The relation between wealth and labour market transitions: an empirical study for the Netherlands

We study the relationship between wealth and labour market transitions. A lifecycle model, in which individuals are faced by uncertainty about the availability of jobs, serves as a basis for a reduced‐form specification for the probabilities of labour market transitions, which depend on wealth according to the model. Theory implies a negative effect of wealth on the probability of becoming or staying employed. This implication is tested for in a reduced‐from model of labour market transitions, in which we allow for random effects, initial conditions, and measurement error in wealth. Elasticities of transitions probabilities with respect to wealth are presented. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relationship between environmental performance and financial performance: an empirical analysis of japanese corporations

The hypotheses that a firm's environmental performance has a positive impact on its financial performance and vice versa are statistically supported by Japanese data. However, this tendency for two‐way positive interaction appears to be only a relatively recent phenomenon. The tendency for realizing the two‐way interaction is not limited to the top‐scoring firms in terms of both financial and environmental performance. On the contrary, this is also a trend that can be observed fairly generally. Obviously, when we consider only scores of those companies that published the relevant information in their environmental reports, and conduct the statistical causality test with such information as additional input to the pooled time‐series and cross‐section data of financial performance, the results become more strongly significant. From the recent experience of environmental policies in Japan, we infer that information‐based environmental policy measures are effective to encourage the ongoing transition toward a more sustainable market economy. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Sustainability,performance and organizational strategy: an empirical analysis of public organizations

This paper presents a first time empirical analysis of sustainable management and performance in public organizations. Prior evidence from private firms on the relationship between sustainable management and performance indicates that the benefits of adopting social responsibility practices accrue across a number of dimensions of performance. Empirical analysis of English local government suggests that sustainable management is related to sustainability performance but not to other measures of organizational performance. These conclusions raise questions about the nature of sustainable management in public agencies and the measurement of performance. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

High performance work systems and organizational performance: an empirical study of Taiwan's semiconductor design firms

This paper presents a study examining the relationship between high performance work systems (HPWS) and organizational performance in Taiwan's semiconductor design industry. The hypotheses are tested by matching and analysing data collected from field interviews with 21 HR managers and surveys of 21 senior operations managers and 1,129 employees. The results of the statistical analysis demonstrate that the effective use of employee empowerment practices is positively related to organizational performance.     

Democracy and trade: an empirical study

The theoretical discussion on globalization has suggested that there are linkages between democracy and trade, although the direction of influence is less certain. Formal empirical studies remain scarce, and have often focused on the question of whether democratic regimes influence trade policy, as opposed to the actual relationship between democracy and trade. This paper seeks to answer the question, “Do democracies trade more?” by applying the gravity equation to a large dataset of bilateral trade data for the period 1948–1999, while taking into account the role of democracy. It finds that democracy is positively related to trade flows, but only after controlling for trade pair heterogeneity. In addition, it makes the case for studies of this nature to draw a distinction between trade flows in the pre- and post-1990s period of rapid democratization as well as between developed and developing countries.     

Job and organizational attitudes in relation to financial performance in Greek retail banking: an exploratory empirical investigation

In an attempt to contribute to satisfaction and commitment research, the current study explores the differential relationships that job attitudes (e.g. job satisfaction) and organizational attitudes (e.g. organizational satisfaction and organizational continuance commitment) may have with financial performance in Greek retail banking. A total of 331 employees completed the standardized questionnaires. Three sets of hypotheses were tested, investigating direct effects, mediation effects, and moderation effects. Findings suggest that financial performance yields increased levels of high-sacrifice continuance commitment, resulting in enhanced employee satisfaction – both with the job and the employing organization. Results are discussed, limitations are considered, and directions for future research are proposed.     

Business model based on strong sustainability: Insights from an empirical study

The extant literature on traditional and sustainable business models lacks insights into how strong sustainability—that is, constraining economic and social activities within the limitations of natural resources—can shape business models. Thus, the purpose of this article is to propose a business model framework based on the principles of strong sustainability (SSBM). The proposed framework is developed combining available literature and empirical insights from a qualitative abductive study of 12 permaculture business ventures in Sweden. The results identify nature as the primary stakeholder and recommend strong local anchorage, the creation of diversified income sources, deliberate limitations on economic growth, the infusion of the business model with a systemic and ecosystem perspective, and the design of value flows beyond financial aspects. The discussion reflects on the most important results, provides practical implications and managerial guidelines, and suggests future research in the SSBM.     

