The Contingent Value of Responsive and Proactive Market Orientations for New Product Program Performance*

While the benefits of being market oriented are largely accepted, a group of scholars and managers remain skeptical. Marketing scholars have sought to counter the criticisms leveled against market orientation (MO) by arguing that it has both responsive and proactive dimensions. However, few studies have empirically examined the complexity of the effects of these dimensions on firm performance. Drawing on theories of resource‐based advantage and organizational search behavior, this article advances understanding by arguing that responsive and proactive market orientations have curvilinear effects on product development performance, that their interaction may be positively related to product development performance, and that their effects on new product program performance are moderated differentially by the organizational implementation conditions and marketing function power. Survey results of 175 U.S. firms indicate support for most of the hypotheses. Specifically, whereas responsive MO has a U‐shaped relationship with new product program performance, proactive MO has an inverted U‐shaped relationship with new product program performance. Contrary to the arguments presented here, the interaction of both orientations is negatively related to new product program performance. This study finds that both orientations are needed; however, new product program performance is enhanced when one is at higher level and the other is at lower level. Finally, responsive MO is only positively related to new product program performance under specific conditions such as when strategic consensus among managers is high. On the other hand, the positive effect of proactive MO on new product program performance is further strengthened when learning orientation and marketing power are high. Overall, this study suggests that the effects of responsive and proactive MO on new product program performance are more complex than previously theoretically argued and empirically examined.     

Feature selection methods involving support vector machines for prediction of insolvency in non‐life insurance companies

We propose two novel approaches for feature selection and ranking tasks based on simulated annealing (SA) and Walsh analysis, which use a support vector machine as an underlying classifier. These approaches are inspired by one of the key problems in the insurance sector: predicting the insolvency of a non‐life insurance company. This prediction is based on accounting ratios, which measure the health of the companies. The approaches proposed provide a set of ratios (the SA approach) and a ranking of the ratios (the Walsh analysis ranking) that would allow a decision about the financial state of each company studied. The proposed feature selection methods are applied to the prediction the insolvency of several Spanish non‐life insurance companies, yielding state‐of‐the‐art results in the tests performed. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Artificial neural networks with feature transformation based on domain knowledge for the prediction of stock index futures

A feature transformation method based on domain knowledge for arti?cial neural networks (ANNs) is proposed. The method of feature transformation based on domain knowledge converts continuous values into discrete values in accordance with the knowledge of experts in speci?c application domains. This approach effectively ?lters data, trains the classi?er, and extracts the rules from the classi?er. In addition, it reduces the dimensionality of the feature space, which not only decreases the cost and time in the operation but also enhances the generalizability of the classi?er. The experimental results of the proposed approach will be compared and tested statistically with the results of the linear transformation method. The results show that the method of feature transformation based on domain knowledge outperforms the linear transformation in modelling of ANNs. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The service sector of Cuba: An analysis and critique

The Cuban economy has experienced a significant increase in foreign direct investment over the past decade due to the end of the Soviet Union and the establishment of more liberal trade policies. Although the U.S. embargo of trade with Cuba still exists, there has been movement lately that suggests the end of the four‐decades‐old policy. The purpose of this article is to analyze the current Cuban business environment and to identify potential entrepreneurial opportunities in the service sector. Major trade partners are also reviewed and managerial implications discussed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

市场新进入者的星级酒店战略定位——以丽江国际大酒店为例

本通过对即将开业的丽江国际大酒店核心竞争力的分析，探讨高星级酒店的战略定位问题，提出了丽江国际大酒店的经营战略和途径。将资源配置效能、运行机制、创新能力和企业化有机融合，系统培育酒店核心竞争力，使酒店在有限的条件下，集中有限的资源和能力，实现局部最优。     

中小企业财务管理创新之我见

面对经济全球化和中国加入世贸的新形势 ,中小企业财务管理创新滞后 ,已经严重影响了中小企业的快速、健康发展。本文阐述了中小企业财务管理方面存在的问题 ,剖析了这些问题产生的原因并在此基础上有针对性地提出了解决相应问题的对策。     

管理层持股与公司绩效:一项基于深圳股票市场的实证研究

本文在现有理论和实证分析框架基础上,以在深圳证券交易所上市的331家公司为研究对象,运用非线性回归模型对上市公司管理层持股与经营绩效的相关性进行了实证检验。实证结果表明,公司绩效与管理层持股之间存在三次曲线关系:管理层持股在0%—0·1376%之间时,公司绩效随管理层持股比例的增加而下降;管理层持股在0·1376%—0·7462%之间时,公司绩效随管理层持股比例的增加而上升;管理层持股超过0·7462%时,公司绩效再次随着管理层持股比例的增加而下降。     

This is what the leading indicators lead

We propose an optimal filter to transform the Conference Board Composite Leading Index (CLI) into recession probabilities in the US economy. We also analyse the CLI's accuracy at anticipating US output growth. We compare the predictive performance of linear, VAR extensions of smooth transition regression and switching regimes, probit, non‐parametric models and conclude that a combination of the switching regimes and non‐parametric forecasts is the best strategy at predicting both the NBER business cycle schedule and GDP growth. This confirms the usefulness of CLI, even in a real‐time analysis. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

历史与现在——国际商法的演进对我们的启示

文中对国际商法从古代商法、中世纪商人法到近代商法国内化以及现代商人法的历史演进过程进行研究,并从纵向和横向的角度解读了国际商法的发展带给我们的启示。     

氯苯甲酸生物降解及环境影响研究进展

I.IntroductionChlorobenzoic acids(CBAs)have been released to the envi-ronment intentionally due to their use in agriculture asherbicides,or unintentionally due to the function,they playedin the aerobic transformation of many chlorinated pollutants,such as polychlorinated biphenyls(PCBs)and alkyl benzenes.Moreover,chlorobenzoic acids are the major intermediate prod-ucts of aerobic catabolism of PCBs and one of the rate-limitingsteps in the overall PCBs degradation process.Degradation ofchl…