Aligning Misaligned Systemic Innovations: Probing Inter‐Firm Effects Development in Project Networks

Implementing systemic innovations in a project network can significantly improve its performance; however, implementing systemic innovations is difficult if project network structures misalign to the innovation. Little research has examined how project network structures can align to systemic innovations. To address this research gap, we studied an advanced building information modeling tool implemented in a Finnish design and development project network. We found that misaligned innovations are aligned through a process of task sequence alignment, knowledge base alignment, and work allocation alignment. Our findings are important; they suggest that implementing systemic innovations in project networks is a multistage inter‐firm process.     

Charitable giving inside and outside the workplace: the role of individual and firm characteristics

Over the past several decades, charitable solicitations in the workplace have played an increasing role in the fundraising strategies of nonprofit organizations. Although many studies have examined the factors that influence overall charitable giving, very few studies have focused on giving when asked to donate in the workplace. This paper examines the determinants of charitable giving in and outside of the workplace in addition to the role of individual and firm-level characteristics. The study is based on one of the largest surveys of workplace giving including unique information on both workplace giving and overall charitable giving for 6000 employees in the USA. Specific factors uniquely influence charitable giving in the workplace. An employee's personal level of confidence in the nonprofit sector is strongly likely to influence workplace donations. At the firm level, an organization's size and industry also affect the presence of workplace campaigns and giving trends. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Review of: “UNCERTAINTY AND ITS EFFECT ON CAPITAL INVESTMENT ANALYSIS,” by Martin B. Solomon,Jr. Management Science,Volume 12, No. 8, April 1966

In this paper we extend Thompson's [17] work using time series models within the discounted cash flow framework to estimate the cost of equity capita] for a firm. In particular we do the following: First, we prove the existence and uniqueness of a solution for the cost of equity capital. Secondly, we verify that the cost of equity function is continuously differentiable and derive the formula for its reliability. Formulas for both the cost and its reliability are in terms of infinite sums or infinite dimension matrices. Thirdly, we derive estimators of the cost of equity capital and its reliability which are in terms of finite sums and easy to calculate. We show that these estimated converge to the cost of equity capital and its reliability. Finally, our procedure for estimation applies to a wide variety of time series models that may be used to forecast dividends.     

Nutrient Prices and Other Socio-Economic and Health Determinants of the Body Mass Index of Canadians

We examine the effect of nutrient prices and other socio-economic and health factors on the Body Mass Index (BMI) of Canadians using the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS). The CCHS data does not include information on nutrition intake, and so the price of fat, carbohydrates and protein are included to capture the effects of diet on BMI. The results indicate that changes in nutrient prices in the model have statistically significant impacts on BMI and the direction of the impacts corresponds to hypotheses from the nutrition literature. However, all estimates are inelastic so that the effect of fat taxes or thin subsidies is small. The results also indicate that education is negatively related and income is positively related to BMI.     

Econometric estimation of distance functions and associated measures of productivity and efficiency change

Multi-input multi-output production technologies can be represented using distance functions. Econometric estimation of these functions typically involves factoring out one of the outputs or inputs and estimating the resulting equation using maximum likelihood methods. A problem with this approach is that the outputs or inputs that are not factored out may be correlated with the composite error term. Fernandez et al. (J Econ 98:47–79, 2000) show how to solve this so-called ‘endogeneity problem’ using Bayesian methods. In this paper I use the approach to estimate an output distance function and an associated index of total factor productivity (TFP) change. The TFP index is a new index that satisfies most, if not all, economically-relevant axioms from index number theory. It can also be exhaustively decomposed into a measure of technical change and various measures of efficiency change. I illustrate the methodology using state-level data on U.S. agricultural input and output quantities (no prices are needed). Results are summarized in terms of the characteristics (e.g., means) of estimated probability density functions for measures of TFP change, technical change and efficiency change.     

Attrition bias in the Capitalia panel

The Capitalia survey of manufacturing firms in Italy represents an important source of panel data on Italian firms. Panel attrition, however, represents a potential obstacle to such use of the sample. In this paper, sample entry and exit behaviour are studied, and a test for attrition bias is carried out in order to evaluate the potential for using panels constructed from the Capitalia survey. The analysis reveals the presence of distorting panel attrition effects in simple models of firm performance. In addition, the paper discusses both the implications of attrition bias for estimates and also briefly considers possible solutions. Finally, some suggestions are made as to how to reduce the impact of attrition bias through the provision of additional information on the nature of the attrition process available to the surveying institution at the moment of data collection.     

Nonlinear dynamics and the exports–output growth nexus

The untested assumption of a linear relationship between exports and output growth in previous empirical investigations may lead to invalid inference if the actual relationship is nonlinear. This paper re-examines the relationship between exports and economic growth in five industrialized economies (Canada, Italy, Japan, UK, and the US) with emphasis on the effect of nonlinearities on the causal relationships. Results from linearity tests show that nonlinearities do exist in the dynamic relationship between exports and GDP growth. Nonlinear smooth transition autoregressive (STAR) model results suggest that nonlinear Granger causality flows from exports to output growth and vice versa. Predictive accuracy tests further confirm the appropriateness of the nonlinear models over the linear model specification.     

Finite Prandtl number 2-D convection at high Rayleigh numbers

Finite Prandtl number thermal convection is important to the dynamics of planetary bodies in the solar system. For example, the complex geology on the surface of the Jovian moon Europa is caused by a convecting, brine-rich global ocean that deforms the overlying icy “lithosphere”. We have conducted a systematic study on the variations of the convection style, as Prandtl numbers are varied from 7 to 100 at Rayleigh numbers 106 and 108. Numerical simulations show that changes in the Prandtl number could exert significant effects on the shear flow, the number of convection cells, the degree of layering in the convection, and the number and size of the plumes in the convecting fluid. We found that for a given Rayleigh number, the convection style can change from single cell to layered convection, for increasing Prandtl number from 7 to 100. These results are important for determining the surface deformation on the Jovian moon Europa. They also have important implications for surface heat flow on Europa, and for the interior heat transfer of the early Earth during its magma ocean phase. Electronic Supplementary Material is available if you access this article at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10069-002-0004-4. On that page (frame on the left side), a link takes you directly to the supplementary material.     

Markov switching causality and the money–output relationship

The causal link between monetary variables and output is one of the most studied issues in macroeconomics. One puzzle from this literature is that the results of causality tests appear to be sensitive with respect to the sample period that one considers. As a way of overcoming this difficulty, we propose a method for analysing Granger causality which is based on a vector autoregressive model with time‐varying parameters. We model parameter time‐variation so as to reflect changes in Granger causality, and assume that these changes are stochastic and governed by an unobservable Markov chain. When applied to US data, our methodology allows us to reconcile previous puzzling differences in the outcome of conventional tests for money–output causality. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.