关于灰色关联分析的项目财务评价

本文提出了项目财务评价的灰色关联分析方法,建立了灰色关联分析静态评价模型和动态评价模型,同时结合例子具体介绍了灰色关联分析的实施步骤.     

Effects of simplicity and discipline on operational flexibility: An empirical reexamination of the rigid flexibility model

This study empirically tests the rigid flexibility model proposed by Collins and Schmenner [Collins, R.S., Schmenner, R.W., 1993. Achieving rigid flexibility: factory focus for the 1990s. European Management Journal 11 (4), 443–447]. It investigates relationships between flexibility performance and adoption of simplicity and discipline programs in manufacturing. The research replicates the study by Collins et al. [Collins, R.S., Cordon, C., Julien, D., 1998. An empirical test of the rigid flexibility model. Journal of Operations Management 16 (2–3), 133–146] with some modifications, including the use of a broader international database, the assessment of both technology and organizational programs, and the testing of the moderating role of dedicated line layout on the relationships between simplicity, discipline and flexibility. Analysis of data from 285 manufacturers of fabricated metal products, machinery, and equipment from 14 countries indicates that simplicity and discipline related positively to performance in product customization, volume flexibility, mix flexibility, and time to market, and that some of these relationships were more positive in high volume processes than in low volume processes. The results provide empirical validation to the rigid flexibility model in an international manufacturing context.     

Market priorities, manufacturing configuration, and business performance: an empirical analysis of the order-winners framework

This study carries out an empirical test of the order-winners framework in manufacturing organizations. Hill [Hill, T., 1985. Manufacturing Strategy: The Strategic Management of the Manufacturing Function, first ed. Macmillan, Basingstoke; Hill, T., 2000. Manufacturing Strategy: Text and Cases, second ed. Palgrave, Basingstoke] proposed the order-winners framework to help managers to improve understanding about markets and to develop a consistent manufacturing strategy. The framework defines ideal profiles of products and markets, and manufacturing and investment decisions that relate to alternative process choices. The study tests the hypothesis of a negative relationship between misfit to an ideal profile defined in the framework and business performance in domestic market share, return on sales, and return on investment in a survey of 183 manufacturers from 17 countries. Results found a significant negative relationship between misfit and domestic market share. The study contributes to operations management research by developing a methodology to measure fit as profile deviation in the context of manufacturing, and applying this methodology to the order-winners framework.     

Leader-member exchange,employee performance,and work outcomes: an empirical study in the Chinese context

In this study, we employed the multidimensional view of LMX (LMX-MDM) to develop a model that captured different antecedents and outcomes of task and contextual performance. We tested this model with a sample drawn from subjects from the People's Republic of China. The results indicated that the affect dimension of LMX-MDM was positively associated with task performance and contextual performance. The contribution dimension of LMX-MDM was positively related to the job dedication dimension of contextual performance. Supervisory ratings of the task performance and the interpersonal facilitation dimension of contextual performance predicted the promotability of subordinates, and task performance influenced subordinates' intention to quit. Limitations and future research are discussed.     

Background factors to innovation performance: results of an empirical study using fsQCA methodology

On the one hand, we have analyzed the relationships between four key constructs: entrepreneurial orientation, online social networks, organizational learning capability and innovation performance. On the other hand, we have observed the importance of correctly using and justifying the calibration in fsQCA given that the obtained results may differ. We developed an empirical study with 209 four-star and five-star Spanish hotels. Using the fsQCA methodology, the results show that in order to obtain innovative results, hotels should combine Entrepreneurial Orientation and online Social Networks along with organizational learning capability.     

Institutions and public investment: an empirical analysis

This paper investigates the effect of institutional quality on the levels, volatility and quality of public investment. Our findings suggest an inverse relationship between public investment levels and institutional quality, supporting the idea that governments use public investment as a vehicle for rent seeking. We also find that lower quality of governance increases the volatility of public investment. Finally, we provide some tentative evidence of a positive relationship between institutional quality and the quality of infrastructure. Policymakers who aim to reduce infrastructure needs through capital spending should take measures to strengthen institutional capacity to manage public investments.     

