Managerial Incentives and Heterogeneous Firms

An industry where managerial firms and entrepreneurial firms coexist is considered. We analyze the effects of increasing competitiveness, defined by the increase in the number of managerial firms, on the equilibrium managerial incentive scheme. Our analysis shows that an increase in the number of managerial firms would induce a managerial firm to tie the incentives more closely to profits. We also compare the equilibrium with the regular Cournot model.     

Determinants of passengers’ choice of airline check-in services: A case study of American,Australian, Korean,and Taiwanese passengers

This paper investigates factors that influence whether air travelers’ choose conventional counter or self-service check-in, including kiosk and web check-in. It uses data collected from American, Australian, Korean, and Taiwanese passengers. The data suggests that a passenger’s choice of check-in service is strongly dependent on nationality and previous experiences of checking-in; i.e. a cultural bias exists in the behavior of passengers using airline check-in services. Taiwanese passengers prefer to use the conventional counter check-in service but Korean, Australian and American air travelers use more self-service check-in facilities. The analysis also highlights that passengers’ perceptions of the attributes of the check-in service significantly determine their choice of check-in option.     

The Implications for Health,Depression, and Life Satisfaction from a Permanent Increase in Income for the Disadvantaged Elderly: Evidence from Taiwan

This paper uses an exogenous increase in income for a specific subgroup to explore the extent to which higher income leads to higher levels of health and well-being. In 1995, the Taiwanese government implemented the Senior Farmer Welfare Benefit Interim Regulation (SFWBIR) that was a pure cash injection to senior farmers. A difference-in-differences (DiD) approach is used on survey data from the Taiwanese Health and Living Status of Elderly in 1989 and 1996 to evaluate the short-term effect of the SFWBIR on self-assessed health, depression, and life satisfaction (LS). Senior manufacturing workers are employed as a comparison group for senior farmers in the natural experiment. This paper provides evidence that the increase in income caused by this pension reform significantly improved the mental health of senior farmers by reducing 1.697 points of the depression scale in DiD and 2.178 points in the robust estimation; however, it had no significant short-term impact on self-assessed health or LS.     

Applying quality function deployment in industrial design curriculum planning

Industrial design is a discipline that combines multiple professional fields. Enterprise demands for industrial design competencies also change over time; thus, the curriculum of industrial design education should be compatible with the current demands of the industry. However, scientific approaches have not been previously employed to plan industrial design curriculums. Therefore, a gap exists between the expectations of enterprises and the professional competencies of numerous graduates in the industrial design discipline. To solve this problem, we first identified the professional competencies required of industrial design professionals in industry and academia, and then ranked these competencies based on their degree of importance using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Subsequently, we planned an industrial design curriculum that meets practical workplace needs by applying quality function deployment (QFD), and proposed items that require special attention for the industrial design curriculum. The results of this study are as follows (1) we obtained a ranking of various items of the professional competencies in industrial design based on their degree of importance to determine which professional competencies should be specifically cultivated; (2) we planned an industrial design curriculum that addresses the needs of enterprises according to industrial design ability index (IDAI); and (3) we recommend the courses and subjects that should be emphasized and enhanced in the existing industrial design curriculum.     

Environmental regulations,induced R&D,and productivity: Evidence from Taiwan's manufacturing industries

This paper examines whether stringent environmental regulations induce more R&D and promote further productivity in Taiwan. Using an industry-level panel dataset for the 1997–2003 period, empirical results show that pollution abatement fees, a proxy for environmental regulations, is positively related to R&D expenditure, implying that stronger environment protection induces more R&D. On the other hand, pollution abatement capital expenditures do not have a statistically significant influence on R&D. Further evaluation of the influence of induced R&D by environment regulations on industrial productivity shows a significant positive association between them. This finding supports the Porter hypothesis that more stringent environmental regulations may enhance rather than lower industrial competitiveness.     

