Implementation of technology and relationships to supply chain performance: apparel manufacturers' perspectives

Apparel manufacturers operate within a distribution channel with suppliers, retailers and consumers. In a competitive market, apparel manufacturers, in transactions with retailers, must make changes. These changes have potential to affect the supply chain and consequently to add or reduce value of products for the retailer. This study investigated changes in products and services associated with implementation of new technologies. A two-stage design used both a qualitative study and a quantitative study. The qualitative study with 10 industry personnel was used to develop the change variable. The quantitative study had US apparel manufacturers (n = 105) respond to a mailed survey about changes their firms had experienced. Findings indicated that implementation of Quick Response (QR) technologies when moderated by the demographics of fashion level, seasonality, and price point of the product did correspond with changes in product offerings and customer services.     

Stakeholders expectations of an environmental management system: some exploratory research

This paper emanates from a larger research project (see Kamp-Roelands and Bouma, 1998) which has a practical focus. This research project seeks to start the process of exploring how environmental management information systems could be designed such that they better satisfy the needs of those using the information which emerges from these systems. In order to develop this work it was necessary to first generate some information about the internal and external stakeholder needs with respect to environmental information. This task has been tackled in the context of a single site of a multinational company. For this site a range of stakeholders were identified and questioned in some detail about, inter alia, their expectations of what an environmental management system (hereafter EMS) could achieve, their motives for using environmental information, how important they viewed various pieces of information to be and their views on quality of information issues. This paper presents the data gathered from this part of the larger project and seeks to determine if there are particular aspects which should be taken into account in EMS design and whether or not internal and external stakeholders are different from each other in their expectations about EMSs. Finally, some tentative concluding remarks are made on the implications of this work for the further investigation of the EMSs.     

Corporate Lobbying Behaviour on Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation: Venue and Format Choices

This article investigates U.S. corporate lobbying of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in the U.S. on the exposure draft to Financial Accounting Standard No. 123 (FAS 123), Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation . Essentially, firms lobbied the FASB in one of three ways: (a) against disclosure/recognition of any additional information beyond that already required in U.S. proxy statements, (b) for summary footnote disclosure of all employee stock-based compensation (SBC), or (c) for either pro forma or formal income statement recognition of all employee SBC.
This study finds that the higher the level of the SBC of the top five executives, the less likely firms are to favour disclosing that information. This finding supports the hypothesis that economic self-interests motivated lobbying behaviour on FAS 123. Furthermore, the study finds that U.S. corporations lobby against disclosure of executive SBC in the annual reports even when the annual reports would disclose no additional information beyond that currently disclosed in proxy statements. This is evidence that managers perceive that the venue of disclosure (proxy versus annual report) matters. It is posited that managers lobbied against disclosure of SBC to avoid possible changes to compensation contracts which in turn could adversely affect stock prices. In sum, the results support the notion that managerial self-interest affects lobbying behaviour on the venue as well as the format of disclosure.     

The use of “shark repellents” to prevent corporate takeovers: An ethical perspective

Certain types of corporate charter antitakeover amendments, or shark repellents, may not serve the interests of the stockholders or the stakeholders of the firm. This paper extends the examination of the use of shark repellents by taking an ethical perspective to synthesize prior research on shark repellents and their relationship to stockholder and stakeholder welfare. Some shark repellents seem to benefit certain interest groups at the expense of other groups.Nancy L. Meade is an assistant professor of Accounting at the University of Louisville.Dan Davidson is a professor of Business Law at Radford University.     

Validity and Qualitative Research: An Oxymoron?

Although the importance of validity has long been accepted among quantitative researchers, this concept has been an issue of contention among qualitative researchers. Thus, the first purpose of the present paper is to introduce the Qualitative Legitimation Model, which attempts to integrate many of the types of validity identified by qualitative researchers. The second purpose of this article is to describe 24 methods for assessing the truth value of qualitative research. Utilizing and documenting such techniques should prevent validity and qualitative research from being seen as an oxymoron.     

Pacific Basin Managers: A Gaijin,Not a Woman

Pacific Rim business is the fastest growing in the world. To remain competitive, no major North American firm dare ignore Asia. Traditionally, very few women have held managerial and executive positions in Asia, Can North American firms successfully send female expatriate managers to Asia or must they limit international management positions to men? To answer this question, fifty-two women were interviewed, each of whom had held at least one management position in Asia. They were overwhelmingly successful. The study describes who the women are, how they were chosen, and their professional experience as female expatriate managers in Asia.     

