Entrepreneurship and Fitness: An Examination of Rigorous Exercise and Goal Attainment among Small Business Owners*

In today's society, the benefits of exercise and fitness are given much publicity. However, the relationship between exercise and the attainment of personal and professional goals for entrepreneurs has not been examined. Our study addresses the issue by examining the exercise regimens of 366 small business owners and the relationship of exercise frequency with the company's sales and the entre‐ preneur's personal goals. Specifically, this study examines the relationship that two types of exercise—running and weightlifting—have with sales volume, extrinsic rewards, and intrinsic rewards. Results indicate that running is related positively to all three outcome variables while weightlifting is related positively to extrinsic and intrinsic rewards but not to sales. Suggestions then are provided for future research.     

“Four Bright Coins Shining at Me”: Financial Education in Childhood,Financial Confidence in Adulthood

We analyze the relation between receiving an allowance (pocket money) in childhood and financial confidence in adulthood. We measure this confidence using self‐reported financial knowledge. Our empirical exercise is based on information provided by a Dutch survey carried out in 2015. We compute our estimates by controlling for parental attitudes and by using a “within‐family” fixed effect model. The results are robust and suggest a long‐lasting effect of pocket money as an easily implementable and informal educational vehicle to help children acquire basic financial concepts and develop good habits, such as budgeting.     

A Simplified Quadrature Approach for Computing Bermudan Option Prices

We examine a simple quadrature approach to compute the prices of Bermudan options when the value of the corresponding European claim can be computed in closed form, one period before maturity. Using a constant grid of stock prices at early exercise time points, the known value of the European option is used as a smoothing device to enable efficient numerical integ ration with quadrature approaches. Examples with the geometric Brownian motion context and the lognormal jump‐diffusion context are provided.     

You follow fitness influencers on YouTube. But do you actually exercise? How parasocial relationships,and watching fitness influencers,relate to intentions to exercise

Digital celebrities found on social media platforms are found to be successful in endorsing brands and products, and influencing purchase intentions of their followers. However, influencers also promote values and lifestyles on their channels, such as healthy behavior and fitness. In this article, we investigate the motivations of users who follow fitness influencers on YouTube and how parasocial interaction and intentions to watch fitness are related to intentions to exercise. Watching fitness videos and social interaction seems only to motivate followers that are already physically active. Non-exercising users are attracted to YouTube by entertainment and a parasocial relationship with an influencer that has no impact on their intentions to exercise.     

Population, health and risk factors in a transitional economy

This paper investigates the health status of the population in a transition economy. Against a background of falling living standards compounded by the widening income inequality a deterioration of health status has been outlined. Drawing upon a consumer survey carried out in the capital Bucharest, risk factors are highlighted. Respondents’ age, income, and health motivation are the most significant variables which differentiate between smokers and non-smokers. Respondent’s age and sex are significant factors predicting the physical exercise status. Additionally, respondent’s level of education is a significant predictor of the time spent on physical exercise. The implications of the study for health policy makers are finally discussed.     

Guanxi,Communication, Power,and Conflict in Industrial Buyer-Seller Relationships: Mitigations Against the Cultural Background of Harmony in China

Purpose: This research aims to investigate how guanxi influences conflict occurrence and conflict-related behavior in transactions of equipment with state-owned enterprises (SOEs) against the cultural background of harmony in China. The influence of guanxi on conflict-avoidance behaviors is discussed, and a model is proposed depicting the relationship between guanxi, the selection of communication modality, the exercise of power, and manifest conflict.

Methodology/Approach: Data was collected from persons selling equipment in the oil industry. The partial least squares method is applied to analyze the collected data.

Findings: Guanxi at the individual level positively influences the use of informal communication and the exercise of non-coercive power and negatively influences the use of formal communication and the exercise of coercive power at the organizational level. The use of informal communication is inversely related to the intensity of conflict, whereas the use of formal communication and the exercise of coercive power are positively related to the intensity of conflict. The combination of these effects is that the guanxi between representatives of business partners is negatively related to manifest conflict at the organizational level.

Contribution: This empirical research is among the earliest studies attempting to examine how guanxi influences interorganizational conflict occurrence and conflict-related behavior in industrial buyer-seller relationships in China, and it reveals a significant relationship between guanxi and the selection of communication modality, the exercise of power, and the occurrence of conflict in a guanxi-intensive market in China.

Practical Implications: First, our findings will help members of the seller's management team, especially foreign members, to better understand the behavior of their Chinese employees. Secondly, our findings should help sellers improve the effectiveness of their conflict management to increase good word-of-mouth and maximize reorders. Thirdly, our findings should help the purchasing managers of SOEs to better understand how to manage conflict to lower the project risk. Lastly, firms doing business with SOEs should take both cultural and political factors into account in their business activities.     