Stock price synchronicities and speculative trading in emerging markets

The literature suggests that the strong price synchronicity observed in emerging markets is driven by the lack of firm-specific information acquisition. This paper extends previous studies by focusing on the question of whether investors’ speculative trading behavior or market conditions make the synchronicity in emerging markets more pronounced. Our results indicate that the propensity to engage in speculative trades and a low level of linkage with the world market lead to greater stock price synchronicity. These results are consistent with the hypotheses that it is difficult to price firm-level fundamentals in a speculative market where noise trades prevail, and that less weight is attached to firm-specific fundamentals in pricing stocks in a more segmented market. The price synchronicities are largely found to be stronger in bearish markets, a finding consistent with the hypothesis that investors have increased loss aversion during bear markets, which further limits informed arbitrage.     

A scenario planning approach for the flood emergency logistics preparation problem under uncertainty

This paper aims to develop a decision-making tool that can be used by government agencies in planning for flood emergency logistics. In this article, the flood emergency logistics problem with uncertainty is formulated as two stochastic programming models that allow for the determination of a rescue resource distribution system for urban flood disasters. The decision variables include the structure of rescue organizations, locations of rescue resource storehouses, allocations of rescue resources under capacity restrictions, and distributions of rescue resources. By applying the data processing and network analysis functions of the geographic information system, flooding potential maps can estimate the possible locations of rescue demand points and the required amount of rescue equipment. The proposed models are solved using a sample average approximation scheme. Finally, a real example of planning for flood emergency logistics is presented to highlight the significance of the proposed model as well as the efficacy of the proposed solution strategy.     

Dynamic hedging with futures: A copula‐based GARCH model

In a number of earlier studies it has been demonstrated that the traditional regression‐based static approach is inappropriate for hedging with futures, with the result that a variety of alternative dynamic hedging strategies have emerged. In this study the authors propose a class of new copula‐based GARCH models for the estimation of the optimal hedge ratio and compare their effectiveness with that of other hedging models, including the conventional static, the constant conditional correlation (CCC) GARCH, and the dynamic conditional correlation (DCC) GARCH models. With regard to the reduction of variance in the returns of hedged portfolios, the empirical results show that in both the in‐sample and out‐of‐sample tests, with full flexibility in the distribution specifications, the copula‐based GARCH models perform more effectively than other dynamic hedging models. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 28:1095–1116, 2008     

An investigation of B-to-B brand value: evidence from manufacturing SMEs in Taiwan

Purpose: The importance of brand value has been increasingly recognized in business-to-business (B-to-B) marketing settings. Leek and Christodoulides (2012) proposed a comprehensive B-to-B brand value framework based on qualitative examination, which has yet to be quantitatively examined. As such, the objectives of this study are twofold: first, to quantitatively investigate Leek and Christodoulides’ (2012) B-to-B brand value framework and reveal the relative importance of the various attributes/elements; second, to explore whether the attribute/element priority in Leek and Christodoulides’ (2012) value framework differs for various types of buyers with respect to supplier characteristics, environmental factors, and situational factors. The research context is small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Taiwan. For industrial marketers, a better understanding of attribute/element priority pertaining to brand value is helpful in terms of marketing efficiency and success probability.

Methodology/Approach: Based on data from 22 SME buyers in Taiwan, a cluster analysis was performed to classify SME buyers into different buyer groups based on supplier characteristics, environmental factors, and situational factors, while an analytic hierarchy process was used to indicate the preference structure under different buyer groups.

Findings: The results reveal that the functional value items outperformed emotional value ones; further, quality, technology, and after-sales service were the top three elements of brand value. However, the attribute/element priority varied across different buyer groups. In general, the importance of functional value items was greater than that of emotional value items for most SME types. Top attributes/elements that exceeded 10% importance weight were almost all function-related, aside from emotion-related credibility—the primary concern (20.3%) of forced SMEs that held pessimistic perceptions regarding the economic environment, and procured within a highly concentrated market structure.

Originality/Value: This research study contributes by indicating the relative importance of brand value attributes/elements in the SME context and examining whether the attribute/element priority varies for distinct types of buyers. Based on the results, a target marketing strategy is provided for B-to-B marketers to effectively design marketing offerings and create brand value for their business buyers.