Cultural Consonance in Leisure,Leisure Satisfaction,Life Satisfaction,and Self-Rated Health in Urban Taiwan

The purpose of this study threefold: to determine whether a shared cultural model of the importance of a set of leisure activities to a good leisure life existed in urban Taiwan, the degree to which cultural consonance in leisure mediates the relationship between leisure constraints and leisure satisfaction, and the degree to which leisure satisfaction affects life satisfaction and self-rated health. Results indicate that a cultural model of the importance of leisure activities to a good leisure life existed among sample members. Second, higher levels of self-reported participation in leisure activities that are culturally agreed upon as more important for a good leisure life are more strongly associated with leisure satisfaction than are activities culturally agreed upon as less important. Finally, leisure satisfaction strongly predicts both life satisfaction and self-rated health.     

A performance evaluation model for international tourist hotels in Taiwan—An application of the relational network DEA

This research utilizes relational network data envelopment analysis to construct a model to analyze the efficiency and effectiveness of international tourist hotels (ITHs) in Taiwan. The different production processes within the hotel are evaluated, as well as the relationships between efficiency, effectiveness, and overall performance. Finally, based on the results, we recommend ways of enhancing the overall performance of the hotel industry in Taiwan.     

Government size,government debt and globalization

This article empirically investigates the effect of globalization on government size and debt. Using panel heterogeneous cointegration techniques to a panel of developing and developed countries, it finds that globalization reduces government size and debt. In terms of components of globalization, government size is found to increase with trade openness but decreases with financial, social and political globalization. On the other hand, government debt increases with financial and trade openness but decreases with social and political globalization. The evidence is robust to different estimation methods and different samples. Our data also indicate unidirectional causality running from globalization measures to government size and debt.     

Business group characteristics and affiliated firm innovation: The case of Taiwan

This paper investigates the relationship between business group factors and affiliated firm innovation in terms of patents granted. We examine the following factors for business groups: group affiliation, group diversification, inside ownership, and family ties. In emerging markets, business groups act not only as an internal capital market, but also as a platform for resource sharing among affiliates. We use Taiwan's business groups as a research sample to investigate how these group factors affect affiliated firms' innovation. The findings indicate that firms that are affiliated with business groups innovate better than their unaffiliated counterparts. Group diversification and family ties have positive effects on firm innovation, while inside ownership has no significant positive effect. Our study contributes to the innovation literature by shedding light on business group factors and firm innovation.     

Why do reits engage in open-market repurchases?

We investigate why real estate investment trusts (REITs) still engage in open-market repurchases given the unique 95 percent payout requirement. We provide evidence that the motivations for REITs to repurchase stocks are different from those of unregulated firms found by the existing literature. Instead of using funds from operations, REITs appear to finance stock repurchases by issuing new debt and/or selling assets and investments. Unlike ordinary corporations, REITs stock repurchases are not motivated by cash distribution, capital structure, and undervalued equity. However, REITs are more likely to buy back stocks when employees own a higher level of stock options. Also, we find that REITs are more likely to buy back stocks when they have a higher institutional ownership and/or inside ownership.     

Estimating and testing process accuracy with extension to asymmetric tolerances

Pearn et al. (Commun. Stat. Theory Methods, 27(4):985–1000, 1998) introduced the process accuracy index C _a to measure the degree of process centering, the ability to cluster around the center. In this paper, we derive an explicit form of the cumulative distribution function for the estimator [^(C)]_a{\hat{C}_a } with the case of symmetric tolerances. Subsequently, the distributional and inferential properties of the estimated process accuracy index C _a are provided. Calculations of the critical values, P-values, and lower confidence bounds are developed for testing process accuracy. Further, a generalization of C _a for the case with asymmetric tolerances is proposed to measure the process accuracy. Based on the results practitioners can easily perform the testing of the process accuracy, and make reliable decisions on whether actions should be taken to improve the process quality. An application is given to illustrate how we test the process accuracy using the actual data collected from the factory.     

New batch construction heuristics to optimise the performance of order picking systems

Two new batch construction heuristics called K-means Batching (KMB) and Self-organisation Map Batching (SOMB) are developed and verified by simulation experiments. Both KMB and SOMB have a preferment of superior performance in total travel distance and average picking vehicle utility, and even a conspicuous improvement in total CPU running time. Besides, this paper investigates the overall performance of order picking systems integrating storage assignment, order batching and picker routing to find the optimal policy combinations under different order types. The sensitivity analysis is performed to distinguish the relative importance of the various strategies to enhance the performance of operations management.     

An overview of Asian equity markets

This study overviews the development of 11 Asian equity markets, namely, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. Prior to the onset of the global financial crisis, the Asian stock exchanges were generally bullish, underpinned particularly by China's robust economic performance. Innovations in financial products and services have been growing in importance, as stock exchanges in these countries have been making a concerted effort to introduce new features and best practices, with the objectives of raising market efficiency, enhancing service quality, and generally bringing operations up to par with international standards. But the potential to realize or support market efficiency can only be possible within an adequate legal framework, a sound market infrastructure, and appropriate corporate governance mechanisms. Thus, many challenges are still to be overcome in the region.     

The Puzzle Between Banking Competition and Profitability can be Solved: International Evidence from Bank-Level Data

This article applies the GMM techniques for dynamic panels using bank-level data for 61 countries over the period 1992 to 2006 to re-investigate the impact of banking competition on profitability. The extant literature, which ignores influence factors, presents ambiguity towards the impact of banking competition on profitability. However, when the effects of a broad range of factors are taken into consideration, five conclusions are reached. First, along with the change in market structure, a higher degree of activity restriction enhances banks’ profits. Second, restrictions on the rights of commercial banks to engage in securities, insurance, and other non-banking-related business, along with restrictions on the entry of foreign banks into these markets, weaken the positive relationship between banking competition and profits. Third, a higher degree of efficiency within the judicial system and the added protection afforded to investors may weaken or else have no impact on the positive relationship. Fourth, the positive relationship may weaken in countries having a sound financial system or high income per capita. Finally, greater competitive pressure facing banks may weaken or eliminate the impact of banking competition on profit.