EDA企业改变定价策略谋求更多利润

今年9月12日,Cadence Design Systems公司发布了一个被公司公共关系经理称为"包含三部分内容的重要公告".其中,前两个部分的内容是新品发布,最后一部分内容是定价策略的改变,与前两部分相比只是一笔带过,毫不起眼.虽然毫无疑问,新品发布的内容会吸引绝大多数行业媒体的关注,但是最后一部分定价策略的改变才是真正的大新闻.     

WORLD OUTLOOK

The slowdown in the world economy, which followed last year's oil price collapse and which awakened fears that the world was on the threshold of a new recession, is coming to an end. Output growth in the first half of the year was stronger than we had previously expected and a gentle acceleration is forecast over the next eighteen months. In contrast to this improvement on output, there has been little or no progress on the major problems of the world economy, including the USA's twin structural deficits, budget and trade, and the international debt crisis. Moreover, with the US facing elections in just over a year's time, no economic initiative is likely until 1989. Hence the prevailing view that the US and world economies will "muddle through" for another year. But in 1989 a new US administration is likely to face up to the trade and budget imbalances and many US forecasters believe that the required fiscal tightening will lead to recession. As we explain below, this is not our view and the forecast embodies steady 3 per cent growth in the world economy over the medium term. Inflation has now passed the low point brought about by the oil price collapse. On our forecast of output, inflation is expected to remain close to its present underlying rate of 4 per cent.     

Does Overconfidence Affect Corporate Investment? CEO Overconfidence Measures Revisited

This article presents the growing research area of Behavioural Corporate Finance in the context of one specific example: distortions in corporate investment due to CEO overconfidence. We first review the relevant psychology and experimental evidence on overconfidence. We then summarise the results of Malmendier and Tate (2005a) on the impact of overconfidence on corporate investment. We present supplementary evidence on the relationship between CEOs’ press portrayals and overconfident investment decisions. This alternative approach to measuring overconfidence, developed in Malmendier and Tate (2005b), relies on the perception of outsiders rather than the CEO's own actions. The robustness of the results across such diverse proxies jointly corroborates previous findings and suggests new avenues to measuring executive overconfidence.     

Accountability and Role Effects in Balanced Scorecard Performance Evaluations When Strategy Timeline Is Specified

Abstract

This study experimentally examines if fixation on lagging financial measures (relative to leading non-financial measures) as reported in prior balanced scorecard literature is mitigated when evaluators are provided with a strategy implementation timeline (a non-manipulated variable). The experiment manipulates whether or not evaluators are subject to process accountability as well as the role to which evaluators are assigned (i.e. supervisor or subordinate). We predict and find that, in general, the provision of an implementation timeline results in evaluators placing more weight on strategically linked, leading non-financial measures within a subordinate's time span of control compared to strategically linked, lagged financial measures beyond the subordinate's controllable time horizon. However, we also find that evaluators in the role of a supervisor differentiate less between strategically linked non-financial measures that fall within the subordinate's control and strategically linked financial measures beyond the subordinate's control when held accountable compared to supervisors not held accountable. On the other hand, participants in the role of a subordinate were able to differentiate appropriately between these measures when held accountable. Our results extend prior research by considering how linking a timeline to strategy implementation may assist evaluators when assessing performance in the presence of both leading and lagging strategic measures. Further, reference to an implementation timeline may influence role and accountability effects. Implications for future research in multidimensional strategic performance evaluation are discussed.     

Shop steward leadership and the dynamics of workplace industrial relations

Here the author reviews a new wave of research in how shop stewards actually operate in the workplace. He presents a selection of findings from a study conducted in several manufacturing companies which suggests that the shop steward operates in an essentially dynamic environment.     

Size of organisation,attitudes to work and job satisfaction

It is widely believed that large size creates problems for industrial relations and, conversely, that small size is beneficial. There has been little research relating size and workers' attitudes—this article reports the findings from a study in 24 factories in British manufacturing industry.     

An Application of an Integrated Transport Network– Multiregional CGE Model: a Framework for the Economic Analysis of Highway Projects

This paper develops a framework for the economic analysis of highway projects that is then used to estimate the dynamic economic effects of a highway project on the economic growth and the regional disparity in Korea. The framework is composed of a transport model and a multiregional Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model. The transport model measures a change in interregional shortest distances and the accessibility due to the highway project. The CGE model estimates the spatial economic effects of the project on GDP, the price, exports, and the regional distribution of wages and population. The simulation allows policy makers to determine which highway development deserves the priority for investment, based on consideration of economic growth and regional economic equity in the long run. The simulation found that all the highway projects have positive effects on GDP and export growth as well as regional equity in terms of wage and population.     

Automatic leading indicators versus macroeconometric structural models: A comparison of inflation and GDP growth forecasting

This paper compares the forecast performance of automatic leading indicators (ALIs) and macroeconometric structural models (MESMs) commonly used by non-academic macroeconomists. Inflation and GDP growth form the forecast objects for comparison, using data from China, Indonesia and the Philippines. ALIs are found to outperform MESMs for one-period-ahead forecasts, but this superiority disappears as the forecast horizon increases. It is also found that ALIs involve greater uncertainty in choosing indicators, mixing data frequencies and utilizing unrestricted VARs. Two ways of reducing the uncertainty are explored: (i) give theory priority in choosing indicators, and include theory-based disequilibrium shocks in the indicator sets; and (ii) reduce the VARs by means of the general-to-specific modeling procedure.     

Effect of university heritage and reputation on attitudes of prospective students

• This study examines the impact of heritage and reputation of nonprofit universities on attitudes of prospective students. Data were collected from 208 community college (preuniversity) students in the USA. Results from structural equations modeling indicate that university heritage positively impacts university reputation, potential students' attitudes, and intentions to pay a tuition premium as well as to recommend the university. Students' nationality moderates the relationships between university heritage, reputation, and attitudes. International students from Asian nations with a long‐term orientation exhibit stronger relationships between these variables than domestic students from the USA. These findings add to the nascent and emerging literature on branding of nonprofit higher education institutions and will be of interest to administrators and marketing managers of universities to nurture and extol their university heritage in student recruitment programs, especially in promotional materials targeting international students.

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