Determinants and strategies for the development of container terminals

The paper examines an important player in the container industry: the container terminal. We evaluate how terminal efficiency operation is affected by the following factors: terminal type, operation type, scale efficiency and returns to scale. In so doing, we test how the typology and operation of terminals and the level of scale efficiency that a terminal can achieve, represent significant factors in the development and growth of the container terminal industry. The analysis is based on the assessment of 165 container terminals worldwide. We develop the estimation through the application of stochastic frontier analysis. We demonstrate that container terminals are more efficient than multi-purpose terminals, and that, compared with local operators, global terminal operators do not have a dominant position in international maritime trade in terms of productivity and efficiency. However, global terminal operators appear to be more dominant than local operators when we examine the Mediterranean Basin. In the final part of the paper we suggest how resource-constrained container terminals may improve their scale efficiency and identify general strategies related to container terminal investments.     

Determinants of industrial development: a panel analysis of South Asian economies

Quality & Quantity - A well performing industrial sector plays an important role in poverty mitigation, unemployment reduction, trade promotion, exchange of goods and services, increased per...     

功能设计师--市场细分的领路人

有一种新兴的职业正受到人们的追捧和青睐,这就是功能设计师.所谓功能设计,就是以消费者的潜在需求为依据,设计产品的特殊功能,经过功能的成本核算后,由专业人员进行产品设计,企业安排生产,再通过定价分析,开展针对性的营销,使企业跳出产品同质化的怪圈,独树一帜地抢占市场.功能设计师就是担当如此重任的人才.     

城市营销的市场细分

城市经营是城市营销的基础和前提 ,城市营销可以促进和推动城市经营。城市营销市场的细分 ,有利于合理利用城市资源 ,发现市场机会 ,提高城市效益。不同区位的城市 ,可以采用针对性营销、地域营销、系统营销等多种市场细分策略。不同规模的城市 ,则可以采用单因素营销、补缺营销、一对一营销等多种市场细分策略     

Determinants of the Confucius Institute establishment

This paper investigates the determinants of the Confucius Institute (CI) establishment. It is shown that FDI, trade, geographical distance, developing country, and English speaking are important factors whereas GDP and population are marginally significant. Overall, CIs are under-represented in a non-English, distant, less wealthy developing country that trades infrequently with China. The results suggest that the CI network will have greater global impacts when new or more CIs are established in non-English speaking developing countries. However, potential mutual benefits between China and these under-representing countries should be preconditions in order to attract CIs in the countries.     

Determinants of Youth Suicide

A bstract .   This study empirically examines determinants of youth (age 15–24) suicide over the 1960–1998 period. It finds that the rate of youth suicide was positively influenced by the divorce rate, the violent crime rate, and the Vietnam War, and negatively influenced by the percent of the total population composed of those age 15–24. The first three variables have been ignored in the research and the latter is at odds with the "conventional wisdom."     

Determinants of the method of sale in privatization

This paper explores the method of sale in the privatization process and difficulties implementing the most efficient option. In countries where state involvement has been more pervasive, the method of privatization chosen is less often the best available option, improvements in efficiency have been slower, and privatization has brought with it greater political instability. This brings the question of why this has been the case, and what could have been done to smooth the transition. This paper finds that efficient mechanisms become more likely when the government's budget is more strained and when the existing capital markets are deeper.     

Large lot zoning and subdivision costs: A test

This paper tests two hypotheses: (1) that large lot zoning is a binding constraint on the residential land market and (2) that subdivision costs are inversely related to lot size. The paper shows that, in general, the two hypotheses are not mutually exclusive but that they can be distinguished in the case of a test conducted across tracts of unsubdivided vacant land. A hedonic price model for vacant land is developed and then estimated using disaggregate data from a New York City suburb.     

Determinants of moral hazard in research and development supply relations: Empirical results beyond the agency‐theory explanation

Moral hazard can hinder both the realization and the effectiveness of research and development (R&D) supply relations. However, to the best of our knowledge, there have been no empirical studies investigating the determinants of moral hazard under the specific circumstances of R&D supply relations. Based on a study on 104 cases, this article will help to fill that gap. The results not only confirm information asymmetries as determinants, as predicted by principal‐agent theory, but also reveal surprising effects of additional factors. Thus, we show that the general explanation of moral hazard needs to be adapted to the specifics of a concrete exchange situation.     

Determinants of post-congressional lobbying employment

This paper studies the determinants of lobbying-employment decisions of former members of the U.S. House of Representatives for the 105th–108th Congresses. The main empirical findings indicate that there are two groups more likely to become lobbyists: members not re-elected who had more conservative voting records and held important committee assignments and longer-serving members who voluntarily retired and voted less conservatively in their last term compared to their previous terms in office. A decomposition analysis confirms that the revolving doors for the two groups of legislators differ because of differences in employer response rather than in legislator characteristics.     

