Comparison of selective hedging and options strategies in cattle feedlot risk management

A cattle feedlot marketing simulation model was developed and used to evaluate the performance of various feedlot marketing strategies. The marketing analysis included corn, feeder cattle, and fed cattle integrated marketing alternatives. A variety of strategies were compared including hedging and put option purchasing as signaled via profit margins or price forecasts. The results indicate that cattle feeders could have historically increased profitability and decreased the variability of profits through selective marketing by using either profit margins or price forecasts to signal market positions as compared to cash marketing strategies. In addition, several strategies were found that stochastically dominated cash marketing.     

Long-Term Attachments and Long-Run Firm Rates of Return

Long-term attachments between workers and firms are common. Numerous studies have examined worker returns to tenure, but little is known of firm returns to firm-worker matches. Yet these attachments represent a human capital asset quasi-held by the firm, which is not captured by traditional accounting measures of firm assets. Firms with large quasi-holdings of human capital will have higher measured return on assets, other things equal. Analysis of data on 250 large manufacturing firms supports the view that firms profit from long-term attachments with their workers. Consequently, unmeasured human capital assets contribute to the explanation of persistence in measured long-run excess profits across firms.     

Managers,values, and executive decisions: An exploration of the role of gender,career stage,organizational level,function, and the importance of ethics,relationships and results in managerial decision-making

A study of 513 executives researched decisions involving ethics, relationships and results. Analyzing personal values, organization role and level, career stage, gender and sex role with decisions in ten scenarios produced conclusions about both the role of gender, subjective values, and the other study variables and about situational relativity, gender stereotypes, career stages, and future research opportunities. John H. Barnett is Associate Professor at the University of New Hampshire, has an extensive background in international business and management consulting, and is co-founder of the Circle for Executive Experential Development. His publications include: A Business Model of Enlightenment, (1985) JBE, Personal Values and Business Decisions, (1987); Strategic Management Concepts and Cases 1988; Strategic Management Text and Concepts, 1989 and Cases in Strategic Management, 1989.Marvin J. Karson is Professor of Business Statistics and James R. Carter Professor of Management at the University of New Hampshire. He was formerly Professor of Statistics at the University of Alabama. His work has been published in a number of professional journals.     

Industry learning environments and the heterogeneity of firm performance

This paper characterizes interindustry heterogeneity in rates of learning‐by‐doing, and examines how industry learning rates are connected with firm performance. Using plant‐level data from the U.S. manufacturing sector, we measure the industry learning rate as the coefficient on cumulative output in a production function. We find that learning rates vary considerably among industries and are higher in industries with greater R&D, advertising, and capital intensity. More importantly, we find that higher rates of learning are associated with wider dispersion of Tobin's q and profitability among firms in the industry. These findings suggest that learning intensity represents an important characteristic of the industry environment that affects the range of firm performance. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Central banking in the credit turmoil: An assessment of Federal Reserve practice

Central banking is understood in terms of the fiscal features of monetary, credit, and interest on reserves policies. Monetary policy - expanding reserves by buying Treasuries - transfers all revenue from money creation directly to the fiscal authorities. Credit policy - selling Treasuries to fund loans or acquire non-Treasury securities - is debt-financed fiscal policy. Interest on reserves frees monetary policy to fund credit policy independently of interest rate policy. An ambiguous boundary of responsibilities between the Fed and the fiscal authorities contributed to economic collapse in fall 2008. “Accord” principles are proposed to clarify Fed credit policy powers and secure its independence on monetary and interest rate policy. The Fed needs more surplus capital from the fiscal authorities to be fully flexible against both inflation and deflation at the zero interest bound.     

Selling assertively

Assertiveness may not be appropriate for every person or situation, but it can be an effective selling style. Use the chart to decide what style of selling you practice now, and then follow the guidelines if you are ready to give assertiveness a try.     

The industrial proposal as a promotional tool

The industrial marketer's promotional tool, the formal proposal, has been little more than an informative but relatively dull statement of supplier qualifications and technical specifications. This article outlines the phases of conventional bidding or proposal preparation, employs exploratory research findings to help identify current weaknesses, and introduces the emerging storyboarding process as a stimulus to the increased vitality of the industrial promotional atmosphere.