A Stochastic Receding Horizon Control Approach to Constrained Index Tracking

This paper develops stochastic receding horizon control for a constrained index tracking problem. By modeling the asset dynamics in the problems as a linear system subject to state and control multiplicative noise, and approximating linear chance constraints with quadratic expectation constraints, we show that index tracking can be approached using stochastic receding horizon control. In particular, we use a closed loop version of stochastic receding horizon control where the on-line optimization is solved as a semi-definite program. Numerical examples demonstrate the computations involved in these problems and indicate that stochastic receding horizon control is a promising new approach to constrained index tracking. C. H. Sung completed this work while he was a graduate student in the Management Science and Engineering Department, Stanford University.     

Do gender and age impact the time‐varying Okun's law? Evidence from South Korea

This study investigates the time‐varying Okun's law for different age and gender cohorts in South Korea over the 1980–2014 period. We found that the absolute value of the estimated Okun coefficients for all age cohorts and both genders become larger in a recession than in an expansion. We also found that the youth cohort (15–24 years old) for both genders is more sensitive to a negative economic impact than are older cohorts. These differences imply that when policymakers try to find a way of reducing the unemployment rate, they should consider differences in behaviour among these groups. Furthermore, the policies should be combined with age‐specific policies.     

Predictors of Organizational Citizenship Behavior: Ethical Leadership and Workplace Jealousy

This paper analyzes how national institutions impact corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the food-processing industries of France and Morocco. In this study, CSR practices are defined around two main dimensions: corporate performance (financial vs. global) and the CSR approach (defensive vs. active). Qualitative data were collected during semi-structured interviews with SME managers in charge of CSR issues. We then performed a content analysis. Our study shows that there is a distinct difference between the CSR practices adopted by SMEs in France and Morocco. Indeed, the findings suggest that under the rule-based governance system of France, most SMEs view CSR as an economic tool and it is adopted as an opportunity-seeking perspective anchored in the search for global performance. The findings also show that under the relationship-based governance system of Morocco, SMEs mainly see CSR from a constraint-reducing perspective. However, some Moroccan SMEs have begun to see the economic opportunities of CSR, especially in accessing foreign markets.     

Effects of personalized e-mail messages on privacy risk: Moderating roles of control and intimacy

New communication platforms have enabled firms to collect personal data on their consumers and provide more personalized services. Personalized service facilitates interpersonal communication and interactions based on consumers’ personal and preference information, and therefore constitutes a way to improve firm–customer relationships. However, such personalized services may be vulnerable to privacy issues. This study investigates the effects of personalized e-mail messages (an archetypal example of personalized service) on consumers’ risk perceptions and two moderating variables: consumers’ control and message intimacy. In three experiments, we show that an increase in the level of personalization in e-mail messages increases consumers’ privacy risk perceptions. However, giving consumers more control over their personal information and adding intimate cues to e-mail messages moderate the negative effects of personalized e-mail messages on their privacy risk perceptions. The study provides important implications for both academics and managers in developing and employing personalized service in new media communication.     

Economic Development,Risky Sexual Behavior,and AIDS Epidemics—Theory and Evidence

In this paper, we present a simple theoretical model to investigate how economic development affects AIDS epidemics through its influence on individuals’ sexual behavior, building on the literature on economic growth with endogenous mortality concern. We employ provincial data from China on the incidence rate of AIDS between 2002 and 2008 to test the theoretical predictions. The findings are: (1) a rise in personal income/wealth induces more safe sexual activities and reduces the prevalence of AIDS; and (2) increases in public health expenditure do not have a significant positive impact on individuals’ preference of risky sexual activity over safe sexual activity.     

Business Groups and Corporate Social Responsibility

We present an analysis of over 400 comments about complying with tax obligations extracted from online discussion forums for freelancers. While the topics investigated by much of the literature on taxpayer behaviour are theory driven, we aimed to explore the universe of online discussions about tax in order to extract those topics that are most relevant to taxpayers. The forum discussions were subjected to a qualitative thematic analysis, and we present a model of the ‘universe’ of tax as reflected in taxpayer discussions. The model comprises several main actors (tax laws, tax authority, tax practitioners, and the taxpayer’s social network) and describes the multiple ways in which they relate to taxpayers’ behaviour. We also conduct a more focused analysis to show that the majority of taxpayers seem unconcerned with many of the variables that have been the focus of tax behaviour research (e.g. audits, penalties, etc.), and that most people are motivated to be compliant and are more concerned with how to comply than whether to comply. Moreover, we discuss how these ‘real-world’ tax discussions question common assumptions in the study of tax behaviour and how they inform our understanding of business ethics more generally.     

An investigation of the corporate identity construct in China: Managerial evidence from the high technology industry

The study develops and extends existing frameworks of corporate identity and investigates what organisations in China perceive as essential components of the corporate identity concept including their dimensions and contents. The study adopted a qualitative approach and the method of research was a case study. Using the soft-laddering approach, and a multidisciplinary categorisation of analyses of corporate literature and websites, a systematic analysis of the corporate identity was carried out. Different from previous studies, the study reveals new dimensions on the basis of the industry practitioners’ views. The context of China has shown to influence a different focus, more significantly around the ‘impression’ that corporate identity can contribute with commercially. It is suggested that new high-tech firms in China may not have enough experience and capacity to engage in a more holistic corporate identity concept provided. The lack of such experience is particularly likely for new firms, which are still in their early stage of development. Implications for management of corporate identity in China are presented along with directions for further research in the marketing communications literature.     

Conflict technology in cooperation: The group size paradox revisited

This paper studies the implications of punishment‐induced conflict in a public goods game. It shows, under plausible assumptions, how larger group size sometimes enhances punishing behavior in social dilemmas and hence supports higher levels of cooperation. Unlike existing approaches that focus on uncoordinated punishment, I consider punishment as a coordinated activity that may be resisted by those being punished and study the implications of punishment‐induced conflict situations. Developing a conflict model of punishment and combining it with a standard public good game, I show that coordinated punishment can yield the concentration effect of punishment, leading to a larger group advantage; that is, the larger the group, the easier it becomes to organize cooperation. The key idea is that when punishers coordinate their punishment, punishers as a coalition successfully divide defectors and punish each defector one by one. Surprisingly, even when coordination among punishers decays as group size increases, as long as the rate of decaying remains relatively slow the larger group advantage still obtains.     

Price convergence in US cities: a cointegration approach with two structural breaks

This article investigates how the price indices of major cities of the US respond to the shock from a city and from monetary policy. We find that the crisis of Bretton Woods system in 1968 and the oil crisis in 1974 should be incorporated as structural breaks in monetary policy variables and price indices. Using cointegration technique with structural break in our aggregated data, we find that the average half-life is 1.75 years, which is closer to what some of others found in disaggregated data, and that the interest rate is an effective tool for controlling cities’ price in short run.     

Distribution Channel Relational Cohesion Exchange Model: A Small‐to‐Medium Enterprise Manufacturer's Perspective

This study investigated the influence of dealers' expert, referent, and legitimate sources of power on small‐to‐medium enterprise manufacturers' relationship commitment in distribution channel systems. A theoretical model drawing on the relational cohesion theory and the extant marketing literature is developed and tested empirically using a sample data set of 452 from Zimbabwe. In this model, expert, referent, and legitimate powers are the predictors, whereas trust, cooperation, and relationship satisfaction are the mediators, and relationship commitment is the outcome variable. Analysis reveals that these three powers positively influence the mediators and outcome variable in a significant way, except for legitimate power to cooperation relationship. Managerial implications and future studies are suggested.