Parametric and Nonparametric Approaches to Benchmarking the Regulated Firm

Rewarding regulated firms based on their relative performance requires benchmarks that reflect how performance is affected by regulation. This paper demonstrates how parametric and nonparametric efficiency measures can be employed to produce benchmarks that account for the effects of regulation. We apply measurement techniques to an eleven-year panel of 20 U.S. interstate natural gas transmission companies and use our benchmarking measures to distinguish firms that perform well owing to a superior management of technology from firms that perform well owing to the effective management of the regulatory mechanism.     

The R and D/Marketing interface and single informant bias in NPD research: an illustration of a benchmarking case study

Analysing the performance of new product development (NPD) processes requires the reliable assessment of non-documented organizational characteristics. Based on key informant literature we discuss the difficulties of gaining reliable information from respondents and we identify potential sources for heterogeneous perceptions among different respondents. We assume that NPD research may be subject to response biases, if it is based on sole informants only. We apply an existing benchmarking approach for NPD processes in a comprehensive case study in order to illustrate sources and effects of single informant biases. We find that perceptions differ substantially among the individual respondents. In particular, we observe different functional perceptions between respondents from Marketing and Research and Development. The results are consistent with expectations from interface theory. These perceptual differences have a severe impact on the managerial conclusions drawn from benchmarking. There appears to be no single reliable source of information within an organization. Furthermore, variances among informants' assessments should be recognized and regarded as valuable information. It is our recommendation that multiple informants ought to be included in future NPD research and benchmarking studies.     

The effects of police performance on agency trustworthiness and citizen participation

ABSTRACT

We examine the effect of performance information on citizens’ willingness to engage with government. We hypothesize that when performance information is positive, citizens perceive government as trustworthy, which increases proclivity for participation. To validate this framework, we conduct an experiment that tests the effect of police performance on citizens’ perceptions of police trustworthiness and intentions to participate in a neighbourhood watch programme. We find that information about police performance strongly affects perceptions of police trustworthiness. Yet, citizen decisions to participate in the community watch programme are more complex and can be triggered by either positive or negative police performance.     

Performance measurement and best-practice benchmarking of mutual funds: combining stochastic dominance criteria with data envelopment analysis

We propose a method for mutual fund performance measurement and best-practice benchmarking, which endogenously identifies a dominating benchmark portfolio for each evaluated mutual fund. Dominating benchmarks provide information about efficiency improvement potential as well as portfolio strategies for achieving them. Portfolio diversification possibilities are accounts for by using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Portfolio risk is accounted for in terms of the full return distribution by utilizing Stochastic Dominance (SD) criteria. The approach is illustrated by an application to US based environmentally responsible mutual funds.     

Earnings Benchmarks and the Information Content of Quarterly Foreign Earnings of U.S. Multinational Companies

The meeting of earnings benchmarks is considered important for investors. The chief financial officers of U.S. companies state that the three most important earnings thresholds to meet are the earnings in the same quarter last year, the analysts' earnings forecast for the current quarter, and zero earnings. These earnings benchmarks have been defined in terms of total earnings. For U.S. multinational firms, total earnings consist primarily of domestic earnings and foreign earnings. We conduct an event study where we examine (1) the stock market reaction to meeting or beating quarterly domestic and foreign earnings benchmarks and (2) the market reaction to the changes in quarterly domestic and foreign earnings, while we control for meeting or beating the analysts' earnings forecast and the analysts' earnings forecast surprise. We find that the quarterly financial statement disclosure of domestic and foreign earnings under Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 131 supplies investors with valuable information that was not previously disseminated through financial analysts or other sources. The stock market reaction to meeting or beating foreign earnings from the same quarter in the prior year is stronger than the market reaction to meeting or beating domestic earnings from the same quarter in the prior year.     

The Influence of Network Management and Complexity on Network Performance in Taiwan,Spain and the Netherlands

Abstract

Using survey data of respondents involved in spatial planning projects in Taiwan, Spain and the Netherlands (n = 678), this article examines the influence of network management strategies and complexities (examined with regard to differences in perception of problems and solutions, and unexpected events) on perceived network performance. This theory-driven, empirical research shows that the effect of network management strategies on perceived performance is stronger than the impact of unexpected events or actors’ differences in perceptions of problems and solutions. We find this result in all the three countries. Our model explains 19.1 per cent of the variance in the perceived network performance.     

International rankings of government performance and source credibility for citizens: experiments about e-government rankings in the UK and the Netherlands

International organizations are an alternative to national governments as a source of information for citizens about governments’ performance. Experiments about high UK e-government performance reported in an international ranking find a United Nations (UN) source increases citizens’ perceptions of the truthfulness of reported performance and increases perceived high performance compared to national government reporting identical information. The UN source also has higher perceived honesty, helpfulness and knowledgeability. A replication experiment in the Netherlands generalizes the finding about perceived higher truthfulness. International sources boost the credibility of information about high performance, improving citizens’ perceptions of national governments.     