Cost-effectiveness of ranibizumab and aflibercept to treat diabetic macular edema from a US perspective: analysis of 2-year Protocol T data

Abstract

Aims: Protocol T (NCT01627249) was a head-to-head study conducted by the Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network that compared intravitreal aflibercept, bevacizumab, and ranibizumab for the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME). A cost-effectiveness analysis accompanying the 1-year data of Protocol T revealed that aflibercept was not cost-effective vs ranibizumab for all patients, but could have been cost-effective in certain patient sub-groups if the 1-year results were extrapolated out to 10?years. The present study evaluated the cost-effectiveness of US Food and Drug Administration-approved anti-vascular endothelial growth factor agents (ranibizumab, aflibercept) for treatment of DME using the 2-year data from Protocol T.

Methods: Costs of aflibercept 2.0?mg or ranibizumab 0.3?mg, visual acuity (VA)-related medical costs, and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) were simulated for eight VA health states. Treatment, adverse event management, and VA-related healthcare resource costs (2016 US dollars) were based on Medicare reimbursement and published literature. VA-related health utilities were determined using a published algorithm. Patients were stratified by baseline VA: 20/40 or better; 20/50 or worse.

Results: Total 2-year costs were higher, and QALYs similar, for aflibercept vs ranibizumab in the full cohort ($44,423 vs $34,529; 1.476 vs 1.466), 20/40 or better VA sub-group ($40,854 vs $31,897; 1.517 vs 1.519), and 20/50 or worse VA sub-group ($48,214 vs $37,246; 1.433 vs 1.412), respectively. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios in the full cohort and 20/50 or worse VA sub-group were $986,159/QALY and $523,377/QALY, respectively. These decreased to $711,301 and $246,978 when analyses were extrapolated to 10?years.

Limitations: Key potential limitations include the fact that VA was the only QALY parameter analyzed and the uncertainty surrounding the role of better- and worse-seeing eye VA in overall functional impairment.

Conclusions: This analysis suggests that aflibercept is not cost-effective vs ranibizumab for patients with DME, regardless of baseline vision.     

控制外包的情报搜集——放养蝴蝶和咨询师

通常来说，不论规模大小，各个行业的公司都把搜集和生产初始一手来源竞争性信息的工作外包出去。（本文将间接的二手调研界定为对已公开出版的，通常是基于网络渠道获取的信息进行调研。）初始的一手调研是指通过直接找到能给出问题答案的相关人员并对他们询问来完成调研的信息搜集工作。     

Endogenous factor market distortion, risk aversion, and international trade under input uncertainty

In the context of non-diversifiable and sector-specific risks in labour markets, we show that the resulting factor market distortion – attributable to an endogenous intersectoral wage differential – can provide a possible rationale that explains why larger wage dispersion prevails in developing nations. We also demonstrate how endogenous wage distortions spill over to capital markets, with capital-poor economies offering lower rates of returns. In addition, we show that inequality in the distribution of wealth further deviates factor allocation away from first-best and impairs intersectoral mobility of the poor.
Ce mémoire montre que la distorsion dans le marché des facteurs qui résulte de risques non diversifiables et spécifiques à certains secteurs (et qui se traduit par un différentiel de salaire endogène entre secteurs) peut expliquer pourquoi on observe une dispersion plus grande des salaires dans les pays en voie de développement.On montre aussi comment des distorsions endogènes de salaires débordent vers les marchés de capitaux,ce qui fait que les pays pauvres en capital ont des rendements plus faibles.De plus, on montre que l'inégalité dans la distribution de la richesse contribue à faire dévier l'allocation des ressources de son optimum de premier ordre et nuit à la mobilité inter-sectorielle des pauvres.     

Mortgage Choice: What's the Point?

This article shows that, in the presence of transaction costs payable by borrowers on refinancing, it is possible to construct a separating equilibrium in which borrowers with differing mobility select fixed rate mortgages (FRMs) with different combinations of coupon rate and points. We also show that, in the absence of such costs, no such equilibrium is possible. This provides a possible explanation for the large menus of FRMs typically encountered by potential borrowers, and suggests that the menu available at the time of origination should be an important predictor of future prepayment. We numerically implement the model, developing the first contingent claims mortgage valuation algorithm that can quantify the effect of self-selection on real contracts in a realistic interest rate setting. The algorithm allows investors to account for self-selection when valuing mortgages and mortgage-backed securities. It also, for the first time, allows lenders to determine the optimal points/coupon rate schedule to offer to a specified set of potential borrowers, given the current level of interest rates.