Using performance-based warranties to influence consumer purchase decisions

Abstract

Traditional warranty analysis focuses on the reliability of a product and offers warranty designs that compensate a consumer if the item fails. We introduce the concept of a performance-based warranty (PBW) that guarantees that a product will operate at or above some baseline level of performance, such as a minimum energy efficiency for an appliance. We illustrate how consumer behavior can change in the presence of a PBW and define the parameters for which a manufacturer may increase revenue. Finally, we present an algorithm to solve for the optimal PBW design given a consumer’s belief about the expected performance of the product.     

COVID-19 and business renewal: Lessons and insights from the global airline industry

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected the fortunes of multiple companies around the globe. Accordingly, questions are increasingly being asked about how organizations can revitalize during and after a crisis. Yet, we have limited understanding of how organizations renew themselves during crises over time. We explore this question through the lens and examination of two South-Asian airlines: Pakistan International Airlines and Sri Lankan Airlines. The cases offer important insights into the reasons behind underperformance of state-controlled enterprises and renewal activities. We shed light on strategic renewal (SR) in the wake of increasing liberalization and deregulations in the global airline industry. To this end, we propose a four-stage approach towards renewing such underperforming organizations to respond effectively to black swan events and external shocks.     

Human resource management practices and voluntary turnover: a study of internal workforce and external labor market contingencies

We tested relationships between employee quit rates and two bundles of human resource (HR) practices that reflect the different interests of the two parties involved in the employment relationship. To understand the boundary conditions for these effects, we examined an external contingency proposed to influence the exchange-based effects of HR practices on subsequent quit rates – the local industry-specific unemployment rate – and an internal contingency proposed to shape employees’ conceptualization of their exchange relationship – their employment status (i.e. full-time, part-time and temporary employment). Analyses of lagged data from over 200 Canadian establishments show that inducement HR practices (e.g. extensive benefits) and performance expectation HR practices (e.g. performance-based bonuses) had different effects on quit rates, and the former effect was moderated by unemployment rate. The effects of HR practices on quit rates did not differ between FT and PT employees, but a different pattern of main and interactive effects was found among temporary workers. These findings suggest that employees’ exchange-based decisions to leave may be less affected by the number of hours they expect to work each week, and more by the number of weeks they expect to work.     

Getting the Most Out of a Mandatory Subordinated Debt Requirement

Recent advances in asset pricing—the reduced-form approach to pricing risky debt and derivatives—are used to quantitatively evaluate several proposals for mandatory bank issue of subordinated debt. We find that credit spreads on both fixed- and floating-rate subordinated debt provide relatively clean signals of bank risk and are not unduly influenced by nonrisk factors. Fixed-rate debt with a put is unacceptable, but making the putable debt floating resolves most problems. Our approach also helps to clarify several different notions of “bank risk.”     

Can the New Deal’s three Rs be rehabilitated? A program-by-program, county-by-county analysis

We examine the importance of Roosevelt’s “relief, recovery, and reform” motives to the distribution of New Deal funds across over 3000 US counties, program by program. The major relief programs most closely followed Roosevelt’s three Rs. Other programs were tilted more in favor of areas with higher incomes. For all programs spending for political advantage in upcoming elections was a significant factor. Roosevelt’s successful reelections were based on developing specific programs for a broad range of constituents, delivering on his stated goals, but also spending more at the margin for political purposes.     

Exploring the interaction between incubators and industrial clusters: the case of the itri incubator in Taiwan

This article aims to explore the interaction between incubators and industrial clusters, which is an important linkage for local development but has not been analyzed in the literature. A model is proposed to describe this interaction. The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) Incubator within the Hsinchu industrial cluster, the core of Taiwan's technology industries, is considered to be an empirical case. This case is investigated with the proposed model and methods including data analysis, in–depth interviews, manager surveys and stakeholder analysis. It was found that the clustering effect in the Hsinchu industrial cluster is main factor in the ITRI Incubator's development. The ITRI Incubator in turn reinforces the cluster in some aspects as feedback. This result confirms the existence and importance of this interaction in local development. It is recommended that government officials and incubator managers take account of this interaction in operating an incubator program and utilize the proposed model to analyze the incubator's contributions to its industrial cluster.     

中国的金融市场开发与借款证券化

在当今社会，市场对金融运行的压力越来越大，传统的融资方式已难以满足投资者的需要。一种新的金融形式——贷款证券化，使资金拥有者可以通过这一渠道将资金转移到贷款者手中。通过这种形式，可以很好地解决当今社会许多融资难的问题。目前，这种融资形式正在引起我国许多业界人士的注意，这种形式如果能够在我国的金融体系中得到完善，将会极大地促进我国的经济建设，也能很好地解决我国投融资体系中存在的诸多现实问题。     

创建和谐园区推动发展再上新水平

党的十六大以来,以胡锦涛同志为总书记的党中央提出构建社会主义和谐社会的重大战略思想和战略任务,明确了构建社会主义和谐社会在中国特色社会主义事业总体布局中的地位.天津市委市政府对构建社会主义和谐社会也作出了一系列决策部署.天津新技术产业园区作为天津发展高新技术产业的基地和滨海新区的领航区,更应该在构建和谐社会、创建和谐园区上下功夫、见成效,为创建和谐天津作出应有的贡献.     

Following the money: The globalization of capital flows and private equity

Global capital flows have long been the domain of the developed nations. The emerging markets, at best, have been nominal players. Today, the tables have begun to turn. The developing nations have become bigger players as global growth increasingly shifts toward the Middle East, Asia, Central Europe, and Latin America. Accordingly, global capital flows are slowly being reconfigured; in the future, flows will increasingly take the form of north‐south movements, or flows between the developed and developing nations. They will also become south‐south in nature, as well as south‐north. Private equity, long driven by U.S. players, will become less U.S.‐centric in the future. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

完善行业协会迎接WTO的挑战

中国加入WTO后，政府经济管理职能应加快转变，行业管理职能应逐步移交行业协会。石油、石化行业应尽快在企业自愿的基础上完善行业协会，使其在国家政策法规的框架下，对全行业油气资源、市场准入、价格调控、服务标准、信息交流、安全、质量、环保等进行统一协调和服务，逐步培育和规范国内石油、石化市场。行业协会通过与国外同行业民间组织建立联系，了解国外同行业的技术经济动态，为企业提高竞争力服务，同时也为国家宏观调控提供决策依据。行业协会要协调好同业竞争与合作的关系，尽快建立和完善畅通的行业信息网络；随着外部环境的日益宽松，企业更应继续强化管理、搞好经营，主动学习和利用世贸组织游戏规则，提升自身实力。石油、石化行业协会的完善离不开国家政策的支持和比较规范的市场环境。