An exploration of call centre agents' CRM software use,customer orientation and job performance in the customer relationship maintenance phase

Exploratory research techniques are used to examine the relationships between call centre agents' customer relationship management (CRM) software use, agents' customer orientation, and agents' job performance in the maintenance phase of customer relationships. Maintenance activities, which focus on customer retention and cross- and up-selling, are important to study because prior research suggests they have the strongest effect on company performance. In the financial services industry, CRM software applications supporting retention and cross-/up-selling activities benefit firms by raising revenues and reducing costs. The context for this exploratory research is that of in-bound customer service and sales call centres at three different financial institutions. Based on the analysis of data from key informants across these different contexts, this research suggests that CRM software use is a separate antecedent of call centre agent job performance and has a minimal relationship with customer orientation. Given the suggestive nature of exploratory research results, further research is warranted.     

Financial service elimination: Objectives and problem situations

Despite the importance of financial institutions' ability to rationalise their service ranges in today's competitive environment, the area of financial service elimination decision making is one of the least researched in the literature on services marketing. This paper reports preliminary empirical research into the objectives that British financial institutions pursue by eliminating financial services, as well as into the problem situations that make financial services candidates for elimination. The findings suggest that there is a wide array of service elimination objectives and problem situations. It is also suggested that there is a need for financial institutions to distinguish between what is their service elimination objective and what is the problem situation that makes them examine a financial service for possible elimination. The practical and theoretical implications that are discussed at the end of this paper point to the need for more empirical research, if the body of knowledge on service elimination is to grow.     

Financial services and the African-American market: what every financial planner should know

African-American consumers differ markedly from their Caucasian counterparts in terms of financial product preferences, product research, and investment asset portfolio composition. This study examines some of the principal differences between African-American and Caucasian households in evaluating and purchasing investment assets and explores differences in asset holdings between the two racial groups. This information can help financial planners seeking to market to the African-American community better understand this community, tailor investment information for the unique needs of this community, and render more effective service to individuals and families that comprise this attractive and growing market segment.     

对发展我国汽车金融服务市场的思考

我国现有的非银行金融机构,不具备专业办理汽车消费信贷的要求。为此,我国金融机构序列中应增加一类新的机构———汽车金融公司,专门办理汽车消费信贷业务。这对我国汽车产业的发展必定是一个极大的促进。为此,需要我们在发展汽车金融服务市场方面作深入地研究。     

The determinants of the convertible bonds call policy of Western European companies

This paper analyzes the determinants of the convertible bonds call delay of the Western European firms. This delay is analyzed comparatively to the optimal call policy suggested by Ingersoll (1977a) who argues that in a perfect market, managers should call the convertible bonds immediately when the conversion value reaches the call price. Like the previous studies in the US market, we find that the Western European companies delay the call of their convertible bonds for several weeks. This delay is explained by considering the main theoretical rationales for the convertible bonds call delays (the notice period, the call protection provisions, the cash flow advantage hypothesis, the financial distress and the signaling theory). The results are consistent with the cash flow advantage rationale but less evidence is found for the other theories.     

Robust pricing and hedging under trading restrictions and the emergence of local martingale models

We pursue the robust approach to pricing and hedging in which no probability measure is fixed, but call or put options with different maturities and strikes can be traded initially at their market prices. We allow the inclusion of robust modelling assumptions by specifying a set of feasible paths on which (super)hedging arguments are required to work. In a discrete-time setup with no short selling, we characterise absence of arbitrage and show that if call options are traded, then the usual pricing–hedging duality is preserved. In contrast, if only put options are traded, a duality gap may appear. Embedding the results into a continuous-time framework, we show that the duality gap may be interpreted as a financial bubble and link it to strict local martingales. This provides an intrinsic justification of strict local martingales as models for financial bubbles arising from a combination of trading restrictions and current market prices.     

Branding and relationships: Customer and supplier perspectives

This paper explores and investigates the role of branding within financial services. Specifically, the study aims to assess the importance of branding and its associated elements including brand image and brand experience in the relationships that exist between consumers and their financial brands. It aims to achieve this through research, which identifies gaps between the managerial and consumer perspectives on branding in relationships in retail financial services. It is well established that the characteristics of services are different from those of manufactured goods and that service personnel play a central role in the services experience. Moreover, the concept of relationship marketing within services proclaims the importance of one-to-one relationships between businesses and customers as well as relationships between consumers and their brands. Drawing from the fields of brand management, relationship marketing and services marketing, this research aims to investigate the perceptional differences between consumers and suppliers in relation to the importance of branding in financial service relationships. The research findings indicate that brand experience appears to be far more salient than brand image in shaping and building meaningful and lasting brand perceptions and promoting customer retention.     

The NHS Financial Manager in 2010

In the White Paper, 'The New NHS' (Cm 3807), the competitive nature of the internal market was removed and annual contracts were replaced with long-term service agreements to facilitate best value. Using the findings from earlier research studies, the implications for NHS financial managers are discussed in this article. Financial managers have a major task in maintaining financial stability in the move from one financial regime to another. Improving budget devolution to Primary Care Groups and encouraging good financial planning and control are essential. Financial managers must develop and integrate reliable cost information into the wider performance framework.     

