European and Asian resistance to the use of the American case method in management training: possible cultural and systemic incongruencies

In this contribution to the use of the Harvard-style case-style method in the training of managers, a transfer problem is identified. This is manifested in the difficulties presented for many non-American students in the use of traditional case-studies. As a result, an example of a revised case method is proposed which offers more educational flexibility and better acceptability.     

The U.S.-China Exchange Rate Debate: Using Currency Offer Curves

The paper introduces an innovative graph for presenting bilateral exchange rates. The currency quantities are on the axes and the exchange rate is the ratio between them, i.e., the slope of a ray from the origin. Behavior is captured by currency offer curves. The paper uses the model to address the issues surrounding China’s export-led growth strategy, i.e., its policy of undervaluing the yuan.     

The sources of the Kuznets relationship between road fatalities and economic growth

This paper reports the results of an empirical analysis of the Kuznets curve relationship between per capita income and road fatalities across 60 countries over the period 1972-2004. This relationship hypothesizes that the number of road fatalities increases with increasing motorization in the early stages of economic growth. Eventually, due to advances in technical, policy and political institutions, it declines as per capita income increases. The quality of political institutions as well as improvements in medical care and technology are hypothesized to impact road fatalities. Results indicate evidence of a Kuznets curve relationship between per capita income and road fatalities for both highly developed and less developed countries and support our hypothesis that changes in institutional quality and medical improvements underlie the Kuznets relationship. The evidence presented in this study suggests that lowering corruption levels as well as improvements in medical care and technology would help to reduce road fatalities.     

“ENTER2008”: Report on the 15th International Conference on Information Technology and Travel and Tourism, 23–25 January 2008, Innsbruck,Austria

As the world's largest annual event on information and communication technologies (ICTs) and travel and tourism, ENTER2008 was held in Innsbruck, a small medieval town in Austria. Like previous ENTER conferences, delegates were able to participate personally in the discussion of the latest research findings and industrial innovations in the context of ICTs in travel and tourism. Delegates could also enjoy the hospitality and unique experiences offered by the conference host and organizer. Different from other ENTER conference proceedings, which always had front pages in silver, ENTER2008 proceedings used an attractive and bright cover page in a good mixture of yellow and red.     

Jackson,Karl D., (Ed.), Asian Contagion: The Causes and Consequences of a Financial Crisis

The purpose of this article is to identify the extent of inward and outward foreign direct investment (FDI) worldwide. A large number of countries were aggregated on a regional basis to examine their inward and outward stocks as a percentage of gross fixed capital formation for the period 1980–2006. Among the findings was that the annual increase for both inward and outward FDI was less than 1%. Also, countries grouped by the aggregates developed, Africa, Latin America and Caribbean, Asia and Oceania, and developing were found to differ significantly in their means.     

ENTER 2005 – The 12th International Conference on Information Technology and Travel & Tourism held in Innsbruck,Austria on January 26–28, 2005

With the attendance of about 400 delegates from over 40 nations in the world, the 12^th International Conference on Information Technology and Travel & Tourism (ENTER 2005) was held on January 26–28, 2005 in Innsbruck of Austria. Interestingly, the Conference was turned to a very noticeable contradiction by showing the latest findings and developments in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in travel & tourism but in a medieval city. Following the tradition of the previous ENTER conferences, ENTER 2005 has successfully achieved it primary objective of providing a forum for international delegates to exchange and debate various ICT issues that were related to travel and tourism.     

The Effects of Ambiguous Information on Initial and Subsequent IPO Returns

Newly public companies must disclose significant risk factors in the offering prospectus. These disclosures are examples of “soft” or ambiguous information. Ambiguity models predict that investors will alter their portfolio weights and react to subsequent signals about such information. We test for these effects in a sample of 1,398 initial public offerings (IPOs) using word count ratios between soft and hard information as measures of ambiguity. We find a significant relationship between the soft information on risk and both initial and ex post measures of returns. These results support the view that soft information embeds ambiguity and that it influences investors’ portfolio choices.     

The impact of off-balance-sheet activities on banks returns: An application of the ARCH-M to Canadian data

This paper revisits the impact of off-balance-sheet (OBS) activities on banks risk-return trade-off. Recent studies (e.g., Stiroh and Rumble, 2006) show that increasing OBS activities does not necessarily yield straightforward diversification benefits for banks. However, introducing a risk premium in the standard banks returns models, and resorting to an ARCH-M procedure, Canadian data suggest that banks risk-return trade-off displays a structural break around 1997. In the second subperiod of our sample (1997–2007), we find that the noninterest income generated by OBS activities no longer impacts banks returns negatively. While during the first period (1988–1996) the volatility variable is not significant in any returns equations, a risk premium eventually emerges, pricing the risk associated to OBS activities.     

PREDICTING PRIVATE COMPANY FAILURE

Private company failure is a significant problem that is not fully addressed by existing research. This study develops a discriminant model from data on 107 private companies. The model predicts success and failure, based on six ratios obtained from the two immediately prior years' publicly available accounting reports. Based on a hold-out sample of 40 companies a prediction with 85% accuracy was achieved. This prediction was made one year ahead. The model indicates that the retained earnings/total assets, total liabilities/total assets, and shareholders funds/total liabilities ratios are the three major predictors of bankruptcy. Overall the model's coefficients are, as expected, substantially different to those of public company models.     

The Relationship Between REITs Returns and Inflation: A Vector Error Correction Approach

Previous studies show that REITs returns and inflation arenegatively related. This paper reexamines this perverse inflation hedgephenomenon by investigating the relationship among REITs returns, realactivities, monetary policy and inflation through a Vector ErrorCorrection Model. Empirical results show that inflation does notGranger-cause REITs returns and that REITs returns signal changes in monetary policy. The observed negative relationship between REITs returnsand inflation is merely a proxy for the more fundamental relationshipbetween REITs returns and other macroeconomic variables.