The Impact of Inflation Measures on the Real Returns and Risk of U.S. Stocks

Using different inflation measures produces economically significant differences in both the inflation record and inflation‐adjusted stock returns. We introduce a more consistent measure of the monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rate to better measure real returns over 1913–2004, for which the official CPI exists. We also extend the series backward to 1871 on a monthly basis, an important addition to the data series. We analyze the impact of inflation on the real standard deviation of stock returns and find that, in contrast to the results for geometric mean returns, inflation adjustments have little impact on estimates of return variability.     

Socio-Political Evaluation of Energy Deployment (SPEED): An integrated research framework analyzing energy technology deployment

Stabilizing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases to reduce the risks of climate change requires a major transition in society's energy infrastructure; yet despite a growing sense of urgency, deployment of alternative emerging energy technologies has been slow and uncertain. This paper proposes a systematic, interdisciplinary framework for the integrated analysis of regulatory, legal, political, economic, and social factors that influence energy technology deployment decisions at the state level to enhance awareness of the interconnections and enable improved energy policy and planning and accelerated change in society's energy infrastructure. This framework, Socio-Political Evaluation of Energy Deployment, (SPEED), integrates analysis of laws, regulations, institutions and policy actors as well as varying regional perceptions and levels of awareness about the risks and benefits of emerging energy technologies to facilitate improved understanding of the complex interconnected components of state energy systems. While this framework has been developed with U.S. states as a model, the SPEED framework is generalizable to other countries with different sub-national structures. We present three research methods that could be applied within the SPEED framework that could be particularly helpful in understanding the integrated socio-political influences on energy technology deployment: (1) policy review and analysis, (2) media analysis, and (3) focus groups and structured interviews with key stakeholders. By integrating the fields of technology diffusion, environmental policy, comparative analysis of states, and risk perception, future empirical research conducted within this SPEED framework will improve understanding of the interconnected socio-political influences on energy technology deployment to enable energy modelers, policy-makers, energy professionals, state planners and other stakeholders to develop and implement more effective strategies to accelerate the deployment of emerging energy technologies.     

Revisiting the construction of the Empire State Building: Have we forgotten something?

What’s past is prologue. Or is it? The construction of the Empire State Building (ESB) was not only the fastest erection of a skyscraper ever, but the construction company that took on the job allegedly began with no equipment or supplies that would be adequate for the job. The project was completed ahead of schedule and under budget; instead of 1 year and 6 months as anticipated, it only took 1 year and 45 days. The costs totaled $24.7 million instead of the estimated $43 million. So, we ask, how was this possible and is there something we could learn? Based on a review of existing literature describing the history and construction of the ESB, we outline strategic, operational, and contextual explanations for what appears to be a truly successful megaproject. We illustrate how, for example, inspiration from Henry Ford’s assembly line technique, the uniqueness of the logistics during the construction period, the economic decline of the Depression, and early ideas of concurrent engineering and fast-track construction enabled the success. Our conclusion is that there are lessons to be learned in going back to basics when tackling a megaproject.     

Exploring the locus of internal marketing

Service and business-to-business companies have remained at the forefront of studies into internal marketing due to close contact between employees and customers. Marketing academics and practitioners have shown particular interest in the supermarket sector over recent years due to fluctuations in performance that have been reported. Consumers have negligible switching costs, so the risk of them purchasing substitute products is a problem to marketers where there is insignificant product differentiation. There is little evidence to support the benefits of internal market orientation in the food retail industry, and the main reason is difficulty of measuring its value. Although the UK food retail industry has been extensively researched, researchers have yet to address it properly in regard to internal market orientation. There is now an opportunity to create sustainable competitive advantage by providing a variety of offerings.     

Effects of a product display and environmental fragrancing on approach responses and pleasurable experiences

The effects of atmospherics (i.e., a product display, pleasant and [in]appropriate ambient fragrances) on approach responses toward a product (global attitude, purchase intention, estimated price, and price the customer is willing to pay) and pleasurable experiences (sensory, affective, and cognitive pleasure) were investigated. In addition, the mediating effects of sensory, affective, and cognitive pleasure on approach responses toward a product were examined. Statistical analysis of responses of 109 female subjects each randomly assigned to one of four treatments showed that the appropriately fragranced display generated the most positive effect on approach responses and pleasurable experiences. A component of cognitive pleasure (seeing oneself in a fantasy) and multisensory pleasure mediated two approach responses: attitude toward the product and purchase intention. Findings suggest the importance of combining a display with environmental fragrancing as a marketing tool, but careful selection and application of environmental fragrances are required. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Managing and modeling the price reduction effect in mobile telecommunications traffic

