Influences of Technological Attributes and Environmental Factors on Technology Commercialization

As part of a new focus on sustainability, this study examines the effects of technological attributes, market potential, and environmental factors on the commercialization of technologies. A survey was conducted on two of Taiwan’s promising sustainable high-tech industries—solar photovoltaic (PV) and light emitting diodes (LEDs). We found that if the technologies possess the specific attributes of innovativeness, genericness, simplicity, and compatibility, as required by the potential adopters, the level of market potential will be more favorable and technology commercialization (TC) probability will be higher. In addition, the results of regression analysis indicate that environmental requirements play moderating roles in affecting the relationships between market potential and TC probability. The empirical findings highlight the role of market potential as a mediator between technological attributes and the likelihood of commercialization. Furthermore, environmental factors moderate the influence of market potential on TC. The results of this study can provide firms’ operations with insights into resource allocation, sustainable development, and competitive advantages in an intensely competitive environment.     

PROJECT JUSTIFICATION IN A MULTIPRODUCT CHEMICAL PLANT∗

In addition to measurable economic consequence of an alternative investment decision, there are other important prospective consequences which cannot readily be reduced to a single common denominator stated in money terms. The extant literature of engineering economy almost entirely avoids discussion of the considerable problems which arise when attempts are made to include “irreducibles” formally in analysis, although some progress has been made in recent years in other academic disciplines. This paper, based upon some earlier work for the United States Navy, suggests a technique which can be used to include “irreducibles” along with monetary data in determining relative desirability of mutually exclusive alternative proposals. The logic of the problem and the formal structure of a desirable solution are discussed.     

AN ARBITRAGE PRICING APPROACH TO EVALUATING MUTUAL FUND PERFORMANCE

A test procedure, derived from arbitrage pricing theory, that permits the measurement of the security selection performance of professional portfolio managers is developed and applied to a sample of mutual funds over the period of the 1970's. The evidence indicates that more than one factor was present in the market during that interval as a systematic influence on the profile of securities returns. Consistent with prior studies, the evidence also suggests that mutual fund portfolios did not outperform a passive buy-and-hold investment strategy. A comparative analysis of the same data, using performance measures based on the single-factor market model, produces similar but less powerful results, both in the aggregate and at the individual fund level.     

A Study of Call Price Behavior under a Stationary Return Generating Process

Conventional event study methodologies that require a stationary return generating process are generally not applicable to option studies because options are known to have constantly changing risk-reward characteristics over time. Nevertheless, this paper attempts to analyze call price behavior in response to earnings and dividend surprises using the mean-adjusted return method and the cumulative sum method; both methods assume stationarity. With proper risk-neutralizing modifications along with careful specification of the test design, we were able to overcome the difficulty of such time-dependent methodologies. The empirical results show the robustness of the method across calls of different maturities and exercise prices.     

Calibrating an algorithm for estimating transactions from FXFX exchange rate quotes

In this paper we investigate the efficiency of a class of transaction-generating algorithms, originally suggested in Bollerslev and Domowitz (1993). Our comparison utilizes real transaction data recorded over Reuters D2000-2 electronic broking system for 7 h in June 1993 and transaction data generated from FXFX quotations over an identical period. Results suggest that, at this high-frequency data sampling, the performance of these transaction-generating algorithms is poor, with the most likely explanation of this outcome due to the high-frequency characteristics of FXFX spreads and quotation intensity.