Ownership structure and golden parachutes: Evidence of credible commitment or incentive alignment?

Using a sample of S & P 500 firms, we find that golden parachutes are associated with concentrated external ownership, less concentrated internal ownership, and non-Delaware incorporation. We find little support that concentrated external owners use golden parachutes as credible commitment devices. The general multivariate results support the incentive alignment hypothesis, and reaffirm the view that golden parachutes are a mechanism used to align managerial and shareholder interests when there is a separation between ownership and control. (JEL G32)     

Materialism, status signaling, and product satisfaction

The consumer satisfaction literature has not, for the mos part, integrated individual values into the product evaluation process. Yet a comprehensive understanding of consumer satisfaction can best be attained by including both consumer and product factors. To demonstrate the usefulness of including individual values, this research focuses on one consumer value, namely, materialism. The authors empirically explore how this individual value is linked to consumers’ evaluations of products they have purchased. Using surveys, the authors collected data from a sample of college students (n=211) and a sample of adults (n=270). Across these two studies, using divergent samples and products, they find consistent evidence that materialism is negatively related to product satisfaction in product categories with high potential for status signaling, but unrelated to product satisfaction in product categories with lower potential for status signaling. The consumption goals that produce these product evaluations are empirically addressed Jeff Wang (jianfeng76@yahoo.com; PhD, City University of Hong Kong) is an assistant professor of marketing in the Faculty of Business at the City University of Hong Kong. This work was conducted when he was a doctoral student of marketing in the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona. His research interests include social networks and consumer behavior, consumer satisfaction and well-being, materialism and consumption meanings, and consumer interests and public policy issues. His dissertation studies credit card debt as a socially embedded phenomenon and investigates how consumers leverage their interpersonal ties as they accumulate and repay their debt. Melanie Wallendorf (mwallendorf@eller.arizona.edu) is Soldwedel Professor of Marketing in the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona. She holds an MS in sociology and a PhD in marketing from the University of Pittsburgh. Her articles on the sociocultural aspects of consumption have been published in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Advertising and Society Review, Addiction, Journal of Macromarketing, andAmerican Behavioral Scientist, among others. Her coauthored article on “The Sacred and Profane in Consumer Behavior” won theJournal of Consumer Research Best Article Award in 1992. Her research has been featured in theWall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, American Demographics, andFortune, and has been funded by the Marketing Science Institute, the Arizona Disease Control Research Commission, and the Office of Earth Science at NASA.     

Spouses' materialism: Effects of parenthood status,personality type,and sex

This study responds to a call for broadened conceptualizations of materialism and its role in self-definition (Richins & Dawson, 1992). Data from 202 spouses were analyzed for relationships among materialism, parenthood status, and personality type, defined as spousal warmness or coolness (Csikszentmihalyi & Rochberg-Halton, 1981). Testable hypotheses were based on the concept of object-subject interchangeability (Claxton & Murray, 1994) as a mechanism of self-definition. The hypothesis was supported that cool spouses without children would have the highest materialism score. Total sample materialism scores were related to parenthood status and to several interactions among parenthood status, personality type, and sex of respondent. Analyzed by sex of respondent, men's materialism scores were related to parenthood status and to the interaction between parenthood status and personality type. Women's materialism scores were not related to any independent variables or interactions. Consumer policy implications are discussed.

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Zusammenfassung Materialismus von Ehegatten: Effekte von Elternschaft, Persönlichkeitstyp und Geschlecht Die Studie reagiert auf die Forderung nach einer breiteren Konzeptualisierung der Materialismus-Variable und der Rolle von Materialismus bei der Selbst-Definition. Die Daten stammen von 202 Ehegatten und wurden auf die Beziehungen hin analysiert, die zwischen Materialismus, Elternschaft und Persönlichkeitstyp (definiert als eheliche WÄrme und eheliche Nüchternheit) bestehen. Die Hypothesen basieren auf dem Konzept der Objekt-Subjekt-Austauschbarkeit als Mechanismus der Selbst-Definition. BestÄtigt wurde die Hypothese, da\ nüchterne Ehegatten ohne Kinder den höchsten Materialismuswert haben. Insgesamt waren die Materialismuswerte abhÄngig von der Variable Elternschaft und von mehreren Wechselwirkungen zwischen Elternschaft, Persönlichkeitstyp und Geschlecht des Antwortenden. Eine geschlechtsspezifische Analyse zeigt, da\ die Materialismuswerte der MÄnner mit Elternschaft und mit der Wechselwirkung zwischen Elternschaft und Persönlichkeitstyp verbunden sind. Bei den Materialismuswerten der Frauen zeigte sich keine Beziehung zu einer der unabhÄngigen Variablen oder den Wechselwirkungen. Der Beitrag schlie\t mit einigen verbraucherpolitischen Implikationen.

