Can free-shipping hurt online retailers?

Quantitative Marketing and Economics - In this paper, we investigate optimal pricing strategies for an online grocery retailer that derives its profits from delivery fees and grocery sales. We base...     

Relational Contracting in Developed Economies: Lessons From Slot Exchanges in the US Airline Industry

This paper highlights the widespread use of relational contracting in developed economies. While the number of empirical studies on relational practices in developing countries is increasing rapidly, evidence from industries and countries characterised by strong institutions is lagging behind due to data constraints. We argue that technological progress and strong institutions do not diminish the use of relational contracting, and use the US airline industry as a case in point. In particular, we discuss a number of factors (including transaction complexity, existence of collaborative relationships and data availability) that make this industry an ideal setting to study relational contracting in a developed economy. Moreover, we argue that other industries in developed countries share the properties of the US airline industry and, hence, can be used as a basis to investigate relational contracting in future work.     

Learnability and rationality of choice

In this paper we study the learnability of the class of rationalizable choice functions using the basic concept of PAC-learnability from statistical learning theory. We prove that the class of rationalizable choice functions on N alternatives is learnable from O(N) examples and is optimal in terms of PAC-learnability among classes which are invariant under permutations of the elements.     

COMPOSITE FORECASTING METHODS: AN APPLICATION TO SPANISH MAIZE PRICES

This paper investigates alternative forecasting methods when few observations are available. An illustration is provided by Spanish monthly maize prices after Spanish accession into the EC. Sophisticated multiple-equation models are difficult to specify in situations of limited data, and simpler models have to be considered. In this paper, several individual and composite forecasting methods are compared, based on 24 one-period-ahead forecasts generated from these models. Results based on different quantitative and qualitative measures show that composite forecasting methods are more accurate. In situations where severe multicollinearity exists, forecasting performance is improved by modelling this problem explicitly.     

Country Risk,Regulation, and Liquidity Transformation in Palestine and Neighboring Countries

This study analyzes the impact of economic, financial, and political instability on the liquidity transformation of banks operating in unstable environments. Our main goal is to assess the relationship between overall risk in a country and liquidity transformation. With this goal in mind, we use a sample of five Middle Eastern countries during the period 2005–2010. Our results showed that the high-risk environment has a significant and negative impact on both liquidity transformation and the extension of credit. In addition, we conclude that high capital requirements may reduce further lending, while imposing liquidity requirements seems to be a better strategy for enhancing liquidity transformation.     

Using accounting earnings and aggregate economic indicators to estimate firm-level systematic risk

Review of Accounting Studies - We revisit the literature on using accounting earnings to estimate firm-level systematic risk, using macroeconomic indicators rather than listed-firm indexes to...     

Correction to: using accounting earnings and aggregate economic indicators to estimate firm-level systematic risk

Review of Accounting Studies - A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11142-021-09637-1     

The Survival of Unique Corporate Cultures

In this paper we identify two situations that can lead a firm to hire an executive who supports a corporate culture that differs from the firm's current culture. In the first case, there is a similarity between the firm's culture and that of the candidate, and in the second case, executives who support the firm's culture constitute a minority of the available candidates. In both cases the firm prefers to hire an available candidate, rather than risk a prolonged vacancy. We show how these scenarios can lead to the eradication of unique cultures and to the perpetuation of more common cultures. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Statistical Inference,Learning and Models in Big Data

The need for new methods to deal with big data is a common theme in most scientific fields, although its definition tends to vary with the context. Statistical ideas are an essential part of this, and as a partial response, a thematic program on statistical inference, learning and models in big data was held in 2015 in Canada, under the general direction of the Canadian Statistical Sciences Institute, with major funding from, and most activities located at, the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences. This paper gives an overview of the topics covered, describing challenges and strategies that seem common to many different areas of application and including some examples of applications to make these challenges and strategies more concrete.     

Using metaphors in new brand design

This paper addresses an important gap in brand development. While attention has been rightly focused on consumer understanding of brand imagery, insufficient attention has been given to how the firm's managers create, understand and communicate to each other something so intangible as a future brand's vision. We demonstrate how using metaphors in brand design enhances the ability of a cross‐functional team to create a coherent brand vision: facilitating both creativity and its communication. Brand visions are vital given the essential periodic improvements and mutations brands must undergo, without sacrificing the integrity and values which drive their purchase. Management complexity arises because brand development happens in a multi‐disciplinary environment. Moreover these different managers must translate the intangible meanings held by consumers into very tangible product and service specifications. The role and nature of metaphor in this process is examined in detail. We then provide practical examples of how this technique has been used with managers in a variety of branding tasks.