have fallen into the problematic positions that they critique. Without sufficient attention to the part played by historical and local context in shaping the urban landscape, they have wrongly associated the absence of any identification of gentrification with the hegemony of a property‐related ideology of social mobility. The unpacking of the different social and political processes and mechanisms in urban redevelopment in different stages of urban growth in Hong Kong alerts us to the complexities of the local.     

Credit markets and financial information

The last decade has seen rapid growth in trading of credit instruments on secondary markets. The ensuing availability of a rich set of credit market data has created a novel environment for testing a variety of financial economic theories. In this discussion, we provide a simple framework for linking asset pricing research using equity and credit market data and offer some suggestions for future archival empirical research aiming to establish relations between financial information and credit markets. Credit instruments are intrinsically linked to equity instruments. The strength of this link varies temporally and cross-sectionally in measurable ways that can, and should be, used to guide future empirical research linking information to credit markets.     

Convergence and divergence issues in strategic management – Indonesia's experience with the Balanced Scorecard in HR management

Globalization pressures escalate competitiveness and, in response, global companies tend to adopt a handful of Western management practices. One of these is the Balanced Scorecard. However, empirical evidence assessing the transferability and effectiveness of Western best practices into Asian countries is scarce. In particular, empirical evidence relating to the effectiveness of Balanced Scorecard implementations is limited, as is the impact of Asian Balanced Scorecard contextual variables. This article contributes to this gap through the study of a Central Bank of Indonesia (BI) Balanced Scorecard implementation within a conceptual framework that explores convergence and divergence of global management practices. The lessons learned discuss how divergent factors such as national culture, leadership styles, organizational culture and human resource management practices can influence Asian context Balanced Scorecard implementations.     

Critical success factors in relationship management for services outsourcing

This study examines the relationship between outsourcing motives, supplier–customer relationship and perceived customer value in non-core services outsourcing. 1,757 companies were randomly selected. 234 valid questionnaires were returned (13.4 % response rate). The structural equation method was used to obtain the best fit model. The most significant contribution of this study is that ‘relationship interaction’ (communication, cooperation, coordination, collaboration, conflict resolution and integration activities) has a greater impact on customer perceived value than ‘relationship quality’ (loyalty and trust) in services outsourcing. The perceived customer value is reflected in improved services quality, reliability and agility rather than the expected cost savings.     

Efficient trinomial trees for local-volatility models in pricing double-barrier options

A local-volatility (LV) model captures the volatility smile while retaining the preference freedom of the Black–Scholes model. Past attempts to construct a smile-consistent tree for the LV surface do not guarantee validity. This paper presents an efficient and valid smile-consistent tree for the LV model. The only assumption is that the LV surface be upper- and lower-bounded. With this tree, double-barrier options can be priced with fast convergence even in the presence of volatility smile. This is confirmed numerically. An implied tree is also presented. It recovers the LV surface reasonably well.