Dividend policy and earnings: a study of short- and long-term causality

This research examines whether earnings per share (EPS) and dividends per share (DPS) exhibit a short and long causality. The data employed in this study consist of quarterly EPS and DPS for 28 of the DJIA companies obtained from Bloomberg over a recent 10-year period. The companies under investigation all have EPS and DPS data available over the period studied. Dividends are generally paid out of earnings. The amount and timing of the dividend paid is a function of the respective company’s dividend policy. Therefore, the EPS_t can be expressed in terms of the DPS_t as follows: EPS_t = αDPS_t where α is a nonnegative constant. The equation suggests that there is a linear relationship between the EPS_t and the DPS_t. The results of this study indicate that bi-directional causality exists for some of the companies.     

Advertising productivity: developing an agenda for research

Despite its importance, research on advertising productivity is limited and fragmentary. This article consolidates the major research streams on different facets of productivity. This consolidation allows us to identify and prioritise various issues that need to be addressed, and thereby develop a comprehensive research agenda for this area.     

Stationarity and Cointegration in Systems with Real Estate and Financial Assets

This study examines the properties of wealth indices for investments in several asset classes (real estate, stocks, bonds, and Treasury bills), for several types of real estate (office, retail, research and development office, and warehouse), and by region (East, Midwest, South, and West). The series representing the value of investments in real estate and financial assets are not stationary; therefore, ordinary statistical procedures cannot be applied. Since many of the properties that are included in the real estate series have outside appraisals on an annual basis, especially in the fourth quarter, the real estate series may show seasonal influences. Hence, the appropriate test for cointegration is the Johansen's test, which is formulated in such a way as to allow for deterministic seasonality by the inclusion of seasonal dummy variables. The finding of cointegration implies that there is a long-run relationship between the series in the cointegrated system. When the CPI (or a proxy for inflation) is included in the three systems, the number of common factors increase to two, implying that inflation plays an important role in creating a linkage between these time series. These findings also have implications for developing portfolios comprising financial assets and real estate. The findings also have implications for developing a model to forecast real estate prices.     

The impact of inflationary news on money market yields and volatilities

This study investigates the impact of surprises in hourly wages, non-farm payroll, unemployment rate, and producer price index on the yields and volatilities of money market securities. The methodology is conducted in a framework that preserves the strong substitutability among the instruments. We find first the short-term interest rate nexus is inherently a steady state long-run phenomenon. Second, yield variability is fundamentally linked to the release of macroeconomic news that conveys important information on inflation. Third, results from the equality of variance tests suggest that volatilities on announcement days are significantly higher than non-announcement day volatilities across all securities.     

News Releases, Market Integration, and Market Leadership

Using intraday data we examine the response of futures on the British Long Gilt (Gilt), the German Government Bond (Bund), the U.S. Treasury Bond (Bond), the Japanese Government Bond (JGB), and the Italian Government Bond (IGB) to the release of U.S. macroeconomic news. Bond, Gilt, and Bund futures respond strongly to the news releases. The response of JGB futures is less pronounced, and IGB futures display weak responses at best. The instruments take time to adjust to news in the announcements. Following the announcements, Bond futures exert a high degree of market leadership. Evidence of increasing market integration is also noted.     

The impact of mean reversion of bank profitability on post-merger performance in the banking industry

This research study examines the tendency for serial correlation in bank holding company profitability, finding significant evidence of reversion to the industry mean in profitability. The paper then considers the impact of mean reversion on the evaluation of post-merger performance of bank holding companies. The research concludes that when an adjustment is made for the mean reversion, post-merger results significantly exceed those of the industry in the first 5 years after the merger.     

A novel hybrid multi-criteria method for supplier selection among SMEs on the basis of innovation ability

Today, small and large business houses operate collaboratively for the efficiency in the functioning of supply chains. Larger organisations mostly depend on small companies to supply majority of its components and thus they need to be careful while selecting their suppliers. Small organisations performing innovatively and supplying technologically upgraded as well as quality products at a cheaper rate can be a boon for the larger enterprise. This study develops a model for evaluating and selecting small firms as suppliers on the basis of their innovativeness. Best–Worst multi-criteria method is used to rank criteria of innovativeness and also to calculate their weights on the basis of expert opinion. Fuzzy TOPSIS methodology is used to rank the suppliers with respect to these criteria and finally select the best supplier among the available alternatives. A real-world application is illustrated by taking a case of auto component manufacturer and its seven suppliers, 5 main criteria and 23 sub-criteria are taken up for the study.

Abbreviations: AHP: analytical hierarchal process; ANP: analytical network process; DEMATEL: decision-making trail and evaluation laboratory; EMS: environment management system; ELECTRE: ELimination Et Choix Traduisant la REalité (elimination and choice expressing reality); FPIS: fuzzy positive ideal solution; FNIS: fuzzy negative ideal solution; ISM: interpretative structural modelling; PROMTHEE: preference ranking organisation method for enrichment evaluation; SME: small and medium enterprises; TOPSIS: technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution; QFD: quality function deployment; VIKOR: VlseKriterijuska Optimizacija I Komoromisno Resenje; SP1; SP2; SP3; SP4; SP5; SP6; SP7: Various suppliers used as alternatives     

Poverty Alleviation through Partnerships: A Road Less Travelled for Business, Governments, and Entrepreneurs

While investigating the role of business and accepting that profitable partnerships are the primary solution for poverty alleviation, we voice certain concerns that we hope will extend the authors?? discourse in Alleviating Poverty through Profitable Partnerships. We present a model that we believe can serve as an effective framework for addressing these issues. We then establish the imperative of inclusive growth. Here, we engage with the necessity of formulating strategies that focus on the pace and, importantly, the pattern of economic growth, including its social and cultural dimensions. We also deliberate on the parameters of inclusive growth with the overriding objective of ensuring that multiple strata of society share the benefits of globalization. Turning to the critical role of institutions in promoting social welfare, we explore the impact of government policy vis-à-vis the leverage enjoyed by other social institutions. Despite the reality that state and private interests often operate at cross purposes, we argue that government must still be an integral part of the solution matrix. With direction from other social institutions, entrepreneurial forces can be unleashed to tackle endemic poverty prevalent in the base of the pyramid. We then provide an in-depth case study in which the availability of telecommunications in rural areas was utilized as a means to foster development and ensure inclusive growth. The conclusion examines lessons learned while operationalizing the model, and spells out the impact of our enablers at ground level.     

Measuring the efficiency of assembled printed circuit boards with undesirable outputs using data envelopment analysis

The printed circuit board (PCB) assembling production process is generally optimized to ensure very low levels of errors (defects) so as to produce the higher quality product. The evaluation of efficiency of different types of PCB (cards) could help the management in identifying the quality of assembly process to work out appropriate interventions to prevent failures. This study uses the technique of data envelopment analysis to assess the efficiency of cards across all assembly units as well as within its respective assembly unit in the presence of undesirable outputs under the assumption of weak disposability. In our case, the three types of errors, viz., machine error, manual errors and other errors that occur in the defective assembled PCBs are considered as the undesirable outputs. In-depth analysis has been carried out through jackknifing analysis to check the robustness of DEA efficiency scores. The best practice group of cards for each inefficient card has been identified which eventually facilitate the management to derive the level of undesirable outputs to be reduced and desirable output to be improved so as to achieve the level of efficiency at par with its practice group.