Modeling share returns - an empirical study on the Variance Gamma model

Due to the fact that there has been only little research on some essential issues of the Variance Gamma (VG) process, we have recognized a gap in literature as to the performance of the various estimation methods for modeling empirical share returns. While some papers present only few estimated parameters for a very small, selected empirical database, Finaly and Seneta (Int Stat Rev 76:167–186, 2008) compare most of the possible estimation methods using simulated data. In contrast to Finaly and Seneta (2008) we utilize a broad, daily, and empirical data set consisting of the stocks of each company listed on the DOW JONES over the period from 1991 to 2011. We also apply a regime switching model in order to identify normal and turbulent times within our data set and fit the VG process to the data in the respective period. We find out that the VG process parameters vary over time, and in accordance with the regime switching model, we recognize significantly increasing fitting rates which are due to the chosen periods.     

Options and earnings announcements: an empirical study for the European Options Exchange

In this paper we give an introduction in option pricing theory and explicitly specify the Black-Scholes model. Although market participants use this and similar models to price options, they violate one of the fundamental assumptions of the model. They do not set a constant value for the volatility of the underlying asset over time, but change the volatility even during a day. By means of event study methodology we investigate the volatility of the underlying asset and the volatility implicit in option prices around earnings announcements by firms. We find that the volatility in option prices increases before the announcement date and drops sharply afterwards. The volatility of the underlying stocks is higher only at the announcement dates and we do not observe a higher volatility around these dates. Hence, the constant volatility of the underlying asset, which is one of the assumptions in the Black-Scholes model, does not hold. However, the market seems to correctly anticipate the change in volatility, by correcting option prices.     

The study between shadow banking and financial fragility in China: an empirical analysis based on the co-integration test and error correction model

The rapid development of shadow banking manifesting systematic risk has attracted increasing attention recently, but there exists a lack of empirical research in this field. This article applies co-integration analysis and error correction model using annual data during the 2001–2010 period to test the short-term fluctuation and long-term equilibrium between expansion velocity of shadow banking and financial fragility, and puts forward corresponding policy recommendations.     

管理层持股与公司绩效:一项基于深圳股票市场的实证研究

本文在现有理论和实证分析框架基础上,以在深圳证券交易所上市的331家公司为研究对象,运用非线性回归模型对上市公司管理层持股与经营绩效的相关性进行了实证检验。实证结果表明,公司绩效与管理层持股之间存在三次曲线关系:管理层持股在0%—0·1376%之间时,公司绩效随管理层持股比例的增加而下降;管理层持股在0·1376%—0·7462%之间时,公司绩效随管理层持股比例的增加而上升;管理层持股超过0·7462%时,公司绩效再次随着管理层持股比例的增加而下降。     

An operational mathematical programming model for the planning of economic activities in relation to the environment

The model described in this article is a mathematical programming model to assess the economic implications of different industrialization policies. It consists of input-output relationships connected with an environmental quality model converting emission data into expected distribution over space.     

Sources of airline productivity from carbon emissions: an analysis of operational performance under good and bad outputs

This study incorporates carbon dioxide emissions in productivity measurement in the airline industry and examines the determinants of productivity change. For this purpose a two-stage analysis under joint production of good and bad outputs is employed to compare the operational performance of airlines. In the first stage, productivity index are derived using the Luenberger productivity indicator. In the second stage, productivity change scores derived therefrom are regressed using the random-effects Generalized Least Squares to quantify determinants of productivity change. The paper finds low cost carriers and average number of hours flown per aircraft having a positive impact on productivity under joint production model while demand variable negatively impacts on productivity under market model.     

Applying the marketing concept to cultural organisations: an empirical study of the relationship between market orientation and performance

A recent trend in nonprofit organisations is an emphasis on business management and concepts. This paper examines the application of the marketing concept to nonprofit arts organisations through an analysis of the relationship between market orientation and organisational performance. Data were collected from arts organisations in two large Canadian cities, and a structural equations model was developed to test the impact of marketing activities and culture on three performance variables (customer satisfaction, peer reputation and resource attraction). The analysis shows that the model fits the data well and that six hypotheses pertaining to the relationship between market orientation and organisational performance were supported. The study concludes that those organisations that implemented more market‐driven activities into their marketing plans were more likely to develop a market‐oriented internal culture. A market‐oriented culture not only predicted a growth in resources and higher levels of customer satisfaction, but also a growth in reputation among peers. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications