Analysis of E-commerce and information technology applications in hotels: Business travelers' perceptions

Numerous research studies have been conducted that are related to e-commerce and information technology (IT) applications in the hospitality industry with regard to business operation, profit, output, and management perspective. The focus of this study is to examine current e-commerce and IT applications in the hospitality industry and to identify the business travelers' perceptions in order to improve customer service. One of the problems in the hospitality industry is that customers want advanced e-commerce and IT applications, but restaurants and hotels are not necessarily implementing them. This study discusses the typical problems and obstacles of implementing e-commerce and IT applications in hospitality, using the lodging e-commerce and IT applications to satisfy customers, and developing the lodging e-commerce and IT applications as a corporate competitive advantage. Moreover, this study investigated a variety of e-commerce and IT applications related to customer service, satisfaction, and retention as well as e-commerce and IT applications as a distribution channel for receiving travelers' information and accommodation booking. This study provides valuable implications for hospitality practitioners about customer perceptions relative to e-commerce and IT applications.     

Stochastic Volatility Corrections for Interest Rate Derivatives

We study simple models of short rates such as the Vasicek or CIR models, and compute corrections that come from the presence of fast mean-reverting stochastic volatility. We show how these small corrections can affect the shape of the term structure of interest rates giving a simple and efficient calibration tool. This is used to price other derivatives such as bond options. The analysis extends the asymptotic method developed for equity derivatives in Fouque, Papanicolaou, and Sircar (2000b) . The assumptions and effectiveness of the theory are tested on yield curve data.     

Momentum and post-earnings-announcement drift anomalies: The role of liquidity risk

This paper investigates the components of liquidity risk that are important for understanding asset-pricing anomalies. Firm-level liquidity is decomposed into variable and fixed price effects and estimated using intraday data for the period 1983–2001. Unexpected systematic (market-wide) variations of the variable component rather than the fixed component of liquidity are shown to be priced within the context of momentum and post-earnings-announcement drift (PEAD) portfolio returns. As the variable component is typically associated with private information [e.g., Kyle, 1985. Econometrica 53, 1315–1335], the results suggest that a substantial part of momentum and PEAD returns can be viewed as compensation for the unexpected variations in the aggregate ratio of informed traders to noise traders.     

Fracking in Deutschland — eine Option für die Zukunft!

Extraction of shale gas in Germany (fracking) is better left as an option for the future. Today, owners of deposits in many other countries have uncertain property rights and extract too quickly. German deposits may appreciate in value if left in the ground. They also better contribute to national energy security there than if extracted and depleted. Waiting also allows Germany to learn from the mistakes of others and to take this new information and the improvements in extraction technology into account when deciding about extraction in the future. Such decisions should not be left to the resource extraction industries. Their objectives are likely to differ from the objective of maximising the rent from the nation’s shale gas.     

Stefano Battilossi,Youssef Cassis,and Kazuhiko Yago (eds.): Review of Handbook of the history of money and currency

Business Economics -     

A note on January returns in the U.S. government bond market: The term effect

This study documents a previously unobserved January effect in the market for riskless debt. Long-term government bonds have significantly lower returns in January than in the rest of the year. This January effect is opposite in sign to the January effects that have been previously documented in the markets for equity and the markets for risky debt. Tax-loss selling in the equity markets in conjunction with parking the proceeds may provide a possible explanation for the negative January effect in the market for government bonds.     

Liquidity risk and the cross-section of hedge-fund returns

This paper demonstrates that liquidity risk as measured by the covariation of fund returns with unexpected changes in aggregate liquidity is an important determinant in the cross-section of hedge-fund returns. The results show that funds that significantly load on liquidity risk subsequently outperform low-loading funds by about 6% annually, on average, over the period 1994–2008, while negative performance is observed during liquidity crises. The returns are independent of the liquidity a fund provides to its investors as measured by lockup and redemption notice periods, and they are also robust to commonly used hedge-fund factors, none of which carries a significant premium during the sample period. These findings highlight the importance of understanding systematic liquidity variations in the evaluation of hedge-fund performance.     

Complex Systems and the Merger Process

This paper considers how some of the generic principles that have emerged in the course of recent study and thinking around complex systems might be applied in a helpful way to the particular context of understanding the nature of the merger process. Theoretically, the paper stresses the connections between the processual and time-dependent nature of learning and knowledge acquisition and the systemic nature of socio-economic development and transformation. When carried into the substantive domain of mergers and their contribution to restructuring in the pharmaceuticals industry, we suggest that the complex systems approach provides a fruitful complement to alternative conceptual frameworks, albeit one which is still at an early stage of development in terms of this particular application.