Entry in the presence of dueling options

This paper investigates the influence of industry uncertainty on the decision by established firms to enter a new industry. Specifically, we examine the tension between the option to defer , which discourages entry in the presence of uncertainty, and the option to grow , which may encourage entry in the presence of uncertainty when there are early mover advantages. Empirical analysis on data from a broad array of industries revealed that the effect of uncertainty on entry is not monotonic. Our findings are the first to find support for the nonmonotonic effect of uncertainty that has only recently emerged in theoretical treatments of real options theory, and amplify the importance of considering both the option to defer and the option to grow when contemplating entry. Furthermore, we found evidence that the relationship between uncertainty and entry is moderated by: (a) irreversibility, which influences the value of the option to defer; (b) the total value of growth opportunities; and (c) early mover advantages, which magnify the value of growth options. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bilateralism and Regionalism in Japanese and U.S. Trade and Direct Foreign Investment Patterns

We apply a modified "gravity model" incorporating measures of factor endowments to analyze Japanese and U.S. bilateral trade flows and direct foreign investment positions with a sample of around 100 countries for the period 1985–1990. Country features that our analysis takes into account are population, income, the land–labor ratio, the average level of education, and region. We find that features of a country associated with more trade with either Japan or the United States also tend to be associated with more direct foreign investment (DFI) from Japan or the United States. U.S. economic relations with Japan and Western Europe provide an important exception. Despite U.S. concern about its trade deficit with Japan, we find Japan to be much more open to the United States, not only as a source of imports, but also as a destination for U.S. exports than most countries in Western Europe. Taking other factors into account, however, Western Europe is more open to U.S. direct foreign investment. We also find that a country′s level of education tends to increase significantly U.S. interaction of all types with that country, even after correcting for per capita income. Education does not play a significant role in Japanese trade patterns. As factor endowment theory would predict, the United States tends to trade more with densely populated countries, while Japan tends to import more from sparsely populated countries. Even after taking into account population, income, factor endowments, and region, there is a substantial degree of "bilateralism" in Japanese and U.S. economic relationships in that the residual correlation among exports, imports, and outward direct foreign investment is much larger than would be the case if these magnitudes were independent across countries. J. Japan. Int. Econ. December 1994, 8(4), pp. 478–510. Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215; and National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138.     

美国：危险的消费者借贷

次贷危机又被称为次级房贷危机,是一场发生在美国,因次级抵押贷款机构破产、投资基金被迫关闭以及股市剧烈震荡引起的金融风暴。它致使全球主要金融市场出现流动性不足危机。美国次贷危机从2006春季逐步显现,在2006年之前的5年里,由于美国住房市场持续繁荣,加上前几年利率水平较低,美国的次级抵押贷款市场迅速发展。由于短期利率的提高,     

Motivations and Use Context in Mobile Tourism Shopping: Applying Contingency and Task–Technology Fit Theories

Mobile tourism shopping is an emerging market, but there is little theoretically based research on the topic. This study investigates the impact of motivations (value, enjoyment, time saving and mobility) on consumer satisfaction by applying contingency and task–technology fit theories in the mobile tourism shopping context. The results show that value and enjoyment have significant effects on satisfaction. Use context is found to have a full mediating role between time saving and satisfaction as well as between mobility and satisfaction. This study offers theoretical and practical contributions to the tourism literature and mobile tourism industry. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Auditing Goodwill in the Post‐Amortization Era: Challenges for Auditors

The elimination of goodwill amortization in 2001 brought about significant change in how companies are required to account for goodwill. This change in accounting also brought with it new challenges for auditors, namely evaluating the reasonableness of management's assumptions related to goodwill valuation. In addition to introducing technical challenges, this task is particularly difficult given the misalignment in incentives it creates between managers who likely prefer to avoid recording an impairment and auditors who seek to minimize the bias in management's impairment testing. This study focuses on the consequences of the misaligned incentives that auditors face under the current goodwill assessment process. We find that the decision to record a goodwill impairment is associated with an increase in the probability of auditor dismissal. Consistent with the presence of significant friction with clients, our results also indicate that the likelihood of auditor dismissals is negatively related to the favorability of the impairment decision. Furthermore, we find that companies impairing goodwill prior to dismissing auditors subsequently employ auditors that are, on average, more favorable to clients in their impairment decisions.     

Nonlinear dynamical systems and inventory management

Surprisingly, deterministic time series can generate highly irregular, random-appearing trajectories. These deterministic time series result from nonlinear dynamical systems of differential or difference equations. The random appearance displayed by these systems is called nonlinear dynamical complexity. Properties of nonlinear complex systems include aperiodic random appearance, sensitive dependence on initial conditions and model parameters, and nonstationarity. Experiments involving the operation of simulated business environments and theoretical nonlinear dynamical models for inventory are reviewed to explore motivating factors that can give rise to demand with nonlinear complexities. The experimental and theoretical evidence reviewed indicates that nonlinear complexities in demand have significant implications for inventory management. Thus, researchers and practitioners in inventory management need to consider these properties when choosing inventory management methods. Characteristics of nonlinear dynamical systems and their implications for inventory management are presented in this paper. The use of the Brock, Dechert, and Scheinkman (1987) (BDS) test for nonlinear dependence is demonstrated on actual demand data.     

Prediction of decomposition limits for ethylene oxide-nitrogen vapor mixtures

A decomposition limit equation applicable to liquid ethylene oxide storage conditions based on recently obtained data is presented. Comparison is made with a second correlation equation developed from literature data. Adjustment of predicted decomposition limits to produce recommended safe operating limits is discussed.