An opinion survey of malaysian middle level managers and professionals

This study reports the results of an opinion survey of a Malaysian managerial subelite, potential future business and government leaders. Their responses to propositions put forth in a detailed questionnaire indicate that they have values conforming to those associated with Western bureaucratic society. The results of this 1982 survey are discussed under the topics of attitudes toward women, attitudes toward business and religion, station in life, and peer trust levels.Bernard Sarachek is with the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Aziz Abdul Hamid and Zakaria Bin Ismail are with the Faculty of Business Management, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.     

Forecast accuracy in initial public offerings and the impact of external constraints relative to managerial choice: a research note

We examine the accuracy of earnings forecasts published in prospectuses, under conditions where external influences of state regulation and economic condition act as constraints to mitigate management optimism. Our results indicate that regulation has no significant impact, but economic condition and management optimism are significantly associated with forecast accuracy. We conclude that a study of forecast accuracy over time must take into account external influences and that attempting to use regulation to improve forecast accuracy is not an effective strategy when there are strongly adverse economic conditions and when promoters or managers are optimistic in forecasting.     

Bertrand-Edgeworth equilibrium in a cash-in-advance economy

This paper is about price and wage competition in a dynamicgeneral equilibrium model. We consider an equity financed economywhere firms need money to finance their input costs. Part ofthe output is sold for money to be used in the next period asworking capital and the remaining part is distributed to ownersas real dividends. We first characterize the steady state competitiveequilibrium path. Second, we study whether this competitiveequilibrium can be supported as a pure strategy Nash equilibriumin price and wage setting games. We prove a positive resultfor price competition and a negative one for wage competition.     

The Need for Regulating a Bayesian Regulator

This paper analyzes the Baron and Myersons (B–M) (Econometrica 50: 911–930 [1982]) scheme of monopoly regulation, a standard representative of Bayesian mechanisms. As is well known, the hboxB–M mechanism (and other related mechanisms) have as an explicit starting point the assumption that the regulator has an unchallenged prior belief about the cost function of the regulated monopolist.We analyze here the consequences resulting from the possibility that this prior belief may be subject to influence or manipulable. As we show in detail, under the B–M scheme, consumers and the regulated monopoly are highly sensitive to the regulators prior belief about the (private) cost information of the monopolist. Therefore, if a regulators beliefs are unaccountable to and unverifiable by a higher ity, the regulator has both the incentive and the possibility to change and/or misrepresent his prior belief when facing pressure or payoffs from interest groups representing consumers or the regulated firm. The results here show that the outcomes under a B–M mechanism favoring one or another interest group can vary over a wide spectrum. The results are consistent with capture theory and rent-seeking explanations of monopoly regulation and suggest the need to exercise care in using the insights and results of Bayesian regulatory theory to inform practice.     

Change of numeraire in the two-marginals martingale transport problem

In this paper, we apply change of numeraire techniques to the optimal transport approach for computing model-free prices of derivatives in a two-period setting. In particular, we consider the optimal transport plan constructed in Hobson and Klimmek (Finance Stoch. 19:189–214, 2015) as well as the one introduced in Beiglböck and Juillet (Ann. Probab. 44:42–106, 2016) and further studied in Henry-Labordère and Touzi (Finance Stoch. 20:635–668, 2016). We show that in the case of positive martingales, a suitable change of numeraire applied to Hobson and Klimmek (Finance Stoch. 19:189–214, 2015) exchanges forward start straddles of type I and type II, so that the optimal transport plan in the subhedging problems is the same for both types of options. Moreover, for Henry-Labordère and Touzi’s (Finance Stoch. 20:635–668, 2016) construction, the right-monotone transference plan can be viewed as a mirror coupling of its left counterpart under the change of numeraire.     

An accounting analysis of the risk-return relationship in bull and bear markets

This study provides evidence that accounting beta (earnings and cash flow-based) provides information consistent with the risk-return relationship in up- and down-markets. We are not able, however, to provide similar evidence using market beta. Considering that investors' ability to assess the risk-return trade-off in up- and down-markets is central to efficient portfolio formation, the results suggest that accounting data can provide appropriate measures of portfolio upside and downside risk.     

Emerging-market firms’ dynamic capabilities and international performance: The moderating role of institutional development and distance

While extant research has examined the separate influences of dynamic capabilities and institutions on international performance, their interactive role has received limited attention. Therefore, we examine the role of host-country institutional conditions in the relationships between emerging-market firms’ (EMFs) innovation-related dynamic capabilities and their international performance. We use multi-source secondary data and primary data from multiple informants from 254 Turkish international firms to test our framework. The study finds that the linkages between three innovation-related dynamic capabilities (innovativeness, supply-chain agility, and adaptability) and international performance are positively and negatively moderated by institutional development and institutional distance, but that their influences are opposite. These influences demonstrate that host-country institutional conditions shape the link between dynamic capabilities and EMFs’ international performance in a multifaceted and paradoxical fashion.     

A comparative study of the application of systems thinking in achieving organizational effectiveness in Malaysian and Pakistani banks

The present work is a comparative study of the banking industry of Malaysia and Pakistan. The paper aims to measure the impact of individual systems thinking on the overall organizational effectiveness. Skilled individuals are considered as an asset of the organization especially when these individuals exhibit systems thinking capabilities that helps in achieving effectiveness. The sample consisted of 368 respondents belonging to lower and middle tier levels in the banking sector of both countries. The results indicate that Malaysian banking employees are ahead of their counterparts in Pakistan while applying systems thinking. The study is significant in enhancing the understanding of the importance of systems thinking for organizational effectiveness. The study has managerial implications for the top management of banks.     

The mediation effects of consumers’ need recognition and pre-purchase evaluation in consumers’ decision-making on purchasing safe street food: The case in Nakhon Si Thammarat,Thailand

Nakhon Si Thammarat province is one of the largest cities in Thailand and offers various types of street foods in the city. However, the number of street vendors that pass food safety certification is very low. Nevertheless, there are many consumers who still purchase street food because of their lifestyle who are exposed to food safety risks. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate how consumers make their decisions about the safety of the street food. This study investigates the importance of the need recognition and pre-purchase evaluation stages in consumers’ decision-making in relation to their purchasing of safe street food. The results from the structural equation modeling analysis found that, at 95%, the confidential need recognition would act as a partial mediator between consumers’ motivation → pre-purchase evaluation on purchasing safe food and consumers’ food safety knowledge → pre-purchase evaluation. In turn, pre-purchase evaluation would act as a full mediator between consumers’ motivation and safe street food purchasing. The findings signify that the stages of need recognition and pre-purchase evaluation in the decision-making process are important in order to reduce consumers' food risk while purchasing street food. Therefore, encouraging consumers to recognize the importance of purchasing safe food and convincing them to be concerned when selecting food is necessary to prevent consumers from unsafe food consumption.