Are employers assessing the right traits in hiring? Evidence from Hong Kong companies

Employers constantly function as information processors. The personnel selection process requires employers to decide among candidates characterized by multiple attributes. The purpose of this study (N = 300) was to develop an understanding of the selection decision process of recruiters, and to identify inconsistencies, if any, between recruiters' perception on the ideal qualities for effective performance and qualities actually assessed during interviews. Moreover, the paper compares the direct and indirect approaches in attribute importance estimation. Conscientiousness was the ideal quality for effective performance and Extraversion was most assessed during interviews, unveiling the possibility that managers may not be assessing the right traits and hiring the right candidate. This paper is of significance because it provides useful feedback for HR professionals and hiring managers in understanding their cognitive and actual behaviour and heightens the need for better selection strategies.     

International Comparisons of Australia's Infrastructure Performance

International benchmarking has played a key role in the reform of Australia's infrastructure industries by promoting indirect or yardstick competition, in highlighting the need for further reform and building a consensus for implementing necessary changes. The international benchmarking of infrastructure performance by the Bureau of Industry Economics (BIE) between 1991 and 1996 did much to focus attention on the need for change. The BIE examined the performance of eight infrastructure industries relative to international best practice: electricity, rail freight, telecommunications, the waterfront, road freight, coastal shipping, aviation and gas supply. Performance comparisons concentrated on indicators of price, service quality, labour productivity and capital productivity. This paper reviews and summarises the performance comparisons the BIE undertook over the last three years of its infrastructure benchmarking program. The BIE international benchmarking program provides a useful role model for other countries wanting to seriously pursue reform of their infrastructure industries.     

A comparative analysis of the work values of Greece's ‘Millennial’ generation

This study adds to the growing body of international evidence concerning the millennial generation (i.e. those born after 1980), by documenting the work values of millennial-aged undergraduate students (N = 649) in Greece, using an adapted version of the Lyons Work Value Survey. Our results show that millennial-aged Greeks place most importance on intrinsic and social aspects of work, and less importance on extrinsic and prestige values. We statistically compare our results to those of published studies of millennial-aged respondents from other countries and find that Greek respondents hold a unique work value profile, although they demonstrate some similarities to counterparts in other countries. Our findings do not clearly support the notion of a ‘global youth generation’, as young people in various countries hold different work value priorities. This suggests that employers seeking to recruit, engage and retain young workers internationally must tailor their offerings to the specific cultural context.     

High level of education builds up strong relationship between organizational culture and organization performance in Pakistan

Organizational culture is an important aspect to be considered by dynamic organizations in order to develop some competitive advantage to ensure enhanced organizational performance. This study aims to elaborate the dimensions of cultural construct in organizations of diversified sectors and their implications in Pakistan. Ten organizations were selected for the study. Four hundred and seventy eight questionnaires were received from these organizations. The questionnaires consisted of three parts, of these, the first part had nine elements that were related to organization and personal profile of the respondents, whereas the second part consisted of 60 elements of cultural construct, namely mission, adaptability, consistency, and involvement. In the third part, dependent variable appears as organization performance and was evaluated by asking eight questions. Results are revealed in two models: according to the first model, organization performance increases from negative 56% to positive 92% due to organizational culture with respect to education. And the second model is also significant at the 95% of confidence level (p < 0.05), and there is a positive relationship between independent and dependent variables. Organizational culture is an essential part of organizational success. Core organizational values typically emphasize special themes such as performance excellence, innovation, social responsibility, worker involvement, and quality of work life. Literacy rate in Pakistan is far below the literacy rate in developed countries. Educated employees play an important role in enhancing organizational performance, particularly in corporate setup. To measure affects of education on organizational performance through its construct involvement, consistency, adaptability, and mission have been endeavored in this study.     

Stimulating teachers’ team performance through team-oriented HR practices: the roles of affective team commitment and information processing

Abstract

Teams of teachers are increasingly held accountable for the quality of education and educational reforms in vocational education and training institutions. However, historically teachers have not been required to engage in deep-level collaboration, thus team-oriented HR practices are being used to promote teamworking in the sector. This paper examines the relationship between team-oriented HR practices and team performance in terms of innovation and efficiency via teachers’ affective team commitment and engagement in information processing. To examine these associations, a team-oriented HRM research instrument was developed and validated based on the ability-motivation-opportunity model (N = 970, 130 teams) and hypothesised associations were examined using multilevel structural equation modelling (N = 704, 70 teams). The results show positive relationships between the team-oriented HR practices of recruitment, team development, team evaluation and teamwork facilitation, and team innovation. Additionally, all practices except team development were positively related to team efficiency. The relationships between team-oriented HR practices and these team performance indicators were often partially or fully mediated by affective team commitment and information processing. Because affective team commitment and information processing sometimes only partially mediated the links between team-oriented HR practices and team performance, other underlying mechanisms await identification.     

