Exploring customer online reviews for new product development: The case of identifying reinforcers in the cosmetic industry

This study analyzes online customer reviews in order to investigate customers' preferences regarding cosmetic products. Based on the marketing firm theory, this research explores the possibility of enhancing the bilateral contingent relationships between the customer and the marketing firm within the cosmetics domain. Hence, this study applies market-search concepts by extracting customer reviews and employing text analytics to identify reinforcers and factors in cosmetic products, which customers are expecting, and their sentiments towards them. Our results suggest that some reinforcers are shared among all customers, but some vary among the different customer segments based on their age and skin tone.     

A comparison of alternative models for estimating firm’s growth rate

The growth rate plays an important role in determining a firm’s asset and equity values, nevertheless the basic assumptions of the growth rate estimation model are less well understood. In this paper, we demonstrate that the model makes strong assumptions regarding the financing mix of the firm. In addition, we discuss various methods to estimate firms’ growth rate, including arithmetic average method, geometric average method, compound-sum method, continuous regression method, discrete regression method, and inferred method. We demonstrate that the arithmetic average method is very sensitive to extreme observations, and the regression methods yield similar but somewhat smaller estimates of the growth rate compared to the compound-sum method. Interestingly, the ex-post forecast shows that arithmetic average method (compound-sum method) yields the best (worst) performance with respect to estimating firm’s future dividend growth rate. Firm characteristics, like size, book-to-market ratio, and systematic risk, have significant influence on the forecast errors of dividend and sales growth rate estimation.     

Labor force participation

Trends in U.S. female and male labor force participation are outlined, particularly for the post-World War II period. Potential causes of these trends are then discussed, both those that operate on the demand side and those that operate on the supply side of the labor market, along with some discussion of alternative approaches to modeling these employment changes. Effects of these trends and future direction of changes are also considered.     

The Puzzle Between Banking Competition and Profitability can be Solved: International Evidence from Bank-Level Data

This article applies the GMM techniques for dynamic panels using bank-level data for 61 countries over the period 1992 to 2006 to re-investigate the impact of banking competition on profitability. The extant literature, which ignores influence factors, presents ambiguity towards the impact of banking competition on profitability. However, when the effects of a broad range of factors are taken into consideration, five conclusions are reached. First, along with the change in market structure, a higher degree of activity restriction enhances banks’ profits. Second, restrictions on the rights of commercial banks to engage in securities, insurance, and other non-banking-related business, along with restrictions on the entry of foreign banks into these markets, weaken the positive relationship between banking competition and profits. Third, a higher degree of efficiency within the judicial system and the added protection afforded to investors may weaken or else have no impact on the positive relationship. Fourth, the positive relationship may weaken in countries having a sound financial system or high income per capita. Finally, greater competitive pressure facing banks may weaken or eliminate the impact of banking competition on profit.     

Business group characteristics and affiliated firm innovation: The case of Taiwan

This paper investigates the relationship between business group factors and affiliated firm innovation in terms of patents granted. We examine the following factors for business groups: group affiliation, group diversification, inside ownership, and family ties. In emerging markets, business groups act not only as an internal capital market, but also as a platform for resource sharing among affiliates. We use Taiwan's business groups as a research sample to investigate how these group factors affect affiliated firms' innovation. The findings indicate that firms that are affiliated with business groups innovate better than their unaffiliated counterparts. Group diversification and family ties have positive effects on firm innovation, while inside ownership has no significant positive effect. Our study contributes to the innovation literature by shedding light on business group factors and firm innovation.     

A Short-Run Crude Oil Price Forecast Model with Ratchet Effect

From 1992 through early 2004, crude oil prices were predictable by using OECD’s relative inventories and OPEC’s excess production capacity. However, since 2004, estimated inventories and excess production capacity under-predict crude oil prices. Using 3-D graphical analyzes, three regimes are identified in crude oil markets during the period from January 1992 to December 2007, reflecting market conditions and OPEC policy changes. These graphics show the changing relationship between crude oil price, inventories and excess production capacity. To reflect this, a ratchet variable, derived from cumulative excess production capacity, is incorporated into the forecasting model to reflect the changing behavior on both demand and supply sides. This model provides improved forecasts for the post Gulf War I time period over models without the ratchet mechanism.

Government size,government debt and globalization

This article empirically investigates the effect of globalization on government size and debt. Using panel heterogeneous cointegration techniques to a panel of developing and developed countries, it finds that globalization reduces government size and debt. In terms of components of globalization, government size is found to increase with trade openness but decreases with financial, social and political globalization. On the other hand, government debt increases with financial and trade openness but decreases with social and political globalization. The evidence is robust to different estimation methods and different samples. Our data also indicate unidirectional causality running from globalization measures to government size and debt.     

Lodging Managers' Perceptions of Work and Personal Life: Balanced or Imbalanced?

ABSTRACT

This study serves two main purposes: (1) to assess lodging managers' perceptions of difficulties and success in balancing their personal and work lives, and (2) to investigate if lodging managers' work interferes with or is enhanced by their personal lives, or vice versa. The results indicate that most lodging managers believe that they have struck a satisfactory balance between their work and personal lives. This study identifies the respective bidirectional effects of the interaction between work and personal life. Personal life boundaries are more permeable to work demands than work boundaries are to personal life demands.