Evaluating mutual fund performance in an emerging Asian economy: The Malaysian experience

This paper examines the performance of 311 mutual funds from January 1990 to December 2005 in Malaysia by using composite portfolio performance measures, the single market model, the Fama and French three-factor model, and the Carhart four-factor model across investment horizons. Overall, we have found evidence that mutual fund performances yield superior returns with relatively lower systematic risks. A 3-year investment appears to be the preferred investment horizon with the highest annualized returns of 9.23%. The results of the single market model, the Fama–French three-factor model, and the Carhart four-factor model have all indicated that beta, size, book-to-market value, and momentum factors are significant factors in explaining equity fund returns with the Carhart four-factor model being the relatively better model among the three. The beta factor has demonstrated the highest coefficient and significance. The results further indicate that the average equity funds in Malaysia hold smaller market capitalization stocks and value oriented stocks, as well as buying past-winning and selling past-losing stocks.     

Budget emphasis,participation, task difficulty and performance: the effect of diversity within culture

Recent research on the impact of national culture on control systems had overlooked two important aspects. First, while cross-cultural studies have saturated mainly Anglo-American and Asian nations, other important cultural regions, such as the Nordic cultural group, have largely been overlooked. More importantly, the impact of the diversity within national culture, brought about by the diversity of the population, in terms of ethnic background, religion, language and egalitarianism, has also not been considered. With a low power distance and moderate individualism culture, and relatively centralised and formalised industrial relations systems which emphasise democratic work environment, Norwegian managers' budgetary participation is expected to be high. More importantly, as the Norwegian culture is old and the society homogeneous in terms of ethnic background, religion and egalitarianism, the diversity within the Norwegian culture is likely to be much lower than those of the newer, and much more ethnically diverse, societies.such as Australia and Singapore. Consequently, Norwegian managers' participation is expected to range from medium to high, rather than from low to high. Since high participation situations are common in Norway, prior studies' findings pertaining to high participation situations are expected to be supported in Norway. In contrast, since low participation situations are rare in Norway, prior studies' findings pertaining to low participation are unlikely to be supported in Norway. These expectations are supported by the results of this study.     

Did China Hurt the Textiles and Clothing Exports of Other Asian Economies, 1990–2005?

Employing a gravity model, this article examines the impact of the rise of China's textile and clothing (T&C) sector on the exports of its Asian counterparts. It was established that China's textile exports posed a greater competitive threat than its clothing exports to the T&C exports of other Asian economies. It was also found that higher-income Asian economies fared better than their lower-income counterparts. This is because the higher-income Asian economies tended to be specialized in segments of the T&C sector less exposed to Chinese competition.     

Examination of the adoption of augmented reality: a VAM approach

ABSTRACT

Despite the growing importance and popularity of augmented reality (AR) technologies in hospitality and tourism, little research to identify the degree of user adoption, particularly in the business travel sector, has been conducted. Based on a questionnaire administered to 161 stakeholders attending two international conferences in Hong Kong, user experiences and adoption intention were examined and analyzed through structural equation modeling. Adoption was explored using a value-based adoption model. AR adoption is affected by its perceived value to which the benefits of usefulness and enjoyment contribute, along with newly identified components of technicality and captivating inputs.     

Resolving the empty core: trust as a determinant of outcomes in three-party negotiations

This research examined how trust affected resource allocation in a three-party negotiation. Negotiators were presented with an empty core problem in which their theoretical share of resources exceeded the resources available for distribution. We tested which of three components of trust—reliability, predictability and empathy—predicted negotiators’ outcomes. We distinguished between absolute and relative trust. We found that relative trust was a more consistent predictor of individual outcomes than absolute trust and that the most trusted party in a network obtained the highest individual outcomes. This finding highlights the importance of social context in shaping trust judgements. The component of trust that predicted individuals’ outcomes was affected by structural power. High and low power negotiators benefited from conveying empathy (identity-based trust), whereas moderate power negotiators benefited from conveying predictability (knowledge-based trust). Low power parties also benefited from appearing unreliable (low calculus-based trust). The research reported in this paper was supported by a grant from the Australian Research Council. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2002 International Association of Conflict Management Conference, Park City, Utah.     

Producing a sense of meaningful place: evidence from a cultural festival in Hong Kong

Festivals are social and cultural phenomena that represent the living culture of a local community. However, studies on festivals have mainly focused on the economic contributions to the community and place. Relevant studies that probe into the intertwined relationship between festivals and uniqueness of place and locale are lacking. To fill this gap, this study explores the extent to which festivals contribute to the construction of a sense of place and its respective locality. Based on a case study of the Cheung Chau Bun Festival, a community-based local festival in Hong Kong, this study examines place-related conceptions associated with community festivals. In-depth interviews were conducted to investigate local residents' perceptions of festival meanings and the underlying relationships with the construction of place uniqueness. Findings suggest that festivals are among the possible elements that can contribute to the ontological construction of the place. Three underlying themes of festival meanings, namely, religion and heritage, social bonding, and imagined locality, are crucial elements attributing to the sense of place that eventually shape the identification of a unique place. Therefore, festivals are a potential channel through which the history of a community can be narrated and a sense of place uniqueness can be established.     

Do energy prices converge across Russian regions?

This paper tests for price convergence in Russian energy markets from January 2003 to October 2010. Monthly energy prices for four energy products (diesel, gasoline, electricity and coal) for 83 Russian regions are drawn from Russia's statistical agency Rosstat. The study contributes to the existing literature by using the Exponential Smooth Auto-Regressive Augmented Dickey–Fuller unit root test in a panel setup, which encompasses cross-section dependence. We find that there are no fully integrated national energy markets in Russia, possibly due to the peripheral position of diverging regions, unbalanced distribution of energy reserves and limited cross-border transmission capacity.     

US Fiscal Policy and Asset Prices: The Role of Partisan Conflict

Fiscal policy shocks exert wide‐reaching effects, including movements in asset markets. US politics have been characterized historically by a high degree of partisan conflict. The combination of increasing polarization and divided government leads not only to significant Congressional gridlock, but also to spells of high fiscal policy uncertainty. This paper adds to the literature on the relationships between fiscal policy and asset prices in the US economy conditional on the degree of partisan conflict. We analyze whether a higher degree of partisan conflict (legislative gridlock) reduces the efficacy of the effect and response of fiscal policy on and to asset price movements, respectively. We find that partisan conflict does not significantly affect the relationships between the fiscal surplus to gross domestic product (GDP) and housing and equity returns. Rather, if important, partisan conflict affects the actual implementation of fiscal policy actions.