Unit roots in the presence of abrupt governmental interventions with an application to Brazilian data

This paper considers econometric issues related to time-series data that have been subject to abrupt governmental interventions. The motivating example for this study is the Brazilian monthly inflation rate (1974:1–1993:6) which we use throughout for illustration. This series has been heavily influenced by the effect of so-called shock plans implemented by various governments starting in the mid-1980s. The plans act as ‘inliers’ in the sense that the series is temporarily brought down to low levels before returning to its previous trend path. We analyse the effects on standard unit root tests and measures of persistence caused by the presence of these ‘inliers’. We show a substantial bias in favour of concluding that the series is stationary and that shocks have temporary effects. We then construct appropriately corrected statistics which take into account the presence of the plans. These show, unlike the standard tests, that the stochastic behaviour of the inflation rate was indeed unstable over this period. Simulation results are presented to support the adequacy of our corrected statistics. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploring new product portfolio management decisions: The role of managers' dispositional traits

Product strategy links to new product development (NPD) through new product portfolio management (NPPM). This dynamic decision process addresses the strategy implementation questions of identifying which new product ideas to pursue and their relative priorities. Despite the importance of NPPM in implementing product strategy, firms exhibit substantial performance-affecting differences. We investigate one potential source for such differences by examining the impact of managers' dispositional factors as a possible explanation. Using a case study research method, we examine differences in NPPM strategies and managers' revealed dispositional traits across three divisions of a single conglomerate firm operating in different business-to-business markets. Based on our analysis, we offer propositions relating managers' dispositions to NPPM strategy: analytic cognitive style is associated with balance, ambiguity tolerance is associated with strategic fit, and leadership style is associated with the relative weights applied to each dimension.     

Who will lead and who will follow: Identifying Influential Users in Online Social Networks

Along with the explosive growth of the phenomenon Online Social Networks (OSN), identifying influential users in OSN has received a great deal of attention in recent years. However, the development of practical approaches for identifying them is still in its infancy. By means of a structured literature review, the authors analyze and synthesize the publications particularly from two perspectives. From a research perspective, they find that existing approaches mostly build on users’ connectivity and activity but hardly consider further characteristics of influential users. Moreover, they outline two major research streams. It becomes apparent that most marketing-oriented articles draw on real-world data of OSN, while more technology-oriented papers rather have a theoretical approach and mostly evaluate their artifacts by means of formal proofs. The authors find that a stronger collaboration between the scientific Business and Information Systems Engineering (BISE) and Marketing communities could be mutually beneficial. With respect to a practitioner’s perspective, they compile advice on the practical application of approaches for the identification of influential users. It is hoped that the results can stimulate and guide future research.     

Using choice experiments to assess smallholder farmers' preferences for pig breeding traits in different production systems in North-West Vietnam

Livestock form key components of the livelihood strategies of many of the world's poorest people. However, despite the potential to alleviate poverty and improve food security through livestock development interventions, the lack of smallholders' participation in the planning and design of breeding programs has often been a major cause of the failure of such programs. Particularly in developing countries where livestock production is still mostly subsistence-oriented and livestock fulfil manifold functions a considerable number of livestock breeding programs have failed. The development of adequate tools to characterise these functions, bearing in mind that these are expressed only rarely in properly functioning markets, is therefore important.This paper seeks to advance the application of such methodologies to the smallholder pig sector in Vietnam. A choice experiment was applied across 140 households involved in pig breeding in order to assess farmers' preferences and the trade-offs for a list of adaptive and productive traits. These included growth, reproduction, disease resistance, feed requirements and appearance.The findings indicate that smallholders highly value both adaptive and performance traits, particularly in resource-driven (i.e. subsistence) production systems. Performance traits were more highly valued in the demand-driven (i.e. market-oriented) systems. These findings have implications for breeding program breed choice and breeding objectives.     

Loading optimization of palletized products on trucks

In this paper we analyze the application of an optimization model to solve problems of arranging products (packed in boxes) on pallets, and arranging loaded pallets on trucks. Initially the model is applied to solve thousands of randomly generated experiments. Then, in order to assess the effectiveness of the solutions in practice, the model is applied to two Brazilian case studies: a food company distribution center and a large wholesale distribution center. We also discuss the use of this approach for optimizing the sizes of packages, pallets and trucks. In particular, we analyze the performance of the Brazilian standard pallet (PBR), adopted by the Brazilian Association of Supermarkets (ABRAS) and recommended by the Brazilian Logistics Association (ASLOG), in comparison with other standard pallets. By examining not only the loading of products on pallets, but also the loading of pallets on trucks, we can obtain global utilization indices which are useful to evaluate the economical performance of unit load systems in the logistics chain of a company.     

Mobile Corporate Social Responsibility (mCSR): Examining Publics’ Responses to CSR-Based Initiatives in Natural Disasters

As social media use on mobile devices has been integrated in people’s daily lives, corporations began to target the publics on corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities on mobile devices. In the context of a natural disaster, this study examines how publics respond to CSR-based initiatives by way of mobile corporate social responsibility (mCSR), including gratifications, social media engagement, perceived CSR motives, and the relationship outcomes as associated with mCSR practice. An online survey was conducted by sampling with 1,433 nationally representative adults in the United States. Findings indicated that four broad types of gratification, such as technological convenience, social interaction, recreation, and information exchange, significantly influenced relationship outcomes such as satisfaction, commitment, distrust, trust, and control mutuality. Results also demonstrated that perceived CSR motives and social media engagement on mobile devices were significantly related to relationship outcomes, providing empirical evidence for the important role that potential mCSR communications can play in engaging publics and cultivating relationships during natural disasters.     

Does the impact of financial liberalization on income inequality depend on financial development? Some new evidence

Instead of empirically finding that higher levels of financial development reduce the positive impact of financial liberalization on inequality, as others do, we come up with the opposite result: financial development strengthens the inequality-raising impact of financial liberalization. We suggest that by, e.g., allowing financial liberalization to lead to more volatility and uncertainty, the model of Bumann and Lensink (2016 “Capital Account Liberalization and Income Inequality.“ Journal of International Money and Finance 61: 143–162.) can be extended as such that also an amplifying instead of reducing effect of financial depth on the impact of financial liberalization on income inequality can be theoretically justified.