Skilled maintenance work at British Telecom: findings from the Social Change and Economic Life Research Initiative

Here the author examines the relationship of technical change and job skills amongst maintenance workers in telecommunications in Britain. It demonstrates that there are significant variations within different areas of such maintenance work and strongly challenges the notion that such maintenance work is subject to a generic process of deskilling in the present era.     

Market efficiency,purchasing power parity,and black markets: Evidence from latin american countries

Zusammenfassung Markteffizienz, Kaufkraftparit?t und Schwarzm?rkte: Evidenz aus lateinamerikanischen L?ndern. - Die Arbeit verwendet den von Rogalski/Vinso und Roll entwickelten theoretischen Rahmen, um das Verhalten der W?hrungen von Kanada und den USA sowie von ausgew?hlten lateinamerikanischen L?ndern auf dem dortigen Schwarzmarkt zu untersuchen. Abweichungen von der Kaufkraftparit?t werden analysiert, ebenso die Beziehungen zwischen diesen Abweichungen, den Wechselkursen und Inflationsdifferentialen, um die Vereinbarkeit der Kaufkraftparit?t mit der Konzeption der effizienten M?rkte und mit dem monet?ren Ansatz zu prüfen. Die Ergebnisse stützen im allgemeinen die Hypothese der effizienten M?rkte und liefern interessante Informationen über eine normalerweise vernachl?ssigte Gruppe von Wechselkursen.

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Résumé Efficacité de marché, parité de pouvoir d’achat et marchés noirs: Evidence des pays latino-américains. - Les auteurs utilisent le cadre théorique développé par Rogalski/ Vinso et Roll pour analyser la performance des monnaies de marché noir des pays latinoaméricains sélectionnés ainsi que des monnaies des E. U. et de Canada. Le comportement des déviations de la parité du pouvoir d’achat (PPA) est examiné aussi bien que les relations entre ces déviations, les taux de change et les différences d’inflation pour analyser la compatibilité de la PPA avec la conception des marchés efficients et l’approche monétaire. Les résultats supportent généralement l’hypothèse de marché efficient et offrent des informations intéressantes sur un groupe des taux de change généralement négligé.

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Resumen Mercados eficientes, paridad del poder adquisitivo y mercados negros: Evidencia de países latinoamericanos. - En este trabajo se utiliza el marco teórico desarrollado por Rogalski/Vinso y por Roll para analizar el funcionamiento de mercados negros seleccionados en Latinoamérica, los EEUU y Canadá. Se examina el comportamiento de las desviaciones de la paridad del poder adquisitivo (PPA) como también las relaciones entre las desviaciones, los tipos de cambio y las diferencias entre las tasas de inflatión con el fin de investigar la compatibilidad del PPA con los enfoques de mercados eficientes y monetario. Los resultados obtenidos apoyan en general la hipótesis de mercodos eficientes e iluminan aspectos interesantes de tipos de cambio habitualmente obviados.

     

Design-Based Properties of Linear Calibrated Estimators of a Finite Population Total

We extend Godambe's famous nonexistence theorem to classes of linear calibrated estimators. We also propose a new method for comparing sampling strategies in the design‐based framework without recourse to simulation.     

Accounting Practices and the Market Valuation of Accounting Numbers: Evidence from Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Thailand

This study examines the relation between stock prices and accounting earnings and book values in six Asian countries: Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Thailand. The analysis is based on a residual earnings model that expresses the value of the firm in terms of book value and residual income. The model holds for any clean surplus accounting system. However, for finite time horizons, biased accounting may affect model estimates. The six countries examined in this study differ in faithfulness to clean surplus accounting as well as bias (conservatism). The study addresses two questions. First, are there systematic differences across countries in the value relevance of accounting, and are these differences related to accounting differences? Second, are there systematic differences in the incremental and relative information content of book value per share (BVPS) and abnormal (residual) earnings per share (REPS) across the countries, and are such differences related to accounting differences? We find differences across the six countries in the explanatory power of BVPS and REPS for firm values. Explanatory power for Taiwan and Malaysia is relatively low while that for Korea and the Philippines is relatively high. These differences are generally consistent with differences in accounting practice; however, since Korean accounting practice is strongly influenced by tax law, we did not expect the high association for Korea. Second, with respect to the incremental and relative explanatory power of BVPS and REPS, we find BVPS to have high explanatory power in the Philippines and Korea but little in Taiwan. In all six countries REPS has less explanatory power than BVPS in most years. Again, the evidence may be interpreted as suggesting accounting practice affects valuation (with Korea again as the exception). Finally, we provide evidence on the sensitivity of the timing of comparisons of stock prices and accounting values. We find that comparing prices at year-end (even though annual accounting information has not been released at that time), in general, provides the highest correlation between market and accounting numbers.     

The effective use of marketing research consultants

Relatively little has been written about effectively managing the buyer-seller relationship for marketing research services. To provide insights into effectively managing this relationship, a survey of both buyers and sellers of marketing research services was conducted. Major findings were that proper problem definition, a familiarity with research methods by the research buyer, and continuous communication between buyer and seller were critical determinants of a successful consultant relationship. For best results the market research buyer-seller relationship should be treated as a mutually beneficial one, not one of conflict or acrimony.     

Medium-sized charities and their advertising agencies: An exploratory investigation

Respondents in 103 medium-sized charities completed a mail questionnaire designed to explore the nature of the relationships between these charities and their advertising agencies. It emerged that some, but not all, of the factors known to influence interactions between agencies and their commercial clients were equally relevant within the charity sector. Variables crucial to charity clients' levels of satisfaction with their advertising agencies included agency provision of functional assistance with media planning and the creative design of advertisements, trust and an agency's willingness to act as a member of its client's team, and the ability to generate new ideas. Additionally, an agency's experience of work within the charity sector and its empathy with charitable aims, ideals and philosophies were key determinants of satisfaction ratings. Assistance with market research and public relations and an agency's ability to offer extensive ancillary services did not appear to exert significant influence.     

Linking learning and effective process implementation to mass customization capability

This study investigates the role of learning and effective process implementation in the development of mass customization capability. Building upon the knowledge-based view of the firm, we argue that internal and external learning are two knowledge-generation routines that contribute to effective process implementation. Effective process implementation, in turn, is a knowledge-based manufacturing capability, which, as a function of internal and external learning, leads to mass customization capability. We employ structural equation modeling to empirically test the effects of learning on mass customization capability, mediated by effective process implementation, using survey data collected from 100 manufacturing plants in 3 industries and 6 countries. Our results provide empirical evidence supporting the proposed model of the effect of internal and external learning on mass customization capability, fully mediated by effective process implementation. This research is one of the first studies to integrate insights from the knowledge-based view of the firm and mass customization. It complements the OM view of mass customization, which to date has largely focused on the technical side, by demonstrating the role of managerial practices and learning in cultivating mass customization capability in a manufacturing environment.