A non‐lattice pricing model of American options under stochastic volatility

In this article, an analytical approach to American option pricing under stochastic volatility is provided. Under stochastic volatility, the American option value can be computed as the sum of a corresponding European option price and an early exercise premium. By considering the analytical property of the optimal exercise boundary, the formula allows for recursive computation of the American option value. Simulation results show that a nonlattice method performs better than the lattice‐based interpolation methods. The stochastic volatility model is also empirically tested using S&P 500 futures options intraday transactions data. Incorporating stochastic volatility is shown to improve pricing, hedging, and profitability in actual trading. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 26:417–448, 2006     

Early exercise of American put options: Investor rationality on the Swedish equity options market

Using Swedish equity option data, this study investigates how well the actual exercise behavior of American put options corresponds to the early exercise rules. The optimal exercise strategy is established in two ways. First, the critical exercise price, above which a put option should be exercised early, is computed and compared to the actual exercise price. Second, the exercise value of the option is compared to its market bid price. The results show that most early exercise decisions conform to rational exercise behavior, even though a large number of failures to exercise are found. Most of the faulty exercises can also be discarded after a sensitivity analysis, although several failures to exercise are considered irrational, even after taking transaction costs into account. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 20:167–188, 2000     

中日经贸架构下的ODA解读

围绕ODA这一不失为一种善举的日本对华政府援助，近期不断传出与其初衷相悖的声音。日方目前已把ODA传递中日友好的经济行为赋予其深重的负面影响中日关系的政治、外交法码的性质。肯定ODA对中国社会经济发展做出过一定贡献，同时须正视ODA91％以上的有偿性以及由于日元升值所导致中国的损失。目前ODA的去存已远远超出其问题本身，涉及中日间的资源、领土及政治等两国关系的实质问题。中方需要政治智慧并确立相应科学的对策。     

A STATE-SPACE PARTITIONING METHOD FOR PRICING HIGH-DIMENSIONAL AMERICAN-STYLE OPTIONS

The pricing of American-style options by simulation-based methods is an important but difficult task primarily due to the feature of early exercise, particularly for high-dimensional derivatives. In this paper, a bundling method based on quasi-Monte Carlo sequences is proposed to price high-dimensional American-style options. The proposed method substantially extends Tilley's bundling algorithm to higher-dimensional situations. By using low-discrepancy points, this approach partitions the state space and forms bundles. A dynamic programming algorithm is then applied to the bundles to estimate the continuation value of an American-style option. A convergence proof of the algorithm is provided. A variety of examples with up to 15 dimensions are investigated numerically and the algorithm is able to produce computationally efficient results with good accuracy.     

A note on rational call option exercise

Using Swedish equity option data, the rationality in the exercise of American call options is analyzed to see how well it complies with the theoretical exercise rules. Although the exercise behavior appears to be rational overall, several cases of both faulty exercise and failure to exercise are found. Almost a third of the early exercised calls are exercised at other times than predicted by theory. Several of these exercise decisions could potentially be explained by transaction costs, indicating that market frictions do affect the exercise behavior. However, over two thirds of the faulty exercises cannot be explained at all. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 22:471–482, 2002     

Exploring the determinants of usage continuance willingness for location-based apps: A case study of bicycle-based exercise apps

This paper investigates how mobile app design and social media can be used to influence the intention for continued use of location-based mobile apps. Uses and gratification theory and information systems success model are used to explore the key factors of continued usage intention. Three hundred and fifty-six valid questionnaires were collected to test the research model. The results showed that perceived usefulness, enjoyment, sense of belonging would significantly influence the usage habit and satisfaction of bicycle-based exercise app. In particular, the habit and satisfaction had strong impact on the intention for continued use. This study extended the findings of exercises with mobile apps and provided implications for the developers and operators of fitness and leisure-oriented apps.     

Information for decision making in marketing: the use of Group Support Systems (GSS)

Group Support Systems (GSS) Technology is an information technology which seeks to support collaborative work. Extensively used to support organisational activities, it has not yet been tested to the full within the market research setting. The paper reports on a GSS focus group meeting to determine key questions of concern about the National Training Reform Agenda. Participants were leaders in a primary industry in Australia and the questions would be related to a public relations exercise. GSS provided the opportunity to deal with complex issues efficiently and yet preserve the conversational characteristics of the focus group meeting.     

A Fast Track to Cultural Immersion

ABSTRACT

The internationalization of the business curriculum remains a priority for preparing students for a global workforce. Business schools continue to stress the importance of semester-long study abroad programs. Yet in colleges and universities with a growing population of non-traditional, working adult students, it is challenging to provide international study abroad opportunities. Options for such intensive immersion are limited and may include non-credit travel, travel as a small part of a credit course, or travel with a trade mission group. In short term international travel, quickly introducing students to culture shock and moving toward some minimal acculturation is the primary goal. This article describes a nine-day study abroad trip to Monterrey, Mexico that quickly exposed students to the local culture via a day-long structured scavenger hunt exercise. Suggestions for implementing such experiential activities into the curriculum of other study abroad programs are provided as well as a discussion of students and faculty learning.     