Demarcating designations: Chartered Financial Analyst and Certified Financial Planner

Financial planning service professionals seek certifications in order to gain the necessary skills for their profession, to establish professional credibility, and to validate their knowledge base. This research provides insight and guidance for financial service professionals considering attainment of a professional designation as well as those who already hold such a designation by examining the differences and similarities between two financial analysis/planning designations: the Chartered Financial Analyst (having earned the CFA designation) and the Certified Financial Planner (having earned the CFP certification); 272 professionals who hold both designations were surveyed. The research showed that although some overlap exists, the skills, expertise and target market of these two designations remain quite distinct in terms of what they emphasise and whom they target.     

大型央企集团财务治理模式及其制度创新

中央企业集团的财务治理问题是我国实务界和学术界特别纠结的问题。这些年随着中国市场环境和央企的自身战略持续变革,既挑战着现有集团财务理论的研究结论,也迫切需要创新性的、系统化的重构。本文的研究从当今央企的投资经营多元化、多级治理和日益对接资本市场等新变革出发,在文献分析基础上明确了整合央企集团财务治理、财务管控体系和经营目标与价值创造的基本逻辑,提出了强化总部的财务领导力与经营分权、多样化控制机制等基本原则,阐明了央企集团财务治理体系是:以经济增加值EVA为核心的业绩管理体系、以全面预算为主的多级治理体系、以风险边界为重心的财务结构管控体系和以财务增加值为基础的分配控制。     

A Tale of Two Stories: Sustainability and the Quarterly Earnings Call

One of the challenges companies claim to face in making sustainability a core part of their strategy and operations is that the market does not care about sustainability, either in general or because the time frames in which it matters are too long. The response of investors who say they care about sustainability—and their numbers are large and growing—is that companies do a poor job in providing them with the information they need to take sustainability into account in their investment decisions. Whatever the merits of each view, the fact remains that an effective conversation about sustainability requires the participation of both sides of the market. There are two main mechanisms for companies to communicate to the market as a way of starting this conversation: mandated reporting and quarterly conference calls. In this paper, the authors argue that neither companies nor investors can be seen as taking sustainability seriously unless it is integrated into the quarterly earnings call. Until that happens, the core business and sustainability are two separate worlds, each of which has its own narrator telling a different story to a different audience. The authors illustrate their argument using the case of SAP, the German software company. SAP was the first company to host an “ESG Investor Briefing,” a conference call for analysts and investors held on July 30, 2013 in which the company discussed both its sustainability performance and its contribution to the firm's financial performance. The narrative of this call was very similar to the narrative of the company's first “integrated report,” which was issued in 2012 and presented the company's sustainability initiatives in the context of its operating and financial performance. Nevertheless, the content and main focus of the “ESG Briefing” were very different from that of most quarterly earnings conferences, and so were the audiences. Whereas the quarterly call was attended mainly by sell side analysts—and the words “sustainability” or “sustainable” failed to receive a single mention—the ESG briefing was delivered to an investor audience made up almost entirely of the “buy side.”     

Trust in financial services: the influence of demographics and dispositional characteristics

So far, very little attention has been paid to examining consumer perceptions of trust from an interdisciplinary perspective. The purpose of this study is to examine how consumer trusting belief and disposition to trust within the financial services sector vary on the basis of individual demographic differences in trust. The research provides new insights into how consumers with higher dispositional trust have higher institutional trust and higher trusting belief and how consumers’ trusting belief significantly differs according to their demographic background in terms of age, marital status, ethnicity and gross annual income. The findings offer useful insights for the managers in financial institutions to carefully consider the impact of the influence of these individual differences on consumer behaviour in order to serve the needs of consumers in their target market and be able to design financial products and develop trust building strategies to attract and retain them. They also call for the action of the regulators and the financial institutions to play their part in building strong institutional systems that contribute to engendering higher levels of consumer trust.     

银行业市场结构对企业生产率的影响——来自工业企业的经验证据

本文在充分考虑中国信贷市场本地竞争特征的基础上,利用手工收集的商业银行分支机构独特数据构造了城市层面的银行业市场结构指标,并将其与2002-2007年中国工业企业数据库进行合并构造基础数据库,考察了银行业市场结构对企业生产率的影响。研究发现:首先,一个更具竞争性的银行业市场结构显著提高了企业生产率,这支持了银行业市场结构的“市场力量假说”;其次,从影响机制来看,一个更具竞争性的银行业市场结构更有利于缓解企业面临的融资约束;最后,银行业市场结构对企业生产率的影响在那些面临更多融资约束的企业中更为显著,小企业、非国有企业、新企业和高技术行业的企业从银行业竞争中获益更大。     

Effects of culture and financial literacy among Chinese-Americans on participating in financial services

