International competition and exchange rate shocks: a cross-country industry analysis of stock returns

This article systematically examines the importance of exchangerate movements and industry competition for stock returns. Commonshocks to industries across countries are more important thancompetitive shocks due to changes in exchange rates. Weeklyexchange rate shocks explain almost nothing of the relativeperformance of industries. Using returns measured over longerhorizons, the importance of exchange rate shocks increases slightlyand the importance of industry common shocks increases moresubstantially. Both industry and exchange rate shocks are moreimportant for industries that produce internationally tradedgoods, but the importance of these shocks is economically smallfor these industries as well.     

Physicians’ use of medical technology: an analysis of the introduction and subsequent failure of drug-eluting stents

Using data on cardiac patients in Florida hospitals from 2003 to 2007, we analyse the adoption and deadoption of a major new medical technology, drug-eluting stents (DESs). The Food and Drug Administration approved DESs in April 2003 and physicians rapidly adopted the new technology. In March 2006, a presentation was made at the American Cardiology Conference which showed that patients receiving DES in real-world settings suffered higher rates of mortality and myocardial infarction than those receiving stents without drugs. We examine the utilization of DES from April 2003 to the end of 2007. Using a hospital fixed-effects model, we find that board-certified and top-trained physicians were initially quicker to adopt DES. Over time, this effect dissipated and top-trained physicians were less likely to use DES by the time new clinical trials indicated they could be problematic. After the news, board-certified and top-ranked physicians were less likely to change their behaviour. Physicians’ own experience also contributes to the use of technology and the effects are stronger for non-board-certified physicians. We conclude that even within hospitals, physician training and experience play an important role in explaining differences in rates of technology use.     

Coming through when it matters most

All teams would like to think they do their best work when the stakes are highest-when the company's future or their own rests on the outcome of their projects. But too often something else happens. In extensive studies of teams at professional service firms, Harvard Business School's Gardner has seen the same pattern emerge over and over: Teams become increasingly concerned with the risks of failure rather than the requirements of excellence. As a result, they revert to safe, standard approaches instead of delivering original solutions tailored to clients' needs. Gardner has a name for this phenomenon: the performance pressure paradox. Here's how it develops: As pressure mounts, team members start driving toward consensus in ways that shut out vital information. Without even realizing it, they give more weight to shared knowledge and dismiss specialized expertise, such as insights into the client's technologies, culture, and aspirations. The more generically inclined the team becomes, the more concerned the client grows, which turns up the pressure and pushes the team even further down the generic road. But forewarned is forearmed. By measuring each person's contribution deliberately, ruthlessly insisting that no one's contribution be marginalized, and framing new information within familiar contexts, teams can escape the performance pressure paradox and keep doing their best work when it matters most.     

Portfolio Quality and Mutual Fund Performance

This study investigates how the quality of stocks owned by mutual funds affects the performance of those funds during 2000–2009. The quality of a stock is positively related to its size, while quality is inversely related to volatility. Evidently, stocks in the lowest quality decile perform particularly poorly amidst volatile market conditions with a mean monthly Daniel, Grinblatt, Titman and Wermers (DGTW) alpha 1.93% [25.73% per annum (pa)] less than high‐quality stocks. Furthermore, funds which hold the lowest quality stocks exhibit substantial underperformance, particularly during market downturns, with funds in the lowest decile of quality incurring a mean monthly DGTW alpha 0.96% (12.14% pa) lower than their higher quality counterparts. Interestingly, we discover a trend to funds investing in higher quality stocks over time.     

Process Coordination Within a Health Care Service Supply Network

There are two manifestations of supply chains in health care. One involves the supply of equipment and materials used in health care delivery. The other supply chain involves the delivery of health care itself, wherein patients supply their physical conditions and service suppliers deliver health care services. This article considers the latter supply chain, analyzing a case study in which patients have comorbidities and thus require the services of a network of multiple health care providers. In the case study, we examine three schemes for coordination of care. In the first scheme, the patient herself is expected to manage the coordination. In the second scheme, physicians are expected to coordinate the care. In the third scheme, a third‐party coordinator manages care across network members. We examine these three possible coordination alternatives using a technique known as Process‐Chain‐Network (PCN) Analysis. PCN Analysis helps us document how coordination schemes are implemented and where they may fail. Our analysis of the case study leads us to the development of ex post theory about who should initiate coordination and how it should take place under conditions of comorbidities. Empirical data coming from the case study support the theory. We describe possible applications of the theory inside and outside of health care, and show how the PCN approach can guide process innovation.     

Dynamic stability in a model of dual exchange rates

The dynamic stability of a small open economy operating under a regime of dual exchange rates is shown to depend on residents' net foreign asset position. This result is in contrast to the economy's dynamic behavior under unified fixed-rate and flexible-rate regimes where stability is unrelated to net foreign asset position.     

Best value,partnerships and relationship marketing in local government

This paper contends that relationship marketing can enhance the nature of partnerships in local government. It considers first the development of best value, with particular emphasis on partnerships and collaborative working. The development of relationship marketing and its definitions are acknowledged along with a selection of related issues. Two taxonomies of relationship marketing are then considered which appear to have particular relevance to local government. The notion of trust is singled out for attention and possible applications of relationship marketing are then offered. The conclusion presents a synthesis of collaborative working and relationship marketing and a nascent model showing the possible facilitating role of relationship marketing. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications