Vector network equilibrium problems with capacity constraints of arcs

In this paper, we study a (weak) vector equilibrium principle with capacity constraints of arcs and common arcs in some different paths. We obtain some necessary and sufficient conditions for a (weak) vector minimum cost flow. By virtue of a (weak) Δ-equilibrium principle, we also derive some necessary and sufficient conditions for a weak vector equilibrium flow.     

Perceived marketing–sales relationship effectiveness: a matter of justice

There is a compelling need to improve the relationship between managers in marketing and sales departments. This paper argues that one critical way of enhancing individual managers’ perceptions of relationship effectiveness between these departments is to view the issue as a matter of justice and suggests that perceived marketing–sales relationship effectiveness is positively influenced by managers’ perceptions of organizational justice. Furthermore, it proposes that interfunctional communication has the potential to enhance the proposed positive effects of justice and hence needs to be considered and effectively managed when looking at marketing–sales relationship effectiveness. Data drawn from a survey of 203 marketing and sales managers in 38 consumer packaged goods companies are used to empirically test these predictions. The authors find that perceived sales–marketing relationship effectiveness is influenced by perceptions of distributive, procedural and interactional justice. Greater interfunctional communication is found to further enhance the positive effects of distributive and procedural justice on perceived relationship effectiveness, but it does not contribute to the already strong positive effects of interactional justice. Furthermore, results reveal important differences in the effects of justice on perceived relationship effectiveness across the marketing and sales departments.     

Perks and the informativeness of stock prices in the Chinese market

While the literature shows that perks can affect firm values positively or negatively, we argue that firms with higher perks are more likely to be associated with a lower quality of financial reporting, which, in turn, can affect the informativeness of stock prices. Based on hand-collected data on perks from Chinese listed firms, we find that firms with lower perks are associated with higher informativeness of stock prices (or lower R-square). Moreover, the positive association between perks and R-square is shown to be weaker for firms with higher financial reporting quality through audit and earnings quality measures.     

Search in the product market and the real business cycle

Empirical evidence suggests that most firms operate in imperfectly competitive markets. We develop a search-matching model between wholesalers and retailers. Firms face search costs and form long-term relationships. Price bargain results in both wholesaler and retailer mark ups, which depend on firms' relative bargaining power. We simulate the general equilibrium model and explore the role of product market search frictions for business cycles. We conclude from the simulation exercise that incorporating product market search structure and shocks improve the standard real business cycle model to reproduce US business cycle fluctuations.     

Green marketing and its impact on supply chain management in industrial markets

Green marketing and green supply chain have been drawing the attention of both academics and practitioners in the recent decade. However, no holistic framework has been developed on how to build green industrial brands and industrial corporate brands. Whether or not sustainable/green supply chains can be integrated with green industrial marketing in building greener organizations and industrial brands is still unclear. In addition, little is known on the factors on green new industrial product development or how green new industrial products are adopted by organizations. Furthermore, we know little of whether and how green supply chain enables green new industrial product development. This special issue aims at reflecting the most recent advances on green industrial marketing, green/sustainable supply chains and their interplay in green industrial branding, and to explore future research directions. The guest editors hope that the solicited papers can provide insights on the impacts of sustainable or green supply chains on marketing theory in industrial and business-to-business markets.     

Rhetoric, argument and impression management in hostile takeover defence documents

This exploratory study extends the analysis of narrative disclosures from routine reporting contexts such as annual reports and press releases to non-routine takeover documents where the financial consequences of narrative disclosures can be substantial. Rhetoric and argument in the form of impression management techniques in narrative disclosures are examined. Prior thematic content analysis methods for analysing good and bad news disclosures are adapted to the attacking and defensive themes in the defence documents of target companies subject to hostile takeover bids. The paper examines the incidence, extent and implications of impression management in ten hostile takeover defence documents issued by target companies listed on the London Stock Exchange between 1 January 2006 and 30 June 2008. Three impression management strategies – thematic, visual and rhetorical manipulation – are investigated using content analysis methodologies. The findings of the research indicate that thematic, visual and rhetorical manipulation is evident in hostile takeover defence documents. Attacking and defensive sentences were found to comprise the majority of the defence documents analysed. Such sentences exhibited varying degrees of visual and rhetorical emphasis, which served to award greater or lesser degrees of prominence to the information conveyed by target company management.While exploratory in nature, this paper concludes with suggestions for future more systematic research allowing for greater generalisations from the findings.     

Gut geruht?

Schlafst?rungen vorbeugen - Oft sind Schlafst?rungen Bestandteil psychischer, organischer oder neurologisch degenerativer Erkrankungen. Sie k?nnen aber auch die Folge falschen Verhaltens oder ungemessener Schlafbedingungen sein. Also: Was f?rdert gesunden Schlaf, was behindert ihn?     

Flexible Estimation of Copulas: An Application to the US Housing Crisis

Zimmer (‘The role of copulas in the housing crisis’, Review of Economics and Statistics 2012; 94 : 607–620) provides an interesting case study of the pitfalls of using parametric copulas to understand the US housing crisis in the latter part of 2000s. The original study by Zimmer (2012) employs a finite‐mixture copula to illustrate that the symmetry of the Gaussian copula may not be tenable, especially for US housing price data during the time period from 1975:Q2 to 2009:Q1. We undertake a replication of his study in a wide sense. First, we replicate the study by incorporating revised data and then extending the dataset to include the most recent data. Second, we implement a nonparametric copula estimator recently proposed by Racine (‘Mixed data kernel copulas’, Empirical Economics forthcoming) to the parametrically filtered data used in Zimmer (2012). Our replication finds that the application of the nonparametric copula to the same and extended filtered data provides an alternative flexible specification for copulas. However, the overall cautionary message of the flexible‐form copula espoused in Zimmer (2012) remains. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The revealed comparative advantage of the east asian NICs

The spectacular export performance of the East Asian NICs is clearly indicated by their increasing shares of manufactured exports in the world markets. However, the conventional wisdom that the comparative advantage of industrialized countries such as Japan has systematically shifted to the NICs is challenged by the results from this study. A detailed analysis of the threedigit SITC product categories for manufactures indicates that NIC exports have not replaced Japan's in the U.S. market. The growth of manufactured exports from the NICs is moving along with the growth of Japan's exports in similar product categories but at different stages of the product cycle or of technology sophistication. Hence, the NICs, rather than replacing the exports from Japan, are merely supplying some complementary manufactured products to the industrialized market.