Fictitious play in games: The transition between periodic and chaotic behaviour

In the 1960s Shapley provided an example of a two-player fictitious game with periodic behaviour. In this game, player A aims to copy B's behaviour and player B aims to play one ahead of player A. In this paper we generalise Shapley's example by introducing an external parameter. We show that the periodic behaviour in Shapley's example at some critical parameter value disintegrates into unpredictable (chaotic) behaviour, with players dithering a huge number of times between different strategies. At a further critical parameter the dynamics becomes periodic again, but now both players aim to play one ahead of the other. In this paper we adopt a geometric (dynamical systems) approach. Here we prove rigorous results on continuity of the dynamics and on the periodic behaviour, while in the sequel to this paper we shall describe the chaotic behaviour.     

How do small businesses pursue sustainability? The role of collective agency for integrating planned and emergent strategy making

Research on sustainability strategy in large corporations has shown that carefully planned strategies can address environmental and social concerns. However, we still lack clarity on how small businesses form sustainability strategies. Assuming that small businesses can—or should—carefully plan strategies is inappropriate considering that such organizations often lack the needed resources, foresight, and formalized decision-making structures. Building on the study of two craft breweries in Canada and Germany, we detail how a combination of planned and emergent actions enables owners, employees, and external stakeholders to jointly form strategic sustainability orientation. Developing these findings into an integrated activity-based model, we show the need to move beyond the dichotomy between planned and emergent strategizing. We contribute a human-centered perspective to the sustainability strategy literature and suggest that research should take the role of people in small businesses more seriously as here interpersonal relationships and collective agency are central in forming strategic sustainability orientation.     

Consumer response to design variations in pay-what-you-want pricing

Recent literature has identified consumers’ fairness and image concerns as the primary drivers of payments under pay-what-you-want (PWYW) pricing. Consequently, managers have employed a variety of design variations to invoke/alleviate these concerns to attract more customers and increase payment magnitudes. We develop a theoretical approach that combines both prosocial and self-interested motives to examine consumers’ four possible responses to design variations in PWYW exchange: (1) opt-out, (2) free-ride, (3) default to recommendation, or (4) other payment. We confirm model predictions using an empirical approach that jointly estimates the multipartite customer response. We report findings pertaining to four managerially controllable variables namely, ‘payment visibility’, ‘information on payment recipients’, ‘timing of payment’, and ‘explicit price recommendations’ using both secondary data and controlled experiments. We show that design variations have a heterogeneous effect on different types of consumer responses leading to countervailing effects on revenues. We derive several actionable managerial recommendations.

     

The influence of cultural diversity on the convergence of IFRS: evidence from Nigeria IFRS implementation

Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting - This study investigates the influences of companies’ cultural diversity on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption in...     

FAMILY FIRM PERFORMANCE OVER THE BUSINESS CYCLE: A META-ANALYSIS

The financial performance of family firms has been widely studied in the literature. Combining the results of 155 primary studies from 35 countries with data about business cycles, we investigate how family firm performance changes over the business cycle. Using meta-analytic estimation methods, we find that family firms outperform nonfamily firms in developed markets, irrespective of economic circumstances. This outperformance, although statistically significant, is very small and practically negligible. With regard to the business cycle, we find evidence for a procyclical effect in which the relative performance of family firms is lower in economically difficult times. Our study extends the literature on how family firm performance depends on macroeconomic factors.     

Immigrant earnings returns to post-migration education: Evidence for Canada, 1999–2013

Using the recently created Canadian Employer–Employee Dynamics Database (CEEDD), we analyze the earnings returns to investments in post secondary education by immigrants made after arrival in Canada. Fixed effects estimation results suggest that postsecondary education (PSE) in Canada increases annual earnings of men and women by 21.9% and 32.8%, respectively, for those enrolled full time and by 11.2% and 21.0% for those enrolled part time, respectively. Earnings effects of PSE are larger for immigrants admitted in the skilled worker category relative to family class immigrants and to refugees and are increasing in the level of education of the immigrants at landing. Immigrants from non-traditional source countries generally have larger returns to PSE than immigrants from English-language source countries, such as the US and the countries of Northwestern Europe.     

“Minor crimes” against wildlife: Small offenses,lasting impact,and a proposed solution

Past research has examined why people engage in negative consumer behaviors, but research has not adequately examined what drives minor crimes against wildlife, which is important given their prevalence and impact on the welfare of wildlife. We address this need for research with two studies that examine minor crimes against wildlife in the context of wildlife jams (i.e., traffic jams caused by wildlife in and around roadways that obstruct the normal flow of traffic). Study 1 introduces a research methodology very new to the field of marketing by using participant observation and geospatial data to characterize actual behaviors of people during wildlife jam events in a national park setting. Study 2 begins with a pre-test identifying the primary reasons for participation in wildlife jams before the main study tests a message-based intervention strategy to reduce wildlife jams using five conditions (no message, standard message, attitudes-based message, norms-based message, control-based message). Results reveal that a norms-based message reduced intentions to participate in wildlife jams the most, while all messaging tactics were more effective than no message. Findings build on the theory of planned behavior, and suggestions for decreasing consumer harm to wildlife are discussed.