Firm Market Performance and Volatility in a National Real Estate Sector

We present empirical evidence using daily data for stock prices for 17 real estate companies traded in the Sao Paulo, Brazil stock exchange, from August 26, 2006 to March 31, 2010. We use the U.S. house price bubble, financial crisis and risk measures to instrument for momentums and reversals in the domestic real estate sector. We find evidence of conditional premium persistence and conditional volatility persistence in the market. We find that the conditional risk-return relationship in the sector is consistent with the prospect theory of risk attitudes in this period. Certain companies seem to be operating on a perceived potential industry return above the target, while most others are below the target, and the whole sector is below target on average.     

Job accessibility and the modal mismatch in Detroit

Transportation scholars are challenging traditional formulations of the spatial mismatch hypothesis because previous studies have disregarded the considerable difference between travel modes. This case study of the Detroit metropolitan region uses 2000 census data and a gravity-based model of transportation accessibility to test differences in access to jobs among places and people, and provides support for recent calls for reconceptualizing spatial mismatch. It shows that even though Detroit experiences the greatest distance between African Americans and jobs of any region in the country, most central city neighborhoods offer an advantage in accessibility to jobs compared to most other places in the metropolitan region – as long as a resident has a car. Policies aimed at helping carless people gain access to automobiles may be an effective means of improving the employment outcomes of inner-city residents.     

Building a multi-category brand: when should distant brand extensions be introduced?

When companies plan to build multi-category brands by adding new products to their product lines, two questions loom large: (1) whether and (2) when brand extensions perceived as distant (comparatively dissimilar) from the company’s existing core line of products should be introduced. Since many real-world firms have introduced distant brand extensions, this paper focuses on the second question: when the company should introduce a distant extension within a series of other closer extensions—a decision for which there is little research-based guidance for managers. Building on theories of mental categorization, the authors argue that early (vs. late) introductions of distant brand extensions can be more beneficial for the brand. Three studies support this conclusion, demonstrating that early (vs. late) introductions of distant extensions can result in more positive final brand attitudes; that is, attitudes held after all the extensions have been introduced. This effect is driven by how easily the distant extension is integrated into consumers’ brand concepts and is moderated by overall brand positioning. Importantly, this effect on final brand attitudes is shown to influence behavioral measures of product preference and brand engagement.     

Understanding Sponsorship: A Consumer-Centric Model of Sponsorship Effects

A crucial component of many marketing programs, sponsorship has not always received the same research attention as other tactical marketing levers. Although research has been conducted to fill that gap in recent years, we lack a comprehensive, rigorous summary of what is known about sponsorship to capture and interpret that learning. Toward that goal, we offer a new definition of sponsorship and describe a three-step consumer-centric model of sponsorship effects. Highlighting a sequence of antecedents, mediators, and consequences for sponsorship, we also detail the prevailing input, output, and process factors identified in past sponsorship research. Finally, based on our analysis, we derive key summary insights and provide a roadmap for future research.     

The october 1979 federal reserve policy shift: An analysis using variance decomposition

Conclusions Subsequent to the announced October 1979 policy shift, many economists voiced doubt about whether the Federal Reserve was sincerely committed to the execution of an NBR's targeting strategy. However, the charge that the central bank continued to accommodate as vigorously after the announced policy shift as before is not borne out by these results. Pre- and post-1979 comparisons of the FFR and NBR decompositions suggest a conscious policy alteration aimed at tightening control over NBR while allowing the FFR to respond to money market conditions.The evidence also indicates continuedM1 endogeneity in the second period, with feedback occurring between this variable and the FFR. While the measuredM1 aggregate used in the VAR's does not allow a precise identification of money demand forces, it is reasonable to relate this endogeneity to the erratic shifts in money demand which are known to have occurred over the 1979–82 period.Thus, while the analysis does indicate the central bank did alter its behavior with respect to the NBR policy instrument, the results do not show the Fed was able to control the volatility ofM1 over the NBR targeting period.Funded by the NTSU Office of Research, grant no. 34475. Ken Smith and Doug McMillin offered helpful comments. The usual caveat applies.     

Self-appraisal,life goals,and national culture: An asian-western comparison

Positive leniency in self-appraisal was studied for its cross-cultural properties in three Asian and three Western countries. Nine hundred and eighty-three mid-level bank managers were surveyed by indigenous field workers to measure self-appraisal, life goals, and other demographic variables. Positive leniency was found in the three Western countries but not in the three Asian countries while controlling for size and type of organisation, managerial level and several demographics including sex, age, education and religious preference. Our measure of self-appraisal also served as a measure of organisational success. The relationship between success and work motivation was then examined for its cross-cultural properties. Organisational success and work motivation correlated across the six countries although the intensity of work motivation varied. The importance of work and of family were highly valued in all six countries as well.     

Researching marketing problems and opportunities with focus groups

Focus group research is a popular and effective qualitative research method for generating ideas and assessing marketing programs and concepts. This article provides marketers with insights about implementing focus groups in the industrial environment. It presents a specific procedure for conducting focus groups, potential industrial applications for the research technique, guidelines for making decisions about selecting moderators, establishing objectives, recruiting study participants, and controlling costs.