A Method to Evaluate the Suitability of Requirements Specifications for Offshore Projects

Today, even the development of business information systems is subject to the global offshoring trend. With the division of development work in an inter-organizational and intercultural context, requirements specifications become the central means to communicate the development scope as explicitly as possible. The suitability of requirements specifications hence often is mission critical in offshore projects. To assess their suitability, we first present eight quality criteria for requirements specifications. We then discuss five critical compensating factors that may potentially balance out an insufficient specification quality during the offshore project. On this basis, we describe a method to rationally evaluate the suitability of requirements specifications for instantiating an offshore project. We illustrate the application of the method by elaborating on a large case study that has been conducted with an industry partner. The results achieved by applying our method were confirmed during the further course of the actual project.     

Fast estimation of true bounds on Bermudan option prices under jump-diffusion processes

Fast pricing of American-style options has been a difficult problem since it was first introduced to the financial markets in 1970s, especially when the underlying stocks’ prices follow some jump-diffusion processes. In this paper, we extend the ‘true martingale algorithm’ proposed by Belomestny et al. [Math. Finance, 2009, 19, 53–71] for the pure-diffusion models to the jump-diffusion models, to fast compute true tight upper bounds on the Bermudan option price in a non-nested simulation manner. By exploiting the martingale representation theorem on the optimal dual martingale driven by jump-diffusion processes, we are able to explore the unique structure of the optimal dual martingale and construct an approximation that preserves the martingale property. The resulting upper bound estimator avoids the nested Monte Carlo simulation suffered by the original primal–dual algorithm, therefore significantly improving the computational efficiency. Theoretical analysis is provided to guarantee the quality of the martingale approximation. Numerical experiments are conducted to verify the efficiency of our algorithm.     

我国医院成本核算存在的问题及对策

医院要在激烈的市场竞争中求得生存,必须加强内部的成本核算,但很多医院往往忽视了这个方面.本文探讨了目前医院的成本核算存在的问题,并针对这些问题提出了改进措施.     

fines,leniency, and rewards in antitrust

This article reports results from an experiment studying how FINES, LENIENCY, and REWARDS for whistleblowers affect cartel formation and prices. Antitrust without LENIENCY reduces cartel formation but increases cartel prices: subjects use costly FINES as punishments. LENIENCY improves antitrust by strengthening deterrence but stabilizes surviving cartels: subjects appear to anticipate the lower postconviction prices after reports/LENIENCY. With REWARDS, prices fall at the competitive level. Overall, our results suggest a strong cartel deterrence potential for well‐run LENIENCY and REWARD schemes. These findings may also be relevant for similar white‐collar organized crimes, such as corruption and fraud.     

An Inquiry into the Study of Corporate Codes of Ethics

This paper takes its point of departure in an article by Stevens [Stevens, B.: 1994, Journal of Business Ethics 54, 163–171], in which she identified a lack of knowledge regarding how corporate codes of ethics are communicated and affect behavior in organizations. Taking heed of this suggested gap, we review studies on corporate codes of ethics with an empirical content, published since 1994. The conclusion of the review is that we still lack knowledge on how codes work, how they are communicated and how they are transformed inside organizations. Stevens’ plea could even be extended, arguing that the knowledge gap might be of even more significance than in the mid-1990s. Some directions for how this situation can be approached in future studies are outlined in the paper.     

Game experience: an analysis of English and Welsh domestic cricket spectators

• This study investigated differing emphasis cricket spectators place on key game experience variables. Spectators were classified based on membership, frequency of attendance and demographics. The mixed methods designs used a qualitative strand, which identified four key game experience variables; star players, quality of game, social facilitation and auditory and olfactory elements. The quantitative strand was used to empirically test these game experience variables. This survey of 584 cricket spectators identified auditory and olfactory elements, quality of game, and social facilitation as the three important game experience variables relevant to various cricket spectator segments. The findings revealed that women, members, older spectators and moderately frequent attendees placed greater emphasis on auditory and olfactory. Older spectators and members also placed greater emphasis on quality of game. It was also found that regardless of how frequently spectators attend games, they placed equal emphasis on social facilitation.
• In this exploratory study, tentative light is shed on the largely unexplored subject of cricket spectator consumption experience. As such it helps provide practitioners in the industry as well as researchers with a better understanding of cricket spectators.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

For the Student: Matching and Economic Design

This article presents a brief survey of two‐sided matching. We introduce the reader to the problem of two‐sided matching in the context of the college admission model and explain two central requirements for a matching mechanism: stability and non‐manipulability. We show how the frequently used ‘Boston Mechanism’ fails these key requirements and describe how an alternative, the Deferred Acceptance Algorithm, leads to stable matchings but fails to be non‐manipulable in general. A third mechanism, the Top Trading Cycle, is efficient and non‐manipulable when only one side of the match acts strategically. We also discuss some applications of matching theory.     

Transfer pricing as a tax compliance risk

This paper studies the role of transfer pricing as a critical compliance issue. Specifically, we analyse whether and to what extent the perceived risk associated with transfer pricing responds to country-, industry- and firm-specific characteristics. Empirically, transfer pricing risk awareness is measured as a professional assessment reported by the person with ultimate responsibility for transfer pricing in their company. Based on a unique global survey conducted by a Big 4 accounting firm in 2007 and 2008, we estimate the number of firms reporting transfer pricing being the largest risk issue with regard to subsequent tax payments. We find that transfer pricing risk awareness depends on variables accounting for general tax and transfer pricing specific strategies, the types and characteristics of intercompany transactions the multinational firms are involved in, their individual transfer pricing compliance efforts and resources dedicated to transfer pricing matters.     

Drivers of long haul flight supply at secondary airports in Europe

Intercontinental air traffic is unevenly distributed between secondary European airports. While a few airports offer a remarkable number of long haul services, most non-hubs struggle to attract such flights. We discuss and test factors influencing secondary airport choice of long haul carriers. Results indicate that the economic power of the airport region has a significantly positive influence on long haul flight supply, while a sufficient runway length is only a condition sine qua non. Consequently, long runways at many secondary airports are underutilized and thus not economically viable.