Determinants of Defender-Prospector Strategic Preferences

Abstract

An exploratory study involving 273 Indian managers from India and Singapore measured the effects of demographic (age, sex, education, nationality, and culture), personality (locus of control, achievement need, and ambiguity intolerance), and work-related (organizational level, tenure, and organizational size) factors on managerial preference as measured by the defender-prospector (Miles & Snow, 1978) continuum. Blockwise regression analysis revealed that younger managers, male managers, and managers with high ambiguity tolerance were significantly more likely to prefer prospector strategies.     

On the Determinants of Corporate Usage of Financial Derivatives

We analyze firm characteristics associated with adoption and then level of financial derivatives usage for U.S. non-financial firms. Interest-rate derivatives are disaggregated from foreign-exchange derivatives. The analysis provides initial evidence on determinants of the level of derivatives usage. We find differences between characteristics of adopters and characteristics influencing level of derivative activity. We also find differences between characteristics of interest-rate and foreign-exchange derivatives users. Level of both interest-rate and foreign-exchange derivatives usage is positively associated with multinationality, variance of accounting return on assets, and growth opportunities (proxied by research and development expenditures), and size. Interest-rate derivatives usage is also positively associated with debt levels. The findings on the adoption decision generally confirm other research. Our findings are consistent with extant theories.     

运用客户让渡价值决定因素模型建立网上客户忠诚

客户忠诚的重要性正被越来越多的企业所认识。对于网络来讲,客户忠诚更为重要,因为登录网站的主动权掌握在客户手里。本文通过论证客户忠诚的决定因素,认为客户价值是客户忠诚的最主要决定因素,在客户让渡价值决定因素模型的基础上,提出一个网上客户忠诚模型,以此指导网站建立客户忠诚。     

Determinants of the stock price reaction to leveraged buyouts

This paper investigates the determinants of leveraged buyout activity through the use of an abnormal return premium from the time of the first announcement through the final trading day. Consistent with the free. cash flow theory, firms with either high free cash flow or low Tobin’s q have higher abnormal returns. However, the returns to firms with both high free cash flow and low Tobin’s q are lower than firms with just one of these characteristics. Firms which substantially increase leverage and management buyouts with high insider ownership prior to the buyout have lower abnormal returns. Firms with lower risk, and therefore greater debt capacity, have higher abnormal returns.     

Determinants of the method of payment in mergers and acquisitions

We empirically investigate the determinants of the payment form in mergers and acquisitions and introduce new variables on the target and acquirer investment characteristics to evaluate whether the concerns of target and acquirer shareholders are taken into account. Our sample encompasses mergers between publicly listed US companies from 1985 to 2004. Similarly we also consider the determinants of announcement returns using the same set of variables. We establish the relevance of a previously unreported variable for the determination of the payment form, the correlation of returns between target and acquirer, besides the more established determinants hostile takeovers, and defence mechanisms; weak evidence is found for the significance of budget constraints and no evidence for asymmetric information or tax considerations being a relevant factor. We do not find that announcement returns are explained by the variables considered.     

Determinants of Contributions to Religious Organizations

Abstract . A model of contributions to one's religious congregation suggests that since the operations of the congregation rely upon voluntary contributions from members, congregation members will contribute less as congregation size increases. This type of behavior, known as free riding is supported by the empirical results. Furthermore, income, race, congregation expenses and denomination are key determinants of contributions.     

Determinants of Public Service Broadcasting Size

We investigate the issue of whose interest is reflected in selecting the size of public service broadcasting (PSB). We examine two different approaches: (1) the public interest theory, where PSB size is selected to maximise citizens’ welfare and (2) the public choice theory, where PSB size is determined by self-interested politicians. Based on the foundations of these two views, we derive theoretical predictions about how PSB size changes with an increase in political competition. Then, we test these predictions using panel data from OECD countries over the period 1993–2010, and we find that the degree of electoral competition is negatively associated with PSB size. We conclude that PSB size does not reflect the public interest theory, but rather upholds the public choice theory, especially the politicians’ rent-seeking motive.     

Individual and Environmental Determinants of Entrepreneurship

I argue that to better understand the emergence of entrepreneurial activity in a given country, we need to complement the analysis of the psychological and non-psychological characteristics of the individual entrepreneur that currently dominates entrepreneurship studies with the analysis of environmental characteristics in terms of the availability of resources and competition, as well as the conditions of the institutions that govern economic activity. These three groups of factors enable the entrepreneur not only to identify a business opportunity, but also to exploit it, and create a firm that achieves profitability and generates wealth.