Temporary Stabilizations, Sudden Stops, and Asset Prices

The authors study a temporary exchange-rate based stabilization plan in which agents face a sudden stop of capital inflows. The model generates a rising path of real interest rates in advance of the exchange rate collapse. This generates a time-dependent non-monotonic path of required premium on domestic assets. The model-generated asset price dynamics closely mimic their empirical counterpart, as witnessed during recent collapses of exchange-rate based stabilization plans. The model also reproduces consumption and foreign reserve dynamics that closely mimic the data.     

Ethnic diversity on top corporate boards: a resource dependency perspective

This paper examines the presence of ethnic minority (EM) directors on FTSE 100 company boards, following the 2003 Higgs Review, which strongly recommended that more efforts should be made to find talented non-executive directors with diverse backgrounds, including EM individuals. The 20 companies with EM directors are significantly more likely than other boards to have higher market capitalization, a larger workforce and a larger, more independent and gender-diverse board. Their sectors are banking and life assurance, media, pharmaceuticals, energy, chemicals, mining, telecoms, and food and beverage production. The 27 EM directors hold 28 seats, representing 2.4 per cent of all FTSE 100 directorships, almost the same as in 2001, indicating little impact of the 2003 Higgs recommendations. Next, drawing on resource dependency theory, this paper considers the human and social capital of EM directors. They have high levels of human capital, particularly advanced education and considerable social capital from connections to important resources. Even executive directors provide links to public bodies and community influence. Boardroom expertise and linkages acquired through these appointments fit well with challenges faced by companies in the sectors where EM directors have been appointed, particularly relating to globalization, post-colonialism, increased regulation, importance of CSR, reputation, learning and increased connectedness, supporting the resource dependency explanation.     

Efficient paired choice designs with fewer choice pairs

For paired choice experiments, two new construction methods of designs are proposed for the estimation of the main effects. In many cases, these designs require about 30–50% fewer choice pairs than the existing designs and at the same time have reasonably high D-efficiencies for the estimation of the main effects. Furthermore, as against the existing efficient designs, our designs have higher D-efficiencies for the same number of choice pairs.     

On the flow of funds accounts and inter-sectoral mobility of capital in India

This study uses the flow of funds accounts framework and undertakes an in-depth analysis of the inter-sectoral mobility of capital in India. Unlike previous studies, the FH model is estimated at the sectoral level using annual data for the period 1950–51 to 2012–13. The model estimated in one-regime setting with no structural break provides a weak and mixed support and that estimated in a sample-split setting with a single structural break provides no support for the presence of a long-run relationship between saving and investment for all the sectors. In contrast, the model estimated with multiple structural breaks provides dominant support for the presence of cointegration between saving and investment for all the sectors. The end-of-sample cointegration breakdown tests suggest the breakdowns of cointegration between saving and investment in all the sub-sample periods for the household and PCB sectors, but not for the public sector. The FOF accounts could be used to monitor the borrowing and lending operations of both financial and non-financial sectors and to identify any deformities in the system. The regulatory and supervisory policies need to be put in place promptly to resolve the identified deformities at their early stages, before they magnify and make the entire system dysfunctional.     

Towards Post-neoliberal Resource Politics? The International Political Economy (IPE) of Oil and Copper in Brazil and Chile

The contemporary commodity boom is unprecedented in two ways. On the one hand, it takes place against the backdrop of the failure of neoliberal policies to achieve stable economic growth in Latin America. On the other hand, Left-of-centre governments, which have now been in power for over a decade, are designing new strategies to manage the increase in export earnings accrued from sustained international demand for commodities. In particular, Brazil and Chile have undergone significant market opening reforms in their resource sectors, yet persistent state ownership and the dominant role of state enterprises in key extractive industries continue to characterise their growth models. This article explains this puzzle through the application of Mahoney and Thelen's (2010) historical institutionalist framework on incremental change. In so doing, it offers a process-oriented approach in exploring how resource wealth under certain economic and political conditions provides leverage for states to promote economic development. In sum, the article hopes to contribute to the literature on neoliberal and post-neoliberal political economies in Latin America.     

Evolving communication patterns in response to an acquisition event

This study uses network data of worker behavior to analyze changes in worker communication patterns during the first three years post‐acquisition. The findings suggest that new communication routines develop slowly and are not entirely enduring even when a transformative event, such as an acquisition, occurs. Communication across firms initially increases as workers change their routines. However, over time this communication peaks and then falls as workers develop common ground. Communication across firms was greater when workers' tasks were interdependent. Overall, this study demonstrates that communication routines persist even after an organizationally transforming event. It illustrates the importance of both the formal and informal organization as well as the promise of using social network methods and communication log data to study social phenomena of strategic interest. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implementation with partial verification

This paper examines the implementability of social choice functions when only partial verification of private information is possible. Green and Laffont (1986) used this framework to derive a necessary and sufficient condition for the revelation principle to continue to hold with partial verification. We provide economically interesting characterizations of this condition, which suggest that it may be too restrictive. This leads us to consider implementation (not necessarily truthful) in general, when there is partial verification. We consider the case where compensatory transfers are allowed, giving the mechanism designer further leeway. We show how partial verification may allow efficient implementation of bilateral trade, where it would otherwise not be possible. Received: 1 August 1998 / Accepted: 5 September 2000     

SALCUSTOR: A Multidimensional Scale for Salespersons’ Customer Orientation and Implications for Customer-Oriented Selling: Empirical Evidence From India

ABSTRACT

Recent studies have highlighted the limitations in the applicability of the selling-versus-customer orientation scale as a measure of a salesperson's customer orientation. Therefore, few scholars call for new research on identifying the underlying dimensions of customer-oriented selling and for developing a new scale. This study provides a new conceptualization of a salesperson's customer orientation and develops and validates a multidimensional scale to measure it. This scale, SALCUSTOR, uses multiple samples of data from salespersons from India. SALCUSTOR assesses the degree to which a salesperson (a) provides relevant and correct information to his/her customers, (b) understands and learns the underlying needs of the customers, and (c) maintains relationships with customers and thinks about their long-term benefits. We establish the reliability, convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity of SALCUSTOR. Managers can use SALCUSTOR to identify specific gaps in the three dimensions of customer-oriented selling behaviors of the salespersons, using appropriate intervention strategies.     

Analyzing Customers' Switching Intentions in the Telecom Sector

ABSTRACT

Mobile Number Portability (MNP) has not only affected customers' behavioral patterns, but also increased competition among telecom operators. Against this backdrop, the study examines the relationship between customers' switching intentions and attitude towards MNP, customer loyalty, and switching barriers. It also investigates the impact of these intentions on actual switching or staying behavior of customers. Data were collected from a sample of 260 telecom customers comprising university students. Findings reveal that customers' switching intentions would largely depend upon switching barriers perceived by them. Switching intentions predict both actual staying and switching behavior. Our understanding of switching barriers is limited to those involved in switching from a current service provider to a new service provider. Future research can examine the barriers associated with returning to the original provider and the effect on the decision to leave in the first place, especially in the case of contractual agreements such as BSNL. The present study will help practitioners and telecom service providers in understanding the factors affecting customers' switching intentions to prevent switching.