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The study is based on the first author's dissertation. The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of a 1993 summer research grant from East Carolina University, and the reviewers' helpful comments.     

The Performance of Internet Firms Following Their Initial Public Offering

We find that initial returns were more favorable for Internet initial public offerings (IPOs) than non–Internet firm IPOs. Since the demise of the Internet sector, the underpricing of Internet–firm IPOs is not significantly different from other IPOs.
Initial returns of Internet firms are positively and significantly related to underwriter prestige and to pre–IPO market conditions. However, initial returns after the demise of the Internet sector are not significantly related to these characteristics.
The aftermarket performance of Internet firms is initially favorable but weakens over time. Firms that experienced higher initial returns during the strong Internet cycle experience weaker aftermarket performance.     

A Closer Look at the Relation between GARCH and Stochastic Autoregressive Volatility

We show that, for three common SARV models, fitting a minimummean square linear filter is equivalent to fitting a GARCH model.This suggests that GARCH models may be useful for filtering,forecasting, and parameter estimation in stochastic volatilitysettings. To investigate, we use simulations to evaluate howthe three SARV models and their associated GARCH filters performunder controlled conditions and then we use daily currency andequity index returns to evaluate how the models perform in arisk management application. Although the GARCH models produceless precise forecasts than the SARV models in the simulations,it is not clear that the performance differences are large enoughto be economically meaningful. Consistent with this view, wefind that the GARCH and SARV models perform comparably in testsof conditional value-at-risk estimates using the actual data.     

Do specialized board committees impact the transparency of corporate political disclosure? Evidence from S&P 500 companies

This study examines how the specific attributes of one type of voluntary corporate governance mechanism, a specialized political contribution committee, improves the transparency of corporate political disclosure (CPD). The results demonstrate that the existence of a committee that establishes and reviews key political activities and disclosure policies, particularly one composed entirely of outside directors, significantly enhances the transparency of corporate political disclosure, and reveal that an under-studied board committee, the political contribution committee, effectively improves CPD transparency. The results are consistent with agency theory and further support the more generalizable idea that specialized governance mechanisms (e.g., a political contribution committee) and fully independent committees lead to more transparent disclosure. Finally, the results suggest that the existence of a political contribution committee and committee independence are channels to improve CPD transparency. Public-policy makers and regulators seeking to enhance CPD transparency might consider implementing regulations that mandate or recommend these governance mechanisms as best practice.     

设计之上龙凤翱翔

说到龙凤，人们很容易想到古时宫廷中的物件，大到建筑，小到器皿、服装、首饰……龙凤图形随处可见。当龙凤从宫廷走向民间，人们对这个象征权贵吉祥的图形，更是钟爱有加。即使时间的河流已至21世纪的现代，尽管人们的审美观已发生巨大改变，但龙凤这个古老而独特的东方文化符号，依然为大多数人所追崇、喜爱，足见中国人对龙凤图形的情有独钟。     

Creating Shopper Value: Co-Creation Roles,In-Store Self-Service Technology Use,and Value Differentiation

This study examines how retailers can use self-service technologies (SST) to increase shopper satisfaction. Using a survey of 188 consumers of a new self-service kiosk launch within a convenience-store (c-store) setting, we examine how such retailers might influence shopper's perceptions of value by better involving customers in the service delivery experience. Our proposed model links classic service operations and marketing design insights to the service-dominant logic perspective of service value co-creation. We find that shoppers perceive enhanced value creation from the new SST when they feel comfortable in their roles and the surrounding service design supports those roles.