A non-homogeneous non-uniform influence model of innovation diffusion

A model of innovation diffusion which gives unequal weightage to the adopters of different temporal stages and captures commonly observed ups and downs in new product diffusion is proposed. It is shown that our model possesses features of the existing flexible diffusion models and shows better fit which is indicated by the values of R²_adj, mean absolute deviation, and mean percentage error and estimates a larger market potential, M. It has an interesting feature of conversion factors, first increasing then vanishing, much before we approach market saturation, implying that there is a scope of new thrust in converting remaining potential adopters.     

Productivity of Agricultural Labour and Land: An International Comparison

This paper examines partial agricultural land and labour productivity in 1975 and 1980, for different world regions. The results suggest that land and labour productivity are higher in developed countries relative to developing countries. However, agricultural labour productivity differences are more marked than those for agricultural land productivity. The productivity values for 1975 and 1980 indicate a widening of productivity differences, more so in the case of agricultural labour than land. The paper also proposes an alternative approach to estimating agricultural land and labour productivity. This approach, which regresses agricultural labour productivity on a given level of agricultural land productivity, suggests a narrowing of agricultural land productivity differences, relative to the initial approach, across Africa, Asia and Europe during the 1975-1980 period. A brief discussion of the agricultural development policy implications of the results concludes the paper.     

THE SOCIAL DISCOUNT RATE FOR LAND-USE PROJECTS IN INDIA

The social discount rate is derived from an inter-temporal social utility model for land-use projects in India. The social discount rate is a function of two parameters: the elasticity of social marginal utility of consumption and the growth rate of per capita real consumption. The final results for the social discount rate and the elasticity of social marginal utility of consumption are 2 per cent and -1.4 respectively. These values are plausible and comparable with other estimates found in the literature.     

Do analyst recommendations reflect shareholder rights?

We examine whether sell-side analyst recommendations reflect shareholder rights. Our rationale is that analysts should be influenced by external governance only if market participants do not efficiently price its value. We find that stronger shareholder rights are associated with more favorable recommendations. Further analysis reveals that analysts favor firms with strong shareholder rights only when strong rights appear to be warranted, but do not penalize firms for having strong rights when not needed. These findings occupy middle ground in the debate on the pricing efficiency of shareholder rights. Moreover, we find that firm value is positively associated with the strength of shareholder rights regardless of the expected external governance structure. The latter result is consistent with a “one-size-fits-all” interpretation, and implies that firms across the board could increase share value by reducing their number of anti-takeover provisions.     

Optimal block designs for diallel crosses

Dey and Midha (Biometrika 83(2):484–489, 1996) constructed optimal block designs for complete diallel cross experiment using triangular partially balanced incomplete block designs with two associate classes. They listed optimal block designs for the lines in the range from 5 ≤ v ≤ 10. In this paper, we are also proposing additional optimal block designs for complete diallel cross experiment using two associate class partially balanced block designs for some additional values of v. Our method yields designs for proper and non-proper settings for complete diallel cross experiments. The proper and non proper designs are optimal in the sense of Kempthorne (Genetics 41:451–459, 1956) and non-proper designs are universally optimal in the sense of Kiefer (A survey of statistical design and linear models, North Holland, Amsterdam, 1975). The list of practically important designs is also given.     

Organizational culture and adoption of high‐technology products

Research on organizational adoption of high‐technology products has concentrated on two major elements. Researchers have primarily examined whether organizations adopted innovations and whether there are differences between organizations that adopt or do not adopt innovations. In contrast, the present research examines the decision‐making process of adoption of high‐technology products in organizations. Specifically, the paper examines the concept of organizational culture and its relationship with the adoption decision process. A survey of firms that had recently made an adoption decision for a high‐technology product is reported. The results suggest that adoption decision processes are distinct within organizational cultures. The paper explains these results and discusses the implications.     

Economic integration in Africa

There is a renewed interest in the debate on integration in Africa since the creation of the African Union in 2002. This study investigates the feasibility of a full-fledged economic union in Africa. Towards this goal, we examine the short- and long-term relationships among key macro-variables in eight largest African economies during the period from 1976 to 2005. We observe the existence of common long-term trends in real output, price level, private consumption, government consumption, investment and trade flows among these eight countries. In addition, we observe that there exists common cycles (short-term relationships) in real output, investment and trade flows for these countries. These two critical findings indicate the presence of macroeconomic interdependence among these countries which is a crucial factor for the success of integration in Africa led by these eight countries.     

Momentum and the Disposition Effect: The Role of Individual Investors

We hypothesize that disposition effect-induced momentum documented in Grinblatt and Han (2005) should be stronger in stocks with greater individual investors’ presence since individual investors are more prone to the disposition effect. We find strong evidence for our hypothesis for a large sample of NYSE/AMEX/NASDAQ stocks from the end of 1980 to 2005. Our results hold across different momentum strategies using alternative ways of defining individual investors’ presence in a stock and maintain even after controlling for variables known to drive momentum. Furthermore, we find that our results are stronger for hard-to-value stocks consistent with the findings of Kumar (2009).     

Store environment's impact on variety seeking behavior

This paper explores the influence of store environment on variety seeking behavior with a model incorporating various components of store environment (music, light, assortment, employee, and layout) and personality variables, optimum stimulation level (OSL) and deal proneness. Using a mall survey with shoppers in Dubai, the study establishes that store environment, OSL and deal proneness affect variety seeking positively. This paper extends extant literature by studying comprehensively the impact of store environment on variety seeking. This research suggests that retailers need to invest in the components of store environment to enhance variety seeking. Methodologically, the model incorporates the Schmid–Leiman factor structure to address the limitations posed by reflective models.