Signaling Public Private Partnership Activities: Reporting Behavior Within Annual Reports

This empirical study examines whether, and if so, to what extent, firms report on Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects to signal PPP engagement even beyond legal obligations. The annual reports of the sample’s firms listed on the VSE in 2005 have been investigated in a qualitative and quantitative way to reveal information policy. Annual reports confirming PPP activities are examined qualitatively by an in-depth content analysis to answer the question in which way information about the revealed PPP projects is published. Further, predetermined keywords that at least indicate a PPP participation are statistically evaluated. The results outline that annual reports only give little and predominantly unspecific information on PPP which emphasizes the absence of corresponding reporting obligations and of a standardized PPP definition.     

The timing of retirement — New evidence from Swiss female workers

We investigate the responsiveness of individual retirement decisions to changes in financial incentives. A reform increased women's normal retirement age (NRA) in two steps from age 62 to age 63 first and then to age 64. At the same time retirement at the previous NRA became possible at a benefit discount. Since the reform affected specific birth cohorts we can identify causal effects. We find strong and robust behavioral effects of changes in financial retirement incentives. A permanent reduction of retirement benefits by 3.4% induces a decline in the age-specific annual retirement probability by over 50%. The response to changes in financial retirement benefits varies with educational background: those with low education respond most strongly to an increase in the price of leisure.     

An Investigation of Children's Ability to Identify Sponsors and Understand Sponsorship Intentions

Sponsorship has become an important tool for companies that target children with their market offerings. Despite growing firm interest in assessing sponsorship effectiveness and public concern about the effects on children, research to date has not investigated how sponsorship functions for children. This article addresses both issues by examining children's perceptions of sponsors (i.e., ability to identify sponsors in different conditions) and their perceptions of sponsorship (i.e., ability to understand sponsorship intentions). Because prior research on these issues is scarce, the conceptual reasoning relies on findings from advertising literature pertaining to children and sponsorship literature. An empirical study features sponsorships in a theme park for children. The results reveal implications for managers and public policymakers, as well as avenues for further research.     

New Product Development Process Implementation in a Business-To-Business Firm: The Driving and Moderating Factors for Improved Program Performance and Time-To-Market

Purpose: The study aims to examine the critical factors affecting the implementation of a formalized new product development (NPD) process in a business-to-business (B-to-B) company with product-driven growth.

Methodology/approach: Case study using a combination of survey, artifacts, and long interviews

Findings: The findings suggest that (1) the initial phase proficiency can improve NPD effectiveness (NPD program performance) and NPD efficiency (i.e., time-to-market), but this relationship is moderated by the effective communication of the new NPD process throughout the entire firm; (2) the process formalization enhances time-to-market and NPD program performance, but its effects are asymmetric and contingent upon the decision concerning the inclusion of ad hoc and extended NPD team members; and (3) the product approval (executive) committee’s (PAC) ineffective communication could alienate team members from NPD efforts while resource availability moderates the influence of PAC’s decision making quality on time-to-market.

Research implications: Future research could examine the PAC decision-making quality as a multidimensional construct, composed of rigor and timeliness dimensions. That way, a more granular understanding of the effect of PAC decisions could be achieved. Future studies could make a clear distinction of the NPD process type in the study context when NPD decisions are examined.

Practical implications: Managers should acknowledge that decision-making processes and their comprehension by worker bees affect an NPD program’s success. It is interesting to note that removing go-no go decisions by the product approval committees at each phase may not lead to faster product development as these executive committee meetings have double entendre: they are not only to get the executives informed and get their signoff, but also is a facilitator to capital approvals. Hence, appropriate measures must be taken to remove or ease all bottlenecks in the NPD process.

Originality/value/contribution: This study uncovers several crucial factors that can improve the effectiveness and time-to-market of an NPD program in B-to-B companies, especially when firms implement a new formalized NPD process.     

A New Control Variate Estimator for an Asian Option

There exist several estimators for valuing the Asian option on the arithmetic mean. Among all variance reduction estimators, the one with the control variate derived from the geometric mean has been shown by Boyle et al. (1997) to perform best so far. In this paper, a new improved control variate estimator for this type of Asian option is proposed and investigated. Simulation results confirm that it does perform better than the control variate derived from the geometric mean. The improvement becomes more significant as the volatility increases and/or as the time to expiration lengthens.     

Day-care policy in France and its consequences for women: a study of the Metropolitan Paris area

Paris et sa banlieue sont les mieux loties de toutes les régions de France en équipement et en service de garde de jeunes enfants. ainsi que le plus de jeunes mères qui travaillent. Divers services de l'état, du département et de la municipalité sont responsables pour la création, la gestion, et l'agrément des services de garde. Le coût, le financement, la tarification et la disponibilité des services publics et les services privés à travers la capitale, sa proche et sa lointaine banlieue sont analysés. On trace l'affrontement qui se développe entre différentes instances de l'état autant que le rôle des partis politiques, des syndicats et d'autres groupes de pression. L'analyse de la politique en vigueur dégage certaines implications théoriques et spécifiques. Pour les jeunes mères les services de garde (leur disponibilité et leur coût) deviennent un facteur essentiel dans l'accès l'emploi. Une inégalité très nette dans celui-ci apparaît entre hommes et femmes, parisiennes et banlieusardes, femmes qualifiées et non-qualifiées.