An Illuminating Exchange The Construction of Social Reality

A BSTRACT . In his The Construction of Social Reality , Searle presents an account of rights, responsibilities, obligations, duties, and similar entities in terms of the formula X counts as Y in context C , where " X " refers in the simplest case to some physical object or event and " Y " to the result of imposing upon X some deontic power or function. Smith attempts to show the limitations of this formula, focusing especially on the examples of contested property rights (where C is not uniquely defined), and of money in bank accounts and other phenomena (where no physical X -term is available). Searle responds to these criticisms, above all by pointing to the fact that some of the problems Smith raises are to be addressed not by an ontological analysis of social reality but rather through legal or political means.     

Exploring the Double‐Sided Effect of Information Asymmetry and Uncertainty in Mergers and Acquisitions

We examine the joint effect of bidder and target information asymmetry and uncertainty on the payment consideration and subsequent wealth effects in a large sample of acquisitions with both listed and private targets. In line with a risk‐sharing argument, we find that acquisitions of targets characterized by higher uncertainty are more likely to be settled with stock. In contrast, higher target information asymmetry increases the likelihood of a cash payment, consistent with bidders strategically exploiting superior information. Acquirers of more opaque targets obtain a larger fraction of total acquisition gains and avoid sharing these gains with target shareholders by offering cash.     

Valuing GM technologies using real options: the case of drought tolerant wheat in Australia

ABSTRACT

In this article we seek to estimate the value of a partially-developed crop technology from the perspective of the firm developing the technology. Firms need this value estimation to decide whether their technology will earn a sufficient return in the market to justify investing in it. However, determining the (ex-ante) value of the technology before it is commercialised is challenging as the technology is not yet in the market and hence the demand function has not yet been defined. An alternative valuation method is required. We use risk premiums, Monte Carlo simulation and real options analysis and we demonstrate this combination of valuation tools on wheat that is currently being developed in Australia to be drought tolerant. The results indicate that this drought tolerant wheat variety is likely to be adopted by farmers in most regions and has a pre-commercialisation value that justifies continued investment in its development. We also identified South Australia as a region in which the new variety would not be sufficiently valuable to farmers to see them adopt it and we consider possible explanations for this outcome.     

Time series copulas for heteroskedastic data

We propose parametric copulas that capture serial dependence in stationary heteroskedastic time series. We suggest copulas for first‐order Markov series, and then extend them to higher orders and multivariate series. We derive the copula of a volatility proxy, based on which we propose new measures of volatility dependence, including co‐movement and spillover in multivariate series. In general, these depend upon the marginal distributions of the series. Using exchange rate returns, we show that the resulting copula models can capture their marginal distributions more accurately than univariate and multivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity models, and produce more accurate value‐at‐risk forecasts.     

Streets, Malls, and Supermarkets

We develop a model of competition between shopping centers, comparing competitive outcomes in three alternative modes of retail organization, namely: streets (in which neither developers or retailers internalize agglomeration effects between products); malls (in which developers internalize); and supermarkets (in which both developers and retailers internalize). For a fixed number of centers: (i) converting streets to malls intensifies developer (but not retailer) competition, which increases product range (i.e., the number of shops built by the developers) and consumer surplus, reduces profits, and has ambiguous effects on welfare; (ii) converting streets to supermarkets intensifies retailer and developer competition, has ambiguous effects on product range (number of shops), reduces profits, and increases social welfare. With free entry both conversions reduce the number of centers and, if there is excess entry, conversion to supermarkets (but not malls) unambiguously increases welfare.     

Custom-built

Mass customization has rapidly moved from an abstract theory to a practical source of competitive advantage. Fabrizio Salvador has been studying the companies that have bolstered their business by tapping into the idiosyncratic needs of customers. Tom Brown reports on his latest thinking.     

HR in the small business enterprise: Assessing the impact of PEO utilization

Within small businesses, organizational leaders are themselves often responsible for the HR function, an area where they typically have limited training and experience. Not surprisingly, small business leaders have raised concerns about the quality of HR programs in their firms and the fact that HR consumes scarce managerial time. While professional employer organizations (PEOs) emerged in response to such concerns, much controversy exists as to whether and how small businesses benefit from PEO utilization. Using a survey of more than 740 small businesses, we examine the relationship between PEO utilization and two key small business outcomes: managerial time required by HR activities and satisfaction with HR outcomes. Our results indicate that firms not using a PEO reported significantly lower levels of satisfaction with HR outcomes than firms that used a PEO for a limited set of transactional services and firms that used a PEO for both transactional and strategic HR services. Among firms using a PEO, satisfaction with HR outcomes was significantly higher among firms that obtained a broader set of transactional and strategic HR services. Firms that used a PEO also reported that HR consumed significantly less managerial time relative to leaders in firms that made no use of a PEO. However, there was no significant difference in the time demanded by HR between firms that used a limited set of transactional services and those that used a broader range of transactional and strategic services. Implications for the role of PEOs and their use within small businesses are discussed. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The Exploitation of Inside Information at the Wall Street Journal: A Test of Strong Form Efficiency

The study examines if tradings on stocks based on the inside information about the “Heard on the Street” column of the Wall Street Journal could generate abnormal returns. We found significant abnormal returns on days t =?1 and t= 0 (publication date) for the stocks related to insider trading. For a comparable control group of noninsider traded stocks, the abnormal returns were not significant on day t=?1 but were significant on day t= 0. The abnormal returns for the insider trade group on days t=?1 and t= 0 were greater than the returns for the control group. The results indicate that the inside information was the cause for the differences.     

可修复单元备件储备量计算方法研究

本文讨论了考虑原件修复时,可修复单元备件储备量的计算方法,并给出了该方法在印制电路板备件储备量计算中的应用实例。