Second-order analysis of inhomogeneous spatio-temporal point process data

Second-order methods provide a natural starting point for the analysis of spatial point process data. In this note we extend to the spatio-temporal setting a method proposed by B addeley   et al. [ Statistica Neerlandica (2000) Vol. 54, pp. 329–350 ] for inhomogeneous spatial point process data, and apply the resulting estimator to data on the spatio-temporal distribution of human Campylobacter infections in an area of north-west England.     

Actual share repurchases,timing and liquidity

Research on the impact of open market share repurchases has been hindered by the lack of data available on actual share repurchases in many countries, including the US. Using a previously unused database containing detailed information on 36,848 repurchases made by 352 French firms, we show that corporate share repurchases have a significant adverse effect on liquidity as measured by bid–ask spread or depth. Our results also indicate that share repurchases largely reflect contrarian trading rather than managerial timing ability.     

Microfinance and households access to credit: Evidence from Côte d’Ivoire

Evidence on microfinance services these days ironically shows a great preference for savings products rather than credit products by households. For some authors, this phenomenon is explained by the fact that microfinance products, and especially loans, from formal microfinance institutions do not fit the households demand. This paper first presents evidence on the observed phenomenon in the Ivorian microfinance sector. Second, it analyses the Ivorian credit market so as to understand the determinants of the choice for credits from formal sources versus informal sources. The results reveal the size of the loan, agricultural purpose, the geographical area where households live and ethnicity as factors influencing the choice for formal sources.     

Ownership structure and open market stock repurchases in France

Abstract

This paper examines open market stock repurchases in France. We find a positive average market reaction to the repurchase announcement. However, the magnitude of the price reaction is found to depend on a number of corporate governance structure measures. The positive aspects of the announcement only appear for a company with a low likelihood of being taken over, and with a low risk of minority shareholder expropriation. Specifically, stock repurchase programmes are good news when the firm is supported by foreign institutional investors, and in the case of controlled firms, when the firm has a second large shareholder, which guarantees an effective balance of power for the controlling shareholders.     

Local Identities and Global Flows of Objects and Images

This is a theoretical exploration of an approach to cultural aspects of external dimensions of self-determination movements (SDMs) and their relationship to economic aspects. An underlying theme is the possible relationships between "identity" and global flows of objects, information and images. This general theme connects exiles and diasporas, new global media, material culture and the politics of identity. In the context of global cultural influences on SDMs, we draw attention to the significance of the relationships between people and objects, images and ideas, in the sense of the pathways via which these are spread and exchanged, and in the sense of the symbolic values and meanings attributed to them. Not only ideas but also material objects, images and experience, and the global and local processes via which they are acquired, imbued with value and exchanged, play a major part in reinforcing and/or altering people's sense of who they are, of the world beyond them, their place in it, and the ideology and practice of a SDM. Global processes by which objects, images and experience move do not necessarily imply a unidirectional flow of objects and images of global mass consumption towards and into the SDM and its people. Local objects and images can also go out, potentially influencing not only diasporic and the outside world's views of and policies towards the SDM, but also its view of the outside world and, in turn, its course of action. In sum, the flow of objects and images--as things with meaning and as commodities--is, like diaspora and new media, an important mechanism by which the global and local interact. The paper outlines one route for analysis and indicates possible themes for further research, drawing on empirical data from the author's study of SDMs in Burma.     

Localisation of Japanese subsidiaries in Southeast Asia

The success story of Japanese firms, both in their home country and their overseas subsidiaries, has been the focus of comparative management research in the 1970s and early 1980s. Several scholars attributed the impressive productivity gains in Japanese industries to the basic principles of Japanese management. Further, they advocated the adoption of these principles by American and European businesses to solve employee morale and productivity problems. However, in recent years, the validity of the “happy worker” hypothesis in explaining the effectiveness of Japanese management has been seriously questioned. In fact, the results of several empirical studies indicate that Japanese firms are facing manpower management problems both at home and in their overseas subsidiaries. The main purpose of this article is to identify and discuss the Japanese management problems of overseas subsidiaries, based on several empirical studies of Japanese overseas subsidiaries undertaken by the authors of this article and other scholars during the last 17 years (1968 to 1985). These studies are:

Localisation Problems of Japanese Subsidiaries Overseas: A Comparative Study in Southeast-Asian Countries.

A comparative study of American, Japanese and local firms in Taiwan.

A comparative study of American, European and Japanese multinationals' subsidiaries in Brazil, Peru, India, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand.

A comparative study of American, German, and Japanese multinations in the United States, Western European countries, Australia, and Japan.

A comparative study of upper-level Japanese and American managers of subsidiaries of Japanese firms in the United States.

A comparative study of subsidiaries of American and Japanese multinationals in Singapore.

An intensive case study of a Japanese subsidiary in Australia.

     

THE MECHANISATION OF BRITISH FARMING, 1910–1945

Both tractors and milking machines were available to British farmers from the early 19OO's, but the mechanisation of field work and of dairy farming was not general until the 1950's. This paper discusses the technical difficulties of early forms of farm machinery, and the reorganisation of farm work which was required to use the machinery efficiently. Tractors were at first adopted for heavy work, thus easing the pressure on, and increasing the efficiency of, the horses. It was not until after the second world war that tractors and their implements became sufficiently reliable and versatile to supplant horses in all farm operations and to change an important constraint upon the structure of farms and the methods of working them.