The Relationship between marketing performance,logistics performance and company performance for retail companies

Abstract

The objective of this research is to demonstrate the importance of logistics and marketing to overall company performance. The focus is on the relationship between logistics and marketing, because, in the intra-organisational context, the different perspectives of these two functions can lead to conflict between short-term objectives. Consequently, effective coordination between these two organisational units, not only at an intra-organisational, but also at an inter-organisational level, is extremely important. The theoretical assumptions are tested empirically through an investigation of the retailing industry.     

Ricardo und die Troika — für die Einführung einer EU-Bodenwertabgabe

From a Ricardian point of view, taxes should be most efficiently financed through land rents. In spatial terms, the land rents are highest in the European core countries and lowest at the margins of the peripheral states, which are currently in turmoil due to the economic crisis. The austerity policy of the troika is strangling these states economically. The authors propose a common European tax based on land values. Its revenues should be redistributed to the EU states according to the size of their population.     

Winners and losers: German equity mutual funds

We investigate the performance of winners and losers for German equity mutual funds (1990–2009), using empirical order statistics. When using gross returns and the Fama–French three-factor model, the number of statistically significant positive alpha funds is zero but increases markedly when market timing variables are added. However, when using a ‘total performance’ measure (which incorporates both alpha and the contribution of market timing), the number of statistically significant winner funds falls to zero. The latter is consistent with the bias in estimated alphas in the presence of market timing. We also find that many poorly performing funds are unskilled rather than unlucky.     

Risk governance and emerging technologies: learning from case study integration

Emerging technologies are underway in a wide array of industrial applications and need fields. When innovating on technologies, one main objective is to improve the management of safety related to their emerging risks. The iNTeg-Risk project undertook 17 case studies covering current key innovations and focusing on their corresponding risks. Thus, a major challenge is to integrate the case study research into a common framework on adequate future risk and safety concepts which might serve policy and stakeholder decision-makers as a background for risk-related decisions in the future. Within this paper, we looked on similarities and disparities on how these case studies assess, manage, and communicate risk issues. A telephone survey with case study task leaders has been carried out in order to identifying the state-of-the-art of how the case studies deal with risk governance issues.     

A DYNAMIC MODEL OF HOUSING DEMAND: ESTIMATION AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS*

Using data from the PSID, we estimate a dynamic model of housing demand with nonconvex adjustment costs, credit constraints, and uncertainty about income and home prices. We simulate how consumer behavior responds to house price and income declines as well as tightening credit. In response to a negative home price shock, households early in the life cycle climb the housing ladder more quickly and invest more in housing assets due to the lower price. With a concurrent negative income shock, however, housing demand falls among young and middle aged households who stay in smaller homes rather than to trade up.     

WTO challenges and efficiency of Chinese banks

After joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in December 2001, China was given 5 years to completely open up its banking market for international competition. Chinese banks have been renowned for their mounting nonperforming loans and low efficiency. Despite gradual reforms, the banking system is still dominated by state ownership and encapsulated monopolistic control. How to raise efficiency is a key to the survival and success of domestic banks, especially the state-owned commercial banks. Two important factors may be responsible for raising efficiency: ownership reform and hard budget constraints. This article uses a panel data of 22 banks over the period 1995 to 2001, and employs a stochastic frontier production function to investigate the effects of ownership structure and hard budget constraint on efficiency. Empirical results suggest that nonstate banks were 8–18% more efficient than state banks, and that banks facing a harder budget tend to perform better than those heavily capitalized by the state or regional governments. The results shed important light on banking sector reform in China to face the tough challenges after WTO accession.     

Starving the beast? Intra-generational conflict and balanced budget rules

A balanced budget requirement does not only prevent fiscal policy makers from smoothing tax distortions but also affects their preferred choice of government spending. The paper analyzes the conditions under which groups opposed to government spending might want to implement a balanced budget requirement in order to induce the government to spend less. It shows that relaxing a balanced budget requirement need not be associated with higher government spending.