Determinants of Success in the Development of Applications Software

In this article, the third in the trio of software innovation articles, Chris Voss outlines the key factors that determine whether a new software development is likely to be successful. His research draws on an innovation framework that has emerged from previous research. His results are similar to those of the earlier studies and suggest that the software innovation process has many demands that are common to innovation in other product areas.     

Work and The Most Terrible Life

Tolstoy’s Iván Ilych lies near death, regretting a terrible life but unaware of what he could have done differently while alive. Although motivated to work for all the wrong reasons–money, self-esteem, social acceptance, and escape from home–by all formal accounts he has been a highly responsible professional. This analysis of a work about work illustrates the relationship between meaningful work, professional responsibility, and meaningful life.     

Auditors' Affirmations of Compliance with IFRS around the World: An Exploratory Study*

It is widely believed that international financial reporting standards (IFRS) have been adopted in many countries, at least for the consolidated reporting of listed companies. However, in nearly all cases, what the rules require is some national or supranational version of IFRS. This might create problems for investor confidence and comparability. We examine what companies and auditors report concerning compliance with IFRS, focusing on the first full year of IFRS reporting by companies in the stock market indices of four major European countries and Australia. We find that, even when companies were complying with IFRS, they were generally not saying so, which seems to miss part of the point of the 35‐year project on international harmonization. In a small number of cases, auditors provided dual reports: on full IFRS in addition to the mandated reference to national GAAP where the latter corresponds with full IFRS. These cases were found only in Germany and the United Kingdom, and mainly related to companies that filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as foreign private issuers. We propose explanations for the general lack of dual reports and for the exceptions. We call for widespread adoption of dual reporting where a plain report on IFRS is not yet possible.     

FINANCIAL INNOVATIONS IN LEVERAGED COMMERCIAL LOAN MARKETS

In the last decade, three innovations in commercial loan-based securities and derivative have enabled institutional investors to access commercial loan markets on leveraged terms : collateralized loan obligations (CLOs); loan-based total return swaps; and leveraged loan-based structured notes (LLSNs). These innovations have been driven by a combination of structural changes in the banking industry, enhanced technology for securitizations, reformed banking regulations, and the advent of credit derivatives.
Besides providing new investment opportunities for institutional investors, these recent innovations in loan markets also promise to reinforce the existing trend in banking away from financial intermediation and toward information intermediation. Such a trend, the authors argue, is helping to ensure the long-run viability of commercial banks. By transforming loan assets in the ways described in this article, banks can generate fee income instead of interest income (thus limiting their capital requirements and interest rate and credit exposures) while still exploiting their comparative advantage in credit analysis and monitoring.     

最爱慕尼黑

慕尼黑,它的名字与十月啤酒节、宫廷啤酒花园、铜管乐,还有巴伐利亚的悠闲联系在一起.而在文化中心,有令人叹为观止的博物馆和艺术珍藏、杰出的戏剧、三个享有世界盛名的交响乐团和深受喜爱的节日和文化活动.它作为经济要地、大学中心、博览会城和会议城,在欧洲中部起着举足轻重的作用.     

经济一体化与香港股市的国际联动实证研究

本文从汇率制度、利率水平、国际贸易、投资群体等方面,分析香港股票市场所处的宏观管理运行环境,考察香港和美国的密切经济关系,研究全球一体化不断加深的情形下香港、日本和美国股市的动态关系。研究结果表明,三大市场的动态关系依然存在;但恒指跟上证指并不存在协整关系。     

An analysis of the cost of providing ancillary services to skilled nursing facility patients in New York State

Currently, nursing homes can arrange for the provision of ancillary services either by providing the services directly, purchasing the services through contracts and fees, or by outside billings, in which the services are supplied by other providers who then bill Medicaid directly. Frequently, some combination of these three modes of provision is used for each ancillary service. The purpose of this study is to explore ancillary costs in a sample of nursing homes and to determine, to the extent possible, the most cost-efficient means of providing selected ancillary services (physical therapy, radiology and medical staff services). Prior to examining the impact of the mode of provision on cost levels, other facility and patient characteristics that might justifiably affect costs are identified and adjusted for. The results demonstrate that outside billing or purchasing services can be much less expensive than providing the services directly. It is suggested that all ancillary services (outside billings as well as services provided directly through contracts and fees) be included when facility-to-facility cost comparisons are made. This approach should serve as an incentive for nursing homes to seek the most cost-efficient means of providing ancillary services.     

The Real Effects of Asset Market Bubbles: Loan- and Firm-Level Evidence of a Lending Channel

This article studies how a shock to the financial health ofbanks, caused by a decline in the asset markets, affects thereal economy. The land market collapse in Japan provides anideal testing field in separating the impact of a loan supplyshock from demand shocks. I find that banks with greater realestate exposure have to reduce lending. Firms' investment andmarket valuation are negatively associated with their top lender'sreal estate exposure. The lending channel is economically important:it accounts for one-third of lending contraction, one-fifthof the decline in investment, and a quarter of value loss.