What drives global B2B e-commerce usage: an analysis of the effect of the complexity of trading system and competition pressure

The purpose of this paper is to examine the conditions in which B2B e-commerce is most likely to diffuse widely at the country level. This paper examines the role of trading system complexity and pressure of competition on B2B EC diffusion by controlling Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure. Our sample comprises a pool of country-year dataset from 143 countries over a three-year period (2014–2016). The data were collected from Network Readiness Index Report and Global Competitiveness Report. The findings provide evidence that greater the complexity of trading relationships with the global economy and high level of pressure from the competition are the main forces for B2B use across countries. Consequently, the authors suggest that having a strong trade relationship with developed countries with matured B2B e-commerce practice is helpful in sustaining B2B e-commerce use across countries.     

Commitment and self-control

The literature on self-control problems has typically concentrated on immediate temptations. This paper studies a Gul and Pesendorfer [Temptation and self-control, Econometrica 69 (2001) 1403-1435; Self-control and the theory of consumption, Econometrica 72 (2004) 119-158] style model in which decision-makers are affected by temptations that lie in the future. While temptation is commonly understood to give rise to a demand for commitment, it is shown that ‘temptation by future consumption’ can induce its absence. The model also exhibits procrastination, provides an alternative to projection bias as an explanation for some experimental results, and can simultaneously account for myopic and hyperopic behavior. The evidence on preference reversals supports temptation by future consumption, and suggests that it may not be restricted to short time horizons.     

Expected-loss-based Accounting for Impairment of Financial Instruments: The FASB and IASB Proposals 2009–2016

The financial and banking crisis of the late 2000s prompted claims that the incurred-loss method for the recognition of credit losses had caused undesirable delay in the recognition of credit-loss impairment. In the wake of the crisis, the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) worked towards the development of expected-loss-based methods of accounting for credit-loss impairment. Their work included an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to develop a converged FASB/IASB standard on credit-loss impairment. The FASB and IASB eventually developed their own separate expected-loss models to be included, respectively, in a 2016 FASB standard and in the IASB’s 2014 final version of IFRS 9 Financial Instruments. The failure to achieve convergence on an issue of such high profile and materiality has generated some controversy, and it is claimed that it will impose significant costs on the preparers and users of the financial statements of banks. This paper examines the various sets of expected-loss-based proposals issued separately or jointly since 2009 by the FASB and the IASB. It describes and compares key features of the different approaches eventually developed by the two standard setters, referring to issues that arose in arriving at practically workable solutions and to issues that may have impeded FASB/IASB convergence. It also provides information indicative of the possible effect of differences between the two approaches.     

Showing or telling? Local interaction and organization of behavior

We present a choice model based on agent interaction. Interaction is modeled as face-to-face communication that takes place on a regular periodic lattice with decision-makers exchanging information only with immediate neighbors. We investigate the long-run (equilibrium) behavior of the resulting system and show that for a large range of initial conditions clustering in economic behavior emerges and persists indefinitely. Unlike many models in the literature, our model allows for the analysis of multi-option environments. Therefore, we add to existing results by deriving the equilibrium distribution of option popularity and thus, implicitly, of market shares. Additionally, the model sheds new light on the emergence of the novel behavior in societies.     

Hyperbolic discounting and the standard model: Eliciting discount functions

Experiments on static intertemporal choice find evidence of particularly extreme impatience toward immediate rewards. While this is often taken as support for hyperbolic discounting, it could also arise because the most likely participants in experiments may be those with the most immediate need for money. We conduct a calibration exercise and find that the extreme impatience observed in experiments can be accommodated by a standard exponential discounting model with no discounting and expectation of a ‘small’ increase in the base consumption level. The calibration uses existing estimates of curvature of utility.     

Relating the Zone of Tolerance to Service Failure in the Hospitality Industry

The purpose of this study was to explore the zone of tolerance concept in relation to perceptions of service encounters, specifically when service failures are likely to occur. A simulated restaurant experience consisting of a series of dining service encounters was conducted with a sample of academic staff and research students. Results showed that individuals have different perceptions with different variability in their zone of tolerance; individuals appear to have a larger zone of tolerance when dealing with negative encounters and a narrower zone of tolerance for positive encounters. In addition, an initial negative encounter predisposes customers to future negative encounters. Failure is seen as a difficult concept to judge as individuals have diverse perceptions of what constitutes a failure and when it starts. Further research directions are proposed.     

HOW DO CONSUMERS MAKE CHOICES? A SURVEY OF EVIDENCE

Abstract In this paper, we review the evidence about the purchase behaviour of consumers. We concentrate on the characteristics of the choice process, choice of the external information source and nature of the information obtained from these sources. The impact of important systematic differences among consumers and products on choice behaviour is also discussed.     

Assessing the Dimensionality of Business Success: The Perspectives of Malaysian SME Owner-Managers

Realizing that the measurement of success in the context of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) is somewhat disparaging, this study aims to validate the business success construct based on the perspectives of SME founder-managers in the Malaysian context. Following a data collection of a sample of 212 SME founder-managers, a confirmatory factor analysis was performed to examine the factorial validity of the success measure and to assess its goodness of fit. The result indicates that business success is a four-factor structure, reflecting in (a) satisfaction with financial performance, (b) satisfaction with non-financial performance, (c) performance relative to competitors, and (d) business growth.     

Ownership and technical efficiency in Malaysia's automotive industry: A stochastic frontier production function analysis

This article examines the direct effect of the extent of foreign ownership on technical efficiency in Malaysia's automotive industry by applying a stochastic frontier production function analysis to micro-panel data over the years 2000–2004. Technical efficiency in the overall automotive industry is positively related to the degree of vertical integration, the size of establishments in the respective sub-sectors, a higher quality of the work force, and a higher foreign ownership share in the establishment combined with higher net-import intensity. Foreign ownership and net-export intensity are not significant determinants of technical efficiency inthe parts sub-sector. Although majority foreign ownership is not allowed in the assembly sub-sector, this sub-sector is large, with asmall number of establishments generating scale economies in the automotive industry. The determinants of technical efficiency in the parts sub-sector show that foreign ownership per se does not enhance technical efficiency since other determinants like the degree of vertical integration and the size of establishments are significant determinants of technical efficiency.