Lucky lots and unlucky investors

Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting - The number 8 is considered lucky under the Chinese culture. This paper tries to examine whether investors hold such superstitious belief in the Hong...     

Business strategy, marketing organization culture, and performance

Drawing on configuration theory, we develop and test a model which posits that overall firm performance will be influenced by how well the marketing organization??s cultural orientation (i.e., market, adhocracy, hierarchy, or clan) complements alternative business strategies (i.e., Prospector, Analyzer, Low-Cost Defender, Differentiated Defender) after controlling for other, key firm-level variables. Responses from a sample of senior marketing managers provide partial support for the model and demonstrate that high-performing businesses of one strategy type have a different cultural orientation than high-performing businesses of the other strategy types. And, contrary to previous research, the results of this study show that each of the cultural orientations may play a role in creating superior performance. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for scholars and for managers.     

On the importance of matching strategic behavior and target market selection to business strategy in high-tech markets

Business strategy is fundamentally concerned with the actions required to create superior customer value in the firm’s target markets with the ultimate goal of achieving superior performance. Marketing theory suggests that two critical marketing activities required to achieve this end are: (1) the adoption of appropriate strategic behaviors (i.e., customer-oriented, competitor-oriented, technology-oriented) and (2) targeting of the appropriate market segments (i.e., innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, laggards). This study builds on prior research which demonstrates that the strategic behavior—firm performance relationship is contingent on the firm’s strategy by examining this relationship in high tech markets and by considering the incremental contribution of appropriate target market selection. Responses from 160 senior marketing managers in high-tech firms reveal strong support for our framework. Thus, this study provides useful guidance to executives and managers in high-tech firms regarding the steps that they should take to increase their probability of success.

绿色生态城区运营阶段碳排放量测量、验证与报告管理体制

目前我国对绿色生态城区建设的指标体系与评价标准主要关注的还是项目在规划设计阶段的技术目标,虽然评价内容可以分为规划设计评价、实施运管评价两个阶段,但具体的评价体制并未能提供城区在运营阶段的实际碳排放量值的定量评价。要对绿色生态城区在运营阶段对城市整体低碳发展的碳排放减缓贡献有明确的监控方法,必须要建立我国城市绿色生态城区运营阶段温室气体特别是碳排放量的测量、验证与报告(MVR-Monitoring,Verification,Reporting)管理体制。梳理目前有关城市碳排放量度监控方面提出相关的方法,再通过对城区建设管理流程和责任主体的分析,提出一套运营阶段碳排放量测量、验证与报告体制建议。管理体制包括针对我国城区尺度建设项目的 7个排放板块,提出对每个板块的报告主体、核算物理边界、核算周期、核算气体种类、核算运行边界、数据获取方式以及报告指标等要求。同时,为了保障实施,建议明确执行主体层级结构和报告关系,包括对各主体在项目生命周期不同阶段的要求,建立责任约束效应的测量、验证与报告保障制度。     

Click Here for a Data Scientist: Big Data,Predictive Analytics,and Theory Development in the Era of a Maker Movement Supply Chain

Predictive analytics is impacting many diverse areas, ranging from baseball and epidemiology to forecasting and customer relationship management. Manufacturers, retailers, software companies, and consultants are creatively discovering new applications of big data using predictive analytics in supply chain management and logistics. In practice, predictive analytics is generally atheoretical; however, we develop a 2 × 2 model to explain the role of predictive analytics in the theory development process. This 2 × 2 model shows that in our discipline we have traditionally taken one path to theory development, but that predictive analytics can be a salient component of a comprehensive theory development process. The model points to a number of research questions that need to be addressed by our research community. These questions are not just highly relevant to the academic community but also in urgent need of answers to help practitioners execute the right strategies with greater precision and efficiency. We also discuss how one disruptive trend, the maker movement, changes the nature of who the producers are in the supply chain, making big data even more valuable. As we engage in higher levels of dialogue we will be able to make meaningful progress addressing these vital research topics.     

SWARM INTELLIGENCE: APPLICATION OF THE ANT COLONY OPTIMIZATION ALGORITHM TO LOGISTICS‐ORIENTED VEHICLE ROUTING PROBLEMS

This research evaluates a set of logistics‐oriented vehicle routing problems (VRP) taken from the logistics and supply chain literature under the widely used Clark‐Wright Savings algorithm and the newer metaheuristic method employing a type of swarm intelligence called Ant Colony Optimization (ACO). ACO simulates the decision‐making processes of colonies of ants as they forage for food and is related to other artificial intelligence techniques such as Tabu Search, Simulated Annealing and Genetic Algorithms. Experimentation shows that ACO is successful in finding solutions near the best‐known solutions for problems with up to 20 demand locations. In addition, testing for the affect of spatial patterns suggested by the logistics literature for facility locations appears to make a difference in the quality of the solutions for the two algorithms. Finally, ACO is shown to be superior to the savings algorithm found in software packages and as a result should be tested on even larger, more complex logistics‐oriented vehicle routing problems, representative of those encountered in larger industrial and retail settings.