Embedded ties and the acquisition of competitive capabilities

We build on previous research that explores the external acquisition of competitive capabilities through the embedded ties that firms form in networks and alliances. While information sharing and trust have been theorized to be key features of the interorganizational ties that facilitate the acquisition of competitive capabilities, we argue that these mechanisms provide an incomplete explanation because they do not fully address the partially tacit nature of the knowledge that underlies competitive capabilities. Joint problem‐solving arrangements play a prominent role in capability acquisition by promoting the transfer of complex and difficult‐to‐codify knowledge. Drawing on a set of case studies and a survey of 234 job shop manufacturers we find support for the role of joint problem solving with suppliers in facilitating the acquisition of competitive capabilities. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

LOWER OIL PRICES AND THE UK ECONOMY

Demand for oil remains weak, and OPEC production is running ahead of quota in most member countries, so the possibility that oil prices could fall in the near future has increased. In this Forecast Release we examine the medium-term impact on the UK economy of lower oil prices. We find that, if the government does not intervene to protect the exchange rate, there is an immediate stimulus to output growth. The inflation rate, though, is 1–2 percentage points higher after three years.     

THE MEDIUM TERM OUTLOOK

In this Forecast Release we consider the prospects for the economy after the present phase of cyclical recovery. Our central forecast, which we regard as the best medium-term planning assumption, is that the economy slows down to a sustainable growth rate of around 1% per cent. This is in line with the underlying growth of productive capacity but not sufficient to cure unemployment. We recognise that in practice the economy may be pushed away from the underlying growth trajectory by random shocks, and we look at three major risks surrounding the present forecast: a rise in the savings ratio; a slower world recovery; and a cut in investment. We contend that the most serious of these risks is to investment, since the company sector will face a major increase in its tax bill from 1985-6 onwards. A growth recession is thus distinctly possible in 1986, which could, for economic and electoral reasons, be the low point of the present cycle.     

The London Business School with Gower Publishing

The economic recovery, which was gathering momentum in the second half of last year, was stopped in its tracks first by the US-led resurgence of interest rates last A utumn, and then by the harsh winter. There were some encouraging signs of recovery again this Spring, but the latest indicators, most notably from the recent CBl Survey, are disquieting. This time last year we took the view that a spontaneous recovery would occur as destock-ing came to an end. That forecast has proved correct on demand but over-optimistic on output - a very high proportion of the extra demand was met by imports. The scope for further spontaneous recovery is now limited and our growth forecast, especially for 1983, depends on the authorities taking some reflationary action.
It is now being debated how and when such reflation should take place - there is talk of an Autumn Budget. In effect the authorities have to decide a) whether there is scope for reflationary fiscal action within the PSBR guidelines of the Medium-Term Financial Strategy; b) if so, whether such action is more appropriately taken in the A utumn or next Spring; c) if in the meantime interest rates could be brought down while respecting the MTFS targets.     

Where's the economics? The core discipline of farm management has gone missing!*

Economic illiteracy is abundant in farm management analysis. Failure to understand that economics is the core discipline of farm‐management analysis and failure to apply the whole‐farm approach leads to wrong questions being asked and wrong answers being given. The power of economic thinking is in making sense of resource allocation questions in farm systems characterised by much complexity and powerful dynamics. The challenge for those who continue to work in farm management economics is to re‐establish theoretically sound farm‐management analysis based on economics as the core discipline.     

IPO first-day returns,offer price revisions,volatility, and form S-1 language

Form S-1 is the first SEC filing in the initial public offering (IPO) process. The tone of the S-1, in terms of its definitiveness in characterizing the firm’s business strategy and operations, should affect investors’ ability to value the IPO. We find that IPOs with high levels of uncertain text have higher first-day returns, absolute offer price revisions, and subsequent volatility. Our findings provide empirical evidence for the theoretical models of uncertainty, bookbuilding, and prospect theory.     

5个不朽的法则

最先出现的摩尔定律又衍生出半导体工业的其他几个基本法则 Brian Halla,美国国家半导体公司首席执行官第一次听说摩尔定律是在1975年,那一年EB刚刚创刊,当时他还是英特尔公司的一名年轻工程师;Aart De Geus,Synopsys公司首席执行官于1979年的一次技术研讨会上首次听说摩尔定律,当时他还在读研究生;T.J.Rodgers,赛普拉斯半导体公司首席执行官也是1979年才首次从戈登·摩尔那里听说摩尔定律.     

Dynamic spatial autoregressive models with autoregressive and heteroskedastic disturbances

We propose a new class of models specifically tailored for spatiotemporal data analysis. To this end, we generalize the spatial autoregressive model with autoregressive and heteroskedastic disturbances, that is, SARAR(1, 1), by exploiting the recent advancements in score‐driven (SD) models typically used in time series econometrics. In particular, we allow for time‐varying spatial autoregressive coefficients as well as time‐varying regressor coefficients and cross‐sectional standard deviations. We report an extensive Monte Carlo simulation study in order to investigate the finite‐sample properties of the maximum likelihood estimator for the new class of models as well as its flexibility in explaining a misspecified dynamic spatial dependence process. The new proposed class of models is found to be economically preferred by rational investors through an application to portfolio optimization.