Identity change vs. strategy change: the effects of rebranding announcements on stock returns

Firm rebranding efforts are inevitable; however, we have a limited understanding of the nature and performance implications of those rebranding decisions. This research contributes to our understanding of this process by identifying two fundamental dimensions of rebranding decisions: brand identity change and brand strategy change. More importantly, we identify and empirically test the conditions under which brand identity change and brand strategy change have either strong or weak (even negative) influences on firm value. Specifically, the results from analyzing 215 rebranding announcements suggest that (1) rebranding decisions, on average, are associated with positive abnormal stock returns in the (?5, +5) event window, and (2) investors use cues, like the fit among rebranding dimensions, firm competitive position, and industry competitive intensity, to make informed evaluations of firm future cash flows.     

Material requirements planning (MRP) and purchase discounts

This paper reports the results of a simulation experiment that compares alternative procedures for determining purchase quantities in MRP systems when quantity discounts are available. The procedures are least unit cost (LUC), McLaren's order moment (MOM) and a “traditional” procedure that ignores the time-phased information available from an MRP system. One of the factors in the experiment was requirement uncertainty, a factor heretofore not incorporated in MRP lot-sizing research. The results of the experiment confirm MOM (and to a lesser extent LUC) as an effective lot-sizing procedure. In addition, the work shows that the differences between the procedures tend to vanish as the amount of uncertainty in the requirements increases.     

The impact of time on the strategy-performance relationship: Implications for managers

This study examined the influence of cycle time and the application of strategic information technology (SIT) on the relationship between business strategies identified during the course of the research (i.e., marketing differentiation, innovation differentiation and overall low cost) and firm performance (i.e., ROA, ROS). Data from a cross-industry sample of 116 executives in manufacturing and service businesses were collected using a web-based survey, conducted in cooperation with InformationWeek, a leading information technology industry magazine. Results of a path analysis indicated a significant, positive relationship of a market differentiation strategy to SIT to cycle time to performance. Strong positive direct relationships were evident for SIT to cycle time and for cycle time to performance. No other significant relationships were observed.     

Trade, Institutions, and Credit

Within economics there has been a mounting interest in institutions. Virtually all the work to date on institutions has examined a single institution. The problem is that in many settings the performance of the institution under examination is affected by other, unexamined institutions. This paper examines the relationship between two types of private-order institutions that facilitated trade in a specific setting—Mexican California during the 1830s and 1840s. The surviving evidence suggests that a multilateral institution enabled merchants to extend credit to their retail customers, and a similar multilateral institution enabled the merchants to extend credit to one another. The relationship between these institutions makes them of particular interest. This relationship arose because local communities imposed costs on merchants that affected their trade with one another. The barriers to entry and exit posed by these costs, in turn, facilitated the operation and persistence of the institution that supported intermerchant trade. They also precluded other organizational forms such as the vertical integration of wholesalers.     

Factors influencing take-up rates on the Loan Guarantee Scheme

This paper uses time-series analysis to model explicitly the take-up rate of the UK Government's Loan Guarantee Scheme over the 1980s. In doing so we consider the rationale for the scheme in the context of empirical and theoretical research into the financing of small businesses and in particular the nature of the small firm/bank relationship. To begin we discuss the history and evolution of the scheme from its inception in 1981. A theoretical model is then outlined in which LGS funds are used to maximise the utility of capital constrained entrepreneurs.Using this framework we find that the UK Government can do much to influence the levels of both take-ups and failures of firms on the scheme by directly altering the parameters. The scheme's apparent success as a [relatively] cost-effective job generation package suggests more could be done to extend the scheme to aid more start-up firms and those existing firms wishing to expand.