Predicting mispricing of initial public offerings

This article investigates the ability of neural network models to predict mispricing of initial public offerings (IPOs). The aim is to improve the modest explanatory power of existing models that are based on the theory of asymmetrically informed economic agents surrounding post‐issue market value of IPOs. This study develops and compares linear regression and neural network models. The results show that modelling variable interactions and non‐linearity allows a potentially fruitful approach for stagging in IPOs. Neural networks have been criticized for being a black box; however, this paper shows that, by using sensitivity analysis, neural networks can provide a reasonable explanation of their predictive behaviour and direction of association between variables. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

股东权力又迈出“一步”

今年10月，南方保健公司（Healthsouth）通过一项条例，如果股东提名的董事候选人战胜公司提名的候选人成功入主董事会，那么股东可以申请对其竞选费用中的合理部分予以报销。南方保健这一做法成为股东权力在董事选举领域的最新突破。     

取悦客户的上上策

用户的忠实程度对于一个公司的兴衰成败意义重大,在经济发展前景不确定的情况下更是如此.对于一个公司来说,寻找一个新的用户并与之建立商业合作关系所需要的资金是维持一个现有用户的30倍～40倍,并且这种资金常常超越了公司的成本底线.因此,公司在维持与现有用户的商业合作关系上多投入5%的资金,就能够多得到25%～55%的利润回报.     

Are tourism impacts low on personal environmental agendas?

This paper examines if tourism is an environmental priority for tourism and hospitality students. It is framed within the context of information and choice overload that may result in the need to prioritize issues and make less effective decisions. A series of open-ended questions identified the most important community and global environmental issues, the single greatest cause of climate change and whether students had changed their behaviour in general, or their travel behaviour in particular, to reduce their environmental impact. A total of 2968 useable surveys were returned from students at 63 institutions in 22 economies. Tourism emerged as a low priority issue, which explains why only a small proportion of students had changed their travel behaviour. Moreover, the study noted high knowledge variability, which in turn was closely associated with the type of actions undertaken. Students with specific knowledge were far more likely to adopt specific change actions than those who had less precise knowledge. They, in turn, were more likely to identify generic and less effective actions. The study concludes that the main challenge involved in changing tourism behaviour rests primarily with raising its status to a higher priority, a difficult task given the environmental issue overload that most people face.     

A Comparison of Long-Haul and Short-Haul Business Tourists of Hong Kong

A number of studies have demonstrated the impact of distance on the volume, profile and behavior of pleasure tourists. To date, none has examined the effect of distance on business tourists, even though they represent a significant share of all travel. Distance exerts two inter-related effects on travel. The decaying effect on demand with increased distance is well established. Distance also acts as a “filter”, advantaging some groups for short-haul travel and effectively excluding others from long-haul travel. This filtering effect results in substantially different observed behavior between short and long-haul pleasure markets. This study examines the filtering effect of distance on tourist profile and subsequent behavior of business travelers who visited Hong Kong. The sample includes eight short-haul and six long-haul markets. Substantial differences are observed in the profile and resultant behaviors of the two cohorts, although the differences are more subtle among business tourists than pleasure tourists.     

Contingent Valuation Versus Choice Experiments: Estimating the Benefits of Environmentally Sensitive Areas in Scotland

This paper reports results from a study of the economic value of the conservation benefits of Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESAs) in Scotland. The main novelty of the approach taken is in comparing two direct valuation methods, namely contingent valuation and choice experiments, to value these benefits. The Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) is well-established as a technique for valuing the sorts of landscape and wildlife enhancements associated with ESAs. The CVM experiment reported here uses a dichotomous choice format, and includes a new correction for part-whole bias. Choice experiments are much less used as an environmental valuation technique. We note several advantages of such experiments over CVM, and then report characteristic values and ‘programme values’ estimated using the method. This application brings to light some problems in applying the choice experiment method. Finally, we discuss the issue of benefits transfer in the context of these two approaches to valuation.     

Mapping and analysing virtual outcrops

Laser scanning is a very efficient way to generate realistic, high-resolution digital models of 3-D geological outcrops. This paper discusses the methodologies involved in the creation and analysis of virtual outcrops, based on laser scanner data. The visualisation of the laser scanner data as a photorealistic 3-D object is described. Geological features picked out on the virtual outcrop (e.g. fractures, faults or bedding planes) can be extrapolated outward, into space, and inward, into the subsurface, using tension surfaces.