Social networks and citizen election forecasting: The more friends the better

Most citizens correctly forecast which party will win a given election, and such forecasts usually have a higher level of accuracy than voter intention polls. How do citizens do it? We argue that social networks are a big part of the answer: much of what we know as citizens comes from our interactions with others. Previous research has considered only indirect characteristics of social networks when analyzing why citizens are good forecasters. We use a unique German survey and consider direct measures of social networks in order to explore their role in election forecasting. We find that three network characteristics –  size, political composition, and frequency of political discussion – are among the most important variables when predicting the accuracy of citizens’ election forecasts.     

An exploratory empirical inquiry into the impact of federal budget deficits on the ex post real interest rate yield on ten year Treasury notes over the last half century

Using over a half century of data, this exploratory empirical study adopts a simple loanable funds to investigate the impact of the federal budget deficits on the ex post real interest rate yield on 10 year Treasury notes. For the period 1960–2012, an autoregressive 2SLS estimate finds that the ex post real interest rate yield on 10 year U.S. Treasury notes is an increasing function of the ex post real interest rate yield on Moody’s Baa-rated corporate bonds, the ex post real interest rate yield on 3 year Treasury notes, and the ex post real interest rate yield on high grade municipal bonds. This exploratory analysis also finds that federal budget deficit (relative to the GDP level) exercised a positive and statistically significant impact on the ex post real interest rate yield on 10 year Treasury notes, a finding consistent with a number of earlier studies of shorter time periods     

Using Clinical Trials to Benchmark Effects Produced in Clinical Practice

This paper proposes an intuitive yet statistical advancement of the benchmarking method (e.g., Weersing and Weisz, 2002, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 70: 299–310) that could facilitate the assessment of pre-post treatment effectiveness of psychotherapy and other interventions delivered in clinical settings against efficacy observed in clinical trials. Primary development was in the use of the “good-enough principle” (Serlin and Lapsley, 1985 American Psychologist 40: 73–13, 1993, In: G. Keren & C. Lewis (eds.), A handbook for Data Analysis in Behavioral Sciences: Methodological Issues. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associated, pp. 199–228), which allowed for setting a clinically relevant margin between the benchmarks and the effect sizes observed in clinical settings so as to avoid attaining statistical significance with clinically trivial differences. Examples are given using clinical trials benchmarks of adult depression treatment, followed by instructions and limitations for its use.     

Endogenous Social Comparisons and the Internal Organization of Firms

Should workers of a firm be organizationally integrated to realize benefits from benchmarking? Or should they be separated to preclude horizontal social comparisons? This paper highlights a trade‐off that arises if social comparisons in firms are endogenous. We analyze a principal multi‐agent model in which the principal trades off the reduction of agents' risk exposures by use of relative performance evaluation and the thereby induced social comparisons for which agents must be compensated. Contrary to standard theoretical predictions, relative performance evaluation is optimal only if the performance measures are sufficiently correlated relative to the agents' regard for others. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Synthetic Approach to Projecting Input–Output Tables

This paper describes an approach used in the Canadian input–output (IO) accounts, which seeks to enhance the timeliness of the tables. It combines traditional updating methods, balancing techniques and the most recent data. To assess the performance of this approach, aggregate estimates from the synthetic accounts are presented for two years, and compared with estimates from benchmarks and with estimates obtained from a mechanical estimation technique. The results show that most IO components can be estimated with a relatively small estimation error and that substantial accuracy is gained from using the synthetic approach compared with a mechanical technique. Results based on data which are two years away from IO benchmarks are obtained at the cost of large errors. Synthetic estimates of the IO accounts improve the timeliness problem by at least a full year.     

The mediating effect of information availability between organization design variables and environmental practices in the Canadian hotel industry

This study examines whether providing employees with information about environmental impacts, industry practices, technologies, regulations and benchmarking of environmental practices mediates the influence of organization design variables on environmental impact reduction. The study finds that both organization design variables (discretionary slack, coordination mechanisms and performance evaluation) and information availability have a direct influence on environmental impact reduction practices in the Canadian hotel industry. However, information availability partially mediates the influence of organization design variables, indicating that effecting changes in organization design alone may be less effective in generating proactive environmental practices without providing employees with information and benchmarking of industry environmental practices. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.