Barriers to the Implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility in Gaming Industry

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an important tool to reduce the adverse impact of the gaming industry. There were very limited studies specifically analyzed barriers of CSR practice in the gaming industry. This study adopted in-depth interviews and verified the interviews by dividing two informant groups. The results showed that cognitive dissonance, negative image, management dilemma, resources limitation, confused regulations, and unsustainable impetus were the major barriers in CSR implementation. Furthermore, the practical recommendations and suggestions were discussed.     

Asian Currency Baskets: An Answer in Search of a Question?

This paper considers whether an intra regional currency basket and the associated divergence indicators could play a useful role in official exchange rate surveillance. Recently, proponents of an Asian currency basket have referred to the role the European Currency Unit played in constructing exchange rate divergence indicators as evidence of the usefulness of intra regional currency baskets for exchange rate monitoring. The paper shows that such indicators have a number of features that can lead to them obscuring underlying changes in exchange rates and that the signals they emit will often be difficult to interpret. In addition, the use of regional currency baskets for surveillance can lead to potentially serious N − 1 problems in circumstances when there is not agreement about which regional currencies will be the anchor currencies.

Workplace gossip and frontline employees’ proactive service performance

Managers are interested in promoting frontline employees’ proactive behavior because proactivity is crucial for organizational success. This study examined the link between perceived workplace gossip and employees’ (targets’) proactive service performance by focusing on the mediating role of employees’ harmonious passion and the moderating role of perceived job social support. Using time-lagged survey data from 218 supervisor-subordinate dyads in a commercial bank in China, we found that perceived workplace gossip negatively influences employees’ proactive service performance, and that this relationship is mediated by reduced harmonious passion. In addition, perceived job social support attenuates the negative relationship between perceived workplace gossip and harmonious passion, with harmonious passion having a mediating effect on the relationship between perceived workplace gossip and proactive service performance. These results provide new directions for understanding workplace gossip, harmonious passion, proactive service performance, and job social support. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed.     

A cointegration analysis of the Asian dollar and Eurodollar interest rate transmission mechanism

The transmission mechanism between the Asian dollar and Eurodollar markets is investigated for the period 1981–1989 using a cointegration analysis and error correction model. Results indicate the absence of reverse causality in the Asian dollar market throughout the 1980s. In the Eurodollar market, reverse causality exists in the first half, but disappears in the second half of the decade. Both markets are evolving into rapid incorporation of prior interest rate information into current rates. These results are likely to be due to reduced market regulation, expansion of futures trading, more sophisticated telecommunications and 24-hour trading practices.The authors wish to thank Zoltan Acs and Elizabeth Cooperman for helpful comments and suggestions. Invaluable assistance in data collection and entry was provided by Brett Salazar. Any errors remain our own.     

The effects of relative price changes on the household's demand for money

In examining the economic response to changes in the rate of inflation, models of the demand for money have traditionally assumed that all prices change equiproportionately. This paper alternatively examines the effect on the demand for money of relative price changes. The analysis develops a choice theoretic framework of household behavior by combining a utility maximization framework with the inventory approach to the transactions demand for money. A significant result of the analysis is that the net effect of a change in relative prices on the household's money holding depends on the purchase frequencies and price elasticities of the relevant commodities.     

The pricing of exchange rate risk and stock market segmentation: The Canadian case

Empirical evidence by Eun and Resnick (1988), among others, has demonstrated the significance of exchange rate risk in the international asset allocation and they have noted that the risk is nondiversifiable. Yet, exchange rate risk was found by Jorion (1991) to be a risk factor that is not priced in the U.S. stock market. This study reexamines such counterintuitive results using data from the Toronto Stock Exchange. The evidence here weakly supports the pricing of the exchange rate risk. Further, the sample period in this study coincides with Jorion's to ensure that both studies examine the pricing of the exchange rate risk in the same global economic environment. The significant pricing of exchange rate risk in Canada and the insignificant pricing in the U.S. imply the possibility of market segmentation.     

Credit scoring for commercial loans: The case of Singapore

This paper develops a credit scoring model which incorporates financial ratios as inputs by applying the statistical technique of discriminant analysis. The objective is to identify and analyse the common financial characteristics which distinguish bad from good accounts. The sample is drawn from the loan portfolio of a major local bank in Singapore. The results indicate that there is a 95 per cent classification accuracy for the model presented.Dr Kwan Kuen Chor is Senior Lecturer at the School of Management, National University of Singapore. Ms Julia Tan is with Paribas South East Asia Ltd. Singapore.     

Managing Market, Hierarchy, and Network: The Jiuda Salt Industries, Ltd., 1917-1937

As China underwent industrialization during the Republican period,how did companies deal with the problems of expansion, competition,and relationship with the state? Using the concept of networkcapitalism, this article demythologizes the "enigma" of Chinesenetwork by analyzing the experience of the Jiuda Salt Industries,Ltd. Fan Xudong, the company’s founder, deftly managedhis network portfolio for information and other resources. Kithand kin as shareholders, interlocking directorates, and cross-shareholding,as well as hierarchical management and cartels, were utilizedto raise capital and manage local markets. Market, hierarchy,and network thus constitute three complementary organizationprinciples in explaining Jiuda’s success.