Empirical comparison of just-in-time and stockless materiel management systems in the health care industry

Despite the limitations, this study is the first comparative empirical investigation of two relatively new materiel management systems applied in hospitals. The results show that hospital managers have significantly rated the possibility that more effective use of some materiel management resources can be achieved by adopting either a JIT or stockless system over conventional materiel management systems.     

Private information, trading volume, and stock-return variances

New evidence is provided on the determinants of stock-returnvariances. First, when the Tokyo Stock Exchange is open on Saturday,the weekend variance increases; weekly variance is unaffected,however, despite an increase in weekly volume. Second, the listingof U.S. stocks in Tokyo substantially increases the number oftrading hours, but Tokyo volume is negligible for these U.S.stocks and their 24-hour variance is unaffected. The overallresults are consistent with the predictions of private-information-basedrational trading models, but inconsistent with both the irrationaltrading noise and public-information hypotheses.     

Information, trade, and derivative securities

Hellwig's (1980) model is used to analyze the value of improvingtrading opportunities by more frequent trading in the underlyingasset, or by trading in a derivative asset. With multiple tradingsessions, uninformed investors behave as rational trend followers,while more informed investors follow a contrarian strategy.As trading becomes continuous, Pareto efficiency is achieved.With trading in an appropriate derivative security, Pareto efficiencymay be achieved in only a single round of trading. All derivativeclaims are then priced on Black and Scholes (1973) principlesand, in the absence of further supply shocks, no trading willtake place in subsequent trading rounds.     

Investment analysis and the adjustment of stock prices to common information

In this article we are concerned with the effect of the numberof investment analysts following a firm on the speed of adjustmentof the firm's stock price to new information that has commoneffects across firms. It is found that returns on portfoliosof firms that are followed by many analysts tend to lead thoseof firms that are followed by fewer analysts, even when thefirms are of approximately the same size. Many analyst firmsalso tend to respond more rapidly to market returns than dofew analyst firms, adjusting for firm size. This relation, however,is nonlinear, and the marginal effect of the number of analystson the speed of price adjustment increases with the number ofanalysts.     

Auditor liability: A comparison of judge and juror verdicts

This research examines differences between judges and jurors in rendering liability judgments in auditor litigation cases. While any number of case contexts would allow us to contrast and compare judges and jurors, we chose one that we believed would also address a second timely issue, auditor reliance or non-reliance upon the work of others. Within the general context of litigation of an alleged audit failure, we manipulated, between-participants, external auditor reliance on the work of others (relied on outsourced work, relied on in-house internal auditors’ work or did not rely). Our results show differences in the liability assessments of judges and jurors. Judges assign more liability to auditors that rely on the work of in-house internal auditors, less liability to auditors that rely on outsourced internal auditors and the least liability to auditors that choose not to rely on the work of internal auditors (but re-perform the work themselves) while jurors assess higher liability regardless of the work done by the auditors. Mediation analyses suggests the differences found in the overall liability assessments of jurors and judges are partially driven by their divergent attitudes towards the public accounting profession with jurors’ unfavorable attitudes leading to them assign liability regardless of the work performed. Further analysis suggests juror insensitivity to our reliance manipulations may reflect a strict liability perspective (consistent with prior work by Charron and Lowe (2008)); while judges consider other factors when making liability assessments.     

Using Goal Programming and the analytic hierarchy process in house selection

The house selection process involves an assessment by the buyer of a series of qualitative and quantitative factors. Simple ranking or weighting selection methods utilizing these factors can lead to less than optimal decision making. This paper presents a model to aid in the house selection decision process. Specifically, this paper presents a Goal Programming (GP) model that utilizes the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to evaluate property attributes and make an optimal house selection decision. The formulation methodology for the proposed house selection modeling process is illustrated with examples based on data from a prior study.     

The unemployment problem

The paper reviews the unemployment problem in Europe. It showsthat while there is a good deal of heterogeneity in Europeanunemployment experience, a 'European model' of high and persistentunemployment characterizes many of the core continental economies,in contrast to the low unemployment experience of the USA. Theexplanation that this difference is due to a common skill-biasedshock interacting with more rigid labour-market features inthe European case is reviewed, as is the suggestion that theEuropean experience is exceptional on account of the more stringentmacro-environment created by devotion to tight monetary policies.The policy outlook is one in which strongly expansionary economicpolicies seem unlikely to be launched and most of the burdenof fighting unemployment will be borne by labour-market reforms;the bad side-effects of these could be cushioned by resort towage subsidies, supporting a 'European' bias in favour of equality.The 35-hour week is judged to be an unlikely remedy.     

Medical error reduction: the effect of employee satisfaction with organizational support

The problem of medical errors as a factor of service quality has become critically important for healthcare providers. The research model in this paper describes how employee satisfaction with organizational support (ESWOS) and organizational systems supported by an organizational culture impact medical error reduction. The proposed research model was tested using structural equation modelling for hypotheses, based on data collected from 186 respondents in four selected hospitals. The results of the study strongly support that medical error reduction is associated with ESWOS. Also, organizational culture which supports ESWOS and organizational systems as preventive and corrective systems is important for reducing medical errors.     

THE TRANSMISSION OF MONETARY POLICY UNDER THE REPO SYSTEM IN SOUTH AFRICA: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS♣

The study examines the influence of the repo rate on the interbank rate and analyses whether the transmission channels of interest rates have changed since the adjustment to the repo system in September 2001. The paper employs the Granger causality test using the ECM framework. The results suggest that the influence of the repo rate on the interbank rate was stronger before the adjustments to the system were made. The interbank rate and the repo rate were found to “reverse” roles in the period after the adjustments to the system. Our results show that the changes to the repo system in 2001 did not lead to the achievement of the intended transmission channel; instead it was found that the system in place before the changes were made was in fact already achieving the transmission path that the authorities hoped to accomplish by changing the system.     

Survivor bias and mutual fund performance

Mutual fund attrition can create problems for a researcher becausefunds that disappear tend to do so due to poor performance.In this article we estimate the size of the bias by trackingall funds that existed at the end of 1976. When a fund mergeswe calculate the return, taking into account the merger terms.This allows a precise estimate of survivorship bias. In addition,we examine characteristics of both mutual funds that mergerand their partner funds. Estimates of survivorship bias overdifferent horizons and using different models to evaluate performanceare provided.