THE CORRECT SPECIFICATION OF OPPORTUNITY COST IN THE EVALUATION OF BOND ISSUE SIZE AND TIMING

The question of when and in what quantity to obtain required bond financing takes on significance due to fixed flotation coats and the opportunity to invest excess long-term debt in marketable securities. In prior research, the optimal size and timing of bond issues is most often determined as the solution to a cost minimization problem. In this paper, we first demonstrate that previous studies have incorrectly identified the opportunity cost of excess debt. We then delineate the opportunity cost in a form consistent with modern capital structure theory. Our results indicate that a firm's capital structure and marginal tax rate are important determinants of the optimal size and timing of its bond issues.     

TIMING AND INTENSITY EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTMENTS

This paper examines the investment timing and intensity conditions under which advantages may exist for first movers in environmental investments. The potential advantages on which the paper focuses are timing and intensity of investments in recent pollution-reducing manufacturing technologies that produce salable product at the same time that they reduce pollution. The data come from 50 chemical bleached paper pulp manufacturers in eight countries. The model measures the impact of the independent variables on growth in profits from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, controlling for national differences in environmental regulations, among other variables. Results indicate a positive relationship between timing of investments and profit growth. There is also evidence that more intense investment patterns, when not tempered by sufficient time to absorb the investments, may lead to lower profit growth.     

UNIT COST MODEL FOR THE TIMING OF CAPACITY CHANGE

The optimal capacity expansion time is an essential problem especially in capital intensive industries, and capacity expansion decisions have a great influence on the firm's operations and profitability. It can be said that the timing question is quite complex, and in practice the experience and intuition of the decision-makers have a central role. We can, however, use theoretical models to explain many essential relations and deepen our understanding of the nature of capacity changes. The actual object of this study is to develop a unit cost minimization model for the timing of capacity expansion. The model is based on the costs and capacities of old and new machines, and the arithmetic growth rate of demand. The analytical solution of the model shows that the relative timing of expansion can be presented with cost advantage and capacity change ratios. It is also shown that the analogical model can be used for capacity replacement and cutting. Finally, the model is extended, and it is shown that such timing can be found which minimizes unit costs and maximizes the profit of the planning period. The original contribution of the study is to suggest an alternative evaluation method for the timing of capacity changes and to present an analytical solution to the formulated problem. The presented model is applied to an illustrative case where capacity addition is planned either through expansion or replacement. The suggestion of the model to the case company is that it is preferable to replace the old machine with a bigger one rather than to acquire a totally new machine.     

THE TIMING OF REAL OPTION EXERCISE: SOME RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

This paper briefly reviews one recent development in real options modeling. This development aims to extend traditional real options models. We show that previous models are incomplete in that only the optimal action threshold is derived. The new literature aims to provide, further information on optimal option exercise. By introducing the first passage time approach, empirically testable propositions on the probability of option exercise and the expected waiting time before an option is exercised are provided.     

COHERENCE OF THE KNOWLEDGE BASE AND THE FIRM'S INNOVATIVE PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM THE U.S. PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY*

We examine the relationship between the coherence of the knowledge base and the innovative performance of U.S. pharmaceutical firms during the 1990's. We develop measures of the coherence and scope of the firms' knowledge base. Count data regression models show a strong link between these two properties and the firms' innovative performance. Firms experience decreasing returns to scale in research but larger firms enjoy a significant size advantage in innovation. Knowledge flows are necessary in knowledge production but not sufficient to secure its quality. Over time, the contribution of the scope and coherence of the knowledge base is increasing.     

PATENT DAMAGES AND SPATIAL COMPETITION*

We analyze price competition between a spatially differentiated product patentee and an imitator anticipating probabilistic future patent damages. We compare the performance of three damage regimes. The ‘reasonable royalty’ regime, which yields symmetric equilibrium pricing, maximizes static welfare and yields the highest innovation incentives when patent enforcement is nearly certain. The ‘lost profits’ regime, which may deter infringement, yields the highest innovation incentives when patent enforcement is less‐than‐certain and products are sufficiently valuable. The ‘unjust enrichment’ regime yields low static efficiency and low innovation incentives. We offer new insights into the ‘hypothetical negotiation’ that courts use to construct reasonable royalties.     

SCREENING AND MERGER ACTIVITY*

In our paper, the target of a proposed merger, by setting a reserve price, is able to screen prospective acquirers according to their (expected) ability to generate merger‐specific synergies. Both empirical evidence and many merger models suggest that the difference between high and low‐synergy mergers becomes smaller during booms. Thus, a target's opportunity cost for sorting out relatively less fitting acquirers increases and, hence, targets screen less tightly during booms, which leads to a hike in merger activity. Our screening mechanism not only predicts that merger activity is intense during booms and subdued during recessions but is also consistent with other stylized facts about takeovers and generates novel testable predictions.     

AN APPLICATION OF ACTIVITY BASED COSTING IN THE AIR CONDITIONER MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY

AIRCO is a manufacturer of industrial air conditioner units whose management is concerned that their current traditional cost accounting (TCA) system is not accurately representing their product cost behavior. Under certain operating conditions, an activity based costing (ABC) system can provide relevant and accurate indirect cost information that assists in making customer, product, and process improvement decisions. An ABC system was successfully developed for AIRCO that indicated that their products do not consume overhead costs on a volume basis as represented by their current TCA system. Valuable product and process information were obtained. This case study details the development process that was used and the results that were obtained during the ABC analysis.     

论人体形态与服装结构的关系

文章分析了服装与人体的相互关系,揭示了人体形态结构对服装结构的影响及二者相互吻合关系,为服装细部结构设计提供了可靠的依据。