Technical efficiency of sawnwood production in Ondo and Osun states,Nigeria

This study quantified technical efficiency and the determinants of observed technical inefficiency of sawmills in Nigeria. A two-stage sampling technique was used to select 170 sawmillers in Ondo and Osun states, while questionnaire was used to obtain data from them between October and December 2003. The stochastic frontier approach was used to estimate technical efficiency of both small- and medium-scale sawmills, while the ordinary least square (OLS) regression analysis was used to estimate the determinants of the observed technical inefficiency. Empirical results indicate that medium-scale sawmillers are more efficient than their small-scale counterparts. However, both groups of sawmillers in Nigeria have potentials to expand their output.     

Business strategy and firm location decisions: testing traditional and modern methods

Business Economics - For nearly a century, economists have relied upon the neoclassical principle of a “profit-maximizing firm.” Two modern challenges to this principle have arisen: the...     

A study of coordination in three research settings

The present paper reports findings from a study on coordination in three research settings—academic, cooperative-government, and industrial—and discusses their implications for research management. The study ascertains the relationship between coordination and research effectiveness, and examines how coordination operates and is attained in research settings. Two hypotheses regarding the relationship between coordination, research effectiveness, and integration of research staff are advanced and tested on research groups in the three research settings mentioned above. The results support the hypotheses and indicate that the relationships occur very generally regardless of the setting in which the research is conducted. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for research management and in particular the attainment of coordination in research settings.     

Inherent risk: An investigation of auditors' judgments

The assessment of inherent risk is a judgment required of auditors by Statement on Auditing Standards 47 (Auditing Standards Board, AICPA, New York, 1983) that normatively affects the scope of work performed on audit engagements. This study explores the judgments of auditors concerning inherent risk in inventory. Four inherent risk factors were examined: turnover of the controller, financing pressure, the amount of complexity of overhead in inventory, and the quality of the personnel responsible for the inventory calculation. A human information processing approach employing ANOVA was utilized to determine the relative reliance on these factors in the inherent risk judgments of 65 practicing auditors. Correlation techniques were used to measure consensus, reliability, and self-insight.The results suggest that although all four inherent risk factors were important to auditors, quality of personnel was the most significant. Reliability was slightly lower than in previous research, but was still fairly high. Self-insight was moderate.     

Municipal Bond Demand Premiums and Bond Price Volatility: A Note

The behavior of different components of municipal bond yields may have a significant impact upon bond price behavior. Specifically, demand premiums created by banks may stabilize bond yields in some maturity ranges but not in others; for example, short-term municipals may be stabilized but not long-term. This research implies that bank demand behavior may create demand premiums that stabilize prices of short-term municipal bonds relative to those of Treasury bonds of like maturity. While this implication is inconsistent with the residual theory of bank demand, it is consistent with the tax-shield theory attributed to Hendershott and Koch [3, 4].