Ethics, alterity, and organizational justice

This paper articulates a conception of organizational justice based on the promise of a mode of organizing that does not violate the particularity of each and every other person. It argues that the decisive condition for such a form of justice resides in the realities of the cultural practices of an organization as they are apparent in the conduct of people in relation to multiple others. These are practices that can only seek justification in the primary right of each person to be regarded with absolute alterity. It also argues that a degree of violence is unavoidable within any practical ordering of justice and that any consideration of ethics and justice in organizations must account for such violence and seek to negotiate its existence on ethical terms. The organizational justice that is referred to is one sensitive to the exercise of its own power and authority in the context of its unavoidable violation of its basis in ethics. This is a justice that is ethically necessary, but is never sure of itself.     

An Evolutionary Psychology Perspective on Physical Exercise Motives: Implications for Social Marketing

This study uses the theoretical framework of evolutionary psychology to examine the motives driving physical exercise behavior, as evolutionary psychology is still under-explored in the social marketing literature. The study employs a survey that draws on a sample of 220 participants. Independent sample t-tests and analysis of variance are conducted, and findings show significant sex and marital status differences in terms of motivations to exercise. Research findings have original implications for social marketing interventions that seek to understand physical exercise motivations and to encourage increased levels of physical exercise. Further, findings contribute to the extant literature by establishing the importance of sex-based segmentation strategies and message appeals that resonate with specific segments’ innate physical exercise motives.     

Fashion creation and diffusion: The institution of marketing

Abstract

In scholarly discussions, marketing tends to be imagined and (re)presented as a practice of organisations, involving a set of activities, whereby consumer desires are discovered and provided for through two-way communication. By studying the creation and diffusion of fashion, we observe that marketing is not simply a mechanism or set of activities but an institution of modern society that involves all social elements together with consumers and marketing organisations. Through a qualitative inquiry with both consumers and producers, we illustrate how these different elements exercise their roles and responsibilities for marketing to work as an institution. By this illustration, we also provide a perspective on how trickle-up, trickle-across, and trickle-down diffusions are simultaneously operative in fashion. Finally, we articulate the implications of recognising marketing as an institution that will help marketing scholars and practitioners in reorganising and re-strategising their purpose and role in society as modernity evolves.     

Managers,Workers, and Authority

In this paper, I examine the case made by Christopher McMahon for managerial democracy. Specifically, I examine the extent to which McMahon’s account is able to address a series of objections against the case for managerial democracy as articulated by Thomas Christiano. Christiano articulates two sets of objections. First, Christiano argues that McMahon does not succeed in ruling out the possibility that managerial authority is best understood as promissory in its basis, in which case there is no presumption in favor of its democratic exercise. Second, Christiano raises a series of objections to the effect that even if we accept McMahon’s account of the nature of managerial authority, the conclusion for the democratic exercise of that authority by workers at the level of individual economic enterprises does not follow. In the end, I argue that McMahon’s account contains the resources to address these objections if one adopts a specific view about the moral limits to relationships that involve the submission of the will on the part of one person to another. Adoption of this view, however, appears to come at the expense of what I take to be the account’s commitment to liberalism. As such, what I understand this paper to reflect more generally is the apparent difficulty for liberals in arguing that there is something inherently morally troubling about capitalist work relations.     

Currency Prices, the Nominal Exchange Rate, and Security Prices in a Two‐Country Dynamic Monetary Equilibrium

This paper examines a continuous‐time two‐country dynamic monetary equilibrium in which countries with possibly heterogeneous tastes and endowments hold their own money for the purpose of transaction services formulated via money in the utility function. Given a price system, no‐arbitrage pricing results are provided for the price of each money and the nominal exchange rate. Characterizations are provided for equilibrium prices for general time‐additive preferences and non‐Markovian exogenous processes. Under a Markovian structure of model primitives, the currency prices are shown to solve a bivariate system of partial differential equations. Assuming that each country is endowed with heterogeneous separable power utility and the exogenous quantities all follow geometric Brownian motions, an equilibrium is shown to exist and additional characterization is provided. A further example of nonseparable Cobb–Douglas preferences is investigated. The additional features over the customary environment of homogeneous logarithmic preferences are emphasized.     

Managerial Selection Decisions in Multinational Corporations: Teaching International Business Using Problem-Based Learning

Companies face many challenges as they staff managerial positions in overseas operations, including decisions on whether to staff using expatriates, host-country nationals, or third-country nationals. We developed an exercise—designed to help students understand the differences between these three groups of employees—that requires students to develop a set of criteria that would form the basis for choosing the candidate they deem to be the best one. In addition, the exercise can serve as a springboard to discussion of the different training and compensation requirements for each of the three different types of employee. The steps involved in the exercise are presented together with suggestions for debriefing the exercise.