A data envelopment analysis on assessing the competitiveness of Korean hotels

With the ever-rising cost of doing business and increased competition, many hotels have experienced financial difficulties resultant from a gradual decline in profit and market share. Since the financial health of the hotel affects its investment capability in constantly improving customer services, the service performance and the subsequent competitiveness of the hotel often reflect its financial efficiency. As such, there is a growing need to assess the financial efficiency of the hotel in comparison with its competitors. To meet such a need, this paper proposes a data envelopment analysis (DEA) that develops a meaningful set of benchmarks that will dictate best practices and form a successful hotel business model. Using the examples of 31 luxury and budget hotels in Korea, this paper illustrates the usefulness of DEA for the continuous improvement of hotel business practices.     

Anti‐dumping Duty and Firm Heterogeneity: Evidence from Korea

This study examines the imposition of anti‐dumping (AD) duties on imported products in Korea. We use panel data for Korean firms between 2000 and 2012 and estimate the firm‐level productivity of import‐competing firms before and after AD imposition. Using a difference‐in‐difference framework, we compare firm productivity changes in a treatment group that receives AD protection to a control group that does not. In contrast to recent findings on the effects of AD measures, we find that the average protected firms experience productivity loss during the AD protection period. Examining the changes in external market condition and internal resource allocation during the protection period, such loss appears to be more evident inside highly concentrated import‐competing sectors. Further, we find that protected firms are more likely to reallocate their resources abroad via FDI at the expense of domestic production and investment once they receive temporary protection.     

Effects of the preference for environmental quality on the export competition between China and OECD countries

This study examines how importers’ preferences for environmentally friendly products influence the effect of China’s export growth on the exports of OECD countries to third markets. The effect of China’s export growth is systematically investigated using the theoretical gravity model, which assumes that importers’ environmental preferences are heterogeneous among countries. A new measure is also proposed to represent importers’ revealed preferences for environmental quality across countries. Panel data consisting of observations for 30 OECD exporting countries and 60 importing countries over the 2000–10 period confirm that the crowding‐out effect of China’s export growth on the exports of OECD countries observed in markets for consumption goods and the dampening effect observed in markets for intermediate goods are becoming weaker as the importer preference for environmental quality becomes stronger.     

Management of paradox: a comparative study of managerial practices in Korean and Japanese firms

Numerous scholars are recognizing that paradoxes are indigenous to organizational functioning. Managers too are being challenged to do more and spend less, and delegate and know the details. As a corporate objective, neither efficiency nor innovation can be sacrificed. In this paper, we have attempted to capture this emerging trend empirically. Defining management of paradox as ‘managerial practices that realize the simultaneous accomplishment of multiple strategic objectives that are seemingly or actually incompatible,’ this paper explores how organizational capabilities of effectively dealing with paradox can be acquired. Specifically, the paper attempts to address two organizational mechanisms: decision-making structure and human resource practices (HRPs). Propositions deduced from the existing literature were tested with the data collected from 103 Korean firms and 136 Japanese firms. The data indicated that firms have to be multi-talented. It was found that firms that successfully accomplished innovation and efficiency objectives simultaneously were those that were able to mix paradoxical organizational practices: decentralization and control on the one hand and the three HRPs on the other. It was also found that the Japanese corporations were more apt in deploying paradoxical managerial practices than the Korean counterparts. The paper concludes by discussing a few theoretical implications.     

The Effects of Governance on Classification Shifting and Compensation Shielding

Prior research (e.g., Dechow, Huson, and Sloan 1994 ) documents that, on average, compensation practices appear to shield CEO pay from income‐decreasing special items. In some circumstances, compensation shielding can be efficient. For example, it may encourage CEOs with earnings‐sensitive pay to take an action that reduces current earnings but nevertheless enhances value. Compensation shielding can be inefficient in other circumstances, such as when a board of directors is captured by an overly powerful CEO or the magnitude of negative special items has been overstated (e.g., by shifting core expenses into special items). This paper explores whether strong governance can explain cross‐sectional variation in compensation shielding, and whether stronger governance and auditing are associated with less shifting of expenses. We find that strong corporate governance mechanisms, as captured by board (and committee) independence, the Sarbanes‐Oxley (2002) Act (SOX) and its related governance reforms, and switches to Big 4 auditors, are all associated with less compensation shielding. While our evidence suggests that strong overall governance is associated with a reduction in manipulation of core earnings through classification shifting in the cross‐section, we find inconclusive evidence to suggest that board independence or SOX influence classification shifting.     

Securities Regulation, the Timing of Annual Report Release, and Market Implications: Evidence from China

Using a sample of earnings announcements of Chinese firms in the fiscal years 1994–1999, covering the periods before and after the introduction of a regulation to stagger the release of annual reports, we reassess the relation between earnings news and the timing of earnings announcements. We find that even though the reporting lag has significantly shortened as a result of the regulation, the pattern whereby good news is announced earlier than bad news persists. We then examine the behavior of stock prices before earnings announcements and find some indication of information leakage. These findings suggest that the regulation had the expected effect of reducing reporting delay and earnings release clustering. Yet, it did not appear to reduce the extent of the pre‐announcement leakage of information.     

Tourists' perceived value and behavioral intentions based on the choice attributes of wellness tourism

This study was carried out to examine the wellness that tourists wanted to fulfill through wellness tourism and identify the relationship between tourists' perceived value and their future behavioral intentions. To perform this study, residents aged 20 or older living in Seoul who are interested in wellness tourism were surveyed, and a total of 401 valid responses were used for analyses. The findings suggest that particular attributes of wellness tourism had a positive relationship with ‘emotional value’ except ‘physical wellness’. Also, a positive relationship was observed between utilitarian value, epistemic value, and all particular attributes of wellness tourism.     

The Productivity Commission Inquiry Report into Mental Health—A Commentary from a Health Economics Perspective

The Productivity Commission's Inquiry Report into Mental Health makes extensive recommendations to improve population mental health as a means of further enhancing productivity and economic growth. While providing an invaluable high‐level vision for reforming current mental health and social systems at a programmatic level, it lacks supporting evidence that would guide implementation of specific recommendations. We discuss important methodological considerations used to measure the output of the mental health sector and present clinical and cost‐effectiveness evidence, supporting selected recommendations. We suggest the development of a broad‐based health technology assessment process to facilitate consistent decision making across health and other government sectors.