Share price anticipation of earnings and management's discussion of operations and financing

This paper combines research on the measurement of disclosure quality and the measurement of share price anticipation of earnings to produce a new test of the usefulness of the information disclosed in management discussions of operations and financing for predicting future earnings. Market-Based Accounting Research has shown that earnings changes are anticipated and impounded in prices well before the financial year for which earnings are reported. This price anticipation leads to downward biased earnings response coefficients (ERCs) in the commonly estimated regression model of returns on contemporaneous earnings changes. We exploit predictable differences in the biasedness of the ERC estimate across firm-years to test the hypothesis that share prices are better informed when the annual report contains a detailed discussion of the firm's operations and financing. Our results suggest that such voluntary disclosure may have been useful in predicting future earnings changes. The effect would appear to be strongest (1) in models that examine one-period-ahead and two-period-ahead share price anticipation and (2) when we employ a disclosure index that captures forward-looking information.     

A review of experience curve analyses for energy demand technologies

Transitioning towards a sustainable energy system requires the large-scale introduction of novel energy demand and supply technologies. Such novel technologies are often expensive at the point of their market introduction but eventually become cheaper due to technological learning. In order to quantify potentials for price and cost decline, the experience curve approach has been extensively applied to renewable and non-renewable energy supply technologies. However, its application to energy demand technologies is far less frequent. Here, we provide the first comprehensive review of experience curve analyses for energy demand technologies. We find a widespread trend towards declining prices and costs at an average learning rate of 18 ± 9%. This finding is consistent with the results for energy supply technologies and for manufacturing in general. Learning rates for individual energy demand technologies are symmetrically distributed around the arithmetic mean of the data sample. Absolute variation of learning rates within individual technology clusters of 7 ± 4%-points and between technology clusters of 7 ± 5%-points both contribute to the overall variability of learning rates. Our results show that technological learning is as important for energy demand technologies as it is for energy supply technologies. Applying the experience curve approach to forecast technology costs involves, however, unresolved uncertainties, as we demonstrate in a case study for the micro-cogeneration technology.     

Employee retention: The secrets behind Wal‐Mart's successful hiring policies

One of the major concerns of any corporation, particularly a high‐growth business, is employee retention. Without minimizing the importance of roles such as compliance, diversity, compensation, and benefits, if the basic exercise of getting, keeping, and growing a company's talent is done well, the other HR functions will reflect this excellence. This article demonstrates Wal‐Mart's exceptional program for obtaining and retaining its employees and helping them grow within the company. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Tourism theory and the earth

Given that tourism is an “earthly business”, why is it that the Earth rarely explicitly appears in tourism studies and tourism theory? In an attempt to grapple with this paradox, this paper seeks to contribute to a conceptual re-cognition of the Earth in tourism theory by probing some theoretical obstacles and possibilities. The paper demonstrates how the Earth has been conceptually erased in tourism theory by a privileging of the mapping of tourism and tourists onto the reference plane of the social. As an alternative the paper seeks to provide a geo-philosophically informed conceptualisation of the Earth as a primary plane of reference of which tourism is a particular form of de/re-territorialisation.     

When do we really need interpersonal trust in globally dispersed new product development teams?

Interpersonal trust refers to the willingness to make oneself vulnerable to the actions of another party. Trust is generally acknowledged as fostering knowledge exchange and thus contributing to new product development (NPD) team effectiveness. However, the conditions under which NPD teams come to rely more heavily on trust to facilitate effectiveness remain unclear. With burgeoning global collaboration on new product development, we analyze how the characteristics of global NPD teams, i.e., geographic dispersion, computer‐mediated communication (e.g., e‐mail, video‐conferencing), team membership flexibility, and national diversity moderate the trust–effectiveness relationship. Our results show that trust is more important under the condition of geographic dispersion, computer‐mediated communication, and national diversity. By specifying when trust influences NPD team effectiveness in globally dispersed teams, we discuss the theoretical implications and provide recommendations for management.     

Inter-Satisfaction between Website and Automated Call Distribution (ACD) Systems

Websites and an Automated Call Distribution (ACD) system in a call center are both considered important customer relationship technologies. Integrating concepts from information systems quality and trust transference theory, this paper introduces the concept of inter-satisfaction: the extent to which customer satisfaction with a website leads to satisfaction with an ACD and vice versa. It is hypothesized that dissatisfaction with either the website or the ACD influences potential brand-switching behaviors. A model, largely drawing upon concepts of user satisfaction as developed in information system research, is presented. The model is then tested using data from passengers using Low Cost Carriers (LCCs) in South Korea, specifically 366 passengers at the Jeju International Airport, who experienced both their airlines’ website and call center. A structural equation modeling analysis demonstrates that satisfaction with the website transfers to satisfaction with the ACD system, but not vice versa, and that only dissatisfaction with the website creates a brand-switching intention.     

Networks in Socially Embedded Local Food Supply: The Case of Retailer Co-operatives

This paper investigates network development in food retailing, in order to evaluate the role of retailer consumer co-operatives. Opportunity is seen to lie in niche (for example, local) markets and a social/ethical orientation. The method is single case and exploratory. Investigation shows that a co-operative can survive and add value as an alternative organizational form, when genuine social responsibility is experienced by a network consisting of the co-operative, its members, customers, suppliers and the community as a whole.