The main contribution of this study is the theoretical development of the moderating effect of cultural-related variables such as generational status and gender in predicting attitudes toward paid professional service. Our analysis establishes that the cultural-related variables significantly affect the Chinese-American respondents’ attitude toward paid professional services. Our findings also highlight the substantial role of cultural background in determining financial literacy. We empirically examined the influence of financial literacy, risk attitude, gender role, and generational status of Chinese-American consumers on their adoption of paid financial services. Results reveal that Chinese-Americans with a low level of financial literacy reported a more positive attitude toward paid professional financial advisors than those who were more financially knowledgeable. In addition, we found that respondents who were risk-seeking reported a more positive attitude toward paid professional financial advisors than those who were risk-averse. In our conceptual model, we identified two particular moderators of interest: generation status and gender. We also found an interaction between Chinese-Americans’ level of financial literacy and their generational status. Moreover, we discovered that gender moderates the effect of consumers’ attitude toward paid professional financial advisors. These findings offer practical implication and guidance for financial service providers when they market and deliver services to this particular ethnic group and encourages researchers to treat immigrant diaspora as not being as monolithic as assumed in prior research.     

国内信贷市场变化与贷款替代研究

信贷市场在融资体系中的优势地位正在发生变化,资本市场的形成和各种融资方式的发展,对商业银行等金融机构的贷款逐步形成替代,使原来在我国居于独占地位的信贷市场在社会融资中的地位逐步下降,从而影响到商业银行的发展和生存竞争.商业银行不能再固守传统业务市场,必须实施战略转型,在继续开拓创新信贷市场业务的同时,努力开拓包括直接融资业务在内的非信贷业务,提高综合服务功能.中国工商银行应根据建设综合金融服务机构的要求,调整组织架构和业务流程,调整创新机制,建设有凝聚力和竞争力的人才队伍.     

国内信贷市场变化与贷款替代研究

信贷市场在融资体系中的优势地位正在发生变化，资本市场的形成和各种融资方式的发展，对商业银行等金融机构的贷款逐步形成替代，使原来在我国居于独占地位的信贷市场在社会融资中的地位逐步下降，从而影响到商业银行的发展和生存竞争。商业银行不能再固守传统业务市场，必须实施战略转型，在继续开拓创新信贷市场业务的同时，努力开拓包括直接融资业务在内的非信贷业务，提高综合服务功能。中国工商银行应根据建设综合金融服务机构的要求，调整组织架构和业务流程，调整创新机制，建设有凝聚力和竞争力的人才队伍。     

Research on the use of financial statement information for forecasting profitability

Research on the use of financial statement information for forecasting profitability has two objectives: (i) to generate improved forecasts of profitability and accurate estimates of firm value; and (ii) to identify market inefficiencies with respect to financial statement information. For these areas of research, this article describes the evolution, provides examples and shares implications of the research. It also discusses opportunities for future research. The article highlights that financial statement analysis research has slowly evolved and has received limited attention from academics. The article argues that there are vast opportunities for impactful research on fundamental analysis and market inefficiencies.     

金融服务、外资政策调整与企业出口——基于中国微观数据的验证

基于金融服务是制造业的重要中间品投入,本文研究我国金融服务业外资政策动态变化对下游企业出口行为的影响。理论上,金融服务业外资准入放松有助于提升金融服务中间品的技术和管理水平,直接效果是有助于提升出口企业使用金融服务的多样化和便捷化,促进企业出口。本文采用国家发改委公布的《外商投资产业指导目录》,首次度量了我国金融服务业外资准入政策的动态变化,并使用投入产出表将其与我国制造业企业数据进行上下游关联,有效检验了金融服务业外资政策调整对下游制造业企业出口的作用。结果表明:金融服务业外资政策调整放开有助于提高下游制造业企业出口倾向和收益,存在出口促进作用;管理效率高、出口非技术密集型及资本密集型产品的企业出口对金融服务业外资政策调整的反应更为灵敏;金融服务业外资政策调整放开通过缓解企业融资约束促进企业出口。本文研究显示我国金融服务业外资政策调整放开是推动我国贸易提升的一个重要支撑点。     

Adaptive Traders and the Design of Financial Markets

This paper studies a financial market populated by adaptive traders. Learning is modeled following Camerer and Ho (1999) . A call market and a Walrasian tatonnement are compared in an environment in which both institutions have the same Nash and competitive equilibrium outcomes. When traders learn via a belief‐based model, equilibrium is discovered in both types of markets. In contrast, when traders learn via a reinforcement‐based model, convergence to equilibrium is achieved in the Walrasian tatonnement but not in the call market. This paper suggests that market mechanisms can be designed to foster traders' learning of equilibrium strategies.     

关于权证定价修正模型的比较研究——基于交易成本和股息分红因素的分析框架

在我国股权分置改革中，权证推动了证券市场的金融创新。鉴于权证定价可以借鉴期权理论，国外B—S模型对我国权证市场的创新和风险管理具有一定的参考意义。本文采用B—S定价模型定价宝钢认购权证和长电认购权证，分别从交易成本和股息分红的角度进行了相应的模型调整，以改进、完善适应我国权证市场的定价方法。