Japan's Growing Outward Direct Investment in East Asia

Japan's outward direct investment (ODI) began to show an obvious expansion since 2005, accompanied by a greater importance in East Asia and in the manufacturing sector. By analyzing the new wave of Japanese ODI, three points are elaborated in this article. First, the recent Japanese ODI did not result in the same industry to be passed from one country to another as elucidated in the flying geese model. Instead, Japan's ODI only promoted the regional divisional of labor in the transport equipment and electrical machinery industries. Second, this study advances the theory of vertical production network by exploring two regional production networks constructed by Japanese ODI, including one between China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong and the other between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Finally, since Japan's economy has been tightly connected with foreign demand via overseas production, this article argues that any sign of Japan's declining ODI will have serious impact to its domestic economic prosperity. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Are your students absent,not absent,or present? Mindfulness and student performance

The concept of mindfulness has received significant attention in recent years as the effects of ubiquitous distractions become more apparent in the workplace and in education. This study examines the relationship between three measures of mindfulness and student performance among a sample of 922 students in introductory economics classes from two large public universities. The authors’ measures of mindfulness include general dispositional mindfulness levels, frequency of mobile device usage during class as a measure of classroom mindfulness, and frequency of test anxiety as a measure of assessment mindfulness. The results show a positive association between all three measures of mindfulness and overall performance. The association between dispositional mindfulness and performance was greater for female students and students with lower grade point averages.     

Perspectives on Multiple Category Choice

Multiple category choice is a decision process in which an individualselects a number of goods, all of which are nonsubstitutable with respect toconsumption. Choices can be made either simultaneously or sequentially. Thekey feature of multiple category choice is the treatment of the choices asinterrelated because each item in the final collection of goods contributesto the achievement of a common behavioral goal. We discuss current andpotential applications of psychology, economics and consumer choice theoryin developing models of multiple category choice.     

The role of technology development in national competitiveness — Evidence from Southeast Asian countries

Technology development (TD) plays a key role in national competitiveness (NC) by giving a country a competitive edge in our age of information. Lots of researchers have focused on specific areas of TD, such as technology transfer, technology acquisition, and technology management, in most of developed countries. To our knowledge, however, they have seldom discussed the influence of TD on other categories of NC and vice-versa in developing and less-developed countries. In this study, we examine the influences of each category of NC of TD. Southeast Asian countries are divided into three patterns by means of a cluster analysis. The results show that Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Laos have the same rank on measures of TD and NC. Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, and Laos have the same rank on measures of TD and Economic Performance. Malaysia and Thailand have the same rank on measures of TD and Management Capability. In contrast, the TD performance of Southeast Asian countries is worse than the human resources performance because of their insufficient human resources assigned to R&D. Furthermore, based on a strategic grid for comparing the relative performance, four types of country and their achievements are discussed. Singapore outperforms all Southeast Asian countries. Malaysia and Thailand have to leverage their TD resources in order to enhance their NC. The other countries are still hindered in developing the determinants of their NC. Finally, our study offers a path to the identification of how countries of each pattern should supplement their insufficient capabilities, and what are the most important issues that need to be addressed in retuning their TD policies in order to enhance their NC.     

Dynamic hedging with futures: A copula‐based GARCH model

In a number of earlier studies it has been demonstrated that the traditional regression‐based static approach is inappropriate for hedging with futures, with the result that a variety of alternative dynamic hedging strategies have emerged. In this study the authors propose a class of new copula‐based GARCH models for the estimation of the optimal hedge ratio and compare their effectiveness with that of other hedging models, including the conventional static, the constant conditional correlation (CCC) GARCH, and the dynamic conditional correlation (DCC) GARCH models. With regard to the reduction of variance in the returns of hedged portfolios, the empirical results show that in both the in‐sample and out‐of‐sample tests, with full flexibility in the distribution specifications, the copula‐based GARCH models perform more effectively than other dynamic hedging models. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 28:1095–1116, 2008     

On the Nonlinear Specifications of Short-Term Interest Rate Behavior: Evidence from Euro-Currency Markets

This paper presents a coherent nonlinear interest rate model that incorporates the dynamics of the error correction specification into the traditional term structure model. The joint tests based on six Euro-Currency rates indicate that the linear specification should be rejected. The estimated equation suggests that the linear components—the change of the long-term interest rate and the error correcting term are highly significant. The nonlinear components involving the higher order of the independent variables, the cross products, the lagged error squares, and/or the ARCH effect also present significant explanatory power for predicting short-term Euro-Currency rate changes, confirming the non-linear specifications.     

Deregulation, Mergers, and Cost Savingsin Class I U.S. Railroads, 1974-1986

In this paper we attempt to disentangle the effects of deregulation on rail costs from those directly attributable to mergers. We estimate that cost reductions obtained from mergers ranged from a high of 33% for the Burlington Northern to a low of a 3% cost increase for the CSX. However, firms not engaged in significant merger activities experienced similar cost differentials indicating that consolidation was not a prerequisite for cost savings. We conclude that although mergers did confer some benefits on the participating firms, they were not a prerequisite for railroads being able to achieve substantial cost savings.     

A critical examination of Hofstede's thesis and its application to international reward management

Hofstede's model has been extensively used and applied in international management. This study begins with a critique of Hofstede's thesis. The applicability of his framework is then tested using a cross-cultural comparison of reward preferences in four countries. The findings reveal that although his framework provides both theoretical and practical contributions to the reward arena, the proposition that human values are conditioned solely by national culture ignores the potential influence of a variety of other contextual factors.     

Pricing target NOLs in mergers and acquisitions from the participating firms' perspective

While prior research has extensively examined the market response to target net operating loss carryforwards (NOLs) in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) announcements, the question of whether target NOLs are priced by the participating firms during the price negotiation process has not been explicitly addressed. Answers to this question could provide direct measures to assist firms in pricing target NOLs in M&As. Our results show that the participating firms price target NOLs based on how long it will take the acquirer to use the acquired NOL in both nontaxable and taxable acquisitions under the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Also, we find a significant difference in the market pricing and the participant pricing of target short-lived NOLs before, and continuing well after, the announcement date. Our findings suggest that the importance of the differences between the market and the participating firms perspectives should be considered when conducting future research in this area.     

Core self-evaluation and workplace creativity

Drawing on the approach and avoidance framework in the core self-evaluation literature, this study proposes that core self-evaluation may not only prompt a person to acquire more job-related knowledge but may also inspire employees' intrinsic motivation for their jobs and indirectly help the person think of creative ideas at work. Surveying time-lagged data from workers in Taiwanese firms, this study finds support for the mediating effects of domain knowledge and intrinsic motivation. Although previous research has demonstrated the positive effect of core self-evaluation on overall work performance, scholars argue that creativity is a separate dimension of work performance and that factors conducive to overall work performance are not the same as factors that can stimulate creative ideas. Thus, findings from this study may expand scholarly knowledge about the consequences of core self-evaluation and complement the creativity literature by validating an individual-level antecedent to creativity yet unexamined in the creativity research.