UNIT MANAGEMENT BUYOUTS, STOCKHOLDER WEALTH, AND SELLING FIRMS' CHARACTERISTICS

Previous research on unit management buyouts, UMBs, has shown that selling firms benefit from the selloff transaction. The current research demonstrates that when the selling firm has either poor liquidity or poor earnings, selling firm shareholders do not benefit as much. We hypothesize that the unit managers have knowledge about the selling firm's difficulties so they do not pay as large a premium for the assets. Since the unit managers technically are employed by the selling firm shareholders, their bargaining to achieve a better price is an agency cost. Finally, selloff frequency does not affect seller abnormal returns.     

VARIANCE BOUND TESTS OF BOND MARKET EFFICIENCY

In this paper we examine variance bound tests of the joint hypothesis that (1) bond markets are efficient and (2) the term structure is determined by the expectations hypothesis. Both the Singleton and Shiller tests are shown to be seriously biased toward rejecting the joint hypothesis in finite samples. Flavin's test is unbiased but has a very high variance leading to many false rejections of the joint hypothesis. When corrected as suggested by Flavin, Shiller's test is unbiased and has a relatively low variance. Unfortunately, it is also sensitive to measurement error.     

The T-Group: Short cut or short circuit?

T-group or sensitivity training has become popular in recent years. A T -group includes eight to twelve people and a qualified leader; its purpose can be to provide therapy or to promote personal improvement or organization development. Beset by organizational problems, some top executives have instituted T-groups, thinking they may be a panacea. In some cases this approach has improved morale and even increased productivity. In other cases the hierarchical structure of the company has been damaged, economic gain has been condemned, and profits have been affected. T-groups can have a useful role if top management rationally decides the proper ends and means for this powerful tool.     

Competition is (still) a tough weed: A review essay of Thomas Philippon’s The great reversal: How America gave up on free markets

The Review of Austrian Economics - In The Great Reversal, Philippon makes the case that competition in America has weakened during the past two decades. His book contributes to the rapidly...     

贝叶斯方法在二维目标定位中的应用

本文对如何运用贝叶斯方法,以一维方式采集资料,进行二维目标定位作了一些探讨。实验中,运用光电计测定出发射和接收红外二极管的模式,通过分析建立起物体的二维模型方程,然后运用贝叶斯方法,估计出物体在坐标中的水平位置和垂直距离。进而验证了这种基于贝叶斯方法的二维物体定位算法。这为以后研制具有较强实用性的地雷探测仪或者是其它的不方便进入目标区域情况下的应用提供了方法上的依据。     

ORGANIZATIONAL DECISION-MAKING AS HIERARCHICAL LEVELS OF DRAMA*

In conducting a longitudinal examination of eight long-term complex decision processes in two Fortune 500 heavy manufacturing companies the authors developed a six-level framework of decision complexity. The levels range from: (1) instantaneous decision choices to (2) decision actions (3) decision events (4) mini-decision processes (5) decision processes and (6) decision theatres. They vary in time, numbers of participants, and in the integrative effort required to formulate and implement them. Thus, one problem with the word ‘decision’is that it is used to mean many different things in organizational settings. Each lower level of ‘decision’was found to combine with ‘decisions’of the same level and to be embedded within higher levels, resulting in a nested hierarchy of simultaneously occurring processes.