As needs for telecommunications services diversify, an increasingly wide range of services is becoming available in the market. Service price reduction is one strategy used by service providers to retain existing subscribers. A price reduction for one service, however, can affect the individual-level usage for other services. Price reductions can also be imposed on a service provider by regulation. For these reasons, understanding how price reductions affect service usage is of growing importance to the telecommunications industry for purposes of pricing and tariff development. In this paper, an individual-level usage model for telecommunications services is developed and the effects on usage of a price reduction are analyzed. The model is applied to age-stratified aggregate traffic data for a Korean mobile telecommunication service provider. Finally, a 0-1 integer programming model is proposed for choosing which market segment should be targeted with a price reduction to minimize revenue loss. These models can be applied to market segmentation and price reduction strategy.     

Tracking the relationship between environmental management and financial performance in the service industry

Attention to the relationship between environmental management and financial performance has been growing. Research in this area has, however, tended to focus primarily on manufacturing industries. Our goal in this study is to analyze the relationship between environmental management and financial performance in the context of the service industry. Using a cross-sectional sample of 1,228 service organizations spanning a wide range of business activities, we test a series of five hypothesized relationships using both univariate and multivariate analyses. The results are robust across the dataset and show conclusively that environmental management does indeed positively affect financial performance in the service sector.     

Social capital dynamics and foreign market entry

This paper explores the dynamics of social capital in 121 new foreign market entries (FMEs) of 24 Swedish and New Zealand small- to medium-sized enterprises in the early and later phases of their internationalization. Its main contribution is the systematic assessment of the roles and forms of social capital over time and across countries, thus providing greater insight into the social capital concept. We separate social capital into efficacy and serendipity roles (economic dimension) and direct and indirect relationships (structural dimension). Efficacious and direct social capital is associated with early FMEs, while serendipitous and indirect social capital is more prevalent with later FMEs, indicating that social capital changes with (and is dependent on) FME. Moreover, while geographical proximity does not appear to affect the economic dimension of social capital, it is important for the structural dimension.     

Statistical Inference in Nonparametric Frontier Models: The State of the Art

Efficiency scores of firms are measured by their distance to an estimated production frontier. The economic literature proposes several nonparametric frontier estimators based on the idea of enveloping the data (FDH and DEA-type estimators). Many have claimed that FDH and DEA techniques are non-statistical, as opposed to econometric approaches where particular parametric expressions are posited to model the frontier. We can now define a statistical model allowing determination of the statistical properties of the nonparametric estimators in the multi-output and multi-input case. New results provide the asymptotic sampling distribution of the FDH estimator in a multivariate setting and of the DEA estimator in the bivariate case. Sampling distributions may also be approximated by bootstrap distributions in very general situations. Consequently, statistical inference based on DEA/FDH-type estimators is now possible. These techniques allow correction for the bias of the efficiency estimators and estimation of confidence intervals for the efficiency measures. This paper summarizes the results which are now available, and provides a brief guide to the existing literature. Emphasizing the role of hypotheses and inference, we show how the results can be used or adapted for practical purposes.     

湿地美学的研究方法与进展：从心理物理 范式的视角考察

通过文献计量法对已有的科研成果进行统计分析, 验证湿地美学在景观美学心理物理范式中的研究意义。研究 结果表明：近40年,关于心理物理范式的湿地美学研究主 题的已发表文献数量显著增加,特别是从2000—2010年 达到峰值时开始呈指数增长,将近一半以上关于心理物理范 式的湿地美学研究内容的出版物都在2000年后出版。这些 出版物通常来自3个杂志： Journal of Environmental Management (环境管理杂志)、 Landscape and Urban Planning (景观与城市规划)和 Wetlands (湿地);通过四大 范式的分析比较,检选的136篇出版物在景观美学范式下提到 了湿地美学,其中大部分概念都是等义或近义的,验证了景观 美学范式同样也适用于湿地美学;在湿地美学研究中,有部分 文章跨越了一个以上的范式,其中心理物理范式的使用频率高 于其他3种范式,心理物理学范式的综合运用已经成为很多学 者的共识。最后从心理物理范式中对湿地美学未来的主要研究 趋势进行了展望,指出应该完善其理论体系,丰富其研究内 容,综合考虑公众态度对湿地美学研究的影响,以期为湿地空 间的可持续管理提供一定的理论依据,为湿地美学的进一步研 究提供一定的理论参考。